France V The Hapsburgs (G7)

If Mark "I like a challenge" Turner is thinking about taking on the Jacobite position in G7 the Good news is:

1) Following the intervention of Big Bad Lou and his French Army the Jacobites have their man on the throne and control the English & Irish Governments and in material terms it only cost a few colonies to the French.

The problems faced are:

A) The deposed (& NPC) King William is still King of Scotland & Statholder of the UDP which means that anyone who dislikes the cuurent set up in London has a clear and active cause to rally support behind.

The G7 Dutch player who is the Grand Pensionary not the Stadtholder clearly considers it his duty as a good Protestant to restore his "Boss" to his usurped throne.

The Jacobite Govt backed the Sons of Liberty (West Indies Pirate faction) in its feud with the HWIC (2nd West Indies Pirate faction). Which rather upset the HWIC.

I think the Military threat from the Dutch is real but not a massive problem for the Jacobite English Government provided it can keep its own forces loyal

B) Having both the Dutch & the HWIC funding active propaganda campaigns against it does not help a Government/King which came to power viewed as a French Poddle.

C) The other problem is that James now has no clear allies and his Government is full of turncoats no one trusts since :

- Former members of his Govt (Ok they were Williams Ministers at the time) abandoned Austria to fight on its own after Austria had attempted to save them from the French.

- Abandoned the French and left them to fight Austria, Spain & the UDP on their own.

- He attacked Spanish & Flanders Ports and then stubbed the Queen of Spain's sister


Basically Mark these are not the romantic tartan clad Jacobites but a well dodgy bunch of back stairs wheelers and dealers forming a Govt, no one likes or trust's...........for good reason! You would be playing bad men on a parr with the Opium Cartel in Scrabble!

Ok your opposition are not much better  

After I dropped James, he started turning down all marriage proposals. I actually was very seriously considering a marriage proposal from Spain to put some light between James and France. I think one of the challenges of the position is that you need to honour and respect the guy who helped you regain your throne, without being his "poodle". I think that means making some other allies.

I don't know if it's too far gone yet, but it would be a challenge.

Part of the difficult choice for a Stuart England is that if it stands by its ally France; France wont be able to send any help to Stuart England. So who would England seek as an ally, or more importantly which foreign power would want to link its fortunes to the Jacobites? Probably the Jesuits and the Papacy, Poland - but I dont think it is played at the moment. I cant really think of anyone else - Denmark, Portugal, perhaps it will have to be the Ottomans!

I think Spain would welcome a chance to ally with England on the right terms. Haven't been in game in a while, but I imagine that I could make some offers as James that would be mutually beneficial without betraying France.

Deacon wrote:
After I dropped James, he started turning down all marriage proposals.  I actually was very seriously considering a marriage proposal from Spain to put some light between James and France.  I think one of the challenges of the position is that you need to honour and respect the guy who helped you regain your throne, without being his "poodle".  I think that means making some other allies.

I don't know if it's too far gone yet, but it would be a challenge.

Hi Mark,

Ref the above I may have forgot to mention that amongst the many "PR" problems of the English Jacobites -

1) King James is in the terms of the time a "molly" with no interest in females.

2) This would seem to mean the heir's to the throne are all Protestants who view the current ministers as traitors.

3) The turning down of the Queen of Spain's sister was not nice - it sent Hapsburg diplomacy/wedding policy crashing down in flames and was a public humiliation of a charming young lady, the HWIC and the Spanish Ministers who had set the Wedding up which has not been forgiven.

I you ever wish to upset the current Spanish Govt mention a) The sack of Havanna by Blackbeard or b) The English Wedding

4) John Henry the current Prime Minister is a ex American "Rebel" who turned his coat and is at feud with the HWIC.

5) The Govt keeps locking people up using Irish watchmen to do it.

Well you did say you like a challenge.

Basileus wrote:Part of the difficult choice for a Stuart England is that if it stands by its ally France; France wont be able to send any help to Stuart England. So who would England seek as an ally, or more importantly which foreign power would want to link its fortunes to the Jacobites? Probably the Jesuits and the Papacy, Poland - but I dont think it is played at the moment. I cant really think of anyone else - Denmark, Portugal, perhaps it will have to be the Ottomans!

oddly, I did consider offering Moldavian support a turn or so back...was going to offer to fund a force of Dragoons to deal with the various highwaymen on the loose in England...

Is anyone able to count up how players have run England so far in this game and who those governments were?

Basileus wrote:Is anyone able to count up how players have run England so far in this game and who those governments were?

Depends what you mean by run? If you mean run it into anarchy then quite a lot!

The latest Gloire du Roi has just shown up for G7 and to no one's surprise its full of strange accounts of odd meetings, dodgy dealings and orange cockades in York, London, Yorktown, New York and amongst the Cherokee. Even the Jusuits in Rome are going on about Derbyshire.

Is it any wonder that the Chickasaw have abandoned their pro English position and allied with Spain.

Hapsburg Spain may be ruled by a German Hapsburg (The Emperor's second son) married to an Italian and advised by a very mixed bag of ministers, viceroys, and clergy and generally playing its own game but compared to England its a land of fair trade and logical business and politic's.........plus a lot of weddings or at least engagments.

