10-17-2007, 08:22 PM
Lords of the Earth - part 2 (PBM)
SEAN M BOOMER considers his options as Emperor of the Romans ...
WE ARE THE Emperor of Byzantium the Golden, the New Rome, sovereign prince of a thousand lands and peoples by the Grace of God. Scores of princes bow at Our feet, and the world is spread before Us like a carpet of the Mahometans. Or, contrarily, like a draughtsboard such as the Varangars and the Persians use for their contests of cunning and strategy. Like a contestant, We move Our pieces toward the completion of a most praiseworthy goal, the triumph of God's authority on earth against the schemes and plots of the pagans, the infidels, and the schismatics who seek to undermine it and replace it with rank idolatry. Unlike the idyll of the wine-drunk shah and the mead-besotted reaver, however, We face many foes, both human and infernal. All wait to utter the age old cry of victory first heard in the Persian palace of Ctesiphon: 'Shah mat!' - the King is dead.
The Normans spy the Empire from the West, and have already robbed Our predecessors of the Empire's finest land. The Turk rides like Death in Anatolia. In Rome and Frankfurt Matilda di Canossa plays the lyre and the German Emperor dances. The Caliph of Baghdad pronounces his sterile oracles to an enthralled populace, while Our sometime ally, the depraved descendant of Fatima, spins his dark webs in demon-haunted Cairo, drinking in the whispered advice of his magicians and astrologers. On the Danube sit uncounted herdsmen, restless, cunning, agog with avarice and longing for blood.
Victory is not beyond God's people, but should We falter countless souls will be lost to the wiles of the Evil One. It is a hard burden, but We must accept the mantle bestowed by God. We are Alexius Comnenus, successor of Augustus and of Constantine. It is the year 1105, the seven trumps are sounding, and We must hold forth God's banner amongst the infernal intrigues of the Lords of the Earth!
To recap ...
Once again, this is Sean M. Boomer, Lords of the Earth player and tutelary spirit of the City, the glorious city, of Constantinople and its Empire - a man with a God complex and a canvas of a few million simulated souls to manipulate for good and ill, glory and horror. Read my game diary, and be entertained ...
Last turn I felt out my opponents as well as I could through email, fortified my borders, made an alliance with the Russians and sought to bring far flung areas of the Empire in closer association with the bureaucracy in Constantinople. Overall, things went well, but not as well as I would like. My reluctance to form the alliance the Crusaders (in particular because of their refusal to hand over Antioch) suggested had weakened relations between them and the imperial court. More specifically, in the words of the first news fax:
There was only one answer: 'Crusade! Let us march against Constaninople, let us take it by storm and visit the Lord's retribution upon those heretics!' cried Bohemond in council with the great Crusader princes.
Fortunately (or not, depending on one's perspective), cooler heads prevailed... For the first time I tasted the negative consequences of one of the GM's house rules.
In each campaign, the GM is free to embellish on the original rules set designed by Thomas Harlan as much as he or she should desire. LOTE 42 has an added set of diplomacy rules. Relationships between nations are judged along a sliding scale, from low to excellent. This affects the sort of treaties that nations can enter into. In this case, the level of relations between Crusader and Emperor had fallen off, making it more difficult to plan closer relations in the future.
The event also reminded me that the GM of this campaign explicitly takes the characteristics of a given society into account when deciding random events. This is to say, if a given society, such as the Crusaders, is a collection of feuding baronies, there is the danger that individual leaders will 'act on their own' without the consent of the official head of state. The newsfax gives one the impression that the GM made a die roll to decide whether Crusader/Byzantine relations descended into war.
I also experienced some scattered raids by the Turks, received a missive demanding tribute, and was hearing friendly noises from the Crusaders via personal email. I considered the situation. Looking at the game map, the Seljuk Turks had rather little very good land. The only places they could expand into were, well, my own. In contrast, the Crusaders could expand into many different territories as easily as they could into mine. Further, historically, the ranks of the Anatolian Turks were continually swollen by the infiltration of Turks into the plateau of Asia Minor. This would continue unless some definitive disincentive was given. The Crusaders also needed a friend in the area if they didn't wish to be completely isolated.
