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

For an alternative viewpoint on events in Feb-1714:

1. For yet another month there are no reported losses of Russian shipping. The Tsar is clearly gaining confidence in his navy for he has ordered the construction of a hundred new ships. At the same time he has indicated his desire to keep Russia out of the deteriorating situation in western Europe. This may be because he does not wish to lose any of his ships or evidence that his long co-operation with Englishman in America have led him to appreciate the virtues of common sense. Or possibly because he needs ships to protect his expanding colonial empire having just purchased Prussian colonies in Africa and the Caribbean. Russia is truly becoming a major colonial power with interests in 5 continents.

2. The French Armee de Flandres extricated itself from last month's double Spanish ambush by outmaneuvering the Spanish forces and successfully brought its substantial artillery trayne back into French territory. Given the poor condition of French troops due to disease, last month's attacks and the superior numbers of Spanish cavalry this was a significant military achievement.

3. Meanwhile at Versailles the recriminations and investigations have begun. The multi-tasking Flanders/Spanish/Austrian ambassador, Countess of Hainault, had an almost impossible task to convince King Louis that confusion by Spanish troops in Flanders led to them unwittingly attacking Villars' army twice and brazenly presented France with a peace treaty as evidence of Spain's good intentions. King Louis does have a sense of humour, but clearly it is not on the same level as the Countess's for it was quickly made clear that she was no longer welcome at Versailles. Her rooms were searched and found to contain what King Louis described as "last season's gowns" and she was then expelled along with some of her female friends. Under the circumstances it would have been rather embarrassing for the English ambassador, Lord Godolphin, to engage her in conversation, though I am sure he appreciates the gifts for King James' new son. The impression from some quarters may be that Lord Godolphin has little time for the Countess or Spain, but this is unlikely to be the case. Lord Godolphin has been asked by King Louis to investigate the French financial crisis - as a former Lord Treasurer of England the Countess accepts that he is qualified to "give such help with some degree of competence." King Louis has released some facts about what has happened to the newspaper, but otherwise seems to be waiting until Lord Godolphin has completed the investigation. Although he has vented his frustration at the Spanish attacks in Flanders, he has not made any comment in the newspaper linking Spain to problems at the French treasury. There is a lot more to this (2 pages of it) than appears in the newspaper and it would not be appropriate for me to comment further.

4. It is possible King Louis may be genuinely unsure of what to do since he has appealed for France's allies not to declare war on Spain and escalate this into a major incident. However, it will hardly help his thinking to read that Spain has mobilised 20F (mixed Spanish and Swiss troops) which were hiding in Amsterdam. Under the Treaty of Scotland such troops should have been withdrawn not simply made inactive. No doubt he will be wondering if French troops had laid siege to Amsterdam, whether Spain would have mobilised the units to help in the defence? Did Spain actually remove any troops to comply with the treaty or are Spanish armies going to pop up at random in non-Spanish towns?

5. The government of Prince John William Friso has continued to distance itself from UDP's dishonourable past by handing over a few thousand Fencibles in Liverpool and returning more PoW in London along with 6 legendary senior officers. There are few things he could have done to please King James more. He has also removed the punitive rates of tax against English and French traders in the interests of building the peace. Such moves will certainly encourage peace and harmony, and represent such a change to the recent past that it is a breath of fresh air.

6. The English Parliament is also doing its bit to sustain peace by agreeing to reduce tariffs on the Dutch once they have fully complied with the Treaty of Amsterdam. They also held out an olive-branch to Spain, though did vote to condemn Spain's attacks on French forces in Flanders. And voted to support closer trading links with the Ottomans, and temporary tax cuts on nobles and commoners. Churchmen expressed surprise that they were excluded from this benefit, but then after King James restored many cathedrals for them perhaps they should have realised that the cathedrals have to be paid for somehow.

7. The mood across England, Ireland and Scotland seems much brighter this month following extensive celebrations marking not just the end of the war, but the birth of Prince Henry Charles Louis Stuart.

8. In Copenhagen King Charles of Sweden continues to hold private meetings about the Kalmar Union.

9. In Hungary a large scale uprising seems to have been prevented by the actions of the town watch in buying up muskets distributed to the citizens the month before. I don't know what to make of what is going on here, but it does look as though rather a lot of Hungarians are rather fed up with being associated with Austria.

10. In Rome Spain lodged a protest about Flanders, whilst the English ambassador sought clarification over the flags being used. One of the Spanish armies that attacked France last month was flying Jesuit flags. This may, of course, have been an oversight on the part of Spain, or it may signify that the Jesuits are at war with France. Are the Jesuits now run as a faction/department of Spain controlled by King Charles? Whatever the answer, it was clearly somewhat dishonourable for the armies of Spain to be hiding behind the flags of a religious order. I cannot think of any reason why they should need to do so, but Spain does have a history of doing sneaky things in the name of various factions.

11. Over in America there have been some developments in the saga of Miss Eyre, with Russian intelligence digging deeper and finding a number of associates with a murky history. Just how deep does this go and who is at the bottom of it? The people of Virginia seem to be rather disgruntled which may signify that it will not be long before the truth is exposed. Will we suddenly see a Spanish army of another 20F being mobilised as we saw in Amsterdam - a hidden 5th column ready to strike? That may test Russian common sense to its limits.

Overall another good turn for England, UDP and Russia, but not so good for France and Spain who both seem stuck in the mire of confusion and mistrust.

Damn......I forgot the rule on G7 reports that all such report have to start with an account of shipping losses and in particular Russian shipping losses. In actual fact this month was an outstanding month for marine insurance underwriters with only 1 French ship lost in the Arabian sea. loss probably to Persian cruisers due to the declared state of War between Persia and France and the good weather.

