Strategy in Soldier Kings
Part 5: Spring 1758
By Doug McNair
October 2007

The resurgent Catholic League tries to hold on to last year’s gains while staving off the growing power of Frederick the Great in today’s episode of my Soldier Kings replay. As the year 1757 came to a close, stunning French naval victories in the Caribbean prevented a mass blockade of French and Spanish island holdings that would have cut the Catholic League’s year-end money take to a trickle. The League’s repudiation of its alliances with Russia and Denmark earned papal approval that resulted in increased monetary contributions for all League members. But the League fell short of its ultimate goal of pushing the Dutch and British armies in northern Europe into the sea, with the Prince of Orange and his Swedish allies inflicting a bloody repulse of the French invasion of Holland. Combat losses plus winter shortages have cut French and Spanish army strength on the Continent substantially, and it will be touch-and-go for a while as to whether they can hold off the Northern Alliance armies, especially if Frederick forces an Austrian surrender in the east. And if that happens, unallied Turkey and Russia would have the opportunity to gobble up more of Austria’s holdings, and that could be dangerous with Turkey already within striking distance of an Automatic Victory.

Year Three of the Seven Years War begins.

Purchase Phase

Austria receives the army she purchased last year (a weak 1-1) and places it in Hungary, the Scorched Earth marker having been removed with the spring green-up. Turkey makes good use of her 57 Manpower and builds three armies (all of which are relatively weak 1-1s), Russia builds two armies (a strong 3-2 and a weak 1-1), France builds two armies (a strong 3-2 and a weak 1-1), Spain builds an army and a fleet (a 1-1 and a 2-1, respectively), Britain builds two fleets (a 3-2 and a 2-1), Austria builds one army (a 2-1), Prussia builds one army (a strong 3-2), and Holland builds an army (a 2-1). Sweden’s third army arrives in Pomerania, and then everyone repairs the units they can afford to. That brings everyone’s money and manpower totals down to:

Nation ............... Money ............... Manpower
Austria .................. 22 ........................... 12
Britain ................... 20 ........................... 7
France ................... 31 ........................... 11
Holland ................. 11 ........................... 11
Prussia ................... 17 ........................... 7
Russia .................... 3 ............................. 9
Spain ..................... 19 ........................... 20
Turkey ................... 9 ............................ 36

Frederick wants Bohemia and adds +2 to his initiative die-roll, but Maria Theresa’s scouts just keep getting there before he does. The initiative order comes out:

Austria/Prussia/Russia/Turkey/Holland/France/Britain/Spain

CATHOLIC LEAGUE: Austria plays a Minor Country Alliance card and attempts to ally with Venice. She gets an automatic +2 for good relations and then a +4 intimidation bonus for having four friendly and minor country ally armies adjacent to Venice. None of the Northern Alliance nations care (they know Austria won’t send the Venetian navy to England when her mortal enemy Turkey is right next door), and Turkey doesn’t have the spare cash for a counterbribe, so the alliance die-roll goes ahead with the straight +6 bonus. It turns out she needed all of it, because she rolls a 4 + 6 = 10, which is the exact roll she needs to forge the alliance. Admiral Emo appears on the board with the Venetian army and fleet, and then Austria plays a Holy Roman Empire Mercenaries card to hire the army of Württemburg for 3 Money. Then Emo’s fleet transports the army of Venice down to Croatia so it can join the Austrian army there, and then sails back to Venice as the Austrian army in Tuscany moves north through Lombardy to join Emo there. Then the army of Württemburg moves northeast to join the Bavarians defending Bohemia against Frederick’s army, and General Brown sends a 1-1 army northeast from Vienna to reinforce the new army in Hungary.

Then the Polish 3-2 army in Galicia prepares to head southeast and attack the Turkish army in Moldavia, but Turkey plays a Defensive Alliance card, causing the Polish king to worry about Russia again (this time he’s worried what she might do to him rather than what he’s going to do without her). Austria rolls a 2 and once again bribes the king to get with the program in exchange for 2 Money, and the Polish 3-2 army attacks Moravia as planned. The 2-round Assault scores one hit to none on the first round, doing a step loss to the defending Turkish 2-1 army and forcing it to retreat south to Bulgaria. The Poles then besiege Moldavia for two rounds and score three hits on six dice, taking Moldavia for the previously reluctant king and encircling the Turkish army occupying Volhynia!

