At the end of Turn 4, we begin checking for a Domination Victory (23.3): if any player has 5 VP more than anyone else, they win! The normal victory conditions all still apply: 25 VP, controlling enough keys or converting 50 spaces to Protestantism. As things stand, there's an outside chance of the Habsburgs winning outright at the end of this turn, if Schmalkalden and the New World go their way. I can't help thinking it would be a bit anticlimactic for the game to end in the New World phase.
Here's the situation at the end of Turn 3.
**
Diplomatic situation:
France is allied with Scotland
The Hapsburgs are allied with Hungary-Bohemia
Victory points:
Protestants 6
England 11
France 15
Papacy 17
Hapsburgs 18
Ottomans 18
Protestant spaces: 22
(victory points Papacy 9 - Protestants 6)
Protestant English home spaces: 1 (0 VP)
Cards removed from the game:
Luther's 95 Theses
Peasants' War
Barbary Pirates
Defender of the Faith
Clement VII
Luther's 95 Theses
Peasants' War
Barbary Pirates
Defender of the Faith
Clement VII
Paul III
Marburg Colloquy
Explorers removed: Narváez (-1)
Explorers removed: Narváez (-1)
**
This turn, a third reformer enters play: none other than Jean Calvin of Geneva, taking the number of Protestant spaces to 23. The Protestants also receive the services of all four French-language debaters: Calvin, Guillaume Farel, Nicolas Cop and Pierre Olivétan. There's also eleven new cards to add to the deck, but since the English Reformation isn't underway yet, that's all the new stuff for this turn.
This turn, a third reformer enters play: none other than Jean Calvin of Geneva, taking the number of Protestant spaces to 23. The Protestants also receive the services of all four French-language debaters: Calvin, Guillaume Farel, Nicolas Cop and Pierre Olivétan. There's also eleven new cards to add to the deck, but since the English Reformation isn't underway yet, that's all the new stuff for this turn.
In the New World Riches phase, we figure out what happens to New World conquests and colonies. The French result for their colony is Galleon, which means no card, but the colony survives. The Habsburgs get a result of Depleted 1 for the Incas, and NE for their Aztec conquests; so the Habsburgs get one bonus card, but the Inca conquest is moved to the VP box on their player card, and will provide no more extra cards.
England advances on the marital front, playing Six Wives of Henry VIII for a roll on the pregnancy chart. Sadly, the result is another 1, making Anne Boleyn's bonus irrelevant since the end result becomes 2 anyway: the King remarries, but no child is born. The French play Andrea Doria, activating Genoa as their ally and moving to 17 VP; the Papacy plays Calvin Expelled, removing the reformer of Geneva from play for the rest of the turn. The Protestants retaliate with Augsburg Confession.
The Habsburgs play Holy Roman Emperor for command points, clearing the unrest in Innsbrück, sending an explorer to the New World and founding a colony in Cuba. The English play Printing Press, and use the first command point for an assault on Antwerp, which falls with no English casualties: the English are at 13 VP while the Habsburgs drop to 18. They then move all their fleets out to sea, recruit a mercenary in Calais and send out an explorer. France uses Professional Rowers to take control of Modena and recruit a mercenary in St. Dizier, and the Papacy invests the command points from Mercenaries Bribed into building St. Peter's, going back up to 19 VP.
So this is how many cards everyone starts the turn with:
Ottomans: dealt 5, kept 2, total 8
Hapsburgs: 6, 2, 9
English: 4, 1, 6
French: 4, 1, 6
Papacy: 4, 1, 7
Protestants: 4, 1, 6
**
With the cards dealt, we head into the Diplomacy Phase. Speaking of the English, the Henry's Marital Status marker is currently on the Ask for Divorce space. This means that Henry VIII can try to persuade the Pope to grant them a divorce in this Diplomacy phase (9.1, p. 11). If they're succesful, Henry's Marital Status advances to Ann Boleyn, allowing the English player their first roll on the Pregnancy Chart.
The Ottomans got the announcements started with an alliance to France; the Habsburgs announce no deals. England announces a divorce for Henry VIII, at the cost of a card draw to the Papacy, and an alliance with France. France confirms these alliances, and the Holy See confirms the divorce and card draw. This means the English Reformation starts next turn, the Habsburgs get a 2 CP discount on their next declaration of war against the English, and we get to roll on the Henry's Wives Pregnancy Chart. Alas for Henry, the result is a 1, meaning his marriage with Anne Boleyn is never consummated.
Since there are no wars, prisoners or excommunications, we can skip straight to the war declaration phase, where the Ottomans declare war on Venice. At this point, I noticed we had made a mistake in setup: there were only two naval squadrons in Venice, when there should be three. So I added the third squadron. The Papacy responds by playing Venetian Alliance, activating Venice and placing one Venetian regular and one Venetian squadron in Ancona: the Ottomans and the Papacy are now at war, and the Ottomans get a -1 VP penalty for Phony War against Venice. This puts me at 17 VP and the Papacy in the lead with 19!