Generally agree with Papa sentiment that it was a good turn for England, UDP and Russia, but not so good for France and Spain who both seem stuck in the mire of confusion and mistrust.

But do think for readers who care about such terms there is a marked difference between an ambush and a delaying action's fought by field armies expecting the attacker to lay siege to one of their fortresses. Is it even possible to ambush a 60,000 to 70,000 strong Army?

What would be interesting to know is if the French had invaded Flanders for real rather than taking an unannouced short cut home would the Spanish tactics aimed at trying to damage the siege tryne prior to the siege have worked? Or would the defenders of Flanders have done better by either putting all their troops into Garrison, or a "neck of nothing" charge into the French vanguard probably as it crosses a river or is marching up a hill? OK lack of hills in Flanders might be a problem. Or following a more convential defenders tactic of allowing a siege to progress then trying to break after the attackers have weakened due to months in siege lines.

If Louis XIV is considering a future invasion of Flanders then Vilars probe has no doubt given the French HQ a lot of data to consider and from that point of view can be considered a significant military achievement. What will not however be news to King Louis is the Spanish-Swiss troops in Amsterdam since it was the French who shipped them there from Berwick! Plus it had been widely reported that these troops had been resting in expensively rented "winter quarters" and would be marching home after their war time service with the Dutch ended.

In this they are no different to about half of the Dutch wartime Army and God knows were some of these could pop up. But probably not York Town and probably not in Spanish Service.

Finally, looks like I am just going to have to wait for further details on what the French Guards were looking for in the under garments draw of my envoy..............Kerensky can you please check that "Great Sex scandels of the C18" is still safely under lock and key and has not found its way to Nottingham?!!!

Stuart Bailey wrote:Finally, looks like I am just going to have to wait for further details on what the French Guards were looking for in the under garments draw of my envoy..............Kerensky can you please check that "Great Sex scandels of the C18" is still safely under lock and key and has not found its way to Nottingham?!!!

I am not sure if this is a scene from "Carry On Don't lose Your Head" or "Blackadder"...though if it was "Blackadder" I suspect it would involve Baldrick in drag...

Stuart Bailey wrote:Generally agree with Papa sentiment that it was a good turn for England, UDP and Russia, but not so good for France and Spain who both seem stuck in the mire of confusion and mistrust.

Still finding it hard to get used to England having good turns - just doesn't feel natural somehow, as if some major disaster is just around the corner ready to hit at any time. I guess Spain must be having the opposite experience - after everything going right for years, you are finally getting some challenges to face yourself?

Stuart Bailey wrote:But do think for readers who care about such terms there is a marked difference between an ambush and a delaying action's fought by field armies expecting the attacker to lay siege to one of their fortresses. Is it even possible to ambush a 60,000 to 70,000 strong Army?

Ordinarily I would think not, but the French army was artillery heavy so slow moving whereas the Spanish/Jesuit forces had plenty of cavalry. They did manage to surround the French and having placed them at a tactical disadvantage, attack. That's my understanding of the purpose of an ambush, even if it might not be the same definition in a military textbook.

I thought Spain's deployment in January couldn't really have been better, it just didn't eliminate the French.

Stuart Bailey wrote:What would be interesting to know is if the French had invaded Flanders for real rather than taking an unannounced short cut home would the Spanish tactics aimed at trying to damage the siege trayne prior to the siege have worked? Or would the defenders of Flanders have done better by either putting all their troops into Garrison, or a "neck of nothing" charge into the French vanguard probably as it crosses a river or is marching up a hill? OK lack of hills in Flanders might be a problem. Or following a more conventional defenders tactic of allowing a siege to progress then trying to break after the attackers have weakened due to months in siege lines.

That's an interesting question. Trying to be objective about this there are a number of problems with the "Flanders is being invaded" stance:
1. The French sent out an emissary to inform the Spanish why they were there and request permission to cross, precisely to avoid being attacked. If your army was at high sick list, would you have waited at the border for permission (possibly incurring thousands of casualties and a long wait) or sent envoys to clear up any misunderstanding? France tried to announce her intentions, but Spanish/Jesuit troops didn't want to listen. I can't think of any invading army that sends out envoys before it launches a surprise attack, can you?
2. A siege takes ages to prepare, materials need gathering, trenches dug, etc, long before any guns are sited - it would be very obvious if the French were planning such an attack. The superior numbers of Spanish cavalry would have easily seen off the French cavalry (as they did in January) so they would have broken any siege once it had been started.
3. It is winter - February has to be the worst time of the year to start a siege. If the French were really going to be so stupid as to try that then wouldn't the best move for Spain be to watch them be destroyed by their own clumsiness? Especially when ...
4. The French army has been in the field for months, is known to be diseased and in poor condition from a failed siege in UDP which would have run down its supplies and powder. An army in that condition wouldn't have stood a chance in a siege.
5. France is bound by the Treaty of Scotland, so an attack on Flanders would be a breach of that treaty with all the diplomatic consequences that follow. Of course nations do break treaties or (if you wish to use the Spanish terminology) "fail to keep" them, but France has always played it straight and has not to the best of my knowledge indulged in such practices as fighting through factions, using false flags, or breaking ceasefires.

The player for France has proved plenty of times that he knows how to fight, so to claim he would make not just one blunder, but a whole string of them and encourage the destruction through attrition of a sizeable army just doesn't stack up.

Totally agree with Papa comments that after fighting one campaign to go into the next one in mid winter is not that logical.

