8/12/2019 Ah Gen v14n2

1/40

8/12/2019 Ah Gen v14n2

2/40

PAGE 2

rticles for Pubrochures, and flept. DonaldXCLUSIVE Acm ,,.-,. -a

and new addrrnI

4517 HarBaltimore

the subscriptarantee deliveled. However.Immun lty 1s F

8/12/2019 Ah Gen v14n2

3/40

TH GENER L P GE

PLAYING YOUR H A N DIN KINGMAKER B y R i c h a r d B e r g

THE PLAY'S THE THING WHEREIN TO CATCH TH E KINGIf Andr ew McNeil as the designer is the ather ofK I N G M A K E R , Richard Berg is n o less than itsAmerican Godfather . It was Richard w h o dis -covered the English sensat ion and arranged its irstsale o n these shores b.vencouraging SPl's impor t ingof the Philmar, L td . English edi t ion. .Just asimportant l. , it was Richard's glowing reviews innumerous h o b b y journals that w o n the game its'initial American audience. Berg can 1a.v claim t omor e than just converting fellow^ Yanks t o thenovelties o f K I N G M A K E R however . He's neverbeen bes ted in a game yet and considering hisfondness f or treachery and the fact thatK I N G M A K E R IS a mult i -player game where the

losers can gang u p o n the seeming leader that's aconsiderable boas t . M a y b e that's w h y it's s o hard t oget h im into a game these days w h y risk such arecord once the w o r d is out o n y o u .

Of the 3 o r so historical simulations that haveappeared in the last decade undoubted ly one of themost unusual is K I N G M A K E R , Andrew MacNeil'spolitically-oriented game o n the Wars of the Roses.It never ceases t o amaze me tha t a game whichcovers so esoteric a period in history (at least forAmericans) as the baronial conflicts in the English15th century has caught o n with such rapid facility.T h e reasons for this a r e interesting because theycast light on the thought processes of the gamer , a narea into which publishers and designers have treadwith great trepidation. Until the arrival ofK I N G M A K E R (it first appeared in the US in itsfirst edition in the early spring of 1975 but had beencirculating throughout England for a t least a yearprior t o that) only one game of similar design hadever held the public's interest more t h a n briefly:D I P L O M A C Y . This simulation of power politicsa n d abstracted military aggrandizement had been acult ever since its introduction in the early 1960's. Itwas immensely popula r a n d , now tha t we can lookback a t it, quite simple in its intent. It made itsplayers assume roles s o much so that they wereforced t o play the game with a psychological insightnever before used in even the most complexsimulations. The player was not only playing thegame. he was playing the other players And thisdoes not mean he was playing against the o therplayers; ra ther he was using them to further h isown

aims. Luck was eliminated; the player survived onhis own wits entirely. He controlled destiny. a n d hecontrolled it absolutely.T h e formula worked, and D I P L O M A C Y was araging success-at least within the finite bu tgrowing circle of simulation enthusiasts. Now, whatusually happens with success is that it gets copied.(Witness this year's Box Office thrill, Airpor t 77, thethird in a series of movies designed with the dua lintent of keeping one away from both airports a n dtheatres). But a decade passed withoutD I P L O M A C Y receiving a serious challenge. T o besure, o ther games of similar ilk appeared : O R I G I N SO F W W l l is a sort of poor cousin ofD I P L O M A C Y , but it has neither the interest o relan of its more successful relative. DYNASTY wasa short-lived, "local" effort to translate role-playingt o the Far East. It had all the elements t o producesuccess, but it never got off the ground, which is toobad a s it con ta ins some truly intriguing ideas.Thus the Role-Playing, Power-Polit ics field wasleft entirely t o D I P L O M A C Y , a vacuum that I , fo rone, never quite understood. T h e game was soobviously successful; and it certainly was no brain-twister in the Design depar tment . T h a t it ruled thefield as sole occupant for so many years is still amystery. Yet, Nature a b h o r s a vacuum and into thisdrought of design stepped Andrew McNeil. Work-ing for a long period of time testingdesigns, shapingideas and molding theories he came u p with the firstnew Power Politics game t o seriously challenge-

and intrigue-the Dippy buffs. But K I N G M A K E Rwas different, for K I N G M A K E R did not rely solelyon the players' wit t o produce a result. MacNeil wastoo familiar with the history of the period to keepthe play in the hands of the players, for the "play" ofthe Wars of the Roses was never really totally in thehands of even its best practitioners. There was t o omuch fate, t o o many uncertainties, too much out-and-out luck-both bad as well as good. And this iswhat provides the t remendous drawing power ofK I N G M A K E R , fo r not only does the player have t oplay the other players but now he has to battle theHand of Fate. T h e players are easy t o watch; it isFa te that often deals the cruelest blow.T h e heart of K I N G M A K E R is the marvelousseries of cards which direct the play of the game.C a r d s had never before been used t o such a n extent,

and with such amazing effect, in a conflsimulation. Perhaps other designers felt constrainto avoid the "Monopoly" influence, o r the seemiutter randomness of such a system. ButK I N G M A K E R it worked. T h e two series of cardsEvent and Crown-are the game. The recent, aexcellent, article in The General(Vo1. 13, No. I)Rober t Harmon is well-worth referring to asreminder of what each card in the game can do, ahow often it can d o it.And knowing what the cards can d o s the keythe game.Strategy in K I N G M A K E R is like going ovNiagara Falls in a barrel: you know what you wat o do, but once you start do ing it you are no longin control. And the player who usually sticks tostrict plan in K I N G M A K E R will usually fihimself suffering the same fate that befalls the oBarrel-Driver.The best players in K I N G M A K E R followage-old adage: Hope for the Best, bu t Expect tWorst. T h e former may be fleeting, but the lattesure t o arrive somewhere a long the line. Moreovd o not despair K I N G M A K E R is so cunnincontrived that even total elimination means litunless it occurs dur ing the latter portion ofMiddle Game o r in the End Game itself. If sucfate befalls you , you will have t o be content wbeing some major Baron's pawn. You might alsobreathing in people's faces: Plague always makesquick changes in power hierarchy and spreadinlittle disease doesn't hurt.Generalities aside, the best strategyK I N G M A K E R is preparedness a n d knowledgT h e player who knows the board, knows whatgoing on and what h a s g o n e before, and then has tflexibility to handle all of this knowledge issuccessful baron , a veritable Neville amongst tScropes. (A bit of historical byplay: Alas, poScrope, your time has passed. No longer mplayers launch the once infamous Scrope Attackmade infamous in the 1st two e d i t i o q w h e r e i n thapless Scrope went a r o u n d like a Kamikaze in kiand buckler, sacrificing himself in attacks the odof which staggered the imagination, just t o killsome nobles. T h e A H edition of the rules hremoved this bit of dastardly-and oft

8/12/2019 Ah Gen v14n2

4/40

PAGE THEGENERAinfuriating-byplay. P o o r Scrope has now beenrelegated to the scrapheap of nobles-a place hefittingly deserves.)The first cardinal rule for success inK I N G M A K E R is knowledge of the game-board.The board has undergone some fairly radicalchanges since its initial design (changes which I greetwith mixed feelings), but the important locationsand passages are still the same. F o r example, themost important town o n the map, in t e rms ofmovement , is still Shrewsbury. (I have assumed-asd o virtually all players-that Shrewsbury doescontrol t ha t fork in the road, a mat ter which shouldofficially be clarified sornewhere.9 (Ed. Note:Shreu,sbur.v does conrrol rhe road.) Control ofShrewsbury allows a player in York to whisk o ndown to London in one, fell swoop (providing hegains Coni sboro Castle, a not-too-difficult feat).This type of knowledge is what renders success f romopportuni ty and allows the wise Baron to alwaysremain within reach of some objective. (It is oftenwise to hide control of Shrewsbury, revealing it onlywhen a major opportuni ty presents itself).For a more cogent analysis of K I N G M A K E Rlet us play a sample " h a n d and see whatopportunities present themselves a n d how best even yer Three Basic Strengtlthe worst hand may be managed. Let us assume afour-player game (in my opinion the best configura-tion for K I N G M A K E R ) . W e will also use theAdvanced Rules which give us a n eighth member ofthe Royal Household-Edmund, Earl of Rutland-as well a s the Dukes of Lancas t e rand York. Wewil lbe examining the different hands not s o much forplay examples a s for strategic possibilities,weaknesses a n d opportunities.

T h e above random deal is somewhat unusual;however, there is n o "normal" hand inKINGMAKER. T h e beauty of the design is tha teach play is different, each game a new situation.initial situation inherent in D I P L O M A C Y . T h elatter produces what a r e known a s "StandardGambits", somewhat in the vein of Chess.K I N G M A K E R has none of that , s o to speak (themerits of which will not be debated a t this time);however, there are definite things tha t each playermust accomplish in his initial maneuvers. Basically,his intent is to solidify his position a n d gain himselfa Contender-any Contender. Without a Con-tender your play tends to be aimless a n d , worse,useless. You will find yourself a t the mercy of thestronger factions, who will use you a s a pawn andthen d r o p you like a hot Yorkshire Pudding. Getthat "prince", even if you have to steal the packetboat to Ireland to d o it

as

LANCASTER

r IEach player must decide what his best deplment is (some of the nobles being given varialocations). Thi s is where knowledge ofgameboard comes in. T h e Lancastrian pieceslocated in the center of England, with Margaret aEdward right next d o o r to each other, whileYorkist Household is spread around the fringesthe country. If you have a faction that is powerfuthe center by all means take advantage of sucsituation. Otherwise, t ry to base your power in oof the fringe areas where you can grab-andmaintain in relative safety-one of the YorkistsFurther use of game knowledge can be madeassigning the offices and titles. F o r example, unlyou want t o c r e a t e a Power Base in the North (whis foolish unless Percy, Earl of Northumberlandone of your barons), the Warden of the NortheMarches can prove a n extreme annoyance. He ha n irritating habit of heighing o f f t o Scot landjustyou a r e hopping down to London, Embarrassingbest. But if you are s o lucky as to combMowbray, Duke of Norfolk, with the Chamberlo f the County Palatine of Chester you have creaqui te a formidable Baron, with a n exceptionapowerful stronghold in Wales-a difficult a reathe board to approach without notice.