There are no other declarations of war, so I pay for mine with The Wartburg. France then plays Venetian Informant to look at the Hapsburgs' hand, and I deploy Suleiman and five regulars to Coron. Charles V deploys to Salzburg with five regulars of his own, and England sends Brandon to Calais with five mercenaries. France, in turn, dispatches Montmorency and five regulars to Grenoble, and the Papacy declines to deploy.
**
I start the action phase by playing Auld Alliance for command points. First, a naval move takes Barbarossa and the Algiers corsairs to the Barbary Coast, the fleets in Coron to the Ionian Sea and the two corsairs in Scutari to the Adriatic. The Venetian fleets at Venice and Ancona attempt interceptions, but fail. A second naval move takes the corsairs in the Adriatic into the Ionian, and Barbarossa's fleet into the Tyrrhenian. The Papal fleet at Rome succesfully intercepts into the Tyrrhenian Sea, and is destroyed for the loss of one corsair. Finally, a cavalry unit is recruited in Scutari.
The Habsburgs play Michael Servetus, taking them to 19 VP and forcing the Protestants to discard Ransom.
The Ottomans play Julia Gonzaga as an event: any piracy hits in the Tyrrhenian Sea this turn will net us 1 bonus VP. On the Habsburg impulse, Cloth Prices Fluctuate, this time to their advantage, netting the Habsburgs and the English a card draw. The English play Macchiavelli: The Prince and declare war on the Habsburgs!
An English army of one regular and two mercenaries marches on Brussels from Calais, and the Habsburg garrison withdraws into the fortifications with a very strongly worded letter of protest. Brandon then leads four mercenaries and a regular from Calais to Antwerp, where the defenders similarly withdraw.
The French play their home card and roll on the château table, netting a victory point and a card. The Papacy plays Leipzig Debate, sending Eck to challenge the uncommitted Protestants in Germany. Eck draws Luther as his opponent and fails miserably, scoring only one hit to Luther's three. The Protestants flip Münster and Strasbourg, moving up to 7 VP and dropping the Papacy to 18. They then play Arquebusiers and commit Tyndale to translate more of the New Testament into English.
For my part, I play Diplomatic Overture for command points. We start by engaging in piracy against the Habsburgs in the Tyrrhenian Sea. The Habsburg fleet in Naples rolls against our corsairs but fails to score a hit. Barbarossa and his corsairs succeed spectacularly, scoring three hits and claiming the Julia Gonzaga VP for us as well, putting us in the shared lead with the Habsburgs with 19 VP, destroying the Naples fleet and getting us a card from the Habsburg hand! With the rest of the command points, we transport Suleiman and five regulars from Coron to Corfu, and Barbarossa and his corsairs sail to the Barbary Coast. The Venetian regular at Corfu retreats into the fortifications.
The Protestants play A Mighty Fortress, but with Luther committed, they're forced to play it for command points, and they call a debate in German. Bucer and Contarini face off, but the Protestants play Here I Stand to substitute Luther and draw a card. Luther and Contarini both score two hits, sending the debate to a second round. Luther tags in Bullinger and Campeggio represents the Papacy; the Protestants win by one hit, but Campeggio's special ability nullifies the debate result. The remaining command point is used to translate more of the New Testament into English.
I play Shipbuilding for two command points, starting with an assault on Corfu: we take the fortress, but lose two regulars as casualties. That gets rid of my phony war penalty, putting the Ottomans in the lead with 20 VP. With the other command point, I move Barbarossa and his corsairs to the Ionian Sea.
In further naval affairs, the Habsburgs play Akinji Raiders as command points, building a fleet in Corunna and moving their ships from Seville into the Atlantic Ocean, Barcelona into the Gulf of Lion and the newly built ships into the Bay of Biscay. The English decline to intercept, and play Michelangelo to recruit a regular in Calais and two mercenaries in London. France launches a voyage of exploration with Gout, and the Pope uses Gabelle Revolt to build St. Peter's. The Protestants skip, and I play Potosi Silver Mines to build a fleet in Coron and a cavalry unit in Istanbul. The Habsburgs use Pirate Haven to build a regular in Taranto, and Charles marches his army to Linz. England plays Imperial Coronation, but as Charles isn't in Italy, the only result is the construction of an English fleet in Bristol. The French play Unpaid Mercenaries and remove the four Habsburg mercenaries in Navarre from play.
