P&S Quick Reference Guide

Byzantine Productions Pike and Shot is a deep strategy game set during the bloody conflict of the Thirty Years War.

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HobbesACW
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P&S Quick Reference Guide

Post by HobbesACW »

Hi folks, this is an unsorted dump of information I collected from many forum posts (both on here and from Steam) with what I thought was interesting info about the game. I made the list for myself but It may help other newcomers get more idea about the intricacies of the game without having to search through hundreds of posts. Some parts of the game manual are also included. The POA show only those relevant to the English Civil War.

Impact PoA (abridged)

Impact foot. Pike in the same unit as impact foot. +100 against any foot
Pike, protected shot or protected artillery, if not charging and not FRAGMENTED or SEVERELY DISORDERED +100 against any mounted
Unprotected artillery -200 against any
Impact Pistol +100 against any except impact mounted (unless the pistols are high quality Determined Horse), or non-charging STEADY foot who are any of pike, protected shot
Heavy lancers in open terrain +100 against any except impact pistol, or non-charging STEADY foot who are any of pike or protected shot
Light lancers in open terrain +100 against any except heavy lancers, impact pistol, or non-charging STEADY foot who are any of pike or protected shot
Impact mounted in open terrain +100 against any except heavy lancers, or non-charging STEADY foot who are any of pike or protected shot

Pike keils whether charging or not, unless FRAGMENTED or SEVERELY DISORDERED Only in open terrain +100 against any
Any mounted +100 against any light foot, dragoons, warriors or unprotected commanded shot or medium foot
Higher ground +25 (<= 75) +100 (>= 100) against any
Foot defending light or medium fortifications +100 against any
Foot defending heavy fortifications +200 against any
Unit has attached guns, and is not charging +50 against any
Flank or rear charge +200 Final overall POA regardless of all other factors (+50 if lights charging non-lights)

Melee PoA (abridged)

Pike, protected shot or protected artillery, unless FRAGMENTED or SEVERELY DISORDERED +100 against any mounted
Unprotected artillery -200 against any Melee Pistol +100 against any except mounted swordsmen if the pistoliers are not STEADY, or STEADY foot who are any of pike, protected shot

Pike keils, unless FRAGMENTED or SEVERELY DISORDERED +100 against any
Superior Armour Up to +50 against any except shot
Higher ground +25 (<= 75) +100 (>= 100) against any
Foot defending light or medium fortifications +100 against any
Foot defending heavy fortifications +200 against any


Artillery casualties are deliberately very random - they were a chancy weapon in the 16th and 17th centuries, mostly manned by civilian contractors. (Battalion guns are less random).

Close combat and shooting random - between 50% and 150% of the average casualties, with a bell curve distribution, so tending towards the average. The absolute extreme would be for one unit to cause 50% of its average casualties, and the other 150% of its average casualties, but due to the bell-curve random factor, that will be fairly rare. However, the game needs to allow such events to happen occasionally, because it is the only way it can take into account the various sudden unexpected events that do occur in real warfare (e.g. loss of officers, confused orders, troops shooting too soon, troops shooting later than the enemy and having their volley disrupted by the enemy's, and so on).

Note, however, that equal advantage does not necessarily mean equal average casualties. For example each cavalryman is "worth" about 1.5 infantrymen, so on equal advantage cavalry will take lower average casualties than infantry. Huge units tend to take more casualties than smaller ones if everything else is equal, which it may be at impact, before the extra numbers can be brought to bear, although those casualties have less effect on their morale than they would on a smaller unit. It is % casualties in a turn that affect morale more than absolute casualties. Morale is much more important in this game than casualties, especially for huge units, who have many spare men standing idle in rear ranks (but making the unit a better target).

Cover is of course taken into account in shooting - but so is arc of fire, disruption, number of shooters in the unit, range, movement by the shooting unit (including turns) etc. Some otherwise similar units have a significantly lower proportion of "shot" than others. Also salvo do not shoot as well as standard musket at close range, because they are saving their fire for a salvo immediately preceding a charge (which is taken into account in the impact close combat factors).

When the combat is resolved, the average combat "score" achieved by each unit is modified from its average score (calculated from all the various factors affecting the combat, and in this case equal for both sides) by the bell-curved 50%-150% random modifier for each unit. The result of the combat (win, draw, loss) is determined from the modified scores. It is these scores that determine the result, not the casualties, although they are related, as below. The casualties are calculated afterwards from the scores, without any further random element. However, a side that loses a combat has the casualties calculated from the scores doubled compared with a side who wins or draws a combat. This is based on the historical fact that in the era of close combat casualties on both sides tended to be very low until one side started losing, and then the losing side suffered more casualties. Winning and losing a close-combat was more of a morale thing than depending on casualties. This is a different dynamic from later eras where the fire-fight was everything, rates of fire were much higher, and both sides tended to suffer high casualties. Don't get too hung up on relative casualties, it is which side that wins the combat and the resulting cohesion test on the loser that matters, not so much the casualties - which tend to be fairly low anyway relative to the size of the units. This game is primarily a morale based system, not a casualties based system. Losing a combat does not cause automatic disruption, it cause a cohesion test. If the unit passes the cohesion test, it does not disrupt. The cohesion test is based on a bell-curved random factor with a number of modifiers. The modifiers have a very significant effect on the chance of failing. However, ultimately it is a pass or fail test, so inevitably there will seem to be some randomness, but the probabilities of passing or failing are significantly affected by the situational modifiers.

Frontage. In impact combat, only the men who actually make contact fight, so if a smaller unit charges a larger one, both sides initially fight with the strength of the smaller unit. Note that the “strength” is not the strength in actual men, but the relative combat strengths of the units. Mounted troops have more combat strength per man than foot – the ratio varies from scenario to scenario, but often 3 foot have approximately the same combat strength as 2 horsemen. Nevertheless, generally speaking, standard pike and shot battalions of approximately 500 men are large enough that they have 50% higher overall combat strength than equivalent 200-250 man mounted units. In continuing combat (melee), the smaller unit will be overlapped, so the larger unit fights with extra strength equivalent to half the difference between the units’ actual combat strengths.

In shooting and close combat, infantry units larger than 500 men fight only with 500 men, and cavalry units larger than 250 men with 250 men, the extra troops being mainly extra rear ranks. The extra rear ranks do, however, provided resilience, and in the case of Pikes may qualify the unit as a Keil, which gives extra POAs.
In continuing close combat, a unit that is fighting more than one unit fights them each in turn, but suffers a 20% reduction in combat strength per extra enemy unit, with a maximum reduction of 50%.

