Economy

Denmark is in the lucky situation that it has three mines: 2 ore mines and a gold mine. It is a good idea to build these three mines on the first turn, although costly, money can be made from the goods straight away.

For every factory you build try to build a weaving mill and 4 sheep farms. You should have enough wood and stone in your warehouse to do you the first couple of turns should you need to raise any population densities.

By May 1808 ultimately you should have 3 mines, 4 factories, 4 weaving mills, 16 sheep breeding farms 4 or 5 lumber camps and 4 or five quarries. It would also be beneficial to have a couple of estates and horse breeding farms operating by this time.

After May/June 1808 continue building estates, quarry’s, lumber camps and horse breeding farms, you should not need any more factory’s etc.

At the start of the game Denmark has a few highly populated densities, which it does not need. Demolishing two highly populated density’s within the first couple of months will give you ample citizens, to build up your production sites and your army.

If your trade city is at a low rate it is wise to buy as much food and economic points as you can. Due to the bad winters in Denmark food production is low until the summer months. If you can afford to put around 500 thousand Louisdore on each of your baggage trains do this. Trade cities within easy reach are Karlskrona, Amsterdam, Berlin and Munich where you can buy food and economic points.

Denmark also owns Martinique in the Caribbean at the start of the game. You won’t need much in the Caribbean warehouse for the first few months apart from food. Sell everything you can when the rate of Martinique is good, thus giving you that little bit extra cash that can be moved between your European warehouse and the Caribbean warehouse.

Cash will be tight for Denmark in the first few months so buy and sell wisely.

Diplomacy

Diplomacy with Denmark is of the utmost importance. Allying with Sweden can be very beneficial to both nations. In doing this it means you can concentrate on building your army in the south of Denmark where Holland, Rhine and Prussia all meet on your border. Due to the fact that Denmark is split over sea your startup brigades are also split, leaving the south unprotected from invasion with the exception of a handful of brigades.

Denmark really does not need it’s war fleet at the start of the game and can be used to build up a strong alliance with the likes of France or Great Britain. If you offer the war fleet in Europe to either of these nations not for money but for an alliance then this can greatly help Denmark’s cause in the game. An alliance with France can be strong as Holland will be wary about attacking you with such a large neighbour, like wise with the Rhine. An alliance with GB can also stand you in good stead if you have a further alliance with Rhine or Holland due to the size of it’s navy, GB can land troops should France be an aggressor to any of your allies.

Holland or the Rhine can also help should Prussia be aggressive towards you, so as you can see there are a few options there.

At the start of the game if Sweden does not entertain an alliance with you then contact Russia, Sweden will be less likely to attack Denmark if Russia is allied to you. Sweden does not have the resources to fight an east and west battle in the first year.

Colonies

Denmark starts with three islands in the colonies, one being Martinique. On the first turn federate all Caribbean ships together and board the brigades onto the fleet. The next turn take the brigades south and land the troops on the mainland. Don’t waste valuable resources building new brigades in the colonies to begin with, get a foothold on the mainland and build a barracks, after that you can start building brigades. Be wary of Spain and Holland in the Caribbean, as they will be after the same coordinates as you.

Brigades

It is vital that you do not squander what little money Denmark has at the start of the game on expensive troops. On the first turn you will be able to build troops of reasonable quality and you should be looking at building either 48 battalions of line infantry and 8 battalions of Cavalry or around 40/48 battalions of Grenadiers.

In the up and coming months do try to build as much as possible but remember to train troops that will be used to fight another empires army, untrained troops are no use in battle. Try and build a strong fighting federation, which contains, Line infantry, riflemen, grenadiers, cavalry and artillery.

Veteran reserves are cheap and cheerful to build and train but really aren’t too great in combat, however having two or three federations of 10 brigades of VR’s are good land grabbers. With Denmark it is a good idea to work out all costs down to the last penny in the opening months, the last thing you want is a stack of untrained troops that you want to use in battle.

Strategy

Denmark can become a powerful nation in a relatively short space of time if played correctly.

Gameplan 1) Attacking Sweden.

Attacking Sweden is difficult if you do not have Russia on your side. In Denmark the main barracks is two months marching time from your Sweden’s homeland. A good idea is to build troops straight away in the north. You should be able to attack Sweden by around July 1808 comfortably.

When you feel you are ready to make an attack march your troops to around coordinate 37/6, once they arrive build a barracks so you can train troops and increase headcounts of your main army don’t bother with the garrison troops or land grabbers, go to war with Sweden in the same turn as you build the barracks. When you attack ideally have 3 federations of untrained veteran reserve and one fully trained fighting army of around 150 battalions. This means you can take 12 coordinates per turn. Send the strong army towards Karlskrona (providing your spy reports tells you he is of same size or less) and spread the remaining three federations throughout Sweden. If you have Russia on your side make sure and synchronise the attack.

After the initial attack build troops in the new barracks to backup up your strategy. It is also a good idea to transport commanders by merchant ship early on so you have plenty in the north of Denmark.

Another handy hint is if you have built land grabbing troops you can exchange battalions with brigades with only five battalions in them strengthening your fighting army, or one you have built land grabbers move them to a diagonal coordinate away from the barracks this means that spies can’t really tell how many battalions you have. For instance build 50 VR troops move them out next turn they don’t need to be trained, as they are only land grabbers. If you build 50 quality battalions next turn it looks on the spy report as if you haven’t built any troops this turn. Sneaky but effective.

Gameplan 2) Attacking Confed or Holland

To do this it is best to be on good terms with Sweden, if you launch an attack on mainland Europe you leave yourself wide open to attack from Sweden and will not be able to maintain enough production or tax income to keep you going.

Like attacking Sweden it is best to have 4 attacking federations one very strong and three land grabbers. Be wary of Holland if he is allied to France. If he is remember to use your fleet to try and interest GB in an alliance state with yourself.

Gameplan 3) The Sleeping Giant

If you can remain on good terms with Sweden, then you can focus on building an excellent economy and very strong army. Although a little boring it makes attacking empires a year or so into the game a little easier. You would be able to wipe out empires the size of Holland or Confed within a couple of turns (providing you stay away from their home land armies).

Use your spies wisely in the game; your main threats are Holland, Confed, Prussia and Sweden. You are able to get spy reports on all these empires. You can also find out state relations of Spain or France using your colonial spy.