The Power & the Glory (G7) - Fighting under the Lilly Banners or "Death to the French"

July 1710 Gloire du Roi has shown up and the natural order of things has been restored.

With the bodies of William of Orange, Prince Eugine of Savoy, The Duke of Marlborough & the Lord Murray the Chancellor of Scotland barely in the ground. Louis XIV waited roughly half a minute after the expiry of the non aggression clause in the treaty of Yorktown before he declared war on the grief stricken Holy Roman Empire, the UDP & the King of Spain for good measure.

All of this without so much as a diplomatic letter or even a diplomatic ultimatium before Louis launched his 5 or 6th war of aggression against the House of Hapsburg & the UDP.

To really add insult to injury.....Louis the head of the Gallic Church & a man who has annexed papal lands and defied papal bulls to a) Ally with Ottomans and Calvinst rebels against Catholic's b) Allied with the Protestants against the Catholic League in the Thirty Years War c) Allied with Cromwell & the New Model Army against Spain and who is now allied with a schismatic Czar who wants to burn Rome has declared he is fighting a war to uphold Papal Supremacy.

Most people think that Louis hoped that various Hapsburg leaders would be so shocked by this outlandish claim that they would suffer a heart attack. But what happens if the Pope suffers a the heart attack and the Cardinals elect Cardinal Portocarrero as the next Pope? Assume Louis throws current French Claims into same dustbin as his promises to the American Protestants.

Current line up for Louis latest war would seem to be: Under the Lilly Banners =

a) Making his latest bide for world domination - The Sun King himself......Louis XIV of France.

b) His half trained attack dog (not a French Poddle!!) the Jacobite King of England ........James III............A fanatic and driven individual who makes even G2 Warlords like Phillip of Anjou & Iskander Kruppa seem soft and cuddly! Greatly feared by all!!

c) A man with a hang over.........Czar Peter took a small break and found that his diplomatic service had given St Petersburg back to the Swedes and lumbered him with a load of American Colonies full of Puritans and Orange Order types plus a Jacobite alliance.

On the other side the "League of Augsburg" seems to include:

a) The last loyal ministers of William of Orange - some how the UDP ministers seem to have ended up leading a mixed bunch of Americans, Scots, & English inc HWIC types as well as their own Dutch forces. Well its one way of getting round the not enough recruit problem.

b) Louis ancient foe - Leopold von Hapsburg........ The Holy Roman Emperor of the German Nation.......but how many of his Princes will rally to him this time?

c) The 2nd son - one Prince who will rally to the Imperial Banner (if only because the French also declared war on him personally) is Charles von Hapsburg King of Spain and Knight of the Holy League of St George.

The League of St George inc the Pope, Venice, Genoa, Portugal, Savoy, Knights of St John & Tuscany as well as Spain should like the princes of the Holy Roman Empire now declare war on the French but being AGEMA NPC's will probably be too busy.

What the PC princes of the HRE like the King of Sweden & the Elector of Brandenburg do is going to be of interest in this war. Ditto other outside powers.

The other key point would seem to be how Louis deploys his forces. Can he use interior lines to baffle his foes or do the new Agema rules on sickness and marches which seem to take six months to cross the road now mean you have to fight with what you have in a area and lightning marches from the Rhine to in front of Barcolona not going to happen?

Should be interesting, long and bloody:D A proper old school agema war but with added logistic problems.

Who said large armies starve in Spain.......small ones get beaten

I think all of G7 deserves each other

Nobody has clean hands.

Fair enough, I'm not involved in G7, but if I was...

I'm Neutral. Abide my my nation's Neutrality Laws. You'll pay me how much? I'm on their side!

Or, it might be fun to remain neutral but invite all of the warring countries to have embassies in your capital. Everyone (including the neutral country) could play at espionage then!

I'm also thinking about hiring out mercenary units ... To all countries. Now that could be fun in the heat of battle.

I think I best stick with peaceful Africa

Depends what you mean by "naturally"... In the case of G7 I have to be pro-French because my Swashbuckler in that world definitely is (not putting France before his native England, of course, but his is the Catholic version of England currently being so actively promoted by the right royal James). In other games... I have to be pro-French because I AM France (but if I wasn't I wouldn't be, if you see what I mean).

Very simple really. In game 7 France is bad, in game 9 France is ok, and in game 10 France is good. That wasnt at all difficult really.

