Game: Clash of Monarchs

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rsolow — 2008-10-07T04:56:48+00:00

Clash of Monarchs

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rsolow — 2008-10-07T04:52:36+00:00

Clash of Monarchs: Non-Combat Unit Chits

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rsolow — 2008-10-07T04:51:34+00:00

More Miscellaneous Units

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rsolow — 2008-10-07T04:51:12+00:00

Miscellaneous Units

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rsolow — 2008-10-07T04:50:01+00:00

Prussian and Coalition forces maneuver in Saxony

Thread: Re: Clash of Monarchs: First Impressions

bobkalinowski — 2008-10-03T14:03:03+00:00

Kirk,

Because the GUI wouldn't allow a X-X range entry, the GEEK staff suggested I add play times in the description, which I did, near the middle bottom. I go by 60-90 minutes for 1756, 3 hours for 1757, 6 hours for two year scenarios, and 16-18 hours for the Campaign.

I concur with J.R. and Jeromey -- 4 players who know the game can probably go faster, as they can ponder their moves and be ready while watching action on other ends of the map. The Spring sustain/recruit and deployment can also be honed down to maybe 10 minutes if players do most of these activities in parallel -- assuming they trust each other, etc. As I have soloed the game a lot, I'll submit that the Spring stuff is pretty fiddly, and takes me about 30 minutes to do each time for all powers. Letting each player do that at the same time would save you 50-70 minutes over it all solo over a campaign.

Thread: Re: COM Solo AAR 1762 Year -- the Finale

bobkalinowski — 2008-10-02T20:05:59+00:00

Ricky,

Glad you like it. It may be the last COM AAR I ever do. Six years of write ups is enough. Time to play more now.

Thread: Re: Living Rules?

Habbaku — 2008-10-02T01:42:43+00:00

Thus far, while the FAQs continue to add up (but that holds true for any complicated game, surely), the actual rulebook has only one error (that I have noticed), the charts have a couple and the cards have a single error (on the Fall of Quebec card).

Living Rules will hopefully never be necessary for this game.

Thread: Re: Clash of Monarchs: First Impressions

Habbaku — 2008-10-02T01:40:13+00:00

My experiences playing out the beginnings of a 4-player "Alliance Campaign" seem to indicate that a collection of seasoned players would work through the whole game at a fairly brisk pace. Perhaps 12 hours, assuming you keep people on-task.

I am, however, accustomed to playing with people that do not allow analysis paralysis to grab their reins, so take my comments with a grain of salt.

Edit : Typo correction. 12 hours, not 10. Blah.

Thread: Re: Clash of Monarchs: First Impressions

jrtracy — 2008-10-01T14:55:19+00:00

That sounds right. A couple of experienced players could certainly bang out even a two year scenario in a short evening's play. The entire war would be a beast, I'm sure.

JR

Thread: Re: COM Solo AAR 1762 Year -- the Finale

Preacher — 2008-10-01T14:48:28+00:00

Outstanding all the way around, Bob. This has all been a joy to follow!

Ricky

Thread: Re: Living Rules?

Feralkoala — 2008-10-01T14:17:38+00:00

Duguayduguay wrote:
Well, there are certainly a few corrections there

Actually, I believe there is only the one actual change to the rule book--and that was covered in an errata slip provided with the game. The errors in the scenario setups in the playbook are more problematical to me, but they are also more difficult to catch.

I'm not sure, actually, what more can be done. Bob and Chris posted the proof rules, playbook, and charts up on the CSW site for public commentary a few weeks before going to printer; some changes were made before sending it for printing, while the one substantive rules change was found after the printing had started, but GMT enclosed an errata slip with the game.

Thread: COM Solo AAR 1762 Year -- the Finale

bobkalinowski — 2008-10-01T13:54:12+00:00

1762: Coalition Ascendant (or, "To Hell in an Austrian Handbasket")

The last year of the war, 1762, is the culmination of all the players’ work, successes, and blunders to date. I find every round is exciting, and this game has been no exception. So I’ll present this round by round, as every move, every battle, has additional meaning under the ticking clock…

Additional Deployment Notes:

1. KK theaters: The Prus have 6 Lt units in the Northern theater box. When the first KK chit hits, these will serve to Devastate Mecklenberg, which will drop Aus MW to 3. The Prussian is hoping this happens early, because he wagers he won’t be able to spare a card for KK ops, and will probably need those 6 Lt units to replenish losses too.

2. FDs: At this point in the game, the Prussians and Austrians have NO FDs on the map. Couldn’t afford them. The Brits have kept their lone Brit FD – because it’s free. The French have managed to keep one on map (-- and went In the Red last winter), and the Russians as well, since they’re worthless without it. That’s another indication of the financial situation cutting down to the bone for our monarchies; and if each side HADN’T done all those KK raids, the other guys might indeed be fielding more FDs, and thus have a significant offensive advantage in the most critical year of the war. It ALL matters in this game; it's all tied together. Successful Monarchs are going to have to learn to Deal with ALL of it.

R1 Aus – As the Coalition, I know I have to go all out early this season, especially to take advantage of the opening deployments, which show no Prussian main army in Silesia. For this year, the Aus went all out to ensure Cav superiority for Loudon; he has 4 Aus Line cav, the Saxon Cheveaulegers, and got the French to transfer the Imperial Line cav as well – 12 sp, and well ahead of either Prussian army Line cav number.

The Aus also drew a Major Campaign card, and made the most of it. They spend 2 SAs to share supply in Loudon’s army, which contains 6 Imperial and 2 Saxon cav sp. A 1 ops card is spent for another SA. Loudon moves east off Prag to Glatz, and expends an SA to set siege. Nadasdy activates second, and moves from Neisse back onto Brieg, and expends another SA to set siege – an open field in Silesia is nothing for the Aus player to waste! On the siege segment, Loudon rolls and gets a Progress, for siege +1. Nadasdy hits a dr5, and takes back Neisse. +1 Aus VP to -2, Prus -1 to 4, and a great start to the year. To bolster the now empty Prag, Lacy sends 4 sp on an admin march, to join Serbelloni and create a large garrison that would take Fred 2-3 rounds to siege, if he chose to do so.

R1 Prus - Frederick, no doubt ranting, activates and moves to Breslau, to cover that vital VP fortress, also in Intercept range of Glatz.

R1 Russ - the Russ expend a 1 Op card for an SA. In the supply segment, they move their FD back south to Poznan. Saltikov then activates and moves south to Lesno. On the way, he went into SS-2 status, but would recover automatically next round.

R1 Brit - Faced with three almost equal sized armies, Ferdinand takes a central defensive position; he moves to Krefeld and entrenches. This will let him attempt Intercept on Venlo, Dusseldorf, etc. if the French move on them.

R1 French - Richelieu hauls 37 sp to Dusseldorf. Ferdinand attempts intercept, but blows it with a dr1. Rich spends an SA to set siege; in the siege segment, Ferdinand attempts intercept again - and blows it with another dr1. And for the second time in the game, Richelieu comes through; on the siege segment, the French engineers hit a dr5, and force the surrender of the city. French VPs +1 to -1, Brits -1 VP to 3. The Coalition has struck well, and made up a chunk of VP ground.

R2 Aus – the Aus play a 2 ops card and move Lacy to besiege Dresden to create additional pressure, but he has no siege arty. They expend an SA to set siege. In the siege segment, with a net -2 drm (-2 no siege arty, -1 large garrison, -1 Schwerin leader, but +1 Aus engineers, +1 class 1 fortress), he rolls a 2 – and gets lucky! The net 0 is the “errant shell starts a big fire, disease in the garrison, city forefathers balling and whining to the garrison commander to seek terms” Progress result, and the siege goes to +1.

At Glatz, Loudon rolls for siege, but Fred successfully intercepts. Fred decides to attack and force the issue. Both sides will roll only in the 9-11 sp column to reflect the usually very restricted frontages available in the hills and passes of the Riesengebirge. The Prussians get a gross +9 drm, but Loudon plays an Aus 12s chit to knock it back 3, and the hills cause another -4 drm, so the Prus are only +2 net. The Aus meanwhile max at +7 on defense. Frederick’s unimpressive attack gains little – a 1D1 on the Aus. Loudon hits a little harder, and inflicts a 3D2 on the Prus. Frederick had to retreat, amid angst and analysis, the Prussians chose Schwiedenitz. (The wrong decision?) We’ll see… Aus leader Picolomini was killed in the fray. But on the siege segment, Loudon threw only a 2, for more Progress, and siege +2, and the Prussian player started breathing again!

R2 Prus - Precarious as the situation at Glatz was, the Prussians have to address the bigger threat at Dresden. Henry activates and moves from Kustrin to Dresden to confront Lacy, who stands to meet him. The Prus deftly march west to Chemnitz first, overrunning a supply garrison sp, and cutting Lacy's supply line, putting the Aus in Short Supply and a -2 drm before the battle. Henry's 24 sp try an Oblique Attack, but Lacy's 19 sp and Lt troops help sniff it out, and Henry comes up 1 pip short on the Tac die roll. But he still beats Lacy on a 3D2- 2D1 result, and Lacy has to retreat, but goes east to Bautzen - because the Aus has a Berlin Raid card, and this would keep him in position to spring it. Meanwhile, Frederick sends a Lt cav on a 4 mp admin march south to Muglitz; this cuts one of Loudon's two supply traces (to Olmutz); but the other route west to Prag is still open.

R2 Russ - The Russians expend another 1 Ops for an SA. The French/Rus must save all their higher ops cards to move forces. A 3 Ops activates Saltikov, who starts west for Glogau…but the Prussian player is prepared for this move on his back door, and rumors again abounded - Is the Czarina Dead? With a -1 drop that drives Russian MW down to 2, Saltikov curses his luck, and takes his army back east, stopping at Putulsk

R2 Brit - the Brits spend a 2 Ops for SAs, then decide to try to take back the initiative, and activate Ferdinand, who moves on Roermund and sets siege. He duds the roll, and gets a 1, for Sortie, no progress.

R2 French - With the dire need to conserve as many high ops cards for the Russian effort as possible, the French get cagey this round, and take Castries on a default admin march adjacent to Ferdinand, to contest the next siege roll.

R3 – FOW chit is a Dies Irae, to a Deu Ex Machina, to a Severe Weather.

R3 Aus – Lacy’s at SS-2, and has to make a supply check – dr2; he fails, and has to RM south to Reichenberg. Dang it! The Berlin Raid is off for this turn. The Aus player, with only two cards left and three rounds to go, decides to get cagey. He only takes a default Admin march – and moves Lacy, now in full supply again, back north to Gorlitz, and in range of Berlin.

R3 Prus - The Prussian, sensing something afoot with Lacy's odd move, , activates Henry, who moves east through Bautzen; if the Prus move southeast behind Lacy, they'll cut his supply again, so the Aus has Lacy attempt intercept, and is successful. The two fight again at Bautzen. This time, the 15 Aus roll well, and the 20 Prus hit a dud. The aus inflict a 2D2, and the Prus only a 2D1, and Prussian general Zieten is wounded. Now Henry must retreat, back to Dresden, and for Lacy, the roads to Berlin are still open…

R3 Russ - the Russians activate Rumantsyev's 15 sp, and move them south to Poznan. The whole Russian army is now poised to enter northern Silesia.

But the Coalition is anxiously watching the FOW chits, because this year, when a Media Vitae result occurs, the bell will likely toll for Czarina Elizabeth at last. The main Russian host will disappear, the Russian Bear will switch sides, and a Russian corps will join Frederick as a client force! How much can the Coalition get from the Russians before this catastrophic about face occurs?

R3 Brit - Ferdinand has danced this dance before, and it hasn't worked out. He plays Livres Astray on Castries' force again; 3 more Fr sp and a Lt unit off the map. Then the siege attempt; this time, Castries returns the favor and blows his Intercept roll . But Ferdinand's siege roll yields only progress and siege +1. The Brit admin march brings Zastrow and 5 sp that were guarding Lubeck, no longer necessary now that the Brits have wrung the last thaler tally out of it, back to Hanover.

R3 French - Richelieu activates to move on Munster, but the Brits play a Coalition Mistrust, and Richelieu decides to settle back in with a mistress and some fine Rhineland wine. Sacre bleu, he's already taken ONE fortress this year; how much more could the King want of a brilliant aristocrat doing him the favor of campaigning in this heat?

R4 – FOW chit, CS and SS attrition.