I decided to make friendly advances to the Crusaders. I offered a dynastic marriage and an agreement of 'cross-border cooperation'. This is one of the treaties that are specific to the rules of LOTE 42. I was, in effect, offering the Crusaders a military alliance and free access to my borders. My correspondent made positive noises then fell silent...
In the meantime, I continued to work on an alliance with Kiev, who still needed my support - the better to keep the sprawling confederacy presided over by the Ryuriki together. I liked the idea of a powerful neighbour to my north, and kept in mind that, historically, the Rus provided a large number of recruits to the Emperor's Varangian guard. While they made the bulk of their contribution a century earlier, it would not be impossible to pique the GM's historical interests with a creative plan and recruit from the northlands once again. I floated the idea past the GM and the Kievan player - while both were sympathetic, the idea did not come to fruition, at least not for the coming turn.
Internally, I decided to continue wooing the leader of Bosnia, who now showed up on my stat sheet as a feudal allied leader. This means that the province in question does not send in cash tribute, but supplies a small number of soldier and a leader. In this case, I wanted to move both province and leader up to full ally (the province supplies both a small army and full tribute), making it ripe for eventual inclusion as a 'friendly' region. I also decided to focus on suppressing the heresy (that of the 'Saracen-minded', who wished to overthrow the use of icons and the authority of the leadership of both Orthodox and Monophysite churches) brewing in nearby Cappadocia, which stood a chance of spreading into my territories. I did this by using my religious operation points (points that can be used to conduct actions of a religious nature) in a 'Crush Heresy' operation - an action that can squelch a heresy on the same or following turn that it breaks out.
As I drew these plans up, I was at a loss about what to do with regards to the Crusaders. The Crusaders still had not responded, and I prepared to set my armies on defence on the eastern border and watch and wait. The Turks still demanded tribute. The night before the turn orders came due, however, unexpected news arrived...
The Crusaders would, after all, ratify a cross-border cooperation agreement, and were friendly to the idea of a marriage. Further, they hinted that they would embark on a war with the Turks. I changed my plans radically. The Emperor's daughter, Maria, was to be sent as a bride post haste. More troops would be raised, and a cautious invasion of Turkish lands would be launched. Since I had no idea of where the Crusaders would be or whether they would cooperate with a Byzantine army, I decided to play the matter out cautiously, invading the coast and reclaiming the cities there (the provinces of Galatia and Pontus and their cities of Sinope and Trebizond respectively). I did not want to lose a lot of soldiers in a bloody siege, so opted to take the cities by passive siege, that is, to starve them into submission. Psidia I would leave until the dust settled (for it seemed obvious, at that time, that the Crusaders might well want to claim the province for themselves).
I kept my fingers crossed, and tossed the dice.
On the surface, it appeared that my plans had gone well. The Bosnians leader, Igor the Fat, had not gone over to being fully allied, but he did not renounce his fealty either. The heresy of the Saracen-minded in Cappadocia was crushed. Roman and Russian relations continued to prosper. The Roman army retook the northern coast of Asia Minor without any losses. A marriage was celebrated between Baldwin I and the Byzantine princess Maria.
A deeper look revealed many setbacks, however. Had I opted to join with the Crusaders in Psidia, the core of the Turkish army (and state) would be shattered. Instead, the Turks held the day and saved this province, the Rum Turk homeland (the game rules treat a homeland province as a special heartland, doubling any national income derived from the area and allowing for negative consequences if it is sacked or occupied by an enemy) from being plundered by the greedy Latins. It seemed certain that they would want to reclaim their lands, and I worried about the superior abilities of the Turkish cavalry, as well as the potential aid that the Rum Seljuks might receive from outsiders. Further, the budding seeds of ill-will between Crusader and Byzantine were additionally watered - it could be interpreted that the Byzantines had abandoned the Crusaders to do all the real fighting!
Internally, the Princess Anna's husband, Leo Maniaces from Isauria, was murdered and there were no leads (except Anna!), both damaging future relations with that province and indicating that sinister forces may be at work in the Empire...
To be continued...
Lords of the Earth at a glance
A commercial PbeM powergame that exists in several separate games covering different historical periods. Game 42 is run by Leslie Dodd. For available places in all LotE games check the website.