Overlapping bonuses apply not only in form of +% combat strength but also in form of overlapping points of advantage. So overlapperes get the advantage twice.
The types that get the POAs (swordsmen, two-handed swordsmen, halberdiers, warriors) are troops that would not need to retain strict formation and would be particularly effective when they lap round the flanks of a formation. Other types would tend to retain their own formation rather than lap round, but there would would still be some benefit from the overlap. So they get the +% combat strength, but not the POAs. The POAs only amount to an extra 5% bonus.

One thing you might not be fully aware of is that the combat ratings given for units are only rough guides to the unit's overall power.
They are not used to calculate the results of combat, in fact they are themselves calculated from the combat routines.
What really matters in determining the result of a combat is:
POAs. A unit that is very tough and has a high combat rating overall will not do well against an opposing unit type that has POA advantage against it. For example, raw pike and shot can easily bounce off frontal charges by veteran cavalry, because the POAs are heavily in their favour. Disorder/Disruption/Fragmentation. Unit size and a moderate random factor.

In melee one of the units may break off – this is determined by the AI. Mounted troops may break off from enemy foot if they don’t fancy their chances in the continuing combat. They may break off from enemy mounted if they lose badly in close combat. They can only break off from mounted enemy Shock Troops if they themselves initiated the close combat. Foot may break off from enemy non-shock enemy foot if they lose badly in close combat.

You cannot shoot through a solid line of your own troops, but troops that are in a chequerboard formation are assumed to have gaps between the units that can be fired through. artillery can fire over other troops from higher ground, or over light infantry on the flat.

Charges are triggered by the Charge action. The unit has to have sufficient AP to enter the square that the enemy is in – although the unit is not actually moved into the square. The enemy are assumed to have made a short counter-charge if that would be appropriate to the matchup, and not if not, but are not physically moved.
Charges can be launched against units that are within 45 degrees of straight ahead at the start of the move.

Units may have priority charge target(s) - these are (a) enemy within two map squares directly to their front (one square if the chargers are facing diagonally) and facing within 45 degrees of directly towards them, or (b) enemy ZOCing them. Priority charge targets apply if the charge path starts in or passes through a square in which they would apply.

Charges by units that start their (whole) move behind the flank of a unit count as flank/rear attacks. Unless they are non-light troops charged by light troops, the victims automatically drop 1 cohesion level (see the Cohesion/Morale section below), and the impact combat is fought on a net POA of +200 to the flank attackers.

Large units and units shot at from behind their flank will suffer higher losses from artillery fire.

Foot units shoot less effectively when their flank is threatened. This only affects their shooting factor against foot, as the phenomenon is already taken into account in their basic shooting factor against mounted troops.

Shooting is reduced by disorder and low morale.

Troops in close combat have an advantage if on higher ground than the enemy.

Check out the % of pike and shot in a unit. Units that look identical can have a very different mixture of pike and shot. Be aware that a unit with a low % of musketeers will perform very poorly in ranged combat.

Movement is restricted when close to the enemy, as follows: Each unit exerts a ZOC affecting the square directly in front of it. A unit’s move cannot pass through an enemy unit’s ZOC, nor diagonally across its front. A unit that is already in an enemy ZOC cannot move except away from that enemy - which (owing to turning restrictions) means that this is mostly only possible for light troops. Non-light troops ignore the ZOC of light troops (except commanded shot currently protected by adjacent mounted troops).
Keils ignore all ZOCs. Routing troops, artillery and battle wagons do not exert a ZOC. Evaders, routers and pursuers ignore ZOCs.

A unit’s move may be interrupted by enemy fire. It halts briefly then will require a further Move order to complete its move. However, if the originally intended move was not directly forwards, the unit may no longer be able to complete it. This represents disruption of manoeuvre when the unit comes under enemy fire.

Foot are immune to the ill effects of flank/rear attacks across an obstacle (hedge, field fortification etc.), and when in a builtup area.
To qualify as a rear attack, the charger must be less than 45 degrees from directly behind the charged unit.

Foot troops in a tile with an obstacle along an edge gain benefits when defending it against troops beyond an imaginary line extending that edge. Those on a straight hedged road square gain benefits when defending it against enemy except in the direction of the road. Those on a curved hedged road square gain benefits when defending it against enemy on the outside of the bend. Fortifications only protect the tile edges where fortifications are depicted.

Foot defending obstacles count as protected against mounted troops and against the ill-effects of being flank/rear charged across the obstacle. Depending on the nature
of the obstacle they may also count cover reducing incoming shooting casualties. When on a tile edge, chains, hedges and low walls can protect
stationary foot whichever side of them they are on. Cover is lost if the unit moves, even to change facing. Fortifications only protect foot inside the fortification, but cover is not lost if the unit turns or moves. Troops that charge enemy across an obstacle lose all benefits that they would have had if the enemy charged them.

Chains - these give protection but no Cover.
Hedges/Low walls - these give protection and 33% Cover.
Field Fortifications (Light Fortifications) - these give protection, 33% Cover, and a + 100 POA bonus in close combat to troops defending them.
Enhanced Field Fortifications (Medium Fortifications) - these give protection, 66% Cover, and a +100 POA bonus in close combat to troops defending them,
and also count as Difficult Terrain for troops assaulting them across the fortifications.
Heavy Fortifications - these give protection, 75% Cover, and a +200 POA bonus in close combat to troops defending them.
They also count as Difficult Terrain for troops assaulting them across the fortifications.
High Estate Walls - unless destroyed these are impassable and block LOS.

Medium infantry is slightly disordered in the woods but cavalry and heavy/mixed are severely disordered. Also medium infantry ignores rough terrain completely.
One trick I’ve done. I ve made an enemy keil attack my keil on a stream. Both were disordered etc. But my other unit attacked the opponent's keil from open terrain.
The opponent's keil was still disordered due to the fact that it was in comat in the stream.
Woods nerf your shooting but help protecting against heavier infantry and/or cavalry if you have medium infantry yourself and so do the streams.
Artillery on higher ground can shoot over any friendly or enemy units that are not in the square immediately in front of them. Artillery can shoot over light foot or commanded shot on the flat provided that they are more than 2 squares from the artillery. Medium and Heavy Artillery can shoot over enemy artillery.
Light foot and commanded shot can charge light troops (dragoons, light foot, commanded shot and light horse) or artillery in Open Terrain. They can only charge other types in non-open terrain. Dragoons can charge light troops (dragoons, light foot, commanded shot and light horse) or artillery in Open Terrain. They can only charge other types if they are fragmented or in non-open terrain. Infantry other than units rated as Keils cannot charge non-light mounted troops.

(L hotkey). That does grey out units that have partially moved, but it shows the remaining AP and also whether the unit can shoot.
The AP will be highlighted in yellow in the Unit List if a greyed out partially moved unit still has potentially usable movement points.

Attacking across a hedge (or other obstacle) nullifies Open Terrain POAs.