The French, when they were planning their invasion of the UDP were aware that any violation of Flanders territory would be a violation of the Treaty of Scotland and would not be accepted. Which as why they went in by sea!

Why the French did not elect to return to France by same route as they entered the UDP but instead decided to take their diseases into Flanders remains a mystery.

Assume it was either a bulls up by a French Clerk or the French thought if the dashed across Flanders, Gabriel may moan a bit about violation of the Treaty of Scotland and Flanders territory but they could ignore a minor diplomatic row like that.

Sadly when drawing up defensive plans Spanish crystal ball was a bit cloudy and it did not cross mind of Spanish General Staff that they could get "invaded" by error or because some French General had a hot date and needed to get back in a rush!

Question for France is now should it declare war because its troops who should not have been there got shot at by local game keepers, While Spain wonders if it should declare war over the the violation of its Envoys under garments?

G7 And the war for the right to Rable or G7 And the war of Gabriel Drawers?? - Find out in issue 158 Folks !! Think all we need now is for a Welsh Officer in French service called Jenkins to complain that the ghastly Spanish Cavalry have wiped out his patrol and cut off his ear while he was out on forage Patrol.

Stuart Bailey wrote:If Louis XIV is considering a future invasion of Flanders then Villars probe has no doubt given the French HQ a lot of data to consider and from that point of view can be considered a significant military achievement. What will not however be news to King Louis is the Spanish-Swiss troops in Amsterdam since it was the French who shipped them there from Berwick! Plus it had been widely reported that these troops had been resting in expensively rented "winter quarters" and would be marching home after their war time service with the Dutch ended.

Happy to accept that correction. I didn't have the numbers of the troops captured by France at Berwick so didn't make the immediate connection.

Stuart Bailey wrote:Totally agree with Papa comments that after fighting one campaign to go into the next one in mid winter is not that logical.

The French, when they were planning their invasion of the UDP were aware that any violation of Flanders territory would be a violation of the Treaty of Scotland and would not be accepted. Which as why they went in by sea!

Why the French did not elect to return to France by same route as they entered the UDP but instead decided to take their diseases into Flanders remains a mystery.

I think this might be where the misunderstanding creeps in. I've checked the Treaty of Scotland and there is no clause prohibiting military access, presumably because troops would need to withdraw from war zones in order to comply with the treaty. Spain could claim that marching troops across her territory is a form of 'aggression', but not when France made it clear that she was moving peacefully back to France. The Spanish attack on French troops could only be seen as aggression, though and consequently a breach. Spain can rightly complain that it was a violation of her territory, but that violation is not in itself a breach of the Treaty of Scotland. The use of Jesuit flags makes it a double breach, being a violation of clause 6 and 3.

As to why the French came by sea but left by land, the explanation should be obvious. A naval landing has many advantages over sending an army, including:
1. Surprise - there were probably 20 different possible landing sites, so UDP would not have known which port France intended to attack, whereas an army (especially one with lots of artillery and supplies) would scarcely be able to disguise its movement in the same manner.
2. Had the initial attack failed then the French would have been able to retreat to their ships and sail back to France, whereas an army would have been cut off and possibly had to face another engagement on even less advantageous terms.
3. The logistics of moving so many units, heavy artillery, extra powder, supplies and equipment, is much more practical by sea.

Did all these factors apply on the return leg? Not necessarily:
1. There would be far fewer supplies, although being diseased the army would have extra mobility problems having to care for the sick
2. Old siege equipment would have been abandoned
3. With the war having been concluded there was no danger of the army being attacked (at least in UDP)
4. Why risk ships being hit by storms by moving in the middle of winter?
5. The French (unlike the English) tend to be poor sailors, so it is quite possible that moving the French army to a port and a French fleet to pick that army up (losses to both army and fleet), loading a sick army onto a fleet for transport in crowded conditions would have brought even more casualties and risked spreading disease to the fleet; then when the fleet returned to France (3 months after it originally left), the casualties could have been huge and both fleet and army would have been lost. It may not be a pleasant thought, but a diseased army on the move can at least bury the dead as it moves and quarantine the sick, whereas this just isn't possible on the crowded conditions of a troop transport ship.

If the French army had not been diseased then I would have returned by sea, moving to a UDP port, resting for a month or so until the weather was better, then sent a transport fleet to get them out within the 6 month deadline. But the poor condition of the French army would have meant this risk was unacceptable, so I would have moved by land for the reasons mentioned above. Not sure whether I would have picked the same route France did or chosen a different one since I don't know where the army started from.

Stuart Bailey wrote:Question for France is now should it declare war because its troops who should not have been there got shot at by local game keepers, While Spain wonders if it should declare war over the the violation of its Envoys under garments?

That's not as daft as it may first sound. The French case is straight forward as noted above. But Spain may also have a case over the treatment of her ambassador. It really depends on what else was found and that is not something I can comment on here.

Stuart Bailey wrote:G7 And the war for the right to Rable or G7 And the war of Gabriel Drawers?? - Find out in issue 158 Folks !! Think all we need now is for a Welsh Officer in French service called Jenkins to complain that the ghastly Spanish Cavalry have wiped out his patrol and cut off his ear while he was out on forage Patrol.

If there does end up with a new war then a new thread may indeed be necessary, though I do hope we can find a better title than either of those suggested.

@ Stuart B, re: Kerensky can you please check that "Great Sex scandels of the C18" is still safely under lock and key and has not found its way to Nottingham?!!!

I checked the safe. It was broken & the original text was missing! Inside the safe was a pair of dice, showing a double six (first time I have seen that in this game)...