SEAN M BOOMER considers his options as Emperor of the Romans ...
WE ARE THE Emperor of Byzantium the Golden, the New Rome, sovereign prince of a thousand lands and peoples by the Grace of God. Scores of princes bow at Our feet, and the world is spread before Us like a carpet of the Mahometans. Or, contrarily, like a draughtsboard such as the Varangars and the Persians use for their contests of cunning and strategy. Like a contestant, We move Our pieces toward the completion of a most praiseworthy goal, the triumph of God's authority on earth against the schemes and plots of the pagans, the infidels, and the schismatics who seek to undermine it and replace it with rank idolatry. Unlike the idyll of the wine-drunk shah and the mead-besotted reaver, however, We face many foes, both human and infernal. All wait to utter the age old cry of victory first heard in the Persian palace of Ctesiphon: 'Shah mat!' - the King is dead.
The Normans spy the Empire from the West, and have already robbed Our predecessors of the Empire's finest land. The Turk rides like Death in Anatolia. In Rome and Frankfurt Matilda di Canossa plays the lyre and the German Emperor dances. The Caliph of Baghdad pronounces his sterile oracles to an enthralled populace, while Our sometime ally, the depraved descendant of Fatima, spins his dark webs in demon-haunted Cairo, drinking in the whispered advice of his magicians and astrologers. On the Danube sit uncounted herdsmen, restless, cunning, agog with avarice and longing for blood.
Victory is not beyond God's people, but should We falter countless souls will be lost to the wiles of the Evil One. It is a hard burden, but We must accept the mantle bestowed by God. We are Alexius Comnenus, successor of Augustus and of Constantine. It is the year 1105, the seven trumps are sounding, and We must hold forth God's banner amongst the infernal intrigues of the Lords of the Earth!
To recap ...
Once again, this is Sean M. Boomer, Lords of the Earth player and tutelary spirit of the City, the glorious city, of Constantinople and its Empire - a man with a God complex and a canvas of a few million simulated souls to manipulate for good and ill, glory and horror. Read my game diary, and be entertained ...
Last turn I felt out my opponents as well as I could through email, fortified my borders, made an alliance with the Russians and sought to bring far flung areas of the Empire in closer association with the bureaucracy in Constantinople. Overall, things went well, but not as well as I would like. My reluctance to form the alliance the Crusaders (in particular because of their refusal to hand over Antioch) suggested had weakened relations between them and the imperial court. More specifically, in the words of the first news fax:
There was only one answer: 'Crusade! Let us march against Constaninople, let us take it by storm and visit the Lord's retribution upon those heretics!' cried Bohemond in council with the great Crusader princes.
Fortunately (or not, depending on one's perspective), cooler heads prevailed... For the first time I tasted the negative consequences of one of the GM's house rules.
In each campaign, the GM is free to embellish on the original rules set designed by Thomas Harlan as much as he or she should desire. LOTE 42 has an added set of diplomacy rules. Relationships between nations are judged along a sliding scale, from low to excellent. This affects the sort of treaties that nations can enter into. In this case, the level of relations between Crusader and Emperor had fallen off, making it more difficult to plan closer relations in the future.
The event also reminded me that the GM of this campaign explicitly takes the characteristics of a given society into account when deciding random events. This is to say, if a given society, such as the Crusaders, is a collection of feuding baronies, there is the danger that individual leaders will 'act on their own' without the consent of the official head of state. The newsfax gives one the impression that the GM made a die roll to decide whether Crusader/Byzantine relations descended into war.
I also experienced some scattered raids by the Turks, received a missive demanding tribute, and was hearing friendly noises from the Crusaders via personal email. I considered the situation. Looking at the game map, the Seljuk Turks had rather little very good land. The only places they could expand into were, well, my own. In contrast, the Crusaders could expand into many different territories as easily as they could into mine. Further, historically, the ranks of the Anatolian Turks were continually swollen by the infiltration of Turks into the plateau of Asia Minor. This would continue unless some definitive disincentive was given. The Crusaders also needed a friend in the area if they didn't wish to be completely isolated.