Let us look at the Sample Hand to see how tprinciples of the Gambi t may be applied.First, no t e the imbalance between the handPlayer one has a basic total of 330 Strength Poinwhile Player F o u r has, a t best, 130. Player Two ha seemingly miniscule strength of but 100 Howevhe possesses the Constable of the Tower of Londoand Talbot , Earl of Shrewsbury (The Constabshould have little t rouble claiming the extra 200 mthat g o with this office (See below). That would gihim 300 rather quickly and pull him u p to par withe other major factions. (It also makes him King,Henry is his a s soon a s he enters London). Howeva s we will see from the example of Player Twinitial strength is misleading. It is position whichimportant-and it is position which will remaimportant throughout the game. You must alwabe ready t o g r a b an opportuni ty, and being reameans being in a location from which you can striquickly. Sequesteringyourself in the Cheviots mig

8/12/2019 Ah Gen v14n2

5/40

THE GENER Lbe great fo r your health(espec ial1y if you likeoatm eal); but you'll be a petty baro n all you r life ifthat 's your idea of preparedness.

Player One's hand initially appears quitestrong-after all , he has two of the great Barons inthe game (Norfolk Northumb erland) and aninitial strength of 330, with the possibility of anextra 100. However, this strength is il lusory, forwhile his ba ronial strength is in the North , his Officest rength (Dover Cast le, Canterbury, andChancel lor of Cornwal l ) are far to the South . Thusmuch of his strength is diffuse and dissipated,useless to him as a Power Base. Yet his position isenviable: he has the 300 points necessary to takeYork, and he has the Archbisho p to crown Richardof York King. This move, which cannot beaccomplished until at least the second turn of thegame, i s a very st rong one and one which should beaccomplished at all costs. It gives Player one theleading Yorkist contende r and it nullifies Hen ry asKing, should he be grab bed (and he will , as we willsee below).Th e three nobles of One's faction are thu s placedas closely as possible for quick consolidation. Asthey are all oriented to the No rth this positioning iseasily attainable. Norfolk is placed at Wressle,adjacent to York, whi le Northumberland isdeployed in Cockerm outh for no other reason thani t i s an interest ing sounding place. Northum berlandcan be quite a pain-a sort of Ju nio r LeagueWarden of the Northern Marches. He has power,but it 's too far away from the center of things toreally do any good. Here he has been assignedCornwall, giving him a second Power Base, albeitfar to the South. Norfolk, in the meant ime, hasbeen given the two "sister" cities of Dover andCanterbury. T his seeming di ffusion of power (notedabove) may now work to Player One's interests, forhe now has a base of operat ions close to London-abase he may find useful when ope rating in that areaagainst the Lancast rians. There could be someargument for assigning one of the Offices to Audley,now Earl of Sal isbury. However, N orthumberlandis too strong to waste and Norfolk is too wellsituated. Furthermore, the faction will consolidaterather quickly and Audley, b eing the weakest of thebarons, will prove somewhat of a liability in thisarea.

The o ne major thing to note here is that PlayerOne has had the luck to go before Player Two (whocontrols the Tower, and wi th i t , London). PlayerThre e will move first (he is the Chan cel1or)and th usOn e will move before T wo. T his will enable One tocrown Richard King before Two can cal l aParliaament a foolish move at this stage of thega meanyway).Thus, One has go od st rength and good posi t ion.He will soo n, ba rring unforeseen complications(Plague, etc.) have a rival Contender an d becomethe leading faction in the North.Player Two has had the unfortunatehappenstance of having to discard three niceOffices. Things like that happen all too often. Hisstrength a s well as his position is also basically weak,and his bases of power are divided between Northand West. Clifford and Scrope are of li t t le help toTalbot , and furthermore, they are ingre at danger inthe center of Player One's Po wer. Bur Player Tw o isthe Constable of the Tower of London, and thatmeans Henry is his-if he can get there withoutmishap. And t hat is why Bristol has beenassigned toTalbot (among other reasons). Talbot can useBristol as a refuge (praying that th e Black De athdoesn't catch him there) and ajumping-off point fora quick one-turn t rip to Lon don. By the second turnof the game he will have Henry. Unfortunately,Player One will probably also have Richard (York)by this time. so the effect of this will be nullified.

Once having gained H enry, Play er Two will have torely upon a goo d dra w from the Crown Pack to givehim aid. His baron s are weak, and he is stron g onlyin London and its environs. His opportunities togarner other Lancast rians (and thus st rengthen hisposition vis a vis that House) are minimal,considering Player Three's strength in CentralEngland. He thus seems to be t ied to London, andonly som e shrewd politicking will get him o ut of tha thole. Players who hang aro und Lo ndon usually endup hanging, li terally.Player Three's situation is enviable. He hasstrength-290 points-and exce ptiona l position.Furth erm ore, he is Chancellor of England. Not onlywill he go first, but, in the obvious stalemate thatwill quickly occu r, he will, under certain cir-cumstances, be able to call Parliament (if he livesthat long). Warwick is placed in Warwick, rightnextdoor t o Margare t and Edward , where he ,Roos , andPole can grab M argare t and t hen Edwardright off the bat. Furthermore, Herbert can waltzright into Cardigan (an open town) and pick upGeorge, a Yorkist contender, on the first turn.Player Three's position in terms of bargainingpower and alliance is thus quite enviable. He willhold three contenders in short order, and his powerbase in the center will make him quite capable of

unloading on Player Two in London , should he getsome reinforcements in the draw.Three has not had much say in how to divide hishand . Chancellor obviously goes to Warwick, a verypowerful noble (and the namesake of the game'stitle). Admiral of England provides some interestingsea maneuvera bility, but Three hasn't th e coastalNobi li ty to take advantage of i t . Note that Pole andRoos havebee n placed within striking distance of theLancasters by deploying Roos at Belvoir. PlayerThree has some very interesting times aheadPlayer Fo ur has problem s. He has lit t le inherentstrength, and his positioning is med iocrea t best. Buthe still has possibilit ies, an d this is what the playersshould be aware of. From the way he sees thingsdeveloping on the board in the initial deployment,

and from the lack of strength in his hand, it shouldoccur t o Fou r tha t he will have to act boldly if he isto succeed. T he key t o his success is the ship Swan.The ship is in Berwick, but fortunately no onecontr ols Berwick by the time of Four's initial move.This m eans the Swa n will be free to move. W ith theintent of using this ship as a Catalyst, F itzalan hasbeen placed in his Southern holding, Arundel, butgiven c ards w hich essentially give him pow er furth ernorth, near his Welsh holding in Chirk. The reasonfor this is that Four's best move is to get to Ireland asquickly as possible, grab Edmund , and bring himback to the Northwest (thus Fi tzalangets the Bishopof Carlisle and the City of Lancaster). Grey,Cromwell and Bourchier should be able tojoin wi thhim quite easily (there is usually little interferencean d/ or com bat in the init ial moves as players aretoo busy get ting organized), and F our should be atleast able to set up some sort of Power Base in theWest. It 's not much, but it is a start. And it alsoplaces him near Edward of March should he attainthe st rength to take Harlech.

From studying the above disposi t ions andtentat ive opening moves we can formulate somebasic precepts that players should keep in mind asthey begin play:1 Stud y yo ur initial faction carefully, evaluating itnot s o much for what i t appears at face value bu t asto what it means in terms of position. This meansknowing the game-board and the potent ial powerbases of the players.2) Initial strength (in term s of mercen aries, Offices,etc.) should be given to Nobles who can take Roy alPieces early in the gam e. This will discourage othe r

players from picking you off. If possible, cosol idate your Barons before grabbing the RoyPiece.3 Try to get an early Pow er Base, a position frowhich you can oper ate and to which you can retrein times of danger. Position is everything, and ifplayer can make himself overpowering in one arhis chances of success are greatly improved. Ocourse this Po wer Base/ Position should not be far from what 's h appening tha t you become veritable hermit. Position means theability to strias wel l as to consol idate.4 Get a Royal Piece as quickly as possible. Georand Edm und a re virtually freebies; others are modifficult. However there is usually always onmemb er of Roya lty who is attainable. S tudy thinitial dispositions vis a vis your strength and aaccordingly.In essence, the object of yo ur initial deploymeand opening moves is Power. You must obta in somsort of power, be i t a Royal Piece ora st ro ng PowBase/ Position. If you have neither you will soon at th e mercy of the players who do , players who wbe seeking to destr oy the lesser factions before thget on to bigger business. If you have Position in tform of a Po wer Base you can at least maintain yodignity.TH M I D D L E G A M EThe success of a given player in the importaMiddle Section of the game (the portion whepower divisions and factions solidify, Royal Piecare discarded l ike sacks of mouldy flour, and two, perhaps three, major Baronial groups emerge) ent irely dependen t on theposi t ioning he hasdevisin the opening port ions. T he reason for this is nthat the game will depend o n who controls what , brather that the player who has good position-andpow erin and from that position-will be able totakadvantage of those incredible and all-consuminturns of fortune that st ride through the game l ikhorde of Huns.As players' factions become bigger they wbecome m ore and more susceptible to the annoyiRaids and Revol ts that spring up abo ut once evetwo turns (at least). Remember, nobles called other places may not take other members of thfactions with them, so a major faction can quickbecome spl intered. The good player i s one who henough power and posi t ion to a overcome thesudden changes of fortune when they occur to hia n d b take advan tage of them when they occurothers.Now, the re is no way fo r a player to ignore theevents. N or is it possible to ignore Plague. Howeveat least the latter is somewhat forecas table. And,the words of the original edition, "The Player whas his whole force wiped out by Plague realdeserves to lose." And that is the truth. Remembthat Royal Cast les do not suffer plague anfurthe rmo re, tha t plague is cyclical-once it hoccurred in onecity it will not occur again in that cuntil the Event Pack is finished and reshuffled. (Thhas been specifically designed into th e game, andis somewhat unrealistic to shuffle the deck eveonce and a while as plague-which represents othmisfortunes as well as actual disease-tended notreap pear in cities it had hit in the recent past.) Thucareful player can take ad vanta ge of cities that habeen hit, using them a s havens knowing that they asafe for a while.As for the Revolts and Raids, the player mulearn to anticipate, to realize that certain of hnobles will be called to places undesired at t imunwanted. These calls are unavoidable, but teffect of such can be minimized by careful planni(wi thin the parameters of the amo unt of planniyou can d o in KINGM AKER ). Establ ishingPower Base in an are a to which you ar e likely to

8/12/2019 Ah Gen v14n2

6/40

P GEsummoned is one way of handling these emergen-cies; actually, it is probably the on ),way. Otherwiseyou must trust to luck and theallegian ce of the otherplayers, which is usually feeble at best.The Middle Portion of the game is thus bestplayed by players who minimize misfortune andcapitalize on tha t of others. T o this end alliance canoften be quite important. Now, be not mistakenabout alliances in K I N G M A K E R : they are in-variably consummated in greed and dissipated inmistrust. Moreover they are rife with irony andhypocrisy for the simple reason that two factionshelping each other are usually after one goal, andthat goal can be attainable by only one of thosefactions. This is not t o say that all alliances shouldbe avoided; just the opposite is true. You usuallycannot survive without the help of ano the r faction,unless you control most of the major nobles in thegame. And if that happens you usually spend mostof your t ime running errands throughout thecountryside.

