Pondering Grognir’s posts about being willing to sacrifice regions from the start while playing Russia and the Ottoman Empire really got me thinking about whether my perceptions of territorial integrity need some adjustment. In some ways, the pump was already primed in that I have been giving up Rupert’s Land to the Huron-Wyandot when I play Great Britain. However, I’ve never deliberately traded Rupert’s Land to anyone for profit; this is an idea I wanted to pursue.
To this end, I started a game as Spain on VH/VH. To make a long story short, my experience with Spain through 1708 has validated some of my ideas and challenged others. For the moment, I’ll discuss what I’ve learned through the lens of swapping territory for profit. Spain starts in a position unlike that of many of the other powers. Spain has very little contiguous territory in 1700. Flanders, Lombardy, and Naples all are physically isolated from Spain. Flanders is directly adjacent to the Netherlands. Like the other Western powers, Spain has possessions in the Americas. Like Great Britain and the United Provinces, Spain has commodities-producing regions that are physically isolated, have a low population, and have very modest room for town growth.
I thought it would be very easy to complete the mission of acquiring Curacao, Texas, and the Leeward Islands to get New Spain and all her riches to join Spain. I also thought it would be fairly easy to use my Italian possessions as a springboard for capturing Austria. Following the advice of more experienced Spain players, I traded hard-to-defend Flanders to the UP for Curacao. So far, so good. Then the VH portion of the game setting hit me.
Morocco declared war right off the bat. I kept Moroccan troops from invading by controlling the Straits of Gibraltar. I also developed tactics for fighting galleys with sloops and brigs, which had been a major sticking point for fighting the North African powers. I was going to have to take Morocco and Portugal in order to establish a contiguous base that would require very little defending by ground forces.
Then Genoa and Savoy declared war out of the blue. Obviously, Lombardy was under direct threat. In previous games, I might have decided to try to hold Lombardy. This would have diverted resources towards my main effort, which was to assemble sufficient forces to invade and conquer Morocco. At best, my efforts to consolidate my base would be very badly delayed. At worst, I would end up sinking a ton of money into a defense of Lombardy that would fail. I thought of Grognir. I found a third solution. I traded Lombardy to Venice for a trade agreement (Venice had previously refused a trade agreement) and $2000. Venice accepted, and my troops in Lombardy were shifted to Sardinia—now free for other operations. Though I had lost a region I needed for victory in 1750, my enemies were not strengthened thereby. Instead, I gained $450/turn in “other goods” trade that required no troops to defend. Within a year, the Italian States declared war. I traded Naples to Venice for $3000 and received a modest boost in “other goods” trade.
Looking back on these developments, I see a pattern out of my days of playing Risk and the board version of Shogun. Those who have played these games know that when you play with a random, card-based start you begin with territory all over the board. You can’t possibly hold it all. The challenge of the first couple of turns is to consolidate control of a defensible region with as much internal area as possible and defensible. You have to let go of territory that cannot be included in the base, and you have to capture enemy territory that is local to your chosen base. This has been what I’ve been doing in my game as Spain thus far. I’ve lost more regions than I have gained to this point. Now that my base is partially established, I expect to reverse that trend shortly.
I captured Morocco in 1706 following a couple of epic battles of quality v quantity. Now that I have enough garrison troops and town watch in place to keep Morocco quiet for the rest of the assimilation process, I have started moving my main army on Portugal. Once I put Portugal in the bag, I’ll march First Spanish Army back to North Africa, capture Algeria and Tunis, then force peace and trade on the rump Barbary States.
It occurred to me that what I’m doing in Spain is a recreation of the strategic situation of Great Britain in Europe. The three European regions of Great Britain are contiguous with each other, but they are isolated from the Continent by the sea. With Portugal and Morocco in hand, I will have a contiguous base that is nearly as isolated. France is powerful and friendly. Only the Barbary States have land access to my base. Once I have beaten them back to a single region while imposing peace and trade, I’ll basically have a large island stronghold. This fits with my pattern of success with Great Britain, and it fits with my younger years of playing Risk and Shogun.
So, once again thanks go out to Grignir for inspiring me to change my way of looking at the game. I might have spent many game years trying to defend Lombardy and Naples. Win or lose, I’d discover that warfare with Savoy, Genoa, and the Italian States in their back yards would have destroyed my ability to make headway elsewhere. Oh, and as of S1708 I have a 10-unit army en route to Dutch Guyana to secure that $5500 prize, after which I’ll return to the Pirate islands and capture them. Had I committed to fighting in Italy to hold what I had, I would not be in a position to take Morocco, Portugal, or any of the Caribbean islands. Thanks, dude!
