Playing Plantagenet

In the last year or so I was consulted by a boardgame designer working on GMT's game on the Wars of the Roses in their "Levy & Campaign" series.

I've had the game a while as a reward for consulting on it, punched it and bagged it and not played it. I will admit that it is more complex than the sort of board wargames I play. Like, I'll do basic SPI style games but won't go near Advanced Squad Leader for example. Having said that the chat on BGG has been that this is simpler or at least quicker to play than the other versions out there.

I've been messaging with a wargaming friend called Nick who I met about thirty years ago and have seen once or twice since. He has an interest in the period, and has done games on 1469-71, which is obviously my core speciality. He had picked up a copy of the game as well. He lives in London and teaches, and suggested we give it a go during half term. We agreed to play the "Warwick's Revolt" scenario, and I set the board up. There are quite a few bits and pieces.

I took the "Yorkists" in this scenario, and Nick took the "Lancastrians". Obviously both sides started out as Yorkists historically before Warwick turned to the dark side, but using these labels mean that you don't need another set of cards and pieces in the box.

The game started well for me, I thought, as I launched a lightening strike on Harlech with Herbert/Pembroke. Nick, rather than fight, sent Jasper Tudor in to exile. Whilst this seemed to be a good move by me what I hadn't appreciated was the poor state of the roads in Wales. Having sent Pembroke to the ends of the earth effectively it would take me an age to get him back. This fundamental error divided my forces without putting Nick at a significant disadvantage.

I can't/won't give a blow by blow account of the game. As we were both learning there was a lot of rules consultation going on. Overall we played eight turns of a fifteen turn maximum game in about six hours. We were speeding up dramatically towards the end in time per move. I made a number of key errors around the provision of transport for my troops which did for me. I didn't give Devon enough carts, so he couldn't move up and link with Edward, and as previously advertised I'd left Pembroke stranded in Wales. You see those green roads? And at the top of the picture some brown roads? Well, each campaign turn you get to play a series of command cards for your Lords. These normally allow you to do two actions (see the "2" on Pembroke's cylinder). One action might be "Move". On a grey road - not in the picture - you can move two segments per action, i.e. FOUR segments per card if you want. On a brown road you move one segment per action. On a green road it costs a whole card. Yup. My Welsh strong man was stranded. He was on his way to link up with Edward somewhere like Gloucester, but in a move of blitzkrieg like speed Nick was on me with Warwick and Clarence's combined army. I decided to fight, as I had an escape from battle card. My army got wasted in one round of combat. It was not pretty. Edward went into exile.

Exile was one of my suggestions for the game. Here Edward is. In exile. I then cocked this up completely. Edward's pretty nifty, and he can come back in a turn - about three months of real time. All he needs is a ship. So I levied a ship. And then, being cunning I thought, I added the Lord Hastings card to Edward's force, bringing extra troops. But this meant his army was now too big for the ship I'd levied, and I needed another. Which cost me a move. Nick consolidated and his pink influence markers spread across the board like an outbreak of measles.

By the time I got back on the board and linked up with Devon Nick had taken control of London, and had sent Tudor off on a hearts and minds campaign in the north.

What happened next was he reunited his armies and came after me, before I could get Pembroke back in the game. I was having problems raising money to pay my troops, so I couldn't levy any more. Nick had swept up a load of Vassals, who add to your fighting strength without costing you food and cash. When we faced of at Salisbury I thought I'd be okay, although outnumbered. I then had one of my vassals defect and it all went south. Edward survived one round of fighting, then had to flee into exile again.

We stopped it there. The game still had a lot of play in it. Next turn Edward would be able to return, along with his beloved brother, the ever loyal Richard of Gloucester and the Earl of Northumberland. Warwick would be joined by Margaret of Anjou and the Lancastrian lords. 

Nick outplayed me comprehensively. Even his apparent defeat, sending Tudor into exile, was actually a smart move. My errors compounded to make things worse and worse, and to cap it off I ended rolling a succession of sixes for influence checks (that's bad - Edward only fails on a six) .

Plantagenet is an intriguing game. My understanding of how it works was insufficient to play it well this time out. We probably chose the wrong scenario, and should have done one of the shorter ones to get to grips with the system. It is a game that you will love if you love this sort of game. The decision count is very high, and they are all meaningful. It rewards players who have a plan and manage their resources well. And it is doing things that are distinct and unique and definitely Wars of the Roses in feel. 

We need to set a date for another go.