Blue and Yellow

General

These rules are intended as an expansion of the original Empires in Arms © rules by Avalon Hill.™ They also replace the Sweden rules published in the General™ vol 30, no 6. The primary aim has been not to make Sweden to powerful a nation so as to keep its wartime engage­ments within reasonable limits compared to history. Therefore players might find playing Sweden a hard days work. Compared to Sweden’s position, playing Austria or Turkey is just a walk in the park. Players should be aware of this when they make their bids (and the bids for Sweden should be handled last).

The primary aim of Sweden is not to become a Dominant Major Power. Sweden instead aims for once again becoming a major power among the others. This fact requires some special rules connected with Sweden that will be dealt with later on.

Sweden’s engagement in military affairs after 1721.

In the Peace of Nystad in 1721 Sweden gave up most of her Baltic possessions, retaining only Finland and parts of Pomeronia of her empire. After this Sweden’s influence on European affairs declined dramatically. A few attempts to restore the lost status, and possessions, were made, but none were crowned with success. The Kings of the 18:th century were weak and internal squabbles between the rival political parties made foreign (and domestic) policy very random. (Bribes from Russia and France to the different parties were also quite frequent.)

The army, once the finest in Europe, declined as did the military readiness. In 1742 Sweden, in spite of the state of the army, attacked Russia. The attack was helped by the fact that Elisabeth of Russia used the attack as an opportunity do make a coup and told the Russian people that the Swedish soldiers came as liberators. The Swedish army commander Lewenhaupt then pulled his army back into Finland hoping that the war was won. It was not however. With the Swedish troops gone Elisabeth no longer felt obliged to give anything of Russia away and when the Swedes came again the Russian army was ready. Retreat followed retreat and soon all of Finland was threatened by occupation. The Swedish government was forced to sit down at the peace table, not as victors but as losers. The Army commander Lewenhaupt was executed in 1743 for incompetence.

In the Seven Years War Sweden, with French subsidies, attacked Prussia. The Queen didn’t like this at all, being a sister of Frederick the Great, and tried to instigate a coup but the plot failed. The war was a complete failure. Army commanders were replaced every year as the government tried to get something done. But almost every year the campaign started with a march towards Stettin which, when Prussian troops showed up, turned back to Stralsund and the island of Rügen where disease made it’s best to decimate the army. The Swedes withdrew from the war when Russia changed sides.

Gustavus III, being a man with ambition (but not that much grip on realities at all times), decided in 1789 that a war against Russia might be a jolly good idea. The war on land did not go according to Gustavus’ plans, to say the least, but the Swedish naval victory at Svensksund in 1790 made it possible to sign a peace without any further territorial losses.

Sweden in the Napoleonic wars is a quite strange chapter. As we all know Prussia declared war on France after Austria had been beaten. Quite a gutsy move to say the least… Sweden however waited with their declaration of war on France until Prussia too were out of the game. (The reason for this DoW was Napoleons occupation of Stralsund).

In 1808 Russia teamed up with France and received free hands with Sweden. After an early capitulation of Sveaborg the war was as good as lost. In 1809 the Swedes were forced to surrender, leaving Finland to Russia.

In 1810 Bernadotte became Crown Prince of Sweden but he refused to ally with Napoleon during the 1812 campaign. Instead he joined the allies and after Napoleon had been beaten in 1814 he invaded Denmark, thus getting Norway as a compensation for the earlier lost Finland.

The Rules…

The Indelningsverk

Sweden had a unique system for raising its army that was called the indelningsverk. This was a mixture of a feudal system and a standing army. It made it possible for Sweden to have a standing army at a very low cost. This can be simulated in two different ways depending on what other rules the player’s use.

If normal rules are in use the following apply:

·      Swedish infantry cost only $2 and Swedish cavalry $10.

If your rules include maintenance costs for troops use the following instead:

·      Sweden may stand down Corps if at peace, even if they include SP’s. This is done in the reinforcement step.

·      Reinforcements may be placed in stood down Corps.

·      The Corps must always be paid for but not the troops in them.

In both cases the following also apply:

·      Sweden may save Manpower as do Prussia.

·      Sweden may not buy Militia before 1812

·      Swedish Corps must always be placed according to placement rules below.

Swedish Area based Corps

All Swedish corps are area based. This means that the Swedish player can only use them if Sweden owns the territory of their origin. For example the Finland Corps may only be used if Sweden controls Finland. Also, if Sweden gets control of certain other provinces she gets further corps, e.g. the Livonia corps.

Placement of Swedish Corps

When placed on the map a Swedish Corps must be placed in area in the province of their origin or together with a corps of the same provincial origin. They cannot be placed if all cities in that province are enemy occupied. This rule applies at all times. A stood down Corps cannot be placed again until it has been paid for anew.

Finnish Guerrillas

The peasants of Finland fought the Russian invaders most furiously. Swedish officers were sent to organise this fighting behind the lines. Because of this Finland should have a Guerrilla value of 4. This only applies to Finland, not to any other Swedish province. Finnish guerrillas may not operate outside of Finland.

Karelia

In a peace Russia may cede Karelia to Sweden, St.Petersburg thereby losing its capital status.

Non Major Power Status

Since Sweden doesn’t start the game as a major power, some special rules apply:

·      Sweden may not declare war on any other state if already involved in one war.

