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

In G7 Russian serfs have been freed already, just can't understand why none of them volunteer for swimming lessons with the Imperial Russian Navy.

The year begins with another good month for the Russian Navy:

"St. Petersburg Naval Officers Training College, from February 1714 when the academy is operational training 500 graduate naval officers (able to swim), ready March 1715."

Puts Russia back at the forefront of naval technology, just need to build some ships for them to swim from, knew there was something important I forgot in my orders last turn, bugger.

I didn't realise that "swimming lessons" was a technology breakthrough until I asked how to improve crew Survivaltraining

Well, if you're going to call your new flagship "Thunder Child" the crew need to know how to swim...and dodge heat rays


And while we were all recovering from hangovers after celebrating Christmas and the end of the Anglo-Dutch-French War...the French and Spanish appear to have decided to have a bit of a NY Bash...

Hangovers are bad enough without a load of fools letting off fireworks...aka flintlocks and field artillery...

There is absolutely no truth in the rumour that the French Army that seems to have become "Geographically Embarrassed" in the Low countries were using maps supplied by the Russian tourist board.

I think Czar Jason F might be underplaying the abilities of the Russian Navy...not only has a squadron managed to sail from Nevyansk to Lagrange Bay, but not one ship was lost along the way!

Truly Russia is a naval power!

Jason2 wrote:I think Czar Jason F might be underplaying the abilities of the Russian Navy...not only has a squadron managed to sail from Nevyansk to Lagrange Bay, but not one ship was lost along the way!

Truly Russia is a naval power!

Still got to draw up a proper account of last issue of scrabble but for those who need a regular fix of Russian Naval news - they managed to sink 10 of their own merchantmen in the Gulf of Mexico. Its nice to see the old traditions are alive and well in some parts of the Agemaverse.

Stuart Bailey wrote:

Jason2 wrote:I think Czar Jason F might be underplaying the abilities of the Russian Navy...not only has a squadron managed to sail from Nevyansk to Lagrange Bay, but not one ship was lost along the way!

Truly Russia is a naval power!

Still got to draw up a proper account of last issue of scrabble but for those who need a regular fix of Russian Naval news - they managed to sink 10 of their own merchantmen in the Gulf of Mexico.  Its nice to see the old traditions are alive and well in some parts of the Agemaverse.

Bah, fake news...under the inspired leadership of Czar Jason I such naval disasters will never occur

Jason2 wrote:

Stuart Bailey wrote:

Jason2 wrote:I think Czar Jason F might be underplaying the abilities of the Russian Navy...not only has a squadron managed to sail from Nevyansk to Lagrange Bay, but not one ship was lost along the way!

Truly Russia is a naval power!

Still got to draw up a proper account of last issue of scrabble but for those who need a regular fix of Russian Naval news - they managed to sink 10 of their own merchantmen in the Gulf of Mexico.  Its nice to see the old traditions are alive and well in some parts of the Agemaverse.

Bah, fake news...under the inspired leadership of Czar Jason I such naval disasters will never occur

11

Does this mean that under the inspired leadership of Czar Jason I the Russian Navy will:

1) Never leave port in anything other than a force 3.

&

2) The Russian Navy has sold its maps to geographically confused Frenchmen?

Basically sums up Russian Naval doctrine I think,

Safety First !

Jan 1714 Glori du Roi has shown up and for none G7 players here are the "highlights". Be warned however that Jan 1714 will probably go down as the "month of scandals" and its unclear if anyone with the exception of Richard has a clue what the hell is going on. So all of the following statements probably need to come with at least a couple of question marks against them:

1) Key point for some people - The Czar personally helped lay down the keels of ten new Russian Men of War the basis for a third Russian Fleet (1st sunk by Swedes, 2nd by Storms, 3rd time lucky?). We think the Russians lost no ships this month but as various ships foundered in the Baltic its possible that they have. Actual confirmed shipping loses are x1 French merchantmen in the Arabian Sea and x4 French Corvettes taken by Captain Ali Ibn Abi Bakr who also freed eight Persian ships the Corvettes had taken earlier.

2) According to the Persian Envoy to the Great Moghul most of the fighting between Persia and France is now away from India so the Moghul does not have to worry about damage to trade and the Persians are also claiming credit for getting the English and the Dutch to make peace.
Not sure if London, the Hague or Paris would agree but as they are not Muslims their opion probably does not count when great Muslim powers discuss the world.

