Strategy In 'Soldier Raj'
Scenario #3: 'The Second Anglo-
Mysore War, 1780-1785'
By Doug McNair
June 2006

“Armageddon in the Eastern Hemisphere” is the best way to describe the Second Anglo-Mysore War. With France having joined the American Revolution, all of England’s enemies have decided it’s payback time all over the world. France has poured massive amounts of money into India for the purpose of purchasing armies and allies, and Spain and the Netherlands have sent in fleets and armies as well to get a piece of the action (meaning a piece of British India).

Britain has declared war on Mysore on the pretext that Haidar Ali refused permission for a British attack on French trading posts in Mysore territory. But Haidar is way ahead of the British, and has already arranged alliances with France, the Nizam of Hyderabad and the Maratha Confederacy.

Just about everyone who could be involved in an Indian war is involved, and is loaded for bear. Or lion. It’s a Soldier Raj free-for-all.

Strategic Situation

Britain and Maratha

Britain is up against everyone else at scenario start, but the realities of war dictate that the alliances against Britain will deteriorate rapidly. Simply put, there just isn’t enough of British India to go around between four opponents who must gain an average of 7 VPs worth of territory to win.

This is particularly true in the case of Maratha, which must gain 11 VPs to win and is subject to the Maratha Factionalism rule, where the British can cause Maratha generals and armies to defect. On the other hand, all of northern India is neutral at game start, and while several northern minor countries have armies and will ally with Major Powers if Maratha attacks them, they are no match for Maratha’s eleven armies.

Maratha may as well go straight to Britain in the first Diplomacy Phase and propose a non-aggression pact, in which Maratha promises to keep away from British India if Britain promises to refrain from making Maratha Factionalism rolls. Britain has no incentive to decline such an offer, since Maratha is the only kingdom on the board with more armies than Britain. A non-aggressive Maratha will let Britain concentrate her land forces in the southern half of India while sending her fleets out to conquer the rich overseas possessions of France, Spain and the Netherlands.

France

As for France, she has lots of money at start and two powerful Minor Country Allies (Spain and the Netherlands) to bolster her land and sea forces. This gives France a major opportunity to conquer lots of territory quickly and increase her money and manpower production.

This latter bit is extremely important, since France’s large monetary reserve will dry up quickly if she does not expand her territories beyond Mauritius and Pondicherry, whose annual Money production is only 4. But even if France conquers a couple of territories in British India, her allies will take the rest, leaving her with far less than the 9 VPs she needs to win. And since southern India contains only two neutral territories (worth 3 VPs) and her allies control access to northern India, France will either have to bribe allies to conquer northern Indian territory on her behalf, or convince them to let her armies land in allied territory and march north. The former strategy will eat up lots of French cash, and the latter has dubious prospects since a French military base in northern India is a potential threat.

France really has no choice but to betray one of her allies, and since Maratha is farthest away from French territory, has no fleets to threaten French island possessions, and is the gateway to northern India, she is the logical backstab target. France shouldn’t lose any time in attacking Maratha since she needs increased money and manpower production quickly, and she should exhort her ally the Nizam of Hyderabad to do the same. Hyderabad is perfectly placed to strike north and split the Maratha armies in half while France lands troops in Maratha’s coastal territories. If Mysore, Spain and the Netherlands can keep Britain busy, France and Hyderabad should be able to make quick gains against Maratha and rack up significant Money, Manpower and VPs early in the game.

Hyderabad

The Nizam has no reason to refuse France’s proposal to attack Maratha. Hyderabad has little negotiating leverage when it comes to splitting up British India, and stands to gain much more if she can cut through Maratha forces on her northern border and expand into northeastern India. But with only three armies she can’t be overly aggressive — one lucky attack on the homeland from Britain or a backstab from Mysore to her south, and it’s all over.

The Nizam must therefore leave forces guarding Hyderabad and be slow and methodical in his conquest of Maratha territory and beyond. And of course, he should make it clear that his military services are ALWAYS for sale to the highest bidder, demanding a steady flow of cash from France as surety against allying with Britain.

