Here I Stand Sequel Update--Virgin Queen

Dunno about you, but for me, Here I Stand is my favorite game. Therefore, to hear that someone had a podcast with the designer, Ed Beach, was pretty cool. Not to mention the fact that the interviewer is a bit more tolerable interviewer than many other low rent wargame interviewers I've heard.

www.consimworld.com/archives/002125.html

Better still is that Ed Beach discusses his Here I Stand sequel, Virgin Queen, in the podcast. Apparently it will have a number of things going on that are new, I haven't finished the whole podcast yet:

1) Espionage. There will be some sort of blind mechanic you play cards into that allow assasinations, sabotage, etc.

2) Inset dutch map. Dutch revolts were big during this period so there will be an extra dutch map to maneuvre in.

3) No more religious game in the way that it was before--Ed says that the religious game will be present, but more about trying to fight with armies and support already establish protestant elements.

4) On CSW, Ed also let us know what the powers in the next game will be:
A) England
France
C) Ottomans
D) Protestants (Dutch Protestants and Huguenots)
E) Spain
F) Holy Roman Empire

Anyway, this is easily my number one most anticipated game. Next year I may even roust myself to go to some cons like trashfest or something so we can get some Here I Stand going. Hopefully soon I can decide whether to play Virgin Queen or Here I Stand at such events!

Sounds awesome. I have really enjoyed playing Empires in Arms, but I am going to be on constant lookout for a more modern rules set and a shorter game offering a similar experience. This sounds pretty close.

I still haven't played Here I Stand yet.

I think you'll find that Here I Stand has almost everything you liked about Empires in Arms but in a much more digestable form. The rules are really one of the better rulesets in wargaming.

I'm very much looking forward to this game. Once Ed starts having PBEM playtests, I'm definitely going to try and sign up.

-Will

Oh. My. God.

I think I just wet my pants.

I want to love these games so much but they're *so long*!

MattDP wrote:

I want to love these games so much but they're *so long*!

have you checked out the 60 minute game, for 2-4 players, new from reiner knizia?

Bah! Ditch the Dutch inset map and integrate it with Tresham's Revolt: The Dutch Revolution!

[Thanks for the news Gary...]

I'll play it. I'd rather play HIS again though.

Actually, Iguana, I am concerned about the game. There wasn't nearly the kind of dramatic conflict in this era, based on my knowledge of the history. And it is missing a lot of that initial exploration stuff in this era. I think this game is much more of a design challenge than HIS, which was definitely more no brainer in terms of where to build the game in.

Gary Sax wrote:

Actually, Iguana, I am concerned about the game. There wasn't nearly the kind of dramatic conflict in this era, based on my knowledge of the history. And it is missing a lot of that initial exploration stuff in this era. I think this game is much more of a design challenge than HIS, which was definitely more no brainer in terms of where to build the game in.

WAIT. Are you really saying there wasn't the same degree of drama after the Here I Stand period? The effects of the reformation was still being felt, and the wars of religion in the continent weren't "resolved" until the Peace of Westphalia in 1648. The French wars of religion rage with three armies fighting to control the Kingdom. The Ottomans don't stop threatening the Hapsburgs. The French and the Austrian Hapsburgs don't stop fighting over Italy. The English and the Spanish are rivals for the great colonial empires. There is PLENTY of dramatic conflict, just in markedly different forms. The conflicts over the reformation aren't put down, but now were backed by stronger states battling over political and religious interests. The game will probably feature more warfare than before, and I can't wait to see it hit the table.

I think the drama is harder to model with powers, is mainly what I'm saying.

I don't know that the period is necessarily less dramatic, but it does lend itself to a more traditional type of wargame, since the religious conflict was much more state-sponsored and military than in the time-period of Here I Stand. I trust Ed Beach to do a fine job, though, and the espionage stuff could be really cool (I look forward to planting my Jesuit spies in England!).

moss_icon wrote:

MattDP wrote:

I want to love these games so much but they're *so long*!

have you checked out the 60 minute game, for 2-4 players, new from reiner knizia?

Your maths skills may not be up to the challenge but there's actually quite a range of numbers between "60 minutes" and the "360-400 minutes" a face-to-face game of HIS is likely to take. Most of the games I like tend to fall in to that category, funnily enough.

Heh. Even 360 minutes is lowballing it. With 6 experienced players who only rarely need to consult the rules, maybe you could play a game that fast. Any newbies at all and you'd go way over that time unless the game ends on an early turn or you're playing the 1532 tourney scenario.