I decided to make friendly advances to the Crusaders. I offered a dynastic marriage and an agreement of 'cross-border cooperation'. This is one of the treaties that are specific to the rules of LOTE 42. I was, in effect, offering the Crusaders a military alliance and free access to my borders. My correspondent made positive noises then fell silent...
In the meantime, I continued to work on an alliance with Kiev, who still needed my support - the better to keep the sprawling confederacy presided over by the Ryuriki together. I liked the idea of a powerful neighbour to my north, and kept in mind that, historically, the Rus provided a large number of recruits to the Emperor's Varangian guard. While they made the bulk of their contribution a century earlier, it would not be impossible to pique the GM's historical interests with a creative plan and recruit from the northlands once again. I floated the idea past the GM and the Kievan player - while both were sympathetic, the idea did not come to fruition, at least not for the coming turn.
Internally, I decided to continue wooing the leader of Bosnia, who now showed up on my stat sheet as a feudal allied leader. This means that the province in question does not send in cash tribute, but supplies a small number of soldier and a leader. In this case, I wanted to move both province and leader up to full ally (the province supplies both a small army and full tribute), making it ripe for eventual inclusion as a 'friendly' region. I also decided to focus on suppressing the heresy (that of the 'Saracen-minded', who wished to overthrow the use of icons and the authority of the leadership of both Orthodox and Monophysite churches) brewing in nearby Cappadocia, which stood a chance of spreading into my territories. I did this by using my religious operation points (points that can be used to conduct actions of a religious nature) in a 'Crush Heresy' operation - an action that can squelch a heresy on the same or following turn that it breaks out.
As I drew these plans up, I was at a loss about what to do with regards to the Crusaders. The Crusaders still had not responded, and I prepared to set my armies on defence on the eastern border and watch and wait. The Turks still demanded tribute. The night before the turn orders came due, however, unexpected news arrived...
The Crusaders would, after all, ratify a cross-border cooperation agreement, and were friendly to the idea of a marriage. Further, they hinted that they would embark on a war with the Turks. I changed my plans radically. The Emperor's daughter, Maria, was to be sent as a bride post haste. More troops would be raised, and a cautious invasion of Turkish lands would be launched. Since I had no idea of where the Crusaders would be or whether they would cooperate with a Byzantine army, I decided to play the matter out cautiously, invading the coast and reclaiming the cities there (the provinces of Galatia and Pontus and their cities of Sinope and Trebizond respectively). I did not want to lose a lot of soldiers in a bloody siege, so opted to take the cities by passive siege, that is, to starve them into submission. Psidia I would leave until the dust settled (for it seemed obvious, at that time, that the Crusaders might well want to claim the province for themselves).
I kept my fingers crossed, and tossed the dice.
On the surface, it appeared that my plans had gone well. The Bosnians leader, Igor the Fat, had not gone over to being fully allied, but he did not renounce his fealty either. The heresy of the Saracen-minded in Cappadocia was crushed. Roman and Russian relations continued to prosper. The Roman army retook the northern coast of Asia Minor without any losses. A marriage was celebrated between Baldwin I and the Byzantine princess Maria.
A deeper look revealed many setbacks, however. Had I opted to join with the Crusaders in Psidia, the core of the Turkish army (and state) would be shattered. Instead, the Turks held the day and saved this province, the Rum Turk homeland (the game rules treat a homeland province as a special heartland, doubling any national income derived from the area and allowing for negative consequences if it is sacked or occupied by an enemy) from being plundered by the greedy Latins. It seemed certain that they would want to reclaim their lands, and I worried about the superior abilities of the Turkish cavalry, as well as the potential aid that the Rum Seljuks might receive from outsiders. Further, the budding seeds of ill-will between Crusader and Byzantine were additionally watered - it could be interpreted that the Byzantines had abandoned the Crusaders to do all the real fighting!
Internally, the Princess Anna's husband, Leo Maniaces from Isauria, was murdered and there were no leads (except Anna!), both damaging future relations with that province and indicating that sinister forces may be at work in the Empire...
To be continued...
Lords of the Earth at a glance
A commercial PbeM powergame that exists in several separate games covering different historical periods. Game 42 is run by Leslie Dodd. For available places in all LotE games check the website.