G7 - France vs. England

Has anyone got any idea what's going on here? France has managed to invade England. Is England not an active position? They seem to be getting stomped on and doing very little to resist.

Will we soon see the Jacobite King restored like in G2?

I play neither England or France in Game 7 so hopefully this will be a reasonably unbiased representation of events (other G7 players to correct where Im wrong!.....)

You have to start with the diplomatic map of Europe to begin to understand what is going on here. The Hapsburgs have the Spanish throne. This was achieved with some agreement by France, but it then linked the nations of Spain and Austria quite closely as a result. The agreement of France to this position, looks now to be an uneasy agreement as events in Central Europe have seen the Austrian Hapsburgs very bullish on Imperial policy. This in turn has seen France consider itself a bit more isolated and vulnerable than perhaps it ideally wanted to.

What has this to do with England ? Well start to imagine a strong Hapsburg family that is then possibly joined by the UDP, with potentially King William pulling in the English as well.

So we come to the spark....a dredger mission. Might sound trivial reason for a war ? Well what we had was France, again feeling like its position and "glory" of the King was being undermined and dis-respected. Maybe a public flexing of muscles to Austria ? What we did have was a French invasion of England.

What has become clear is, at the start of this war England was inactive, but now has an active King trying to fight back. Its not been one way traffice for the French, and they have suffered the odd setback.

Its all quite nicely poised.....

Yes, it is all very interesting, but I'm confused over England. Do we have an active England AND an active UDP (which is the English King) or is it, as it appears, that the UDP as King that is active and the English position vacant?

If England is active it makes it all the more strange that they seem to be letting the French in so easily? And then, is the UDP going to enter the war? IS UDP and England a combined position in G7? Could England possibly have enough forces left to defeat France? So many questions, and so little info coming out in the press!!! haha

It would also be interesting to know what France has in store if she does win. The terms in the herald were pretty damning. And then what? Catholic England?

England is an active position. I do not know if the player playing England is also controlling the Dutch Provinces or not. In my position I have had zero contact with any Dutch player, so from my point of view I would question whether the Dutch are active or not. They dont seem to be doing much to help England if they are active.

I have always found that campaigning in LGDR is never a straight forward, clear cut affair. Do England have enough forces to fight off England? I would say most definitely, especially in terms of the Royal Navy. On the other hand France is VERY strong and can throw men into the meat grinder if it so desires. Without diplomacy this isnt ending any time soon.

As for French intentions I can only second guess...I dont think she has much intention of long term involvment in England but a Catholic England under a restored Stuart dynasty is a possibility.

I am not in Game 7, but I will throw in my opinion about post-war...

I cannot see England becoming officially Catholic in 1700. This will cause a problem constitutionally for a start (with the monarch being the head of a Protestant Church!). And following on from the Republic, would the people accept it? Secret Catholics sure, but the rest? Doubtful!

Speaking as an interested party, the act of settlement would prevent a Catholic Stuart restoration unless authorised by an Act of Parliment. This is unlikely to happen unless France is willing to maintain a large longterm garrison in England to support James II. I feel the religious angle, like the dredgers issue is merely a cover for a French attempt to cripple England before turning against their contential rivals. William IV is the legal ruler of England, Scotland, Ireland and Head of the Church of England. The UDP and Scotland appear to be inactive.

So the general consensus is that England is active but ruled by a 'King' position rather that a 'Government' position. That's very unusual in the games isnt it?

France seems to have relations with most of Europe and afar and always appears very active, but England has always seemed very quiet. In fact, I thought it was inactive for a long time. I just find it really odd.

I'm not in game 7 but, contrary to that suggested above, I am much more worried if I'm at war with an "inactive" player - because this means Richard will be playing for the other side and he is much better at it than any mere mortal!

Well that's the interesting thing isn't it. Afterall.....he knows where your troops are

Blimey I'm not suggesting Richard is cheating (arrghh there goes another fleet destroyed by a mysterious typhoon!), I'm sure he has a chinese walls system, after all he doesn't always win!

Yeah, me neither. lol

Chinese walls?

