Tactical Journal – Holland

By Brendan Brown.

The basic start for any county, and Holland is no exception, is to secure a decent economic structure. Each nation starts with some of the resources needed, but they soon run out!

In Europe stone is required to increase population. As Holland only has access to two mountain co ordinates31/25 and 32/25, build these the first turn. This will build you up a store of stone for the time when you wish to start increasing your population. Also in the first turn build your ore mine at 32/24.

The key to the economy are Economic Points (EcPts). These are made with Ore, Textile and Wood; so before you invest in a factory, build the production sites needed for a factory. These are 1 weaving mill, 4 sheep farms and 1 lumber camp. The turn after these are built, build the factory. Try to keep this ratio of sites for each factory you build. But keep in your mind that Holland only has 1 ore mine in Europe; this should support 2 factories, and their ratio of other production sites.

Vital production sites, such as Ore, Factories, Weaving mills should have a population level of at least 1 more than the minimum needed for that site. (i.e. Ore should be pop 2, Factory pop.5 Mill pop.3) This means if an epidemic strikes, which reduces the population by 1 for that co ordinate, then you don’t lose the production for that turn.

Build sites on the coordinates that give the max production. Looking at the map, where there are 3 letters listed the 3 ^rd letter means that coordinate produces extra, so use these first.

Food IS very important. If you don’t have enough, you don’t last long. That is a pretty obvious statement. You will be surprised how many people forget, and all of a sudden their population starts to die. So from the beginning try to build food estates at a rate of at least 1 per turn, more if you can.

Comparing stocks in your warehouses from previous turns will tell you if you are building up stocks of the various goods. Remember the stone you built turn 1? Well this is where you need it. If you have more citizens in your warehouse than you think you need to build troops, then they are a waste. Get them into your population as fast as you can, and they will start generating more money for you to spend.

Trade is a very good way to generate extra money, or to get scarce goods that you need. Load up some ships, or baggage trains with goods (or cash) and go to trade cities and see what you can do! Buy when the trade rate is low in one city, and either wait (not the best way!) or move to a higher rate city and sell. Be aware, if your baggage trains are in a country that then goes to war with you they become stuck, they can’t move or trade.

Diplomacy is a great part of the game. As Holland you operate on both colonial maps, and you are in the main conflict area in Europe. You will be attacked sooner or later! It is vital to establish contact with your immediate neighbours; it is also pretty useful to contact their adjoining neighbours. If your next-door country is aggressive to you, it will make him think twice if you have an ally to HIS rear!

As to your early aggressive moves, if you have France on your side, the Confed is always worth having a pop at. Holland can usually get Denmark to join in against poor Confed, unless Confed has got Sweden to have a go at Denmark, in which case Prussia is worth talking to. Confused? Join the club!

Or if Confed is OK with you, and Spain seems friendly, there is always France to be attacked? You could be a total hero to the world of Austerlitz and invade GB when it isn’t looking. (It has happened once to my knowledge)

The different scenarios are endless! That is what makes it so much fun.

As a new player, you may be seen as an easy target, but on the other hand, some kind players seek to help out new players!  (Mind you, DON’T trust anything Paul Goodman says to you!!)

Also a good diplomatic move would be to try and get a co ordinate from either Morocco, or Spain/Portugal to allow you to build a barracks near the India jump off point. This allows much easier returning of cargo from India to Holland.  If you are going to upset Spain/Portugal by taking a mine site in S. America (see below), then it’s best asking Morocco.

Building up your armies is, of course, also vital to the game. It is after all a war game we are playing. I ignore the advice given to build brigades of differing troop types. I know it is more realistic to do it that way, but when it comes to working out training costs, and more importantly, refitting costs after battles, it is so much easier to do if the troop types in the brigades are all the same.

Another unrealistic thing you will come across is that in most armies you face, you will find the majority of the troops are grenadiers and riflemen. These give good hand to hand fighting, and good long range firing abilities. So if you can afford to do so, build them. With supporting artillery (light Artillery is better for movement especially as Dutch troops move at 32 MP’s per turn) and cavalry.

In South America, the Dutch have a good chance to grab an extra strategic ore site if you use the exchange battalions rule (Sec.07 - 5.1.8).

Swap battalions 1, 2 & 3 from brigade 4156, with battalions 4, 5 & 6 in brigade 4211. This will give you the brigade 4156 with a movement allowance of 40. You can then move this over the neutral co ordinates towards the ore mine at 26/98. Send general no.4 with the brigade, BUT do not federate it until you are about to move onto the ore co ordinate. Because you have not federated the general with the brigade, you do not take any of the territory you move across, thus you can go faster.

You should get there before Spain - but be aware this may upset the Spanish player. Or you can use the same tactic and get to the gold mine at 35/99 unless Portugal tries the same! In any event the exchange battalion order gives you brigade 4211 now with 2xKt battalions, so this battalion can take territory as well. Use that or 4155 to get the zinc site at 31/97.

If you want to concentrate in Europe then GB will often be willing to buy your fleet. Or you can offer it for sail (?) to the highest bidder.

If you want to concentrate on Europe, use your colonial holdings to establish alliances with European nations. Offer them some of your territory out there, in return for them helping you at home.

If you want to have a colonial game as well, then hang onto the fleet and use it to reinforce you colonies. If this is something you want to do, then perhaps build some 5 battalion brigades in move 1 (2 x Kt and 3 x Mu cost  $808,000 & 608 EcPts – 2xKt brigades are the minimum number of Kt’s you can have in a brigade to enable it to capture colonial territory). On move 2 federate some ships, train the brigade(s) and load it/them on to the fleet and set off for India or America. It would also help you colonial position if you took out some more EcPts to allow you to build local troops out there, and to train fully any European troops sent out in a hurry.

If you do go to India, try and take 55/91(or somewhere that is free on the southern tip of India) to build a barracks to act as a staging post to your empire further east. Again, same as getting a barracks in Morocco, Spain or Portugal, this will make it easier to bring goods back from India. Your ships can sail into the barracks and unload into your main warehouse, with out the need to sail all the way home.

Make full use of your spies. As well as using them for planning tactical moves with your army, by placing them in barracks of other nations they report on that nation’s diplomatic stance to you and all other nations. You can use your colonial spies to keep an eye on some of the more distant nations’ diplomatic stance, freeing up your 3 European spies to do the same for closer nations and/or locate enemy armies.