No, alliances are necessary and even helpful.They can a ct as buffer zones to certain areas, andthey can often help lesser factions survive whilebuilding or rebuilding their strength. However,most alliances in K I N G M A K E R are short-lived.Unlike D I P L O M A C Y , where alliances can bemutually advantageous as the players involveddivide the spoils of new areas conquered, inK I N G M A K E R there is little gain in controllingareas for the sheer sake of control. You are afterRoyal Pieces. And, a s at least 50% of thosepersonnages will most likely have had theirproverbial throa ts slit after just several rounds, th eprize may be difficult to attain. In this fashionwheeling and dea ling is infinitely more difficult andrequires an even more devious personality inK I N G M A K E R , for there is usually little to bindtwo factions together. It is the superior player whocan use his fellow playersto accomplish his aimswithout giving them anything worthwhile.As the Middle Game progresses the factionsbegin to solidify, if they can avoid Plague and otherdisasters. The Faction controlling the King usuallyhas a great advantage-whether you are using theoptional Parliament rules or not. This advantagemay be offset by having a rival faction-crownedKing, creating a temp orary stalem ate, or, as is morelikely, by the annoying arrival of Embassies. Thekey thing to remember with embassies is that theplayer who controls the King must keep a strongfaction of nobles around him at all times. Quitesimply, an unprotected King dragged off toWeymouth o r some other such tank-town to meetthe Scots o r French ambassado r will be devouredbefore he can move an inch. However, unlike R aidsand Revolts, when the King is summoned toembassy he may take an y nobles in the same areawith him. Thu s it behooves the player to protect hisKing in this fashion.Of course, such strong factions are usuallydissipated by the very Ra idsan d Revolts mentionedabove. Sometime s this can be avoided-aside fromthe ways we spok e of before-in an unusua l anddaring fashion. Certain nobles are called by Raidsand Revolts more than others-theseare usually thepowerful barons E.g., Mowbray (Norfolk) hasfivesuch calls in the Event Deck: s uch Offices as W ardenof the Cinque Ports (with five calls) and the "globe-trotting" Marshal of England (with ten ) calls arelikewise embarrassing. Obviously, if you want tomake key use of Norfolk you can never make himMarshall of England. (However, doing soa s King ina Pa rliament, if the opportu nity arises, isa sure wayof sabotaging your worst enemy ). But if you wantto cre ate a powerful nob le who is relatively free tod o as he wishes it might be worth your while, if theopportunity arises, to take a minor baron such asGrey (with 20 po ints and no calls), assign him a Title

to build his strength and a n Office with good powerand little Raid IRev olt interference such as Con-stable of the Tower (the richest prize in offices,especially at the beginning of the game) orChamberlain of County Palatinate, and then givehim a m ultitude of mercenaries. cities, bishops andother accoutrements. You now have a formidablebaron who is free to move almost anywhere.T o hisen d, players should note that Neville,Earlof W arwick, is far and aw ay the best noble to hold.He has good initial strength (50). he controls fourwell-placed castles (Richmond and Raby are inexcellent position just t o the north of York;Warwick gives a Power Base in the importantCentral counties; and Ogmore is well locatedbetween Wales and Cornwall with excellent coastalopportunities), and he has only one call-card Healso has the largest vote faction in Parliament of anyone noble. Thus, the player who controls Nevilleshould use him to his fullest. Through Neville theplayer can m aintain several Power Bases (given thelocation of Neville's castles) and he can move withrelative freedom from call, especially if Neville canbe assigned a n im porta nt Office. Unless it is totallyunavoidable, never waste a lesser Office on Neville.To d o so is to diffuse your major weapon. Becauseof his position and freedom Neville is the single-most imp ort ant noble-or piece-in the game.Neville is, of course, only one of three "major"nobles. However, the other two-Mowbray, Duk eof Norfolk, and Percy, Earl of Northumberland-have almost as many drawbacks as they haveadvantages. Percy has the largest household, and assuch, his strength is formidable. But his base ofpower is far to the North-too far to be of any use asa true Power Base. His westernmost castle,Cockermouth, is in the unusual position of being acoastal castle w ith virtually n o access to the seaMowbray, Duke of Norfolk, has g ood strength (50)and some excellent castles (five of them) spreadaround the country. However, Mowbray is a one-man travelling circus a nd he is so susceptible to callsfor Raid/Revolt that he cannot be trusted. As forStanley, who also has a basic strength of 50, his

draw back s are self-evident (lack of power base andconstant calls to Douglas). T o give Stanley anypower other than he has or cannot be avoided is towaste such Offices, etc. Of course, if you haveseveral ships at your disposal Stanley can becomemore useful. But he is a question-mark a t best, andplayers should be ultra-cautious ab out using him orrelying upon him to any great extent.An important point to remember during theMiddle Game is that cards drawn from The CrownPack may be concealed. This is a powerful weapon,as the players may not know that y ou are holdingNeville, who is Chancellor of Cornwall with severalgroup s of mercenaries and some bishops. To springsuch a surprise on the other players is usually tocarry the day, a t least locally. Knowing just when tospring that surprise is the essence of good timing,which is a very impor tant sense to have. The obviou sfaults of "too soon" o r "too late" are magnified in agame such as K I N G M A K E R where the otherplayers are equally as capable of taking advantageof presented opportunities. Actually, it is almostimpossible to act too soon in this game; playersshould strike when they can and then not waitaround to see what develops later. But you canreveal hidden cards too soon, wasting them ontrivial conquests. If you a re lucky enough t o have apocket baron with the power of a Neville, as above,make sure you use him on a worthwhile mission.There are other mechanisms in the game thatplayers should be awa re of, particularly Free Movesand Writ cards. They, along with the new King's

Pard on card s, are virtually self-explanatory in theworth , and players should be careful they make thbest use of them. Free M ove cards can be vevaluable in plannin g a quick, decisive raid from aarea which seems far removed from the center oplay. And thec ombi natio n of a surprise noble plusfew Free Move card s can be incredibly devastating

T H E E N D - G AM ETime was, in the early editions, when the playwith the most power would simply take hpretender and sail for Calais, the healthiest city othe block (no Plague ). Now we have a Plague Calais card, as well as other French sidelights, sthat scheme is no longer valid. The end-gamhowever, can bog dow n when there ar e two playewith equal strength possessing the only twpretenders. By this time all the cards ar e in play anthere are few surprises left. Play tends to becomsomewhat static as neither side is willing to take chance.Plague, of course, can loosen this up, as caEmbassy cards, and players must be ready tojumat the first opportunity. S trong factions should grid of as many p retenders as they can. While Roy

Pieces are a n asset in the beginning and , to somextent, the middle of the game, they become aincreasing liability as the game progresses. Theslow down movement a nd make factions more oftarget. ( And remember Beaufort ) Usually, aembassy card here, a raid card there and a hugbattle oc curs with the w inner emerging with the soroyal piece. It can so metimes take a bit of waitinfor this t o oc cur, a s players have solidified thepositions and are unwilling to make deals.have purposely om itted discussing Parliamenand its uses until now. Briefly, each player tends use Parliament-as King-according to his owpersonality. That to call Parliament is importagoes without saying-if you have the power anthere a re stron g Offices and Titles to dispense. Thstrength of the King is nowhere morea ppar ent thain Parliament-if his faction is stron g enough toveride the votes of the others. H ere is where deaar e made-and consumm ated. Never underestimathe power of Greed, and use it to your fullesadvantage. As King you should never hesitate give yourself the choicest appointments, and thplayer who is shy and unassuming or, even worsgenerous, will not be King fo r long. To be Kinmeans t o have power; and to win you have to knohow to use that power. The best players iK I N G M A S T E R are those who use a baroniamentality to the fullest . Trust no one, and gragrab, grab. K I N G M A K E R is nor subtle; yocannot finesse 300 pounds of armored illiteracyYou club him into submission-and Parliament where you pick up your bludgeons.

K I N G M A K E R is not a game which can bdiscussed in specific strategic details. Succedepends on a state of mind. It is a game whicdemands concentration from its players, a game which trust is an anachronism. Speed of movemeand ruthlessness are the two key ingredients fsuccess. And both of these ingredients use onsource: power. Throu ghou t the entire course of thgame you ar e playing for power. W hether it be locpower or total control, no player can survive flong in this atmosphere without some form opower. And to that end you must always plan yostrategy.

