Soldier Kings: Pragmatic Sanction – Europe at War, 1740-1748

In October 1740, Holy Roman Emperor Charles VI ate a poisonous mushroom and died, leaving no sons. Over the weeks that followed, one European power after another reneged on their promises to support his daughter Maria Theresa’s inheritance of the “crown lands” of Austria, Bohemia and Hungary. In December the newly-crowned King Frederick II invaded Austrian territory without the courtesy of a declaration of war.

Maria Theresa’s ministers counseled compromise. Her husband urged Maria Theresa to placate Frederick with gifts of territory. The 23-year old Archduchess refused. “I found myself,” she wrote later, “without money, without credit, without an army, without experience and knowledge of my own and finally, also without any counsel because each one of them wanted to wait and see how things would develop.”

The War of the Austrian Succession would last for eight years and eventually involve almost all of Europe. The resolve of Maria Theresa and the fierce loyalty of her soldiers assured that Austria would not perish.

Pragmatic Sanction is a complete game for two to eight players, based on the events of the War of the Austrian Succession. Players represent the crowned heads of the great powers of Europe: Austria, Prussia, Russia, Sweden, Britain, France, Spain and the Ottoman Empire. It uses the same game engine as our Soldier Kings game, and is very similar to Soldier Emperor.

—description from the publisher