Columbia Block Games Discussion

[Jerry Taylor]

Playtesting has begun! And I must say, I'm am absolutely thrilled with the game at the moment. Usually, it takes months of playtesting to get to the point where the major mechanisms are working smoothly, enjoyably, and in an historically realistic manner. In this case, however, I think we're already there. I played last weekend with Peter Bogdasarian and had an absolute blast. None of our campaign games went over three hours and everything about the game impressed. You can read Peter's take on the game, by the way, by going to his post over at BoardGame Geek here: http://www.boardgamegeek.com/thread/154854.

Do not worry, though - I will play this game into the ground for a while to fine-tune things, and then there's always Tom - who has yet to play the game but is always the source of excellent suggestions. So the game will certainly continue to evolve. But I'm quite encouraged about where we are now and am optimistic that we'll have a published product before the year is out - maybe even by the WBC!

The biggest change to the game since my last design diary posting is a brand-new card system. I had a epiphany about how to use the basic HotS-style card system to do almost everything I was trying to get the new card system to do, and decided that this was the way to go if I could get it to work. Happily, it does.

What follows is a complete summary of the rules along with commentary. Comments and suggestions are, of course, welcome.

Wars of the Roses; Rules Summary

Those familiar with HotS and CRex should be able to play the game based on the text below. Commentary regarding the rules are italicized and within brackets. The rules are really not as long as this post might suggest – the bulk of what follows is commentary.

Introduction
The game is broken down into yearly segments. Gameplay can be summarized as follows:

Deal the cards – Five cards are dealt to each player at the beginning of the year if the previous year was not “passed”. If a player has any cards in “the hole” that carried over from the previous year, he can decide which cards he wishes to maintain in his operations hand and which cards to place in the hole. There are two kinds of cards; Action cards (which allow for 1-3 action points) and Event cards.

Bid for turn – Players bid a card from their operations hand to begin the turn. Whoever plays the high card goes first. The player in control of the King goes first in case of ties.

Pass the Year – If a player has his leading heir in exile, he may choose to draw a card from the deck rather than to play a card to start the year. The player controlling the King may then do likewise OR deploy a block currently out of play onto the board. Advance the year marker by one year, deploy any reinforcements, keep the cards currently in your operating hand, and repeat with a bid for the first turn of the new year.

Action phase – The player selected to go first uses the card he bid with to either execute the event on the card or to expend action points. An action point allows 1 group of blocks to move. An action point also allows you to add 1sp to any block currently in a home area. You can play any number of additional cards from the hole during your action phase, but can never move the same block more than once.

Battles – After both players have finished their action phase, battles are fought. A-blocks fire before B-blocks, which fire before C-blocks. Blocks may choose to retreat rather than fire, but combat occurs simultaneously. That is, all enemy A blocks and friendly A blocks fire at the same time and hits are applied simultaneously after the die rolls. Then all B blocks fire simultaneously, and so on. Battle continues until an army has left the field. Beware – Treachery cards in the hole can be played during combat to cause enemy blocks to defect on the battlefield!

Supplemental draws – If the insurgent player has an heir in England at the end of the turn, has won a battle against the King, occupies London, or controls any rebel blocks after all battles have been resolved, he may draw additional cards from the deck. If the King wins a battle against the leading insurgent heir, he too gets to draw from the deck. After supplemental draws are completed, bids for the next turn begin.

Winter phase – Winter begins after all operating cards have been played or after a leading heir goes into exile. If the latter, both players discard all remaining operating and hole cards. During the winter, all nobles return to their home areas and, with only a few exceptions, are reduced to 1sp. Players then decide whether their nobles will declare their allegiances or not (that is, whether they are placed up-right or face-down). Advance the year marker by one year. Deploy any reinforcements and deal out 5 new cards to each player if their hands are empty (which won’t be the case if the previous year was passed). Bid for the first turn of the new year.

Victory – The game ends whenever all of a player’s heirs have been eliminated.

1.0 Mapboard
Area borders – Any number of blocks may cross a black border. Only two blocks may cross a red border, and they must stop upon crossing a red border.

[The reason there’s no movement limit across borders is because it would not reflect historical realities. Big armies marched together and had no real problem engaging en masse. Gameplay thus far suggests that this does not detract from the campaigns, so I’m sticking with the simpler rule.

I decided not to go with HotS-style areas in Scotland because it’s simply not necessary. At this scale, representing southern Scotland as one area is fine.]

Noble estates – Some areas sport heraldry. Heraldry means that the area harbors significant estates for the one or more nobles. A crown denotes significant estates for the King (red crown for Lancastrian heirs and a gold crown that provides support for both). Nobles can only build in home areas and are forced to return to a home area during winter.

Note – There are five Plantagenet blocks – York, March, Rutland, Clarence, and Gloucester – that sport the same heraldry. Those blocks may treat all of the York estates as home areas, but each much winter separately (no stacking with fellow family members at the end of the year). If a Plantagenet happens to be King when Clarence or Gloucester come into the game, they can be deployed in a York home area OR any gold crown area OR in any area which serves as the home seat of a dead noble.

[There is no crown in London because Kings could not generally recruit large numbers of troops there. Historically, they had to march into crown lands such as the Midlands to raise an army. Historically, insurgents often took the city early in campaigns while the King rallied support to the north.