8/12/2019 Ah Gen v14n2

7/40

THE GENERAL PAGE

In Praise of Kingmakerby Charles Vasey

Charles Vasey s apart rime Law student andselfconfessed full time work dodger whose gamingexploits trace their beginnings to 1968 when he firstobtained 1914; an acquisition which amazingly didnot change his natural leanings toward simulationas opposed to playability. Vasey,a medieval Frenchname synonomous with wanton, lascivious, andmischievous (or so he d have us be1ieve)fills his offhours by publishing a fine gaming newsletterentitled PERFIDIOUS ALBION which is notablefor its candid and fresh remarks on the wargamescene. A true victim ofthe wargaming craze. Charleshopes to make his debut in the Big Apple atORIGINS 77-a notable achievement for anEnglishman.Kingmaker is a creeper of a game. When it firstappeared in England it was reviewed a s being 'fun'but not especially accurate. It was easy to pick o n afew 'obvious' errors (though often they were a greatdeal less er roneous than the reviewer thought). T h ebasic opinion was it was for 'kids'. Yet beneath thissimple exterior was a great deal of cunning work,work which few reviewers could spot becauseAndrew McNeil did not speak the standardlanguage of game design, he did not come from thegreat A H I S P I tradition. Only as time passed, a n done tinkered with the game, did realization slowlysteal over you-one could not d o betterI have long been interested in the Medievalperiod a n d tried to design games based upon thisperiod, using standard design procedure. They allfailed cohpletely. Militarily the W a r of The Roses is

'fai rly simple in mechanics. Armies stamped around ,often missing each other, often engaging in privatewars with their neighbors, often running out offood, a n d clashing in battles of frequently the sameform (three main bodies, t he side that wins is the onetha t chases two of the enemy's off the field). Hut tonin 1813 talking about Bosworth Field said "Battlesare singular periods; product ive of st range events.Much may depend upon a trifle, the effects of a triflemay be victory, a n d the effects of victory, everlast-ing." If the actual fighting depended o n simplymarching forward a n d hacking until you won o r gotbeat, t he raising of armies was much more difficult.T h e W a r of the Roses was a very strange war

indeed. It was mainly a form of super-gang warfaretha t was carried o n by the nobility while thecommon people stayed out of it. There a r eexceptions of course; Edward IV halted the oldpractice of "Spare the Commons, a n d slay theLords" after he was deposed, a n d in 1461 Margare tof Anjou let a n a r m y of pillaging northerners intothe south a n d burnt many of the "good towns" of theYorkists. Thi s escapade did little t o endear theLancastrian cause to the Londoners who couldalways be trusted to s tump u p for a Yorkistcampaign, it also made the Yorkist cause synony-mous with Law a n d Order . (Rather like the gamerwho goes a r o u n d at tacking everyone's castles, andfinds his land being dismantled in unison by playerswho have forgotten their own animosities). Havingdisposed of popular fervor a s a source of t roops onemust ask how the armies were raised. There seem to

be two methods. I ) T h e personal retainers (privarmy) and vassals of the nobles. Knight-servicwhich had been calculated as one knight per fhides of land held, was n o longer a common practibut often one's vassals would serve for pay takfrom their rents. Now the nobles would drawcontracts of service with important captains of w(the English were remarkably willing to serve undmen of ability but little nobility) o r warlike vassaIn 1474 when Edward 1V was to invade Franceissued a n indenture t o Richard Duke of Gloucest o find, a t his own expense, 120 men at arms (iwearing full a r m o u r ) 19 of which were to be knigha n d one thousand archers. (2) One could, wvarying shades of legality, issue commiss~ionarray. These called upon citizens t o musterdefense of the king. Of course the answer to "Wa r e the King's enemies?" depended o n whether ywere Yorkist o r Lancastrian. Wasi t t rai torous Yoat tempt ing to steal t he crown from Henry, o r wascheming Suffolk a n d Somerset who were ensnarithe king into a form of vice-regal governmeObviously if you were told to at tack York abelieved the latter you would deny thelegality of tcommission, o r find the first opportuni ty to vanfrom the army. Thus commissions, a t best, couonly be effective when issued in one's own lands,if the enemy t o o k t o using foreign aid. There is muoverlapping between the two kinds of army, beven so representing it in standard game terms coube a problem. O n e has t o know roughly how mumoney each magnate got f rom his estates, and whthose estates were.

8/12/2019 Ah Gen v14n2

8/40

PAGE THEGENERALLet me first point out that the office of Earl orDuke did not hold great significance to the area inquestion. Such a rank entit led one to the ThirdPenny of all fines in the Shire Court. Th is institutionhad been cut down to size by the use of RoyalJustices, and the Cou rts of Westminster Hall , andits revenues were no t great (it could only try cases ofunder 40 shillings). Also the title does not imply th ewhole county was owned by the holder, although hemay well have been enabled to interfere in theinternal power struggles. S ome border areas did

tend to be heavily in the hands of one family, butotherwise most holdings were spread over the lengthand breadth of England a nd Wales. Th e BlackPrince (Edward of Woodstock) had rents asfollows:-Chester 1,300, S. Wales 1,700, Co rn-wall 2,350 (owned land in London), N. Wales3.000. but the other ma nors througho ut Englandbrought only 300 p.a. Th e first four are examplesof great fiefs (holdings) given en masse to one noble,and exp lain the power of the Chancellor's of Walesand Chester in the game. It isa useful comparison tocompare France and England. After the Conquestmost Normans received estates in many counties,either deliberate ly or because they received land inblocks from ejected Sax on thegns. The result was nocentral block of support for a single family (excepton the borders where defense meant more thaninternal security). In Franc e appa nage s were held asblocks of land. Duke of Burgundy meant exactlythat an d on e gained all estates either as one'sow noras your vassals. Louis XI suffered from this duringthe W ar of the Com mon Weal (1465) when wholeprovinces of France rose against him, and Brittanybecame practically an independent Duk edom. Thusan accu rate map of England for the period would beterribly complex. KINGMAKER S approach isdevastating ly simple. First locate castles in the areasof great strength, these rep resent the 'loyal' regionsand the large groups of estates who would yield themost mo neylmen. Second, give the noble family astrength figure that represents their country-widewealth, resources and fame, this covers those tinymanors hidden in far-flung counties as well asinvestments. Th ird, give stren gths to various titlesand offices that represent the crown land s grantedwith these posts, and the supp ort of the uncommit-ted squir earchy wh o might follow a man with a legaltitle. The result is very accurate, on e might quibbleagainst a certain family acquiring a certain area butthis is due to hindsight. Kent was always forWarwick ever since he thrashed the French asCaptain of Calais (though this did not prevent theirdesertion at Second St. Albans), Ulster was Yorkistland, so was most of Wales (the Mortim er Earldomof M arch). Even so the result is good . Especiallysensible is what, at f irst , appears t o be a rather oddresult when a n oble card joins the faction w ho havejust slain his father. This very rarely happened,blood feuds being m ore fun. 1 prefer to look at i t asrepresenting the forfeiture and esche atage of estates.One must examine the career of John NevilleMarquess of Montague. Joh n Neville had none ofhis eldest broth er Warwick's skill in diplomac y, andnone of his younger brother George of Exeter'sdisloyalty. He was a good soldier who won dramaticvictories at Hedgeley Moor and Hexham in 1464removing various Percies as well as Henry Beaufortand Lord Roos. He became Warden of the EastMarch es in 1463, and in 1464 was created E arl ofNorthumberland and granted m any Percy estates.So the way to rationalize the strange result is to saythat though the card may say Percy it reallyrepresents the estates granted to someone likeMontag ue. Th e real Percy heir is hiding somewhe reover the bord er. If he dies in battle hisestates may beresumed by the King, the Plantagenets were anirritatingly capable family.

So the game has good claims to accuracy in these

two very difficult areas. The final import ant featurein this quest for accuracy is the Parliament. TheParliament rules are what earned my inclusion inthe design credits . The rules in the game areAndrew's re-writing of mine, with importantchanges in favour of playability and accuracy. Theallocation of seats makes the definition of eachfamily's strength even mo re fine as it often conf orm sto the centres of wealth and population. At onestage the Nevilles held the Archbish opric of Yor k(5Lords). the Earldom of Northumberland (3L/2c),Earldom of Salisbury (Ic), Earldom of Kent (Ic),Chancello r of England (20 possible), Warden of theNorth (2c) and their own seats(4L13c)-a total withthe Ch ancellor, of 12 in the Lords and 29 in thecommons (about 15% and 20% of the possiblefranchise). With othe r offices like Keeper of the S easand Captain of Calais their maximum army isaro und 840 and they hold 13 castles. Not a badreflection of thei r real power-and all fro m a'Kid's'game Just set up those positions and one can seethat the north is firmly held by the Nevilles andalmost every part of the country is near a Nevilletown and they have ships available to keep theirempire together.Certain noble houses (Hastings for example)were distinctly second-rate. T heir power comingfrom their own abili ty in administration or war.Thus these gentry are practically useless until theyreceive the pa tronage of the King or thegreat Lordsand get a title or an office. Mos t of the familiesmissed out (apart, perhaps, from de Vere andHungerford) are of this class. Their more famousmembers, like John Tiptoft Earl of Worchester-scholar and axe-murderer, were fine soldiers andamazing characters but hardly powers in the land.Thu s one often find s sections of the battle-front ledby very minor nobles, often clients of the great lords,who do not appea r in the game. Remember that theyare leading the troops r ised by the grea t families sothe counter represents the armies rather than theleadership of them.Perhaps my main quibble might have centredupon the simulation of the battles and sieges. Ofcourse Andrew McNeil has had to represent thebattlelsiege nd the preliminary skirmishing in thelarge areas in each square. As such I think it works,and to alter i t may cause a great deal of work forli t tle return. I detail some battles at the end of thearticle for those who care to test th e likelihood ofthese events recurring.

