For anyone keeping score at home, the game can end at any time if one of the non-Protestant powers achieves a military victory by placing all of their square control markers, or if the Protestants achieve a religious victory by converting 50 spaces. Any power achieving a total of 25 victory points wins the game. From turn 4 onward, we'll also start checking for a Domination victory at the end of the turn: this happens if someone is 5 or more victory points ahead of everyone else.
Cards removed from the game during Turn 1:
Luther's 95 Theses
Peasants' War
Barbary Pirates
Defender of the Faith
Explorers removed: Narváez (-1)
Diplomatic situation:
The French are at war with England, the Hapsburgs and the Papacy
France is allied with Scotland
The Ottomans are at war with Hungary-Bohemia
Victory points at the end of Turn 1:
Protestants 2
France 8
England 11
Hapsburgs 12
Ottomans 12
Papacy 18
Protestant spaces: 7
**
In the card draw phase, the reformer Huldrych Zwingli appears in Zürich, which becomes the eighth Protestant space in the game. The Protestants also get their first English-language debater in William Tyndale, and a bunch more Germans. No new cards are added to the deck on this turn, so the discard pile is shuffled back into the deck and we deal everyone a new set of cards.
After everything that happened last turn, this is how many cards everyone's getting. At this point, we rolled to see what happens to the Hapsburgs' Inca conquests, and they receive one additional card.
Ottomans: 4
Hapsburgs: 6
England: 4
France: 3
Papacy: 3
Protestants: 4
With everyone's home cards and the card the Protestants kept from the previous turn, the Ottomans start with 5 cards; the Hapsburgs 7; the English 5; the French 4; the Papacy 5 and the Protestants 6.
**
With the cards dealt, it's time for the diplomacy phase. While the negotiation portion of the phase was going on, I put out a public statement in the name of the Ottoman Empire.
The Sublime Porte has learned that the King of Spain, who falsely calls himself Emperor, has made a completely unreasonable peace proposal to the King of the Franks, and threatens to continue his war on the Franks. Therefore, the Ottoman Empire publicly declares that the destruction of the Kingdom of the Franks is unacceptable to us, and we are prepared to do what is necessary to stop the false emperor. The Sublime Porte calls on the other rulers of Europe to recognize the threat that the schemes of the Hapsburgs pose to us all. Even the Bishop of Rome and his precious church are not safe from the treachery of the King of Spain.
The Hapsburgs are only four keys away from winning outright, and I don't want the game to end on the second turn!
After the negotiation phase, we announce any public deals that have been made. The Ottomans and Hapsburgs announce nothing, but England and France announce a white peace, ending their war at the status quo with no winner, and an alliance! France and the Papacy also announce a white peace.
With no more events in the Diplomacy phase, it's on to spring deployment, which kicks off with the French playing Venetian Informant to take a look at the Hapsburgs' cards.
After that, I get things started by sending Ibrāhīm Pasha to Belgrade with five regulars and a cavalry unit. The Hapsburgs deploy one regular from Valladolid to Barcelona; England announces that they have undertaken to protect the French, and deploys three regulars and one mercenary, led by Charles Brandon, to Nantes. The French, of course, cannot spring deploy as they don't control their capital; the Papacy decline. And with that, we're on to the action phase.
**
As my first impulse, I play Thomas More for 3 CP. Suleiman and Ibrāhīm Pasha lead eight regulars and one cavalry unit to Mohács and take control of it. We also build a corsair in Algiers.
The Hapsburgs play Printing Press for 5 CP, clearing out the unrest in Vienna, moving their fleets to sea and building two mercenaries in Antwerp, as well as one in Vienna. Sticking with our naval theme, England plays Frederick the Wise for 3 CP, sending an explorer to the New World and mobilizing their fleets: the fleet in London moves to the North Sea, and the fleets in Calais and Portsmouth to the Channel. The French play their home card, Patron of the Arts, for 5 CP, recruiting two mercenaries in Rouen and three in Marseilles. The Papacy uses Papal Bull to recruit a regular and some mercenaries in Rome, and the Protestants hit the Hapsburgs with Cloth Prices Fluctuate, making them discard Arquebusiers, and placing unrest in Innsbruck and Trieste.
On my impulse, I play Charles Bourbon for 4 CP. Suleiman leads his army to Buda where we crush the Hungarians, losing only one cavalry unit in the process. This triggers the fall of Hungary-Bohemia as per section 22.5 of the rulebook: all Hungarian spaces occupied by the Ottomans, including keys under siege, fall under our control; the rest go to the Hapsburgs as Hungary-Bohemia is activated as a Hapsburg ally. I get two victory points for winning my war against Hungary-Bohemia, as well as control of Buda, which puts me up to 16 VP; the Hapsburgs now control Prague, gaining 1 VP, and we are now at war. Suleiman then marches to Pressburg, takes control of it, and besieges Vienna.