The War of Gabrielle’s Décolletage Nightgown could be about to start... here. In G7.

Kerensky wrote:@ Stuart B, re: Kerensky can you please check that "Great Sex scandels of the C18" is still safely under lock and key and has not found its way to Nottingham?!!!

I checked the safe. It was broken & the original text was missing! Inside the safe was a pair of dice, showing a double six (first time I have seen that in this game)...

The War of Gabrielle’s Décolletage Nightgown could be about to start... here. In G7.

Not a double six:affraid:

All we need now is for reports of a dodgy English cove called Lord Farnworth to show up and I am going to get really worried about leakage from scrabble to G7.

Or could the great Tea Cartel £97m tax switch have been based on an old plan/story handed down to his Farnworth family heirs by Lord Godolphin?

Based on the fact that the Countess is in tears, the French Guards are clearly looking for something and the Ex-French treasurer had done a runner and the double six........could we be looking for the type of cad who would seduce and abandon one of my favourite NPC's so he could use the Spanish, Austrian or Flanders Diplomatic bag to smuggle something we know not what out of France!

Flipping Heck!
Breaking News Major Russian Naval losses in the Baltic this month! Didn't even leave port. 1714 is not going to be a good year.

J Flower wrote:Flipping Heck!
Breaking News Major Russian Naval losses in the Baltic this month! Didn't even leave port. 1714 is not going to be a good year.

Ok, what have you done to upset Richard?

J Flower wrote:Flipping Heck!
Breaking News Major Russian Naval losses in the Baltic this month! Didn't even leave port. 1714 is not going to be a good year.

In scabble the Russians managed to sink five of the own vessels in St Petersbough harbour so even that might not be safe.

Have you considered spending 1714 in dry dock? Also using skeleton crews or harbour watches instead of full crews (10% of normal crew charged with fire watching, cleaning and painting ship) so in the event of a disaster in harbour the losses are a lot less?

I think Richard saw the thread & boasts of lack of Russian naval disasters & he just couldn't let me get away with it.

But sinking the ENTIRE Russian Baltic fleet was a bit harsh.

From now on Russian ships will remain in dry dock with crews only going near the ships in the summer, although there is always the risk of thunderstorms & a freak lightning strike hitting the dockyards with..... No I will stop there don't want to give Richard ideas.

J Flower wrote:Flipping Heck!
Breaking News Major Russian Naval losses in the Baltic this month! Didn't even leave port. 1714 is not going to be a good year.

As an impartial observer, I do suspect you were tempting fate with your December celebrations...

Stuart Bailey wrote:

J Flower wrote:Flipping Heck!
Breaking News Major Russian Naval losses in the Baltic this month! Didn't even leave port. 1714 is not going to be a good year.

In scabble the Russians managed to sink five of the own vessels in St Petersbough harbour so even that might not be safe.

Have you considered spending 1714 in dry dock?  Also using skeleton crews or harbour watches instead of full crews (10% of normal crew charged with fire watching, cleaning and painting ship) so in the event of a disaster in harbour the losses are a lot less?  

Stuart-do you know where in the rules/supplements I can find details of using skeleton crews?  Back in Scotland for a few days so don't have access to everything but can't recall this idea (thinking it might be a useful way to speed things up in some games where I have money but not recruits)

Jason needs to stand up and be counted by every other player, playing Russia in a LGDR world. He has set Richard off on his own in-game joke and amusement which has eternally damned the Russian Navy, no matter what world, to losses...out of the blue.

I am now awaiting a return for Jason that says "1,000 recruits loss this month - when asked do you know what the sea is the recruits responded "a big blue wobbly thing that mermaids live in" and so were deemed of navy calibre and interest and so were lost"

Just how far and extreme can Jason push Richard on naval losses ?

Jason2 wrote:

Stuart Bailey wrote:

J Flower wrote:Flipping Heck!
Breaking News Major Russian Naval losses in the Baltic this month! Didn't even leave port. 1714 is not going to be a good year.

In scabble the Russians managed to sink five of the own vessels in St Petersbough harbour so even that might not be safe.

Have you considered spending 1714 in dry dock?  Also using skeleton crews or harbour watches instead of full crews (10% of normal crew charged with fire watching, cleaning and painting ship) so in the event of a disaster in harbour the losses are a lot less?  

Stuart-do you know where in the rules/supplements I can find details of using skeleton crews?  Back in Scotland for a few days so don't have access to everything but can't recall this idea (thinking it might be a useful way to speed things up in some games where I have money but not recruits)

Interesting idea on skeleton crews - don't remember reading about it anywhere.

Since the disaster happened in port surely the town watch or garrison was on hand to help the sailors get to shore, so perhaps not all of them were lost? There is an incompatibility here between the rules for ships and armies. If an army gets a SL then provided it is in a town, 'resting', it tends to be brought back to serviceable condition unless perhaps in severe cases of disease. But if a ship gets a SL above 3 and is hit by weather the whole ship is vulnerable to being lost. I can understand this happening when at sea or moving, but not in port, especially when most ports will have a harbour that gives some protection against high winds/tides.

The only thing I can think of is that the ships were not well built (perhaps up-gunned or converted without stable ship design) and the crews not yet trained?