1st month of Louis XIV latest war against the Hapsburgs and oddly little action.....boreing!

- In the north Austrian Cavalry probed Lille and spoilt the drill of the garrison. Oddly it seems that the French have built fortified lines all along their Northern Frontier but the lines are not occupied by the French Army.

- In East General Count Philipp von Daun who I assume is an Imperialist has found that Belfort is garrisoned. Has Louis XIV been very naughty and not followed the treaty of Yorktown under which he should have removed all of his troops from Franche Comte?

- In the south..........nothing.

- Elsewhere Austrian Navy has sent its Galley's to sea and has issued letters of marque.

- While back in Versailles Louis XIV has openned a new Chapel in the saon d'Hercule dominated by a bas-relief of him crossing the Rhine. No doubt the Spanish Cardinals will have a few things to say so called Catholic Chapels being devoted to the King and Pagan Gods. They certainly had a few things to say his month!

- To even more wind up his Roman Catholic opponents King Louis Propaganda campaign seems to be being run by the Moscow Chronicle and the Schismatic Russians.

Seems that the French accussed the Spanish of the same two faced crimes that the Spanish accussed the French of, the conclusion can only be that they are both as bad as one another.

In Dover the Russian army will be holding a sand castle building competition this turn, any one who wants to send along a team to take part is most welcome, there will be free Vodka. Cucumber Sandwichs ( without crusts.) will also be avaliable.

Seems also that the Scots have found a way around the failed harvest, they simply murder/burn as many of their neighbours as possiable, the end result is a lot less mouths to feed, so less money will need to be wasted on buying in Grain to feed htem. Sometimes I think the governmental cutbacks go just a little too far.

Sept 1710 Gloire du Roi has shown up and the War between Big Lou has his Hapsburg & other foes is slowly starting to warm up:

1) In a daring attack French Hussars slipped past Count Esterhazy's Hussar patrols on the frontier spurred their horses across Flanders and captured the small UDP city of Hulst by coup de main. Deep raids by French Cavalry were a feature of past wars but not the last in which Austrian Hussars and Spanish Dragoons rode circles round the French. The Hulst attack would seem to represent a return to strategic daring & flexibility by the French mounted arm.

2) A huge cavalry battle in the south also showed improvements in French Cavalry scouting and perhaps that they have abandoned the failed attempt to adopt the lance in favour of their traditional sword play.

- The battle outside of Perpignan happened due to a Spanish attempt to hit the French Army in the south while it was still drilling and disrupt it. This gamble failed and Lt-Gen Louis-Joseph Vendome (different man but same name as the Marshall of France killed in the last war when the Armee of the North was virtually wiped out) had warning and time enough to pick his ground and cover Perpignan with a cavalry screen lead by La Guiche......so far so good.

- Sadly for the French Charles Von Hapsburg seems to have inspired the Spanish Horse with the simple, direct and brutal approach of dont charge walls or formed foot......anything else is fair game. Get into them and give them a taste of the old Toledo Steel! And faced with the shock action of Spanish Cavalry French combat ability was once again found to be lacking. Basically they ran away!

- Tactical Students will no doubt note with interest that the French did not adopt their usual tactic from the last war of using two lines and a third formation of Dragoon's to outflank. Not sure if this is due to lack of time, lack of Dragoon's or change of doctrine but interestingly the Spanish seem to have responded to this tactic by deploying own Dragoons and Galloper Guns as a third line ready to deal with Flankers or reinforce as required.

- In another tactical change since the last war the Spanish seem to have adopted the Swedish Cavalry Wedge for their first line as a anti Lancer tactic. Clearly theory was for wedges to burst through French Lines and turn battle into a mass brawl as 2nd & 3rd Spanish Lines close with disordered and semi static French Lancers. Like most theories it did not survive first battle since the French did not use Lancers and the Wedges routed both French Lines before the following Spanish formations could engage..........to Quote Sgt Pedro "They dont like it up them."

Mind you to be fair to the French Horse who had 63 Squadrons ridden down by 40 something Spanish they were outflanked and with another 80 Squadrons unengaged and closeing in the Spanish 2 & 3rd lines running away was a good option. But following the "Perpignan Races" French Infantry & Artillery are probably feeling very worried since if they French Horse break like that again and leave 2/3 of the Spanish Horse not engaged on a open French Infantry Flank its going to be the Armee of the North again.

