G7 - The War of the English Succession & the breaking of the Pirate Brotherhood

I am still on snail mail in deepest, darkest, God abandoned Wales, so my turn hasnt arrived yet. What suprises me is that the Jacobites seem still to have a firm hold on England. There is a Dutch invasion fleet off the coast. William is in Scotland and could probably call on Scottish Presbertyrian support, Jacobite policy in England seems to be more and more absolutist, how are they hanging on?

Does make you wonder, doesn't it? The real issue I'd guess is that with invasion looming does James have control of the army and the navy? You can't defeat an invasion with an army of bully boys.

Deacon wrote:
Does make you wonder, doesn't it?  The real issue I'd guess is that with invasion looming does James have control of the army and the navy?  You can't defeat an invasion with an army of bully boys.

Better not inform the Elector of Hanover in G2 that you need Christain Gentlemen of breeding and distinction to defeat an invasion.....seeing as he spent all that cash on buying an Army of infamous "bully boys" from the Athens Corporation of Manufacturers & Exporters (ACME).

I don't know...you recruit a handful of displaced lads, to give them a new home, a fresh start, a second chance...and suddenly people think you've 20,000 bloodthirsty warriors sitting around, just waiting to lay waste to...

Sept 1708 Gloire du Roi has shown up and in one month the Czar has won a key siege.....taking Narva after less than a month of siege action   but his new fleet turned out to be even worse land lubbers than the Prussian Royal Yacht Squadron and got a real beating at the hands of the Vikings who sent 25 Russian Line Ships to the bottom.

But does the great Northern War command the front page? Of course not for this is G7 and everything is reported via the prisim of the English Succession! The GNW gets a look in on page 4 and the most "Russan" column inches are used on covering the Francophile Czar saying he supports the Jacobites. His GNW foe being a Protestants Hero is believed to support the other side.

Getting back to the main story the Jacobite fleet returned rapidly to London in case the Dutch were trying anything fancy but the Dutch Army/Navy seem to vanished.......back to the UDP? Scotland? Or a nice fishing port?

But generally the battle lines seem to be getting a bit more tidy with the Jacobites holding England & Ireland while the Williamites hold the UDP & Scotland. The Jacobites captured the Puritan Stronghold of Lincoln this month but its population had already taken up King James earlier offer and fled the country for the New World.

In the New World the Williamites in new York have been joined by thousands of HWIC irregulars, a Williamite Scots Fleet and oddly the French Protestant Population in the New World have also declared for the Good Old Cause. I doubt if Louis XIV was ever really in favour of his Viceroy settling thousands of French Protestants and now an Orange Banner fly's over New Orleans I am sure he is even less in favour of the idea.

Things are therefore looking a bit grim for Stark, Blackbeard and their merry crew. Esp as Spain seems to view the HWIC as fine upstanding fellows and honest merchants and its opponents as the Pirate Scum who sacked Havana.

What a wild game. Glad whoever picked up James after me is really having a go at it.   

Deacon wrote:
What a wild game.  Glad whoever picked up James after me is really having a go at it.   

At last count the Jacobites were:

1) Having a Civil War with the Dutch & HWIC lead support for King Wlliam.
2) Having a theological dispute with Sierre D'Espaenar, the Vicar-General of the Society of Jesus. Who the Jacobites claim is controlled by the King of Spain.
3) Annoying the hell out of the Hapsburgs and Spain in particular by "ordering" them around and saying that Spain (via the actions of the Jusuit order) had broken the non aggression treaty.

If a man is judged by the quality of his opponents you have to give the Jacobites 10/10 for the varied nature of people they upset and for "really having a go at it"

But for things to get really wild I think what we really need is for French to really wade in. Currently the French Government to active but seems to be keeping silent.........a eye in the storm.

I get confused by the political groupings of this period in England...are Tories more likely to be supportive of a Catholic Monarch than Whigs or "Kings Servants"?

In an attempt to avoid doing what I should be doing this morning...my own take on the November 1708 edition of Glorie

In London, King James appears to be getting into his stride and questioning his admirals on what it is they do. The recent election has given the Tories an overwhelming majority with roughly 2/3rd of the seats.

In Edinburgh William IV wants German mercenaries...something tells me this will not end well for Scotland...

