Martin Wallace on Portugal

In our game of Struggle of the Empires the other night, there was some ambiguity on the privileges provided by the Portugal alliance tile. We did end up playing the correct interpretation, but this is now resolved without ambiguity by the designer himself. I sent Martin Wallace an email and he replied within two days. The following is his reply, quoting my original question:

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Hi Paul, Thanks for the kind comments about my games.

Q: I have the Portugal alliance tile. In a given round of actions, I go first and use its advantage for naval support against a defending opponent in the East Indies. In the same round of actions, the next player attacks me - my Navy and my Fort (I have no army) - in India. Can I still take the +1 advantage of Portugal to help me defend in the naval combat?

Yes, you can use the tile to attack and defend in the same turn.

Here is another scenario:
Q: I have the Portugal alliance tile, army and naval units in both India and South America. In a given round of actions, I use my first to attack an opponent in India, and add the Portugal bonus to my attacking naval strength. In my second action of the same round, I attack another opponent in South America, also involving naval combat. Can I use Portugese naval support in this attack also?
Can I choose (instead) to use Portugese army support in the land combat in this action?

Yes, you can use it more than once. The only restriction is that you cannot use the army and navy modifier in the same combat.
Hope that is clear.

Best
Martin Wallace

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The same continuous alliance privelege rules would obviously apply to the Ottoman Empire alliance tile.