In other news:

3) Big Lou got upset with his architects for putting bas-reliefs glorifying him as a ancient God in a Catholic Chapel. Big Lou seems to think his architects and designers are in the pay of the Spanish Propaganda Ministry after offending Catholic's everywhere with this scandalous "own goal".

4) The Emperor is really upset with Big Lou on finding out French Forces occupied the Imperial City of Belfort prior to the expiry of the Treaty of Yorktown and in total violation of that treaty which restored the province to the Hapsburg's. Big Lou probably views treaty violation as a small price to pay for stealing the Richarmee of the North circles base from them.

5) French letters of Marque have been issued against Spanish, Dutch & Austrian shipping. Shipping of these powers already suffering at hands of Big Lou Jacobite allies who have sunk the entire Austrian Fleet...........all three galley's.

Basically things are looking fairly good for the French on a strategic level and they seem to be out manovering and out generalling their foes ......only problem is that they French Forces still seem to be inferior to their foes in combat and the Hapsburg's in particular wish to fight and avenge their slaughtered Hero.

October 1710 Gloire du Roi has shown up and its generally been a good month for those dashing chaps fighting under the Lilly Banners:

1) In a series of Cavalry & Naval Raids into Flanders & the UDP French forces have taken the undefended towns of Middleburg, Ostend, Burges & Eindhoven.

Oddly the Dutch port of Middleburg and 21 merchant prizes was taken by a force commanded by Rene Duguay-Trouin who has been dead and fish food on the bottom of Dublin Bay for some years but like the Duke of Vendome seems to have come back to life:scratch:

Have the French taken up Necromancy? And if the practice spreads will someone sew King Williams head back on?

2) French Cavalry have also rode through Spanish Cannon fire at San Sebastian to raid deep into Spain and take control of the undefended city of Burgos.

Oddly the French Raids seem to be being conducted by single Hussar Regiments (5 Squ strong) who are actually horse rather than light cavalry. So if you are a FGKC character in the French Cavalry this is the point when you find out your Brigadier is after your mistress and does not expect you to to come back from Spain alive..... also that you have just cut the pilgrim route to Santiago de Compostelo and men under your command have raped nuns and robbed pilgrims.

3) At the western end of the frontier Vendome seems to have avoided a Spanish attempt to bring him to battle or bottle him up in Perpignan......seems that unlike French Cavalry Spanish Generals declined to advance past a fortress and cut their own supply lines.
So while Vendome made his get away the Spanish laid siege to Perpignan in a very polite manner.

- Defence of the Fortress is being conducted by General Claude de la Bretonniere also in a very polite manner with his Swiss mercenaries only putting up a token defence of the covered way. Having been abandoned by Vendome and seemingly left with no artillery support the Swiss are probably not that keen on a determined defence or annoying the Spanish.

4) Dutch Navy have seized 36 French Merchant ships but other than that Dutch do not seem to have responded to the earlier capture of a Dutch Town.

5) Likewise the Austrians have done little apart from occupy some undefended French fortified lines known as the Belfort works.

In summary the French seem to be winning in the North, fighting a delaying action in the South but what the hell is going on in the East?

in the good old days of G2 as Russia I was a supporter of the French, however in G3 as Poland i was not as he said nasty things about me and my allies, G4 and G5 I ignored him, in G7 he was no problem to me (Blackbeard) Spain got my wrath,

In G7 I quite like the French, may mean I have to go to war to help them soon, Have to put on my best fighting trousers & release the goats of war!

Of course now the Pope has told Spain & Austria to get out of the British isles then there may be a good chance of peace.

Wonder just how much damage Papal Excommunication could cause to Spain & Austria, probably be a bit messy.

J Flower wrote:In G7 I quite like the French, may mean I have to go to war to help them soon, Have to put on my best fighting trousers & release the goats of war!

Of course now the Pope has told Spain & Austria to get out of the British isles then there may be a good chance of peace.

Wonder just how much damage Papal Excommunication could cause to Spain & Austria, probably be a bit messy.

You'd think by now people would welcome a chance for some peace...

...but if they don't I guess Vienna will soon be renamed New St Petersburg?

You'd think by now people would welcome a chance for some peace.........[/quote]


Aggggghhhhh.......wash you mouth out with soap.........Perfectly good war Between France & the Hapsburgs has only been going on for two months and people are talking about peace

If the Papacy, Russians, Scots, Dutch etc want to play a game of diplomatic peace talks fine. I will even join in if this is what they want but please leave me with one war to fight/write up.