This afternoon I was looking through some old Russian stamps, overprinted for use in the Ottoman Empire around WW1. Stamps earlier than that date were issued by the Russian Company for Steam Shipping and Trade (ROPIT), which was actually quite an extensive operation from 1856, with 72 steamships by 1901. They ran not only freight, but a profitable passenger service with a good safety record. Either:

1. JFlower needs to use Russian engineering expertise to develop steamships; or
2. Accept that the Baltic is a very dangerous sea and transfer Russian naval operations to the calmer waters of the Black Sea/Mediterranean.

count-de-monet wrote:I am now awaiting a return for Jason that says "1,000 recruits loss this month - when asked do you know what the sea is the recruits responded "a big blue wobbly thing that mermaids live in" and so were deemed of navy calibre and interest and so were lost"

Not just mermaids - I'm waiting for the Russian navy to accidentally sight Nessie on vacation. After all where else would a sea monster go for a holiday other than Baltic waters to make friends with Russian sailors? There are always some of them in the sea and they must be friendly types since they are often found waving without big wooden floating gun platforms. Perhaps this month's turn writeup should be from the viewpoint of Nessie?

March 1714 Gloire du Roi has shown up and for non G7 players here are the highlights:

1) Shipping losses - 2 French Arabian Sea probably to Persian Cruisers, 1 English West Indies - cause of loss ?, Persian merchant traders also got chased by numerous French cruisers in the Ethiopian Sea but outsailed them and got away..........Finally the moment you have all been waiting for (roll of drums?).........5 major and 10 minor craft of the Russian Baltic Fleet went down in a storm which hit St Petersburg.

Seems that as well as building their new city on a bog the Russians have also got a storm exposed anchorage and their city lacks a Cathedral to pray for the sauls of the drowned.  They do however have several hundred noble born choir boys waiting for said Cathedral to be built.

2) Also suffering Engineering embarrassment was the Spanish Viceroy of New Spain who proudly laid the foundation stone for the new Mexico City aqueduct only to find that no work could actually start due to lack of engineers.  Probably all been pinched by this friendly rivals in Peru......its not easy (and very very expensive) to build roads and provide irrigation in the Andes!  At least Gonzalo Hernandez was able to attend a bull fight and take his wife to the Opera.  Which seems more fun than other events in the America's which included

3) A larger letter from King James to disgruntled Virginians and the agents of the Czar getting heavy handed about local trade and political traditions.  Or at least they would have done if they had been in the right place to bully Mr Grenville as intended.

4) Back in London when not writing to disgruntled Virginians King James has been dinning with various important former captives of the Dutch such as Lord Howard (captured off Ayr when the Dutch bagged his convoy).  King James new son and Catholic heir to the throne has been called Prince Henry Stuart which should in theory make him Henry IX.  Perhaps to help make make sure he makes it he has also been named after the two strongest Catholic rulers in Europe and has the middle names of Charles Louis (Full name is - Prince Henry Charles Louis Stuart).  Finally Thomas Herbert the Lord High Treasurer of England has confirmed that due to his anti fraud measueres nothing like what has happened in France could ever happen in England.

- We are unable to comment if Thomas Herbert had his fingers crossed behind his back when he made his statement.

5) In France the investigation by Lord Godolphin of the Nicolas Desmarets affair has to no ones surprize found lots of clue's pointing at the involvment of Spain and its "cronies" the main points being the Spanish got annoyed about a large French Army marching across Flanders without permission and shot it up at the same time as the Desmarets affair, the Spanish banking system could be used to launder large amounts of stolen cash and Nicolas Desmarets is understood to have set sail on a ship which put out that its destination was Trinidad.

- Sadly Godolphin was unable to provide any further information on this "cronies" of Desmarets and Spain.  Are they English, Persian, Russian, Italian, Ottoman or what?  Or why one of the most important Ministers in France has fled the country or what he has taken with him?

- Lord Godolphin has recommended that the French cancel and re-issue all (outstanding?) payments authoriation's issued by the Ex Minister and also ask the Spanish to arrest and return Nicolas Desmarets ship as soon as its arrives in Trinidad.  Sadly the French dismissal of the last Hapsburg Envoy to France means that no information has yet been passed to Spain concerning the ship the French are looking for like its name, class, size etc.  It also seems possible to many that a man dishonest enough to plan and carry out a major fraud might not have been 100% honest about his final destination.  Desert Island in easy reach of French bases or a Persian pleasure palace full of dusky eyed maidens, were would you go?

- While it seems that Lord Godolphin investigation points the finger firmly at Spanish involvement his investigators have expressed concern through back channels that the whole plan just seems too complex and clever for the current Spanish Government.  Infamous for its simple, direct and brutal approach it is just too stupid and too busy running the Spanish Empire to undertake the months of planning required to mastermind a complex fraud which would require a intellect on a par with King James.

6) King Louis has however pushed all doubts and concerns that the Spanish Government has been framed by someone who wants to see France and Spain (please feel free to speculate as to who would benefit if that happened) at war and has declared that Spain will pay in either blood or treasure.  He has also ordered a forced loan of £40m from the French Nobles to pay for his next war etc.

- The perpetual bond issue pays a mere 5% interest rate and as the wealth of the French Nobles is mostly in land and property it will force most of them to mortgage property at interest rates of above 5%.......normally between 10% & 25% depending on their credit status.  It is thus a de-facto land tax on the French Nobility which will no doubt cause some to wonder if Nicholas has been sent on a holiday cruise to wip up French National feeling and allow Louis to retire a lot of aged French debt for something with a lot lower interest rate.

7) In Bristol 42 Squadrons of Dutch horse showed up to await shipment back home to the UDP, meanwhile 22 Battalions of Spanish foot from the old Northern Command presented the Mayor of Amsterdam with a very nice silver wine cooler and are getting ready to march home with colours cased while on UDP territory.  So either the peace agreed between the UDP, France and England is working well or bits are getting into place ready for the next war in G7?  Feeling is next one could be a replay of Louis XIV war against the English were he demanded huge damages over a broken dredger contract, declared war to enforce damages and ended up with regime change.  Only in this case it will it be £40m damages for failure to stop Spanish banking system being used to launder theft from France.