In Brussels they are drinking American Coffee...while in Munich the Prince has announced he doesn't think his army wants to see the sights in London.

Someone has tried to break into the Admiralty in Stockholm whilst in Narva the Czar has promised to pay for all the damage done. In Moscow the Synod is in session again and boy can it talk...

In Wallachia, the Moldavian ambassador also seems to like talking to the Prince...about what though?

In Rome, The Pope has made clear he recognises King James and looks forward to England drawing closer to Rome (does this mean they plan to tow the country into the Med?) and confirmed the Late King James is a Martyr...

In the Americas, the Spanish clergy seem a bit confused as one is blessing a new vineyard project while another lectures about the evils of drink...though drinking coffee is ok...

It seems that the Royal Navy is chasing Dutch merchantmen...and some Russian graincarriers have been lost in the Baltic...

Ref Jason's comments on Nov 1708 if would seem that:

1) After the Jacobites brought in French Troops the Williamites are now planning to bring in German's.

To re-fight the Battle of the Boyne you really need French & Irish on one side V Scots, Dutch, Germans, Danes, Protestant Irish & Protestant French on the other. With perhaps a couple of token English on both sides.

2) The Orthodox are having a debate while in Rome the Catholic's are having a shouting match.

3) The Great Northern War goes on.........not sure what Russian Agents trying to find out.........cure for Sea Sick Serfs perhaps?

4) Spain is basically interested in farming and talking to itself.........with ref to another tread perhaps the America's map can now start to fill up with things like Coffee, Wine, Cattle.

Actually in Last Argument of Kings the maps used to be marked with major trade goods. Something which seemed to have quite a influence on players.

The Dec 1708 Gloire du Roi has shown up and for non players in G7 here are the highlights:

1) Not getting into the Christmas Spirit........The Holy Synod of Orthodoxy which is not sending Christmas invites to the Pope and called the Roman Catholic Church a corrupt, self serving institution.

2) Perhaps this is the reason why the Czar is paying King James lots of money to take over the British American Colonies......he wants to protect all those poor protestants in the America's from being forced to join a corrupt Church!

That or he hopes to swap them for Sweden's Baltic Provinces...........since both are full of Protestant's & Pine Tree's in the Czar's Vodka infused brain he probably thinks Charles Vasa will never notice the difference.

This after all is the man who paid Louis XIV lots of cash for Texas and when he got sober found Texas was already settled by Spanish American's who did not want to convert the the Orthodox faith and live on Vodka & black bread.

Since almost all of the American colonial types with the possible exception of Blackbeard are Protestant and loyal to King William one wonders how they will react to being sold to a Pro Jacobite, Francophile Czar who is the foe of great Protestant Hero of the North?

3) King James seems to be getting on better with the Vatican (well he could not get on worse) but still can not get the Dutch to make a peace seperate to the Scots & Americans or get the English to pay tax.

So it looks the the poor Russian Tax Payers are funding both the Great Northern War and the War of the English Succession.

4) With his Russian funding King James (now also called James VIII of Scotland despite never actually having gone to the place) may be looking at taking the war into Scotland & the UDP. But with King William having private meeting's with the Austrian Envoy will a Jacobite attack trigger the UDP & Scot's (?) alliance with the Hapsburg's?

5) The Holy Roman Emperor has finally had his first Grandson........since at the 4th attempt Hapsburg Junior No2 (Carlos of Spain) and his Italian Queen have produced a boy.

6) The King of Spain seems to have all emotional at being a father for a 4th time.....short for drunk as a lord.......and agreed to fund free school dinners at Church Schools. Well at least he never bought a job lot of dodgy colonial deeds or attempted to drown himself in the Moscow River.

7) Also dishing out Christmas alms and being festive ........The Prince of Moldavia & the Viceroy of Flanders. Unlike Lord Minji who instead seems to be worrying about Jesuits.

Apart from that that not a lot happening but 1709 clearly has potential.

In one sense you have to respect the player behind King James in England for turning an impossible situation around, but at what cost leasing the North American colonies. Probably they were producing no revenue for James but possibly were for King William. Certainly one to watch with interest.

Basileus wrote:In one sense you have to respect the player behind King James in England for turning an impossible situation around, but at what cost leasing the North American colonies. Probably they were producing no revenue for James but possibly were for King William. Certainly one to watch with interest.