Fortunately in G7 France declared war on me (and others) without sending a single letter and seems only interested in attacking its historic foes rather than anything else so it should be a proper war this time.

Also quite clearly I am the good guy this time which makes a nice change since Agema & some players have in the past written up some of my characters as Public Enemy No1 ........some people sack Havanna and become dashing pirate hero's. My characters call the Queen of Spain a halot (still say that baby was dodgy not a miracle in G9) or sack Venice or the Golden temple and a couple of other minor events and people want you excommunicate you.

Sorry peace it is.Stuart. Boring peace, so we can all get back to goat rearing, looking to breed those with black legs as they are more attractive.

Bugger, if I want New St Petersburg (Vienna), I will have to force march my troops from the Hungarian boarder to get there before the Turks do.

in G7 Has the Kaiser been crowned in Rome? or has he only been elected ? Could make a big difference as to how the Pope deals with him.

Really people, threats of Russian troops taking Vienna are not that realistic. Its just as easy to reach Moscow from Vienna, it cuts both ways. This is just an obvious attempt to draw Austrian troops away from the Rhine. I have already found that raising troops in three months is far quicker than marching troops over long distances. As Austria has more recruits than it knows what to do with.
Perhaps people missed what happened in the last Hapsburg-French war. The Austrians had a war of attrition with the French and then fresh Spanish and Dutch armies were thrown in which tipped the balance. As Austria my strategy is a war of attrition in which I happily sacrifice army after army allowing my allies the coup de grace. So confident in this I am even posting it in the forum. The Austrian way of war is to fight and happily lose battles and troops, because it will win the war. If you don't believe it, look at the recent battles in Hastings. The sacrifice of an Austrian army at Hastings has disrupted Jacobite control in the British Isles. Lost the battle, won the war. Scotland and the north of England is slipping away from the Jacobite's.

Way too serious.

Try this:

Russians could never reach fair Vienna because they'd die of Vodka withdrawal a few weeks after crossing over their own borders, assuming they crossed the right borders. They're forever rushing off to Ottoman lands to engage in oiled wrestling.

The only real threat would be if they could ship us their women who are so frightfully ugly we'd all have to flee the city to drink beer in the countryside. At least until we imported enough distilled spirits to stay as drunk as Russians so we didn't notice. Or alternatively we could just let loose a bunch of stallions and the Russian women would chase them back all the way home begging for their hooves in marriage.

You worry about the Russian women?

Do you not realise, at this very moment the Scottish Republic is sending its feared Corps of Glaswegian Women, who fight bare-breasted and carrying an 8-lb baby, to attack the Jacobites at Dundee

Scottish women, Scottish men, how do you tell the difference?

It's the beards...the mens are shorter

With regards to the Vodka problem( what problem, we drink it no problem.......)

Russian research into portal stills has been successful, a portable distillery has now been attached to each Russian army in the field, this along with the goats is ensuring a high degree of morale & joviality among Russian troops. The Grain they found Poland on their way to the Hungarian boarder was apparently very good, 18mths on the road, & only SL4 not bad, couple of months in winter quarters & away we go , bearded women of Vennia brace yourselves.

The Russian synod is also considering that women having beards is to become a part of the compulsary dress code.although this is sit being discused.

As to the eaters of Porridge, will there actually be anyone left in Scotland in the not too distant future? will they have to send all their sheeps to Wales for proper care & attention?

Have you met Highland sheep-they are thugs and punks, they'll need no one to look after them...if we sent them to Wales they'd end up terrorising the Welsh men!

J Flower wrote:Sorry peace it is.Stuart. Boring peace, so we can all get back to goat rearing, looking to breed those with black legs as they are more attractive.

Bugger,  if I want New St Petersburg (Vienna), I will have to force march my troops from the Hungarian boarder to get there before the Turks do.

Clearly all this Goat Worship by the schmatic Russians is proof of Devil Worship on a par with French Necromancy?

If the Ottoman anti Christ, French Necromancer & Russian Devil Worshipper march on that Bastion of the faith known as Vienna what price on the current Pope having a heart attack?

