1. Do I need to declare war on Spain prior to landing on one of their territories?

2. In a two player game (Spain and Ottomans) are Austrian positions in play as neutrals? There is a leader on one of their positions so my guess is yes, but I want to be sure. If so, do I need to declare war on them prior to going after their keys or fortresses?

S.

Sagrilarus wrote:


Unless you're allied with Spain, yes. You can't enter spaces controlled by another power unless you're at war or allied.



I'm not familiar with the 2p setup, but my guess is "yes". The normal rules are that minor powers are still powers, so they need to be in a state of war or activated/allied by you (or one of your allies) for you to enter those spaces.

Note that "Independent" spaces (grey markers) are not subject to this, you can tromp in there anytime. However, once someone controls them you'll need to fall back to "are we allied or at war" to enter.

You should read over the Scenario which is in a separate booklet / file. In the Tutorial Scenario Spain and Ottomans start out at War. Spain is allied with Papacy.

See Special Rules #3.
In the Tutorial Scenaro we skip the War - Diplomacy Phase. The only declaration of war that may be made are those made during the Action Phase through play of the Ottoman Home Card - Ottoman Tribute. This lets you declare war on the HRE and possibly Venice.

You know, I had found that "start at war" rule earlier in the week but I couldn't find it today when I was formulating my turn. And it appears that Austria is off the map for all intents and purposes.

Thank you both for the clarifications.

Sagrilarus wrote:

In the 2P Tutorial, Spain and the Ottomans start At War. The HRE is essentially a minor power and can be activated by Spain, who then gets to build/operate their forces and leaders--they just skip the placement of their control markers on HRE spaces, like you'd normally do with an activated minor.

Spain's activation of the HRE could come either through resolution of the German Intervention mandatory event (though they start at an influence disadvantage) or after an Ottoman declaration of war with the play of their Ottoman Tribute home card.

Virgin Queen has to be the most unmanly wargame ever. Let's first start with the name Virgin Queen the game should be named Philip II War becuase he actually plays a bigger role in the game than Elizabeth. What other game can you get victory points for marry off daughter. Oh that's right liebe-intrige, it even comes in a pink box. Than you can also get victory points for playing pirate, playing a priest, building expeditions or patronizing the arts. I just saying...

You know there is a reason I'm interested in playing, duh.