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Richard III - Old Dwarf - 10-10-2010 01:08 PM
OK confession time-I started out as a WAR GAMER
Yes 120 page Rule Book,Hex & 3000+ Counters & massive
supply procedeures.
But now I'm mostly into Horror/Fantasy Board Games,but once
in awhile the old itch returns for a real historical WAR GAME
But like Der Fuhrer,I now long for something simpler:
http://vimeo.com/15576466
So back to topic,I found it,Richard III it's somewhat a remake
of the old King Maker Game from the 70's,with all the ploitical
stuff streamlined out.It covers England's War of the Roses
in 3 related campaings.
It's a Block Game from Colombia Games & it's a great visually.
The Game Board is a really beautiful map of England for Area
Movement & the Labels are the Badges of the various Nobles
(plus some City Levies,Church Units & Mercenaries).
On the Table they really look good.
The Game itself plays very smoothly,Cards govern the # of actions
per turn & can be used for movement or recrutingor provide for special events.Terrain effects handled by the Area borders,Supply by the Areas,Combat is simply done by each Block rolling its Combat # on the # of die it's current strength allows (a hit causes the Block to be rotated to its next lower side-rated from 2-4),better led Blocks get to attack first,simple but does give he impression of a Feudal melee.
Many of the Noble Blocks can switch sides & an elegant Treachery
rule handles this with ease.A Campaign last 7 years(Turns)after
which a Political Turn takes place to see if the Kingship changes
(based on the # of York or Lancaster support Nobles in play.
Then a reset occurs for the next campaign,whover is King at
the end of the 3rd Campaign wins the game.
I usually don't care for Block Games as the level of abstraction
is too much for me (in Liberty another Colombia Game on the
American War for Independence you can have General Howe,
commanding forces throughout the Game & Burgoyne isn't even
represented) but Richard III fixes all that by having certain
Nobles eliminated from the Game if their Block is killed.
So any English History Buffs that would like a Game that gives the feel
of Feudal combat & the 1400's period yet be only 8 pages of rules,
should like this game.
OD