News is still however awaited on the really big proposed Hapsburg Wedding........that of the Elector of Bavaria and the Emperors daughter (sister to the King of Spain). Ones hopes that this wedding plan goes better than that of the last big Hapsburg wedding ........the proposed marriage of King James of England & the Queen of Spain's sister.

Outside of the Social Pages (Spain) and the Scandal pages (England) the main political and military news is:

1) The Russians who seemed to be on the verge of offering battle to the Swedes seem to have had 2nd thoughts and ran away instead. This may or may not be linked to the Czar's recent near death experience.

2) The Poles are unhappy that the Russian Czar has not signed their non aggression treaty........give the chap a chance! He has spent the last month on a Vodka Diet to help him get over nearly drowning.

3) Pirates attacked Walvis Bay

Thus the key themes for 1708 would seem to be:

1) The Great Northern War & will it spread?

2) Will Dutch William re-claim his throne & what will big bad Lou do about it?

March 1708 La Gloire du Roi has shown up. Not a lot happening in the last month but the highlights seem to be:

1) Following his near death experience the Czar has declared his non shooting war with the Emperor at an end. He has also sent a envoy to Sweden.......is this an attempt to end his war against fellow Christains?

Has near death by drowning caused the Czar to get religion? Will Russian armies now be marching south to liberate the Holy Land from the Godless Turk?

2) Following on the theme of peace and harmony in Eastern Europe the Emperor has declared that he is willing to consider allowing the Elector of Brandenburg to call himself "King in Prussia".

Is the Emperor trying to shore up his Empire ahead of the end of his truce with the French? Or has the old boy got a dose of true religion off the Czar? Will Austrian Armies now join the Russians in seeking to liberate poor Christains groaning under the Ottoman Yoke?

If the Rumalians, Moldavians etc actually want to be liberated is a different matter.

3) The head of the Spanish Army is following the Austrians in conducting a review of the last war......so far the Austrians have undertaken a full tactical review while the best minds in the Spanish Military have decided they need a bridge trayne. No doubt to keep their fancy Spanish riding boots & feet nice and dry.

Tactically the Spanish seem to be staying loyal to a) Shot them or b) Ride at them very fast and hit them large lumps of metal.

4) England & its colonies still in anarchy! King James and his hench thugs seem to be getting more and more brutal and tyrannic by the day with the Lord Mayor of York and its MP hung for treason and no less than 5,000 Protestants arrested in the America's alone. 300 other captives did however manage to escape from Newgate Goal (Looks like a inside job to me)

Surely it is only a matter of time before Good King William marches south from Scotland to free merrie England from the yoke of this papist monster and his gang of Irish and Turncoats.

5) One result of King James misrule is that the English America's seem to have become a base for pirates, cutthroats, sons of liberty and very bad men    leading to piracy on the high sea's against Spanish Ships and a raid on the Portugese slave port of Calonba. This raid must have really upset the HWIC who lost a trade mission and 1500 slaves and the Captain General of Angola.........who has been kidnapped!

Tsk, tsk Stuart, we in the Empire are deliriously happy under the rule of the Sultan...why would we want liberating from our perfect existence? )

Jason wrote:Tsk, tsk Stuart, we in the Empire are deliriously happy under the rule of the Sultan...why would we want liberating from our perfect existence? )

Usual reasons are given in Russian & Austrian accounts are:

1) To be ruled by a fellow Christain (read fellow Shia in Persian accounts)
2) Lower tax
3) So the kids dont end up in the Janissary Corp or a Harem

But the reason which seems to carry the most weight is "The Czar and 50,000 Cossacks are on the door step and say you wish to be liberated"

Oddly in G2 some people wish to be liberated from the rule of the Sultan so they or their kids can end up in the Janissary Corp which just goes to show that not everyone has the same concept of a "perfect existence"

Ohhh...those naughty Russians and Austrians...always spinning a yarn...

April 1708 Gloire du Roi has shown up and nothing much to report concerning the France V Hapsburg struggle which has been such a influence on G7:

1) The senior Hapsburg seems to be trying to extend the influence of the family and shore up the western border of the HRE before the next war by marrying his daughter to the Elector of Bavaria.

2) The young ladies brother - King Carlos of Spain - would seem to be getting his cavalry ready...........however is this for use against France? Since while France seems not to be doing very much Edward Teach and his Sons of Liberty cronies inc the English PM John Henry (or is that Jean Henri?) seem to be going out of their way to annoy the Iberian powers & the HWIC.

3) In the London Docklands they may think the Pirate Brotherhood now runs the English State and be toasting Edward Teach, John Henry and those English Hearts of Oak who lifted 1500 slaves from the HWIC in Calonba and the Portugese Governor.

But you have to wonder how good Anglican officers will react to orders from their Catholic & Pirate masters if William of Orange marches south? One also wonders if we we will see "Revenge of the Insurance Underwriters."

4) The other big news is that the Czar has offered a Peace Agreemant to the Swedes. Its not a bad offer but the Swedes must be thinking heir Empire is being taken over by the Czar one war + one province at a time.