Gothic Horror

The recent Chess World Championship has seen a spike in interest in the game. When Lee Sedol played AlphaGo, it seemed that every website that supplied Go boards completely ran out. Alas, my coverage of our approximately monthly Time Of Crisis games has not had a similar reaction.

The four of us, Ian, Martin, Joe and myself set up at Martin’s house. The game was so familiar that we all joined in with the unboxing without any real prompting. We sat down to begin at five to eight. I went in Gallia, Martin chose Pannonia, Ian set up in Hispania and Joe went for Thracia.

I didn’t go for my usual unorthodox opening and so all of us had identical cards for the first three rounds. In the Three Blue Two Red opening round, I set up a new base in Egypt and then watched in annoyance as the neighbouring Syria was invaded by some early Sassanids. Martin took Macedonia, Ian took Africa and the rival leader Postumus turned up on my doorstep in Gallia, and Joe took Asia.

The the Three Red Two Yellow round, I used my reds to reinforce my army in Gallia and then killed Postumus with my militia. The two legions stationed there seemed happy to let the militia do all the work and die in the process. Then, unobstructed with matters of war, the rest built armies and buildings. Martin put an army in Macedonia and a Limes in Egypt. Ian put an army in Hispania and a Limes in Africa. Joe put an army in Asia and a Basilica in Thracia.

In the Three Blue Two Red round, I reinforced Egypt and hired a new governor since I had an eye on Syria. Martin moved his army from Macedonia into Galatia and stationed a governor there. Ian went from Hispania to Britannia and put a governor there. At this point, two Goths invaded Thracia, where Joe had been the only one of us to decide not to build a Limes. His lovely Basilica was under threat. Joe attacked the Goths, getting only one hit while they did three points of damage and wiped out his army. He then moved his spare army from Asia into Thracia and, just for the hell of it, tried to get voted into Rome, needing four votes from two dice. Nope.

In round four, I (4R 2B) moved my army from Egypt into Syria and tried to wipe out the Sassanids there. I failed, and now Egypt was undefended. Martin had 6B and 3R, and he foederatied a Frank into his Pannonian army and reinforced it, before moving into Rome and becoming an Emperor. The first of the evening. Then more Goths invaded Joe’s territory: this time, Asia. Ian (3R 3B 3Y) stuck a mob in Pannonia, built a Basilica in Hispania and recruited a new governor. And he tributed the Goths in Asia as an act of kindness towards the already beleaguered Joe. Especially since Cniva, the Goth leader, suddenly turned up in his homeland looking menacingly south.

Joe, meanwhile (3B 3R) built and reinforced a new army in Thracia and took on the lone Goth. He killed him, but the Goth got three hits and Joe’s brand new two-legion army was reduced to a single wounded legion army. But they were still alive, and Joe managed to get voted back into Thracia. He also tried to get voted into my Egypt. He needed two votes with two dice, so just had to avoid ones. He rolled double ones.

It was an appalling stroke of luck which was compounded by Joe bemoaning his misfortune and picking up the two dice to roll them again. Another set of double ones. It’s wrong to laugh at a man at his lowest ebb, but we did.

At this point the scores were Martin 18, Ian 14, Andrew 13, Joe 12.

I repaired my army in Syria, attacked and finally beat the Sassanids. I got voted in by a grateful populace. I put a militia in Egypt and failed miserably to get voted into Emperor Martin’s Pannonia. A Sassanid invaded Martin’s Galatia, showing that the game itself was better at trying to unseat the Emperor than we had been. Martin spent his round getting rid of the mob and then boosting support in Galatia to a safe level where it fell back down again. Ian reinforced his army in Africa and built a Basilica in Britannia. Joe built another new army, this time in Thracia, then boosted support in Asia and Thracia. The barbarian leader Shapur I turns up among the Sassanids.

I foederatied a Sassanid into my Syrian army and attacked Martin’s militia in Pannonia, before being voted in there. I had four provinces but felt very thinly spread. Emperor Martin got himself voted into Egypt, where he built a new army. He then killed the Sassanid in Galatia, foederatied another Sassanid from its homeland into Galatia and then boosted support in Egypt and Macedonia.

And finally, we were all ready to mount an attack against our Emperor. Ian built a new two-legion army in Africa, and sent it into Egypt to attack Martin. He failed, but then used six blue to get the votes he needed to get his governor in there and then boosted his support there.