Overall then we have a very neat system torepresent the complex power-structure of MedievalEngland. For a l i tt le more fun and some accuracyone s hould possibly be allowed to remove titles andoffices in Parliament. Many nobles lost offices intimes of royal strength (Joh n Neville lost Nort hum -berland, his brother George at various times hadYork and the Chancello rship removed-with agood deal more reason than his brother). Of courseno noble cards can be removed (outlawry), nomercenaries or towns (neither give a damn forKings), but bishoprics could be removed (it wasnearly always possible to find some mistake ininstalling a bishop, so some expenditure in Ro mecould result in the opposition faction's client beingejected). Should you try this out I recommend itshould require a 213 vote as i t only happens whenone faction is clearly regarded as leader.This point of royal strength leads one to thegreatest, init ial , problem in the gam e for the historybuff. That is the representation of the royal heirs aspawns. This causes l i t tle trouble with Henry Vl w howas a born pawn, and Edw ard of Wales was (a) notgrow n up, an d (b ) a nasty little swine when he was.Margaret of Anjou was nobody's fool however.George of Clarence was easily led. Richard ofGloucester seems to have had genuine regard fo r hisbrother Edward and never opposed him (although

he did not extend this love to his brothWoodville's children). Richard of York was simpan average noble. Edward of March was both good diplomat and a fine general, and almostRenaissance Prince. Edmund of Rutland died tyoung to matter, o r to make his mark. One certainfelt that York should have been a noble like henemies Suffolk and Somerset. Of course, AvaloHill has done much to repair this with their twPlantagenet nobles. I would think that the factioshould only be able to kill their pawn if they caovercome his personal troops (if they fail he joinanother faction).The more one looks at the game the more ofeels that wherever history seems t o be disregardethe ac tual results came very close to reality, eventheir workin g was not immediately obvious. It mube a sign of great skill to design a gam e to which little can be added. The Avalon Hill version recommended for its new rules and the excellenotes and family trees. Oh yes and those new carand faction mark ers are really splendid; a well doto the Art Section.

The Thorns on the Rosesor

The attles of the WarFirst St. Alban s (E5) 22 May 1455-The Duk e York, Earl of Salisbury and Earl of Warwick wit3000 men attac k the Kingand the Earls of SomerseBuckingham, Pembroke, Northumberland , DevoWiltshire (or almost the whole peerage) and 200men. Fierce street-fighting was won by well-traineNeville troops. Th e dead included SomerseNorthum berland, and Clifford, with Dorset (Somerset Jn r) and Buckingh am feeling decidedly unweBlore Heath (E3) 23 Sept. 1459-Lord Audley wi6000 men runs into the Earl of Sa lisbury with 30and gets whipped Audley is killed and Joh n anTho mas Neville ar e taken while pursuing.Nort ham pton 1 0 July 1460-Warwick assails defended position and is only victorious when LorGrey deserts and lets him in. The dead includBuckingham and Shrewsbury. Henry VI is rcaptured (freed by York after St. Albans).Wakefield (C4) 30 December 1460-Actuallyfought outside of Sandal castle. York attacLancastrian s who have twice as many men. Cliffoholds this attack while Rosse and Wiltshisurro und him. York an d To m Neville are killeRutland executed by Clifford, and Salisbuexecuted by the Bastard of Exeter (no that's not aoffice ).Mo rtim ers Cross (E3 ) 2 Feb. 1461-Welsh forcunder Tudors (Pembroke) and Butler (Wiltshirand Ormonde) attack Edward of March. Yorkiright is chased off but Edward holds the centrLancasrrian flanking action is itself flanked anOwen Tu dor taken. Owen was father of the Earls Richmond and Pembroke and grandfather oHenry VII. His major claim to fam e was 'marryingHenry V's widow Ka therine of Fran ce thus makinhis sons the uterine half-brothers of Henry VI.Second St. Albans (E5) 17 Feb. 1461-Warwickwith 9000 is attacked in badly positioned entrencments by the Que en with 12,000 men. Jo hn Nevilleoverwhelmed and Warwick pulls out. Th e Kingwre-taken by the Lancastrian s. Neville was nexecuted as his brother had Somerset 's brothincarcerated in Calais. Reads like the GodfatherTowton (C4) 29 March 1461-Prior to this LoClifford (Butcher) had been shot whilst taking drink with his helmet offAbo ut 30,000 Yo rkists were faced with slightmore Lancastrians. Edward, Warwick and Ke(Neville) were being pushed back by Northumbeland, Somerset and Exeter (Holland). Norfo

8/12/2019 Ah Gen v14n2

9/40

THE GENERAL PAGEarrives and takes the L ancastrians in the flank androlls them up. A huge slaughter follows, Northum -berland killed, Devo n and Wiltshire are executed.Rest of Lancastrians ar e getting better at running.Hedgely Mo or (A4 ) 25 April 1464-John Nevillethrashes some Northern Lancastrians includingkilling Sir Ralph Percy.Hexham (A4) 15 May 1464-The Lancastria narmybreaks before the onset of John Neville. Somersetfinally stops running, Ro os and Hungerford ar e alsokilled. Almost single-handed John Neville hascleared the North.Edgec ote (E4) 26 July 1469-Warwick and Clar-ence move into England with 15,000 men-ostensibly not as Edward's enemies. Yorkist clientsHerbert of Pembroke and Stafford of Devon marchto halt him. They argue and Devon m arches off with6,000 men. Pembroke (14,000) is beaten andexecuted. Devon is taken later and is also topped forhis pains.Empingham (Loseco at Field)(ES) 12 Mar ch 1470-A Neville provoked rebellion under some localLancastrians is stamped out by Edward whodiscovers docum ents incriminating Warwick.Barnet (E5) 14 April 1471-Edward is deposed butreturns with Burgundian money. 9,000 Lancastri-an/Neville troops atta ck 8,000 Yorkists. O xford onthe Lancastrian right chases off Hastings, butRichard of Gloucester does the same to theLancastrian left under Exeter. D ue to mutualdistrust Oxford flees the field and Edward andRichard concentrate on Montague and Warwick.Warwick and M ontague go down fighting, butOxford and Exeter show a clean pair of heels.Yorkists lose Bouchier and Cromwell.Tewkesbury (E3) 4 May 1471-6,000 men on eachside. Somerset launches a surprise attack on theYorkist left under Gloucester. Unfortunately hefalls in to another amb ush. Devon and Wenlock (aNeville partisan ) refuse to support Som erset and aredriven off themselves by Hastings and Edward.Somerset is captured and executed (the third of thattitle to suffer this fate) but not before he bashesWenlock's brains out for not supporting him.Margaret of Anjou is taken, as is her son who ismurderedlexecuted (depending on what you be-lieve).Bosworth (E4) 22 August 1485-The Tud or Earl ofRichmond invades at Milford Haven. Richard andHoward, Earl of Norfolk, launch an attack but arenot supported by Northumberland o r the Stanelybrothers (Hit-men by appointment). Richard ridesstraight at Henry but dies with his boots on, somehistorians have suggested that the death of Ri-chard's son had ma de him careless of life. Norfolk istaken and executed, but his brother Surrey isreleased (a typical Tu do r compromise-the iron fistin the velvet glove).Stok e Field (D5) 16 Jun e 1487-England havingnearly run out of nobles moves from the sublime tothe ridiculous. John de la Pole Earl of Lincoln(grandson of Richard of York's arch-enemySuffolk) contrives to be declared Richard Ill'ssuccessor as Richard was his uncle. As befits aLancas trian repr esenting the Yorkist cause( ) herecruits an army of Germans and Irishmen (underFitzgerald) and some of his own retainers. Tocomplete the unlikely scenario he discovers apseudo-Warwick (George of Clarence's son). Thewhole weird event comes to a complete end in aviolent battle with the Germ ans fighting to thedeath .Sto ke Field saw the end of the W ar of the Roses.The last vestiges dying with Richard de la Pole(called "White Rose") being killed fighting forFrance a t Pavia. T heconclusion s of the list show thegame to be very accurate. Especially using theadvanced system which allows equal armies to

resolve matters. The loser seldom loses all leadersbut they often lost the mass of their armies-thiscoincides nicely with the loyalty rule where thenoble is retained but his awards are lost. I somehowdoub t if one could accom odate BIore Heath with a2:l defeat.In conclusion can I recommend Warwick theKingmaker and the Wars of the Roses by PaulMurray Kendall, a very fine American historian andno mean storyteller. He lays bare the problems ofgaining power if one was not of the blood royal. Fullof the feel of the period and a good introd uction tothe "Great Earl" himself. Q****KM By Mail Continued from PgChichester in the first place to confer his Peace?Should I have announ ced the prem ature calling ofParliam ent a t all? And if I hadn't a nnou nced it atthat time, was the writ still effective the turn after?All in all it seemed a pretty dreadful mess and therewas no way in which I could emerge smelling ofroses in all players' opinions. In the end I concludedthat th e trouble wouldn't have arisen if Parliamenthad been called properly in the first place and Ididn't therefore thin k it was justified to bend therules in the favour of the player who, howeverunintentionally, had made the original error. Mickshould have held his men in Chichester since therealon e they w ere safe. But it is one thing to justifydecisions in a particular set of circumstances andquite another to make a general ruling in advance(particularly on the basis of an inadequaterulebook). Before I start anoth er postal game I mustresolve the possible intricacies of Parliament.Damn. I see 1 have betrayed myself. 1 was prettyvague in response to requests for another gamewhen the first was over, not because of the qualityand sheer fun of the game but with a wary eye toother commitments. Now I have said I will startanother, a nd h ang othe r commitments. It is a veryseductive game, this K I NGM A K E R , and o ne which1 think will be with us for some years to come. M yadvice to aspiring gamesmasters should be prettyobvious by now:

I Keep it simple-avoid the tem ptati on tocomplicate matters by trying to introduce 'realism,'whatever that is;2. Encourage the atmosphere by insisting onnamed factions, stimulating the players into writingpress releases and using narrative style as much a spossible in the reports;3 Maintain the tempo by imposing shortdeadlines on the players and short turnaround 'timeon yourself;4. Keep careful account of the ownership ofcastles, etc.-it's particularly easy to forget to makethe adjustments on the boa rd whe na noble is sent tomeet his maker;5. Try if you can to introduce Michael vonHaag's 'evil precision,' perh aps in the form of amodified zone of control ruling; and6. Abov e all, enjoy yourself -this gam e isinfectious. Th e gamesmaster's job is fa r from aroutine slog; it is just as much fun as the players'tasks-and that after all is why we play games .You won't regret the venture.***** Q