Units that don't move fire at 120% effectiveness, units that move fire at 80% effectiveness

Woods give 34% cover to stationary troops facing within 60 degrees of towards the shooters, less if not facing or if moving. (Including turning)

Prevented diagonal flank/rear charges across front of enemy unit. (However pursuers can still do this because they ignore ZOCs).
Unprotected artillery have -200 POA instead of -100 POA in impact and melee combat.
Artillery drop cohesion on contact if charged in flank/rear by light troops.
Light troops attacking non-light enemy in flank or rear can now never have a lower net POA than they would have had if they charged those enemy frontally.
Light foot (including commanded shot) made less likely to evade from equivalent light foot, and light horse less likely to evade from equivalent light horse.

Routed units cannot rally when the enemy is within a certain distance, but fragmented and disrupted units can indeed be bolstered while in melee, provided that they have not dropped cohesion in the same turn.

When charging/pursuing evaders, there is a 1 in 4 chance of +4 AP, 1 in 4 chance of -4 AP. But this happens for each pursuit, so if a unit charges a unit that evades, then switches to another enemy during the pursuit, and that enemy also evades, it is possible (1 in 16 chance) for the +4 AP VMD to be applied twice. Also mounted units pursuing routers automatically get +4 AP rather than a random VMD.

You can fall back when in a ZOC, even though you can't otherwise move away from the ZOC

There isn't much difference in Pike and Shot between Horse and Cavalry.
Determined Horse and Cavaliers both automatically count as shock troops. (Horse and Cavalry only count as shock troops if they are lancers).
Mounted troops can only break off from mounted shock troops if they charged them. You may notice that when kurassiers (which are non-shock Horse) charge Swedish Determined Horse, the Swedes often break off. They could not do so if charged by shock troops. This works in favour of the Determined Horse because they are not disadvantaged at impact, but have armour disadvantage vs kurassiers in melee. Cavaliers are similar to Determined Horse except that they are less disciplined and more liable to continue pursuing longer, and more likely to pursue off the map.

ZOC prevents a unit from charging other units, but does not prevent it from making a non-charge move away from the ZOCing unit.

Superior troops with Impact Pistol get their PoA against the Impact mounted, but lesser quality ones do not. It is not linked to Determined Horse other than for the Parliamentarians those are their Superior mounted. Impact Pistol +100 against any except elephants, battle wagons, impact mounted (unless the pistols are high quality Determined Horse), or non-charging STEADY foot who are any of pike, protected shot or foot with bayonet.

Light Foot cannot charge unbroken non-light troops (other than artillery) in open terrain, even in flank or rear. Dragoons cannot charge unfragmented nonlight troops (other than artillery) in open terrain, even in flank or rear. These restrictions are based on usual historical behavior. FRAGMENTED troops (see Cohesion/Morale section below) cannot charge.

When full keils charge lancers, the POAs at impact are even apart from the quality adjustment. So lower quality pikes are in fact quite likely to lose the "impact" phase against good quality gendarmes, with potentially dire results, as are partial keils such as Early Tercios and Early Pike and Shot. The latter types are better off standing and shooting at the gendarmes, as they would historically. The Swiss will usually win or draw the "impact", but it is not guaranteed. (In the Tercio to Salvo period, when "charging" noble gendarmes the POAs are exactly even and Royal Swiss have a 12% chance of winning the combat, and a 12% chance of losing it. In the Italian Wars period the Swiss are on a net +25 POA, giving them a 20-21% chance of winning the combat and a 5-6% chance of losing it. Landsknechts are on -25 POA, giving them a 5-6% chance of winning, and a 20-21% chance of losing. French/Italian pikemen are on -75 POA, giving them a 3% chance of winning, and a 34-37% chance of losing).

There are three grades of Stream
Stream - this does not cause any disorder, but prevents any combat counting as "In Open Terrain". Thus, for example, it will negate the impact effect of lancers.
Large Stream - this counts as Rough Terrain. It won't disorder light or medium foot or dragoons, but it will disorder most other troops. (Mixed foot only slightly, as only the pikemen are affected).
Deep Stream - this counts as Difficult Terrain. It will disorder Medium Foot, and severely disorder mounted troops or heavy foot.
Streams do not give a defensive bonus as such, but a unit that is in the stream square (or attacking into a stream square) is affected by the terrain rating of the Stream.
Thus, if the Stream is Large or Deep, different troops types will suffer varying degrees of disorder while in the stream, depending on the size of the stream.
So to defend a stream a unit should stand just behind the stream in an adjacent square. Any unit attacking them from the stream square will be affected by whatever disorder the stream may cause it. Disorder will give it a -26% combat modifier, and severe disorder a -45% combat modifier.

Hedges protect foot (but not horse) against flank/rear charges.
Enclosures do not protect against flank attack, hedges do. So a unit is not protected against enemy attacking from the same enclosed field.
The unit looked as it it was defending a hedge but in fact wasn't. When the hedges are along a road, you have to be on the road tile to get protection. Troops in an adjacent field do not get protection from the road hedges. (The hedge is not on the edge of the field tile.)
The unit was attacking another unit across the hedge. If a unit is attacking another unit across the hedge, it loses the protection of the hedge, even against other units that attack it.

If the pike and shot unit was a Later Tercio, it is, as you say, immune to flank attacks. It is not immune to rear attacks (but Early Tercios are) but the rear attack has to start from less than 45 degrees from directly behind the rear, and the charge has to contact the rear edge of the unit. (Contacting the rear corners counts as a flank attack).
Ordinary pike and shot units (that aren't Later Tercios, Early Tercios or Keils) can be flanked. To count as a flank charge, the charge has to start from behind the flank, and contact the flank edge or rear corner. Contrary to some "let's play" videos you might see, hitting a front corner does not count as a flank attack.
Cavalry are primarily for fighting enemy cavalry, and then coming in on the flank or rear of the enemy infantry. They are however, also good for charging Disrupted pike and shot. They will usually eventually win against these. If you can disrupt the enemy infantry with musketry then charge them with cavalry, that is a good tactic.
Some people feel that skirmishers are in fact over-powered, but they aren't likely to win one on one against pike and shot. They are better for ganging up on individual cavalry units, capturing the enemy guns and so forth.