With the house of commons seemingly unwilling to vote taxation to fight protestant Dutch & the Scots flogging a load of uppity puritans to the czar probably seems like a good economic move to King James.

In another game the Russians were willing to pay £20M for Sweden's Baltic Provinces which are broadly like the American Colonies. Apart from the lack of tax's on Russian Trade/transhipments.

The Questions I have on this deal is 1) How much honour does it cost if you sale free born Englishmen to the heir of Mongol Tax collectors? 2) Is the Czar trying to concern the Fur Trade or the trade in Ships Mast's.

I look forward to the Czar trying to sort out a bunch of stroppy Puritans at the same time as he is fighting the great Northern War. Think the only solution will be to send the population of Riga, New York etc to Siberia and repopulate with good orthodox Russians.

Siberians, eskimos and red indians might be fairly similar, but that might be a bit un pc to say given the 1,000 miles of distance.

Basileus wrote:In one sense you have to respect the player behind King James in England for turning an impossible situation around, but at what cost leasing the North American colonies. Probably they were producing no revenue for James but possibly were for King William. Certainly one to watch with interest.

Colonies are usually money losers. It's more of a prestige thing mostly. I know I asked about a number of mine and the numbers weren't positive...

Deacon wrote:

Basileus wrote:In one sense you have to respect the player behind King James in England for turning an impossible situation around, but at what cost leasing the North American colonies. Probably they were producing no revenue for James but possibly were for King William. Certainly one to watch with interest.

Colonies are usually money losers.  It's more of a prestige thing mostly.  I know I asked about a number of mine and the numbers weren't positive...

Clearly some colonies are of "prestige" value only ie Prussian colonies in Africa.

Others are basically of value as Naval/Military bases ie Cape Colony.

But are others esp the well populated ones such as the Dutch East Indies and the Spanish & British colonies in the America's more closely linked with trade income/return from that Region? and tax returns?

Actually, I'd be dubious about the british american holding. Historically the revolution was driven by various tax revolts after the King tried to make the colonies profitable, or at least break even, by taxing them.

Some like the Dutch east indies, the spanish/portuguese holding in south america clearly can be, and I imagine that any intelligent player can make their colonies profitable, but when I started the game as Portugal few of mine were at that stage....

The prestige factor is certainly relevant, and the military one as well.

On a side branch... Any ideas on what the new Russian ownership of the American colonies might mean for English Puritan exiles on their way to the (formerly) Promised Land and currently still at sea? (Not that I have a "personal" interest in this, of course...)

If the Russians mess with religious liberty in the american colonies, they're going to provoke the war of independence early.

Lots of early americans were pretty whack-a-doodle and that would send them round the bend.

jimbotten wrote:On a side branch...  Any ideas on what the new Russian ownership of the American colonies might mean for English Puritan exiles on their way to the (formerly) Promised Land and currently still at sea?  (Not that I have a "personal" interest in this, of course...)

Is Tom happy to convert to Russian Orthodoxy? If he is the Russian take over may be good news for his ambition to gain a coat.

I thought most of the colonies were in the hands of the sons of liberty or other followers of Good King William so perhaps the key points are will the Czar send in the cossacks to enforce his power? And if he does will Tom fight for liberty, religious freedom etc or sale out for a Russian Sable Coat?

The other question which may come into play..........is will Russian troops attacking King Williams colonies trigger his alliance with the Hapsburgs? Dont the the HRE's X3 galleys will have much effect but his 2nd son gets jumpy about nasty horse nomads on his northern border............Apache, Cossacks etc.

What's Tom's views on Texas Rangers?

Sorry a bit slow off the mark here. Currently blessing the storms and contrary winds which are delaying arrival in America. There's enough complications aboard at the moment, without having to get involved with Russians and piqued Yankees! A sable coat sounds nice (any kind of coat sounds nice) and Tom wouldn't mind a black eye-mask, either.

For people who do not play in G7 but are wondering why Tom is happy about being stuck in mid Atlantic in winter and why sable coats are possible in North America (rather than mink) the Jan 1709 Gloire du Roi has shown up and:

1) King James Stuart Jacobite Navy is bombarding New York which is loyal to King William........it seems that the wrong kind of winds resulted in a certain English Exile missing out on the fun and games.

