Great Britain

[Ja'chyra]

Ok, here’s my take on GB played on H/H.

You start off with 6 regions, 3 in each of the Americas and Europe.

Europe - England
Scotland
Ireland

Americas - Jamaica
Bahamas
Rupert’s Land

2 armies in England and Ireland and 4 fleets in the Irish Sea, English Channel, Caribbean and East Atlantic.

First things first, move Newton into your school at Cambridge and start your research, I went for the college upgrade first but pretty soon you’ll be wanting to research farms to allow your villages to grow. After that just aim to complement your play style, I like to turtle so spread out my research across the different areas instead of focusing on one. If you like to win the game in 20 turns you’ll be wanting the military tech tree, but this approach isn’t for me.

Next you’ll be wanting to establish long and short term goals I went for integrating the 13 colonies and establishing a foothold in India respectively. The foothold in India I wanted within 10 turns and integrating the 13 colonies within 25, I know, a generous timescale but I like to take my time. As well as these two goals I also aimed to keep a hold of all my existing provinces and try to stay out of large wars, especially in Europe.

First steps.

So I’ve got my research started and my goals established. First thing was build a couple of Indiamen in the Americas and 1 in England to send of to the trading theatres asap. I also trained up 3 units of LI in England and 2 in Jamaica. I moved my general and my unit of pikemen into Ireland to help keep the peace and upgraded the happiness building (?) in Scotland and the farm in Rupert’s Land to help Fort Rupert grow. The unit of militia and Yeomen left in Ireland I moved down to England to form part of my expedition to India.

As for diplomacy, choose your allies carefully as Europe will soon be embroiled in some major land wars, especially between Austria and Prussia and another between Sweden and Denmark. I chose to go with Austria and Denmark to keep Russia off my back and allow the opportunity to raid Sweden’s trade routes and fleets. I also allied with some of the smaller nations and the Maharata in India.

As for my Regions, England is your big money earner and has a port in Portsmouth that can produce 4th raters straight away although you might be a bit short on cash to begin with. Jamaica is the only place in the Americas where you can produce LI and you’re going to need them against the Cherokee’s. Rupert’s Land is only 5 or 6 turns away from developing Fort Rupert which can either be used for income, priests or research but is going to be getting some loving from the Huron Confederacy pretty soon so you’re going to need some troops there.

I also rearranged my 4 fleets a bit, the ones near the home countries I kept as 2 but changed some ships around allocating most of my brigs and sloops, and admiral and a 6th rate for my expedition to India, the rest remained to protect Britain. In the Americas I merged both fleets and attacked the pirate fleet NE of Jamaica, make sure you play the battle right through to a Decisive Victory continuing the battle if necessary to allow you to capture any ships that are left. I lost 2 sloops and captured all 3 ships and that Fluyt is very handy at this stage.

At the end of this turn you’ll get the mission to capture Georgia, Cherokee Nation and New France so that the 13 colonies will join you, they are already a Protectorate. You’ll also get a few wars starting in Europe and maybe the Iroquois declaring against the colonies. I sent my damaged Americas fleet back to Jamaica for repairs and trained another 2 LI there ready for invading the mainland. I also started upgrading my trade buildings trained more LI and 1 cavalry unit in London.

The next turn is where it gets interesting. Your Indiamen are ready so send them off to Brazil and the Ivory coast to establish trading routes and load up you army from England onto your India fleet and send them on their way. Also embark the troops in Jamaica onto your Sloops and Brigs and send off to the Bahamas to pick up more men and then onto Georgia, I kept the rest of my ships in another fleet to escort my Indiamen past the pirate islands, and I needed them as well.

So you’re only 3 turns in and you’ve got 2 expeditionary forces on their way, one landing this turn, had a naval engagement with pirates and had to decide where you stand on European politics, this turn you’re going to have to land you army on mainland America, I chose to land in the 13 Colonies region next to Georgia so that I can declare war and take Georgia in the same turn. Your Indiamen and India fleet will take a few turns to arrive so you can concentrate on the Americas for the present, start aiming Rupert’s Land to building up your military and send the army you landed to take Georgia, if you’re lucky the Cherokee’s will have taken Florida from Spain allowing you to grab this as well without disrupting world politics. If you’re unlucky the Iroquois will have dec’d the 13 colonies and you may need to help them out to preserve your future empire.