Joe moved his spare army from Thracia into Macedonia and won (with lots of sixes) and then got voted into there. Martin was down to only two provinces. I moved my army from Gallia into Roma and, despite being outnumbered, I attack. And won! I moved my army into the capital, then built a Basilica in Pannonia and got myself voted in the senate. A new Emperor!

Martin, with just one province, was swiftly voted back into Egypt and then, with his army moving from Rome into my Gallia, got himself elected there, too. Then a second barbarian leader arrived among the Sassanids, making them look rather menacing.

Ian repaired his legion in Egypt and had another attempt at fighting Martin there. Failed again. Again, this time, was unable to get voted in either. So he took solace in boosting support in Britannia, a country that so often promises quite stability but had recently been a hotbed of activity in our games. In this game, though, this island saw no action at all and was a solid banker for Ian.

Then a rival emperor turned up but, thankfully, arrived in my Syria so I didn’t have to go far to attack him.

Joe attacked the Goths in Asia, even though they’d been tributed. He rolled a one! And they rolled two hits, wiping his army out. More astonishing bad luck for Joe.

I foederatied a Sassanid into my army in Syria and then attacked and killed the Priest King there. He got two hits in response, but those went to the Sassanids in my army who were wiped out. They do say a war isn’t a war until a brother kills his brother.

Martin foederatied an army from Frankland into Gallia, moved that army back into Rome and unseated me from the capital. He became Emperor again, and ended the round on 59 points. So close to ending the game unusually early! It wasn’t even ten o’clock.

Ian has the unusual hand of 1Y 12R. But he had a Pretorian Guard among those cards allowing him to ignore Martin’s four-legion army in Rome when going for election. He used all twelve red points on getting into the senate and succeeded! Emperor Ian! Joe took Gallia in an election and then built yet another army. This one was in Asia and it attacked the two Goths there. Joe rolled 2-2. No hits. He declared a Flanking Manoeuvre and, after the Goths got no hits, he rolled again. 2-1 Still no hits. Still no joy.

At this point, heading into what must be the final round, the scores were Martin 59, Andrew 50, Ian 44, Joe 30.

I reinforced in Pannonia and then lost to the Alamanni there. Pity. I became Emperor with a Damnatio Memoriae but did not damn Ian’s memory because I’m so nice. Now it was Martin’s turn with 7B and 9R. He needed to become Emperor to trigger the game end so first he tried to use two blue points to get voted into Gallia, but failed. He cursed his choice to only use two points when he realised that, with his army in Rome, he only needed one vote to become Emperor and he had six points to do it with. A bit of overkill even if my governor in Rome had a Quaestor token on it, meaning other players needed a roll of three or above to register a vote instead of the usual two or above. With that regret hanging in the air, he rolled six dice for one vote.

2-2-2-2-2-5.

It took us a couple of seconds to mentally process such a roll but, when the shock faded, we realised that he had managed it. Just about. “Good job I only used two dice on Gallia,” he remarked as he became Emperor once more. He then damned my memory, so I lost some points. Only three points, though. Worse things have happened. To Joe, mostly.

He then spent his red points attacking our weaker armies for points, me in Italia, Ian in Egypt, before heading into the Sassanid homeland and killing those two barbarian leaders just for show.

Ian’s crisis roll suddenly sent four nomads into his own territories. After an entire game where it looked like they weren’t going to join in, they suddenly pitched up. And Ian had no red cards in his final hand. But he was able to tribute the group of three in Africa and foederati the single on in Hispania, so it was all good. He then failed to get voted into Gallia and built an Amphitheatre: the most useless building in the game. We all cheered.

Cniva finally invaded, but it was Ian’s Galatia so it was of no consequence. In his final go, Joe kills those pesky Goths in Asia, then moved into Pannonia and killed the Alamanni there, before finally ending on a flourish by building not just one but two Amphitheatres! Hurrah!

Martin 85
Andrew 60
Ian 56
Joe 43

We all agreed it was a weird game, and Martin’s luck with holding on to Emperorhood for three turns near the start was invaluable. Still, each game offers a unique experience. This time, it was quite a short experience, ending at about 10:20pm, so we played Yokai Septet a trick taking game that involves winning tricks with sevens in them, and avoiding those that don’t.

We were seated with Martin and Joe pairing up against Ian and me. I was a newcomer and Ian didn’t seem confident against the mindmeld that Martin and Joe have built up over the years of lunchtime gaming. It was over in four rounds when Ian got a hand of mostly high cards and we ended up winning lots of tricks with no sevens.

Joe and Martin 10
Andrew and Ian 6

And then we were done. Thanks for hosting, Martin. And thanks to all for the evening.