2) Scotland like the Dutch and most of the British America's is also still loyal to King William and King James has declared his intent to re-take the Scots Crown and sweep the Dutch from the Sea.

3) Probably to help fund these campaigns & fight the Dutch (because his Protestant Parliament will not vote him any taxes) King James has leased the British American Colonies to the Czar and sent Ships of the Line & Transports to Russia. It is not yet clear if this is to help the Czar in his campaign against fellow Protestants in Sweden or pick up troop for Scotland or the America's.

4) In England itself King James is still killing Protestants loyal to King William like the Mayor of Portsmouth and seems to have also ordered the Spanish Hapsburgs to close their trade missions in London & Dublin. King Carlos men seem to have complied with the order at the last minute and left muttering things like "Frog Lover" & "French Poddle".

King James also sent the Tory Leader Robert Harley to Spain.......no doubt to get rid of the Tory Leader who is blocking his tax payments!

5) What the Hapsburgs think about Russians on their Northern Frontier, attacks on their Dutch Allies and orders to close their trade missions is not known but Spain has sent Constantine Farnese Duc of Parma as its envoy to Scotland and relocated its trade missions to Glasgow & New York (where it gets bombarded? Welcome to North America).

6) With the Spanish to his South, Williamite Yankee's to his North, Hostile Indians & mostly Protestant French to his West and the Czar as his new boss......Brigadier Stark invested in life assurance for himself and his men.

If Tom had only made it to Yorktown in time he could have joined the Ex Blackbeard, Ex Williamite Son of Liberty, Ex Jacobite, Now loyal Czarest Lackey Stark and picked up 500 guineas.....enough for a really nice coat.

Aside from the mad, bad and dangerous to be involved in disputes over the British Cowns not a lot going on:

7) The Czar has taken his annual bath without anyone getting drowned.

The King & Queen of Spain's baby boy has been given the names "Leopold, Alonso, Felipe, Albrecht von Hapsburg Prince of Andalusia"
the first two after his Grandfathers. After three girls and seven years of effort no one is questioning the parentage of this particular Hapsburg heir to Spain. If they did one suspects it may take more than a mumbled Prussian apology to pacify irrate Hapsburgs.

9) The Dutch have dredged the Schelde River and shipping can once again use Antwerp.

10) The Pope has given approval for the Benedictines to lead the mission to convert England to the Catholic Faith and wants the Society of Jesus to spread the true faith in Russia & China. Quite what the Archbishop of Canterbury & the Russian Orthodox Church will make of this has yet to be seen.

Feb 1709 Gloire du Roi has shown up and things are not looking good for current and ex members of the Pirate Brotherhood.

1) The Jacobite Govt now in control of London has passed a whole raft of Royal Warrant's aimed at making life hard for investors in the Brotherhood.

The main target of these orders would seem to be the VOIC & esp the HWIC. But these companies would seem to have mostly switched their investments out of England.

2) In another financial move the Jacobite Govt has abolished the Bank of England. Not sure why?

3) A former brotherhood member/son of liberty got tarred and feathered in Boston while working for the Czar while John Henry was lucky to avoid the same in New York.

4) On the plus side for old members of the brotherhood looking for a job the Swedes are handing out letters of Marque.......but dont seem too clear if they should include the English as foes of Sweden or not.

5) In the event the English Navy did not land the Russian Invasion Force in Sweden but at Stirling. A landing which seems to have left the
Russians as baffled as the Swedes. Stockholm/Stirling guess its an easy error to make.

Meanwhile in Madrid the English Tory leader Sir Robert Harley would seem to be in a rush to get thrown out of Spain and back to London having called the King of Spain a Billiard Cheat

Can you actually say things like that about the HRE son? And how do you cheat at Billiard's?

That's interesting Stuart, from the news report I took it to mean the army was supposed to be landed in England, not Sweden or Scotland.  The problem with that of course is it doesn't explain why the Admiral ordered the General to take Stirling then...and if the army was supposed to be taken to England-why?  

To invade someone else...or does King James plan to use 'orrible furreigners to repress free-born Englishmen?

Russians attacking Sterling, just does not seem right. Wouldnt Robert the Bruce turn in his grave at the thought?