Light horse are good at running down enemy skirmish units, start in close so when you charge them you will catch the skirmishers in the rear. Setting up on a flank will help keep your shooting casualties down. Turning or moving your shot units will reduce their shooting effectiveness, they generally do best if they stand still and shoot.
Med foot shot units in the open are prime cavalry targets. They take an extra - to their morale check if they are in the open, I have seen them hit and drop to fragged more often they will disorder. Lancers are really good at this. If the foot is in rough ground or in trees etc they will likely win versus your cavalry, just stay more than 4 tiles away and they should not be able to shoot at you.
Light foot in terrain like rough or woods are also harder to kill. Pike and shot and Keils are open ground units, they fight melee best in the open. Send them into the woods and you will find your fights last forever and even dragoons or light foot can hold out or even win versus a Pike and shot or Keil unit.
Reiters, ride up stop adjacent to an enemy and shoot them. Works best against Keils who can’t shoot back. The enemy will charge you and normally charge you and take more hits. Reiters will fall back. next turn move up and repeat. Eventually they will run out of horses but hopefully if you can add in foot shooting as well you can shred the Keils over time before you yourself are broken. Not always so good versus other horse though, but sometimes they can be. Turkish horse is very similar, ride up shoot let yourself be charged and then fall back. Repeat process again as long as you can and get other horse on the enemy flank and shoot as much as possible into a single enemy.
For flank charge mouse over your target and check to see if it says flank/rear charge, if it does you will drop your enemies morale on contact and have a better chance of dropping him again after melee. No guarantees though.

Light horse don't drop the morale of non-light troops with flank charges. (They do drop the morale of light troops).
Horse, Determined Horse and Cavalry are partly legacy classifications from the Field of Glory: Renaissance tabletop miniatures rules. However, there isn't as much difference between them in Pike and Shot as there is in the tabletop game. Horse and Cavalry are pretty much exactly the same in Pike and Shot. (In FOGR Cavalry can evade, but Horse can't, but neither can evade in P&S).
The main difference between horse/cavalry and determined horse is that Determined Horse count as shock troops (because their tactical doctrine is more aggressive). The effect of this is that enemy mounted troops cannot break off from them, unless they (the ones who want to break off) charged the Determined Horse in the first place.
One of the disadvantages of Kurassiers is that they are Horse, and hence enemy mounted troops that they beat in close combat can break off from them, giving them a reprieve. The reason for this is that Kurassiers (and other troops classified as Horse) tried to maintain tight deep formations, so would not follow up so aggressively as Determined Horse, who adopted shallower less rigid formations.

Artillery on higher ground can shoot over any friendly or enemy units that are not in the square immediately in front of them. Artillery can shoot over light foot or commanded shot on the flat provided that they are more than 2 squares from the artillery. Medium and Heavy Artillery can shoot over enemy artillery.

All infantry can charge light horse. This is intentional, and has been the case since the original game was first released, although it appears to have been omitted from the manual. The sentence in section 9.4.3 should have read "Foot units other than those with large pike blocks (keils) cannot charge non-light cavalry...". (Although other foot without missile weapons now can).
Light Horse in Pike & Shot represent those "light" horse who acted as skirmishers, which is why they can evade. (Other horse such as Harquebusiers, who would have been regarded at the time as "light" horse, mainly because they were more lightly equipped than Cuirassiers, were not skirmishers in this sense and fought in formed bodies, so are rated as Horse). As skirmishers, Light Horse cannot halt the advance of formed infantry. A "charge" by infantry against them (unless they are already engaged) is more representative of an advance to sweep them aside, rather than a charge with the intention of actually engaging them in close combat. The light horse will usually evade out of the way - although they may not evade medium foot, who may lose the impact combat.
Light infantry are also allowed to charge them, but would be foolish to do so frontally.

If non-lights charge a flank, they get net +200 POA regardless of any other POAs pertaining to either side.
If lights charge non-lights in the flank, they get net +50 POA regardless of any other POAS, with the proviso that their net POA is guaranteed to be no less than it would be if it was not a flank attack. In this case their normal non-flanking net POA would be 154 (100 for lance, 45 for quality, enemy -9 for quality) but these details are not listed, only the flank/rear attack. Note that they don't get +50 for the flank attack on top of the net +154 they would have got if it wasn't a flank attack.
They get at least a net +50 POA, but if their normal non-flanking impact net POA would be higher than +50, they get that instead.

Non-light troops ignore the ZOC of light troops (unless these are Commanded Shot "Protected" by cavalry). See manual section 9.11. Although it does not say so in the manual,
the same applies to priority charge targets. Keils ignore the ZOC of all troops except those directly in front of them.
(This latter exception is not mentioned in the manual because the rule was added later in an update).

Disordered and Disrupted status’ don't stack. Disordered has much the same effect on combat as Disrupted, Severely Disordered has much the same effect as Fragmented.
They are not additive - only the worst one applies. The game therefore does not bother to report a Disordered status for a unit that is already Disrupted . They are in fact Disordered too, but it has no additional effect. Disrupted is reported because it is the worse of the two - because the next cohesion step would be Fragmented, whereas if the unit was merely Disordered the next cohesion step would be Disrupted. If they weren't Disrupted it would report that they are Disordered. Although the game does not report them, POAs are also used for shooting.

When you make a move, any turn required to reach the final position is calculated on the basis of the angle between the start and finish squares of the move.
If the angle is less than 45 degrees then the "turn" doesn't count as a turn at all and you can still make your free 45 degree turn at the end of the move.
If you move the move in two sections then any required turns are paid for on each section, which can then exceed the total move allowance.
This can happen involuntarily if a unit is halted halfway through its move by reaction fire. It may not have enough AP left to reach its original intended destination.
This will only happen if the unit is not moving straight forwards, and is rationalised as the difficulty of manoeuvering when under fire.

There is an approximate power statistic. For example, approx power for gendarmes is something like 160 in melee and for russian cavalry it is ~115. For massed arquebusiers its only ~95. However, these discrepancies never show in combat logs i e gendarmeres dont have the bonus vs the russian cav based on the fact that they have more power, but they do get proper bonuses for having lances and being more armored etc. Only the POAs and Unit size/combat strength modifier do. These statistics are 100% for illustration and aren’t used in combat calculations. The units with more POAs seem to have these power statistics higher so i suppose that these numbers shown are modified by theoretically possible POA.
They are in fact calculated _from_ the combat routines, not used to calculate combat results. But of course, they use average POAs (e.g. vs horse and foot, vs the most common enemy weapon capabilities), so they are only a very rough guide. For anyone who has studied the POA charts, they are best ignored.

What is interesting is how keil impact and melee POA is modified by the fraction of pikemen (if there are 50% pikes, you re only getting +50 POA), but pike impact and melee poa isnt. Even with 50% pike 50% arquebus you re getting + 100 POA for just having pike regardless of how many.
It is only against cavalry, and by the end of the period many armies only had about 20% pikes in their infantry units, and yet that was deemed sufficient to repel cavalry.

All Medium/Heavy Foot in the vanilla game have the shorter move. Determined foot the longer.

Crossbows are on -50 POA vs mounted and -150 POA vs foot.
Arquebus are on -100 POA vs mounted and 0 POA vs foot.
So against foot, at 1-2 squares range, crossbows will do about half as much damage as arquebus.

