by Tesh
I think England has a very viable military option. Using Drake in Europe to siphon cards and their Home Card to snag an army mutiny or Treachery.One strategy to use for invading France is to aim for a T3 attack. Try to bleed a card off them early with Espionage, steal their final card(s) with piracy, and then enjoy 3 or maybe even 4 impulses against a tapped out France.
I do think one problem with a military England though is that they have to get within 1 key of an auto victory to get an extra card. So they have to weigh the whole board turning on them against the gain of the extra card.