The Pope deploys a Papal Bull as command points, burning books in Germany with the lot and using Cajetan's debater bonus for an additional attempt. The Catholics strike out in the inevitable Leipzig, Regensburg and Strasbourg, losing the last two because of the Augsburg Confession penalty. However, they succeed in Salzburg and the electorate of Trier, dropping the Protestants to 6 VP and raising the Papacy to a joint lead of 20 with the Ottomans! The Protestants counterattack by playing Anabaptists to start a debate in German. Carlstadt faces off against Tetzel, and both score one hit for another tie. The last uncommitted papal debater is Aleander, who squares off against Oekolampedius and wins by two hits. With Aleander's special ability, that means the papacy gets to flip three spaces, and selects Regensburg, Hamburg and Bremen. I conclude my action phase by playing Janissaries and deploying four regulars to Istanbul.
The Habsburgs play Galleons as an event, placing the Galleon marker next to their (future) colonies on the board, and England and France skip. The Papacy presses their advantage, and plays Mercenaries Demand Pay to burn books in Germany, but they strike out in both Münster and Brunswick. The Protestants and Ottomans skip, and the Habsburgs play Plantations to further enhance their future colony. After this, everyone else skips, and the action phase is done!
**
Next up is the winter phase, where our troops return to their fortifications and our fleets into harbor. When playing by email, we've done this in impulse order, so I start by returning Suleiman and two regulars from Corfu to Istanbul, and recalling Ibrahim from Buda. Barbarossa and his fleets winter in Corfu. The Habsburg fleet in the Bay of Biscay returns to Corunna, while the Atlantic fleet sails to Gibraltar and the ships in the Gulf of Lion head for Palma; Charles marches back to Vienna, and the regulars in Taranto return to Naples. The English fleets in the Channel return to Calais, and the others to London and Bristol; the troops campaigning in the Habsburg Netherlands regroup in London, Antwerp and Calais. The French move one mercenary unit to Metz, making a stack of four, and everyone else in the field winters in Paris, as well as one mercenary from Rouen. Finally, the Venetian regular in Ancona returns to Rome.
The mandatory events for this turn are Schmalkaldic League and Paul III; Alessandro Farnese already ascended to the Papacy in Turn 3, but we've seen no sign of Schmalkalden whatsoever in the entire game. Well, now that it's the Winter Phase of Turn 4, it's time.
The mandatory events for this turn are Schmalkaldic League and Paul III; Alessandro Farnese already ascended to the Papacy in Turn 3, but we've seen no sign of Schmalkalden whatsoever in the entire game. Well, now that it's the Winter Phase of Turn 4, it's time.
The Protestants now gain control of those home spaces they've managed to convert, get their military leaders, and are now a faction just like all the others, at permanent war with the Pope and the Habsburgs.
From now on, the Protestants get 2 VP for each electorate that's under their political and religious control, whereas the Habsburgs gain 1 VP for each that they control. So Trier stays Catholic and therefore under Habsburg rule, bumping them up to 19 VP, and the remaining five electorates add up to a Protestant total of 16 VP.
Finally, it's time for the New World phase. We place the Habsburg colony of Cuba in the appropriate spot, and start working out the voyages of exploration for each power. The Habsburg explorer is de Vaca (exploration rating 0), the English have sent Chancellor (1), and the French explorer is Cartier (3). Cartier's voyage is resolved first, and the modified roll is a 10: he can choose to attempt the circumnavigation, but opts to discover the Amazon river instead, taking the French to a shared lead of 20 VP. Both Chancellor and de Vaca return empty-handed.
Since no-one has enough victory points to end the game, it's on to Turn 5!
**
We got this turn started on December 27th 2020, and the diplomacy phase wrapped up on January 31st. The action phase started on Valentine's Day 2021, and lasted until May 11th, so it took just about three months. We resolved the New World phase on May 14th, so the whole turn clocked in at something like five and a half months.
**
Here, then, is where we stand at the end of Turn 4.
Diplomatic situation:
The Ottomans are at war with the Papacy
The Habsburgs are at war with England
The Habsburgs are at war with the Protestants
The Papacy is at war with the Protestants
The Hapsburgs are allied with Hungary-Bohemia
France is allied with Genoa
France is allied with Scotland
The Papacy is allied with Venice
Victory points:
England 13
Protestants 16
Hapsburgs 19
France 20
Ottomans 20
Papacy 20
Protestant spaces: 20
(victory points papacy 9 - protestants 6)
Electorates: 5 Protestant, 1 Catholic
Protestant English home spaces: 1 (0 VP)
Cards removed from the game:
Luther's 95 Theses
Peasants' War
Barbary Pirates
Defender of the Faith
Clement VII
Paul III
Marburg Colloquy
Michael Servetus
Calvin Expelled
Augsburg Confession
Julia Gonzaga
Schmalkaldic League
Explorers removed: Narváez (-1)
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