Mysore

Haidar Ali is a top-notch general, as is his son Tippoo (who is available if a New Leader card is played). Haidar also has six armies at game start, so he is the most powerful land-based military force in southern India. With France attacking British India from the south and Spain and the Netherlands attacking it from the west by sea, Britain’s forces will not be able to stand against a sustained Mysore attack up the eastern Indian coast.

Haidar must therefore demand that his allies make an all-out attack on British India to devour it quickly and knock Britain out of the game. That done, Haidar will be well on the way to the 6VPs he needs to win, and can spend time building his forces and choosing an ally to betray and conquer for victory.

Game Summary

Here’s what happened in a recent game:

Setup

With each player laying down one army or fleet at a time, the early counters go in the logical places. But in the middle of setup, Mysore notices that France has placed one army and one fleet in Mauritius, just off Mysore’s west-coast possessions. So Haidar Ali starts placing some of his armies in his west-coast possessions to deter any French treachery. The remaining Mysore armies go into Seringapatam so they can attack British Madras immediately. Britain concentrates her forces on the southeastern Indian coast, with forces thinning as they go north toward Maratha. Maratha concentrates her forces in the center of the continent, and Hyderabad sets up in . . . Hyderabad.

Initial Diplomacy Phase

Britain and Maratha form a non-aggression pact, and France gives the Nizam 3 Money and 1 Manpower to support Hyderabadi attacks on Maratha, with promises of more after France makes significant conquests in the north. France and the Nizam also agree not to attack Maratha until after the initial summer turn, when attacks cost double. Mysore also demands support from France, and receives 3 Money with promises of more later.

Turn 1 — Summer 1780

Everybody has so many armies and fleets in play at game-start that they have to save their Manpower just to maintain the forces they have. Nobody purchases any new armies or fleets.

The players roll for initiative, and the order is Britain, France, Mysore, Maratha, Hyderabad

Britain

General Eyre Coote begins by playing the New Leader card to bring in Cornwallis, but Mysore plays Shiva’s Gift to cancel it (both cards go in the discard pile).

Britain then decides that a pre-emptive ground attack on French Pondicherry plus a seaborne invasion of Mysore-held British Tellicherry would be the best way to get the upper hand early. Eyre Coote sends his three armies and one 3/2 British fleet south from Madras to Pondicherry, and then a 3/2 British army and fleet sail from Calcutta, with other British armies filling in the areas the attacking forces vacated.

Coote’s force can’t be intercepted by sea, but the fleet bound for Tellicherry can. The French fleet in Pondicherry is pinned down by the British attack, but the Dutch fleet in Ceylon is not and tries to intercept the British in the Bay of Bengal. It fails, and when the British fleet enters the Arabian Sea the French Admiral Suffren sails from the island of Mauritius to try to intercept them. He does on a roll of 9 + 3 (for his leadership rating of 3) = 12. Neither fleet takes damage on the first round, and since the British fleet is outgunned six dice to three and the French fleet has a defense strength of 2 there’s little chance they’ll damage it. The British fleet retreats back to the Bay of Bengal.

Coote’s attack on Pondicherry then goes forward, with Coote paying 2 Money x 2 (since it’s a summer turn, when attacks cost double) = 4 Money for an assault. The first-round British attack is at 11 dice to nine and scores three hits to one. All British forces have defense strengths of 2 and take no damage, while the French fleet in Pondicherry has a defense strength of 2 and must take a step loss and retreat to the Bay of Bengal.

The second round attack is at 11 dice to 7, and this time de Bussy does better, scoring three hits to the British two. De Bussy still takes a step loss on his French Colonial army and retreats to Mysori Seringapatam, but a British East India army also takes a step loss and must retreat north to Madras.

The battle over, the British player plays the Recruit Prisoners card and increases his Manpower total by 2 (the number of step losses he inflicted). French Pondicherry is also free of French forces now and open to siege, and Coote besieges it, spending 2 Money (double cost again) for two rounds of siege.