3) Louis XIV staged a grand banqet at Versailles to celebrate his victory over the Dutch Republic but the court was somewhat distracted by talk over why France's Controller-General of Finances has gone missing from the Court. Rumours of a major scandel and disruption to French Government business caused by the unexpected disappearance are now in circulation.

- Oddly Sir Sidney Godolphin seems to have been aware of the possible scandel ahead of the Court and offered his services as an ex Lord Treasurer of England to the French. Also taking to opportunity to put the blame on his rival Gabriel del Montosa Countess of Hainaulte who he called a trollop!!!! After calling one of the most admired ladies in Europe and acting envoy for Flanders, Spain and Austria a TROLLOP it is to be hoped that Sir Sidney knows how to use that sword he wears by his side.

4) Claude Louis Hector Marquis de Villars & Constable of France lead an invasion force of 60,000 men and a massive siege tryne over the border of the Duchy of Flanders (or did he??????).

- What is clear is that when a the Constable of France leads long feared "invasion" by a huge French force the Flanders defences standing orders sprang into action. But were just a bit baffled by the fact that the invasion come from the North not the south. Which resulted in a blocking force which was intending to cover a fortress and then retire under the guns of the fortress now has the French between them and the fortress and the invaders got to the fortress of Ghent and passed it before finding the first bridge down.

- As for Villars he may have noticed problems when as soon as he marched across the frontier the bale fire' & bells started to summon the local defence and gates started to slamp shut etc. Also when local forces launched two heavy attacks aimed at his siege tryne. The first a night raid by dragoons which trampled the Regiment d'Alsace and did some damage to the Artillery and then a heavy combined arms heavy attack from his rear/flank. The Spanish-Flanders horse shattered the French Rear Guard of 51 Squadrons of Cavalry but their stand did give Villars enough time to mass his turn his Infantry round and mass vastly superior numbers of Infantry to stop dead and rout a attempt by Spanish Infantry to take out the siege Trayne.

- The defeated Spanish foot retired towards the guns of Ghent covered by their victorious Cavalry plus the Artillery and light Infantry which had also had a good time pouring fire into the French without much reply. Which leave the Constable of France (who oddly for an invader did not take opportunity to beseige Ghent) between a river, a hostile fortress and two lots of of Spanish-Flanders forces. While dealing with a lot of very worried drivers who know know they are target priority number 1 and are not sure who the hell they are going to move Villars guns if the Road is blocked. Plus he probably/may/might have stream blowing out of his ears about Clerks in Paris who did not bother to advise Spanish about his movement and request a PASSPORT! in advance for him and his Army

It should be noted that the paper did not actually say what the hell Villars and his Army are doing trampling across Flanders apart from scaring the hell out of the locals and it could be a) A proper invasion....well if it looks like a duck and quacks like one......shot it! b) Accident with orders........2nd hand Russian maps? Missing ships for Naval move so Villars decided to walk instead or c) Passport was asked for but never arrived.......possible link with Court problem and disrupted Frence Govt business?

Will be very interesting to see who Louis XIV blames for this ***** up. And will it be the same person(s) as James III? & Charles III of Spain.

5) Thousands of Dutch and Spanish prisoners held in a camp outside of Stockholm have perished en masse due to the harsh winter conditions.......SCANDAL No3 why the hell is Sweden holding thousands of Dutch and Spanish prisoners??????!!!!!! This had better be good or Sweden can kiss its most favour nation status in Spanish trade good bye!

6) Not sure if its a full scandal or not but in Kingston Col Taylor was believed to be going to say something about the HWIC and its Spanish registered subsidary.....probably something along the lines of your banned from Jamaica. When someone shot him dead, seems the locals in the America's are perfectly happy under easy going Russian and French rule but all hell is likely to break loss when/if James Stuart ever buys his colonies back from the Czar.

7) Right up to the point when Villars "invaded" Flanders or if you prefer the locals suffered an over the top reaction to a small matter of 60,000 plus French troops and some delayed paper work things were going so well with both the French and Dutch returning POWs and recruits. The Hapsburgs had a moan about units which the Dutch had promised to return at the end of the war being returned in bits but even the Spanish did their best to help people get home OK by removal of the 50% tarrif on English shipping using the straits so that English ships could take Austrian POWs home to Trieste without problems.