R4 Aus – the Aus can’t pass this up; a clear road to Berlin. They play Berlin Raid, and Lacy’s marching north, through Bautzen-Gorlitz-Sorau-Krossen-Frankfurt-then Muncheberg. If Wedel and the berlin guard can intercept, it’s to no avail. But Wedel, only a drm 1 rating, because the 2 rating leaders are all guarding stuff elsewhere, rolls a 3; net 5, and failure. The Austrians will enter Berlin. Lacy attacks 15-5, and despite the Prussian Entrenchment, the Aus hit for a 2D1, and the tiny Prus wing manages a 0. Wedel must retreat to Spandau, and for the second time in the war, Lacy has earned great laurels; Aus VP +1 to 3; PRus MW -1 to 4. Per the card, Lacy must retreat; he goes southwest to Wittenberg at Short Supply status; he passes the supply check, and stays there. On an admin move, the Aus garrison their supply chain east from Prag to Loudon at Glatz. On the siege roll, the Aus miss again; dr 1 for a net 3, and more progress, to siege +3. Still, an unexpected bonus for Austria that the situation coalesced for a second Lacy raid!

R4 Prus - the Prussians are feeling the squeeze, and need to blunt the Coalition momentum. They play Winterfelt's Agents, which flips the last Aus card, and gives two activations. Time to unsettle the Austrians. Henry activates, and moves east from Dresden to Bautzen and Zittau, then south to Reichenberg, Overrunning the Aus sp there. This puts Loudon to SS-2. Henry stops in Landeshut, chasing off an Aus Hussar into Loudon's camp at Glatz; he's poised to intercept the next siege roll as well. Then Frederick takes the offensive, moving east from Schwiedenitz to Breslau, bearing down on Nadasdy's 15 Austrians at Brieg. The Austrian player senses the wind change - the SS-2 has hampered his siege, and Frederick's going to hit Brieg to recoup a VP in the interim. Loudon decides to abandon the faltering effort in the hills, and descends in pursuit of Frederick - and catches him at Breslau. For the 7th time, these two foes will clash.

The Prussian player sees 3 unplayed Aus Tac chits J, and knows they must all be Defensive chits – the Aus have been in 3-4 battles this season, and would have played something if they could! So Frederick declines to attack, and since he intercepted and has better initiative, forces Loudon to attack. The Aus have 33 sp, the Prus only 23. And true enough, Loudon can’t play any Tac chits. But it’s still +3 for Loudon, +3 arty, +1 cav superiority; but -2 SS, and -1 enemy fort. Frederick manages the Seydlitz/Driessen Tac chit, and gets rid of a Blown March (sigh). The Prus have a +3 defense, +2 arty, +2 Tac, but -1 inferior cav. Aus +3, Prus +6 net. A bitter contest; the Aus hit for a 5D3+, the Prus for a 5D3 – same result, 10,000 men lost, and both sides Demoralized.

Here, Frederick’s Determination prevails, and Loudon must retreat – which suits the Austrians fine! Loudon retreats SOUTH, onto Brieg, to join Nadasdy, and form a 43 sp army. Frederick, dismayed, can only watch, his activation – and plan – ended. The final kick in the groin comes in the Rally segment; the Prus have no SAs to guarantee Fred’s rally roll, and the dice gods snicker and give Fred a dr1 – no rally, still Demoralized. The only Prussian consolation is that the siege of Glatz has been lifted.

R4 Russ - Saltikov is activated again, and marches west again to Poznan. On an admin move, Chernysev brings some cav up to Lesno.

R4 Brit - Ferdinand abandons his siege of Roermund, and makes a dubious decision to try to nail Richelieu at Dusseldorf, and try to DM and clear at least one French army off his back. Richelieu stands, hoping for AA losses if nothing else. It's 23 to 23, and Ferd has a gross +6, but -1 for the enemy fort, and the French slapping down a Ferdinand's Arrogance Tac chit, which takes off another -2. Richelieu has a net +2. Both sides take 4000 casualties in 2D2 results, but the French are DM, and the AA maintain good order. Richelieu retreats, but not before tucking Chevert (2 drm) and 4 sp (large garrison) in the fortress

R4 French - Ferdinand's move was a mistake despite the minor battle win. He's left Venlo open. The French spot this with glee, and expend a 3 Ops to activate Castries; but no, Castries has no siege arty! That will lessen the odds. Aha! But Broglie is still only 5 mp away, and has siege arty. Broglie, the most mobile French commander, and his third army are activated, and make it to Venlo, and set siege. Broglie comes through, and this highly successful French final year continues! Dr5 yields a surrender, +2 VP back, +2 Brit. The Coalition goes up, 6 VP to 5 VP, for the first time in the game

R5 FOW chit – Dies Irae, to Media Vitae in Mortis Sum

This is a moment the Coalition has been dreading, on a longshot chit sequence at that! A dr 6 brought Media Vitae; the Russians may be gone in a second. The next dr? A…6. Holy cow, it passed up Elizabeth, and Madame Pompadour’s dead! Truly the Miracle of the House of Hapsburg here! The Coalition player(s) reset their pace makers, and continue play, mopping the sweat off their brows with their GMT West and WBC tee shirts…

R5 Aus – The Austrian player doesn’t see any decisive moves here, but knows he has to be able to keep up pressure down the line, and that means sieges, and sieges need SAs, so he spends his last 2 Ops card for 2 more. Lacy takes an RM south. He then takes a default Admin march to move adjacent to Prag, the closest he could get to protect it.

R5 Prus - Well, for the Prussians, this year's been a trip to Hell in a handbasket so far; outmarched and outsieged by the Austrians, and Ferdinand falling down on the job in the west! And worse probably to come. Unable to contemplate any combat with his depleted army, Frederick stands pat. To ensure guaranteed Rallies in the next phase of the Year from Hell, the Prus player plays a 2 ops card for SAs. Henry activates and marches west, back to Dresden, but sends 3 meager sp to Frederick on the minor admin march afterward. These join the Entrenched 4 sp garrison and Keith, bringing Fred's numbers back to 25 sp

R5 Russ - the Russ player can't count on two miracles in one game. He's highly likely to switch sides within a few rounds. What can he do to help the Coalition cause? A move directly at Frederick at Breslau won't work; Frederick will just retreat because the Russian siege capability is poor; they'll probably be his client before they take the fortress (-4 drm on siege rolls due to no siege arty, enemy large garrison and good leader). Saltikov doesn't have enough mp to catch and attack Frederick on a failed Withdrawal (5 mp to get to Breslau), though that would be the ideal. Fred will retreat to Glatz, which will make things even harder for Loudon, who's at the end of his supply line from Olmutz. The Aus might make more headway crossing back into Moravia, and going through Glatz is the quickest way.

So, the Russ player decides on the next longshot - siege Glogau, hope he takes it, and hope the Aus can move into it next round, and get himself out, before he switches sides. When the switch happens, all Russ forces are removed from the map - any formerly Russ-occupied fortress, now empty, reverts to its Prussian owners. So Fred is likely to get back 2 VP in Fall. But, if the Aus can move in "clean," they can keep the fortress. A decided longshot; the Prus player will make it his business to screen with Lt units and sp, and Intercept any Aus force moving toward any Russ fort. But what else can the Russ do if the PRus won't fight? Time is against them...

R5 Brit - Ferdinand can do nothing about Venlo except try to recoup VPs elsewhere. He sets siege to Dusseldorf again. To protect his back, he has Zastrow admin march 4 sp west to Wesel, to slow any other Broglie mischief. He's about to roll on the siege table when - surprise -- Castries attempts and succeeds in Intercept. Oh, to be rid of this annoying, exasperating, tough, COMPETENT young French leader! Ferdinand attacks.

It’s 21 AA vs. 21 French; Ferdinand’s out for blood on this pesky whelp; He plays Improved Artillery for +2, and Unexpected Savagery for +2; along with his +3 and arty +1, but -1 enemy fort, it’s still a net +5 max. And Castries has his blood up too – an Unexpected Savagery chit as well, and the ultimate French resort to Lady Luck – Desperate Gamble. The French max at +5 too. If Castries doesn't win this battle, he's ordered back to court in shame (ditched back into the Leader pool). But young Castries rolls a dr5 – a 3D2; but the Desperate Gamble ups the D level by 1 to 3, and Ferdinand’s Demoralized. The Savagery chit adds 2 sp more losses, for a net 5D3. The AA army rolls a 3, for a 2D2; their Savagery adds 2 sp, and Castries’ Desperate Gamble another sp – a 5D2. At the end of this surprising, shockingly bloody melee, 10,000 men of each side are dead, and the AA army is retreating from the field. The Brits haven’t any SAs to guarantee Ferdinand's Rally, but he makes it in the Rally segment. Castries awaits his Marshal's baton, but in the mean time borrows one of Richelieu's mistresses

Play Note –Even SOLO, the Tac chits make combat a hoot. In pbem and FTF play, they really keep players uncertain and antsy, to the point that between equal armies and leaders, it’s half crapshoot every time; another incentive to make players carefully weigh when to fight, or not!

R5 French - What to do after this unexpected boon? The French were going to move Ehrensvard's Swedes to reinforce Braunschweig, but then the French player had a rare moment of clarity, and remembered that the Swedes go neutral when the Russians do! That problem will fix itself. So he spends his last 2 ops card to activate Broglie, who leaves 4 sp behind as a large garrison, then takes a bare 15 sp and siege arty and moves east to Arnsberg, threatening Kassel again. On the Rally phase, the French conclude their stellar Summer by getting two successful Rally rolls for Castries and Richelieu. Quick, somebody take a picture - the French had a great season!

As August waxes, the Coalition has hit a Highwater Mark. But where will the monarchs' fortunes lie, when the first winds of December start to blow?

Fall, 1762 -- The Finale

Since there was a frenzy of maneuver/counter-maneuver in the two main opponent groupings, I’ll relay this final season thus, with commentary on the French-Brit action in the German theater, followed by the maelstrom of Prussian-Austrian-Russian action in the Border/Northern theaters.

German Theater: The Final Dances

R1 Brit - Ferdinand moves to Paderborn to be ready to block Broglie.

R1 French - the French activate Richelieu, who advances to Wesel in Ferdinand's absence, and sets siege. But Wesel holds out in the siege segment, under progress and a +1 siege marker.

R2 Brit - Ferdinand activates, and moves back towards Wesel, and attacks Richelieu. In a 16 to 16 battle, the AA hit the French for a 2D2, which demoralizes them, and only suffer a 1D1. Richelieu is driven back to Krefeld

R2 French - the French, trying to gain a move in the split armies dance vs. Ferdinand, spend a card for 2 SAs. They move their FD to Marburg, then activate Broglie, who picks up 3 Imperial inf sp at Arnsberg, and still has enough mp to reach Kassel, despite the Mixed Force -1 mp penalty. He spends the other SA to set siege; the siege dr is 2, with a net +1, for a progress. At this point, the French/Russian player has 1 card left with high enough ops value to activate leaders.

R3 Brit - The Brits play a Major Campaign card. Ferdinand dances back to Kassel and attacks Broglie, who stands. He defeats Broglie with the same 2D2 and 1D1 losses to each side. On the 2nd activation, Zastrow takes 4 sp and moves on Braunschweig, overrunning the Swede sp there, and recouping that VP. Brits go up 1 to +2, and the French drop 1, back to 0. At this point, the Coalition has 8 VP, and the AP side 4 VP.

R3 French - the French spend a 1 ops card for an SA, then their LAST card to activate Castries, who moves on Wesel once more, and sets siege. An Admin activation sends Richelieu's siege artillery up to help the effort. But a dr3 yields only progress. With a sigh, the French player awaits Ferdinand's last response in this fall dance…

R4 Brit - Ferdinand activates and marches on Castries, who stands. In a 16 AA to 14 French battle, Castries proves his mettle again; the AA score a 2D1, but Castries inflicts a 2D2; Ferdinand has to retreat, though neither side is Demoralized.

R4 French - With no cards, the French can only attempt a siege roll in that segment; but Ferdinand intercepts, and this time, the AA come out on top, inflicting a 2D2 to a French 1D1. Castries must retreat, and the siege is lifted.

R5 Brit - on his last turn, the Brit player buys 2 SAs with a spare card, then activates Ferdinand. He moves Munster-Dortmund, headed for Koblenz, and hopefully a last shot siege on that fortress. But Chevert and 4 sp garrison Dusseldorf; these are just enough to intercept, and the old French warhorse makes good and succeeds. His force catches Ferdinand, who must Withdraw or fight. I skipped the combat, as it would be inconclusive, and the AA would not get any chance to gain another VP. I needed all my mental energies for the last throes in the struggle between Prussia and Austria…

Border/Northern Theaters: At Wits’ End -- Breslau, Dresden, Glogau, and Eger

Round 1 Fortunes of War chit – Attrition

R1 Aus – The Aus again decides his best chance may be to start the season big, try for an early gain, then fend off the Prussians from there, for whatever time the Russians are still on the map to lend a hand. He takes a big plunge, and spends his 4 Ops Converging attack card for SAs, and builds a new FD in Brieg! Loudon was formerly at the end of the 4 mp supply line from Olmutz; now the FD will let him attempt to set siege on Breslau. Onward! Loudon is activated, and moves on Breslau with 36 sp; Frederick knowing he can’t afford another slaughter, tries to Withdraw, and hopes the ticking Russian clock ends their threat before he has to commit to battle again. He succeeds and withdraws to Schwiedenitz. Loudon sets siege. Then the Prussian player has a change of heart; with net drm of -1, a dr6 will take Breslau, and maybe the game, for the Coalition.