Several nobles, such as York, had significant estates everywhere. The game works better, however, if they are restricted a bit, so I zeroed in on the most important sources for troops when I felt that editing was necessary.

The special rules regarding Clarence and Gloucester handle the messy political situation involved in their inheritance of Neville lands. We assume for game purposes that a Plantagenet king, however, would have found a way to provide for them one way or another.]

Towns, castles, and battle sites – do not effect the game. They are denoted for historical interest only.

[There were only a couple of sieges during the war, and they were minor affairs confined to a handful of castles in Northumberland. Accordingly, there’s no need for siege rules]

Stacking limits – there are no stacking limits.

2.0 Armies
Loyalty rating – Loyalty ratings dictate how many Treachery cards the enemy must played to take control of the block. If a rose is found where the loyalty rating would otherwise be, it indicates that the block cannot defect to the enemy.

[Some nobles were more likely to defect than others. This is reflected in the variable ratings. A downside, however, is that players cannot tell what the loyalty ratings are for enemy blocks unless they are engaged in combat. Accordingly, we need to have a block roster either in the rules or on a separate piece of paper providing that information to players during the game.]

SPs & firepower – Each block has a variable number of strength points (SPs) and a firepower rating in the right-hand corner. Both function as per HotS.

[The number of strength points on a block is my rough and relative approximation of the number of troops that these nobles could bring into the field if they are fully mobilized. The A-B-C rating is my rough estimate of the battlefield ability of that noble and the lords that answered to him.

I’ve given the blocks a lot of firepower because battles during the war were almost always terribly bloody and quite decisive.]

Crowns – Some block labels have crowns on them. This denotes the fact that the block is an heir for one of the two warring Houses.

King block – The King’s combat rating is found on the corresponding heir card. If the King represents Richard of York, for instance, the King has a B3 combat rating.

[Necessary unless we find room for 11 distinct king blocks …. or force players to use their noble heir block as the king, which would take away some of the pageantry from the game]

Block status – Blocks are either mobilized or demobilized. Demobilized blocks are placed face up on the board but do not control areas for movement purposes. Demobilized blocks cannot move, attack, or be attacked. If an enemy block occupies an area with a demobilized block (even if it is subsequently reinforced by friendly blocks), it is pinned and cannot be mobilized until the enemy vacates the area. Demobilized blocks can be mobilized during a player’s turn without cost by putting them on edge facing the player, but once mobilized, it cannot be demobilized until winter.

[This solves several problems. The first problem is that some of these noble estates were only a few miles from one another. Because we can’t very well give each of these nobles their own, exclusive home areas (too many areas would be needed and some will be quite small and hard to put blocks in), we have to figure out how to have nobles sharing the same home area even when they are on opposite sides of the conflict. If they always stand-up, that means battles will either have to be fought in the first round of every year (which simply did not happen) or we’ll have to draft some special but likely clumsy rules to address this situation. Differentiating block status solves this problem; if the block loyal to the King declares for the throne, the opposite block has to sit until the enemy moves away and no combat will result.

The second problem is that if all blocks stand, players will have an incentive to run through England to hunt down stray enemy nobles. This virtually never happened but can have devastating consequences because the insurgent player cannot build dead blocks back into the game (only the King can do that). Historically, many nobles refused at various times to translate their support for a either Lancaster or York into field armies for campaigns, and armies were only maintained historically for very brief periods. Accordingly, it makes sense to differentiate between nobles aligned with one or another House and nobles actually taking up arms. The former could be tolerated by Kings – they often had little choice but to live with suspect nobles. The latter, however, was a fighting offense.

The third problem relates to movement. If blocks always stand, it threatens to create a picket force of front-line armies at the beginning of many years that serve to protect rear areas. This would be indefensible historically, so we would need to come up with rules to restrain the practice. Differentiating between mobilized nobles and demobilized nobles solves this problem.

Finally, this rules solves the above problems in a way that adds an additional choice for players to make with potentially important repercussions. Although one can always stand up a demobilized noble for free during one’s turn, keeping him down runs the risk of having that block pinned to the ground and unavailable later. If it’s a good block, that can be a real problem. But putting him up at the start of the year risks having him serve as a target, and at 1sp, he could be quite vulnerable if the enemy gets a jump on him. I’ve found during playtesting that it’s actually a tough decision and one that adds quite a bit to the game.]

3.0 Heir Cards
Heir cards represent the line of succession to the throne for each House, and each scenario lists the heirs in play. Each player places his leading heir off to one side on the table – face up – and leaves the remainder in a pile face up in the order they succeed to the throne.

[While there could theoretically be even more heirs in this game, the more there are, the longer the playing time is going to be. I also had to drop the various sons to these heirs (like Edward V, son of Edward IV, who was killed in the Tower of London by Richard III) because including them would require another set of rather clumsy and detailed rules. So at present, we are going to assume that nobody is going to have a kid who will live long enough to inherit the throne given the other more mature and politically established claimants waiting in the wings.

