The period covered by Baltic Empires (1558-1721) was certainly not a high point for women in terms of power and influence. This unhappy fact means that the great majority of the historical characters represented in Baltic Empires as Dramatis Personae (DP) cards are men. This also means that those women who, against all odds, made a significant mark on their time (justifying a DP card) will invariably be exceedingly interesting characters, and the focus on this pair of articles is therefore on the woman of Baltic Empires – who were they, what did they do, and how is this represented in the game?
A special thanks goes out to Roman Rogov, one of the playtesters for Baltic Empires, whose combination of tireless enthusiasm for the game and knowledge of the period has been a great asset. Many of the women included here had originally been skipped or overlooked by the designer, and were included after historically sound and persuasive suggestions from Roman. Beside being a great addition purely from a representation point of view, the game is also definitely better now, as they each bring some unique and interesting capabilities to the table.
Marie Louise Gonzaga (Ludwika Maria in Polish, 1611-1667)
The daughter of the duke of Mantua, Marie was brought up at the French court. In 1645 she married Władysław IV of Poland, with whom she did not have a harmonious relationship. After his death in 1648, she married his half-brother and successor, John II Casimir.
In the words of the royal secretary, Wawrzyniec Rudawski, the queen “ruled her husband like a small Ethiopian rules his elephant”, and she is regarded as one of the Commonwealth´s most influential and powerful queen consorts. Immensely proud of her French heritage, Maria only wore French clothing and perfume, and her background likewise shaped her political outlook. She wished to reform the Senate and grant the king more power, and she strongly opposed Poland´s policy of religious toleration as she saw Poland as a “place of shelter for heretics”. These views clashed with the basic foundation of the Commonwealth and made her many enemies among the nobility. In an attempt to reinforce her policies, she co-sponsored the foundation of the first Polish newspaper and other public institutions, and brought in likeminded advisors from abroad, as well as young French noblewomen who were to marry into the Polish nobility. During the chaotic 1655-1660 war with Sweden, she played a crucial role in repulsing the invaders. However, her continued absolutist policies eventually led to the 1666 Lubomirski rebellion and the defeat of both her and John II Casimir in 1666. She died the following year, upon which John II Casimir abdicated the Polish throne.
In Baltic Empires, Marie Louise Gonzaga´s effects represent her strongly held political views. Her policies on absolutism are shown by reducing the cost of imposing Royal Control over provinces, which will make it far easier for a player with her in the Court to curb the troublesome nobility and assert centralized control – resulting in more of the income generated in the affected provinces going to the player instead of into the coffers of the local nobility. On the flip side her policies on religious toleration, or rather the lack thereof, is represented by increasing the cost of producing anything in provinces whose religion differs from that of your Power as a whole (as shown on your Power Mat). The latter can be a huge issue for some Powers, like Poland and Russia, who either control lots of provinces with differing religious beliefs (as is the case for Poland) or aspire to do so (as is the case for Russia).
Her strategy of bringing in likeminded advisors and minimizing opposition to her plans over time by infusing the nobility with French noblewomen is represented in the game by the ability to produce previously discarded DP cards to your Courd – thus abstractly introducing (or re-introducing) ideas and policies into your realm that had previously been deemed unconstitutional or otherwise unsuitable. During a game of Baltic Empires this ability alone can be absolutely massive, as it can mean a return of a DP card that the other players went to a lot of trouble to get rid of in the first place – although it is restricted to DP cards with Permanent effects, so it cant be used to resurrect powerful Leader units.
Sophia Alekseyevna (1657-1704)
The daughter of Tsar Alexis and his first wife Maria Miloslavskaya, Sophia was an exceptionally well-educated princess. When her brother Fyodor III died in 1682, her half-brother Peter (the son of Alexis´ second wife, Natalya Naryshkina) was proclaimed tsar. Sophia, however, objected to a government dominated by the Naryshkins and incited the streltsy (the royal bodyguard) to riot.
Her younger brother Ivan V was then proclaimed co-ruler with Peter I, while Sophia assumed the role of regent. This was all the more extraordinary as upper-class Muscovite women were traditionally confined to separate living quarters and kept aloof from open involvement in politics. She used her strong control over the streltsy to consolidate her regime with a firm hand. She opened the first academy in Russia (Slavic-Latin Academy), promoted the development of industry, and encouraged foreign craftsmen to settle in Russia, but failed to placate the discontent in the population. Recognizing this, and hoping to eliminate Peter, the figurehead of her rivals, Sophia tried once more to incite the streltsy in 1689 against the Naryshkins. This time, however, many of the streltsy supported Peter and overthrew Sophia, sending her to the Novodevichy Monastery, where she lived for the rest of her life.
In Baltic Empires, Sohpia Alexeevna’s abilities center on her tight control of the streltsy and her policies to expand trade and industry. If your capital is ever under threat from enemy armies the streltsy will rally to defend it, as represented by you receiving an instant free unit just where you need it the most. As this condition is very specific it is likely that it won´t ever be triggered during a game, but even so, if gives you an insurance policy that allows you to use your units more aggressively instead of holding them back in defense. Powers with expensive units or exposed capitals (such as Prussia) will likely find this aspect of Sophia Alexeevna’s abilities even more useful.
Sophia´s policies on trade and industry are represented in game terms by a +1 to the Mercantile Hegemon Track and a +1 to the Production Hegemon Track. As described in a previous article, your power’s position on these tracks are very important, as the top-most player (the Hegemon) of a track gets to control the turn order in the phase associated with that track. In addition to that, your position on the Mercantile track directly influence how many goods you can trade during the Maritime Trade Phase, so even if the +1 is not enough to give you the coveted Mercantile Hegemon Title, it still offers you a tangible benefit. As one of the standard victory conditions in the game is becoming the Hegemon of all three tracks at the same time, modifiers to these are not something to sneeze at, even if only a +1. Compared to most other DP cards in Baltic Empires none of Sophia Alexeevna´s individual benefits might seem that powerful, as she is one of only a handful of all-round effects DP cards that instead offer the player with her in their Court a helpful mix of minor benefits.
In the second part of this article we will look at three more of the women of Baltic Empires: Queen Christina of Sweden, Hedwig Eleanora of Holstein-Gottorp, and Aurora von Königsmarck.
Author: Brian Asklev