Agema never tells you if a position is active, or non active. Which is good, as it keeps you on your toes, in suspence. Never knowing what is around the corner, is good for the game. As in real life, you can plan all you like, but you never know when something is going to crop up and bite you on the bum.

Well, they may never tell, but if you read the paper it isn't hard to figure out mostly.

Even so, I'd very much like to know what's going through England and Frances minds right now.

And who is going to win ?!?!

And just when I was thinking about leaving G7 to focus on G6 and G8. lol

Well..... What an interesting turn reply!

Just who is England? Seemingly an experienced hand is now in charge - but is it too late? A very interesting playing style is surfacing, and just in time for the position too, as France makes further advances on them. Though England, or at least the King, does have a new ally - albeit a fledgling one.

Now that's the sort of thing that I really love about this game. Underdogs!

I am in G7 and keen to understand what's what! I have a correspondent that claims to be in regular contact with England. I'm not.

Also the UDP (Englands 'other half') appears to be caving in to threats from France. Will other nations rally before William is defeated? Will they send units and food as these are surely in short supply. Can the rest of Europe stand the diminution of England and the rise of France? Questions, questions!

Note France's puppet King is now in England and a (second) French army has landed.

God Save the King!

England must be on its last legs with the heavy losses in ships they have suffered.
But they have no choice except to fight on, France "conditions" for ending the war is not exactly generous.
Interesting that Austria has decided to declare war on France, time will tell how serious he is going to pursue it.
It is very interesting in any case, where will the French hammer fall next?

I get the impression that the whole thing stems from the Spanish Succession early on in the game. From what I've seen Spain/Austria and France have long been at odds politically (at least publically), and England was always very quiet. Occasionally you would see hints of active player status and some quite interesting hints they were too. But never strong enough to point toward a properly active position (hence my confusion).

Could this have been a 'play dead' tactic?

Even now, it appears that England is in a position of only being able to respond to the moves France makes and that France has the ability to prosecute this war for a long time to come. Will France call on her own allies and cash in her favours now, later or not at all? What of this UDP/Spanish/Austrian treaty? Is England keeping something amazing back for a counter offensive, lulling France into a false sense of achievement?

It's possible that the Austrian involvement comes in now for reasons as 'debateable' as the French reason for war in the first place - one thing is for sure though, this game is very interesting compared to G6 at the moment (for me).

And what happens next? IF France wins then we've seen the terms for peace. But after the pounding her navy has taken etc, even one of the small 'tin pot' nations could be bold enough to have a go (I would!) - Would France then defend Catholic England?

My own position in the game is heavily swayed by the results of the war, so not only would I love to see inside these players heads - I'd love for a decisive outcome one way or another.

I believe that England has had three players during the first 4 years of this game. It was in a bit of a mess (?) and I think that the French attack was prompted by the torpor of the position and then a belligerent response to a demand for compensation.

France went for a quick hit but may be better now to slowly strangle and emasculate the English economy. And if there's a puppet King /government England is frankly out of the game and all hell can break loose on the mainland.

Can England hold on?

Well the times are getting interesting....

Hopefully the remainder of the english army is better equipped than the Jamaica garrison. Matchlocks is not the weapon of the future in this day and age.

No you are correct but they could have put up a fight. The gov was a bit 'wet' don't you think?

The French terms for peace do seem (to me) to be heavy, though that would usually be countered by a set of counter terms. Well that's how I've always played it offering very heavy terms and accepting less as a show of comprimise.

What would England and France be willing to settle on?

Presumably it would have to involve dredgers? :-/

"The men of the Jamaica regiment smashed their matchlocks and proceeded to Kingston army camp in order to collect some promised new flintlocks."

They never found these new flintlocks of course, perhaps the French can find them now that they have taken Kingston.

It must be either a failed English plan or a brilliant masterstroke of the French secret service.

What is that we hear from the Reich......

The Kaiser has declared war on France......

Muster our troops we are seemingly going to war......

A war on at least 3 fronts that will see if the frenchies are truly elastic....

Certainly things are hotting up and the French are only just over the famine that caused riots in the south and had their colonies in revolt.

Anyhow whats happening on the Esast Coast of North America? Who are thes sons of liberty??