So Frederick intercepts as Loudon declares a siege roll attempt – and the two clash again, this time at Breslau. Frederick, with only 25 sp, strips Schwiedenitz of its lone sp, so he can use the 26-30 table on the CRT. It’s 26 Prus vs 36 Aus/Imperials. Fred has +4 for his drm, +2 arty, +2 Able Subordinate chit (Winterfelt) but -1 inferior cav – and a tough Aus defensive chit he knew he had coming – an Aus 12s, which drops him -3 more. Net +4. Loudon maxes out with +3 for him, +4 for arty, +3 for the Tac chit, and +1 for superior cav. The Prus roll a fair 7; net 11, and a 6D4 on Loudon. But the Aus nail a 12, and max the CRT, for a 10R* on Frederick! Both sides are Routed, but since Loudon defended, he is reduced to Demoralized. Only a minor win, but a horrific blow to the Prussian army anyway – Brunswick is wounded, two reduced line cavs are wiped out, 1 flipped artillery is destroyed, and the Prus siege arty – their only one on the map – is captured. And, the Austrians earn an SA for the siege arty capture. For Prussia, the descent into hell continues…

R1 Prus - Frederick's army is Routed at Schwiedenitz. Breslau hangs by a thread. The Prus plays a major campaign card, and does what he can. He activates Henry, who leaves 2 sp and Schwerin at Dresden, and marches to Schwiedenitz. Henry's larger force combines with Frederick's, bring Fred up, and Henry down, so the whole stack is now Demoralized. Henry spends his last mps to Entrench, and succeeds. He then activates Fouque - with 1 sp - on a desperate mission! Fouque moves out of Glatz, picks up a Prussian Lt cav at Mittelwald, and moves to Neisse; in Brieg, Serbelloni and 2 sp try to intercept, but fail. Fouque moves past the 2 sp Neisse garrison, which, leaderless, can't attempt Intercept itself, then moves south, into the unoccupied Wurbenthal hills space; this cuts the supply route of the FD back to Olmutz. The FD can't trace to the east through Cosel, because that is a Prussian-held fortress with no Aus sp in it. Loudon goes to SS-2, and the Aus FD is flipped to Disrupted status. Fouque's 4000 men have done more than an entire army to hinder Loudon's siege. A minor admin move sends a Prus Lt unit to Liegnitz, to hinder any Aus move toward Glogau. In the Rally segment, the Prus spends an SA for a Rally +2, and Frederick/Henry's army is back in good order

R1 Russ - Saltikov activates - and this season, the Prus have NO interrupt cards; the deck is against them too this fall. The Rus spends an SA to roll in the strat segment; a dr 2, -2 drm, yields the lucky 0 Progress result, and the marker goes to +1. In the Siege segment, a second dr of 5, for a 6, -2 no siege arty, yields a 4 - almost! A siege +2 marker now.

R2 FOW chit – KK Raids. At last, for the Prussians, the KK hits; the 6 Lt units Devastate Mecklenberg, and drop Aus MW to 3. Now, if Elizabeth dies, the Aus will drop to 0, and the game will end. Where is that Media Vitae chit???!!! The Prus earns 1 SA as well. But Russia is still in the game.

R2 Aus – In the Supply segment, Loudon has to endure – and passes – his Supply Check roll. He can stay in place and maintain the siege. But the SS-2 will cripple him, on a siege roll, and in battle with the quickly rallied Prussian army. But Fred/Henry are combined now. Dresden is open. How to keep the pressure on? A Prussian Poltroonery card – not for the forced retreats, but for two activations! Lacy activates, garrisons his supply path north, and moves onto Dresden, sets siege. He has only 12 sp with him, but luckily, Dresden is only a class 1 fort, and can be besieged with only 8. But he has no siege artillery, and this will hurt.

In Silesia, the Austrians enter into the small moves dance as well; the second activation is for Arenberg, who takes 4 sp, and moves 2 onto Cosel, and 2 southwest onto Olmutz. These guarantee that Fouque, even if he tried intercept, would not have MORE sp in the spaces than the Aus – and now the eastern supply rout through Cosel is open to the FD at Brieg. In the siege segment, Loudon is STILL SS-2, and does NOT roll; better to forestall a Fred/Henry descent until he’s at full supply again – and keep them in Silesia, while Lacy works on Dresden. Lacy’s siege roll is a 5; with +1 class 1 fort, and +1 Aus engineers, but -1 large garrison, -1 Schwerin, and -2 no siege arty, it’s a net 3 – Progress. If he’d had the heavy guns with him, Dresden would have fallen. But Loudon and Nadasdy have the two siege arty units… In the Rally/Resupply segment, the FD is flipped back to operational, and Loudon, adjacent, removes the SS-2 marker. He rallies on a dr6 to good order as well. The whole desperate situation is reset to the way it was last round.

R2 Prus - The Prus player gratefully extracts the 6 Lt units from the Northern KK theater box, and places 4 in Magdeburg and 2 in Berlin. The Prus player springs his SECOND major campaign card - which is obviously welcome and needed. Finck, guarding Magdeburg, activates with the Lt units, and moves south, stripping the Torgau and Leipzig garrisons, so he has 6 sp. He moves onto the Aus sp in Chemnitz, Overrrunning it - Lacy can't intercept, because he doesn't have enough sp to intercept and maintain the siege. The overrun cuts Aus supply, and Lacy goes SS-2. With his last two mp, Finck drops a garrison sp back into Torgau before returning to Chemnitz.

Then Fouque is activated, for more desperate maneuver. He leaves 1 sp behind in Wurbenthal, and moves with his lone Lt cav to Cosel, past the Aus troops in that space, and north, to unoccupied Oppeln; again, Serbelloni tries to intercept from Brieg, but his dr3 is 1 pip short of foiling Fouque’s mission. Fouque has cut Loudon’s eastern supply route and Loudon is SS-2 again.

R2 Russ - the Russ have been given another few weeks of life in the game, and can't pass on this next card - Berlin Raid. Rumantsyev and 11 sp head northwest from Glogau; Wedel and his garrison fail to intercept them at Muncheberg, and the Russians enter the city. Prus MW drops 1 to 3. Rumantsyev defeats Wedel in battle, who retires on Spandau. The Russians earn another VP, increasing to 3. Key here is that the Russ and Coalition WON'T lose this VP when Russia switches sides. The Coalition now has 7 VP. But in that minor battle, Rumantsyev got a little too far from his corps, and got himself captured. He will spend the rest of the war as a guest of the Prussians.

At Glogau, more momentous events. In the siege segment, the Russ player gets a dr6! With the siege drms equal, this means Glogau surrenders! The Russ VP increase to 5, and the Coalition to 9, while the Prus drop to 4.

R3 FOW chit – CS+SS Attrition. The Prus player laments – where is that Media Vitae? The Russians are STILL in it!

R3 Aus – The Aus have two Supply checks to make, critical to their last offensive. Loudon rolls – dr2; failure! Loudon’s army must retreat south to Brieg; the siege is broken. But Loudon leaves Nadasdy and 4 sp in the Breslau space. Lacy rolls at Dresden – dr2. Failure! Lacy must retreat south, and goes to Leitmeritz, to protect Prag; the siege of Dresden is broken. A minor miracle for the house of Brandenberg? Perhaps.

But the Aus player can still hurt the Prussians amid the failed sieges. He activates Nadasdy and his small corps; this moves to Oels. From Breslau, Keith and his garrison try to intercept, but this time the Prus fail in the war of small maneuver with a dr1; Nadasdy escapes north, and moves into Glogau to join the Russians. The Aus will be able to take possession of the fort “clean,” and keep those VP!

3 Prus - There's nothing Frederick can do about the loss of Glogau. The Prus have no siege arty any more, and will run out of time trying to take back any Silesian fortress; and Loudon, back in full supply, will have an easy time interfering as well. So the Prus take a page from the Aus book; they spend a 3 Ops card for more SAs, and are able to create an FD, placed in Chemnitz; this moves to Sonnenberg, so the Prus can trace supply from the northwest, furthest from Lacy's army. Then Frederick launches west with a mere 20 sp, headed for class 1 fortress Eger. He drives Lacy south, back into Prag, but is one mp short of reaching it. Fred attempts a forced march - and succeeds (and that's why Fred took only 20 sp along, so he wouldn't incur the forced march drm penalty for too large a force). Total cost -3 sp lost in the forced march effort ( 1 before, 10% after = 2) The remaining 17 Prus sp force spends an SA to set siege. They have a -2 for no siege arty, but a +1 on the class 1 fortress. A dr5 gets them a net 4 - so close. Progress, and a siege +1 marker

R3 Russ - Saltikov takes a default Admin activation, and evacuates Glogau, clearing east to Lezno. The Coalition's longshot has paid off, and the Aus now own Glogau free and clear. I swap the fortress VP's - subtract 2 from Russia, and give 2 more to Austria. Overall Coal VPs still stand at 8 (since the Brits retook Braunschweig in Germany).

R4 – FOW chit – the second KK Raids! No Media Vitae!

R4 Aus – the Aus have no 2 Ops or higher cards left. They can’t activate a force. So they resort to the Kleiner Krieg. They send every available Lt unit into the KK Border theater box – 7 Lt sp. There are no Prus Lt in it. They have a net 6 sp due to Prus KK advantage. So the Aus takes these 6 sp, and the value of his last card -- 1 Ops, for 7, but subtracts -3 due to a garrisoned Prus supply line. The net drm will be +4. And the Aus Croats and cav come through – dr6, for a net 10, and a successful Supply raid. Frederick’s force goes to SS-2. That’s the best the Aus can do on a 1 Op card.

R4 Prus - In the Supply segment, Fred passes his supply check. Whew! He activates, moves alone northwest to Sonnenberg, and picks up 2 more Lt units , returns to Eger, and declares he'll spend an SA for a siege roll. The net drm at this point is a -2 (+1 siege marker, +1 class 1 fort, -2 no siege arty, -2 SS-2), but time is running out; if Fred can only get another progress, it may be enough for the siege segment roll. The Prus expend another SA; dr 4; net 2, progress to siege +2. In the siege segment, a dr 5, net 4 - progress, to siege +3. Arrgh! Not yet, on this tiny fortress! Oh for siege arty! In the Rally/Resupply segment, since he's adjacent to the FD at Sonnenberg, Frederick recovers to full supply; but the Supply raid has also robbed the Prussians of Eger for these two weeks….

R4 Russ - out of cards, the Russian player admin marches Saltikov towards Konigsberg.

R5 FOW Chit -- AA/Rus/Swede Desertion! The Russians will stay in the game!

R5 Aus – Out of cards, all the Aus player can do is a default Admin activation, moving Lacy and his meager 12 sp army adjacent to the Prussians.

R5 Prus - This is it; amid the bleak November skies and barren landscape of northern Bohemia, the Prussian army makes its final attempt to wrest one last peace table bargaining chip from their exhausted foes; Frederick activates on the last Prus card, and spends an SA to roll.

Lacy rolls to intercept, and succeeds. the 18 Prus sp battle the 12 Aus; +4 for Frederick, +3 arty, +2 for an Artillery Upfront Tac chit, but –1 for the fortress space; maxxed at +7. Lacy gets +2, +2 for arty, and +1 for Hadik on an Able Subordinate chit; net +5. The Aus roll an 11, for a 16; a 3D3 on the Prussians; they maintain good order, critical to any siege roll! Frederick's men, with a last great effort, hit a dr9, for a 6D4, and Rout Lacy. Aus MW drops to 1, and Lacy's remnants stream east to Prag. Prus MW rises 1 to 4.

And in the siege segment, one last roll; net drm +2 (-2 no siege arty, +3 marker, +1 class one fort). Flushed with victory, the Prussian rolls a …. 2. Net 4. Progress… but no breach. Eger has held out, and for Frederick, Loudon, and Lacy, the Seven Years War is over…

The Wrap Up:

End Monarchial Wills: Britain 6, France 5 ex, Prussia 4 ex, Russia 2 ex, Austria 1 ex.

The game ends with 8 Coalition VPs (5 Aus, 0 French, 3 Russ), and 4 AP VPs (2 Brit, 2 Prus) on the track. But the AP gain 2 Brit VPs for Heavy Brit Advantage on the Colonial Conflict track, to AP 6. And since Prussia finished at MW 4 (thanks to the November victory at Eger), they gain another +1 VP, for Prus 3, and AP total of 7.