The Hapsburgs respond with Auld Alliance for 3 CP, recruiting a mercenary in Navarre and sending an explorer to the New World. The English play their home card, Six Wives of Henry VIII, and declare war on the Hapsburgs. We've now gone from France being at war with everyone to the Hapsburgs being at war with the Ottomans, the English and the French.
With their five command points, the English send their Channel fleet into the Bay of Biscay. After an unsuccesful interception attempt by the Hapsburgs' Atlantic fleet, Brandon's army lands in Spain and captures Corunna, and marches on Valladolid. Both Hapsburg capitals are now under siege!
The French play Erasmus for command points, recruiting a mercenary in Bordeaux and sending an explorer to the New World. The Papacy plays John Zapolya and uses the command points to raise more troops in Rome, and the Protestants play Pirate Haven.
With these reinforcements to our navy, it's time to get started. I play Janissaries for command points. First, our corsairs sally forth from Algiers and Oran, and the Hapsburg fleets in the Gulf of Lyon and the Tyrrhenian Sea succesfully intercept them. We score no hits whatsoever, but they only sink one corsair; the pirate fleet retreats to the Gulf of Lyon. Meanwhile, the naval squadron at Coron has deployed into the Ionian Sea, and another naval move takes them into the Barbary Coast for a crack at the Hapsburg ships. We're completely unsuccesful again, losing one squadron and inflicting no damage. The Hapsburgs' obscene luck with the dice, first seen in the battle of Paris last turn, continues: I rolled a total of 13 dice in these naval encounters without scoring one single hit.
Luckily Barbarossa's piracy in the Gulf of Lyon is more succesful, scoring two hits and taking no casualties. The King of Spain is forced to eliminate one of their naval squadrons, and I get my first piracy VP! Finally, with my last command point, Suleiman leads the assault on Vienna. Rolling six dice against the Hapsburgs' three, we both score two hits, which is enough to eliminate the garrison: the Ottoman army takes Vienna.
This puts me up to 19 victory points and into the lead past the Papacy's 18.
For their part, the Hapsburgs play Holy Roman Emperor, moving Charles V to Navarre, where he recruits three mercenary units and marches the entire garrison via Bilbao to Valladolid to break the English siege. Brandon's army succesfully avoids battle and falls back to Corunna. The English then play Andrea Doria for command points: Brandon marches to Bilbao, evading a Hapsburg interception attempt from Valladolid, and lays siege to Navarre; a regular is mobilized in Calais, and the Calais army besieges Antwerp. With only one card left in their hand, France skips their impulse.
You might have noticed that the Reformation has been left in the shadow of the grand alliance against the Hapsburgs this turn. No longer: the Papacy plays Leipzig Debate and calls a theological debate in Germany, mandating Luther stay out of it.
So we roll to find who debates who, and it ends up being a rerun of last turn with Eck facing Carlstadt. This looks bad for the Protestants, but they pull off a surprise win, with the hits going 3-2 in their favor! Carlstadt's debate performance converts the burghers of Nürnberg to Protestantism. The Protestants follow up on this unexpected success with Sale of Moluccas for 3 CP, calling another debate in German. This time it's Johannes Oecolampadius vs Hieronymous Aleander: a far more even matchup for the Protestants, which they again win with one hit. Combined with Aleander's ability, that allows them to convert the electorates of Augsburg and Mainz: the Protestants now hold four of six electorates, eleven spaces in total, and knock a victory point from the Papacy, leaving them at 17-3.
I've played my home card, and I have two cards in my hand, neither of which is a mandatory event; because my administrative rating is 2, I could keep both cards for next turn and am allowed to skip my impulse. So Suleiman is spending some quality time in the Hofburg, browsing the Hapsburg imperial treasury. The King of Spain plays Unpaid Mercenaries for 3 CP, marching from Valladolid to Bilbao with the whole garrison, and moving the lone regular in Barcelona to Zaragoza. The army in Bilbao leaves one regular behind and marches on Navarre, but the Hapsburgs' luck with the dice momentarily deserts them: they score no hits and lose two mercenaries, and are forced to withdraw.
