**
Cards removed from the game:
Luther's 95 Theses
Peasants' War
Barbary Pirates
Defender of the Faith
Clemens VII
Explorers removed: Narváez (-1)
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 at the end of Turn 2:
Protestants 6
France 8
England 11
Hapsburgs 14
Papacy 16
Ottomans 19
Protestant spaces: 20 (VPs 6 - 9)
Electorates: Catholic 1 (Cologne), Protestant 5
**
The turn starts with the card draw phase. This time, we have no reformers to add to the map and only one debater, the Protestant Heinrich Bullinger, but for the first time in this game, we're adding new cards to the deck. If you've read my reports on the previous turns, you'll have noticed that some cards leave the deck when they're played as events. Other cards are added to the deck, either on preordained turns or depending on how Henry VIII is doing on the marriage front. On this turn, we're adding the ten new cards that enter play on Turn 3. Then we shuffle the discards into the deck, and we're ready to go.
Rolling for New World riches tells us that the Hapsburgs are getting an extra card from their Inca conquests again. So here's how many cards everyone is starting their turn with:
Ottomans: dealt 5, kept 1, hand total 7
Hapsburgs: 7,1,9
England: 4,0,5
France: 3,1,5
Papacy: 3,0,5
Protestants: 4,1,6
**
As we moved on to the diplomacy phase, the Hapsburg player unfortunately had to drop out of the game, but luckily we found someone to replace them. The King of Spain is dead, long live the King of Spain! This obviously created some delay while we got the new player read in, compounded by the fact that we wanted him to get the opportunity to see the game board and everything for himself; that was delayed by both of us having to get tested for the coronavirus in consecutive weeks, meaning we had to quarantine until we got the results. We both tested negative, but this took several weeks.
Eventually we got the diplomacy phase restarted with our new Hapsburg player on board. The Pope took the initiative, proposing a peace conference in Ravenna to resolve the massive Hapsburg war. The previous Hapsburg player had, in fact, refused to attend, but after his abdication and replacement, Charles V the Later chose differently. After some deliberation, the Congress of Ravenna produced the following agreement, henceforth known as the Concordat of Ravenna:
- the Ottomans make peace with the Hapsburgs
- the Ottomans return Vienna to the Hapsburgs
- the Hapsburgs make peace with the Ottomans and the English
- the Hapsburgs return Paris, St. Dizier, Dijon and Avignon to the French
- England makes peace with the Hapsburgs
- England returns Corunna to the Hapsburgs
The Concordat is put forward as a group of agreements that need to be ratified together, as per section 9.1 of the rules: it will only come into force if all parties announce all the deals. After the negotiation phase, it was duly announced and came into force; France and the Ottomans also announced an alliance, and the Protestants gave France one random card draw. The Hapsburg army in Paris displaced to Vienna, my troops in Vienna went to Buda, and the English fleet in Corunna sailed to Plymouth. France then sued for peace with the Hapsburgs, giving them two war winner VPs, returning Brussels and restoring Lyon to the French.
The diplomacy phase ended with no further action; this is the current victory point situation.
Protestants 6
England 11
France 12
Hapsburgs 15
Papacy 16
Ottomans 17
**
The Ottomans and Hapsburgs decline to spring deploy; England sends Brandon and some troops to Edinburgh, while France deploys a mercenary to Lyon, and the Papacy sends one to Siena. And with that, it's time for the Action Phase!
I start with Spring Preparations, played for command points. The Ottomans build two corsair fleets at Scutari, and then use the last command point as a naval move: the Scutari corsairs move to the Adriatic, one fleet from Coron to the Ionian and one to the Aegean, and the Algiers corsairs to the Barbary Coast.
On the Hapsburg impulse, we received white smoke: Pope Clement VII was dead, long live Pope Paul III.
The Hapsburgs use the two command points to clear out unrest in Graz and Linz. England plays Ransom for command points, sending an explorer to the New World and recruiting a mercenary in London. The French play Printing Press, also sending an explorer and marching King Francis I from Rouen via Paris to besiege Metz. The Papacy gets things started with Leipzig Debate, choosing to exclude Luther. Aleander faces Zwingli and defeats him squarely, returning Worms, Strasbourg and, inevitably, Leipzig, to the Catholic faith. Luther retaliates by using Here I Stand to fetch and play Printing Press from the discards; the Protestants go three for three on the Reformation attempts, converting Cologne, Worms and, yes, Leipzig to Protestantism. By my count, Leipzig has now switched religious allegiance five times.
For my part, I'm playing Knights of St. John for command points, which I am using to transport Suleiman and four regulars to Rhodes. Here's a funny thing: I can't find rules for what the Knights of St. John do if you enter their space anywhere in the rulebook. I assume they behave like independent troops defending an independent key, but Rhodes isn't a key, it's a fortress. Everyone seems to play it that way and it makes sense, but unless I've missed something, the rules are actually completely silent on this. So I assume that when my troops enter Rhodes, the Knights retreat into their fortress and I am now besieging it.
The Hapsburgs then deploy Erasmus for some counter-reformation efforts.