Postal KM Mechanics . Continued from Pg 14name o r numbe r of place. It no path is given, thenthe unit will be moved by the Herald, generally tothe player's disadvantage.The Execution and ransom sub-rules, loyaltytables and nobles killed provisions of AdvancedBattle shall be used. The latter shall be determinedby Herald die roll. Com bat shall only be initiated at

the request of one or more players, and upocontact, tha t is both parties, attacker and attackeshall occupy the same square simultaneously.A player whose movement path is through friendly tow n, city o r castle; that is one owned by hfaction or one through which he has permission pass, shall be stopped within that place by tHerald in the event that such place comes undsiege during the turn. O therwise, theat tack shall nhinder his movement.Neither battle or parliament shall prevent tmovement of other players not involved.Parliament shall be run by the Herald, accordance with the rules. Parliament shall binitiated by a player, who shall notify the Herald his intent an d furnish a list of proposed recipientsawards. All other players shall upon notificatioalso furnish a list of proposals.Underlined moves printed in JJPwill mean ththe ord er is either impossible or th at due t o an evecard, the noble in question has been summoned t oplace different from the intended final location.Those squares named after a prominent fotification located within, such as: York; shahenceforth be termed York (city) York Commoto mean the open area surrounding the namposition. M oveme nt shall be counted a s befowhether o r not the unit is moving to the comm onsthe fort; consequently an enemy may order attack up on the nominal owner, before the latter hentered the fort. T o do so, the attacker must situated within the commons when the nobtravelling to the fort enters the commons squarotherwise, th e defending noble is considered to hathe opportun ity to gain sanctuary within.Th e loyalty table shall not affect thedeat h of tDukes of York and Lancaster. Once dead they monly be returned to play when the associated Kichanges hands.

AREATOP TWENTYTi m e s P r e v i oRa n k N a m e O n L is t Ra t i n g Ra n k

1 . W . D o b s o n 1 J EB 2 3 9 52 R. Chiang 7 FGN2156 13 . T O l e s o n 8 LM S1 9 4 5 34 . J Zajicek 2 CFI1930 25 . P . Huf fman 2 CCB1917 46. R. Wood 5 EFM1901 57 D. Cornel l 1 JE B1 8528 . J Angioli l lo 1 CEH 18429 . S . Pa c k w o o d 6 D G E1 7 8 3 710 . R. Leach 1 CEH176111 . S . He inowsk i 6 DFJ17 46 812 . G. Kilbr ide 5 DE11744 613 . D. Barker 6 DFI1729 914 . E. Alexis 3 E H K 16 59 1 015 . K. Blanch 1 CDC 164516 . D. Agos ta 1 ECE163917 . C. Todoroff 1 EH J16 3418 . F . Sma l l 1 DDF15941 9 . J . L e J e u n e 1 D E F 1 57 720 . D. Tie rney 1 CCH1534

Th e a b o v e p l a y e r s r e p r e s e n t t h e 2 0 h ig hverified (11 r a te d g a m e s ) of t h e 3 , 0 0 0 m e m bAREA pool . Players with a n oppon ent qual ifless t h a n C w e r e n o t c a l cu l a te d a m o n g t h e player ra t ings .

The following AREA memberships have been terminaNo rating points can be awarded for games with th~ndividuals s they are no longer members of the system

06109 01 58102 01 91 789 0114037 01 60641 01 93555 0145208 01 70601 04 CANAD 0246556 01 731 39 01 OVERS 07.

8/12/2019 Ah Gen v14n2

10/40

P GE 1 THEGENER L

KINGM KER BY MDon TurnbuN has more qualifica tions fordiscussing postal KI NG M AK ER than his Britishheritage. Don has been an active postalpla.ver o f anumber ofgame s rom theyear One andhis exploitsamong ,fellou. AHIK Sers with his ow n fan 'zineALBION were so w*eN hought of that editors hip ofthe first (and on lv) 50 issues of that international

classic won him accolades as the winner of thefir stChar1ie in he 1974 voting or the Charles RobertsAwards Hall of Fame. More importan t for ourpurposes here howlever, is that Don was thegamesmaster for the first game o f postalKINGM A KER playe d in Britain-the birthplace o fKINGMAKER. Don doesn't real1.v lay down thelaw, as to how to proceed in a postal KM game buthis general advice on the subject should beprerequisite reading for all potential gamem astersinterested in bridging the gap between postalD I P L O M A C Y a n d K I N G M A K E R .Fashions come and fashions go-but if a multi-player gam e is to have an y chance of lasting successin the UK it must lend itself to postal play.Nowadays face-to-face meetings of kindred spirits

are quite common-the twice-yearly AH lK SEurope weekends, Ian Livingstone's Games Day,Malcolm Watson's 'Orgies' and a whole range ofothe rs including the drop-in-and-play serviceoperated by some specialist games outlets. But itwas not always so. In the bad old days, when Avalo nHill was the only 'proper ' games producer andBaltimore the only Mecca, the few UK enthusiastswere spread very thin across the country and face-to-face meetings were rare. S o the arrival of a newgame (itself a rare occasion then) promptedimmediate appraisal of its postal possibilities; ifpostal play proved impossible, or even merelyawkward. the game might well be put on the shelfand forgotten after a few solitaire experiments.The J U T L A N D postal team game-now sadlywithout support: I wonder if it can be resurrected?-was born in this way and proved a n exciting, thoug hlong-winded. battle of wits for 6-10 players. TheGamescience BATTLE OF BRITAIN had moresuccess and I believe som e games (2 players with orwithout a third party acting as mon itor) are stil l inprogress after 5 or more years. AH Managementhad a brief, and unjustifiably inglorious, postalcareer but th ere are hop es tha t it will see the light ofday again in its new guise of BUSINESSSTRA TEG Y. The multi-player postal game provid-ed an interesting diversion from the two-playerSTALINGRADS, BULGES and D - D A Y S whichreigned supreme.UK magazines no w offer a wide range of postalmulti-player games including D I P L O M A C Y andits variants, O R I G I N S O F W O R L D W A R 11,ELECTION. David Watts' excellent R A I L W A YRIVALS, the AH S T O C K M A R K E T Game andBUSINESS STRAT EGY, EN GA RD E and apretty dreadful thing called SOCCERBOSS. Ohyes-and K I N G M A K E R . Old habits have diedhard.The first appearance of K I N G M A K E R wassomething of a shock; excellent concept, excellentplaying board of which the AH version is rather apale imitation I'm afraid. excellent game equip-ment. but lamentable rules with more holes than asieve. Those who have suffered at the hands ofPhilmar's first edition rules will remem ber the light-headed feeling they induced. But the game itself hadsuch poten tial and those were the only rules we hadto go on. S o after late-night battles at one of theexcellent AH l KS Ep ping meetings, and encourage dby enthusiasts of like mind about the game. I setabout devising a postal version and asked for

volunteers. In April 1975 the first postalK I N G M A K E R game was un der way star ring well-known AHIKS-ers Alan Youde, Bob Stuart andRobin Hood (he's not kidding-ed.), with CliveBooth, Mick Bullock and Mic haelvon Haagjo iningthe fun from a background of D I P L O M A C Ygamesin my COURIER magazine. (Incidentally, I littleknew what I as starting-both Robin and Clive ar enow running postal games in their magazines; likeany other self-respecting germ, the K I N G M A K E Rbug has started t o spread).In divising postal rules it was important to pulltogether views on how to fil l thegap s in the Philmarrules. Unfortunately I didn't have the pleasure ofmeeting the designer, Andrew McNeil, until thegame was under way, and I found that in fi l l ingthose gaps I had unwittingly lost the spirit of someof his original intentions. Particula rly I had failed tograsp that he had virtually ignored the time-spacefacto r as a deliberate policy; his concept of avariable length of turn was quite foreign to me-brought up on zones of control and terrain effectscharts-and I regretted one or two of the rulings 1had devised too late to change them. The maindifference was my ruling that a noble had to reachthe designated Parliamen t venue in his normal moverathe rthan by the instantaneous transfer Andrewhad in mind. I think we agreed that the differencewas in practice unimpo rtant-but I wish I had methim and read the second edition of the rulebookbefore starting the game.I made myself very unp opular in some quarterswith my 'anonymity' rule, anoth er rule devisedespecially for the postal game; without being toodefensive, let me explain First, 1 am quiteconvinced that a pos tal version of a game can differsignificantly from the face-to-face version withoutdetracting from the spirit of either game; I woulddefend to the last ditch the right of a postalgamesmaster to adapt the basic rules so as o permitexploitation of the postaldimensions; simultaneousmovement is an obvious example. I t also seemed tome imp ortant in a postal game to emphasize theneed for inter-player negotiation-the 'diplomacyelement'-since a multi-player postal game wouldbe pretty dull without it. In postal K I N G M A K E Rmovement had to be simultaneous in order to keepthe game to a reasonable length anyway so playerswould not have the complete information which isavailable to face-to-face players and inter-playernegotiation would be vital if any cooperative playwas to take place (which it should ) In additio n theperiod of history we were dealing with was a prettychaotic one; communications were difficult at thebest of times, plague (and other unmentionablediseases) was rife, men would not tur n up for a battleif they had some thing better t o do (e.g. the battle ofBarnet which was only partially attended, much tothe profit of local whoreho uses) and uncontrolla bleevents dominated a ny campaign. I later found I hadcorrectly guessed Andrew's 'feel' of the game in thisregard-a mixture of spice, gall, subtlety and chaos.

S o decided to keep secret the ownership ofnobles. Each player would know which nobles hecontrolled and which title, office. gang of archers,etc. each of his nobles had. Everyone else wouldknow that particular titles and offices had beenassigned to particular nobles, but would not knowwho controlled those nobles. Everyonewould knowwhere each noble was at any given time but wouldhave incomplete information about other players'hands. If player A wanted to know which nobleswere controlled by player B and how stron g thosenobles were. he had someho w to cajole player B intogiving up his secrets. and no dou bt player B would

IL BY Don Turnbul lput s ome sort of price on. the information . Aalliance would at best be an uncomforta blpartnership and the opportun ities for deceit antreachery were endless.

