Neil Randall - Feb 20, 2007 12:23 pm (#1236 Total: 1257) Set my compass north, I got winter in my blood ... 7-player AAR Thanks to Bob Kasabian, here's an account of a recent 7-player game of Onward, with some comments below: 9 and 10 February 2007 The 304th meeting of the Friday Night Warriors was also our 21st Annual Copley Place Weekend. Once again, we convened in the spacious suite on the 32nd floor of the Westin-Copley, with its spectacular views of Back Bay, Beacon Hill and your Gamesmaster’s alma mater across the Charles River. After our spouses departed for dinner on Newbury St., Paul D’Espinosa lavished us with a wonderful Chinese banquet. We then sat down for our first playing of this game of the First Crusade. The pre-game diplomacy was brief, as one of the Crusaders refused to see the wisdom of combining forces to take the Northern Syrian (Paul) strongholds, especially Antioch. As a result, the various factions struck out on their own. The Germans (Bob C.) marched to Tarsus, so as to prevent one of the Mosul Turk leaders from picking up the garrison there. Soon, for reasons still unknown, Godfrey abandoned this goal. Meanwhile, Robert of Normandy led the Northern Franks (Dan) to Aleppo, where he besieged the Syrian city. Despite the combined efforts of the Mosul Turks (Mike) under Balduk, the No. Syrians under Yagi-Sihan, and the Fatimids to relieve the siege, the No. Franks held firm. By winter, Ridwan surrendered, and Aleppo became the first city to fall to the Crusaders. That same winter, Raymond‘s Southern Franks (Bob K.) besieged the Armenian city of Edessa. With the assistance of Butimides, that city was captured by mid-April, 1098. Meanwhile, Bohemond began a siege of Antioch with his Norman Sicilians (Ron), but soon abandoned the effort. Simultaneously, Robert of Normandy drove to Homs, in hopes of conquering a second victory city. The Emir of Tripoli tried to relieve the siege with a Southern Syrian (Rob) contingent, but was killed for his troubles. Despite this, Robert would never take the city. Balduk, taking advantage of the Germans’ neglect of Tarsus, picked up the garrison in the spring. Soon thereafter, Hasan joined forces with him, so as to create a formidable Mosul Turk army. When Kerbogha’s huge force finally exploded onto the scene in early summer, the Turks became a threat to every faction, both Crusader and Muslim. Bohemond reacted to this development by driving south, capturing several towns along the coast. Finding Jerusalem too well defended, the Normans instead decided to assault the Fatimid city of Acre, which they captured in mid-summer. When fall arrived, Raymond marched his So. Franks to Damascus, ravaged the city, then put it under siege. Meanwhile, the Mosul Turks’ plans were temporarily sidetracked when Kerbogha was struck ill. His subordinates performed admirably in his absence, however, wresting control of Aleppo from the small No. Frank garrison. With Jerusalem under no immediate threat, the So. Syrians, led by Duqaq, attacked and defeated Raymond at the gates of Damascus. This defeat so weakened the So. Franks that they were no longer able to besiege the city. Not to be denied, however, Raymond held his ground, continuing to ravage and assault the So. Syrian stronghold. Meanwhile, the Germans, quiet up to now, slipped past the Mosul Turks, capturing both Hamah and Homs. Their success was short lived, however, when the now healthy Kerbogha took Hamah from them. Shortly thereafter, they also lost Homs to the No. Syrians. Back in the south, the Fatimids assaulted Raymond, but this time, the So. Franks drove off the attackers. At the same time, the three other Crusader factions, decided to combine forces in one last attempt to capture Jerusalem and the True Cross. Who would claim the city would be only be decided when and if the they were successful. The Syrian garrison proved to be too strong, however, and the besiegers finally abandoned the effort. Instead, they went after one of their own, attacking Raymond’s So. Franks. Despite superior numbers, the coalition was driven off. Raymond made one last attempt to take Damascus, but was unable to eliminate the small inherent garrison. Finally, back up north, Kerbogha drove his troops mercilessly all the way to Edessa, besieged the city, and took control from the small So. Frank contingent. The game was called at this point (summer of 1099) and the victory conditions were assessed. Southern Syrians (Rob): 20 Jerusalem and Damascus Mosul Turks (Mike): 16 Aleppo, Hamah, Tarsus And Harenc Northern Syrians (Paul): 13 Antioch and Homs Sicilian Normans (Ron): 2 Acre and one destroyed city Northern Franks (Dan): -4 One destroyed city Southern Franks (Bob K.): -5 Germans (Bob C.): -5 Rob not only won the game, but also earned possession of the coveted Copley Place Award for the ensuing year. Rob now leads all members with 5 ½ Copley Place victories. ---------------- The group's impressions were multi-fold: First of all, everyone had a very good time. Once the system became familiar, the activations and turns started to flow easily. As for game balance, we all felt that the Crusaders had a very difficult job of it. Taking cities seemed to be very difficult, and keeping them even more so. Of course, cooperating at the outset might have changed the story. It appears from the scores, that the Crusaders got trounced, but until just before the end, we all had a slim chance to pull out a victory. Had my So.Franks taken Damascus (I missed only by not eliminating the inherent garrison) and held Edessa (Kerbogha rolled successfully for continuation on his last activation), I would have scored 18 points. Actually, I'm glad I didn't succeed, for I had forgotten that I would lose 3 points for failing to take my other victory cities, and this would have driven my score down to 15, one below the Mosuls. I'm wondering if this -1 per city penalty is a little too tough on the Crusaders. Also, it was mentioned somewhere that the Mosul Turks have a difficult time winning the 7-player game. None of us seemed to feel this way, although the Crusaders' failure to deal with them early on might be why they became so powerful. Finally, under the "sour grapes" category, I ended up drawing either the 5 or 6 activation chit six times! With Raymond a 4 activation, and Adhemar a 3, half the time I was only activating Raymond once. The only thing that saved me was drawing the Vision card twice. By game's end, I was tempted to throw out one of those chits!