Along with the news that English shipping can once again sail into the Med without having to pay 50% Spanish tarrifs the other good news for King James is that Queen Catherine is with child. In theory if the baby is a boy England will have a Catholic heir rather than King James Protestant half sister Anne.

9) Anne is currently married to George of Denmark.......God knows what Charles Vasa is currently doing in Denmark its all very beind closed doors and hush, hush.

10) Terrible stories are currently sweeping Hungary about tax rises, oppression by the Austrian Army and how the "heroic" Prince Radisky is planning a revolt to free Hungary from the Yoke of the Emperor. Only problem is that one one has asked the Diet to approve a tax rise and no one is being oppressed by the kindly old Emperor Leopold and Radisky is generally considered a lackey of the Grand Vizier Salim Farooq who's regular opponents include the Czar and the Emperor's son number 2 Charles of Spain. Now people do believe that the Czar and son number two could get very oppressive in the event of a Turkish backed revolt.

11) Salim Farooq latest statement is to say that the Czar's ex Envoy is petulant and that the 1699 treaty signed with the Ottomans by Russia, Poland, Venice and the Hapsburgs can not be enforced.

Something that puzzled me was the news of a Scottish force led by an ex-minister of King William entering Liverpool.  Have they got their maps from the same supplier as the French did?

Just another mystery in the month of chaos and confusion

Jason2 wrote:Something that puzzled me was the news of a Scottish force led by an ex-minister of King William entering Liverpool.  Have they got their maps from the same supplier as the French did?

Just another mystery in the month of chaos and confusion

Think they must have purchased their maps from same dodgy Nottingham based map company as the French, since Fencibles are home defence units raised on the strict understanding that they would not be sent over sea's or used outside the Country.

So for Scots fencible battalions to end up in Liverpool they must be using a map which shows Liverpool as part of Scotland.

Other alternative is that they were raised in Ullapool and Dutch command was trying to return them to home base prior to disbanding and return of recruits to civilian life in the new Royalist Scotland of James Stuart. And Ullapool got mixed up with Liverpool which would explain why they looked so dispirited. Its a loog walk from Liverpool back to Ullapool.

If Dutch are dishing out passage money they might want to catch a ship home from Liverpool. But catch a ship from Liverpool at current stage of the game and god knows were anyone with a thick Scots accent could end up.

I am as confused by this turn as anyone so congratulate Stuart on making slightly more sense of it than I did on first reading.
Perhaps Richard is throwing a few scandals into the mix to see if any become the next theme for G7?

Lord Godolphin did indeed offer his services to help King Louis unravel what is going on. Not only does he have experience as a former Lord Treasurer, but is also well aware of the kinds of tricks used by HWIC and other dodgy types. An independent eye may well get things cleared up much sooner, and if he can’t find the problem then he can always call upon Jacobite Naval Intelligence who have even longer experience at tracking down HWIC and their chums. Alas Lord Godolphin’s expertise does not extend to repairing the new fangled abacus, so if it involves a malfunction of such advanced technology then he may only be able to offer his sympathies and a wholesale price on English pencils.

I was also initially surprised by him referring to Countess Montosa as a ‘trollop’, until I realised that to a Cornishman, the word has a slightly more nuanced meaning: a woman who uses her femininity to serve multiple masters, incapable of fidelity to any of them. Since she poses (at various times) as the representative of Flanders, Spain and Austria, the word is appropriate. I could understand her getting more upset if Lord Godolphin had taught his parrot (Esmerelda) to repeat “Gabriel is a trollop”, which would surely destroy her diplomatic credibility further. Perhaps the missing scandal (in French eyes) is that he hasn’t yet done so?