I suppose this was rather a selfish rulsince it made the game much mdre fun for me agamesmaster and gave me great delight in thconfusion it caused. At the end of the game somplayers suggested its removal and the publishing omore complete information; others wanted t o retaithe rule as ad ding desirable spice. Despite thopposition, I still believe the anonymity rule is good one in the context of this game and a m glad tsee that oth er gamesmasters agree. One might evecall the rule vaguely realistic. It did have iunexpected side-effects, though; if a noble stayeput for a while, either because the controlling playewanted it to or because he had forgotten he was icontrol (which did happen) everyone was apt tassume that the noble was their own lost sheep, anfor one game tu rn 1had no fewer than four differeplayers writing ord ers for the same noble. Se rves mright since then had to d o some careful checkinmyself. Of course th ere was at least one player whfelt it would be in the spirit of the game to try tconfuse me by deliberately or dering nobles belonging to other factions; in a way he was right-amongst the game's attractions are uncertaintymayhem and downright dishonesty-and it keptmon my toes throughout.

The postal game required other rule adjustmentbut many of these were later incorporated into thsecond edition Philmar rules and the AH ruleanyway. Board coo rdinates were not used but areawere identified by place name (York, 2 west oMasham , south of Chill ingham, etc.) Movemenwas broken down into five movement phases peturn so players had to order their nobles ' exacroutes and could pause in certain phases of theichoice if they did not want to use full movemenBattles took place when nobles of opposingfac tionlanded in the same place in the same movemenphase, and survivors could continue their orderemovement after the battle. Players kept minformed on their 'friendship' an d 'trespass' intentions. Nobles of different factions entering the samspace at the same time did not d o battle if acontrolling players had declared 'friendship' witeach oth er (this led to some fine misunderstandingac d a lo t of deviousness). A noble could enter town, castle, etc., co ntrolled by anoth er player if thlatter had permitted 'Trespass'to the former. Battlewere reported openly though factions were nomentioned a nd the nobles ' total strengthswerekepsecret. Nobles' titles, offices and religious weranno unce d t o all but holdings of ships, mercenarieand to wns were kept secret. Six events cards (one foeach player) were drawn at the end of each turn a ftenew noble ca rds had been allocated; the results weannounce d openly (e.g., a noble called away to deawith a revolt) o r secretly (e.g. a faction getting a fremove card) as approp riate at the end of the repofor that turn. If two or more events cards called thsame noble to two or moredifferent places I resolvethe conflicting demands on his t ime at random tdetermine to which on e he would react. I wonderewhether it would be possible t o penalize a nobunfortunate enough not t o be ab le to deal with athe demands upon him-what would the goopeople of England think of a noble who let a coupof riots proceed unchecked beause he was messinaro und somew here else? But I could not see how levy such penalties so had to let such a noble gaway with inefficient government.

8/12/2019 Ah Gen v14n2

11/40

THEGENERAL PAGEIf the King were called away by eventsc ards , andfailing instructions to the contrary from thecontrolling player, I took with him the strongestnoble from the grou p he was with; if that no ble wasalso called aw ay I took th e next strongest, and so ondown the line. As a converse, if the most powerfulnoble in a grou p controlling a Roy al was calledaway, he took the Royal with him but no one elsecould go along for the ride. This ruling caused greatfun or annoyance, depending on point of view. Atleast twice during the game the King was called

away in one direction and all the nobles in thegr ouphe started with were called away in others, leavingthe King uncontrolled and up for grabs. (The laterversion of the rulebook specifically prohibits this, Ithink to the detriment of the postalgame). I ran intosome criticism in this respect, too-but would do itagain. As Alan Youde pointed out in his end-of-game comments, one of K I N G M A K E R S manyattractions is the rapid and unexpected changes offortune of any one player-no one is out of the gameuntil the bitter end (and perh aps this justifies thepresence of so large a luck element in the conflictmechanics). This rule contributed a great deal toplayer-interest a nd though those who suffered fromit though t it a bit harsh, not unn aturally, 1 wouldretain it in the future as an essential ingredient.Finally, and omitting minor rule changes andclarifications which will be obvious to anyo nerunning the game, I adopted my usual irri tatinghabit of announcing that I would invent rules tocover unforeseen situations as they arose, askingplayers to trust my discretion. They did-they hadto: they had already paid the game fee Actuallythere was only one such occasion-a complexbusiness involving a premature calling of Parlia-ment and doub ts about the King's Peace. I willreturn to this later.

The game itself lasted sixteen mo nths real t imeand 29 turns were played. I rememb er it as afascinating and hilarious business and I was glad t osee that the players agreed (despite the anony mityrule) in retrospect. T he one problem whichem ergedin the postal game was the difficulty of bringingenemies to com bat. As Michael von Haa g put i t:-In face-to-face play one can d ecide to double-cross,then s tab with accuracy (preferably while theenem yis in any case lying down). In postal play it meansmarching u p hill, down dale, snicker-snacking withone's vorpal blade every which way-usually, in mycase, with no result or otherwise finding I hadinadvertently challenged so me mug with a shoe sizetwice as large a s mine. How t o introduce a n evilprecision into the postal game I'm not sure, but I'dlike to see it done. As for the shoe size bit, I thinkthat is a risk a player must accept (and anyway theoutcome of a battle doesn't always depend onrelative strengths) but 1 wholehe artedly agree withth e rest (and I like 'evil precision9-exactly right forthis game). So me sort of modified zon e of controlruling. whereby a noble's influence extend s to allsquares bordering on the one he occupies, may bethe right answer. 1 must brood on this and w ouldwelcome suggestions.1 mad e several errors in gamesmaste ring, mainlybecause of failure to keep track of who ow ned whichcastle. As Bob Stu art characteristically puts i t : Wasit not by some wet-weather wizardry that youprolonged the game? When you resurrected somenoble in one of my castles, did I complain? Whenyou dropped my best friend into the moat, did 1 notaccept? As it happens, I don't think my err orsaffected the course of the game or i ts outcom e, butgamesmastering was quite a tr icky job and I wouldadvise aspiring gamesmasters to make sure they aregoing to have plenty of time to give the task.Incidentally, you musn't take Bob seriously-hewon the game and had noth ing really to complainabout anyway. I would not however commend to

players his early tactic of attacking unoccupiedcastles: this may serve to blazon one's strengthabroad to other players but i t is a dangerousbusiness, particularly for a player who controlsrelatively few nobles. Nor would agree with Bob'ssupposed 'advice' to futu re players-by-mail, writtenwith tongue firmly in cheek: Do noth ing lads:gradually all the flower of England will be yours-dished out of that crown pack. It should berecorded that Bob rarely does what he says hedoes-strong men have been known to pale onlearning. usually the hard way and too late, theextent of his craft and guile.In my view, no postal report iscomple te withoutgood press releases; aspiring gamesmas ters should , Ibelieve, encourage them. From the mass of pressreleases provided for the game I select but two-they ar e of: little relevance to th e gam e itself, n orneed they be, but postal gamin g is an entertainingbusiness and gamesmasters should encourage pressreleases of quality for the sake of sheer entertain-ment. First some enigmatic Welsh stuff from AlanYoude:

HARLECH: Myfanwy and Daffyd. It isagreed,then. Only when and where remains to be decided.Bethan and lfor may come. lorweth. Second, adramat ic con t r ibu t ion f rom Bob S tuar t whosenobles had failed to unite at Fotheringhay, asplanned, because 1 couldn't read Bob's orders:Playlet- H e Does It Again'. Scene-Fotheringhay Castle. Hastings, Earl of Essex, sitswith Berkeley, Archbishop of York, before the firein the Great Hall. Each s harpens his dagger.Berkeley: What be that ringing noise?Hastings: Bells, I expect.Berkeley: It be that new-fangled invention thetelephone. (Berkeley, with knowing look, answersthe telephone).Berkeley: Hello. This be rightful occupiers ofFotheringhay.Caller: This be Mowbray.Berkeley: Where a r t thou?M0wbra.v: Haven't a clue. B Wizard ofWrong Directions has beenat i t again. I told Wizardto fetch me up one west of Belvoir-silly b hasstruck me in the middle of nowhere. West ofNottingham? That be Tutbury oh bBerkeley: Were you planning on coming to tea?M0wbra.v: Nay-was com ing to belt thee one.Now 1 be going to Camb ridge and belt him one.

H m m m m .I think it adds to the atmo sphere too for playersto name their factions. The best name in my gamewas Alan Youde's Wigan Peers, but unfortunatelythat is an English in-joke, and Michael von Haag'sLa Belsize San Merci (he lives in Belsize Park ) is mysecond favourite.Wh at of the gam e itself? Well, others' ga mes canbe bor ing fo r the on looker , bu t anyone who wantsaturn-by-turn account can obtain it (at a modestprice) from me at 5 Greenlands, Red Cross Lane,Cambridge CB2 2 QY, England. The swing offortune in a postal game seems for some reasonmore m arked t han in face-to-face games. Perhapsthis is because of the tempo generated by thesimultaneous movement and the simultaneouseffects of six events cards. But 1 for o ne enjoy thepostal version more than the face-to-face, par-ticularly if there are four o r more players. Th eproblem with all sequential movem ent multi-playergames is for each player t o maintain interest whileawaiting his next turn; happily this problem isabsent in the postal version. I t is important tomaintain the pace of the game, first by insisting onshort periods between moves, during which timeplayers must conduct their diplomacy and planstrategy, second by ensuring swift adjudication;nothing kills a postal game more effectively than

lengthy delays by the gamemaster between tdeadline d ate and the mailing of reports to playeT h e s h e e r m o m e n t u m o f a n o n -g o iK I N G M A K E R keeps interest alive even in playewhose fortunes are currently at low ebb, and thatthe way it should be.I believe there is still some unresolved confusiabou t Parliament in the postal game and can bedem onstr ate this by reference to one incident in mgame which nearly caused some harsh wor