Attached light guns do not count as artillery for the "any troops shot at by artillery or bombs" cohesion test.

A unit has threatened flank if there is an enemy unit that could carry out a flank/rear charge on it next turn. Non-lights ignore lights. Keils and tercios ignore potential flank threats in the same way as actual ones.

Light units can only evade once per turn.

Any non-light foot without missile weapons can charge cavalry.

If an early tercio attacks a later tercio that is in rough going, it will lose its keil bonus in the impact, but not in the melee.

The POA bonus for pike keils applies if a unit has enough pikes to qualify (equivalent to approximately 350 pikes remaining at the default representational scale. For this purpose troops with swordsmen or heavy weapon in a pike unit count towards the keil). Most Early Tercios and some full-strength Later Tercios will qualify for the pike keil bonus, as will pike blocks detached from normal pike and shot units. Most normal pike and shot units won’t. The UI will display whether the unit currently qualifies as a keil - a unit may lose keil status after suffering enough losses.
Note that only the proportion of the unit with pike, swordsmen or heavy weapon capability get the keil POA bonus. So an Early Tercio with 50% pike, 50% shot would get only +50 POAs for being a keil. Keils should drop cohesion if charged in the rear by a non-light unit. You will see the Rear Charge message if a light unit does it, but it won't cause a cohesion drop. It has to start from less than 45 degrees from directly behind the rear. (That means directly behind, or a "knight's move" behind). 45 degrees doesn't do it.
The Keil bonus applies in non-open terrain in melee (unless the keil is severely disordered by the terrain), just not at impact.
A keil’s great numbers make them a juicy target for musketry, and, especially, artillery fire. Try to get them into melee as quick as possible to avoid heavy losses.
Their formation makes it so that their firepower is not that significant; they will deal out little damage in a shoot out, in addition to taking heavy losses.
Being packed together, if they end up being forced to fight in rough ground, forests, etc. they will suffer terribly even against generally inferior opponents using looser formations.

Units with both pike and firearms (i.e. shots) are both protected shot and protected pike.

The priority charge rules take into account the intermediate tiles the unit will pass through on its way to its intended target. A unit that currently has no priority charge target, may have when it enters an intermediate tile on its way to the intended target. You always have to keep in mind at which point your unit gets priority targets because once he gets them he can’t charge anyone else that turn. When a keil tried doing that, it got prioritized when it moved one square. It only prioritized the diagonally placed squad and ignored the squad which was ZOCing it (keil feature). When a cav unit moved a square, it prioritized both squads at once. One of them because it was ZOCing the cav squad and another one because it was facing it diagonally and 1 square away. You can still manually move a keil to avoid being prioritized pre-emptively and stull pull off that charge (doing one movement square and one charge square in one turn separately). This is possible as long as the alternative route does not involve two turns. Also, of course, in many circumstances you will suffer some opportunity fire that you wouldn't if you simply charged. There is no opportunity fire vs chargers because most Renaissance infantry fired by rotation and were incapable of firing a volley. The volley fire of Salvo troops is taken into account in their impact POA.

When a unit is in the ZOC of two or more enemy units it only has to obey the restrictions for one of them. The logic being that the unit should be able to move somewhere if it is not completely surrounded. (And as you say, usually only light troops are manoeuvrable enough for this to be an option). The game dictates which one(s) the unit can ignore.

The string used to describe an advantage is determined based on the chance of winning or losing the combat. If both units are severely disordered, neither will be fighting effectively and this drastically reduces the casualties and increases the chance of a draw. Hence the program reports slightly disadvantaged instead of something more. POA gives us approx loss ratio for both units but when the absolute value of killing power becomes so small that absolute loss values are on a low level, it’s hard to win melee decisively because well ok we got 7 they got 10 so what it’s still pretty equal etc. If your troops are at a large disadvantage, it’s better to bring the fight into bad terrain which will disorder both. Your troops won't win but they may take longer to lose.

A superior training level gives +50 POA. But there are apparently units which are partly superior. Let’s look at the Russian cav: they have superior and +37 POA and they also have up to +37 armor advantage bonus which indicates that 3/4 of the unit are wearing armors while 1/4 aren’t. I suppose likewise 3/4 are superior and 1/4 are not.
The quality levels are graded continuously from 0 (untrained) to 300 (elite), but there are only so many words that can be used to describe quality, so there are shades of Superior etc. The Russian cavalry don't quite meet the full standard for Superior (quality 200), so they get to re-roll only a proportion of their 1s. (when they roll a 1 there a random throw to see if they get to reroll it, with, in this case, about a 74% chance of doing so).

Parliamentarian infantry have no melee advantage over Royalist foot of the same quality rating, but they do have a firepower advantage in the early part of the war when the Royalists were short of muskets.

In my experience, your infantry are always going to be overwhelmed by the Parliamentary forces - so it's best to try to preserve them so your morale doesn't break - if it's safely possible, manoeuvre them to get in a few shots against the enemy horse but above all don't get involved in a stand up fight. As you say - Royalist cavalry can stomp on their Roundhead equivalents, as long as you use them wisely (because of their tendency to go awol). So for best results keep reserves and depending on the situation echelon left or right in an attempt to pursue in the most effective direction (i.e. not off the field).
Once the AI's horse has been dealt with its then a case of trying to achieve a local superiority with your infantry whilst using your cavaliers to wipe out any remaining enemy cavalry and draw away some of the infantry. Be as chaotic as possible and opportunities for flank or rear charges should arise. I just recently finished the ECW with parliament forces, no problems encountered, clean victory after clean victory. Everytime just parking tons of cheap reserves on my flanks and watching the Chevaliers get stuck and rout. So my suspicions mount that Royalists are insanely difficult to utilize correctly/at least for my ability’s parliament is the superior Force.

I don’t think going into melee as soon as possible is good idea with royalist infantry. It is much better stand still and let parliamentary infantry do the moving. That way royalist musket men can reload and fire faster than parliamentary ones and balance lack of muskets by standing still and just fire. Also Royalist need to leave some chevaliers behind infantry line that can finish parliamentary infantry when they go dispersed stance. Good thing in this is that when chevaliers penetrate parliamentary line after they finish dispersed inf unit then they get behind parliamentary infantry and you can attack from two sides same time.

My Issue with standing still has been that the Parliament forces tend to do the same, and they have regimental guns and more muskets, so I melt even faster. I found that its usually a better gamble to sprint into melee so I don’t get shot with enfilading fire from 5 or 6 Battalions at the same time. But I might try again to play more static. Leaving some chevaliers behind and charging disrupted Foot with them might do the trick. I completely forgot that the Pike POA against Horse disappears as soon as disordered and just threw my horse on the far flanks all the time. Having an actual Chevalier reserve might be the way to go indeed.