Henry VI doesn’t get an heir card because, at this point in history, he was merely a figurehead used by others to justify their rule. Moreover, he was often out wondering virtually alone while others carried on the fight in his name. Including Henry would require several messy rules, so the game assumes that, when Margaret is in play, she is either fighting in his name, ruling the Kingdom in his name, or serving as a regent for her son, Edward of Lancaster.

Using cards to represent the heirs isn’t strictly necessary – we could just as easily have a table in the rulebook listing the order of succession for each side – but it gives us a vehicle for some nice chrome and an easy-to-locate place for special rules surrounding these heirs. I personally love the Shakespearean quotes and sketch profiles (with more to come assuming I can find them), which add nice atmosphere to the game. Nothing like reading the quote from Richard III when that bad-boy jumps into battle to good effect!]

When the block representing an heir is eliminated in battle, the corresponding heir card is removed from the game. Some heir blocks can be built back – which is indicated on their respective cards. When an heir is built back, his heir card is returned to the game. The objective of the game is to eliminate the enemy’s heirs.

[While some heir blocks – like the Plantagenet family – represent individuals and their affinity, some Lancastrian heirs – such as Somerset and Buckingham – represent families with many offspring that could plant a claim on the throne if a sibling or father were to die. Accordingly, we need to allow those two blocks to come back into the game].

If an heir block defects to the other House, remove his heir card from the game until he comes back under his House’s control.

[Buckingham, Somerset, and Clarence all at one time defected to the enemy, so we need to acknowledge that possibility in the game.]

Some heirs do not enter the game until a certain date. If a player finds himself with no heirs at the moment but with some heirs due to arrive down the road, he will have one turn to move as many friendly blocks into exile as he wishes (that turn will be carried out as per normal). Thereafter, the year ends and he is forced to pass at the start of each year (with procedures followed as listed for passing) until that year in which his next heir becomes available. Resume play as per normal.

4.0 Action Cards
Beginning a turn – At the beginning of a new year (save for the first year of a scenario), 5 cards are dealt to each player. Those cards are referred to as the operating hand. As in HotS, players begin a turn by secretly selecting a card to play and placing it face-down on the table. Cards are then simultaneously revealed and the card that was played dictates what you can do during your turn.

Event cards are always executed before movement cards; if both players play event cards, then the King goes first. If both players play movement cards, the high card goes first with ties going to the King.

Event cards can be played either for the event or for an action points; the player must declare his intention in this regard after the event card is revealed. If a player decides to play the event for its actions points, treat it as a normal “1” card for purposes of determining who goes first.

[This allows even a player skunked by a hand of bad events to at least move an army around. Note I’m not trying to make this a hard decisions for players – only to give them something to do with an un-useful event.]

Hole cards – Players may maintain up to three “hole” cards. These cards are placed underneath the player’s leading heir card. Cards can be placed in “the hole” either at the beginning of the game (as dictated by the scenario) or when a player earns a draw. If a player already has 5 cards in his hand upon a draw, he may place one of those cards in the hole.

[Right now, each player always and forever has the same maximum number of hole cards that he can carry – three. It might be interesting, however, to tie the maximum number of hole cards that you can carry to your leading heir. For instance, Margaret of Anjou might allow a maximum of two hole cards to the Lancastrian player, but if Edward of Lancaster is the Lancastrian leading heir, you can hold up to four hole cards. And so on. Once the design is set, I would like to see how this would work and whether it’s worth adding that extra bit of chrome. You would put that information right on the heir card.]

Hole cards can be played in multiples at once and at any time during your turn (within the boundaries established by the card). Treachery cards can even be played during battle.

[Hole cards are necessary for two reasons. First, if Treachery cards are going to govern if/when nobles defect, you have to have some way of allowing nobles to defect near the end of a year as you run out of operating cards. If we only have the standard 5-card hand for the year, I will KNOW without any doubt whatsoever that my nobles will not flip to the enemy in a battle during the last turn of the year. The fewer cards in the enemy hand, the less chance there is that more than one noble will flip in battle. And that makes no sense from an historical point of view. Treachery was not a spring-time endeavor that became less likely as the weather turned cold.

Second, we need some way to allow insurgents coming out of exile with little troops at hand to build up rather fast via troop recruitment, defections, and whatnot in a manner that allows them to challenge the King in battle in short order. This happened all the time during the war but is very difficult to pull off in a game. There are various sorts of special recruitment rules that I could come up with, but allowing players to throw a lot of hole cards down at opportune times really does the job very well. It also gives players choices about how to go about things rather than to have them mechanically play a big card which dictates those choices for them.

While other mechanisms could be drawn up to do the job that the Hole cards do for us, this mechanism adds tremendously to the game. It affords the opportunity to bluff, forces players to make tough choices about when to play the Hole cards and when to hold off for more opportune moments, and allows for both offensive and defensive play (the latter occurs when you stick cards in your hole that your opponent would otherwise die to have). It also allows for quite a bit of drama when you hammer out those cards in a boom-boom-boom fashion at a key moment in the game or in battle]

Cards can be moved between your operating hand and the hole whenever a new card is drawn.

Hole cards can be carried over from year to year. If an heir dies, however, all his hole cards are immediately discarded.