Vote Cardinal Portocarrero for Pope

For non players in G7 who like to keep up to date on Louis XIV latest wars here are the highlights from Nov 1710:

a) Small units of French Cavalry etc continue their Mechelen guided tour of Flanders, UDP and Northern Spain. Moving into Flushing, Mechelen, Valladoid, Tilburg, and Denain (a whole 2 sqadrons moved into Denain) and moving out od Bruges, Middleburg, Ostend etc.

The only real action brought on by this was at Ostend were the French Hussars clashed with Hungarian Hussars and were then harassed by Miquelets has they made their way back across the frontier.

b) Countess Mary of Ghent has protested long and loudly to the Emperor, Princes of the Holy Roman Empire and her Duke about all these noisy tourists from south of the border lowering the tone of the area, not paying their bar tabs and twirling their Gallic whiskers at nice Flemish and Dutch girls. And some not so nice ones.

c) In Versailles some people have wondered why the French Army seems to be attacking the one Hapsburg territory which is fairly pro French when the Emperor holds the Belfort gap and that nasty son of his is on the southern border of France. Latest reports do however indicate that major French Cavalry formations have moved away from the Northern border and joined the Southern forces by barge (which must have used up almost every barge in France and virtually stopped trade) following the battering given to French Cavalry in the south.

d) Vendome (not the dead one) reinforcements arrived too late to stop the stop the Spanish taking Perpignan with the Garrison giving their word not to fight again until exchanged for equal number of Hapsburg POW's after Spanish miners/engineers blew a bloody great mine under their feet. Sadly while the Spanish seem to be good at mines they just can not get the hang of these mortar things. Trying to hit the hit the defenders they over shot so badly that near a third of the town and a shipyard went up in flames. No one is sure why the French located a shipyard in a inland town with not linked to the sea.

e) Rene Duguay-Trouin (same name but not the dead one) probed La Coruna but pulled away when his frigates were fired on by coastal artillery.

f) Meanwhile on the Eastern front Imperial scouting forces have probed Dijon finding it held by the French.........is French supplies of Mustard and its finest Burgundy wines safe?

For non players in G7 who like to read about the wars of Louis XIV very roughly this is what the French and their foes have been doing in Dec 1710:

1) French cavalry raiders have taken Nimwegen but in general Anti French cavalry seem to have been more active with Austrians raiding in Eastern France, Spanish Raiding in the south & Moldavian Mercenaries in the pay of Flanders raiding all round the Douai base of Constable Villars & the Armee du Jura.

Accounts that the Armee of the Jura had been stripped of all its Cavalry to reinforce the southern frontier proved false as Villars deployed his army of 79 battalions of foot, 58 artillery batteries........and 20 Squadrons of horse. Plenty provided 1 Frenchman is worth 15 Austrians!

After taking note of the huge number of barges (actual military barge units? or pressed civilian barges?) used to move French Forces and supplies the anti French raiders seem to be trying find and sink these units. If they have had an effect is unknown.

2) French Navy has been more active than the Army and has captured the Dutch colony of Quilon and sunk hulks in Flushing. The French Navy also bombarded the defences of New York, Nieuport & Vigo but did not really press home their attacks when they came under return fire.

3) Aside from the raids and the probes the only major move seems to be that of the Reicharmee (belived to be mostly Austrians) who moved into Auxerre....deep into France....... and captured a French General. With Villars and the Armee of the Jura deployed to cover Flander/UDP in place of the wiped out (in last war) Armee of the Nord and Vendome (not the dead one!) and the Army of the South deployed in well the South V Spain. It is still not clear who has the job of stopping the Imperial forces.

4) The good news in this area for the French is that following the French Invasion of the Holy Roman Empire's Flanders province the outrage displayed by the Electors and Princes of the HRE was not exactly stunning. Mostly with the honourable exception of the Elector of Hanover they seemed to be of the opinion that its Hapsburg territory.......let the Hapsburgs defend it.

5) Not such good news for the French is yet more confirmation that the Grand Dauphin is an idiot as well as a coward. Seems that the Grand Dauphin thinks Persia is Ottoman which no doubt comes as a shock to both the Ottoman Sultan and the Shah of Persia. He is also still muttering about peace merely months after his honoured & war like father the mighty Louis XIV declared war on the Holy Roman Empire, UDP & Spain.

6) In other news the French signed a treaty with the Jacobites and banned Austrian, Dutch & Spanish traders from their colonies.

Most people expect the winter months to be fairly low level due to the number of sickness levels picked up by campaigning in winter but later 1711 could be very interesting indeed.