Stuart’s description of the attack on French forces is understandable from the Spanish viewpoint, but misses one rather important sentence: “Villars sent forward an officer requesting unmolested passage ahead so he can go into France, but before any answer came that night dragoons of the Helvetic Legion launched an attack against the – by now – encamped French.” It can, of course, be argued that Villars should have stopped at the border but there was nobody there to ask so naturally he waited by the nearest border town (Ghent) and sent an officer to prove his peaceful intention. The newspaper rightly refers to “a sense of disbelief amongst the French who could hardly believe it (the Spanish attack) was happening.” If this was an unplanned automatic reaction as Stuart asserts, then it was poorly co-ordinated and failed: 16F(Spanish) broke and fled. Given the tactical disadvantage the French were under, King Louis can be rather proud that despite being surrounded and ambushed, Villars was able to stand his ground with honour and see off one of the formations. I certainly would not call this engagement a Spanish victory; it may well be a huge Spanish blunder. Disease had been reported to have broken out during the long siege of Antwerp so perhaps (as Stuart observed in last month's writeup) Spain assumed that a French army with high sick list would not have been able to fight effectively, and one surprise 'accidental' attack would have caused it all to be lost to attrition? It is also going to be hard for Spain to claim that France has damaged Flanders when it was local troops who burnt bridges, etc. Is it really a smart thing to delay a diseased army in your own territory, or is it better to let it march through as quickly as possible and hope that the disease does not spread first to Flanders, and from there to Spain and throughout the Spanish Empire. Of course it won't affect England since punitive tax rates make trade with Spanish territories unprofitable. Clearly there is much more to this than has been reported or so far acknowledged, so I will reserve further comment for my official response within the game.

As for events in Kingston, I think that qualifies as a scandal. Again, I can’t really say more without compromising ongoing intelligence operations. There is clearly a strong HWIC cell operating on Jamaica, but what links this has to the Miss Eyre scandal in Virginia and how much Spain is involved is still being established.

In respect of the English succession, I’m fairly sure that in G7 Prince George of Denmark died more than a year ago.

It might surprise Jason2, but I also am unsure where the Scottish force arriving at Liverpool came from. The Fencibles were a Kentigern force originally raised by Spain from stolen Scottish recruits, then believed to have been transferred to another Spanish-created faction (Combined Whig Position) placed under UDP control just before Spain signed the Treaty of Scotland. The artillery and engineers may have come from Glasgow, left over after the rest of the garrison marched towards Dumbarton to be defeated at 2nd Dumbarton. The Fencibles were used by Spain primarily to terrorise civilians around Glasgow and the SW of Scotland, burning their homes and conscripting as many as they could into the rebel armies. The first time they were used they were probably quite effective, but once my own patrols were in place, much less so, which probably accounts for their dispirited state. Strathallan was released after he swore loyalty to King James – so much for clemency! If he is the same individual, then he has broken his oath and it will give me a dilemma what to do with him. In terms of traitors he is fairly low down on the list unlike such more capable and hardened rebels like Rivers and Coote. Under the Treaty of Amsterdam they are expected to be handed over to face justice, but like the Duke of Norfolk and other named characters (some of whom were confirmed as alive by Spain), they have yet to appear. One of the interesting things about this turn is that I am learning not just which Dutch-controlled units were still clinging on, but after they have been questioned, will also learn where they have been and which territories are likely to be sympathetic to rebels so I can pre-empt any future problems.

I found this one of the most interesting turns in ages, with many more curious hints in the newspaper than Stuart identified.

As Mr Bailey quite rightly points out the Russian Navy is once again going through a restructuring & consultation phase.

The Tsar is working on the theory that the "ARK" was built by an amateur & stayed afloat. Whereas the TITANIC was built by experts & sank on it's maiden voyage! It#s got to be worth a try!

Given the fact there may soon be( possibly, maybe, not yet decided) rise in anti-social behaviour between certain major maritime nations , now would seem tobe a good time for Russia to start building, as once they start sinking each others boats ( is that the right word, always get it wrong with ships & boats, isn't something like boats go on ships but not ships on boats, much too technical naval terms for me! ) Then it's less of a gap to catch up. So come on you lot lets see some ships sunk, then Russia needs to build less & can spend more money on fireworks!

The Russian Cartography section is apparently looking for a new supply of paper as there has a bit of a run on buying high(?) quality accurate( possibly!) Maps from Russian suppliers. The fact that some maps bore the legend " Here be Dragons!" down the left hand side possibly isn't a printing error. Maps with this printed on them should be returned for a full refund!

Bear in mind a submarine is always a boat, never a ship...and the Russian Navy does like its vessels to do impressions of submarines...

