The Duchess' Minister of Roads, Bridges and Borders has recently unveiled the newest map of The Grand Duchy of Grolstein showing its strategic position in Eastern Europe astride the logistical routes that Frederick of Prussia must use to satisfy his demands for horseflesh from Western Poland. Those horses are critical to his war effort against Austria and Russia and control of the routes to the Oder River will figure prominently in the Duchess' war efforts against her neighbor the Konigsreich der Bleiherzen.
(Gaming notes: The location of Grolstein and Bleiherzen are predicated on a hypothetical "strategic border" along the Oder River that would be necessary for the Prussian's to control in order to have access to Polish horses from the east to resupply their cavalry and the Austrian's need to interdict this critical resource...thus the invention of two small nations that find themselves in a critical point in world events yet still able to pursue their own local interests...like the Duchess' interest in expanding her strength—and her access to soldiers—by annexing a nearby country. The grid indicated on the more detailed map is approximately a 4 mile grid...and the grid squares will correspond "loosely" to a 4'x4' section on my gaming table...even though this will involve some compression of scale when a battle is set up. The map I used was a section of Silesia from a historical map...but with enough detail to give an approximate table terrain for each square and reasonable march distances for campaigning. This should be a good basis for long term campaigning and intervention by the larger neighbors. The Konigsreich is more wooded in keeping with the Bleiherzlanders penchant for woodcraft and "klienkrieg"...and Grolstein is more open terrain, and more suitable for large scale cavalry operations...a favorite of the Duchess)...I'm still working out major cities and terrain...more refinements to come!