- Will the shake down work?  Will Spain pay up just to make the problem go away?  Or will the Hapsburg get difficult about the matter?  Bloody minded Hapsburg does such a thing exist?  

English closed down a lot of exchanges in Venice, UPD etc .......handy if someone wanted to cover up a trail of missing cash.

9) Spanish set Dutch details of metric system and a lot of legal books on commercial law.  Handy if you want to sue for damages due to closed exchange

10) Flanders busy repairing some of the timber bridges it burnt to delay French invasion, the Countess Mary has also offered prayers of thanks that the French have left without spreading their diseases.  She has also paid military units involved in defence of Flanders 240 maravedis (£12) bonus and given 2nd Army the battle honour of Ghent.  Clearly the Cavalry who smashed their French opposite numbers won a clear victory.  The Infantry did less well against odds of 7-1 but they did rally covered by the Light Troops who took a heavy toll of the French.  Louis XIV is also claiming Ghent as a French victory and has made Villars a Chevalier of L'Ordre di Saint-Esprit for getting most of his army back to France even though after the original clash the Spanish just skirmished and shadowed the retirement of the French to Lille.

- Currently Flanders forces have retired to bases apart from the screen watching the frontier while a reinforced French Army is back in its major base of Lille dealing with its disease cases.  Total French losses for campaign in UDP and march across Flanders are unknown.  But its believed that many of Louis XIV Army have developed a marked dislike of flooded trenches.  Even Scotland is nicer to campaign in!

11) The UDP, The Holy Roman Emperor & the Pope have agreed to act as guarantor's for the proposed Treaty of Ghent in hope that this will keep the peace in Europe.  The Society of the Jesuits added a further request that Spanish units issued with their flags do not fly them in combat esp against Christains.

12) When not trying to keep the peace of Europe in co-operation with the Pope the Holy Roman Emperor sent his time offering his patronage to the Arts esp Opera and also granted the Hungarians their own Diet in Buda.  But oddly trade missions have been opened by "free Hungary" in Paris, London, Moscow and Warsaw.  Fairly sure the Treaty of Scotland said "All signatories promise not to offer any support to any group or individual seeking to undermine anither signatory to this treaty" so no doubt the Emperor will want some of these missions closed down.  Mind you the treaty also said all troops withdrawn in six months and two years later a large French Army stomps all over Flanders so what the Emperor wants and what actually happens may differ.

13) Oddly the Ottoman Grand Vizier seems to have got out of bed on the right side for once and expressed a wish to avoid conflict with Spain and Russia, with honour and dignity remaining intact for all.  A nice, friendly Grand Vizier! has he hit his head?  Will Russian, Austrian and Spanish diplomacy be able to cope with this strange concept?

14) Russian influence continues to expand everywhere lacking seas, rivers & small boating lakes including Jerusalem and Gross Friedrichsburg.

15) In the Baltic progress on the Imperial Kalmar Union continues with the new Krona currency replacing the daler in Sweden and ducats in Denmark.  If one had that type of mind minting of lots of shiny new coins spread across two seperate economies with colonies in the America's and India would seem like a perfect way to hide a lot of stolen French money.

16) The Kulmar Union did however hit a small problem when someone lost the new constitution.  Oh well if the Viceroy of New Spain can mislay a load of Engineers, the King of France mislay his Minister of the Treasury and a unknown amount of money and the Czar of Russia 15 ships in harbour I guess a lost bit of paper is not a major problem (just hope they find it quicker than the will of King Carlos II in G10)

17) Persia and Moghul India seem to be getting very friendly with private audiences and gifts of multiple chests of jewels, gold and coin being given to the Great Moghul by the Perisan Envoy (anyone would think the Shah has just come into a lot of cash....or perhaps its just his loot from plundered French ships) along with a copy of the Koran and a magnificently made and adorned Improved M-pattern rifle.

- Is the Great Moghul going to convert to Shia Islam? Is the Shah after a Timurid Bride? Or just improved relations with his major trade area? Who knows?

- The Great Moghul wanted some clarification about is the Shah at war with the English or not? As far as anyone is aware Persia and England are not at war but Persia and France are. However, the fact that the French have given their colonies (and Persian targets) to the English may have rather confused matters for many concerned.  

A very difficult month for Stuart to summarise, but generally fair.  Here is an alternative writeup from the perspective of Nessie.  For those who may not have been following an earlier discussion on another thread, Nessie (more formally known as the Loch Ness Monster) normally resides in Loch Ness, Scotland, but has evaded capture for so long by being friends with seagulls and other birds, who bring him the news from far and wide.  He is, after all, a very friendly sea monster widely respected by Scottish Clan Chiefs and other gentlemen of quality.

1. The ravens from the Tower of London report that King James has held an intimate lunch with 6 gentlemen recently released by the Dutch.  Given these gentlemen were feared tortured to death by the previous Dutch government of pirates and renegades, King James is known to be overjoyed by their release, as they were to see Prince Henry Charles Louis Stuart, the young heir to the crown.

2. The Lord Treasurer of England sought to reassure the markets (and himself) that despite events in France, the English treasury is sound.  Any Lord Treasurer would be slightly nervous whilst the books and procedures are being audited, but he can take comfort from the fact that King James’ decision to abolish the Bank of England some years ago and the drain on England’s finances due to the war have both rendered it highly likely that any criminal who would try to defraud England would find there was nothing much to steal.  Whoever masterminded the French fraud is clearly clever – clever enough to realise that a thief first checks that his target has something worth stealing before figuring out how to steal it.