With the end of campaign scenario adjust of +5 AP and 0 Coal, the end VPs are AP 12 – Substantial Victory, and Coalition 8 – Draw. The Anglo-Prussian alliance has triumphed with room to spare – though you could never tell that by the frenzy in Silesia and Bohemia that swirled up to the last round.

And that Media Vitae chit is still in the FOW chit cup – a truly unexpected fate for that critical item! IF Elizabeth had died, the end result would be thus: Prus MW would increase by 1 to 5, and the Aus drop to 0; no VP change from that. The two Russian fortresses of Konigsberg and Colberg would revert to Prussia, dropping Coalition VP to 6, and increasing AP VPs to 14. This would equate to a Decisive AP win, and a Coalition draw, but due to Elizabeth's death, the AP level is reduced one, to Substantive, and the Coalition's increased one, to Marginal. So, this more typical Media Vitae outcome would actually have resulted in the AP squeaking through with a win by only one level.

Overall, I think the Coalition had a solid game, despite the crippling blow of losing Daun so early. Loudon certainly proved a worthy opponent of Frederick, but several of the battle results regarding Rout and DM would have been far different against a Daun. The Prussians got lucky there! Let's note that the AP did NOT Devastate Lorraine or Bavaria, and had more they could do regarding KK in the German theater. The Brits gained Heavy Advantage in Colonial Ops with little to no French opposition from mid-game on; I guess Ferdinand must have been doing his job okay, despite a few losses, and a lot of seemingly frustrating dancing between two, then three French armies. So plenty of things for "both sides" to consider and improve on in the next game.

And that's it. This game has confirmed for me that the game still works – and keeps my attention – even on its 27th (or 28th?) full campaign run-through. I think I'll keep it!

Thread: Re: Clash of Monarchs: First Impressions

garysax — 2008-09-30T17:12:03+00:00

Bob, the designer, posted about this. He said he couldn't find any way to put a set of values in for play time. There are short 1 year scenarios that could take 1-2 hours but there is also a campaign game which could take prob 15-20 hours.

Thread: Re: Clash of Monarchs: First Impressions

stlkt — 2008-09-30T15:28:22+00:00

How long did a game take to play? The entry says 90 mins, but that doesn't seem to jibe with the description of the game as very heavy.

Thread: Re: cyberboard

jtovb — 2008-09-30T00:34:14+00:00

you use the log file function. First you start a log file do all your moves, comments ect. Then you "close logfile". Send to the other guy. He will open the file you sent, play through your plays then start hiw own logfile and repeat what you did.

Thread: Re: Living Rules?

Duguayduguay — 2008-09-29T14:54:02+00:00

Well, there are certainly a few corrections there... Is it just me or are GMT's recent offerings quite prone to mistakes? Successors 3 has it's share (no turn marker, color stands issue and mistakes in the play-through) and let's not get started on Blackbeard... Nothing earth shattering mind you, but it is still annoying. Maybe it's just me.

Thread: Re: cyberboard

iamspamus — 2008-09-29T14:43:42+00:00

dirubin wrote:
You can play PBeM via VASSAL. I'm learning to use VASSAL just so I can play this game *now*.

Well, I used Vassal a bit with Twilight Struggle. I liked it, but we never figured out how to do it by email. I'm sure it's easy.

Jason

Thread: Re: cyberboard

dirubin — 2008-09-29T14:26:35+00:00

You can play PBeM via VASSAL. I'm learning to use VASSAL just so I can play this game *now*.

Image

manstein — 2008-09-29T09:10:40+00:00

1st Prussian turn

Image

manstein — 2008-09-29T09:08:54+00:00

Initial setup

Thread: Re: cyberboard

iamspamus — 2008-09-29T08:53:56+00:00

ibn_ul_khattab wrote:
jtovb wrote:
Jason a vassal mod is being made though.
Awesome vassal kick's CB's ass Ok now that I have started a flame war my job is done.

Vassal IS awesome ... if your opponents are all in the same or similar time zones. Mine are not. In addition, it's almost as hard to get 4-six people together virtually as it is face to face. So, I'll stick with 2 player vassal games or Cyberboard games for more players.

Thanks though.
Jason

Thread: Re: Living Rules?

bobkalinowski — 2008-09-27T17:50:56+00:00

Guys,

Hot off the presses -- a short Errata/Clarification sheet for the few little bumps in the road to date. I have uploaded it in the files section -- I think!

Thread: Re: Living Rules?

cjsloki — 2008-09-27T03:51:06+00:00

Chris,
The rules that were shipped with the game as well as some errata are posted on CSW if that helps.

http://talk.consimworld.com/WebX?14@283.4qwhekguqFd.280@.ee6...

Charles

Thread: Re: Living Rules?

garysax — 2008-09-26T21:29:10+00:00

Not yet. There haven't been too many problems with the rules yet though to necessitate it.

Thread: Re: Living Rules?

noddingoff — 2008-09-26T21:26:19+00:00

Game's just being shipped, so a bit early for living rules isn't it? Unless you just mean the rules being available online, in which case they don't appear to have been put up yet.....

Thread: Re: Living Rules?

cscottk — 2008-09-26T21:24:46+00:00

cfarrell wrote:
Are the living rules available for this yet? I couldn't find them. Any chance of getting some?

I would assume no since it just came out.

Thread: Living Rules?

cfarrell — 2008-09-26T21:13:07+00:00

Are the living rules available for this yet? I couldn't find them. Any chance of getting some?

Thread: Re: Clash of Monarchs: First Impressions

Chris Janiec — 2008-09-26T05:07:05+00:00

Actually Montcalm is a French leader with intense (red) battle ability.

He is, of course, only available through a "what if" optional rule

Thread: Re: Clash of Monarchs: First Impressions

garysax — 2008-09-26T03:40:28+00:00

This game is way less card game than almost any CDG I've tried. The card play isn't particularly gamey and almost all the actions happens on the board, not in your hand.

I actually like that, it is just a little unusual for me.

Thread: Re: Clash of Monarchs: First Impressions

cjsloki — 2008-09-26T03:19:04+00:00

Thanks for the review. I agree that there is a lot to this game. I find the biggest problem for me is figuring out how to use that diplomacy chart and the host of little exceptions.
For example, the minimum leader rule: I wish these limits were on the play mats. That would have been useful. Or the exception for withdrawal when the Austrians play the surprise attack chit.
Still I think the game is worth the time to learn.

Charles

Thread: Re: Clash of Monarchs: First Impressions

mgringo — 2008-09-26T03:00:44+00:00

jrtracy wrote:

Between the potential Retrograde Moves, activations, and Admin Moves, there's room for quite a bit of movement in a single player impulse.

Actually, JR, that's one reason I really like the game. It is a nice difference from other CDGs (except for EotS - another brilliant system) where you play a card and activate a leader. The admin moves and free leader moves give you things to do besides playing cards that you can't do in other games. You can use this ability to build up a better hand and then pop it on your opponent.

Thread: Re: Clash of Monarchs: First Impressions

Grell — 2008-09-25T23:10:50+00:00

Actually Montcalm is a French leader with intense (red) battle ability.

Regards,

Greg

BTW great review

Thread: Re: Announcement: PBEM Clash of Monarchs game.

mgringo — 2008-09-25T22:46:22+00:00

I've already got 10 players (which is more than enough) for the first two games, but you can still sign up. I'll be running other games soon.

Thread: Re: cyberboard

ibn_ul_khattab — 2008-09-25T22:40:20+00:00

jtovb wrote:
Jason a vassal mod is being made though.
Awesome vassal kick's CB's ass Ok now that I have started a flame war my job is done.

Thread: Re: cyberboard

jtovb — 2008-09-25T22:26:00+00:00

Jason a vassal mod is being made though.

Thread: Re: Clash of Monarchs: First Impressions

jrtracy — 2008-09-25T21:06:06+00:00

mgringo wrote:
jrtracy wrote:

In addition to the standard activation, you can move a small force (four or five SPs) without a card, and if you play no card at all, you may move any one leader and his troops on a four MP 'Admin March' which doesn't allow combat but gives you some options if you are out of cards.

You always get one free admin move (of a minor force through friendly or neutral spaces) after the strategy card segment (see 1d), but you get a second admin move if you do not play a card (see 1b, 2nd option). Also, the leader move (12.4) is just the leader that moves and can happen if you play a card or not.

Thanks for the clarification, Michael - I grasped that correctly but did not express it well. Between the potential Retrograde Moves, activations, and Admin Moves, there's room for quite a bit of movement in a single player impulse.

JR

Thread: Re: Clash of Monarchs: First Impressions

mgringo — 2008-09-25T20:51:58+00:00

jrtracy wrote:

I'd peg CoM as a couple clicks up the complexity scale from For The People, maybe up in Empires in Arms territory. In a surprisingly crowded field (Frederick the Great, Friedrich, Prussia's Defiant Stand, Seven Years World War) this game stands out as the 'heavy' option.

First of all, I really liked your review. You conveyed a lot of information and I found it very informative to see how well you have picked up the game on your first go. Well done!

jrtracy wrote:

In addition to the standard activation, you can move a small force (four or five SPs) without a card, and if you play no card at all, you may move any one leader and his troops on a four MP 'Admin March' which doesn't allow combat but gives you some options if you are out of cards.

You always get one free admin move (of a minor force through friendly or neutral spaces) after the strategy card segment (see 1d), but you get a second admin move if you do not play a card (see 1b, 2nd option). Also, the leader move (12.4) is just the leader that moves and can happen if you play a card or not.

jrtracy wrote:

I feel I've just scratched the surface of this game.

So do I and I've been playing for over a year now. I really love this design. The more you learn, the more you see other possibilities for play. The game does not require you to learn it well, but your ability to play well is directly proportional to your knowledge of the rules. The design really allows you to pull off some great plans and in the game I'm in, let me tell you, I've been tested again and again.

Thread: Announcement: PBEM Clash of Monarchs game.

mgringo — 2008-09-25T19:33:30+00:00

Greetings!

Joel Toppen is working on a Vassal module for Clash of Monarchs. Once it is ready, I will be running PBEM games just as I did with Pax Romana and Onward Christian Soldiers. We will use Vassal, ACTS, and Warfare Project as tools to conduct our play. If you are interested please send me email and then go study the rules. If you have trouble, you can email me and we can set up a learning scenario.

Warmest regards,

Michael

Thread: Clash of Monarchs: First Impressions

jrtracy — 2008-09-25T19:27:57+00:00

Tuesday night we finally got Clash of Monarchs on the table. I've been looking forward to this ever since I read Bob's designer notes. We took a crack at the 1759 start date since that had all four seats engaged from the get-go. As Austria, I opened with a Daun-led relief of Dresden, assiduously leaving a trail of 1SP breadcrumbs to guard against panty raids on my supply line. Scott had Henry stand and fight. With a +7 DRM, I needed an eight or better on 2d6 to rout the Prussians but I came up a pip short. Henry was merely demoralized and all I managed to do was attract the attention of some guy named Frederick.

In the west, Campoverdi's French sparred with Natus' Anglo-Allied troops in and around Münster, with Ferdinand eventually driving the French back. Meanwhile, the Russian behemoth slowly gathered momentum as it rumbled through East Prussia. That's a 30+ SP juggernaut without much of a target in the early days of this particular scenario.

In the south, Scott had Freddie swing around to slap Henry's force into shape (a larger good order force hooking up with a smaller demoralized force makes the combined force good order) and threaten my position in Dresden. Freddie was positioned to cut my supply line, and a subsequent Fortunes of War chit pull knocked Daun into a Short Supply state. I took advantage of a voluntary Retrograde Movement to fall back through Pirna toward a friendly depot. Scott responded by burning a few barns in Moravia, but my plucky grenzers in the theater box picked off one Prussian light unit, saving the region from complete devastation.

I then upgraded Loudon to his full starry army-leader persona and moved to liberate Silesia from beneath the boot of Prussian autocracy. Okay, I was only offering them Austrian autocracy in return, but it's the thought that counts. The game concluded with a battle between Loudon and Zieten, who tried and failed to evade. Zieten was routed and we called it a night.

After a few hours with this game, I have to say I found it pretty heavy sledding. The discrete elements each work fine in isolation but taken as a whole it feels klunky and procedurally intense. What saves it is the sound intuition beneath each major mechanic - the components all make sense in their structure and application. Unfortunately the integration of those mechanics is less than smooth. The rich nougaty goodness of the ops engine is the reward for all the hard procedural work, and to be fair I think some of that process is its own reward as well (the Kleine Krieg, the economic and political metagames). I love the heart of the game, with the tension between the relative mobility of the field forces and the ponderous, precarious nature of supply. I personally feel the work necessary to reach that heart is worth the effort, but around the table views were decidely mixed on that point.