[When a new leader took over a dynastic house, the political dynamics of England were bound to change. Allegiances and relationships that an deceased heir might have had were not necessarily handed down to his/her successor. Long-term plans simply did not survive changes in House leadership and this rule reflects that]

Supplemental draws – If a player happens to have his leading heir in exile (either in Scotland or in Europe) at the beginning of the year, he may decide to draw a new card from the deck rather than to play a card to start of the year. If he already has three Hole cards (see below), he will have to discard one of his nine cards after the draw. The King may then do likewise OR build back one block from the dead pool at 1SP and deploy it to a home seat (NOTE – one cannot build a block back from the dead pool if the insurgent already has a counterpart of that noble block in play). After both players have drawn and discarded, go directly to the winter turn.

[Players in exile have to have an ability to build up strength and to forestall action today for better chances of action tomorrow. This had nothing to do with building up troops – it had to do with forging surreptitious alliances, laying plans for popular uprisings, and creating political trouble for the King. The supplemental draws reflect that dynamic, but the King could put his time to good use as well. He can choose to either better his position politically (which is what a good card reflects – a strong political “play”) or militarily (by putting “his” people into key positions in the countryside). Of course, doing the latter often meant annoying the nobles who might otherwise have their eye on attaindered estates or on lucrative offices at the disposal of the King, so putting new nobles on the board means forgoing opportunities to improve one’s political position.]

There are four other occasions in which players may draw cards during the year:
· When an army including a king or leading heir is defeated in battle, the victor draws a card;
· When an insurgent player ends a turn with his leading heir in England, the insurgent player draws a card; and
· When an insurgent player enters London for the first time in a given year, he draws an additional card at the end of the turn.
· If you control a rebel block at the end of a turn, you may draw a card.

[Kings had to get rid of insurgents fast or risk having their political situation deteriorate quickly. Giving the insurgent player opportunities to draw for managing to stick around in England for a while and even more for causing additional trouble for the King reflects this history very well.]

Supplemental draws can be added to the hole, but the player cannot increase the size of his operating hand via supplemental draws. So for instance, if a player has two cards in the Hole and two cards in his operating hand before he draws supplemental cards from the deck, he can add one card to the hole without discarding. But if he draws two supplemental cards, he will have to discard one card.

[Necessary to make sure that each player has the same number of cards in their operations hand.]

Draws are cumulative. Thus, if the year ends and the insurgent player has just won a battle against the King in London and his leading heir occupies the city while having a rebel block on the board, the insurgent player earns a total of four draws.

5.0 Event Cards

[I don’t plan on putting the following text on the cards. First, it’s nearly impossible to write these rules crisp enough to fit on a card. Second, if we are forced to change something about these cards after the initial game is published, it’s easier to make changes if the rules are in the text rather than on the card]

Treachery (x6) – Each block has a loyalty rating of between 1-3. The rating equals the number of Treachery cards that the enemy must play to take control of the block. A colored rose in lieu of a rating indicates that the block cannot defect to the enemy.

Treachery cards played out of the operating hand allow a player to cause a noble to defect anywhere on the board (so long as its loyalty rating is 0 or 1). Treachery cards in the hole, however, can be played as above or can be played during battle. Blocks that defect during battle immediately join the enemy army. Blocks that defect outside of battle but while in an area occupied by the enemy may immediately retreat without taking fire or may go into exile.

If a leading heir occupies the same area occupied by an enemy block, decrease the block’s loyalty rating by 1 if it was alone when the heir’s army marched into the area. A block reduced from 1 to 0 in this manner automatically defects to the enemy without an enemy Treachery card being required to facilitate control.

[This is a fiddly rule that we might want to make an optional rule. Some of the gamers who bought HotS complained that there were too many little “fiddly” rules like this. We might consider parking all such fiddly rules into the “optional” category and tell gamers that they add chrome and some historical realism at the expense of “fiddliness.”]

One or more Treachery cards in the Hole can also be played to nullify enemy Treachery cards. Hence, Treachery cards can be played offensively or defensively. Once Treachery cards are played, the cards are lost to the player whether they produce a defection or not.

[This is a neat twist that introduces uncertainty. Even though you’ve got Treachery cards, you can never be sure that they will produce the desired result in battle – or that the deal you made with noble x prior to your insurgent landing in England will remain good when push comes to shove.]

At the beginning of a battle round, the King must declare first whether he intends to use a Treachery card. After he does (or does not), the insurgent player may do so.

[Without this rule, you run the risk that there will be a stare-down before a battle starts. For instance, you may want to play that Treachery card of yours to take control of the enemy Stanley block, but it’s more important to you to keep Warwick loyal. You don’t want to use the card on Stanley until you’re sure that the enemy is going to try flipping Warwick, but who declares their intention first in case both players hope to wait for the other to act first?]

Special rules regarding loyalty –
· Essex & Northumberland – Reduce their loyalty ratings by 1 if they are on the same side as Warwick or Salisbury.
· Warwick & Salisbury – If either one of these blocks defects to the enemy, so does the other.

[These fiddly rules reflect important underlying tensions and family relations, but might to too fiddly for the standard rulebook. Perhaps we make them option per the rationale provided above.]

Kingmaker – Functions as the equivalent of three Treachery cards if you control Warwick.

[We’ve got to make Warwick a unique political factor in the game. This card certainly does that]

Usurpation – Roll one die; on a roll of 1-2, the King dies. If the there is no heir to the King, the card cannot be played. Usurpation cannot be played if your leading heir is in England.