·      In an Unconditional peace only conditions of type B can be selected. This rule works both ways, i.e. a major power accepting an unconditional surrender of Sweden may only select type B conditions and Sweden may only select such conditions when other powers surrender unconditionally to her.

Achieving Major Power Status

To become a Major Power Sweden must control at least 4 of the following 5 provinces:

Norway, Mecklenburg, Pomerania, Livonia and Karelia.

If Sweden becomes a Major Power the following happens:

The number of Depots is increased from four to five. Sweden gets an additional Fleet counter. The infantry morale goes up from 3 to 3.5. The special war and peace rules above no longer apply. The Swedish Guard may make a +1 commitment.

The status is again lost if Sweden no longer controls at least 2 of these provinces.

Achieving Dominant Status

To become a dominant major power Sweden must first be a major power, see above. Four of the Five must be controlled and one must be Karelia. Sweden also needs to control the following:

Hanover and Hesse (either as free states or conquered), Poland (as a free state) and one of East Prussia or Novgorod.

If Sweden becomes Dominant the infantry morale is increased to 4.5, the tax money is increased by 10 as usual and one leader has his ratings increased.

Swedish Corps Strengths

Corps	Maximum Strength	(Dominant Major Power)
Sweden I	3G-8I-3C	5G-12I-4C
Sweden II	8I-2C	12I-3C
Artillery (Swe)	4A	4A
Finland I	8I-1C	12I-2C
Finland Light Inf	3I-2C	3I-2C
Scania	4I-2C	6I-2C
Livonia	4I-1C	4I-1C
Pomerania	7I-2C	7I-2C

(All Swedish corps have a strategy rating of 1 and a tactical rating of 2. The Finland Light Inf has a movement value of 5. The Artillery should not be available until the start of the 1805 campaign, or Jan 1806 if playing the 1796 campaign. The Guard may not be committed until Sweden becomes a Major Power.)

The Map (option 1)

Use the special map overlays that are included. Note that Finland (and other Swedish possessions are Swedish home-nation provinces.

The Map (option 2)

Do not use map overlays (or only one of them) but consider Sweden and Finland to be Swedish home-nation provinces. If not using the Stralsund overlay, try starting with Mecklenburg as a Swedish Conquered minor country. (Although not historically correct, I think it produces the right effects (i.e. giving Sweden a German possession without compli­cating too much).

Leaders

Sweden should have the following leaders:

1740	1756	1792	1805	(1796)
Lewenhaupt 1.1.3.B (start)	Fersen 2.2.2.C (start)	Klingspor 2.1.3.B (start)	Klingspor 2.1.3.B (start)	Klingspor 2.1.3.B (start-mar10)
		Stedingk 2.2.2.C (start)	Stedingk 2.2.2.C (start)	Stedingk 2.2.2.C (start-)
			Döbeln 3.4.1.D (Jan1808)	Döbeln 3.4.1.D (Jan08-Jan13)
			Bernadotte 2.2.2.A (Aug 1810)	Bernadotte 2.2.2.A (Aug10-)

(By the way, remove the Russian Leader Fersen. That Fersen did a lot of intriguing but not much fighting, at least not in Europe. For those interested, the Fersen listed above is the other Fersen’s father and Lewenhaupt is not the same Lewenhaupt that capitulated at Perevolotjna but a relative of his).

Starting Forces

Use standard starting forces for the time being (as indicated in the various scenarios). Until I have found better data somewhere.

When setting up Sweden a third (rounded down) of all non-naval forces must be placed in Finnish corps and/or garrisons. The remaining two thirds must be placed in other parts of the country. (Note also that the Swedish corps have to be placed in their respective provinces if they are to start on the map).

Minor country modifiers

When rolling for control of minor countries Sweden uses the following modifiers:

Holland, Mecklenburg, Hanover and Hesse: +1

Denmark, Bavaria, Portugal and Italian minors: -1

North African and Near East minors: -2

Others: 0

Increase above values by one if Sweden gets Major Power status.

  

   Play balance

To make it a bit more difficult for Sweden, Denmark should be given a second Corps (Norwegian) which may only be set up in Norway and 4 additional infantry that may also only be set up in Norway. The Norwegian Corps may only operate in Norway, Sweden, Scania and Norrland. To Russia the leader Buxhövden should be added (2.2.2.C) in all campaigns starting between 1796 and 1810.

Victory Level

The following is taken from the General vol 30, no 6, and I suggest it is used until playtesting dictates otherwise:

Country	end 1807	end 1815
Sweden	95	320 (290)
Great Britain	95	350 (310)
Prussia	75	300 (270)
Russia	105	315 (285)

Northern War Scenario

Keep as is, except that Swedish and Danish Leaders are removed and the leaders above are added.

Playing Sweden

Players should note that this option has not yet been play-tested, but I include some thought anyway. Denmark may look like an easy conquest at first but getting it requires a lot of diplomacy. Russia may well be interested in helping Denmark since that gives them a total naval supremacy over Sweden and makes a conquest of Finland much easier. Getting Mecklenburg is probably easier although Prussia won’t like it, perhaps even Hesse can be conquered but that will antagonise the Prussian even more. Getting the Baltic empire back will certainly prove a hard task; trying to keep what is initially Swedish will have to do. Moscow is a long way away and should you lose your army you are probably down for a long time.