3. In Amsterdam the new, honourable Dutch government continues to issue orders to comply with her obligations under the Treaty of Amsterdam, returning units and generally sorting out inherited chaos.  In a rather curious twist Prince Friso has been presented with a summary of the Pavia Legal Code.  We learn that only the summary has been published, not the full 36 volumes.  This would imply that the law of Spain, far from being simple, is incredibly complicated, and probably needs to be streamlined.  After all law is usually about detail so a rough idea of whether you have committed an offence is unlikely to be much use when the judge has another 35 volumes to prove you did.

4. Across the river in Flanders, the Countess of Hainaulte has recovered her poise after being required to leave Versailles last month.  She may have taken comfort from Lord Godolphin formally clearing her of involvement in the flight of Desmarets.

5. It is hard to know what is going on in Versailles since the pigeons of Notre Dame are somewhat unreliable messengers.  However, the consensus seems to be that King Louis and his nobles are rather upset about fraud against the French treasury and consider Spain to be behind it.  This was confirmed by the investigation of Lord Godolphin, but with some reservations.  Different ways forward have been suggested, but it is up to France and Spain to decide what happens next.  It may not help that the weather report for the Caribbean shows storms, although no French ship was reported sunk.  Desmarets may have been blown off course which will give Spain a little more time to order his arrest on arrival in Trinidad.

6. In various other courts of Europe the Spanish have been attempting to gain support for their proposed Treaty of Ghent with France.  The responses have been mixed given some will see it as a rear guard action which could drag them into war.  It is not clear whether France has signed the Treaty or rejected it, so although Spain may receive support in principle, it may not mean much if war erupts.

7. Rome is also not an easy place to get reports from our feathered friends, despite 4 million starlings visiting at this time of year.  However, the Jesuits have clarified that Spanish forces were only permitted to use the Jesuit flag during their withdrawal from the British Isles, not for any subsequent use or in any other area.  We think this means that the Jesuits are not at war with France.  In these difficult times the last thing Spain needs is to be caught doing more sneaky things, so this condemnation by the Jesuit Order is somewhat embarrassing.

8. In Naples, the King and Queen of Spain seem to be scaremongering over potential Ottoman threats, without recognising that it was they who have placed extra tariffs on Ottoman traders and are primarily responsible for the deterioration in relations.  The Grand Vizier has expressed his hope that relations should improve, which does suggest that Spain is simply creating a ‘problem’ to distract from her own difficulties with France.

9. In Denmark the long awaited details of the Kalmar Union were due to be published.  Unconfirmed reports are that a bevy of Danish nationalist swans ate the document, much to the distress of the clerks who have spent so much time working on it.

10. Several hundred choirboys arrived in St.Petersburg to give praise for the Russian Navy’s ability to stay afloat.  Unfortunately a storm struck, sinking the navy and causing the choirboys to catch cold.  This is particularly baffling given the weather report for the Baltic region was becalmed!  The Russian navy did have greater success in delivering troops to Gross Friedrichsburg.

11. In Mexico, parakeets are believed to have been responsible for wrecking Spanish attempts to build an aqueduct by ordering the engineers to another location.

12. In Delhi, the Moghul’s advisors seem somewhat confused regarding who Persia is at war with: England or France.  Either way, they hope that peace will soon be agreed.

13. Over in the Americas, more progress seems to be happening in the long running Alan Standing/Jane Eyre spy scandal.  In a rare intervention, King James has reminded disgruntled Virginians just how well governed they are, or would be if they didn’t insist on causing trouble.

Overall a relatively quiet turn.  Positive for England and UDP.  Not so positive for Spain, France and Russia.  Mildly irritating for Sweden.

Two very good summaries, thanks to both authors.

Continuing my review of what works and what can be improved in England I have rather a lot of hospitals, which led to me thinking about medical matters. Are hospitals actually effective in 1700 or was the state of medical knowledge/practice so bad that they could actually make disease outbreaks worse by concentrating the sick in one place?

1. Is it worth training doctors given so many of them were quacks; and barbers performed surgery? The rules do mention physicians: poor=1/10K pop; reasonable 1/1K pop; good 1/100pop. So with England’s population of c.9M that would mean 900 for poor, 9,000 for reasonable, 90,000 for good. Depending on the number of PoW returned from UDP, it might be possible to get to ‘good’ which has the added benefit that population growth is likely to be at a higher level. Physicians don't need paying since they charge their patients, which would seem to preclude them treating poor patients.

2. Has anyone thought about training nurses instead or as well as doctors? Professional nursing care would seem to give the patients much greater chance of recovery since even if the doctors didn’t know what was wrong, the nurses could still probably help by looking after them.

3. What is the ideal ratio of nurses to doctors?

4. If anyone has tried expanding nursing, does this need a special nurse training academy? And should nurses be paid?

This last question did actually cause some controversy historically. In pre-Reformation times nursing and general medical provision was one of the activities of monasteries/nunneries, funded by private charitable donations from Catholic nobles. In countries like England which went Protestant, the monasteries were closed and medical provision collapsed except for a few isolated cities where they were taken over by the government under their direct control. There is quite an interesting summary https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_nursing which states “Protestants generally closed all the convents and most of the hospitals, sending women home to become housewives, often against their will.” It wasn’t until the Nightingale nurses (1860s) were trained and paid that things improved. Indeed, it could be argued that it was the professional nurse that brought more improvements in healthcare than the bungling of doctors. Since nurses were predominantly women, the idea that women should be paid (rather than do the work unpaid and unrecognised) offended Victorian morality. In 1700 attempting to pay women nurses might cause riots in the streets?

