No Peace for Thirty Years!: The German Wars of Religion 1618-1648

ETA Q1 2025

“That there shall be a Christian and Universal Peace, and a perpetual, true, and sincere Amity, between his Sacred Imperial Majesty, and his most Christian Majesty; as also, between all and each of the Allies, and Adherents of his said Imperial Majesty, the House of Austria, and its Heirs, and Successors; but chiefly between the Electors, Princes, and States of the Empire on the one side; and all and each of the Allies of his said Christian Majesty, and all their Heirs and Successors, chiefly between the most Serene Queen and Kingdom of Swedeland, the Electors respectively, the Princes and States of the Empire, on the other part.”

– Treaty of Westphalia, Article I, 1648

In 1618, three men were tossed out of a Prague Castle window in an act of rebellion against the Catholic king of Bohemia. This defenestration would spark off the last and greatest of the European Wars of Religion. Encompassing all of Germany and featuring a complexity of armies from all over the continent, history would remember it as the Thirty Years’ War.

No Peace for Thirty Years! is a two-player, card-driven standalone wargame using the No Peace Without Spain system. It contains two evening-length scenarios, the Winter King scenario (1618-1629) and the Lion of the North scenario (1630-1648), as well as the full-day No Peace for Thirty Years scenario (1618-1648). One player controls the Austrian and Spanish branches of the Habsburg family and their allies in the Catholic League (the “Habsburgs”) while the other player controls their (initially Protestant) adversaries in the Holy Roman Empire: Bohemia, Transylvania, the United Provinces, Denmark, Sweden, and France (the “Anti-Habsburg Alliance”). The point-to-point map covers the Holy Roman Empire and some of its closest neighbors, with each space a fortress ripe for plundering.

Will the Habsburg Emperor unite the Empire to dominate central Europe? Will the United Provinces retain their independence in their own Eighty Years’ revolt against the Spanish Habsburgs? Will Cardinal Richelieu, France’s sinister Prime Minister, manage to make his country Europe’s most powerful state? It is up to you to answer all these questions and more!

Product Information:

• Complexity: 4 out of 10 (Medium)
• Playing time: 4 or 8 hours
• Solitaire Suitability: 6 out of 10 (Average)
• Players: 1 or 2 (best with 2)
• Map Scale: point-to-point strategic scale
• Time Scale: 1 year per turn
• Unit Scale: Corps of 3,000 mixed arms

Game Credits:

• Series Game Design: Don Herndon
• Game Design: Kris Van Beurden
• Production: Julian Thomas
• Game Artist: Mark Mahaffey

Game Components:

• One 22×34 inch MOUNTED map
• Three 5/8 inch counter sheets
• One Rules and Scenario Book
• Deck of 92 Playing cards
• Three Player Aid cards
• One Rules Booklet with examples of play
• Ten 6-sided dice
• Box and Lid set