At least for me leaving 2-3 chevaliers behind my infantry line do the trick when I charge with them disrupted parliamentary foot. Normally rest of my chevaliers can still deal parliamentary cavalry. When you charge disrupted parliamentary inf with chevalier you normally lose chevalier but you rout that disrupted inf unit and parliamentary infantry line is couple turn in disarray when they try to deal that chevalier. That gives your infantry more time to deal with them. If you are lucky sometimes those chevalier units rout multiple infantry units or can hit enemy arty or musket units after initial unit is dealt with. But main thing is to cause extra harassment so parliamentary inf cannot focus totally against royalist inf. It is not easy to play royalist but I have scored victories with this tactic against mid setting AI.

One tactic I have also found helpful when playing royalist that you attack with chevaliers very aggressively from turn 1 against parliamentary cavalry flanks and commanded shots in open terrain and other units of opportunity like artillery if they are not in closed terrain. This way you hopefully rout most of them before your infantry line get engaged. Then use chevaliers harass parliamentary infantry moving them behind them in the way that if they turn toward chevaliers then your infantry can rear charge them if not then chevalier can rear charge them. And also you should hit every dispersed parliamentary infantry with chevaliers just cause extra chaos. Timing is most important if you can cause chaos among parliamentary infantry you can take them. If they can hammer royalist infantry line by not harassed then you lose most of time.

I actually won the ECW on the same try I just barely held on until I got access to shot with a few pike and musketeers, I stopped recruiting any cavalry that I didn’t have to and dumped my whole treasury into muskets and guns, then prayed. Finally got a dug in Defense in one of my last provinces, won it, the scots switched sides and I won the ECW by making sure I won’t have to fight another open field battle ever and just sieged them into submission. Remember the meat grinder of York!
I still haven’t won an actual open field battle especially with early royalist forces.

Recruit as much Infantry as humanly possible. Chevaliers are the lowest priority of all, because used correctly they are amazing enough in small numbers. Try to field a deep checkerboard P&S formation with chevs behind, stock up on artillery like a madman. As soon as anyone gets disrupted, charge with the backup chevaliers to throw the enemy into chaos. Keep only 2, maybe 3 Chevs on the Flanks, keep them close to the Infantry and use terrain and skirmishers to bottleneck the enemy cav as hard as possible. If done correctley you can rout up to 6 units of parliament horse with 1 or 2 chevs + fire support. As soon as musketeers become available adapt a broader formation, stacking the second line of the checkerboard with musketeers and light guns to gain insane fire superiority while blocking the path into melee with low musket P&S. As soon as the firepower does its job, charge in the chevs as before.

The sound mod - basically a collection of sound files to replace the default ones, by pasting the ones you want into the game folder %/Data/Sounds
The salvo sound alone makes the game 75% better :)

Glossary
Keil
Any unit with enough pikemen (which can include a proportion with swordsmen or heavy weapon capability) to qualify as a keil. This is more than about 350 men
on the default representational scale. Keils give benefits in close combat, are immune to the ill effects of flank attacks, and ignore enemy ZOCs.
Light Troops
These include light foot, commanded shot, light horse and dragoons. All other troop-types are non-light troops.
Shock Troops
These include keils, any non-light unit with impact foot, salvo, heavy lancers, light lancers or impact mounted capability, and all gendarmes, cavaliers and determined horse.
Shot
Any foot with arquebus, musket or salvo capability.

Hotkeys
F1 - list of hotkeys.
1 – Toggle LOS and LOF display.
W - scroll map up.
S - scroll map down.
A - scroll map to the left.
D - scroll map to the right.
E - rotate map to the left.
Q - rotate map to the right.
R - zoom in on map.
F - zoom out on map.
P - add map pin.
J - moves and hides the mini map.
M - toggles the overhead map view.
K – toggles casualty screen
L – toggles unit list.
N - next unit.
TAB - next unmoved unit.
CTRL and left click on unit - detailed information on the unit.
CTRL when moused over target – showed detailed tooltips.
SPACE - deselect unit. Also closes popup windows, and acts as proceed button for most screens.
ESC - opens load, save and exit options.
F2 - Takes a screenshot and dumps it to My Docs\My Games\PIKEANDSHOT\SCREENS.

Cheers,
Chris
Last edited by HobbesACW on Thu Jan 12, 2017 12:12 pm, edited 9 times in total.
ianiow
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Re: P&S Quick Reference Guide

Post by ianiow »

Thanks for posting this list. As a newbie to Pike and Shot this is most appreciated.
KiwiWarlord
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Re: P&S Quick Reference Guide

Post by KiwiWarlord »

Well done. Maybe worth being stuck in ' STICKIES ' ?
michaelspotts
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Re: P&S Quick Reference Guide

Post by michaelspotts »

Thanks so much, Chris, for taking the time to offer up such a nice one stop easy reference. It copies over nicely to a pdf in ibooks and is very handy that way alongside manual. My son and I are starting game and we are both pretty new to this historical period and warfare in it. He's 11 and is tutoring me! We really appreciate your gift.

Michael and Samuel
HobbesACW
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Re: P&S Quick Reference Guide

Post by HobbesACW »

Thanks Michael. Maybe this will be of some use as well. A quick description of a few periods covered in game scenarios.
EH.jpg
EH.jpg (65.14 KiB) Viewed 12769 times
The Ottoman Wars (1453 – 1699)
Ottoman expansion into the Balkans and modern-day Serbia allowed the Empire to gain a foothold in eastern Europe. The Ottoman Empire made further inroads into Central Europe in the 15th and 16th centuries, culminating in the peak of Turkish territorial claims in Europe. There was a backslide in Ottoman military dominance after the unsuccessful Siege of Vienna in 1529 and the Ottoman-Habsburg wars. European powers began to consolidate against the Ottomans and formed the Holy League, reversing a number of Ottoman land gains during the Great Turkish War of the late 1600s.

Burgundian Wars (1474–1477)
A conflict between the Dukes of Burgundy and the Old Swiss Confederacy and its allies. Open war broke out in 1474, and in the following years the Duke of Burgundy, Charles the Bold, was defeated three times on the battlefield and killed in the Battle of Nancy in 1477. The Duchy of Burgundy and several other Burgundian lands then became part of France, while the Burgundian Netherlands and the Franche-Comté were inherited by Charles's daughter Mary of Burgundy, and eventually passed to the House of Habsburg upon her death because of her marriage to Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor.