I am grateful to Stuart for trying to make sense of the turn and I'm pleased we were all a bit "wtf" at it this month.    I'm not surprised Papa is as unsure as the rest of us at the appearance of the Scots force at Liverpool...though I have known of people who have (in real life) mixed up Liverpool and Ullapool so Stuart might be onto something...esp if they are not dispirited but merely hungover after too much whisky on the march

Jason2 wrote:I'm not surprised Papa is as unsure as the rest of us at the appearance of the Scots force at Liverpool...though I have known of people who have (in real life) mixed up Liverpool and Ullapool so Stuart might be onto something...esp if they are not dispirited but merely hungover after too much whisky on the march

Liverpool is one of the easier bits to understand. I have 8 different batches of returning recruits popping up in various locations (excluding Liverpool) this month alone. I wasn't just scratching my head when I read the newspaper, but my own asset list. The most bizarre is the appearance of 38 Scottish administrators - were they pressed into enemy service or were they just determined to prove that the pen is mightier than the sword?

I'm expecting a regiment of ex-lawyers (Scottish, naturally) to turn up in Pontipridd next month claiming to have been part of the Spanish foreign legion who destroyed the university of Oxford (legal academy), and who put in a claim for back pay because of course it was really the 38 administrators who actually burnt the university down and put them out of work, so that should be covered under some unknown convention the Kentigerns had signed with Spain.

I thought the peace would mean I had less need to order formations around the country and give me more time to do some fun things, but now I'm not so sure. I can now see why Prince Friso needed 6 months to comply with the Treaty of Amsterdam. After the effort I put in over the last few years, my forces are reasonably well organised, but the Dutch list (containing Dutch, Spanish, Austrian, Swiss, Irish, Scottish, Inuit and just about every other nationality there is) must be a real mess.

Look at it this way, if your regiment of Scottish lawyer does appear next month, send them into Flanders...Stuart's already had enough trouble with Scottish lawyers in G10, I suspect the last thing he wants is to have to counter them in G7 as well!

The 38 administrators is an odd one though!  I have in the past used up odd batches of recruits like that to train as doctors, vets, administrator when there haven't been enough of them to even form a squadron.  In one game I had a mixed batch of Dutch, Danes, Hessians, Prussians, Austrians, Swedes and Saxons (less than 100 of each) all training at once at the same academy as doctors

Jason2 wrote:Look at it this way, if your regiment of Scottish lawyer does appear next month, send them into Flanders...Stuart's already had enough trouble with Scottish lawyers in G10, I suspect the last thing he wants is to have to counter them in G7 as well!

That's advice I may well take!

Not directly, though, given King James isn't very keen on lawyers. Perhaps I should set up a war crimes tribunal run by another character to try all the ex-pirates, ex-HWIC, ex-Kentigern, etc types? Any names for a Scottish version of Judge Jeffries may be submitted for consideration. He doesn't have to be Catholic - indeed it might go down better in the more Calvinist parts of Scotland if he wasn't. But if he happened to have attended Oxford (so will hold a grudge against the Spanish who burnt down his university), then even better.

Jason2 wrote:The 38 administrators is an odd one though!  I have in the past used up odd batches of recruits like that to train as doctors, vets, administrator when there haven't been enough of them to even form a squadron.  In one game I had a mixed batch of Dutch, Danes, Hessians, Prussians, Austrians, Swedes and Saxons (less than 100 of each) all training at once at the same academy as doctors

I could understand it more if it was a round number, but 38? Perhaps there is a special formula being applied, if a dragoon squadron has SL5 then there are only 75 men left in it, something like that? Or perhaps one of their recruiting parties came back with only 188 pressed 'volunteers', 150 of whom were used to raise a dragoon unit and the 38 left over formed a kind of very small general staff or logistics corps? When I've had odd recruits left over then I have tended to use them in trade investments just to tidy things up, but appreciate that for some smaller positions where every recruit counts, that could seem wasteful.

I'm just struggling to understand what improvement 38 administrators could bring to a country?

If Ghent is now a border town I think Papa Clement must be using one of those Russian maps!

If 38 Scots administrators show up in Flanders they can have a job in the custom's service. For some time I have been wondering why tax receipts from foreigners is so low. When 60,000 plus Frenchmen convoy thousands of horses and wagons and tons of metal down the main Antwerp to Ghent highway and if no one asks them if they have a passport and demends 50% tax on tons of imported Iron and livestock I think this could well explain part of the problem. Thats one hell of a lunch hour to miss that lot!

Parhaps some of these Scots Administrators can also be sent to man the Vienna to Belgrade highway so when 100,000 Ottomans come pouring over the border they can be asked for passports, tarrifs on the importing of 50,000 horses and if they have anything to declare.