I could perhaps get round that by inviting Catholic religious nursing orders into England and paying them an annual amount to provide nurses (including training colleges), but I thought it would be an interesting discussion point to compare experiences of other players before I tried anything so radical!

After vets sent to South America seemed to be suffering from sickness levels which refused to come down the local Viceroys paid for girls to help them out by acting as house keeper, cook and vetinary nurse.

Not sure if its helped the health and herd size of Spanish prize lama's, cattle and other livestock in G7 but Vets seem happier and more healthy.

I am wondering if putting dashing Italian Vets in close company with Indian and African beauty may be helping the growth of the Latino population as it now seems I now need 10,000 schools in South America for universal Education! Sure this figure has gone up!

Not sure if it has any in game benefit on not but G7 Spain likes to consider and run New Spain not just as a source of raw materials and trade but as a part of the country just like Aragon or Leon with the added benefit of being a Catholic land a long way from the heretics and Ottomans of the Old World ! Pity about the Pirates and the Apache.

Not sure I can add much, but doubt the idea of women earning a wage in 1700s is going to cause riots or even raise an eyebrow.  Quite a few industries and professions of the time were open to women and even female-dominated, indeed brewing was only starting to turn from being a female industry to a male one. 
I think we have a tendency to look at Victorian attitudes and project them backwards...and let's be honest, the Victorians weren't that fussed at the idea of working-class women (and children) working in factories or in various industries (even if they did progressively limit those "opportunities"), it's the daughters of the better off they objected to, as it stopped them sitting around doing embroidery and practising their sighing for when Mr Darcy came round to ask their father for their hand in marriage (whether he wanted the rest of their body is open to debate)

Stuart/Jason2, thank you both for your input.

10,000 schools for South America sounds like a project only Spain in G7 could think of completing.

The point of nurses was not to keep the doctors happy, but to give more effective and professional medical care. Clearly an ask advisors question for the future.

I think some of the objections to nurses being professionalised was that the morality of society didn't expect women to be paid for performing caring tasks that could be seen as Christian charity. I don't think this was a particular Victorian attitude since the same kind of reservations appear today (though perhaps more for financial reasons than moral ones). I think nursing was always female dominated whether paid or unpaid. Just find it curious that being a doctor (the diagnosis part) was a profession deemed worth paying for (however inept medical knowledge may be) whilst being a nurse (actually doing the work to help patients) was not.

It is an interesting question, and I agree with your hypothesis. My guess is since the game is made of abstractions, that the doctors are actually just a proxy for an entire medical service. So if you invest in doctors you're getting nurses, pharmacists, and the other infrastructure of care.

Since in the years I've been playing I haven't seen plagues break out, I'm not sure that the investment is that useful. And while at the highest levels it improves birthrates (and therefore I presume recruits), the amount of trained physicians needed is so insane that I can't imagine ever doing it.

I've implemented universal education in game 8. Very expensive and no obvious effect to date. But, what else are you going to spend big sacks of cash on?

Thanks Deacon. Is it the doctors that are a proxy for an entire medical service, or do you need hospitals for that?

It was a bit of a convoluted route that led me to think of these things, but basically I have rather a lot of hospitals that aren't doing anything - some built by me, but most by others who have played England or Scotland over the years, and some built by occupying forces (to reduce SL in their armies) left intact when I captured the towns. Trouble with hospitals is that they have quite a high annual upkeep cost for no obvious benefit whereas doctors simply have a recruit cost. As I am reviewing the effectiveness of past spending/institutions, I'm looking at total cost which makes buildings like hospitals rather expensive.

Oddly there has been no investment in 'doctors' in England G7, but there has been in lawyers, administrators, etc, which seemed to be an anomaly. As part of the terms of the Treaty of Amsterdam (which ended the decade long war against UDP) I am receiving all PoW back which is giving me a large recruit intake. I won't say on the forum how large as I've only added up those returned over the last 3 months and more are on the way. The war has gone on for so long and has been unusual in that it was the enemy objective to capture rather than kill my men, steal recruits and generally plunder the position rather than take it over, so the proportion of 'captured' war casualties is actually higher than those killed in combat or lost to attrition. Returned recruits will also include lost merchant crews which will be a considerable number. So I should have the chance to do something large scale and positive with them which I would never otherwise have tried.

I'm considering various possibilities (including my favourite, night soil men), but when I read about the potential improvement in birthrates, that could be a more direct way of building up the population tax base and stimulating the economy that wouldn't cost a fortune. Increasing population is obviously preferable than just investing them in trade or merchant shipping as the return there is merely financial. Some will, of course, go into trade, but if money is short then it is usually possible to borrow whereas it is not so easy to borrow recruits. Vets might increase the general health of livestock and possibly help with selective breeding, but that work can be undone very quickly if there is a famine. I do have some vets now, but am still deciding what to do with them.

On plagues, I agree that they aren't very common, but disease outbreaks are. In G10 I did have an outbreak of disease in Rome which was almost certainly down to enemy spy action, but the 'cure' advisors recommended was to build a hospital. So I do wonder whether night soil men increase the risk of disease so hospitals or at least basic medical coverage are recommended. Of course having built hospitals in every town in G10, specifically to treat night soil men, I now have night soil men at high morale which is probably a LDGR first!

On universal education, I have only tried it in G10 and like you have had no benefit from it yet, but it is early days. It is strange that education does not require recruits, but doctors/lawyers/vets/priests etc do.