He didn’t have to spend money after all — the first siege round does four hits to none, and French Tellicherry falls under British control.

France

Badly mauled by Perfidious Albion, the French vow revenge — at the lowest possible cost. Calling in his cannon fodder (er, Minor Country Allies), Admiral Suffren heads straight for the Bay of Bengal while the Spanish fleets and armies sail from the Philippines and do the same. Hopefully, one of them will intercept the British fleet and destroy it plus the army it’s carrying.

Meanwhile, the Dutch fleets and armies from the Java Sea and Ceylon sail to attack British Madras and cut off Coote’s retreat from Pondicherry. Suffren rolls snake-eyes on his interception attempt and sails the wrong way, but the two Spanish fleets roll a 10 and attack the British fleet. The British get the wind gauge and just barely miss scoring two hits on the Spanish on the first round (rolling a 6, a 5 and a 4), and the Spanish score no hits. The British fleet and army then retreat back to Madras to cover Coote’s rear.

The Dutch then sail in, and seeing that Madras has been reinforced by the retreating British, they opt to tack northward and hit British Circars instead. The attack scores two hits on the British East India army there, which must take a step loss and retreat north to Calcutta. But the British East India fleet remains, and it prevents the Dutch from invading from the sea and besieging Circars.

France then activates Debussy and his reduced army in Seringapatam, and bringing along the four Mysore armies there he attacks Eyre Coote in Pondicherry. Haidar Ali does not want to pay the 4 Money it would take to mount an assault on Pondicherry, but de Bussy promises to compensate him next Diplomacy Phase if he does so, and Haidar agrees.

The first-round attack is at 17 dice to 12, and scores only two hits to one. One British army takes a hit and retreats north to Madras, and one Mysore army takes a hit and retreats to Seringapatam. The second-round attack at 15 dice to 10 does much better, scoring six hits to one. Coote’s 3/2 British army is eliminated and his 3/2 fleet takes a step loss and retreats to Madras, and Pondicherry is free of Brits again. Haidar Ali agrees to spend 1 Money on a one-round summer siege if France pays him back later, and he and Debussy besiege Pondicherry with 15 dice, scoring four hits to none and taking it back for France.

Mysore

Tipping his turban to de Bussy and telling him to remember his promises, Haidar Ali leaves French Pondicherry, sends one 3/2 army northwest to guard Seringapatam, and takes the other two southwest to besiege neutral Travencore. He spends 2 Money for two siege rounds but only scores two hits, leaving Travencore with a fortification strength of 1.

Maratha

Madhav Rao take three armies out of Nagpur (which is currently not threatened by anyone) and moves two spaces northwest to besiege Delhi. He spends 2 Money for two rounds of siege, but only scores three hits, falling one short of taking Delhi for Maratha.

Hyderabad

Always the opportunist, the Nizam moves into British Circars by land now that the Dutch have cleared it of British land troops. The East India fleet there can do nothing about a land invasion, and Nizam spends 2 Money to besiege it for two rounds. He scores three hits, conquering Circars for Hyderabad.

With the summer turn over, nobody loses troops to attrition except Hyderabad, because Britain plays “Famine” on Circars so it can only support one of Hyderabad’s two armies there this turn. One Hyderabad army flips. But Britain only has the money to maintain all her half-strength units (meaning they don’t die), causing all her full-strength units to flip to half-strength. Maratha can maintain all but one of her units (she runs out of Manpower after maintaining 10 of them), and the rest of the belligerents maintain all their units.

Then everyone collects Money and Manpower from the territories they own and have conquered, and their new totals are:

• Britain: 9 Money, 11 Manpower
• France: 10 Money, 5 Manpower
• Mysore: 8 Money, 7 Manpower
• Hyderabad: 9 Money, 8 Manpower
• Maratha: 12 Money, 11 Manpower

Britain was hurt badly by the loss of Circars, because it would have gotten her 3 Manpower which she badly needs to rebuild her forces. France paid dearly to regain Pondicherry and has future financial obligations to her allies, and she also desperately needs to rebuild her lost army. Maratha and Mysore are in decent shape, and Hyderabad is in excellent condition for a small power.