I'd peg CoM as a couple clicks up the complexity scale from For The People, maybe up in Empires in Arms territory. In a surprisingly crowded field (Frederick the Great, Friedrich, Prussia's Defiant Stand, Seven Years World War) this game stands out as the 'heavy' option. I was looking for chrome, and boy have I found it. History-wise, it feels okay so far with the caveat that field forces feel awfully zippy. The mechanics all work to the extent we tested them. Whether it's *too* heavy will be a matter of personal taste. I'm willing to give it another go, perhaps two-player with an early war start. Bob and Chris invested a lot of effort in this and demand the same from the player - I'm still optimistic the gameplay reward justifies the investment.

Dutch Raspler, who observed a bit of our game, read the above and asked:

Briefly, how do the new mechanics simulate the 7YW? Maybe it would be simplest to ask how it differs from TNW...

Supply dominates operations, particularly offensive operations. You need to trace back to a Major Depot (MD), either directly or via Forward Depots (FDs). During each turn, you first check the supply status of your forces. If they are in a Short or Critical Supply State, they may either voluntarily fall back on their supply lines (a Retrograde Movement), or attempt to roll against their initiative to remain beyond the pale. Should they fail this roll, they have to make the Retro Move anyway. The supply throw is four MPs from the MDs, three from the FDs, while the pokiest leader moves five MPs and the better leaders seven or so. Thus you see you easily get way out in front of your supply. Pity the poor Russian juggernaut, rumbling out of the east with but a single FD to trace all the way back to Mother Russia.

Scott chose to use Freddie to snip my supply line, but he could also have conducted a Kleine Krieg supply raid to disrupt my supply state. You tote up your light troops in the theater box (an offmap display), compare it to the enemy's, have a little light-vs-light tussle, and then resolve on-map effects. These can include burning crops (incrementing the 'forage points' in a region with the ultimate goal of Devastation), disrupting an FD (so it's no longer a valid source) or dinging the supply state of a field force. Short and Critical Supply states damage your speed and ability to fight effectively, and leave you vulnerable to attrition.

Movement itself is usually via card-driven activation to fire up a leader with an initiative equal or lower than the card value (1-3). Some card events are effectively activations, like Major Campaign (two or three activations, I think) and the more restrictive Converging Attack, where activated forces have to hit the same target. Once activated, forces move up to the leader's MP value, which can be affected by size of the force, presence of artillery, and possible Forced Marching. Forces may be intercepted like in other CDGs. Once entering an enemy space, the opposing force may attempt to withdraw. Interestingly, if they fail to do so, combat is *not* mandatory. The better-initiative force has the option to attack, and if he declines, then the other force may attack; if neither attacks, nothing happens.

In addition to the standard activation, you can move a small force (four or five SPs) without a card, and if you play no card at all, you may move any one leader and his troops on a four MP 'Admin March' which doesn't allow combat but gives you some options if you are out of cards.

Mixed up in all this are sieges - they may only be initiated by an activated force that did not fight this particular turn, so it takes some doing to set them up. So, even though I chest-bumped Henry off Dresden, Daun couldn't set siege until the following turn. Once a siege is established, you get one crack a turn, but activated forces can burn some supply to get two rolls a turn. It seems many of the campaigns will turn on fortresses, as they did historically, so this is a section worth a careful read.

Why does this feel Seven Years' War-ish? I think the supply/operation interaction gives it that 18th century Enlightenment vibe, along with the positional nature of maneuvering around and between fortresses. The Kleine Krieg is an important part of the flavor as well, but suffers somewhat in that KK actions come at the expense of field ops. I won't get into the econ and political stuff here, but suffice to say it's more involved than TNW.

This might stretch your patience for 'brief' descriptions, but I forgot to discuss combat. There are two CRTs, one for Intense battles and the other for Measured battles. Certain leaders have red combat values on attack or defense or both - if the red value corresponds to their 'side' in the battle, it is resolved on the Intense table. This basically means more casualties. The Intense table is 2d6 with up to +7 in DRMs. The Measured table is 1d6, with up to +5 in DRMs. DRMs are generated by the capabilities of the leaders (Freddie is a 4-3, attack-defense), Tactics chits, cavalry superiority/inferiority, artillery, supply state, presence of a fortress, and maybe a couple other things.

Each side rolls for its effect on the opposing force, with the result in the form of x D y[+][*], where x is the loss in SPs inflicted, y is the 'D' result for possible army Demoralization/Rout, '+' indicates loss of an artillery step, and '*' indicates a leader casualty. The D value is compared to an army's Endurance level; if it equals its level, the army is Demoralized, if it exceeds it, that army is Routed. Certain leaders enhance their forces Endurance in battle - Freddie for instance improves his army's Endurance on the attack, while Charles improves Austrians on defence. Demoralization is inconvenient but you can recover from it without much trouble, but a Rout affects Monarchical Will (think Strategic Will from FtP) and leaves you vulnerable to follow-on abuse.

This is all pretty involved, with a need to pick through the composition of respective forces for infantry, artillery and cav breakdowns. Ah, but not all cav counts! Light cav only counts as SPs, not for cav superiority! Unless of course it's a Hussar or Chevauleger, in which case it does count! The Tactics chits provide yet another little subgame to sort through, with some chits providing positive DRMs, others giving negative DRMs to the other side, some dependent on leadership die rolls, others just inert throwaways. Not quite La Guerre de L'Empereur 1st Edition, but quite a bit heavier than TNW.

For all that, I like the combat engine - the Intense/Measured split nicely reflects the varying character of the war across the different fronts. No French or Anglo-Allied leader has a red combat rating, so warfare along the Rhine tends to be a stately, civilized affair, at least until a barbaric Prussian leader with a thirst for blood arrives on the scene.

I feel I've just scratched the surface of this game. It will take a cycle or two just to burn in the basic mechanics, and then we can move on to grasping gameplay itself. A little grounding in the period certainly helps here; Scott DiBerardino (sdiberar) was great in providing the context for our game and I think it's worth anyone's while to read up a bit to get the most out of the presentation. The immediate options at scenario start are pretty clear but I look forward to formulating medium and long term plans, cooking up some classic forking dilemmas, and the like. There is a lot to digest here but as I've said a couple times above, I really think there is a substantial reward for the effort. I hope this write-up gives you at least a sense of the appeal, and encourage anyone with an interest in the game or the topic to check out Bob K.'s designer's notes:

http://www.gmtgames.com/t-CoMDesignNotes.aspx

See you on the fields of Silesia!

JR

Thread: Re: diplomacy chart

Chris Janiec — 2008-09-25T17:32:07+00:00

As Steve wrote, choices are made in order top to bottom. Thus only Austria, Russia, and Prussia have choices in 1756, Prussia never chooses after that, and Austria's choice from 1757 on is limited to arm-twisting the Holy Roman Empire to become Belligerent if it isn't already. Although it isn't explicitly stated, Russia effectively has no choices after 1757.

Part of the problem -- and happily also the solution -- is that final layout effectively gave us more space for this chart than I had available in the graphics program I used to make the playtest version. The Chart was literally the last thing we did before the Play Book went to the printers, and I failed to take advantage of this "extra" space, but will put it to good use when posting a revision.

Thread: Re: COM Solo Campaign AAR

nickp — 2008-09-25T13:44:16+00:00

Oh c'mon Bob - Frederick would've asked for nothing less. Besides, I've played enough Kunersdorf and Prague to last a lifetime already. I need something new.

Thread: Re: COM Solo Campaign AAR

bobkalinowski — 2008-09-25T13:38:16+00:00

Nick,

HA! Yeah, right, cross the marathon finish line, throw a bucket of water on my face, and start another? Not for a while, yet!

Thread: Re: COM Solo Campaign AAR

nickp — 2008-09-25T10:53:32+00:00

Good to see CoM finally made it Bob. Any chance now of that Prussia's Glory set on the War of the Austrian Succession?

Thread: Re: diplomacy chart

garysax — 2008-09-25T03:51:59+00:00

It is rather confusing. You go top to bottom--Austria and Prussia only have choices in the 1756 at the beginning, after that, they are all in. Many of the them are contingent on what happened in choices above them.

Chris Janiec, the developer and official answerer of questions, had this really helpful post on CSW, as I found the French and British subsidies and commitments hard to understand:

Per 19.4.1, British (and French) Commitment means that treaties obligate the player to do certain things, but the exact nature of those things may change with further diplomatic choices (and a penalty may be imposed if the player fails or chooses not to meet his obligations). In practice, the player must pay a subsidy and/or actively fight, or incur the penalty.

The 1756 choices determine whether British, French, and Russian Commitments are in effect and when:

British Commitment occurs when the conditions of the defensive Treaty of Westminster are met, essentially when the Coalition attacks Prussia first (Austrian or Russian B ). If Prussia hasn't attacked by the second Round of Summer 1757, the assumption is that Austria has attacked in Round 1 as Maria Theresa and Kaunitz planned, so British Commitment also goes into effect then.

What does British Commitment entail in 1756? Absolutely nothing! The British weren't prepared to commit forces to a continental war that early, so the first thing they could do (in game terms) is provide a subsidy to Prussia in Spring 1757. Before that can happen, though, the British and French diplomatic options determine the requirements of the British Commitment:

-- If France attacks Hanover (French A), the British player can choose to cancel the Commitment ("So sorry, old chap, but we must devote our resources to defend our patrimony of Hanover, eh what?").

-- Otherwise, the British option chosen determines what the Commitment entails, usually a subsidy. But if Britain chooses to support Prussia or attack France (British B or C), the British player may choose to attack the Coalition (other than France) instead. [Note there is an error on the Diplomacy Chart: British option B should say "7 Thl Prussian Subsidy or A-A Attack or" just like option C.] If the British player fails to meet the Commitment in any given year, he loses 1 VP (representing loss of future diplomatic leverage) and Prussian MW falls by 2 (Frederick is discouraged by the lack of support from his ally) the next Winter.

"British Commitment Attack" just describes exactly what the British player must do to satisfy the terms of his Commitment if he chooses to do that instead of paying the subsidy.

French Commitment occurs when Prussia attacks first (Prussian A or B ), triggering the terms of the 1st Treaty of Versailles. If Frederick decides not to attack in 1756 (Prussian C), Louis balks at supporting a war of aggression on the part of Austria and Russia, and the "Diplomatic Revolution" never takes place.

French Commitment always entails a subsidy, but the level of the subsidy may change:

-- The 1757 subsidy is always at the 1st Versailles level.

-- In 1758, the subsidy will increase unless France chooses to concentrate its efforts on the colonial struggle with Britain (French C). It will increase to the Balance of Power level if Prussia attacked Austria directly from Silesia (Prussian B ). But if Frederick attacked Saxony (Prussian A), Louis waxes wrathful at this outrage against his son-in-law Augustus and agrees to the 2nd Treaty of Versailles and its much larger subsidies. In any event, France actively enters the continental war and must attack Prussia each year in addition to paying subsidies, or Austrian MW decreases by 1 as Maria Theresa grows disappointed at her ally's lack of good faith.

-- Unfortunately, Louis usually goes broke in short order, so the French player may negotiate the 3rd Treaty of Versailles to reduce the Commitment to a small subsidy and no requirement to attack in exchange for a one-time penalty (per the last line under the French options).

Russian Commitment occurs if Elizabeth decides to go to war in 1756, and is always a requirement to attack. This keeps a Russian player from hiding in Lithuania and building up his forces, Thalers, and SAs while immune from Prussian attack without paying a penalty.

Thread: diplomacy chart

Calxx55 — 2008-09-25T01:16:30+00:00

Hi all,

I can't seem to figure out how this chart works.

In what order does each player choose his option?

Why are there no choices for Austria and Prussia in 1757 and beyond, or do they have the same choices as in 1756?

Thanks in advance...

Cal

Thread: COM Solo Campaign AAR

bobkalinowski — 2008-09-24T19:54:13+00:00

COM Solo Campaign AAR

All,

I am grateful that COM is finally getting into everyones’ hands. I hope you are enjoying it so far, if only to take a gander at the components. I am playing a solo campaign game, to enjoy all the visuals, do a post-game check on how it all hangs together down the home stretch, and just have some fun. I thought I’d post an AAR on this, sans visuals, since everyone knows how it looks by now, and it'll save me a lot of time/space. This time around, I won’t delve much into actual combat mechanics and particulars. Instead, I want to show more of a mid-level view of the Whole Enchilada in action, the decisions and opportunities involved throughout the SOP, and occasionally some snapshot strategy.

GAME NOTES -- of course I can’t fake myself out much on each Power’s cards, and only partially on Tac chits. For some Interrupt cards, I have played "schizo", and gone on with logical enemy moves, even though their opponent had an Interrupt/foiling card in hand, because two players or more wouldn't have this omniscience. I didn’t take too detailed notes from 57-58, so the particulars may be light for those years. I am playing straight historical Diplomacy, so have Option A for all. I’ll usually refer to all the powers by name, less so me/I, and we’ll all understand I am narrating as if there were separate players in the game.