Italian Wars (1494-1559).
The Italian Wars, often referred to as the Great Italian Wars or the Great Wars of Italy and sometimes as the Habsburg–Valois Wars or the Renaissance Wars, were a series of conflicts that involved, at various times, most of the city-states of Italy, the Papal States, most of the major states of Western Europe (France, Spain, the Holy Roman Empire, England, and Scotland) as well as the Ottoman Empire. Originally arising from dynastic disputes over the Duchy of Milan and the Kingdom of Naples, the wars rapidly became a general struggle for power and territory among their various participants, and were marked with an increasing number of alliances, counter-alliances, and betrayals.

Anglo-Scottish Wars (1512 – 1523)
England under Henry VIII declared war on France in 1512 (as part of the larger conflict known as the War of the League of Cambrai). James IV of Scotland invaded England in fulfilment of his alliance with France. In 1513, James' main army invaded England and quickly subdued English castles such as Norham and Wark. However, James's overdeveloped sense of chivalry prompted him to issue a formal challenge to the English army under the Earl of Surrey and await him in position. Surrey's army manoeuvred around the Scottish army and attacked from the rear. In the resulting disastrous Battle of Flodden, James IV was killed, along with many of his nobles and gentry. James V of Scotland was an infant barely a year old at his father's death. Various factions among the Scottish nobles contended for power, and custody of the young king. While Henry VIII secretly encouraged some of them, English armies and some families of English and nominally Scottish Border Reivers repeatedly forayed and looted in southwest Scotland, to maintain pressure on the Scottish authorities. Eventually, after the faction of the Earl of Angus gained control, peaceful relations were restored between England and Scotland.

Schmalkaldic War (1546 – 1547)
The short period of violence between the forces of Emperor Charles V of the Holy Roman Empire (simultaneously King Charles I of Spain),
commanded by Don Fernando Álvarez de Toledo, Duke of Alba, and the Lutheran Schmalkaldic League within the domains of the Holy Roman Empire.

80 Years War (1568 – 1648)
A revolt of the Seventeen Provinces against the political and religious hegemony of Philip II of Spain, the sovereign of the Habsburg Netherlands. After the initial stages, Philip II deployed his armies and regained control over most of the rebelling provinces. However, under the leadership of the exiled William the Silent, the northern provinces continued their resistance. They were eventually able to oust the Habsburg armies, and in 1581 they established the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands. The war continued in other areas, although the heartland of the republic was no longer threatened. After a 12-year truce, hostilities broke out again around 1619 which can be said to coincide with the Thirty Years' War. An end was reached in 1648 with the Peace of Münster

Anglo-Spanish War (1585 – 1604)
The war was punctuated by widely separated battles, and began with England's military expedition in 1585 to the Netherlands under the command of the Earl of Leicester in support of the resistance of the States General to Spanish Habsburg rule. The English enjoyed some victories at Cádiz in 1587, and saw the Spanish Armada retreat in 1588, but then suffered severe defeats of the English Armada in 1589 and the Drake–Hawkins and Essex–Raleigh expeditions in 1595 and 1597 respectively. Two further Spanish armadas were sent in 1596 and 1597 but were frustrated in their objectives mainly because of adverse weather and poor planning. The war became deadlocked around the turn of the 17th century during campaigns in Brittany and Ireland. It was brought to an end with the Treaty of London, negotiated in 1604 between representatives of the new King of Spain, Philip III, and the new King of England, James I.

Nine Years War: Tyrone's Rebellion (1594 – 1603)
Fought between the forces of Gaelic Irish chieftains Hugh O'Neill of Tír Eoghain, Hugh Roe O'Donnell of Tír Chonaill and their allies, against English rule in Ireland. The war was fought in all parts of the country, but mainly in the northern province of Ulster. It ended in defeat for the Irish chieftains, which led to their exile in the Flight of the Earls and to the Plantation of Ulster. The war against O'Neill and his allies was the largest conflict fought by England in the Elizabethan era. At the height of the conflict more than 18,000 soldiers were fighting in the English army in Ireland.

Franco-Spanish Wars (1595 – 1598)
The French Wars of Religion (1562–98) is the name of a period of civil infighting and military operations, primarily fought between French Catholics and Protestants Huguenots. The conflict involved the factional disputes between the aristocratic houses of France, such as the House of Bourbon and House of Guise, and both sides received assistance from foreign sources. In January 1595, the French king Henry IV declared war on Spain to show Catholics that Spain was using religion as a cover for an attack on the French state—and to show Protestants that his conversion had not made him a puppet of Spain. Also, he hoped to take the war to Spain and make territorial gain. The conflict mostly consisted of military action aimed at League members, such as the Battle of Fontaine-Française, though the Spanish launched a concerted offensive in 1595, taking Doullens, Cambrai and Le Catelet and in the spring of 1596 capturing Calais by April. Following the Spanish capture of Amiens in March 1597 the French crown laid siege until its surrender in September. With that victory Henry's concerns then turned to the situation in Brittany where he promulgated the Edict of Nantes and sent Bellièvre and Brulart de Sillery to negotiate a peace with Spain. The war was drawn to an official close after the Edict of Nantes, with the Peace of Vervins in May 1598.

Polish–Muscovite War (1605–18)
A sequence of military conflicts and eastward invasions carried out by the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, or the private armies and mercenaries led by the magnates (the Commonwealth aristocracy), when the Russian Tsardom was torn by a series of civil wars, the time most commonly referred to in the Russian history as the "Time of Troubles", sparked by the Russian dynastic crisis and overall internal chaos. The sides and their goals changed several times during this conflict: the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth was not formally at war with Russia until 1609, and various Russian factions fought amongst themselves, allied with the Commonwealth and other countries or fighting against them. Sweden also participated in the conflict during the course of the Ingrian War (1610–1617), sometimes allying itself with Russia, and other times fighting against it. The war finally ended in 1618 with the Truce of Deulino, which granted the Commonwealth certain territorial concessions, but not control over Russia, which thus emerged from the war with its independence preserved.

Thirty Years War (1618 – 1648)
The war began when the newly elected Holy Roman Emperor, Ferdinand II, tried to impose religious uniformity on his domains, forcing Roman Catholicism on its peoples. The northern Protestant states, angered by the violation of their rights to choose granted in the Peace of Augsburg, banded together to form the Protestant Union. These events caused widespread fears throughout northern and central Europe, and triggered the Protestant Bohemians living in the dominion of Habsburg Austria to revolt against their nominal ruler, Ferdinand II. They ousted the Habsburgs and instead elected Frederick V as their monarch. Frederick took the offer without the support of the union. The southern states, mainly Roman Catholic, were angered by this. Led by Bavaria, these states formed the Catholic League to expel Frederick in support of the Emperor. The Empire soon crushed this perceived rebellion in the Battle of White Mountain, but reactions of the Protestant world condemned the Emperor's action. After the atrocities committed in Bohemia, Saxony finally gave its support to the union and decided to fight back. Sweden, a major military power in the day, soon intervened in 1630 under the great general Gustavus Adolphus and started the full-scale great war on the continent. Spain, wishing to finally crush the Dutch rebels in the Netherlands and the Dutch Republic, intervened under the pretext of helping their dynastic Habsburg ally, Austria. No longer able to tolerate the encirclement of two major Habsburg powers on its borders, Catholic France entered the coalition on the side of the Protestants to counter the Habsburgs. The War ended with the treaties of Osnabrück and Münster, part of the wider Peace of Westphalia. The war altered the previous political order of European powers. The rise of Bourbon France, the curtailing of Habsburg ambition, and the ascendancy of Sweden as a great power created a new balance of power on the continent, with France emerging from the war strengthened and increasingly dominant in the latter part of the 17th century.