Fall 1780

In the Purchase phase, Britain repairs her five units in Madras, trying to preserve some money for the reconquest of Circars. France repairs her colonial army and damaged fleet, and this leaves her without enough Manpower to build a new army (it’s good she has lots of friends). Mysore and Maratha and Hyderabad repair one army each.

The Initiative roll yields an order of: Britain, France, Mysore, Hyderabad, Maratha.

Britain

Eyre Coote is in a bit of a sticky wicket. He’s lost Circars and Pondicherry, has little money to take them back with, has to deal with a powerful threat from the west in the person of Haidar Ali, and is going to be invaded from the east by sea this turn by the Dutch, Spanish, and French.

His only hope is to hit his enemies where they’re weak, so he sends his two 3/2 fleets out from Madras to hit the Dutch fleets and armies at Circars, and takes two 3/2 armies north from Madras to hit Hyderabad, hoping to take it and force the Nizam to abandon Circars to retake his homeland.

The British get the wind gauge of the Dutch, but their attack does no damage while the Dutch get three hits on six dice, destroying the British East India fleet and causing a step loss to a British 3/2 fleet. It and the other British fleet retreat back to Madras.

Then Coote spends 2 Money for an assault on Hyderabad, but it gets a bloody nose, with one 3/2 army taking a step loss and everyone retreating back to Madras.

France

The French 3/2 Fleet in the Bay of Bengal sails to Pondicherry, picks up De Bussy and his army, and then sails north to link up with the Dutch and invade Calcutta. The British fleets in Madras make one attempt each to intercept the French and Dutch but fail. Then Suffren, the 2/2 French fleet and the Spanish fleets sail to Pondicherry and drop off the Spanish armies there, and move straight north to attack the British fleets at Madras.

France gets the wind gauge of the British, and on the first round rolls five sixes on 10 dice! The five hits destroy the fleet the Dutch damaged, and cause a step loss to Britain’s last fleet in India, driving it out to the Bay of Bengal.

The Franco-Dutch invasion of Calcutta goes in at an assault strength of 16 dice to six, scoring two hits to none and destroying the two half-strength British armies in Calcutta. The French and Dutch besiege Calcutta for free for one round, scoring four hits on 16 dice and taking it for France. The defenders at Calcutta score two hits, which France graciously allocates to a Dutch army.

Mysore

Haidar Ali smells the blood of an Englishman and goes in for the kill, taking four armies to attack Eyre Coote in Madras. He pays 2 Money for an assault and attacks on the first round at 14 dice to 13. His attack does three hits to one, and with all land routes out of Madras leading to enemy territory and no fleet to retreat on (thanks to Admiral Suffren’s naval strike), the East India army that took damage attacking Hyderabad dies. A 2/1 Mysore army also takes a step loss and retreats to Seringapatam.

The second round attack goes forward at 12 dice to 11. Both sides do two hits, and with no retreat route once again, a full-strength East India army takes a step loss, can’t retreat, and dies. One of Haidar Ali’s 3/2 armies takes a step loss and retreats to Seringapatam, and with the battle over, Eyre Coote is surrounded in Madras with no way out, and the sun is setting fast on the British Empire.

Hyderabad

The Nizam would love to rush in and finish off Coote, but doing so would leave Hyderabad and Circars vulnerable to attack by the Marathas should they decide to turn coat while everyone else is celebrating Britain’s doom. He wouldn’t mind turning coat himself and charging north to besiege unoccupied Najpur in Maratha, but three Maratha generals could counterattack and annihilate him.

That is, if he didn’t have a card up his sleeve . . . literally. The Nizam plays Maratha Indecision, which prevents any Maratha armies from moving this turn! He then moves north with a 3/2 army and spends 3 Money for unlimited siege rounds on Najpur — but didn’t need to spend anything, because he does two hits on the first round and takes it for Hyderabad.