From this point on you will be focusing on India and the Americas while developing your home countries and building up your forces, if you’re more brutal than me you may venture into European land wars or naval encounters but I had enough with India and the Americas to keep me happy, not to mention keeping a handle on pirate raids, I didn’t want to wipe them out as they are a good source of naval combat and prize ships if you can manage it.

[quadalpha]

You should get moving on your 13 Colonies mission pretty quickly as both France and Spain accomplish their missions in a few turns. The colonies are usually stupid enough to trade provinces like Maine and New England to the French.

[Malkut]

You should get moving on your 13 Colonies mission pretty quickly as both France and Spain accomplish their missions in a few turns. The colonies are usually stupid enough to trade provinces like Maine and New England to the French.

If you don't get moving on it fast enough, it still works out to your advantage.

So, the Colonies lose control of a pair of Providences to France. Big deal. You're going to have to fight France to take control of the Colonies anyway, so why not start with an invasion of French-held Boston? It's a very well developed city, and it makes a very good beachhead for any assault on Quebec.

Landing on Boston avoids a dangerous sea trip up Saint Lawrence River to Quebec, and it gives you control of a well-developed port city on the mainland, and it can recruit Colonial Line Infantry, which will make reinforcing your North American armies easier.

Once you do gain control of the Colonies, you also gain the Providences that they got from France, which saves you the trouble of conquering some far-flung islands.

So really, it's nothing to get discouraged about.

[erebrus]

If you don't get moving on it fast enough, it still works out to your advantage.

So, the Colonies lose control of a pair of Providences to France. Big deal. You're going to have to fight France to take control of the Colonies anyway, so why not start with an invasion of French-held Boston? It's a very well developed city, and it makes a very good beachhead for any assault on Quebec.

Landing on Boston avoids a dangerous sea trip up Saint Lawrence River to Quebec, and it gives you control of a well-developed port city on the mainland, and it can recruit Colonial Line Infantry, which will make reinforcing your North American armies easier.

Once you do gain control of the Colonies, you also gain the Providences that they got from France, which saves you the trouble of conquering some far-flung islands.

So really, it's nothing to get discouraged about.

I agree, on my first game, I rushed to try to complete the mission and things got much more complicated. Next time, I went for the pirate islands before. It gave me a small economy boost, rid the seas of pirates (no problems with trade routes anymore) and gave me additional recruiting bases which allowed me to quickly get a big army to land in georgia. The cherokee had since then expanded a bit, but with a big army (and a lot replenish commands) they fell. As an added advantage, I got the extra colonies they had conquered. This allowed me to get florida without going to war with the spaniards. By the time I went for new france, my armies ruled north america and I managed to blitz through the french colonies.

With the british, being that you have a safe home region, you should focus on economy (and pirates) on the first 10 turns. Then you go for pirates and, using your super economy, built up your fleet in europe. Then blitz through the french colonies and decimate the French fleet in Europe. In less than 10 turns french went from being THE super power, to be a trapped 2-3 region faction.

[timski]

Early Pirate Gambit

To expand on the "pirates opener":

Great Britain starts with a sizeable naval force on the east side of North America, but there is not imediately a lot to do with it. You don't have the troops or technology to start attacking natives on the continent. Fortunately, you do have what it takes to attack some pirates.

In the very first turn, gather your North America fleets, and attack the pirate fleet (east of Cuba) with everything except one small ship. Move carefully - it is just possible to attack on turn 1. The battle can be won without lose, although the pirate flag ship is tough and needs to be handled with care.

The one smaller ship acts as a troop carrier, picking up land units from your 2 island colonies. You can even produce extra line infantry in Jamaica in the first turn. Pikes can be left as garrisons if you wish. Clearly this isn't a perfect stack. But you have cannon, line infantry, "anti-router" cavalry, and a commander - they'll get the job done.