Again,the intent here is not to document every last little FOW chit, combat drm, or card draw, etc, that occured, but to focus on particular aspects and situations as they unfolded which seemed dramatic, or posed some interesting decisions that you might not otherwise perceive as being so given your experience levels with the game.

1756: Struggle for Saxony

In the R1 Supply segment, the Prus spend a 2 pt card for Supply Actions to help with their expected siege efforts. Then the Prussians start with the Invasion of Saxony; Frederick’s main army marches through Wittberg and Torgau, forcing those fortresses to surrender, on its way to Dresden. The Saxon army does not attempt to Withdraw, as the Aus player doesn’t want to risk a failure; if they fail their Withdraw roll, they CANNOT then move into the fortress; it’s all or nothing. They can move in unimpeded if they choose that immediately, and Rutkowski does so. A Withdrawal roll is a risk – miss it, and you’re stuck fighting a battle. But 1 Saxon sp is stuck outside since Dresden can only hold 8 sp, and is Overrun. Since no battle was fought, Frederick can expend an SA to set siege, but in the siege roll segment, gets only a Progress on his roll. He brings up an FD atop Dresden for free per the Invasion card.

The Prussians decide to get aggressive, and go for Pirna on the same move, before Austrian Marshal Browne can move north to contest it. As Mitch Land has pointed out, Pirna is the key to Dresden; hold it and it makes it much harder for the Austrians to try to retake Dresden; if the Aus can retain it, Dresden is always at risk. Further, Pirna is a key enabler to any thrust at Prag. If the Prussians don’t have Pirna, their supply line south is always vulnerable. So, the Prussians get bold, and use one activation to march Schwerin west from Breslau; he has just enough MP to set siege on the empty fort, and will get a Tiny Garrison +3 drm on his siege rolls. Schwerin takes Pirna on the first roll.

But the Austrians weren’t just going to roll over. The Saxons retreated into Dresden because the Aus were going to fight at least one battle to contest that city. They have the Prussian Poltroonery card, which allows two activations, and this can help make a spirited response in 1756. The Aus buy some SAs as well. Then, playing the Poltroon card, with one activation, Nadasdy heads north from Olmutz into the now empty Silesia, and sets siege on Glatz. Marshal Browne then activates, and heads north to confront Frederick. He crosses the Erzgebirge, into Chemnitz, then moves east onto Dresden. Frederick does not intercept, as he wants to maintain the siege, and must maintain enough sp on the fort to do so -- he has paid the price for letting Schwerin go for a second fortress with half the Prus army. Fred could intercept with a paltry 15 sp, but would rather risk a battle on the defensive in the Dresden space instead, and maintain the siege. Browne attacks, and the Saxons can come out to join him. But the Prussians narrowly win with a 5D3 result vs an Aus 5D3 result. Both sides are demoralized, and Brown must retreat west (two of the Aus losses can be taken by Saxon sp). But since Browne was the attacker, in the Rally segment, I spend an SA for a Rally +2 marker, which ensures Browne will automatically rally. Thus, one space away, he can attempt intercept on Frederick if/when Fred tries a siege roll.

The Prussians of course know this, and so Frederick has to deal directly with Browne. Next round, he leaves a junior leader and enough sp on Dresden to maintain the siege, then activates, moves south to Pirna and picks up some of Schwerin’s force, then back through Dresden, and west, attacking Browne; unfortunately for Austria, Browne fails his Withdraw roll, and the two armies battle again, sans the bottled up Saxons. The Prussians again defeat Browne, but with more low dice, and a 4D2 vs 5D3, and Browne must retreat south on only a minor defeat. On the siege segment, the Prus gain only another progress.

Fred stands off against Browne, who attempts no further interference on Dresden. The Austrians have done what they can, taking significant risk, and gotten off lightly. Their first priority is to ensure the safety of Prag through the year, so they can build up a full army to defend it in 1757. If Browne gets nailed in a Rout (worse, Routed in a Crushing Defeat), the Prus may be able to make a late, longshot stab at Prag in ‘56. So the Aus stands fast, and will be content with the fact that Nadasdy makes up for the eventual VP loss of Dresden by taking Glatz. However, the 6 Saxon sp caught inside make it a Crushing Victory for Prussia; Prus Monarchial Will goes up +1 to 17, Aus MW (Saxon patron) drops -2 MW to 19. The year ends with the Prussians in complete control of Saxony, but with the Austrians gaining some compensation in Glatz, which can threaten 3 juicy VP Silesian fortresses. The Austrians played their Mobilization event, and Charles/Daun would be added to the Aus officer ranks in ’57.

Over winter, the Pruss are quick to play the Saxony Ravaged card, and collect 15 Thaler (5 Saxony Thl spaces they control, x 3).

End MWs: Prussia 17, (Britain 13) Austria 19, (Russia 15 --2 for not controlling key cities Konigsberg and Stettin), (France 14)

1757: Parry and Thrust in Westphalia

The French and British enter the fray. The French start with their En Avant card, and move east, taking Wesel, Lippstadt, and Munster with ease per the card. The Brits get a lucky Major Campaign draw; this allows Cumberland to gather troops, and a subordinate to collect 4-5 more, and then Entrench the British at Minden. The French play Army of the Westphalia, and bring in more troops. Still, the first time around, French CIC D’Estrees and his army, fighting against the unexpectedly large AA army, the entrenchment, an enemy fortress, and a middling die roll, failed to DM Cumberland, and the battle is a draw.

In early Fall, after playing the Swedish reinforcements and Soubise’s Army of the Main events, the French eventually beat Cumberland. But the Brits had better luck, getting the Ferdinand card in their first hand. With VPs at -1 (loss of Munster), they were able to return Cumberland to the force pool, and Ferd became Brit CIC. But Cumberland is still lurking in the force pool, and could return to duty on any New Leader pull, so the Brits aren’t clear of him yet. The Brits also played the Clive of India event, and win a Colonial Ops, shifting the CC marker from Marginal French advantage to Marginal British advantage. Overall things went well for the Brits in ’57; only moderate territorial loss, and Ferdinand in play. The bottom line for the Brits is, get Ferdinand in the game any way you can, as early as you can. The appearance of that Ferdinand card is a big early factor in deciding Brit strategy for 57-58.

In the Border theater, The Austrians started with Charles/Daun’s main army in Prag, and Browne heading up a a secondary army poised at Glatz. In Dresden, Fred spent a round taking an extra artillery unit before he marched. Next round, Frederick headed south and attacked an entrenched Charles at Prag. It was a bloody battle with a two 8D4 results. The Aus were Routed, but since they had managed to Demoralize Fred, it was only a minor victory. The Prus would have to wait a turn to set siege as well. Charles’ army retreated west to Eger. Meanwhile, the Aus used Browne to mount a counter-threat. He marched on Breslau. Keith was the secondary Prus army leader there; the armies fought a Measured battle which was a draw, losing 2-3 sp each. Meanwhile, Fred was making little progress on his siege of Prag, thanks to a large garrison and good leader inside. Browne then switched south onto Neisse.

Charles recovered, and moved east again to cut Frederick’s supply; Frederick attempted intercept, but the Aus were able to Withdraw twice. In move that would cause significant pain to the Prussians throughout the war, the Aus sent Lacy on a minor force admin march northwest to Efurt. (More on that later). Browne defeated Keith in a minor battle, and got a siege +1 on Neisse.

With Fall waning, and the siege of Prag sputtering, the Prus decided to maintain what he had, and sent Frederick east to chase Browne off the fortress. The Aus made a successful Withdraw on Fred’s arrival. Ironically, mssr. Browne departed this mortal coil shortly thereafter, via the Media Vitae FOW chit .

The Prussians managed to play improved Lt unit doctrine, moving KK advantage in both theaters from Coalition to neutral. In turn, the Aus got lucky in plucking Loudon out on their ’57 spring leader picks; and better yet, got the Court Intrigue card, which let them ditch Charles back to the leader pool, and let marshal Daun take command of the army in late fall.

In the Northern theater, the Swedes were inactive. At the start of ’57, the Prussians loaded up Konigsberg with a large garrison, and leader Schwerin, to ensure maximum siege resistance, and with the Russians not entering until Fall ’57, facing a -4 siege drm, I decided not even to bother trying to enter the map that year. Instead, the Russ played their Cossacks card, got them all into the KK box, and raided heavily on East Prussia, and got all their Reinforcement events played as well, to max out their army for a full campaign in 1758. East Prussia was almost Devastated before the end of the year.

1758: Austrian Disaster, Russian Struggles, British Frustration

At year’s start, Britain, France, and Austria all took their maximum allowed Thaler Credit to boost their Treasuries, with resultant 1 and 2 point MW drops. The Prussians Devalued the Thaler to get 10 more thl, also with a -1 MW penalty. The British and French took on additional financial burdens by granting the Prussian Subsidy and enacting the 2nd Versailles treaty, respectively.

The French and British marched and counter-marched, trading one fort each over most of the year. Ferdinand retook Munster, but Broglie, heading the second French army, took Kassel during that time. Then, as Ferdinand launched a dubious offensive west, hoping for a Crushing Victory against Richelieu, Broglie and the secondary army launched from Kassel to Hanover, and got a lucky first roll, taking the city. This allowed the Brits to play Britain’s Outrage, getting Cumberland on ice for good; but by that time, the AA army was too short on troops to regain much ground.

Of note to future French players, the French did a particularly good job making minor force nuisance raids to take open cities Bremen and Braunschweig; this was a great distraction to the Brits, as forts or not, these lost towns would drain them of VPs and Thaler. Ferdinand finally took them back by the end of the year, but the Brits were still at -1 VP (Kassel), and couldn’t get that important Reinforcing Continental Success reinforcement card played ! (requires Brit VPs to be 0 or better). The lack of reinforcement boost limited Brit offensive capability greatly.

PLAY NOTE: And WHY were the French making them with MINOR forces? Two big reasons, one little one. ONE – they couldn’t get to those towns well beyond French supply range without going SS-2; staying 5 sp or less lets them ignore supply. TWO – THE BIGGEST: READ AND HEED, ALL YE COM PLAYERS! -- What do you call a 5-7 sp force that’s not in a Hill or Fortress space, and within range of an enemy army? “AN OVERRUN CRUSHING VICTORY POSTER CHILD,” is what (or, in shorter, double entendre parlance, it’s a force calling your main army to “Eat me.” Pbpt ). Ignore this warning to your embarrassment and grief! A 2 MW drop is a terrible thing to waste! Three: The French didn’t have much expectation of HOLDING these towns; they just wanted Ferdinand to have to activate, march back, and retake them – and keep the main AA army from beating up on Richelieu, or taking back Coalition fortresses. So, tactically, the ideal force for these little forays is 2-4 sp, with one a Lt unit, and a 1-1 expendable leader. The leader is necessary to enter an enemy-occupied space. Four sp will let YOU overrun a 1 sp garrison; if you can make the Brits use 2 sp to garrison those towns, you’ve gained an additional advantage; the Brits are almost always thin on the ground, and every sp out of Ferdinand’s army is a little win for France. And when the enemy gets around to chasing you off, your Leader and Lt unit give your little force a decent chance of a Withdraw or two, and can live to fight, and PESTER, another day And heed ye all as well, this little force tactic works in a lot of situations, all over the map – hitting enemy FDs, cutting supply lines, etc. As long as you’re willing to lose the sp, and expend an activation here and there, you can cause a lot of aggravation.

The French had more good luck this year; a FOW Pompadour event brought the sluggish Richelieu in as CIC in Summer, but the Fall card draw brought Court Intrigue, and Richy went back into the leader pile, while D’Estrees got picked back out!

Finally, at the end of the year, Ferdinand retook Kassel, and the Brits were able to play the Reinforcing event. The Brits were more successful overseas, and got the CC marker to Heavy Advantage at year’s end, earning themselves 2 more thalers, and costing the French -1 MW.

In the Border theater, the Aus started with a secondary Army formed under Lacy at Efurt, complete with an FD tracing to Eger. Daun was at Prag, and Loudon had a small army in Glatz. Frederick started the year in Silesia, with Winterfelt guarding Dresden. Frederick started the year with a bang, and caught Loudon at Glatz, and nailed him for a Crushing Victory. Daun tried to sneak north and siege Dresden. Winterfelt retreated, with a large garrison and good leader in Dresden. Frederick meanwhile retook Glatz, hoping that Dresden would hold out long enough to rescue it. A timely Coalition Mistrust card froze Daun’s effort, limiting him to a second siege roll, which made only progress. Then Fred made an 8 mp march and attacked Daun at Dresden. The Prus pulled off a minor win, but calamity of calamity for the Austrians, Daun was captured! This seemed to bode great things for the Prussian long-term outlook. They were also able to play Saxon Impressment, gaining 5 badly needed sp.