The musket is for fixing and softening the enemy. The bayonet is for destroying him.
To this end, I started a game as Spain on VH/VH. To make a long story short, my experience with Spain through 1708 has validated some of my ideas and challenged others. For the moment, I’ll discuss what I’ve learned through the lens of swapping territory for profit. Spain starts in a position unlike that of many of the other powers. Spain has very little contiguous territory in 1700. Flanders, Lombardy, and Naples all are physically isolated from Spain. Flanders is directly adjacent to the Netherlands. Like the other Western powers, Spain has possessions in the Americas. Like Great Britain and the United Provinces, Spain has commodities-producing regions that are physically isolated, have a low population, and have very modest room for town growth.
I thought it would be very easy to complete the mission of acquiring Curacao, Texas, and the Leeward Islands to get New Spain and all her riches to join Spain. I also thought it would be fairly easy to use my Italian possessions as a springboard for capturing Austria. Following the advice of more experienced Spain players, I traded hard-to-defend Flanders to the UP for Curacao. So far, so good. Then the VH portion of the game setting hit me.
Morocco declared war right off the bat. I kept Moroccan troops from invading by controlling the Straits of Gibraltar. I also developed tactics for fighting galleys with sloops and brigs, which had been a major sticking point for fighting the North African powers. I was going to have to take Morocco and Portugal in order to establish a contiguous base that would require very little defending by ground forces.
Then Genoa and Savoy declared war out of the blue. Obviously, Lombardy was under direct threat. In previous games, I might have decided to try to hold Lombardy. This would have diverted resources towards my main effort, which was to assemble sufficient forces to invade and conquer Morocco. At best, my efforts to consolidate my base would be very badly delayed. At worst, I would end up sinking a ton of money into a defense of Lombardy that would fail. I thought of Grognir. I found a third solution. I traded Lombardy to Venice for a trade agreement (Venice had previously refused a trade agreement) and $2000. Venice accepted, and my troops in Lombardy were shifted to Sardinia—now free for other operations. Though I had lost a region I needed for victory in 1750, my enemies were not strengthened thereby. Instead, I gained $450/turn in “other goods” trade that required no troops to defend. Within a year, the Italian States declared war. I traded Naples to Venice for $3000 and received a modest boost in “other goods” trade.
Looking back on these developments, I see a pattern out of my days of playing Risk and the board version of Shogun. Those who have played these games know that when you play with a random, card-based start you begin with territory all over the board. You can’t possibly hold it all. The challenge of the first couple of turns is to consolidate control of a defensible region with as much internal area as possible and defensible. You have to let go of territory that cannot be included in the base, and you have to capture enemy territory that is local to your chosen base. This has been what I’ve been doing in my game as Spain thus far. I’ve lost more regions than I have gained to this point. Now that my base is partially established, I expect to reverse that trend shortly.
I captured Morocco in 1706 following a couple of epic battles of quality v quantity. Now that I have enough garrison troops and town watch in place to keep Morocco quiet for the rest of the assimilation process, I have started moving my main army on Portugal. Once I put Portugal in the bag, I’ll march First Spanish Army back to North Africa, capture Algeria and Tunis, then force peace and trade on the rump Barbary States.
It occurred to me that what I’m doing in Spain is a recreation of the strategic situation of Great Britain in Europe. The three European regions of Great Britain are contiguous with each other, but they are isolated from the Continent by the sea. With Portugal and Morocco in hand, I will have a contiguous base that is nearly as isolated. France is powerful and friendly. Only the Barbary States have land access to my base. Once I have beaten them back to a single region while imposing peace and trade, I’ll basically have a large island stronghold. This fits with my pattern of success with Great Britain, and it fits with my younger years of playing Risk and Shogun.
So, once again thanks go out to Grignir for inspiring me to change my way of looking at the game. I might have spent many game years trying to defend Lombardy and Naples. Win or lose, I’d discover that warfare with Savoy, Genoa, and the Italian States in their back yards would have destroyed my ability to make headway elsewhere. Oh, and as of S1708 I have a 10-unit army en route to Dutch Guyana to secure that $5500 prize, after which I’ll return to the Pirate islands and capture them. Had I committed to fighting in Italy to hold what I had, I would not be in a position to take Morocco, Portugal, or any of the Caribbean islands. Thanks, dude!
The musket is for fixing and softening the enemy. The bayonet is for destroying him.