Game 6-War between Austria and the Twin-Kingdoms?

Well, things are interesting at the mo!

So it seems we now have England, Austria and the UDP v the Twin Kingdoms over Milan. Me thinks this could be a long and costly largely naval war...is it really worth it for a few acres of Italy? Mind you, certain elements in Austria are not keen on the war at all...apparently when one is attacked by a fellow Catholic, there is no greater sin than having some orrible nasty smelly northern european protestants insisting on helping you...the Royal Navy appears to finish off at Cadiz what Drake started...

France has made its position clear-neutrality and a strict one at that, no aid to either side.

The Russians and Swedes are still fighting on...the Panama Canal Project has been abandoned...the Indians are giving away grain...and the Scots need some...

Suddenly realised a year has passed (more or less) since we've mentioned this game...

The war has dragged on with little happening.  Austria and the Twin Kingdoms have made peace but England hasn't-but both it and the TW are NPC so who knows how long it will go on for despite little happening...England seems to keep loosing merchants but that's it.

Russia and Sweden are at peace whilst France has become the leading power, and most honourable nation.  India and Scotland both seem to be progressing nicely....

What a shame.......a perfectly good war & no one fighting it!

Do you sense an opportunity then Stuart

But it is a rather pointless war.  The original dispute was between Austria and the Twin Kingdoms over Milan-an agreement was brokered by the Pope but one side (can't remember which) wasn't willing to abide by it and so war seemed inevitable.  
I think I've got this next bit right, in that England then threatened war and declared it against the Twin Kingdoms on the basis that it had a defence treaty with Austria (which also included the UDP)-as far as I recall Austria didn't invoke the treaty but England did!  I don't think the UDP ever chose to get involved

Things then got complicated as all three players seem to have dropped out after a couple of months of fighting!  So we had a rather odd low level conflict going on.  A few turns back the Twin Kingdoms and Austria made peace-this was a bit odd in itself as it wasn't clear who had become active, there were some other news reports that suggested Austria was active again but if so whoever was playing wasn't communicating with anyone else.  So we now have this war between England and the Twin Kingdoms in which the original dispute has been resolved...and frankly England is getting the worse of it, losing a few merchants every month.

The winner of the war seems to have been...France!  She quickly declared neutrality (says a lot for a conflict when France passes up helping another Catholic power bash England), I don't know what secret talks went on and if there was any possibility of France getting involved if things went badly for anyone.  The war has left France free to develop colonially and this she seems to be doing...and has now displaced Austria as most honoured.

Scotland (me) took the approach that this was a Catholic war fought between Catholic princes over a Catholic duchy in Catholic Southern Europe...so was no concern of good Protestant Northern Europeans thank you very much!  I must stress that the former English player seemed quite happy with this as this was bound to be a colonial/naval war, and I also gave them assurances that Scotland would not allow itself to be a base for any attacks on England-we may have been neutral but were being pro-England.  When the player dropped out I was in the process of offering to let his merchants reflag themselves under my colours plus give assurances that if hostile forces landed in England, I would send Scottish forces to relieve his troops on garrison duties in the north of England-and that if such hostile forces came with the aim of deposing Queen Anne (our mutual monarch) Scotland would declare war in support of England.  
Of course, since it went NPC nothing has come out of England and all my efforts to be pro-it have not had any effect.

So, the question is how long will the War of NPCs drag on...

A few English Merchant ships lost every month and nothing much being lost by the Twin Kingdoms?

Do the loyal subjects of good queen Anne need to be sent the S A Bailey Guide to "Economic Warfare in Glori du Roi" a worthy tome or the more popular "Rape, loot and Plunder - Sea Raiding for Fun and Profit" ?????

I think you better send the Royal Navy a few copies

Chipping in a bit late here... Noting that this has become a rather "quiet" game (and perhaps because of my own part in it). As near as I can judge we have about a half-dozen active states (of which only 3 to 4 engage in any kind of correspondence). The Hispano-Austrian war fizzled rapidly as all 3 players dropped. France could have become involved, but the Spanish player (knowing that he might be about to drop, depending on what happened with his economy) insisted France stay clear. The Northern War slogged itself to an unexciting finish, and currently we have nothing as bizarre or far-reaching (in terms of variation from real history) as - say - Games 7 or 3. Not sure if a quiet time is a good thing or not... Some new players might ginger things up. Or, looking on the down-side, at what point does Richard decide a Game has become moribund; and what does he then do about it?

when game is down to 2 players it is not worth the effort, g2 went that way there was me (SB) and England

Can only imagine the dedication it takes to keep playing when only 2 active players...

Is there anyone on here that can remember (or knows about) things that happened pre 1707 ??? (I have the newspapers from then, thanks to an earlier request). In particular - does anyone know who King Phillip-in-Naples is?? Seems a strange designation. Is he the bod that would have been King Phillip of Spain if things had gone "normally" (according to real-world history)?

As the position was played by the count de Monet . Paul. I would suggest trying to send him a message and ask. Good luck.

I still come into the forum and read posts, but haven't logged in as a member until this evening for months. So jamesbond007 my huge apologies for missing your kind message of May, asking about the personal situation. Your ongoing support and understanding is a massive boost.

In terms of the Game 6 war, obviously what follows is a biased interpretation but I will try and keep it as factual as possible, which Richard would then be able to confirm (or deny!) more easily.

Game 6 began with a Spanish Bourbon and Hapsburg position. I began as Portugal.
The Spanish Succession was resolved in favour of the Bourbon Family with Philippe, duc d'Anjou being named King
A falling out occurred between the new Spanish King and his grand-father the French King (Louis XIV)
King Philippe abdicated the Spanish throne in favour of King Pedro (who had been supportive of his early rule)
King Pedro as King of the Twin-Kingdoms was accepted fairly universally, but the Hapsburg South (of Spain) objected
While I was bringing peace to Spain a personality appeared in Milan and declared for Austria (my opinion is that this personality was an action of the Austrian player - but could have been Richard).
Conveniently and amazingly, an Austrian force appeared almost literally immediately and took the Duchy.
I had declared that upon Succession the Spanish Empire would remain Spanish sovereign soil (as a thank you to King Louis for not objecting to the Spanish Succession I leased the Duchy of Flanders to France)
Austria refused to recognise Spanish sovereignty over Milan or enter into discussions on a lease agreement
Thus (again in my opinion) Austria had taken Milan from Spain illegally, and this was supported, eventually by Rome.

Hope this helps some - and it would only be fair for whoever was the Austrian player at the time to give their view on events.

I think I still have the newspapers saved electronically on my PC so I should be able to put actuals dates to the events above as reported in the newspapers.

Thanks for that (as ever), a very helpful nut-shell - and obviously fated that you should log-on at this particular moment! Still not sure who King Philip-in-Naples is ("historically"). I'm trying to work out his family links (apart from the fact that he is married to a daughter of the Emperor). Hope things are more settled for you in the real world (perhaps logging-on is a sign of that), and you might even be tempted back to GoK, somewhere, somehow..?

sorry Jim, the bit you wanted to know, and the bit I missed off !......

Philippe, King-in-Naples is the Duc d'Anjou and previously onetime King of Spain. Due to the falling out with his grandfather he didn't want to return to France upon abdication in Madrid, so I offered him title and "sanctuary" in Italy.

I do believe sometime after his abdication I was able to reconcile him to his family in France but he remained in Naples, serving the Spanish Crown.

Excellent, thank you, just what I wanted to know, and as I suspected - which does give me an on-going family-blood reason to keep poking Austria on the sore wound that is Milan (you might be pleased to know).

A distant round of applause is heard for the Holy Roman Emperor..