The King rolls one die for each loyalist noble sporting a rose as a loyalty rating; a 1-3 permanently eliminates that block from the game. All other friendly blocks have loyalty ratings reduced by 1 until the King player subsequently plays the Usurpation card, at which time his loyalty ratings return to normal.

The Usurpation card can be played in conjunction with Treachery cards to increase the chances of success; each Treachery card subtracts 1 from the die roll. Treachery cards can also be played defensively by the enemy; each Treachery card played in that manner increases the die roll by 1.

[This seems like the cleanest way to deal with a very messy set of events (from the game’s perspective, anyway) – the usurpation of Richard III and the attempted usurpation of the Duke of Clarence. I don’t make the event automatic because we don’t want usurpations to happen all over the place – just once or twice per game at most.]

Mercenaries - Roll one die; 1-2 equals 1 draw from the mercenary pool; 3-4 equals 2 draws, and 5-6 equals 3 draws. Mercenaries can be deployed in any area not occupied by the enemy. Remove any mercenaries still on the board at the end of the year. Mercenaries cannot be moved on the turn they are deployed.

[Mercenaries were an important part of the war – particularly during the latter years when losses decreased the size of the armies in the field – and need to be incorporated somehow.

In a perfect world we would have separate mercenary cards for each mercenary block (there are five), but we don’t have enough cards to go around for that. The downside of a single card, however, is that players have to maintain a separate pile of mercenary blocks to draw from. This means players have to maintain THREE separate piles of blocks off-board; a mercenary pile, a dead pile, and a pile of unused blocks. One alternative option is to turn five of the “1” cards into “1” + Scottish Mercenaries, “1” _+ Flemish Handgunners, “1” + Irish Mercenaries, etc. The downside of this, however, is that it seriously reduces the number of “bad” cards. Having a healthy mix of good and bad cards is probably a good thing.]

Rebellion – Roll one die; a 1-3 allows the insurgent player (only) to deploy one Rebel block in an unoccupied area that nonetheless serves as a home seat for one of his blocks. A 4-6 allows the player to deploy two such blocks. As long as a rebel block is on the board, the controlling player gets one free draw from the deck at the end of each turn. Remove any rebels still on the board at the end of the year. Rebels cannot be moved on the turn they are deployed.

[Rebellions played a big role in the war. The King felt compelled to immediately go after rebels as soon as they began to cause serious trouble, and insurgents often ginned-up rebellions to get the King out of London prior to a landing from Europe. Allowing the insurgent to draw a card every turn that rebels are active introduces the proper historical incentives. The requirement that rebels pop up in a friendly home area reflects the fact that most of these rebellions were either directly caused by – or at least, strongly encouraged by – political agents and gentry that were loyal to the insurgent player. Preventing rebels from moving the turn they are deployed is crucial lest a player play a Rebel card and then a movement card to blitz the King in London at the start of the year before he can act to defend himself.

This is another case, however, where we might combine a movement card with an event; two “1” + Rebellion cards in place of two “1” cards. That would alleviate the need to role a dice to determine how many rebels show up and make it a bit harder to pop two good rebel blocks onto the board at once. But again, if 7 of the 9 “1” cards also have events like this, then there will BE no bad cards.]

Kent - Action points may be spent to build-up insurgent blocks in Kent as if Kent were a home area for all of those blocks. Blocks built in Kent, however, cannot be subsequently moved during that same turn.

[Kent was a notoriously rebellious province that frequently served as an important recruiting pool for insurgent armies. This is an untested card; playtests thus far automatically gave Kent this status at all times, but it served to discourage rebel landings elsewhere in England. Insurgents did indeed land elsewhere, so we have to give reason for players to do likewise upon occasion. Hopefully, this won’t reduce the punching power of insurgencies too terribly much.]

Wales - If you control a noble with a home area in Wales, action points may be spent to build-up insurgent blocks in any area of Wales as if Wales were a home area for all of those blocks. Blocks built in Wales, however, cannot be subsequently moved during that same turn.

[Another untested card. The rules at present don’t provide any real incentive to campaign in Wales. It’s proving to be a real dead area of the board and that probably isn’t right. This is my first stab at remedying the situation but this card may evolve after I read the following book: http://www.amazon.com/Wales-Wars-Roses-H-T-Evans/dp/0905778278/ref=sr_1_1/105-3502313-4112422?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1173203563&sr=8-1]

6.0 Action Points
There are 30 cards that deliver action points to the player (1x9, 2x10, and 3x8). An action point can be used to:
o Move 1 group of blocks (as per HotS). Blocks can move three areas per turn and may force march an additional area (lose 1SP in the course of doing so on a die roll of 1-3). Blocks cannot move twice during the same turn even if multiple action cards are played during that turn.
o Add 1SP to a block that either begins or ends its turn in an area where it maintains estates. Blocks can be built up more than once per turn, can be built at the beginning or end of a block’s movement, and can even be built when engaged by the enemy. NOTE – Players cannot build up Mercenaries, Rebels, or the Calais garrison in this manner!