Much as I do like the idea's put forward that Villars has been sold a dodgy Russian map marked with "here be dragons" or that the French Army marched half way across Flanders looking for a custom's post. After experience with a character in scabble starting out to walk or ride across half of India rather than taking the train because orders were missing the key (by train). My money would say that the invasion of Flanders was accidental. But can the French now admitt that or do they need to turn it into a proper invasion to save the face of the French Minister of War and the Constable of France?

Too lose a Controller of Finance can be considered unfortunate. But to admitt that the War Ministry messed up at the same time as the French Finance Ministery may be too much.

Not sure who I feel more sorry for me for getting invaded by accident or the Prince of Orange trying to sort out the mess caused to the UDP list by the recent treaty and having to disband and discharge all of his non Dutch units. Or even the French probably having a "He did what moment being closed doors."

Probably the last of those was caused when the Russian Army got dropped in Scotland and in the middle of a war rather than North America.

So now we have a big French army halfway through Flanders, what will they do now? Trying to push through with support from their friends on the French side or surrender their weapons/powder/ammunition etc too the Spanish and then march unmolested into France?
Should be interesting in any case.

Is it actually an invasion or more a walk in the park that has gone wrong? the French just wanted to look at the beautiful medieval architecture of Ghent & get their picture painted in front of the Cathedral- admitted 60,000 would be a big group picture

How is this looking with regards the Treaty of Scotland, which hasn't been mentioned by anyone yet, surely it must be a consideration, after all that mucking about in boats in the Channel & coast of Flanders didn't cause a breech of the contract, even though both sides said it did neither wanted war, will a similar mentality prevail now, will the French get an "Escort" out of the country with the message " Don't come back until the treaty expires, or it will be bad for your health!"

Stuart Bailey wrote:If Ghent is now a border town I think Papa Clement must be using one of those Russian maps!

Nice try. On my Agema map (which admittedly is not always accurate), the border is the river. There is no town closer to the border than Ghent, with the flag of the little house touching the river. So it looks to me as though Ghent is the nearest sizeable settlement to the border, certainly the nearest settlement marked on the Agema map.

Stuart Bailey wrote:If 38 Scots administrators show up in Flanders they can have a job in the custom's service. For some time I have been wondering why tax receipts from foreigners is so low. When 60,000 plus Frenchmen convoy thousands of horses and wagons and tons of metal down the main Antwerp to Ghent highway and if no one asks them if they have a passport and demands 50% tax on tons of imported Iron and livestock I think this could well explain part of the problem. That's one hell of a lunch hour to miss that lot!

I'm not entirely convinced that the 38 Scottish administrators were customs inspectors. After all, the last thing the Kentigerns (or any other faction) needed was tax receipts given Spain gave them a third share of £24M. And why were they not described as 38 tax inspectors, or 38 customs men? And where were the customs duties they had been collecting? No, sorry Stuart, that explanation was a nice try, but falls short.

As to the failure of the customs men of Flanders to stop or even make themselves known to a French convoy on the bridge over the river, that doesn't seem to explain it either. I can't remember where I found the information, but I once researched army movement rates/length of columns. If memory serves it takes 1F about an hour to pass a single point (it isn't just the men, but the regimental baggage, officer wagons and supplies), so just to get the infantry across would take 60 hours. For the whole column with baggage, artillery, supplies, siege equipment etc, crossing a bridge would take about 4 days assuming 24 hour movement or about a week if they stopped for sleep. So the Flanders customs men were not just missing for an hour on a long lunch break! They had plenty of opportunity to go and see the French whilst they were dining or praying, and find out what their purpose was. Besides, we know what the customs men were doing - they were burning down a bridge on the other side of Ghent to stop the French getting any further. I have to question what kind of idiots the Flanders Customs Service employ: here comes a juicy customer importing tons of iron and livestock who even sends an officer ahead to find out what the charge will be, and the customs men run away from him. There is no evidence this was to get a longer form, more pencils or extra inspectors. Admittedly, part of the challenge of being a customs man is that you usually have to do the finding/chasing so perhaps they just didn't believe that the French could have been so honest as to declare their goods, but even so - surely Flanders customs officials are on a bonus system so to forego such a large bonus by running away really doesn't make any sense to me at all.