Maratha

Madhav Rao can’t seem to get word out to his generals to attack Hyderabad, so he stays in Delhi and finishes besieging it, taking it for Maratha.

In the Peace Phase, Britain surrenders to France and Mysore, and Haidar Ali takes control of Madras. In exchange for not losing one of the last two British territories way up in the northeast corner of India, Coote and his two remaining armies offer to serve as auxiliaries to France for the duration of the peace. France accepts this with the further stipulation that Britain must make no Maratha Factionalism die-rolls during the peace (so she can’t gain the use of Maratha armies and use them to turn on France). Britain accepts the terms and rolls one die. The result of 3 is the number of turns the peace is in effect.

Winter 1780

In the Purchase Phase, Britain repairs her fleet and Mysore repairs her two damaged armies. The initiative roll comes out: France, Hyderabad, Maratha, Britain, Mysore.

France

France begins by breaking her alliance with Maratha and playing a Minor Country Alliance card, attempting an alliance with Portugal.

This would put two Portuguese armies, a general and a fleet in position to strike Bombay in Maratha’s western provinces, so Madhav Rao spends 2 Money to bribe the Portuguese to stay out of it. This plus Maratha’s Intimidation bonus for 2 Maratha armies adjacent to Portuguese Goa gives the Minor Country Alliance die-roll a –4 penalty, meaning the roll can’t be the 10 or more needed to make the alliance.

France lets it go . . . because she has another Minor Country Alliance Card! She plays that one, and she and each of her allies spend 1 Money to bribe the Portuguese to join the fun. Madhav Rao spends another 2 Money to counterbribe them, and with the Intimidation bonus the net modifier to the die-roll is –1. France needs an 11 to successfully ally with Portugal but rolls a 7, so the alliance doesn’t happen. But Maratha’s money advantage has been cut by a third, and she doesn’t have enough money to maintain all her armies anymore.

Admiral Suffren and the British auxiliary armies and Spanish fleets sail north, leaving the Spanish armies to guard Pondicherry. They and the French and Dutch forces in Calcutta invade Maratha Bhubaneshwar on the east Indian coast at a strength of 31 dice to 10!

France pays the required 2 Money for an assault, and the mere four hits the allied force does on the first round damages both Maratha armies there and drives them north to Awadh. Another Dutch army graciously takes a step loss for France and retreats to Hyderabad-held Circars, and the subsequent siege of Bhubaneshwar takes it for France.

Hyderabad

The Nizam is very glad that the huge Anglo-French-Dutch-Spanish juggernaut rolling westward through Bhubaneshwar seems to be friendly. If it weren’t, there’d be nothing he could do about it with his three little armies.

Haidar Ali is also a potential problem — with Madras conquered and Travencore all but that, Hyderabad lies directly along Haidar Ali’s march northward. At six armies to three, the Nizam would have little chance against Mysore in the field.

The Nizam decides that his only option right now is to make himself as useful to France as possible, and to that end he attacks the Maratha General Haripant in Indore with two armies, leaving his conquests of Najpur and Circars vacant to show his good faith, and pulling one army back to guard Hyderabad. He spends 1 Money for a probe and attacks at six dice to seven, but gets a bloody nose, scoring no hits while Haripant scores two. Both Hyderabad armies retreat to Najpur, protecting Nizam’s conquest and screening France’s forces from Maratha movements from the west.

Finally, the Nizam plays The Great Game and brings in a Russian 3/2 Army at Kashmir, moving it south to Punjab to threaten Maratha’s conquest of Delhi from the north and tie down Madhav Rao’s armies there.

Maratha

Madhav Rao’s generals finally figure out what’s going on, and go on the attack. The French 800-pound gorilla in Bhubaneshwar would squash Rao’s armies if he attacked it, so he decides to swat the Hyderabadi mosquito instead.

Rao and three armies move north to attack the interfering Russians, while Holkar, Haripant and Scindia bring six armies into Najpur and attack the Nizam. Rao spends 1 Money for a probe on the Russians, and his attack of nine dice scores six hits to only one for the Russians. The Russian army is wiped out, and Rao’s 2/1 army takes a step loss and retreats to Delhi.

