Here I Wait
I know we tossed around this notion of playing Here I Stand over the winter holidays, but of course we never quite got traction on this. Is there still interest in playing, and if so, what are folks' time schedule like? How far in advance can those who are interested in playing plan ahead? In light of the fact that there's President's Day next month, if we planned ahead this far in advance, can folks get the day off if they don't already have it so we can play? Or is a future Saturday the best bet?
If folks need a location to play, I'm always willing to volunteer my abode...
posted by Anne @ 9:12 AM
25 comments
25 Comments:
ooooh sign me up. I think Sat would work best.
I am interested; but I can't commit without a specific date and time to attempt to get spousal clearance with. I would think a Saturday would work best for me as well. For me President's day is unlikely to work; although that Saturday could probably work as well as any.
I am interested, and pretty much any day would work for me. Certainly any Saturday is fine. I don't do early mornings though.
I'm probably out for Prez's day, but perhaps that saturday prior. Too early to tell.
I'll look at my work schedule this week and see.
Okay, so we shall zero in on a Saturday. Including myself, we have 6 people.
As a side note, which one of you actually owns the game?
Now, the Saturday before President's Day is February 13th. Let's put this date up for consideration first. Do any of your better halves have special Valentine's Day plans in mind?
If the 13th lacks universal appeal, how about we all comment on what two Saturdays you prefer in February and we'll see if we can get common dates? If we can't get agreement, we'll try for March.
For example, I can make Feb 13th at this point, and after that, the 20th and 27th would be my preferences.
At this moment any Saturday in February will work for me (this is already not true in March or April). On the off chance we actually get to go by preferences I have slight preferences for the 6th or 20th as opposed to the 13th or 27th; but again any Saturday in February will work and I really hope we can make it work since March or April will be tougher for me schedule wise.
I have the game, the rules, the faq, the "Learn the game in 20minutes" guide, etc.
I can't do the last weekend of Feb. Otherwise I'm open.
What format are the FAQ game in 20 minute guide in? Any chance those of us who have not played could review to help us be more efficient come game day?
Any chance we could determine what each of us will play during a monday night so we can better prepare?
Does anybody know if Vassal is rules enforcing so we might use that to prepare?
Neither Vassal nor Cyberboard enforce the rules. Of the two, Cyberboard is the superior implementation, in my opinion.
The rules aren't particularly complicated, there are just a pretty good amount of them (~50 pages). Although you don't need to read them all to play a single power, to get a full understanding of the diplomatic aspects of the game, which are pretty significant, you'll want at least a rough understanding of them.
For instance, although France and the Protestants are not necessarily friends, it may at times be worth both of their while to cooperate to screw over the Papacy, their mutual natural adversary. So, to help your potential ally, but not boost them into winning the whole game you'll want to understand how their power works somewhat.
To me the most unique and potentially confusing section of the rules from other similar games is definitely the Reformation itself. The other part that's a little different are the diplomatic rules. You can't just go to war with someone, and after you do, you can't just decide to declare a peace treat without potential consequences for both sides.
Okay.... back to Dragon Age!
I have them in pdf somewhere. And yes, I agree with what you implied Scott. New gamers should read the intro and also the rules pertaining to their side on the actual rulebook. Everything else is just extra.
The 6th or 20th of February also work for me.
So does it sound like February 20 (more likely) or February 6 might actually fly?
Feb 20th would be convenient.
It is sounding like we have a winner on February 20; so are we figuring we can pick powers Saturday or Monday?
Shall we lock this in, gentlemen?
So we have in favor of February 20th:
Rob
Scott
Chris
Brian
Anne
Fred (because he said any day would work...)
We just need to confirm start time and location and any other prep work that is required!
My offer to host still stands, if all are in favor, but I won't be offended if anyone else prefers to host. Especially if the rest of you live closer to each other and don't want to drive to my place.
Start time: I would vote for morning although I guess that depends on if Fred's definition of early morning is 11:58 or not...