Stuart Bailey wrote:Perhaps some of these Scots Administrators can also be sent to man the Vienna to Belgrade highway so when 100,000 Ottomans come pouring over the border they can be asked for passports, tariffs on the importing of 50,000 horses and if they have anything to declare.

As you very well know, Stuart, such would be a breach of the Treaty of Scotland. That treaty may mean nothing to Spain, given your attacks on France, but England has no intention of having to lock up another load of Spanish-sponsored lawyers who try to use my legal system for propaganda purposes.

Stuart Bailey wrote:Much as I do like the idea's put forward that Villars has been sold a dodgy Russian map marked with "here be dragons" or that the French Army marched half way across Flanders looking for a custom's post. After experience with a character in scabble starting out to walk or ride across half of India rather than taking the train because orders were missing the key (by train). My money would say that the invasion of Flanders was accidental. But can the French now admit that or do they need to turn it into a proper invasion to save the face of the French Minister of War and the Constable of France? Too lose a Controller of Finance can be considered unfortunate. But to admit that the War Ministry messed up at the same time as the French Finance Ministry may be too much.

Flanders is not exactly dragon country ... low lying, swampy, fertile grounds for disease? I always imagined dragons preferred mountains/caves, you know somewhere to roost where they could fly around and breathe fire? Flanders is hardly unknown to Russia so unless the maps being used were special smugglers maps "here be areas manned by cowardly and stupid customs officials" then it looks like your case would be laughed out of court.

I don't think the French need admit anything - after all, they have done no wrong: they reported to the authorities who didn't want to know and were attacked not just once, but twice. What possible reason could France have for trying to talk again since nobody in Flanders wants to listen? It is not France, therefore, who must apologise or admit anything, but Flanders, and any Flanders representative who goes to talk to the French is going to have to be much braver than the customs men and hope that Villars does not treat them in the same way they treated the French.

Stuart Bailey wrote:Not sure who I feel more sorry for me for getting invaded by accident or the Prince of Orange trying to sort out the mess caused to the UDP list by the recent treaty and having to disband and discharge all of his non Dutch units.

Playing the victim really won't wash this time, Stuart. You've landed yourself right in it and I am really looking forward to reading your excuses next turn.

As for Prince Friso I'm sure he will be able to sort out his asset list given time, which of course since King James is such a decent, honourable and supportive fellow, he will provide.

It seems too me that King Louis ordered his army to go home but either did not specify by which route or he did, which the commander interpreted as marching straight across Flanders. We all know what Richard will do with unclear or ambiguous orders.

Personally I blame the Russian Tourist board, not only did they supply the French with dodgy " Here be Dragons" Cartography items. Russian tourists also nicked all the pencils from the Flanders customs posts to do the "Multi guess tour quiz of Ghent" First prize a years supply of vodka & all the caviar you can eat.

So, yes, yes we did it, but will someone just please explain what we have done.

Oh, yes we did over the French treasury as well this month.

Started a Rebellion in Hungary

Misdirected people in North west England

Upset the Grand Vizier of the Ottomans.

Had a wee in the king of Frances wine

Stole the Mascot form the Jamaica Regiment while everyone was looking for who ever shot the Colonel,( it was just a distraction to get the goat! )

So please place all the blame on Russia it was us we did it we own up we are guilty, In fact we were born guilty.

J Flower wrote:Personally I blame the Russian Tourist board, not only did they supply the French with dodgy " Here be Dragons" Cartography items. Russian tourists also nicked all the pencils from the Flanders customs posts to do the "Multi guess tour quiz of Ghent" First prize a years supply of vodka & all the caviar you can eat.

So, yes, yes we did it, but will someone just please explain what we have done.

Oh, yes we did over the French treasury as well this month.

Started a Rebellion in Hungary

Misdirected people in North west England

Upset the Grand Vizier of the Ottomans.

Had a wee in the king of Frances wine

Stole the Mascot form the Jamaica Regiment while everyone was looking for who ever shot the Colonel,( it was just a distraction  to get the goat! )

So please place all the blame on Russia it was us we did it we own up we are guilty, In fact we were born guilty.

You've forgotten we were also behind the Persian naval actions.  The Persian cruisers were in fact Russian ships under false flags...as were the French corvettes...and now I come to think of it, the merchants were also Russian flagging Persian flags...