Franco-Spanish Wars (1635–1659)
A military conflict that was the result of French involvement in the Thirty Years' War. After the German allies of Sweden were forced to seek terms with the Holy Roman Empire, the first French minister, Cardinal Richelieu, declared war on Spain because French territory was surrounded by Habsburg territories. The conflict was a continuation of the aims of the War of the Mantuan Succession (1628–31) in which France invaded northern Italy to take possession of territory claimed by the Spanish Habsburgs. The Franco-Spanish War ended in 1659 with the Treaty of the Pyrenees.

English Civil Wars (1642 – 1651)
A series of armed conflicts and political machinations between Parliamentarians and Royalists over, principally, the manner of England's government. The first (1642–46) and second (1648–49) wars pitted the supporters of King Charles I against the supporters of the Long Parliament, while the third (1649–51) saw fighting between supporters of King Charles II and supporters of the Rump Parliament. The war ended with the Parliamentarian victory at the Battle of Worcester on 3 September 1651.

Nine Years War (1688 – 1697)
Often called the War of the Grand Alliance or the War of the League of Augsburg – was a major war fought between King Louis XIV of France, and a European-wide coalition, the Grand Alliance, led by the Anglo-Dutch Stadtholder-King William III, Holy Roman Emperor Leopold I, King Charles II of Spain, Victor Amadeus II of Savoy, and the major and minor princes of the Holy Roman Empire. The main fighting took place around France's borders: in the Spanish Netherlands; the Rhineland; Duchy of Savoy; and Catalonia. The fighting generally favoured Louis XIV's armies, but by 1696 his country was in the grip of an economic crisis. The Maritime Powers (England and the Dutch Republic) were also financially exhausted, and when Savoy defected from the Alliance all parties were keen for a negotiated settlement. By the terms of the Treaty of Ryswick Louis XIV retained the whole of Alsace, but he was forced to return Lorraine to its ruler and give up any gains on the right bank of the Rhine. Louis XIV also accepted William III as the rightful King of England, while the Dutch acquired their Barrier fortress system in the Spanish Netherlands to help secure their own borders. However, with the ailing and childless Charles II of Spain approaching his end, a new conflict over the inheritance of the Spanish Empire would soon embroil Louis XIV and the Grand Alliance in a final war – the War of the Spanish Succession.

Great Northern War (1700 – 1721)
A conflict in which a coalition led by the Tsardom of Russia successfully contested the supremacy of the Swedish Empire in Central, Northern, and Eastern Europe. The initial leaders of the anti-Swedish alliance were Peter the Great of Russia, Frederick IV of Denmark–Norway and Augustus II the Strong of Saxony-Poland. Frederick IV and Augustus II were forced out of the alliance in 1700 and 1706 respectively, but rejoined it in 1709. George I of Brunswick-Lüneburg joined the coalition in 1714 for Hanover and in 1717 for Britain, and Frederick William I of Brandenburg-Prussia joined it in 1715.
The war ended with Sweden's defeat, leaving Russia as the new dominant power in the Baltic region and a major force in European politics. The Western Powers, Great Britain and France, were caught up in another conflict which embroiled over Philip of Anjou's succession into the Spanish Throne. In Sweden, the absolute monarchy had come to an end with the death of Charles XII, and the Age of Liberty began.

War of the Spanish Succession (1701 – 1715)
In 1700 Charles II, king of Spain, died without an heir. In his will he gave the crown to the French prince Philip of Anjou. Philip's grandfather, Louis XIV of France, then proclaimed him king of Spain, and declared that France and Spain would be united. French power was already feared in Europe and a Grand Alliance of England, Holland, Prussia, and Austria aimed to put the Archduke Charles of Austria on the Spanish throne instead of Philip. War broke out and the French were defeated in several battles. The English general, the Duke of Marlborough, and the imperial general, Prince Eugene, commanded the forces of the Grand Alliance. In 1711, Emperor Joseph I of Austria died. His successor as emperor of the Holy Roman Empire was the Habsburg Archduke Charles of Austria. Immediately it became obvious that the European balance of power would be even more seriously threatened if Charles got Spain as well as Austria than it would be if Philip became king of Spain. The renewed threat of Habsburg world power enabled Louis XIV of France to obtain favourable Peace terms in the Treaty of Utrecht (1713). His grandson, Philip, became after all king of Spain on the condition that Spain and France would never be united. Great Britain received Gibraltar, Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, the Hudson Bay territories and the monopoly of the slave trade with Latin America. The Austrian emperor at first refused to sign but a year later recognized the new order in the Peace of Rastatt.
michaelspotts
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Re: P&S Quick Reference Guide

Post by michaelspotts »

Thanks for the added kindness via historical period "Cliff notes", Chris. They'll help alot in learning the history and the game.

Michael and Sam
HobbesACW
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Re: P&S Quick Reference Guide

Post by HobbesACW »

I hope Sam gets as much enjoyment and love of history as I have since I bought my first board wargame - also at the age of 11 - it was PanzerBlitz by Avalon Hill.
42 years ago now! He seems to be well on his way.

Cheers,
Chris
HobbesACW
Staff Sergeant - StuG IIIF
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Re: P&S Quick Reference Guide

Post by HobbesACW »

P.S. there are some wonderful PC wallpapers available by the artist Augusto Ferrer-Dalmau for anyone interested in the Pike and Shot era - The Spanish Road is my favourite.
Most can be found in large formats with a Google image search.

Cheers,
Chris
OliversArmy
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Re: P&S Quick Reference Guide

Post by OliversArmy »

Thanks Hobbes! Fantastic reference sheet and the historical notes are a God send.
"I would rather have a russet coated Captain, who knows what he fights for and loves what he knows. Than he who calls himself a gentleman and is but little else." Oliver Cromwell
Dino_SWE
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Re: P&S Quick Reference Guide

Post by Dino_SWE »

Very useful indeed, thanks!

Ive been playing this game for years now, and although Ive gotten a 'feel' for certain situations and methods, some of the actual mechanics behind them are still eluding me.
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