The other Maratha generals spend 2 Money for an assault on the Nizam in Nagpur, and the Nizam bravely defends the French eastern flank. On the first-round attack of 15 dice to seven both sides score only one hit, with one Maratha army taking a step loss and retreating to Indore. But the second round is far bloodier, with the Marathas scoring four hits on 13 dice and the Nizam scoring three hits on seven dice! One Hyderabad army is eliminated, the other flips and retreats to Circars with the Nizam, and one more Maratha army flips and retreats to Indore.

Punjab and Najpur are free of enemies, so the Marathas besiege them for free, reducing Punjab’s fortifications to one and retaking Nagpur for Maratha.

Britain

. . . can do nothing but obey French orders.

Mysore

. . . on the other hand sees a golden opportunity to conquer southern India while France and the resurgent Marathas destroy each other in the north. Haidar Ali announces that he’s breaking his alliances with France and Hyderabad and plays Royal Death.

The King of Spain dies and the Spanish alliance with France is broken. The Spanish armies guarding French Pondicherry sail home on the Spanish fleets from Bhubaneshwar, and all of a sudden the 800-pound gorilla has gone on a crash diet. Then Haidar Ali, who has more money than anyone else on the board, marches north and attacks Hyderabad, while Mysore armies besiege Travencore and move east to besiege French Pondicherry.

Haidar spends 2 Money for an assault on Hyderabad, but not one hit is scored by either side in either battle round! The sieges all score no hits as well, and Haidar Ali’s master stroke comes to nothing, except to put Spain out of the picture.

At the end of the first winter turn, the victory points totals stand at:

• Britain: –8 (lost Madras, Circars and Calcutta)
• France: 5 (gained Calcutta and Bhubaneshwar)
• Mysore: 3 (gained Madras)
• Hyderabad: 2 (gained Circars)
• Maratha: 1 (gained Delhi but lost Bhubaneshwar)

The French are still allied with Hyderabad and Mysore is still allied with Maratha. The British East India Company is now wholly owned by France and her Dutch allies. . . .

Spring 1781

One Dutch army repairs itself in Bhubaneshwar, and a new Dutch fleet shows up in Ceylon. In the Purchase Phase, the Nizam repairs his damaged army in Circars, and the Marathas do the same with their two 3/2 armies in Nagpur to deter any Franco-British-Dutch attacks inland.

The initiative rolls come up Maratha, Britain, Hyderabad, Mysore, France.

But Mysore plays Dharma Chakra and rearranges the initiative order to: Mysore, Maratha, Britain, France, Hyderabad.

Mysore

Haidar Ali and two armies move east from Hyderabad to attack the Nizam, his 3/2 army and a reduced Dutch army in Circars. A 2/1 Mysore army comes up from Madras to support the attack. Haidar spends 1 Money for a probe, and both sides do three hits on 11 dice to eight! Two Mysore armies take step losses and retreat to Madras, the Dutch army is destroyed, and the Nizam’s last army takes a step loss and retreats north to the safety of the French juggernaut in Bhubaneshwar (he can’t retreat to Hyderabad since that’s where Haidar Ali came from).

The siege of Travencore finally succeeds and it goes to Mysore control, but the sieges of French Pondicherry and Hyderabadi Circars do no damage.

Maratha

Madhav Rao takes forces south from Punjab to reinforce his west-coast holdings against French seaborne invasion. He personally moves to Indore to deter a desperation attack from Hyderabad. The siege of Punjab does no damage.

Britain

. . . takes tea.

France

At least half the Franco-Dutch strength is in the form of fleets, so they’re far less powerful inland than on the coast. Rather than march on the main Maratha strength at Nagpur (which the Franco-Dutch army could only attack at equal strength), Debussy and Admiral Suffren head south and attack the Mysore armies in Madras while the Dutch sail to attack the Mysore armies in Pondicherry. They leave the British to guard Bhubaneshwar and tell the Nizam to attack Haidar Ali and kick him out of Circars.