On turn 2, move your victorious fleet to occupy the pirate port on the Windward Islands, thus preventing the sudden appearance of a second pirate fleet. Move your troop carrier towards the Windward Islands, invading the settlement on the third turn. In my experience, the pirates field a lot of basic grunts, with no horses, cannon, or special units to worry about. You can win this with less, better deployed, troops.

One of the unseen benefits of the "early pirate gambit" is that it gets your military into action on turn 1. Successful military action gives a tangible bonus to happiness levels at home, which you desperately need. Since it takes 2+ years to get extra troops across the Atlantic from Europe, this does not distract from an early continental invasion of North America. It does mean you have an extra island to defend, but you will need a fleet in the Carribean to defend your 2 starting islands anyway.

[loony]

My experience as GB on VH/H

1. Early (1700 - 1703) on I decided North America will be a purely defensive theater; as my main trouble was France, i had to look for ways to undermine them:

a) Disbanded troops in rupert's land, although built a military governor house to enable faster recruiting
b) Completeley ignored the mission from 13 colonies. At the time I was thinking to start the mission from the war with france and continue towards the indians later on
c) Ignored the Carribean and the pirates; sent my NA flee to brazillian (mistake) and african theaters together with several indianmen.
d) Started recruiting in Britain to form a full stack together with my existing armies

2. As France had several full stacks on the continent, i decided against attacking it directly; rather, I went for the "belly of the beast" in southern europe (1706 - 1713).

a) I landed an expeditionary force to capture Rome, Venice and Genoa; luckily Savoyan idiots attacked me so they became wormfood as well. Note: the battles were tough and I ad to change my general due to "too many casualties in battle" or sth like that trait he developed. Nonetheless, Italy was mine
b) I spent all the cash i could scramble on upgrading my economy, until
c) the Hurons declared war on me, so I started recruiting in Rupert's Land to form a force of 5 Hessians and three militias. While the main Huron armies were further away I managed to destroy two smaller forces and defed my towns in Ruperts land.
d) Due to investments into NA (should have given the Ruperts land up, i think) I could not fund the war against france; moreover, I was heavily spending economy. Moved my expeditionay force from Italy to Barbary states and destroyed them. Built church schools and left them there.
e) captured the Huron settlement in the great lakes and Tripolitania at about the same time; my stack in NA was decetly mixed and already experienced. moved it back to ruperts land, built a sloop and took them to take the last huron settlement. had my nastiest battle there - a bunch of indians managed to slip past me (i slipped past them while they were hidden), so they destroyed my artillery and charged the rear of my line. crappy stuff, but the line infantry held and general had his share of battle

3) Spain declared war on portugal (my ally) and was joined by France (doh!). I faced a choice of getting into a war I was not ready for or, if I broke the alliance with Portugal, get Portugal destroyed and Spanish getting stronger (making the French-Spanish alliance stronger). I joined the war against the Spanish and the French; Austrians broke the alliance and didn't declare on the french (1712-1714).

a) My italian force capture Milan from the spanish and i started to recruit land troops in italy and navy in Britain.
b) Blockaded the French capital port while spanis and french navies were trying to get back from North america
c) built 1 sloop to blockade the french port in the south; the idiot french sent a FULL STACK against it and wasted like 3 turns to get to it from the atlantic.
d) gave a nice big cash boost to portugal to help them in the war and offered peace to spain two turns later. they accepted.
e) started marching my NA force from Ruperts land to Quebec and Monreal.