[It didn’t take nobles that long to raise armies. It would be unfair to allow blocks to get blitzed at the start of the year and nailed before that block could get his troops into the field. Thus, Player 2 can build up a block even if it was just attacked by Player 1.]

Movement across the seas – Blocks can move from Calais or from the European exile box to any coastal area but require two movement points to do so (1 for the “ocean” area and 1 for the landing area).

Moving into exile – For 1 action point per block, an insurgent block (only!) can go directly into exile from any point on the map. Blocks in exile are immediately reduced to 1SP. Insurgent blocks can go into exile only if the leading heir of the house that block is loyal to is also in exile.

Blocks can always go into exile in Europe. They can go into exile in Scotland if the insurgent player controls the King James block. If the enemy subsequently gains control of the King James block, any exiled blocks in Scotland go directly into the European exile box.

[Nobles fleeing into exile did not do so accompanied by armies. Usually, they departed with only a small company of men and were virtually impossible to hunt down before they got out of the country. Accordingly, blocks can go into exile immediately from anywhere, but cannot bring troops with them.

One could justify having a separate Ireland exile box (Yorkist nobles in exile repaired there on several occasions), but it would be pointless to provide for Irish exile unless there were some advantages or disadvantage associated with exile there relative to exile elsewhere. One might argue that Yorkist heirs can recruit troops there, but if we do that, why would Edward VI flee to Europe rather than Ireland when run out of the country by Warwick and Clarence?]

7.0 Battles
Combat Rounds – Firepower works the same as in HotS. All blocks of the same class, however, fire simultaneously (all As, then all Bs, then all Cs). Losses are likewise applied simultaneously with the strongest block within the firing class taking hits at per HotS. If all of a class' blocks are eliminated via simultaneous fire, the hits are applied to the next fastest class. Battle turns last until the battle ends.

[Historians report that there was no advantage to being on the defense in these battles, so simultaneous fire within class makes sense. Simultaneous fire also makes battles more bloody, more uncertain, and more decisive, which works well for this period. Finally, this regime makes it far more difficult to protect blocks by sacrificing forests of wood to ensure that you favored blocks survive. It didn’t work that way at all in history – key nobles were front and center on the battlefield and dropped left and right during combat, and we want a battle regime that produces similar results].

Retreats – Blocks may retreat rather than fire during their turn. Retreats work as per HotS, but retreating blocks are subject to enemy hits during the round in which it retreats. So for instance, if a B-block wishes to retreat, all of an enemy’s A and B-blocks get to fire and hits are applied before the block may retreat.

Exile – Rather than retreat into an adjacent area, blocks may retreat directly into exile. Blocks can only go into exile, however, if the leader heir of their house is likewise in exile or part of the same retreating group heading for exile.

Blocks eliminated in battle – All heir blocks save for Somerset and Buckingham (see their cards) and the Calais garrison are permanently removed from the game if killed in battle. All other blocks may be rebuilt at some point during the game during the Supplemental Draw Phase. Rebel and mercenary blocks can be returned to the game when their respective cards are played.

[The Calais garrison could of course get built back, but what I’m trying to reflect here is the fact that there is a limited interest on the part of this body of troops to get involved in the wars. Hence, we assume the garrison is there, but the number of SPs in play reflects the number of SPs willing to fight these wars.]

8.0 Seizing the Throne
An insurgent heir may seize the throne as soon as the enemy King goes into exile. The exiled King is replaced by the appropriate noble block (i.e., if Richard of York is king but flees to exile, the Yorkist King block is replaced by the York block) and the insurgent heir’s block is replaced by the King block as soon as the insurgent heir enters London.

9.0 Winter
Trigger – Winter begins at the end of a turn in which the King or a leading heir flees into exile OR after all operations cards have been played.

[Kings faced political constraints that prevented them from removing or killing nobles who were suspect. Pardons were handed out generously and repeatedly, even when disloyalty was demonstrated again and again. So when you see, for instance, a Yorkist King living for several years with “red” blocks on the board, you’re seeing Lancastrian nobles who have sworn fealty to the King but, in reality, still harbor strong Lancastrian sympathies].

Reset – First, the blocks controlled by the player controlling the King return to one of their home seats – the King goes to London. Then the insurgent players’ blocks within England go to any of their home seats. Blocks in exile must stay in exile. All blocks (save the Calais block, which is never reduced during winter) are then reduced to 1SP save for the King and Northumberland, which are reduced to 2SP.

[There were no standing armies in England, so dialing down to 1SP makes sense. That’s particularly the case since nobles did not have the power to raise troops whenever they wished – they had to wait for warrants from the King to do so. If they raised troops without such warrants, they were assumed to be rebels. The King and Northumberland, however, had access to a reasonable significant body of troops in a pinch, so they only dial down to 2SP at the end of the year.]

New King – If the year ends with a different King on the throne than that which began the year, each player must discard all hole cards.

[The best-laid plans are for naught when a new personality assumes the throne – the political landscape is changed in unpredictable ways.]

Reinforcements – After reset, advance the turn track by one year. Any blocks arriving as reinforcements (which are flagged on the year track) can then be deployed at 1SP either in their home area or in exile with their leading heir if that’s where the heir happens to be. Winter now ends and players go to the beginning of the year.