The French spend one of their last remaining Money to hit Madras with a probe. Haidar would like the two reduced-strength armies in Madras to retreat and avoid destruction, but they’re covering his only retreat route out of Circars, so they have to stay and fight. The attack goes off at 12 dice to six and does three hits to two. Both Mysore armies are destroyed while one French fleet takes a step loss and retreats to the Bay of Bengal.

The Dutch attack on the lone 3/2 Mysore army in Pondicherry goes in, but that army does retreat before battle to Seringapatam since it would be at a disadvantage of 10 dice to three. The French then besiege Madras but do only one hit.

Hyderabad

The Nizam makes a desperation move in an attempt to impress France. He spends his last 2 Money for an assault on the surrounded Haidar Ali, going in at five dice to nine. It works. On the first round, the Nizam rolls two hits on five dice, destroying Haidar’s army and capturing him since he is surrounded by hostiles and can’t retreat.

Haidar also rolls two sixes, destroying Nizam’s half-strength army and leaving him with one at full-strength (the Nizam had to take the step loss on the half-strength army since he has no money to maintain armies later, and can at least rebuild the full-strength one after it takes a loss). The Nizam finishes with a flourish, playing two Minor Country Alliance cards to try and ally with Awadh and Rajputana in the Maratha rear, but both rolls fail.

The Nizam visits Haidar Ali and demands he surrender to Hyderabad and France, giving Hyderabad control of Seringapatam and France control of Travencore. Haidar refuses and dies bravely, knowing that the French don’t have the money to attack Mysore in the upcoming summer turn, and praying his son Tippoo will avenge him when he comes of age.

Summer 1781

France spends her last money to repair her fleet, and Maratha does the same with two of her armies. The Initiative roll comes up: Hyderabad, Maratha, Britain, Mysore, France.

. . . but Maratha, France and Hyderabad have no money for attacks.

Since this is the last turn of the Peace, Britain decides to take advantage of France’s cashless state, quits guarding French-held Bhubaneshwar and besieges it instead, bringing in the British fleet to help.

Coote spends the last British Money for one siege round in a summer turn and rolls four sixes on nine dice, taking Bhubaneshwar for Britain (“Drat, I could have had Calcutta for that . . .”). Mysore would love to follow this up but has only 2 Money and needs that to maintain her armies, so she passes.

Mysore maintains two of her armies, and every other unit on the board except the Dutch flips or is eliminated because there is no money to maintain them. Then the players collect money and manpower from their territories, and the totals at the end of the summer stand at:

• Britain: 5 Money, 9 Manpower
• France: 7 Money, 7 Manpower
• Mysore: 9 Money, 7 Manpower
• Hyderabad: 5 Money, 11 Manpower
• Maratha: 12 Money, 17 Manpower

Britain is in bad shape, but so is France, with only 7 Money to her name. Mysore is OK, and Hyderabad and Maratha are in good shape, at least resource-wise.

Fall 1781

In the Purchase Phase everyone repairs most or all of their units and the Nizam builds an army (which comes up a lousy 2/1). The Initiative roll comes up: Maratha, France, Mysore, Britain, Hyderabad.

Maratha

Madhav Rao smiles and bows to Eyre Coote, choosing to overlook the British conquest of then-French-held Bhubaneshwar (it belonged to France then, so it wasn’t an attack on Maratha), and confirming that he still honors the non-aggression pact.

He rides north to finish the siege of Punjab while his other generals overrun Hyderabad. The southern generals spend 1 Money for a probe at Hyderabad and attack the Nizam at 13 dice to seven. They score three hits to none, doing a step loss to the Nizam’s last army and driving him south into the arms of De Bussy in Madras.

Maratha spends another Money for two siege rounds in Hyderabad, but rolls five hits on 13 dice in the first round and takes it for Madhav Rao. Rao himself does three more hits in the siege of Punjab up north and takes it too. But the garrison at Hyderabad die bravely, rolling three sixes on four dice and damaging two Maratha armies, which retreat north to Indore.