between M ick Bullock and myself. Right at the staof the game (and working only from the first , veinadequate, rulebook) I had ruled that Parliamecould be called at the end of the turn in which tKing and the noble from the supporting factiosummo ned by writ, reached th e designated Parlment venue; the actual handing out of cards froChancery would take place at the end of tsubsequent turn. This gave other nobles one turn get to Parliament by normal movement if thwanted a chance to get some goodies. TwParliaments had been successfully held by thmethod when o n turn 22 Mick Bullock, who hadlong suit in nobles and who controlled the King bwho had little in the way of titles and offices, sent six nobles with the King to Chichester asummo ned Parliament there. The trouble was ththe writ was served on Bob Stuart's Bourchier wwasn't in Chichester at'all but was somewhere downear Pevensey. This meant that Mick had beena bpremature in his announcement (and perhapsshouldn't have printed it) so I pointed this ou t to tplayers, saying that I would confirm in the report turn 23 whether Parliament would be held or nand that any cards would bedistributed at theen dturn 24.In turn 23 Mick compounded his error moving his six nobles and the King away f roChichester to Farnham, instead of awaiting tpromised arrival of Bourchier at the Parliamevenue. Bourchier arriv ed in due course, but findineither King nor King's peace in Chichester, slTalb ot (Clive Booth in possession-another Clive's bad turns of fortune) who had arrivexpecting peace and goodies but finding only untimely end at Bourchier's blood-stained handsreported all this and said that Parliament would held in Chichester on turn 24 as announced so loas the King returned there; if not there would be Parliamen t and no King's Peace. My logic, respect of turn 23 or turn 24 for that matte r, sathat the King's Peace couldn't be in Chicheste r if tKing himself was elsewhere.Tu rn 24 was, for Bob if no one else, the high spof the game. Having no intention of going Parliamen t o r any othe r such silly business, Bordered his force north out of Chichester to meMick's six nobles and the King who were duheading south again. Despite having six noblMick's tota l strength was only 120 against Bostrength of 260 in three nobles. Th e outcome-sixdead nobles, Hastings in control of the King, Parliament and no King's Peace again (whisurprised the two nobles in Chichester inattacking each o ther, this t ime with n o result) . Oof the bloodiest turns of the game, and the owhich almost certainly secured Bob's eventuvictory.1 have pondered long and hard abou t this serof events and my rulings. Was the writ, despite prem ature issue, effective enough to keep Bourchwaiting for the King in Chichester until the latdecided to turn up-in othe r words was Ballowed to m ove his Bourchier, Hasting s and Perout of Chichester to intercept the King? Was Miright to expect th e King's Peace on his way to tParliamen t tow n, on e turn late, if the King wasn'tContinued on Pg 9 Colum

8/12/2019 Ah Gen v14n2

12/40

PAGE 2 THEGENER L

POST L KINGM KER M ECH NICSWill McCullari7 goes Don Turnbull on e betterand s pe l ls ou t the pos ta l K I N GM A K E R r ules heuses in his.fan zinc J P P . He even goes s o . far as toprovide us tcith a pos tal vers ion o f the map withnamed areas and sea squares which should be o finter es t even to K Mp laver s w i th no p lans t o def :~ the

pos tnlan.An undeservedly neglected masterpiece.Huizinga's The Waning o f the Middle Ages is thebest source for background t o K I N G M A K E R . It isthe synthesis, the crystallization of a lifetime ofwork at the University of Leyden in the field ofhistory of that period. ( Mo st public libraries have acopy o r two). Huizinga's central thesis is thecontrasts in medieval life. In other words he believesthat peop le experienced life mo re intensely becauseof the contrast between bodily cold and comfo rtablewarmth; hunger and well-fed; sickness and health;love and rejection. Th e waning of th e middle ages isseen as a process of erosion of the distinctionsbetween thos e extremes. C ertainly the return of thesummer sun and the exquisi te percept ion of springno longer move us as they once must have done.At that time, society distinguished a superiorclass known as the nobility or aristocracy. It iscomm only held th at this distinction is based on landtenure, but it does not seem unfair to postulate thatthe real basis for the distinction of nobility wasgrou nded in the willingness of certain individuals tofacedeath. An aristocrat thu s is someone who is notafraid of death for honor or loyal ty or even sport .More t o the point , an aristocrat i s someone who, inan age of violent extremes, is ready to exchange theperception of life for the stone cold tomb.The young Pole, Duke of Suffolk, wasted withsickness, could barely stagger to the f ront line in hisbat t le ar mo ra t the batt le of Agincourt. Subsequent-ly he was cut dow n in the first French onslaught. Yethis place was with his King in the line. He was Duk eof Suffo lk because he was in the line and died and hedied in the line because he was Duke of Suffolk. T oour minds it is almost inconceivable that a manwould throw away his life in this fashion; it is nolonger chic; i t embarrasses the modern mind; yetthese are the rules of the game.It is this boldness, resolve, confidence, orwillingness to accept risk which can makeK I N G M A K E R a really ex citing game, but which istoo often lacking. Postal games, at least in theStates, particularly suffer from timidity, some ofwhich may be due to unfamiliarity with the rules,which a re different fro m most war games .Hopefully this will change since now postalK I N G M A K E R has about as much exci tement ascheckers matches between seven year olds. On e ofthe seemingly least understood rules is the loyalty

tables for killed nobles. which allows their family toreplace subject noble, effectively returning the lostunit to the player.On the other hand, perhaps K I N G M A KERisn'treally a war gam e at all . Certainly there ar e amultitude of alternative winning strategies. Theoriginal form of each game is determined by thedistribution of Crown Cards in som e rand omfashion. T hese card s represent nobles, t it les, offices,ships, mercenaries, an d th e like. The possible mix of12 random cards is practically infinite. Evenrelatively weak nobles can be assigned a n enoblingtitle card, changing their characteristics andopportunities. Essentially each 'hand' is playeddifferently.In play the re is very little resem blan cebetween game s played in different 'zines since the re

By Will McCullamis no convention yet on the distribution and h oldingof these Crown Cards. The big difference is inwhether the cards are held 'blind' or not . D onTurnbull 's first postal game in the U.K. started theconvention of holding all crown cards blind, th at is,no player knows who owns any nobles in play,except fo r his own. M ost U.S. 'zines have followedthis practice, however, J J P identifies all cards inplay and only blinds crown cards held unassigned,i.e. not in play. Also, it has been custom ary toaugment a n original dist ribut ion of say, 12cards , byperiodic distributions from the crown deck, butBeaucoullon has recently initiated the practice ofdist ribut ing al l crown card s at the commencementof play. There are only minor di fferencesamo ngthevarious 'zines apart from the above, such asdistribution of event cards, o r whether the earlierEnglish or newer Avalon Hill version is used.Apparent ly there i s sti ll some sno bapp eal in owningand even playing postally th e former, which is silly,since the AH version is a much better game. In anycase, these are questions of detail compared with thecited differences in crown card distribution andholding; which have a really profound effect on thecourse of the game.

Well. we have drawn a 'hand'; what nowa?Som e cards, of course, are far st ronger thanothers. The office: Chancellor of the Tower ofLondon , for example, not only confers contr ol ofLondon , and King Henry, but also an enormou sarmy. However, all of these advantages do not ofthemselves confer victory. Rather the contrary, forthe inheren t security one feels with this position ismore spurious than real. This relates to the otherplayers. F or face-to-face play, it seems that the idealnumber of players is four; five for postal play tocompen sate fo r missed moves. To o many playersresults in impossibly weak factions. In this situation ,the above becomes almost a n automat ic posi t ion.At the same t ime, the above can become a mostdangerous position in postal play, since it will beassumed that the Chancel lor i s in play and anyoneventuring near London will be suspect-and henceganged up on. It is vital to be aware of what youropponents have; or what cards are in play;frequently it is more useful to deny them oppor-tuni t ies than to develop your own hand. Forexample, i t is always better, when given the choice,to capture a ci ty control led by an oppo nent , then tocapture a neutral ci ty. The form er not only gives youfour votes in parl iament , but almost as importantsteals four away from the enemy. Even a card suchas the Warden of the Northern Marches, which isconsidered a w eak card, since the holder is called tothe no rth freq uently by event cards can be the basisfor a strong position. The north is not favored; yetthere are four towns north of the Tees avai lable tothe Warden , that 's 12 votes, and a further fourtowns and one ci ty north of the Trent . Agran d totalof 28 commons. This may be a unique advantage;for the Chancellor of England really cannot berisked besieging towns, w hereas o ther cards ar e welladapted to this endeavor. The vital point is to suityour strategy to the potential which exists withinyour hand. For someone with a bunch of untitlednobles, ambu shes may be particularly profitable; ifa 10 point noble ambushes anothe r worth 300; theodds are either 6;1 by the die, or 10-1 against by theevent cards; whereas the payoff is 30-1.Surprisingly few problems seem to have arisen inpostal play. Notably the seeming invincibility of the

Name Grids for use in Postal KMHO ME COUNT IES NORT HUMB ERI.AN D (No. of R. TeWidmerpool Otterburn2 Gr~ms by 2 Hexham2A Grimsby 3 Dunstanburgh3 Wolverhampton 4 Flodden4 Evesham 5 Solway Moss5 Bosworth 6 Clif ton6 Stamford 7 Wigton6A Desborough 8 Alston7 Marke t Deeping 9 Wetheral8 Long Sulton 10 Brampton9 Wisbech Bellingham10 Ayl sha m 12 Peel FeelBeverley 13 Sunderland12 Rush den 14 Gateshead13 Huntin gdon I5 Wolsingham14 Peterb oroug h 16 Cons ett15 Guyh~rn16 Outwell TH E M I D L AN D S (Tren t t o Tees)17 Ely Morecambe18 S. lves 2 Newton19 Lowestoft 3 C lapham20 Ledbury 4 Settle21 Banbury 5 Hellif ield22 Buckingham 6 Buckden23 Aylesbury 7 Pateley Br.24 Bedford 8 Grassington

25 Dunsta