This year saw heavy KK raiding; Silesia, the Prussian Holdings, East Prussia, and Bohemia were Devastated, with Pomerania, Westphalia, and Moravia FP damage climbing high as well. These Devs each brought a -1 MW drop to their respective owning or patron Powers. Around round 3 of Summer, Halley’s Comet occurred.

The Austrians got one late consolation; Lacy launched a brilliant Berlin Raid from Efurt (I’d never done this from the Empire before), and scored full damage. Frederick tried to catch them, sensing a great opportunity for a Crushing Victory, but Lacy deftly Withdrew twice, and escaped back to Efurt scot free. And, a Loudon Rising card allowed Loudon to step in as CIC shortly after Daun was captured. The Austrian senior leadership, though sustaining a big blow, at least had a dangerous CIC still in the field. Loudon’s past Crushing Defeat also allowed the Aus to play their GeneralStab event, which provides several notable benefits to the Aus war effort.

In East Prussia and Poland, Schwerin awaited the Russian arrival. Fermor brought them in, while Rumantsyev took a small force meandering southwest, garrisoning Torun and Poznan, important to future Russian event cards. The Russ set siege, but and struggled to a +2 siege marker. At this point, I as the Prus dare not wait longer, and had to play a timely Is the Czarina Dead? Event. For these type Interrupts, I sometimes decide that I have to play the “victim” side as doing what they’d do if they did not know the card was in the enemy deck. And so done here. With a figurative scream, Fermor was hauled back to Vilna. This ate up a lot of Summer. The Russians came west again, and set siege once more. But Schwerin’s garrison held out in an epic siege – the Russian main army, starting at -4 siege drm, spent another 4 rounds besieging, and spending cards for SAs so they could prosecute and get two rolls in one turn; finally, after a +5 siege marker, Schwerin acceded, and the Prussians marched out in late fall with full honors of war, to Colberg. Near the last round, Fermor tried another Berlin raid, but was intercepted and stopped by Keith, in an intense battle that pitted only 14 Russ sp against 7 Prus! Keith lost 8000 of his 14000 men, but Fermor was thwarted, and had to trudge back east to end the year.

End of year VPs: AP 7 (Prus 7/Brit 0), Coal 4 (Aus -1/ French 4/ Russia 1)
End of year MWs: Prussia 13, Britain 11, Austria 12, France 13, Russia 10

1759: Stricken Leaders and Waning Treasures

At the start of Spring Sustain/Recruit, the Powers had to take more Credit and MW hits. MWs after loans were thus: Prussia 13, Britain 9, Austria 11, France 11, Russia 9. The French and British still maintained their subsidies.

The Prussians were already tight on Thalers after Sustain. They tried a one die reduction on Recruit, but still incurred 1 Thaler too much expense, and went In the Red on recruiting. Their MW dropped to 12, and they just avoided hitting Exhaustion. Their Financial Straits penalty card draw resulted in loss of their Aus 12s artillery reinforcement card; this would slow Prussian artillery acquisition markedly through the game.

In Summer R1, army CIC Loudon moved up on Frederick in Dresden – and revealed the Aus Surprise Attack chit! Beauty – I’ve only been able to spring this under ideal circumstances (a maxxed Aus army) a few times. And it worked; the Aus blasted Fred with a 9D4 result; but Fred managed a 4D3, and here, Loudon’s lack of Army Endurance boost was sadly evident; though the Prussians were Routed, the Aus were still Demoralized, and it was only a minor win. Still, the Prussian siege artillery was lost in the rout as well. But lo, the dice gods had a boon in store for Austria yet; they got a leader loss result on Prussia, and that first roll was the dreaded ONE PIP OF DOOM. Frederick was the casualty; but the next die roll was kinder; a 4, and Fred was only wounded – but for the rest of the year! Things were looking up for Austria. But not for that long; on Prus R1, the Prus reverently laid down his Court Intrigue card, which allowed him to remove one Austrian leader (“but not Daun” – hey, he's already gone, heh heh) back to the leader pool. Apparantly, Maria Theresa was swayed by the jealous Daun party, lamenting the captivity of their esteemed leader, into thinking mssr. Loudon was going to get too big for his britches, and called him back to court for some discussions.

Elsewhere, the world witnessed the Fall of Quebec - which meant no more French Credit from their play aid card; Ferdinand VI died, and soon after, Spain became belligerent from the Family Compact; this removed Brit leader Granby (who had not yet entered) and 5 Brit sp from the AA army. Of telling financial consequence, these respective events meant the end of player aid card Credit for the French and British. The French could use that relief, as on the R3 of Summer, Typhus hit their fleet. More brutal yet, a Polish Grain Embargo was levied against the Prussians, and their MW dropped into Exhaustion level. The Austrians were able to gain 8 Thaler in a loan from Zinzendorf, to buffer them up from their tight 4 thaler count at the time. The French were able to get a boon of 17 thaler using their Montmartel card as well. In the KK arena, Prussia Devastated Saxony, which was enough to push Austria into Exhaustion as well.

The Border theater went quiescent after Loudon's departure, but in the east the Prus faced the full efforts of the Russians, without Frederick to aid them. And miraculously, they held out. Saltikov's first advance was to Colberg, where he set siege. Keith's main army danced near the Russian advance, and was able to cut off their supply, and put them at SS-2. When Saltikov came after Keith, Zieten's small force garrisoning Colberg was able to do the same thing again. Worse still, the Prussians were able to Overrun the Russian FD, a big blow to the Russian effort. (for shame on Russian Bob - sloppy supply line security!) And to clinch it, the Prus were able to play both Is the Czarina Dead and Miracle of Brandenburg cards, which sent both Saltikov's main army and Rumantsyev'e smaller force back east to eat up another round or two. The Prus managed to stymie the Russian advance the whole year - truly a gold star miracle of Brandenburg.

In Germany, Ferdinand was able to take Dusseldorf; he was then able to move to Mainz. The French cut his supply, but he passed his Supply Check, and was then able to slap down the Immediate Capitulation card, and capture Mainz without a siege. The French, outmaneuvered easily by Ferdinand on land, took a counter-offensive overseas. They won a colonial ops, moving the CC marker one space right.

End of 1759 VPs: AP 10 (7 Pr/ 3 Br), Coal 2 (-3A/4 Fr/1 Ru)
MW: Pr 10 (exhausted), Br 9, Aus 9 (exh), Fr 9 (exh), Ru 9

1760: Compromises, Frustrations, and Stabbing Pains...

In the Winter Strategy phase, the Prussians, still holding Dresden, were quick and grateful to play their Saxony Despoiled card, and collect another 15 thalers of Saxon booty. Dresden, besides its 2 VP, is a critical city to both sides. If the Prus can hold it around 1760, they get the thaler bonanza above. Just as important, it's an Austrian Key city, and key to draining Austrian MW each year the Prus can hold it. And if the Prus lose it, Saxony can be revived as an Austrian minor, and recruit on its own again. LOTS of reasons both sides want Dresden!

The French assessed their finances, and without available off-map Credit, decided they couldn't subsidize their allies at the same rate; they negotiated the 3rd Versailles treaty, which dropped Aus loans to 2 thl, and caused a –1 MW drop to Austria and Russia. The British maintained their subsidy to Prussia.

On R1, the FOW chit was Media Vitae, and the die roll was just one short of George II dieing; this would have put the Prussian subsidy in jeopardy on further FOW chits, if they triggered the Pitt Resigns event. Frederick, newly recovered from his wound, breathed a sigh of relief! After Recruiting, on the new leaders roll, the Austrians were faced with a forced course; Loudon and Charles were the only leaders left in the leader pool to pick. They needed Loudon; they were willing to bring Charles back to get Loudon too. They rolled a 6, which gave 3 leaders, and so both returned to the game. Charles was CIC again. But, the Court Intrigue card showed up in the Aus hand again, and so the Aus gleefully played it R1, and ditched Charles back to court. Loudon had returned to face Frederick. This year, Loudon began at Efurt with a 27 sp army, while Lacy held the defense at Prague.

In Germany, the year began with a bang. Ferdinand, heading a 26 sp AA main army, the largest size it had attained, drove straight at Richelieu's French 31 sp main army at Wesel; Richy Withdrew to Cleve, but the AA army caught him there. Thanks to good tac chits and a dr 5, Ferdinand nailed it for a D3 result, and a Crushing Victory; Brit MW soared to 10, French dropped to 7. Richieliu retreated to Roermund, recovered with a Rally +2 marker, and Entrenched. Two rounds later, Ferdinand followed south, and attacked again. He got a dud roll, and for once, the French defeated him with a 3D2 to his 2D2. This is often the best the French can do against Ferdinand; the French have an enormous challenge in this game. The French got some consolation this year from their Swede allies who twice stirred themselves; in Summer, Evershard took 4 sp west and retook Lubeck from the Hanoverians, Entrenched, then headed back to Straslund with 2 sp. Ferdinand was forced to send the Erbprinz and 8 sp to Overrun the Swedes in turn.

In the Border theater, Frederick tried to play beat the clock on Loudon, and drove south on the Prus R1 to besiege Prague; Lacy Withdrew, but left a large garrison and good leader within. The Prussians had managed only to set siege before Loudon moved in from the west, then confronted Frederick. This time, The Aus managed a 5D3, and the Prussians, with flat dice, only a 4D2; Loudon defeated Frederick, and broke the siege.

In Poland and Silesia, Russian frustration continued. Saltikov advanced, then got hit with the Is the Czarina Dead? card again; on his second march west, on Fall R1, he got hit with the Russian Supply Collapse card when he was 1 space from Breslau. But the Russians would draw blood this year. On R2, the Aus played the Combined Offensive card; the plan was to have Saltikov advance on Breslau and be joined by Nadasdy's small Silesian army. The Russians arrived at Breslau, but Nads failed his Coordinated Attack roll! So the Russians faced an Entrenched army under Henry alone. The Russian chits aren't geared to offer much on the attack, and faced by Henry and the Entrenchment, and an enemy fortress space, they came up short; Henry defeated them 5D3 to 6D3 – both were Demoralized (Note, Saltikov does NOT confer an Army Endurance boost on offense). The Russians had to temporarily retreat.

The Prussians, tired of that Efurt thorn in their side, which had threatened Magdeburg, Berlin, and even Kassel and Hanover to the west, decided to remove it. Frederick moved on it and set siege. Meanwhile, Loudon moved to besiege Dresden, and would have gladly traded fortresses. But Der Konig faced up to the threat, abandoned his siege, and sped east to confront Loudon, who this time Withdrew. Lacy then tried another Berlin raid; but this time he was successfully Intercepted by Winterfelt and his 7 sp "Berlin guard" corps at Spandau. The measured battle results were not important -- Lacy's raid had been stopped.

As Fall waned, Saltikov, joined by Rumantsyev's secondary army, again assaulted Henry at Breslau, this time 40 sp to 23. The Russians had 3 Defensive chits, and couldn't use any. The net drms were Prus +5 and Russ +4 – but Saltikov threw snake eyes! Arrgh! Henry and his army had pulled off another minor miracle. The DM Russians had to start back to winter quarters at Konigsberg. The Swedes came out of Straslund again with a 4 sp move under Evershard on Hanover at Braunschweig, taking that town.

And the KK kept taking its toll – Moravia and the Rhineland were Devastated; Aus MW dropped to 7. The Russians Devastated Brandenburg, dropping Prus MW to 9, and it dropped to 8 after the French played Polish Grain Embargo for the second time.

To add a final stab to Russia's pain this year, since they stayed so far south so late into Fall, Saltikov's entire army was 6 spaces away from Konigsberg after their WQ move. They lost another 20% of their men, or 7 sp -- the equivalent of another major battle's losses, on the winter roads leading back east…

One more late correction -- I forgot to deduct the -1 Prus MW when Fred got wounded; corrected below.

VPs: AP 7 (6/1), Coal 3 (1/1/1)
MW: Prus 7 (exh), Br 10, Aus 5 (exh), Fr 7 (exh), Rus 6 (exh)

1761: Mighty Blows Across Europe

Over the Winter Strategy Card segment, the Prussians played a Freibattalion card to replenish 4 Lt units.