France

The Nizam begs de Bussy to retake Hyderabad, but with the Spanish gone and the Dutch down in Pondicherry, de Bussy just doesn’t have the ground troop strength to go up against the Marathas inland. De Bussy tells the Nizam to go down and guard French Pondicherry while he finishes the siege of Madras.

De Bussy succeeds, taking Madras away from Mysore for France. He also sends all the Dutch up to Bhubaneshwar to hit the Brits, and the Dutch attack invasion does five hits on 10 dice, to one British hit on 11 dice (“Call ME a Tulip-Head, will you!”). Two British armies take step losses and retreat north to Dhaka, but the second Dutch attack round fails to damage the British fleet guarding Bhubaneshwar harbor, and the Dutch can’t land and besiege.

Mysore

. . . is too weak even to risk attacking the Nizam, so her armies stay put.

Britain

Eyre Coote has to save his last 2 Money to rebuild the two remaining British armies next turn, so he can’t afford to move south from Dhaka and expose himself to Dutch attack.

Hyderabad

The Nizam goes south to Pondicherry and stews.

Winter 1781

In the Purchase Phase, the Nizam spends his last Money to rebuild his army, Madhav Rao rebuilds two more, and Britain spends her last 2 to do the same. The Initiative roll comes up: Maratha, Britain, Mysore, France, Hyderabad.

Maratha

Madhav Rao continues conquering Northern India, moving southeast to Rohillas and besieging it while his southern generals move east to besiege Hyderabadi Circars (much as Britain didn’t violate the pact by conquering French-held Bhubaneshwar, Maratha will not violate the pact by conquering Hyderabadi-held Circars). Rao does four hits on seven dice and conquers Rohillas, but does no hits at Circars.

Britain

Coote is not in a position to do anything about Maratha’s loose interpretation of the non-aggression pact, but he moves south to Bhubaneshwar to defend it from another Dutch attack.

Mysore

With Maratha armies knocking on France’s door in Madras, Mysore decides to avenge Haidar Ali and attack the Nizam in Pondicherry. Two armies go in and pay 2 Money for an assault, and at five dice to six the attack scores three hits on the second round, ejecting the Nizam and sending him crying back to De Bussy again in Madras.

Mysore spends 3 Money for unlimited siege rounds and takes Pondicherry from France.

France pulls the Dutch out of Bhubaneshwar and sends them south to hit the Mysore armies in Pondicherry as the French move there too (the penniless and homeless Nizam stays back in Madras drying his tears). France spends 2 Money for an assault, and the first round at 22 dice to eight scores only two hits to one. One Mysore army takes a loss and retreats, and the second attack at 22 dice to six scores four hits to one, eliminating a full-strength Mysore army. But the Dutch-French siege only scores two hits on Pondicherry’s fortifications, and it stays in Mysore hands.

Hyderabad can do nothing, and at the end of the winter 1781 turn the victory point totals stand at:

• Britain: –6 (lost Madras, Circars and Calcutta but gained Bhubaneshwar)
• France: 4 (gained Calcutta and Madras but lost Pondicherry)
• Mysore: 4 (gained Travencore and Pondicherry)
• Hyderabad: –1 (gained Circars but lost Hyderabad)
• Maratha: 8 (gained Delhi, Punjab, Rohillas and Hyderabad, but lost Bhubaneshwar)

At this point, the fate of the subcontinent is pretty clear. Britain has no money for attacks, so she still has no incentive to antagonize the Marathas by making Maratha Factionalism die-rolls. Hyderabad and Mysore have one and two armies left, respectively, and with no money either they’re out of the game for all intents and purposes. And France’s Dutch allies can only give her a significant boost on the coast, not inland.

But Madhav Rao has more money than anyone else and plenty more coming from his new conquests, and he can just keep conquering northern India while his other generals squash the Nizam and Mysore in the south. Time and money are on Maratha’s side, and the Maratha Confederacy wins.

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