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News from the North: Richard III (Columbia Games)
Back in the mists of time, as hosts of miniatures battled over Arnhem, Gettysburg and Austerlitz, the Ragnars were born. In the Magnet pub (now long gone) in olde Kingston town they made their headquarters, and it was there that the hordes would assemble. And whenever the bloody battle was won, they would retire to assorted public hostelries, swill flagons of ale and then return unsteadily to said locale. There they would debate the game to be played, and oft it was the old stand-by – Kingmaker.
Now Kingmaker, for its time, was just that little bit different. Out went zones of control, CRTs and odds modifiers, and in came random events, unreliable nobles and battles that were rarely under anyone’s control. The basic premise seemed to be stack up as many mercenaries as you could, grab the King, call parliament, dish out goodies to you and your supporters and then sit just outside London, protected by the wonderful Constable of the Tower of London. And that was pretty much it for tactics. Perhaps a drive up the motorways that led to the north of England, but other than that, players would sit and wait for the King to be spirited away to meet an Embassy from some European Princeling; then pounce.
Fast forward some twenty-five years (twenty-five years!!!!) and Columbia games have just released Richard III, their new game of the Wars of the Roses. Charlie is enamoured of the period (and enarmoured – he is some sort of Yorkist armed thug in his spare summer weekends) and is keen to get his moneysworth. A previous try had seen Phil putting in a less than convincing performance with the Lancastrians: mistakes too numerous to mention including not returning his nobles back up to full strength at the end of the first campaign, forgetting to do treachery rolls and believing that, in the manner of French infantry at the start of World War One, an offensive a l’outrance would be a good idea. However, game 2 is ready to roll.
On the surface, Richard III is a straightforward game. A card allows you a series of actions worth 2, 3 or 4 points. A point will allow you to move a stack up to two areas, to bring one new unit into play or to move two units from port to port. Battle is a dice-fest, with units firing in order of sophistication and first fire giving the defenders a very useful advantage. Add in a selection of (relatively weak) random events, treachery, levies, area border limits and royal succession and that’s pretty much it.
The real shape of the game comes from the fact that it is played over three campaigns, at the end of which levies and mercenaries disband, and everyone else who can heads for home. At the end of each campaign, whoever has most nobles in play becomes King. Being King confers several key advantages, chief of which being that your royal family stays in Britain (whilst the Pretenders scatter into exile and have to begin the invasion process again).
Tonight Phil is Lancaster and, like a weather-vane in the wind, the luck is with him (hopefully not the wind – ed). Charlie attacks in the south and it is his turn to get a bloody nose. His nobles retreat into what should be the safety of London. Unfortunately Phil at last discovers the power of the Piracy event, and sails into London slaughtering some of York’s finest remnants, chief amongst them Warwick. Campaign two sees more of the same, with Charlie getting various nobles cut to pieces in Dorset and the remainder fleeing north by sea. Vengeful Lancastrians flood after them, and slaughter ensues in the Pennines and North Yorkshire. The third campaign produces more of the same, with both sides shredding the other up and down the Thames Valley. The result: a fine victory for the Red Rose.
It’s a lively game – lots of decision-making and loads to think about. The order of play is crucial, and offers a whole series of decisions – in some cases you want to go first to get reinforcements into play or to pin enemy forces, but in others second so that you can snap off a portion of the enemy army.
Play ends after three hours (doesn’t seem that long). Both agree that there is a heck of a lot to learn. Two games down and plenty to go.
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