PLAY NOTE: As the war drags on and treasuries grow low, players will find it expedient to ensure they maximize the amount of Lt units in their armies, and take a good portion of their battle losses in Lt unit steps. Remember, chances are each power will get fewer and fewer Line inf sp in Recruiting due to Exhaustion and reduced dice used to avoid going In the Red. Lt units, refurbished by cards, are essentially "free." Operationally, late in the game, if players have been diligent, most enemy areas are already Devastated, so they can afford to shift the bulk of their Lt units out of the KK theater boxes and into their forces. These cards can of course also be played during the campaign season to partially replace losses immediately. The Prussian player, blessed with a lot of Lt units and a lot of cards, will especially appreciate this method of keeping his armies in the field, when one horrendous battle piles upon another…

The Sustain/Recruit segment showed how thin the seams are starting to wear in the powers' treasuries. The British gratefully played the Manila and Havana event, gaining 6 needed Thalers, since their off-map Credit was gone. They also earned another VP, to 2. The Prussians had to Devalue their Thaler a second time for 10 thl, with a MW drop to 7. The Russians had to take Credit, dropping their MW to 5. Worse, the French tallied only 15 thl, and after sustain, they were down to 1 thaler. They tried to sneak in a 1 die Recruit effort for a few sp, but overspent, and went In the Red. Their MW dropped –1 to 6, and in the Financial Straits card pull, they had to lose their Montmartel Loan card. Hard times had arrived!

SA note – the Prussians had managed to accumulate up to 12 SAs in their coffers due to KK raiding. These helped the Prus actually rebuild one FD with all SAs, since they could never afford to do so otherwise.

Spring MW: Prus 7 ex, Br 10, Aus 5 ex, Fr 6 ex, Rus 5 ex.

The Border Theater: The Epic Duels at Dresden

On R1, the Aus activated Loudon, but the Prus played a Coalition Mistrust and cancelled his move. Frederick meanwhile again set siege on Efurt, but made no progress. But the Prus had a literal card up his sleeve; on Aus R2, the Prus played a second Coal Mistrust, and Loudon stewed more. And this time, though Lacy was lurking in Sonnenburg just to the south, he failed his Intercept roll on the Prus siege segment, the Prussians were successful, and Efurt fell. The Austrians took some consolation on R3 by playing Frederick's Wrath again, sending Henry back to the leader pool, and thus weakening Silesia markedly. On R4, the Austrians got into gear with a Major Campaign card; Loudon finally made his move on Dresden and got it to siege +1, while Nadasdy quietly efficient in Silesia with his small 17 sp army, again took advantage of Maurice's departure, moved onto Brieg, and took it on the first siege roll.

R4 -- Frederick had to return to Dresden, but he had to avoid Lacy's army in Sonnenburg; if Lacy could intercept him as he transited Naumberg, no matter what the battle result, Loudon would have a clear shot at the city next turn. With great regret, the Prus player had to spend his Brummers arty reinforcement card for Ops to activate; Frederick had to move north, then east, and spent all 8 mp to come at Loudon through Torgau. The two met for the first battle of Dresden; 27 Prus attacking 35 Aus; Loudon was ready, with a dreaded Aus 12s chit, and a Subordinate errors chit; Fred had only a Rally and Re-attack. The net drms were Aus +7, Prus +3. And Loudon was rewarded; the Aus scored a 7D4+ against Fred, and he scored only a 6D3 on the Aus. Prus leader Wurttemburg was killed. Both were Demoralized, but Loudon had defeated Fred a second time; the Prus retreated to Torgau. But they spent one of those many accumulated SAs for a Rally, and Frederick regained good order, ready to Intercept on the next Aus siege roll attempt.

R5 -- Loudon attempted another siege roll, and Frederick again intercepted. This time it was 31 Aus to only 20 Prus; Loudon, though inferior in cav, and on an enemy fort space, was helped by a Defensive Position/Countermarch chit, which slashed Frederick's drms by –4, yielding a +4 drm for both sides. Frederick rolled flat, and managed only a 2 D1; Loudon's army inflicted a 7D4+ on the Prussians; Loudon had defeated Frederick a 3rd time. The Austrians got their siege roll in the siege segment; vs a large garrison and Schwerin leadership, they got only a net dr4 – Progress, to siege +2. Dresden hung on by a thread.

Frederick was down to 13 sp, forcing a gut-wrenching Prussian card play. The Prus had drawn Court Intrigue again, which would have sent Loudon packing once more. But if they played it as an event, his successor would surely get another siege roll on Dresden, as Frederick would be too weak to win any further battle. So the Prus had to play Court Intrigue for Ops! He had to recall Maurice from his march north to the Russians, and instead, activate Maurice to reinforce Frederick with the second Prus army! Colberg was abandoned to the Russians and its fate.

In Fall R1, FOW brought Severe Weather. The Aus couldn't make a siege roll in their strat card segment due to the weather, so they played a cagey Imperial Auxiliaries instead; this pumped up Loudon's army another 5 sp, and reinforced the wisdom of the Prussian decision. Then, in the siege segment, Loudon tried again; and Frederick intercepted again. The 3rd battle of Dresden pitted 36 Prus against 33 Aus/Imp troops. Both sides had a +7 net drm; surely, armegeddon was at hand! It was. Both sides rolled around 7-8; the Aus inflicted a stunning 9D4*+ on the Prussians; Frederick's men inflicted an 8D4*+ on the Austrians – and it was enough. The D4 Demoralized the Prussians, but the D4 Routed Loudon's army. Though he had lost 18,000 men to 16,000 Aus, Frederick had defeated Loudon in the 5th battle of their two year duel, and the Aus Routed south over the Erzgebirge, back to Prag. Prussian Bevern was wounded, Empire general Stolberg was killed. Dresden was saved; over this incredibly bloody summer, the Prussians had lost 46,000 men to hold it. But the travails of the Prussian army weren't over yet…

1761, Continued:

Northern Theater: Russian Resurgence

On the Baltic coast, the Russians played Improved Russian Supply on R1, to lower their costs, and make themselves immune to at least one Prussian Stymie card - Russian Supply Collapse. As they advanced west, while Frederick was involved at Efurt, the Prussians had to send Maurice north to try to slow the green columns down. On R2, the Russians happily played Baltic Fleet, and their ships reappeared in the Baltic to help with the siege of Colberg. This time, a Major Campaign card enabled Saltikov and the main army to poise at Zorndorf, with a garrisoned supply chain and Cossacks screening west, while Rumantsyev and the secondary army set siege. With the help of the fleet, they took Colberg on Fall R1. Prussian Wobersnow and his large garrison were granted Honors of War, and retreated west to Stettin, the Russians' next target, where they would play their role in another conflageration.

The Coalition decided to make an all out effort with the Russians, given the lack of French prospects. At this point, Exhausted France and Russia were drawing only 8 cards between them; it was impossible to sustain ongoing offensive operations for both powers with so few cards. On Fall R2, the Russ armies reversed positions; Saltikov took 26 sp and set siege on Stettin; Rumantsyev kept 15 at Zorndorf to guard the Russian depot at Pila. On R3, Frederick set his army north to confront Saltikov; he had to avoid possible Intercept from Rumantsyev, and had to skirt west; he barely reached Angermunde on his 8th mp; this was one space away from Stettin, and that Russian siege roll.

On the Russ turn, they activated not Saltikov, but Rumantsyev - to march 10 more sp to Saltikov, and maximize their army size. Then the siege segment - and Der Konig intercepted yet again, for his 4th major battle of the year. But he did not attack. He didn't have to. Saltikov couldn't roll for siege with Frederick in the space. So the Prus had forced Saltikov to attack; a risk, but this played to the Pruss position and Tac chits better than the Russ. Worbersnow's garrison sortied to help swell Der Konig's numbers; 36 Russ sp attacked 31 Prus; due to both sides having 4 arty units -- 400 cannon blazing away at each other, both armies again had +7 net drms. The Russians inflicted an 8D4*+ on Frederick's army; the Prussians only a 6D4; both sides were Routed. But since dual Routs are not possible, the Defender's result is reduced to Demoralized; Frederick's men just hung on, but the red-smocked Russian army was Routed; Saltikov's columns streamed east and north, back to newly-won Colberg. Wobersnow fell in the conflict. the Prussians flipped another arty -- all 4 of their arty units were now reduced. Total Prussian losses for the year were over 55,000 men. But the Russian army could now winter over in Colberg, right on the doorstep of Stettin and Berlin…

Maneuver, Deadlock, and Redemption in Germany:

The British opened the season with a 3 card for Colonial Ops, and brought the marker back to Heavy British Advantage. The French tried to counter in their turn, but the Brits played Royal Navy to cancel the attempt. The French had a new force on the scene - young general Castries, backed by the most junior French leader, Stainville. Castries confers a + Army Endurance to the French, so can boost them to 3 - the equal of Ferdinand. This began a trying period for the AA Army; Ferdinand attacked Castries - Draw; Castries attacked Ferdinand - Draw. Each time, AA army sp were depleted, with no gains. Suddenly, the AA army had an equal rival. Ferdinand set siege on Dusseldorf; Castries moved adjacent. Before his next siege roll, the Brit player played Livres Astray on Castries' army to weaken it by 3 sp, and worsen its chances for Intercept by removing its lone Lt unit. Yet Castries succeeded anyway, and battled Ferdinand to another Draw. The AA army could not continue its siege; it appeared in 1761, they had met their match. Over three battles, the two armies had lost 14-16000 men each. In Germany that year, French leader Contades was killed, and Hanoverian Karl wounded.

But Ferdinand got a last laugh; the French were Exhausted, and Russian efforts required most 2 and 3 Ops cards feed the war effort in the east. Ferdinand was able to outmaneuver Richelieu and Castries to move onto Venlo; they couldn't get close enough to intercept. Next round, Ferd sprung the Immediate Capitulation on the 2 VP fortress (and shame on French Bob for not having at least one dud French leader in it! Arrgh!). The French were able to play Polish Grain Embargo on the Prus again, dropping their MW to 6. But on the last round of the Fall, Ferdinand again danced around the stalled French armies, and retook Kassel. In turn, the French managed to launch Evershard south to retake Braunschweig, at least temporarily.

Other events this year included the death of George II, and the Austrians, also running out of ops cards, playing Loudon Ascendant, for whatever that was worth. The Aus played their Zinzendorf loan card, and managed 8 thalers from it.

VPs: AP 9 (Pr 5, Br 4), Coal 1 (Au 1, Fr -2, Rus 2).
MWs: Prus 5 ex, Br 9, Aus 5 ex, Fr 6 ex, Rus 5 ex.

1762 -- COMING SOON IN A FINALE POST...

Thread: Re: cyberboard

iamspamus — 2008-09-24T09:18:21+00:00

bobkalinowski wrote:
Jason,

The game was playtested using CB. However, some late changes have not yet been incorporated into the current CB version. I'll have to get back to you on when a full update is available. thanks.

Hey Bob, thanks. I am really looking forward to playing this one. It looks great. I have purchased the game, but my opponents are all online. So, when it's done, I wouldn't mind getting a copy. Are you going to place it on the GMT site or a personal site, like Ed Beach?

Anyway, great game. Looking forward to the War of Austrian Succession one as well. Have you thought about War of Spanish Succession???

Cheers!
Jason

Thread: Re: cyberboard

bobkalinowski — 2008-09-23T17:32:20+00:00

Jason,

The game was playtested using CB. However, some late changes have not yet been incorporated into the current CB version. I'll have to get back to you on when a full update is available. thanks.

Thread: cyberboard

iamspamus — 2008-09-23T10:55:24+00:00

Hey all,

Just got the game and am looking to play this via PBEM. Has the cyberboard be designed yet? If so, could you direct me to it?

Thanks.
Jason

Thread: Re: Clash of Monarchs v 30 YW v Other CDGs

Chris Janiec — 2008-09-21T18:38:54+00:00

Clash of Monarchs was originally designed as a 2-player game, and plays very well that way. The alliances are fixed, so it's not like Sword of Rome where you're constantly trying to convince the other players to support you/attack someone else. Each player manages two hands, however, so one turn of CoM takes longer than a turn of 30YW or BtB.

Disclaimer: As the developer, I'll leave subjective comparisons to others.

Thread: Clash of Monarchs v 30 YW v Other CDGs

DrGarry — 2008-09-21T09:19:26+00:00

Hi All:

I'm looking to buy a new two-player CDG wargame. Any suggestions on Clash of Monarchs v Thirty Years War v Empire of the Sun v World War II: Barbarossa to Berlin v 1960: Election?

Keen on a moderate complexity game you can play in four to six hours, such as FTP or even POG (until you work out you're doomed... again).

I put Hannibal, WTP and Twilight Struggle as rather shorter and somewhat simpler, although all great fun.

Comments in the Playtime thread suggest that several COM scenarios can be done in such a time, but are they worth playing? And can it stand 2 players only?

Many thanks for your time. If I've submitted to the wrong thread, please point me to a better one.

Garry

Thread: Re: Freikorps/bataillone

Chris Janiec — 2008-09-16T23:58:40+00:00

Is it only applicable to FK/FB units?

The card can be used for any Lt units.

Thread: Re: Freikorps/bataillone

bobkalinowski — 2008-09-16T19:47:24+00:00

Sam, loose translation! Glad you got your answer already