The dice roll is a 3: looking at the Châteaux Table on the French home card and adding +2 because the French control Milan, we find that this results in the French gaining their first Château VP and drawing a card. The Papacy then plays Janissaries Rebel for command points, which they use to build St. Peter's. The Protestants call the Marburg Colloquy, committing Luther and Oekolampadius for a total of six reformation attempts. They strike out at Bremen, but convert Leipzig (flipping it for the 7th time), Worms, Münster, Regensburg, and as a bit of a surprise, Norwich! The reformation has officially reached England.
On my impulse, I play Zwingli Dons Armor for three command points. I undertake some piracy against the Papacy in the Adriatic and manage to score a hit, netting my second piracy VP of the game, but our assault on Rhodes fails and I lose a regular. Here's what the map looks like after the Ottoman impulse:
The Hapsburgs play Shipbuilding, placing naval squadrons in Barcelona and Naples; the English play their home card, Six Wives of Henry VIII, to advance Henry's Marital Status to the Ask for Divorce stage. France uses Field Artillery for command points to storm Metz, reinforcing their assault force and placing one new mercenary in Milan with Swiss Mercenaries. The independent garrison in Metz is destroyed, and the French occupy the city, bringing them to a total of 15 victory points.
The Papacy plays Charles Bourbon for command points, investing 2 CP in St. Peter's and gaining their second St. Peter's VP, and spending 2 CP on burning books in the German language zone. Cajetan's debater bonus gives them three counter-reformation attempts, which fail in Brunswick but convert Münster and Leipzig. The Protestants retaliate with War in Persia, clearing unrest from Regensburg to make way for a theological treatise from Carlstadt, who reconverts Leipzig but strikes out in Linz and Münster, creating unrest in Linz. The last command point is invested in getting the English translation of the New Testament started.
For my part, I play Arquebusiers to mount a second assault on Rhodes: this time around, the Knights of St. John fall and we take no casualties. The Hapsburgs play Pirate Haven for command points, recruiting a regular in Amsterdam and clearing unrest in Linz again. The English recruit two mercenaries in London with Professional Rowers, and the French use Landsknechts to deploy a mercenary in Rouen and Milan. The Vatican issues a Papal Bull to build St. Peter's and start a debate in German. Tetzel faces Zwingli and debates him to a draw, leading to a second round between Contarini and Bucer, which the Catholics win by one hit, flipping Leipzig. In return, the Protestants use Surprise Attack to publish a treatise, reconverting Leipzig and converting Bremen. I play my home card and deploy three regulars to Nezh, and one to Istanbul.
Note the army markers! The Hapsburgs use Colonial Governor/Native Uprising to send an explorer to the New World; England skips their impulse, and the French ship Thomas More off to Canada to found a colony at Charlesbourg Royal. Everyone else skips, and it's a Hapsburg solo game from here on: they play Holy Roman Emperor to move Charles to Vienna, clear the unrest in Münster and launch a conquest in the New World, and Fountain of Youth to deploy a Hungarian regular in Prague. With that, the action phase ends!
**
And then it's on to the winter phase. I'm returning my fleets to Coron and my corsairs to Algiers and Scutari; the troops in Nezh are going to Belgrade, and Suleiman is returning to Istanbul with his army. The Hapsburg regulars at Amsterdam winter in Antwerp, and Brandon returns to London with a mercenary unit. The King of France returns to Paris with three mercenaries and a regular, and recalls Montmorency from Bordeaux and a regular and two mercenaries from Marseille; the Papal mercenaries in Siena return to Rome. The only mandatory event that would happen this turn is Barbary Pirates, but I was lucky enough to be dealt it on the first turn.
And then it's on to the winter phase. I'm returning my fleets to Coron and my corsairs to Algiers and Scutari; the troops in Nezh are going to Belgrade, and Suleiman is returning to Istanbul with his army. The Hapsburg regulars at Amsterdam winter in Antwerp, and Brandon returns to London with a mercenary unit. The King of France returns to Paris with three mercenaries and a regular, and recalls Montmorency from Bordeaux and a regular and two mercenaries from Marseille; the Papal mercenaries in Siena return to Rome. The only mandatory event that would happen this turn is Barbary Pirates, but I was lucky enough to be dealt it on the first turn.
Finally, we resolve the New World phase. The French Charlesbourg Royal colony marker is placed in the appropriate spot, and then we have three voyages of exploration and a Hapsburg conquest to figure out. They end up being John Rut for the English, Jean-François Roberval for the French and Juan Ponce de León for the Habsburgs. The first two return home empty-handed, while de Léon discovers the Great Lakes, earning the Habsburgs a victory point. Pizarro then conquers the Aztecs for another 2 VP, which takes the Habsburgs to 18 and a shared lead with the Ottomans!
**
This turn took a little bit longer than the previous ones: cards were dealt on the 18th of June, and then midsummer and an unexpected heatwave happened; and then there was the player change and pandemic-related testing delays. By chance, our new Habsburg player visited our apartment exactly two months after cards for the turn were dealt. Play resumed on the 23rd of August with the diplomacy phase, which wrapped up on September 3rd; the action phase started on September 13th and ran until December 15th. We wrapped up the New World phase and the turn on December 27th. So this turn took half a year! We may be here for a while.
**
Here's how things stood 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
Paul III
Marburg Colloquy
Explorers removed: Narváez (-1)
No comments:
Post a Comment