Heir blocks always come in as reinforcements for the player for which the block is an heir. Non-heir blocks come in as reinforcements to the King.

Block status – The King has the option of declaring some blocks to be demobilized after reinforcements are placed. The insurgent player may then to likewise. If a red and a white block are sharing the same area, the block loyal to the King has the first option to stand. If it does so, the block allied with the insurgent player must demobilize. If the King player's block decides to demobilize, then the insurgent player's block may stand. NOTE – The King may never be demobilized.

10.0 Victory
The game ends whenever a player no longer has any heir cards remaining. In that case, he loses. If both players have heir cards remaining by the end of the game, whomever controls the King is the winner. Each scenario dictates which heir cards start the game and at what year the game will end.

11.0 Scenarios
Each scenario lists the heirs in play, initial deployment, blocks that are unavailable for the duration of the game, the starting number of action cards for each player, and any special rules.

Scenario 1 – Sun of York (1460-1464)

[This scenario will start in 1460 with Richard of York and his loyalists in exile. York has only three heir cards in play – York, March, and Rutland – while the Lancastrian player has Margaret and Somerset. The game will go until somebody is out his heir cards or until the end of 1464. Players can also choose to use this scenario as the starting point for a campaign game, in which case all the heir card are handed out and the game will go until 1488.]

Scenario 2 – Kingmaker! (1469-1474)

[This scenario will start in 1469 with the Earl of March (Edward IV) on the throne, Edward of Lancaster with a handful of Lancastrian nobles in exile, and Warwick and Clarence (George Plantagenet) having just turned rebel in England. The Yorkist player will have March and Gloucester as heir cards while Lancaster will have the Prince of Wales, Somerset, and Exeter. The game will go until somebody is out of his heir cards or until the end of 1474. Players can also choose to use this scenario as the starting point for a campaign game, in which case all the heir cards will be handed out save for York and Buckingham (who stars dead, although Buckingham can be rebuilt) and the game will go to 1488.]

Scenario 3 – Richard III (1483-1488)

[This scenario starts in 1483 with the Duke of Gloucester (Richard III) on the throne and the Earl of Richmond (Henry VII) in exile along with a couple of allied nobles. Each player has only one heir card – Gloucester and Richmond – and the game goes until one of them dies or until 1488.]

Scenario 4 – Campaign Game (1459-1488)

Starting Lancaster Blocks:
o King James – Scotland, 1SP
o King (Margaret of Anjou) – Midlands, 4SP
o Duke of Buckingham – Midlands, 2SP
o Duke of Norfolk – East Anglia, 1SP
o Duke of Exeter – Devon, 3SP
o Earl of Devon – Devon, 1SP
o Earl of Northumberland – Northumberland, 1SP
o Earl of Oxford – Essex, 1SP
o Earl of Pembroke – Pembroke, 1SP
o Earl of Rivers – Lower Midlands, 1SP
o Earl of Shrewsbury – Upper Midlands, 1SP
o Earl of Wiltshire – Hampshire, 1SP
o Lord Stanley – Lancastershire, 3SP
o Lord Grey – Carnarvon, 2P

Starting York Blocks:
o Duke of York – Shropshire, 3SP
o Duke of Suffolk – East Anglia, 1SP
o Earl of March – Shropshire, 1SP
o Earl of Rutland – Shropshire, 1SP
o Earl of Salisbury – North Riding, 4SP
o Earl of Warwick – Calais, 1SP
o Lord Bourchier – Essex, 1SP
o Calais Garrison – Calais, 4SP

Starting Hands – The Lancastrian player is dealt eight cards; the Yorkist player is dealt six cards.

[The Lancastrians got a political jump on York by calling a parliament in Coventry (intending to force attendees to swear support for Henry and, probably, to arrest the Yorkists) and historians believe that Duke Richard was put at a severe disadvantage militarily in 1459 because he didn’t have time to mobilize his support. Giving York two less cards in the hole deals with this fact, but remember, York will get a free draw every turn he manages to stick around in England, so if the Lancastrians don’t act fast, York will have time to put together a strong army.]

Starting Heirs – All.

Special – During the Winter Turn in which a Yorkist heir first seizes the throne, Lords Herbert, Stafford, and Hastings arrive as reinforcements.

Victory Conditions – The first player to eliminate all enemy heirs is the winner. Failing that, the game ends in 1488 in a victory for whichever player controls the King block.
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Designer, Hammer of the Scots & Crusader Rex

[Laurie Gordon]

Hi Jerry,

It sounds fantastic! You've really hit on how to model the on-again, off-again wars without straight-jacketing the players. Some of the mechanisms are very different from the norm, but they are absolutely right for this conflict. In particular, I think the concept of "demobilized" nobles, who cannot attack or be attacked is brilliant. The rule is so simple, it yet permits the historical survival of hostile nobles in the face of overwhelming Royal strength.

Laurie
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Toronto Area Boardgaming Society - www.tabsonline.net

[RPardoe]

[Jerry Taylor]

No, not quite. All this rule is trying to do is keep the game from becoming a stare-down. The King decides if he wants to play a Treachury card (or two, or three) before the dice are rolled. If he doesn't, the insurgent player may. But let's say the King declines and the insurgent pops a T-card. The King may then respond with his own T-card to block the enemy T-card. The insurgent could then pop another T-card for a 2-1 play, allowing him to snag the noble if he has a loyalty rating of 1.