Location: I know my place is totally unsuitable geographically (Boerne) and otherwise (4 cats; table only big enough for 4; very small). I don't know where Fred and Rob are coming from. Of the rest the best for me geogrpahically would be your place Anne. With that said if we really want to be nerdy about this and if I can get locations for Fred and Rob I am happy to confirm the weighted geographic center of our little group (made possible due to public web sites that allow you to convert street addresses to latitudes and longitudes and lats and longs back to street addresses).
Preparation: I guess we can figure out how best to access Rob's FAQ and How to Play guides in the interim. Of course this will be made simpler by picking powers the next time we are all together so we have a perspective to prepare from. I will claim the League of Militant Prosleytizing Athesists and Agnostics . . . what do you mean they are not one of the choices??? Doh! Oh well I guess we can pick randomly and I have a new group to go form on Meetup.
The 20th is fine.
I recommend that we draw/pick powers, read the FAQ and the rules separately. Depending on when we start, we may just want to play the tournament scenario (Turns 4-6), or perhaps the 1532 scenario (mostly the same, but doesn't automatically end on T6, has a few minor differences).
The full game could go 9 turns, at one hour+ each, and several of the powers can't realistically win until T4.
The one argument for the full game is that it does ease into things (at the cost of 3-4 hours), unless the HRE wins quickly.
I've emailed the HIS in 20 minutes article ... the rules are at GMT's site.
And it's probably best to pick powers ASAP, that way when reading the rules you can skim sections that don't apply to you. Since I've played the most (I think), I'll take whatever power nobody else wants.
The powers:
Reformation -- Fights mainly religious wars (in the full game doesn't usually have troops until T4).
Papacy -- Burn heretics, send a few troops out, and keep your good dear friends (the Spanish) from running away with the game.
England -- Wants to reform (usually), fights France, wrangle a divorce from the pope while schtupping an assortment of queensto get an heir. Explore the new world.
France -- Fight England, explore, defend Catholicism, build Versailles. Oh, and stop the Pirates.
Hapsburgs/HRE -- Explore the new world, crush the reformation, fight the infidels.
The Ottomans -- Steal land from the HRH, a bit of "agressive market acquisitions" (piracy). Totally ignores religious rules.
I forwarded the HIS in 20 minutes to Anne; Fred we need an email address to forward it to you.
My preference would be to play England followed by Protestants/Hapsburgs in a toss up; Ottomans; France and Papacy in that order. With that said my preference is a weak one and I will be happy to take random or left over.
I thought conventional wisdom was that Hapsburgs/HRE was the most complicated and thus should be played by the or one of the most experienced players?
"Early" -- I often wake up past noon, and I would not want to start before 11 unless that's horrible for everyone else.
Where I live -- 3222 Albin drive, 78209. No cats, could host if convenient.
My email (though I've already downloaded and read rules and some playthroughs): frederic dot bush at gmail.
So location wise I will leave my vote with Anne's place (and that is not just the pork talking) pending my remembering where Rob lives although I am guessing the person closest to geographic center is Brian.
11 would be ok for a start time; I could definitely do 11-6 or 7 turns and if I know ahead we are going for 9 turns so 11-8 I might be able to sell it.
Does anybody else want to express their power preference list or are we going random?
11 am, Feb 20, wherever is ok by me. It seems the game generally does not go 9 turns, so we could well be done at a reasonable hour.
Power choice: I'd prefer pope, protestants, or Ottoman Empire
This forum
http://acts.warhorsesim.com/gameListCustom.asp?moduleID=161
has a lot of pbem games, with play-by-play action.
Maybe it would be better if we could start at 10 or at least 10:30 to help move the end time up (upon reflection and discussion with some others). We still need preferences from Anne, Rob and Chris so we can nail down powers.
I have no preference. This will be my first time playing. But since the French are prettier and have better wine and perfumes, I'll take France.
Also, I will be taunting you once, if not two times about your mothers being hamsters and your fathers smelling of elderberries.
Ok, that just leaves Chris and Rob to express power preferences...
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