4. The strategic objectives all achieved, being one-on-one with the french, their economy blockaded and having 2 armies (the veteran expeditionary force and the freshly recruited italians) i though I have decent chances defeating the frence and taking over their colonial holdings (1712-1720)

a) attacked Strasbourg from italy. Had a nasty battle at the star fort bear strabourg, but grapeshot and my veteran troops ruled the day. my fresh troops started marching on paris to deter the french from counteratacking strasbourg
b) while my veterans were healing wounds in strasbourg my new recruits got attacked by full stack of french line infantry and lots of cannons. luckily, found a decent spot for the cannons and managed to defeat the french (with many casualties on both sides).
c) the french navy got to my blockading force, so I had to eithe fight the battle half stack against full stack.. or run. I ran, of course, who cares about their navy when they are losing on land
d) My NA stack reached and captured Monreal. A nice battle there, lots of harrasing with the indian musket cavalry and beautiful bayonet charge by several most veteran troups.
d) In Europe with my veterans healed and some horse artillery added to the stack, I attacked Paris. The battle was rather easy, and I took the city. Suddenly, France is no more.

5. Destruction of the french caused United Stated to appear, as well as some little nation calling themselves Quebec. All Europe became horribly pissed and Paris public order was... well...horrible even without taxing that unruly bunch (1720-1728)

a) NA stack attacked quebec, autoresolved as the forces were far from equal. took the city and started marching towards maine and boston (previuosly french, currently - US)
b) started buildign my economy in GB and in NA with every spare coin I had, giving state gifts to Austrians, Swedes and Russians to avoid another big war in Europe.
c) built several church schools in france and north africa to get them all to be protestant
d) destroyed United States, marched my NA stack to georgia and captured it. now waiting to recruit some more troups and will be moving southwars (to cherokee - held florida) and later on to cherokee territory

6. Strenghtening position in Europea and North America. Teching like mad

e) got Poland Lithuania and Wuttenberg (idiots!) declare war on me. Sent one force to capture Gdansk and another to keep Wuttenberg from taking Strasbourg.
f) had one of the most exciting battles against 2 times the forces I had agains wuttenberg. kicked their tails, althoug it was a very costly victory; capture wuttenberg afterwards, though
g) took Gdansk, traded it to swedes for some tech, gave several state gifts around europe and got war declared by Bavaria. luckily, one of the last gifts I gave was to the Austrians, so the Austrians decided to fight Bavara on my side. Their first stack got beat, the second one is several turns away, hope they will get beat as well and I will capture Bavaria with the minimum involvement in the fighting.
e) most of the time I spend managing the economy, research and building. Got 5 univeristies for reasearch, moving through the tech tree really fast and turning my mind toeards india and the seas.

7. Plans

a) leave 2 stacks in continental europe (1 in france, another one in Italy). Be friendly with everyone, but have a punch just in case.
b) get another stack in Quebec or Boston in NA. To be on the safe side there as well.
c) the remaining money (after construction) is spent on the navy and preparing 2 stacks for the invation of india.


Comments on campaign:

- this is my first campaign, so I was unaware about the value trade brings. next time would use the naval advantage to its utmost
- I am still behind the spanish in prestige and military numbers; they have a better navy, but they ARE really stretched thin
- despite not using the trade up to its most, still have more income than I can spend if I don't recruit


Comments on tactics:
-strategic offence, tactical defence with grapeshot cannons along my infantry line.
-2 grenadier units cleaning up the massed enemies where the cannons cannot reach
- screw square formation; well timed fire will devastate cavalry charges
- melee poorer quality infantry with your line troops. while militia can shoot, they cannot stand the bayonet
- anchor flanks to houses and impassable terrain.. otherwise, yes, do use the square sometimes
- DISABLE fire at will for your cannons!!!
- do retreat veterans from battles to avoid losing them. better lose the battle than the troops!

[loony]

Continuing from the previuos post:

8. Attacked by a protectorate
a ) Sneaky americans! I free them from the French, I protect their trade and their lands from the Indians and they repay me with what? Sneaky sneaky sneaky...
My two NA armies both destroyed: one by my protectorate, another one - by three stacks of cherokees. They did not go down cheaply, but they did.
b) sent one more stack, re-took Boston, defended montreal from the siege and charged down to new york. a nasty battle with 70% casualties for the enemy and like 50% for me. The AI did REALLY well on that one, with false retreats and constant harassing with skirmisher units.
c) captured Wuttenberg and Bavaria in europe, half the italy is protestant now and most of the northern africa as well. france and my capital region are growing and giving me insane tax revenues, making 38 000 per turn