3rd turn

Minister Carriere sits at his desk surveying the map of Europe and his correspondence, a fine bottle white wine with an Alsatian label sits at his side.
The news was good overall one of his primary goals had been to secure the Austrian Netherlands and other boarder territories to shield France in the event of a long war.

So far the current war did not look like it would be a long one. Austria had agreed to terms surrendering both Silesia to Prussia and the Austrian Netherlands and Milan were both in French hands.

The letter he had received from Montcalm in Italy spoke of results that exceeded his wild expectation. Montcalm had used a combination of force and diplomacy, and he had won over most to the petty princes of northern Italy to support French aims. Savoy, Tuscany and Modena had added troops to the French army swelling it ranks. Milan was also in French even if half the income had to be sent to Vienna on as a condition of peace.

Reports from Saxe and Broglie indicated they had backed the Elector’s troops to Hanover. This was good, he needed them brought to battle but Saxe would accomplish this if it was possible.

General de Burre had written him from Scotland the letter was full of frustration. Burre didn’t like being stuck in Scotland while the Celtic division he had trained won glory in Europe. It seemed Burre’s men had become the de facto provost corps of the Highland army. If the stories of feuding clansmen were half as bad as Carriere had heard, well… Robert had cause to feel frustrated. Still Burre and Mixer seemed to have kept the Scottish rebellion alive for almost a year. More importantly they had secured Scotland rather than trying to march on London with a few score swordsmen. With trouble at home England gave him a free hand here in Europe, the question was how to make the most of it.

The letter from his ambassador in Berlin was a source of concern. Fredrick flushed with his success against Austria had turned east and made Poland the next best thing to fief of Brandenburg. Poland was a traditional French Allie for many years it was weak but reliable (after a fashion) Prussia had the potential to be very powerful and their refusal to attack the Elector of Hanover was a concern.