OK, let's say neither player plays a T-card when the A blocks fire in round 1. The King can STILL play a T-card before the B-blocks roll their dice. And visa versa. Even if the King played some T-cards when the A-blocks rolled, he might have a T-card still in his hand to play when the B-blocks roll.

It's sounds more complicated than it is, believe me.
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Designer, Hammer of the Scots & Crusader Rex

[RPardoe]

[Laurie Gordon]

Jerry's explanation seems clear enough to me. One question though. If you respond to an enemy T-Card with a higher value T-Card, do you now have the difference in treachery points to turn one of his nobles?

Laurie
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Toronto Area Boardgaming Society - www.tabsonline.net

[Jerry Taylor]

[Jerry DeMoss]

Looks great Jerry. Can't wait to try playing this one.
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A wargamer since the AH games of the 1970's with rekindled interest in the last several years.

[bigcheese]

Wow. I like the addition of scenarios. Is this the means by which a game can be played in 3 hours or does that time apply to the whole campaign?
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Matthew

[Jerry Taylor]

So far, I haven't played a campaign game that's gone longer than 3 1/2 hours.
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Designer, Hammer of the Scots & Crusader Rex

[rcube]

Jerry, this simply looks amazing.

I'm particularly interested in the simple, but just-right, new loyalty/treachery system. As in HotS, loyalty is key, but even much more so in WotRoses. I felt that in this game, there was a need for a slightly more 'developed' loyalty/treachery system, and I think this is just perfect.

[bigcheese]

[Yorkist Joe]

-Re: “The rules at present don’t provide any real incentive to campaign in Wales.”

I wouldn’t worry about this, as Wales was a strategic dead-end historically. There were a few skirmishes, e.g. Twthill and Dryslwyn, and sieges, e.g. Pembroke, Harlech, but there was no reason for an army to run around there. Wales was important as a source of troops, but armies traversed it or attempted to reach it to recruit, not campaigning there. Kingmaker, of course, provides a reason to campaign in Wales, via the historically-unrealistic Chamberlain of Wales card.

-Block strengths of nobles

I’d suggest basing troop strength on the relative wealth of the noble in question. For example, you give both York and Exeter 3 SP. York, the wealthiest, had an annual revenue of £8,000 or so, while Exeter was lucky to have £1,000, much of which came from grants, not land. Of course, a noble was only as strong as the force he was able to recruit, so I’m not suggesting 8 SP for York. I agree that he should have to recruit in home areas and with your point that wealth didn't always translate into strength. I just disagree with, for example, York and Exeter being on par.

-Treachery

What are the ratings for each noble? Should they vary less widely (OK, I admit that 1-3 isn’t a wide variance)? Who would the dogs, i.e. the most treacherous nobles, be? We know historically, but that could be affected by circumstance as well. So I’m suggesting either no difference in treachery ratings or a better rating only for those who were stalwarts, e.g. Oxford in his support for Lancaster, Bourchier for York.

-Lancastershire should be “Lancashire.”

-Precedence

1. Duke of Exeter should outrank Duke of Somerset (Beaufort)
2. We’ve been through this before [ ], but the Earl of Richmond’s tenuous claim to the throne was based on his Beaufort blood - if any other Beaufort males had survived the Wars, there would have been no claim for Henry. Hence, this is one last appeal for no Earl of Richmond as heir…
3. Buckingham was a bit of a wild card. If I understand the lineage correctly, he would have had a claim to the throne if all of the Yorkist and Lancastrian heirs were eliminated.
4. Consider eliminating Margaret of Anjou. Nobody fought explicitly for her: look what happened to her after Tewkesbury and the demise of both Henry VI and his son Edward. Use Henry VI and assume that Margaret is with him or assume that she’s with the Prince of Wales block.
5. Here’s my humble proposal, 5 blocks per side:
-Henry, Edward, Exeter, Somerset, Buckingham
-York, March, Rutland, Clarence, Gloucester

Best regards!
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Yorkist since 1986

[Jerry Taylor]

[Yorkist Joe]

Henry Holland, Duke of Exeter was descended from Edward III through John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster and his first wife Blanche. His descent was through the female line: his grandmother Elizabeth was the sister of Henry IV. The Beauforts, Dukes of Somerset, were the illegitimate, and illegitimated, children of John of Gaunt and his mistress/third wife, Catherine Swynford. Thus Exeter should have precedence over Somerset in terms of royal succession on the Lancastrian side. It’s a wonder that Exeter lasted as late as 1475 before he conveniently “drowned.”

Hence the order after the royals should be Exeter then Somerset.

Technically Buckingham had no Lancastrian claim as such, since he was descended from Edward III's youngest son Thomas, Duke of Gloucester, and not John of Gaunt. That's why my Kingmaker house rules have Stafford, Duke of Buckingham as a possible royal heir if there are no York or Lancaster claimants alive. For balance purposes, however, I can see adding Buckingham to the Lancastrian side to match the number of Yorkists.

I'll try not to mention the Earl of Richmond block again. What's the chance that there will be a Henry VI sticker that I can use instead?
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Yorkist since 1986