Then General Brown takes his elite 4-3 army north from Vienna to attack General Schwerin in East Prussia. It seems that Schwerin’s men didn’t take kindly to being left to starve over the winter (with no maintenance money paid for them), because Austria plays a Troop Revolt card and Schwerin’s elite 4-3 army refuses to fight. Brown then plays a Local Assistance card, and the Bohemian clans come down from the mountains again to attack the Prussians who’ve been stealing all their winter forage. Unfortunately, the clans were weakened by the lean winter and they only add 1 to Brown’s combat strength, but Brown spends 4 Money anyway for an unlimited Invasion since this is the best chance he’s ever going to have against Schwerin, and the attack causes the revolting 4-3 army to take a step loss and retreat north to Berlin. That just leaves Schwerin with a 3-2 army plus his own leadership bonus and the strong Silesian fortifications, and the 7 die to 10 battle rages for many rounds, with neither side doing enough hits to hurt the other. But finally Schwerin scores 3 hits and sends Brown’s 4-3 army retreating back to Vienna with a step loss, rolling a 10 + 1 = 11 and just barely failing to kill him.

Farther west, Spain seems to have an exclusivity clause in her contract with the Swiss Mercenaries, because she plays their card again and hires them for 5 Money. Then Spain plays a Minor Country Alliance card and attempts to ally with Sardinia. She gets a +1 bonus to the roll for good relations and a +2 intimidation bonus for the Swiss on the border with Sardinian Piedmont. France wants more allies to defend her northern borders and spends 3 Money for a bribe, but Britain sees the danger and spends 3 Money for a counterbribe. Spain spends 2 Money for a bribe of her own, and Holland spends a token 1 Money for a counterbribe to keep Britain from getting angry at her, and the alliance die-roll bonus nets out to +4. Spain rolls a 6 + 4 = 10, exactly what she needs, and the Sardinian army and fleet appear in Piedmont. The army marches north to Burgundy, and the fleet heads out to sea, sails through the unguarded Straits of Gibraltar (there had been no Catholic League naval activity in the Mediterranean up till now), sails into Galicia to pick up the 3-2 Spanish army there, and then transports the Spaniards to Southern England! The Royal Navy is all overseas due to last turn’s failed mass blockade attempt in the Caribbean, so the Armada lands successfully (though they’re flying an unexpected flag). Spain spends 2 Money for an unlimited siege of London, using her army alone (the Sardinian fleet doesn’t participate because it has a defense strength of 1 and is vulnerable to shore batteries). She scores one hit on the third round, taking London’s fortifications down to 3, and scores another hit on the fourth round, but at the same time the Londoners defend their city brilliantly and score 2 hits on 3 dice, ejecting the Spanish 3-2 army out to sea on the Sardininan fleet with a step loss. The Spanish invasion is just barely repelled!

The Spaniards then bring their two fleets home from Africa to Galicia, the Swiss mercenaries move north to Swabia, and two Spanish armies move north from Ile de France to the Austrian Netherlands to join General d’Estrees and his army.

Back in the New World, turnabout is fair play as France plays a False Orders and Bad Intelligence card on Admiral Hawke, sending him and his elite 4-3 fleet to Madagascar on some fabricated mission even more outlandish than the one Hawke sent Galissoniere on last year. Galissoniere then picks up the French 3-2 army in Santo Domingo and invades the British Windward Islands. The British 1-1 fleet there bravely tries to fight off Galissoniere with help from shore batteries, but Galissoniere’s 3-2 fleet is too tough and drives off the British fleet with a step loss on the second round. The French amphibious invasion goes in, and France pays 2 Money for a 2-round assault against the British 2-1 army holding the islands, but fails to score even one hit on 16 dice! Once again the British coastal defenders hold out.

NORTHERN ALLIANCE: With her gains in Europe gone and unlikely to be regained, Holland decides to go for easy pickings overseas. Her fleet and army sail out of Ceylon and head for the South China Sea, where they land on Brunei and take a free siege round. They score one hit on three dice, which is all it takes to conquer Brunei for Holland. Then the Indian Rebel Army (which has grown to maximum size) enters French Chandranagore and besieges it for two rounds, taking the French colony’s fortification strength down to 1.

The Alliance fleets in the New World aren’t powerful enough to take on Galissioniere with Hawke off exploring Madagascar. So the damaged fleet that Galissioniere drove away from the Windwards puts into port in the Bahamas, while the Dutch and Swedish fleets off the coast of North America head east to try to intercept the retreating Spanish Armada just outside the English Channel. They roll a 5 + 1 = 6 and fail to intercept, so they head port in London to protect against another invasion. Then the Dutch fleet in the North Sea ferries a British 2-1 army and Cumberland from Hannover to Northern England, and then heads south through the channel to try to intercept the Armada. It rolls a 9 + 1 = 10 and succeeds, and after one combat round in which neither side scores a hit the Armada retreats back to Galicia.

The two princes (Orange and Ferdinand) go on the attack against Generals d’Estrees and Alvarez in the Austrian Netherlands and Hesse. But just as the Allied armies are about to head south, Spain plays a Royal Death card, causing the Swedish king to die and the armies of Sweden to go home. But Britain quickly plays an Act of God card, the king revives and the alliance with Sweden survives, too.

