Don't be fooled by the mounted map's fancy artwork. It's filled with stupid historical errors, as is the paper map that comes with the game. The designer Bob Kalinowski and map artists Mark Mahaffey and Thierry Aradan are totally lazy, unprofessional, uneducated rubes who couldn't care less about historical accuracy. They have no understanding of the broader historical context/undercurrents of this period, the 18th century as a whole or even a desire to learn about them. They've never opened a single history textbook, taken a single history course or even talked to a single history professor in their entire lives. They wouldn't know a history textbook if it hit them on the head. There are no sources - scholarly or otherwise - listed in their rulebook whatsoever. They're making it all up as they go along. They can't even spell the cities of Danzig, Luxemburg, Lüttich, Straßburg, and Posen/Posnan/Posnania properly on the map. Luxemburg should also be shown as a Class-3 fortress. Lüttich was not part of the Austrian Netherlands but was part of the Bishopric of Lüttich which is missing from the map and was a separate ecclesiastical or church-state territory that was part of the Holy Roman Empire. The map is missing the Duchy of Lorraine under Stanislas Lesczinski who ruled it from 1737-1766. It was part of the Holy Roman Empire and not France. Nancy was part of Lorraine at this time and should be shown as such on the map. Straßburg should also be shown as part of Alsace and not Lorraine at this time. Aachen was not part of the Austrian Netherlands but was part of the Holy Roman Empire. See my post in the Forums > General under
Clash of Monarchs and Clash of Sovereigns Historical Sources, and Response for my maps and sources.
https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/3310315/article/47072776#47072776
The fortress of Venlo is missing from the mounted map which could cause problems since some of the game's cards refer to it.
Don't bother giving them any suggestions for improvement. They couldn't care less about gamer feedback. Their minds are made up, don't confuse them with the facts. They're too busy distorting the past with their pre-conceived modern notions and anti-historical, anti-German, anti-Austrian agenda. Their light raid mechanism rules are convoluted and unnecessary and don't add to the game's enjoyment.
There's a reason this game is out of print and was never a bestseller for GMT Games and was only printed once and never re-printed in multiple editions like other games such as Wilderness War and For the People. It's not popular and it's not hard to understand why. I've never seen it in any stores nor seen anyone playing it at any gaming clubs or conventions. No one wants to play it when I ask them.
Maybe some day an educated, professional person will make a historically accurate card-driven game and mounted map of this period, but this is not it. The mapboard needs to flop. GMT or some other company needs to offer a new map or sticker upgrade kit for all the cities above that matches the map's artwork. Until then, TELL EVERYONE YOU KNOW TO BOYCOTT THIS MAPBOARD AND GAME!
