David R. Moody  - Feb 28, 2008 12:43 pm (#22016 Total: 22042)  
What has mood to do with it? You fight when the necessity arises--no
matter the mood! Mood's a thing for cattle or making love . . . . It's
not for fighting. 

Great great game (well, the first two turns anyway, which is all we had
time for) of Here I Stand last night at Endgame with Joe Oppenheimer,
Jason Pipes, and John Gibbins. Very evocative of the period. I was
England and the Protestants; Joe was the Ottomans, while John took the
French and Jason the Hapsburgs and Papacy. As England, I started out by
coming to terms with France on the Field of the Cloth of Gold, agreeing
to an alliance against the Hapsburgs in exchange for keeping the Scots
from attacking me. John, who had designs on Italy, moved his army toward
Italy while I reinforced my troops in Calais (still in English control
at this time) with an army under Brandon. 

Jason started things by moving his main army, under Charles V, from the
Spanish Netherlands into France, driving Francois I from Paris and
putting that city under siege. In response, I played the English Home
Card to declare war on the Hapsburgs and promptly marched into the
Spanish Netherlands, putting Antwerp under siege and forcing Charles V
to scurry back with his army. Brandon successfully avoided battle and
fell back on Calais with his force. 

Elsewhere, the Reformation spread throughout northern Germany, as Martin
Luther completed a German translation of the New Testament. Papal
debaters stemmed the tide somewhat, and I decided to be terribly
historical by playing Defender of the Faith (as England) which gave me
another card and I think VP as well. Also, Joe's Ottomans raised hell in
the east, reducing the stronghold of the Knights of St. John then
marching on Belgrade with a large army and taking that place after a
siege. 

Pope Leo X responded to Francois' war on the Papacy by excommunicating
him. In response to that, and with his northern flank covered by the
English army at Calais, Francois took Modena and Florence; his
mercenaries also sacked Rome. Closer to home, Charles V marched on
Calais, with the English army meeting him in the field. The result was a
massive bloody battle, where the Spanish Tercios were beaten back by
English pikemen. We each lost 6 SPs (out of 8 for Jason's army and 7 for
mine); the battered Hapsburg force fell back to Antwerp. 

Both sides hired mercenaries to reinforce their armies. The English
fleet controlled the Channel, so Jason could not lay siege to Calais. He
decided to mass his Mediterranian fleet into an armada (three fleets to
my two) and sailed up to the Channel to crush me. The French fleet
sortied to help me, and in another massive clash, the Hapsburg Armada
was almost annihilated (two of the three fleets lost) to no losses in
the Anglo-French fleet! Huzzah! The English Navy, reinforced with two
new units, pursued the remnants of the Armada into the North Sea, but
were unable to finish the job (my dice luck began to run out). At any
rate, Calais was saved. 

And Charles V soon had other problems to deal with, for the Ottomans,
after taking Belgrade, marched on Buda. Their first attempt to take the
city was repulsed by a reinforced Hungarian army fighting outside the
city, but they came back and laid siege. After Sulieman's initial
assaults, the Hungarians appealed to the Hapsburgs, who declared war on
the Ottomans. Buda fell, and the Ottoman army was now two spaces from an
unoccupied Vienna, but gout prevented Sulieman from moving on that city.

And so the turn ended, with news of explorations from the New World: the
Hapsburg explorer Orellana discovered the St. Lawrence River, while an
English expedition, aided by the introduction of smallpox among the
natives, conquered the Mayans, thus carving out a Central American
empire for the Tudors. Luther had also finished translating the whole
Bible into German, so the Reformation spread even further into north
Germany, while Zwingli was active in Zurich. 

Great great fun. I think I was in a good position as England--New World
Empire, two victories (and Jason and I had agreed to peace terms, in
which he would give me Antwerp in exchange for peace and breaking the
French alliance), expedition planned to Scotland (Henry VIII was in York
with a small army). I hadn't started the English Reformation along yet,
but if we had continued I would have done so. And the Reformation was
expanding in Germany. We plan on trying again in two weeks now that we
know the rules. 

And I think I may have to get a copy--I think She Who Must Be Obeyed and
her SCA friends would like it.