British and Swedish armies under Ferdinand march south to attack Swabia, and Alvarez and his 2-1 army can’t possibly stand against them, so after Britain pays 1 Money for a Probe (leaving the Swedes in reserve), Alvarez retreats south to Swabia to join his Swiss mercenaries. Then Ferdinand lets the Swedes besiege Hesse, which causes the Hessian army to appear. The Swedes Assault the Hessians at 5 dice to 4 (at no cost to Britain), and each side rolls very well, scoring 2 hits on the first round. A Swedish 3-2 army takes a step loss and retreats north to Hannover, but the Hessian 1-1 army is wiped out. The remaining Swedish 2-1 army then continues the siege of Hesse and scores one hit but takes a hit as well and retreats, leaving the British to continue the siege next turn.

Then the Prince of Orange marches into the Austrian Netherlands and pays 2 Money for an Assault along with a Swedish army, but Spain turns the tables on the Dutch and plays an Irregulars card (Catholics can hire skirmishers, too).  The Protestants attack at a strength of 4 dice rather than 7 dice and the Catholics defend with 8. Each side scores one hit on the first round, which sends a Spanish army retreating south to Paris, and the same thing happens on the second round, with a French army retreating south along with d’Estrees (who can’t give a leadership bonus to the remaining Spanish army in the Austrian Netherlands). The Dutch and Swedes take no damage.

With his flank in Saxony now covered by Ferdinand, Prince Henry takes his siege army east to besiege Warsaw along with the 2-1 army already there. He pays 1 Money for two siege rounds and takes Warsaw on the second round with no damage to his own units. This gives him a nice defensive position and/or base of operations against Russia, whose peace treaty with Prussia expires at the end of this turn. Then Frederick makes ready to attack the Bavarians and Württemburgers defending Bohemia. Just before he announces how much he’s going to spend, Holland plays a Freikorps card, sending bandits to plunder Württemburg while their army is away and giving Prussia an extra 1 Money (Don’t say I never did anything for you …).  It’s a small gift but it’s appreciated, and Frederick pays 4 Money for an all-out Invasion with his elite 4-3 army. The German minor ally armies defend with 8 dice, but Frederick scores one hit on the first round and drives the Württemburgers south to Vienna, and then scores two hits on the second round and drives the strong 3-2 Bavarian army south to Bavaria (to protect the homeland). The reduced 1-1 Bavarian army then retreats to Vienna as well, and Frederick plays a Recruit Prisoners card and rolls a 2, accepting Prussian sympathizers from the Empire into his ranks and adding 2 Manpower to Prussia’s total. Frederick then spends 2 Money for unlimited siege rounds on Bohemia and takes it after just 2 rounds.

Russia has no interest in provoking Prussia and doesn’t have the money to fight battles anyway. Apraxin just continues the siege of White Russia while sending a 2-1 army south from St Petersburg to guard the Ukraine. The siege scores no hits.

Turkey’s surrounded army in Volhynia stays where it is, hoping that Prussia’s conquest of Warsaw sends the Poles in Moldavia back where they came from. With Frederick and Schwerin now poised to attack Vienna next turn, Muhsinzade Pasha moves west from Bosnia to Croatia with his 2-1 army while his crack 3-2 army follows him from Transylvania to Bosnia, and then he plays a Surprise Attack card and brings in the 3-2 army as well at double strength! He pays 2 Money for an Assault at 10 dice to 6, and scores one hit to none on the first round (sending the Venetian army up to Vienna), and then scores an amazing 4 hits on the second round, wiping out an Austrian 2-1 army. He then pays 2 Money for unlimited siege rounds and takes Croatia with his 3-2 army after his 2-1 army takes a hit and retreats to Bosnia.

Peace Phase

Vienna is now in chaos. Panicked Venetian, Bavarian, Württemburger and Austrian troops have poured into the city from north and south, and with Frederick closing in from the north and the Turks closing in from the south, the armies will be crushed and disintegrate if Austria doesn’t surrender to one of the invaders. So the empress surrenders to Prussia. Doing that eliminates her northern front (except eventually for Russia) and allows her and her minor allies to go after Turkey. Frederick realizes his dream and receives Vienna as a territorial concession, and he is gracious in victory and grants Austria five turns of peace. He has now conquered 12 VPs worth of territory, and if he can conquer and hold 3 move VPs by the end of the Fall turn he’ll score an Automatic Victory. And that’s another reason Maria Teresa surrendered to Frederick: putting him that close to victory means Britain and Holland may have to turn on him before the end of the year.

But that’s for next time. Will Frederick’s lightning conquest of Warsaw, Bohemia and Vienna force the rest of the world to stop him before he conquers all of Europe? Can they stop him at all? Tune in next time and find out!

Click here to order Soldier Kings now!