The English play Trace Italienne for 3 CP: they recruit a mercenary in Calais and assault Navarre and Antwerp. Since Navarre has no garrison, the English roll five dice, but score no hits and fail to take the key, losing a mercenary in the bargain. The assault on Antwerp also fails, with both sides losing one unit. So far this turn, the Hapsburgs have had 35 dice rolled against them in combat. With hits scored on 5+, we've combined to inflict a total of 5 hits on those 35 dice. This is the situation on the western front after the English impulse.
France skips again, and the Papacy plays Revolt in Ireland for command points, marching an army of two regulars and two mercenaries to Siena, taking control of it and besieging Florence. The Protestants then use their home card Here I Stand to fetch Printing Press from the discard pile and play it immediately.
The three reformation attempts target Trier, Cologne and Basel, and are all succesful. On my impulse, I play A Mighty Fortress as an event, granting the Protestants six reformation attempts in the German language zone.
The Protestants succesfully convert Erfurt, Kassel, Brunswick, Hamburg and Worms, only failing in Prague. This takes them up to a total of 19 Protestant spaces, including all six electorates. The VP split on the Religious Struggle card is now 10-5 to the Papacy, from 12-3.
The Hapsburgs in turn play Treachery! for 5 CP, recruiting three mercenaries in Valladolid, marching them to Bilbao and attacking the English army in Navarre with the entire army bar one regular. The English lose two regulars and retreat to Bordeaux, while the Hapsburgs lose one mercenary unit.
With no cards left, the English have to skip their impulse, and the French do the same. The Papacy plays Janissaries Rebel for 2 CP, succesfully storming Florence and spending the other command point on St. Peter's. The Protestants make maximum use of Printing Press by playing Diplomatic Marriage for command points and publishing a treatise in German. The treatise succesfully converts Salzburg and Strasbourg, and the rest of the command points set up a debate between Melanchton and Campeggio. Campeggio defies the odds and wins by a single hit, returning the electorate of Cologne to the Catholic faith.
I skip again, and so does everyone else, which means that the action phase is over!
**
Now it's on to the Winter Phase, where our armies and fleets return home. Suleiman travels back to Istanbul with two regulars; the navy in the Ionian Sea winters at Coron, and Barbarossa's corsairs return to Algiers. The Hapsburg regulars in Bilbao, Zaragoza and Navarre return to Valladolid, and the fleets winter at Seville and Gibraltar. The English armies return to London and Calais, and the fleets winter in Calais and Corunna. According to the English player, they're setting up pubs in their corner of Spain, meaning that the Hapsburgs' war seems to have led to the invention of English tourism. War really is hell.
Finally, we have a mandatory event to resolve. The sequence of play chart lists certain mandatory events which are resolved at the end of the winter phase if no-one has played that card in the action phase. Therefore, at the end of the second turn, Clement VII is resolved: the pope is dead, long live the pope.
**
The last segment of the turn is the New World phase. Somehow, despite a massive land and sea war all over Europe, every single eligible power managed to send an explorer to the New World, and now we have to figure out what happened to them. First, we select an available explorer at random from each power.
Then, we roll 2d6 for each explorer, in descending numeric value order (i.e. best explorer first), to see where they ended up. Although Pánfilo de Narváez's expedition for the Hapsburgs was unsuccesful on the first turn, the fact that it happened means the Hapsburg explorer no longer suffers the -1 "Uncharted" penalty; the French and English do. Francisco de Orellana Bejarano Pizarro y Torres de Altamirano goes first: he discovers the St. Lawrence river and nets the Hapsburgs 1 VP. Richard Chancellor and Jean-François de La Rocque de Roberval both return empty-handed, but their voyages do nullify the -1 penalty for any future French and English explorers.
**
So that was the second turn! Everyone was dealt their cards on the 27th of April; Orellana discovered the St. Lawrence on the 18th of June, just before Midsummer. The Hapsburgs went from a very succesful blitzkrieg into France to a very defensive mode this turn, while Suleiman marched on Vienna and the Reformation fairly exploded across Germany. The stage is set for a potentially interesting diplomacy phase!
**
Diplomatic situation:
The Hapsburgs are at war with England, France and the Ottomans
France is allied with Scotland
The Hapsburgs are allied with Hungary-Bohemia
Victory points:
Protestants 6
France 8
England 11
Hapsburgs 14
Papacy 16
Ottomans 19
Protestant spaces: 20
(victory points papacy 9 - protestants 6)
Cards removed from the game:
Luther's 95 Theses
Peasants' War
Barbary Pirates
Defender of the Faith
Clement VII
Explorers removed: Narváez (-1)
Turn 3 is here.
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