Here I Was: The Madness Continues

This is just a bullshit catch-all blog, so take that for what it's worth. I'm not sure if it is acceptable to use this blog for non-game related content, but I'm going to anyway. If there is a problem, just delete the blog or tell me to.

 So today I finished my History thesis, completing a BA in History. Monumental I suppose, but a strange feeling. I still have next quarter to finish my Scandinavian Studies degree, but I'm just in shock from actually having completed something so involved. I was fairly restricted in my choice of topics for the thesis (The class was titled "Europe in Revolt: Revolutions of the Twentieth Century") but managed to stretch the parameters of accepted topics as far as I could. My restrictions were to write on a European nation, a revolution and within the twentieth century. I wrote on Armenia between 1878 and 1922. The farthest reaches of Europe, and the farthest back I could manage in the twentieth century (although I could have written about the Russian revolution of 1905). I think the paper turned out fairly well, but I had to stop myself from revising and just realize I couldn't make it any better without a lot more time. I wrote about Armenian revolutionary parties and activities in the Ottoman and Russian empires leading up to Armenian independence in the First World War and before their incorporation into the Soviet Union. Having written about this topic, I now need to get my First World War fix in for wargaming. Pursuit of glory would be good for its depth on the Caucasian front, Great War in Europe would be good for its depth and Triumph of Chaos would be interesting for the Trancaucasian (Armenia, Georgia and Azerbaijan) role in the Russian Civil War. This, of course, reminds me that I need to play Paths of Glory again; a game I do indeed own and have enjoyed in the past.

So I previously alluded to the fact that I was applying for graduate study in Scandinavian studies, and the good news is that I was accepted into every program I applied but one. Tomorrow I fly down to Berkeley to meet with the department and hear a bit more about it. Pretty nerve wracking, but it will be a good opportunity to see where I could possibly be spending many years in my near future. 

Continuing Here I Stand news, I was fortunate enough to convince my game group to push aside Struggle of Empires (a game I do not much care for) for Here I Stand. We played beginning with the 1532 scenario, and I highly recommend it for those with a greater restriction on time. The board position is very different, skipping the first three turns altogether, putting the Protestants in the temporal world (via the Schmalkadic league) and the Ottomans in the pirating world. I played France in our game and did fairly well. I lament my cowardice in preventing greater victory in the game, as I feared English backstabbing if I was to attack the Papacy or Genoa in Italy. The English were successful with Edward on the second turn, so could declare war at any moment upon me. I kept a large army ready, presuming such an attack as imminent, but it never came. I could easily have routed the English armies with my combat cards, but never really had the cards to move into and out of Italy while contending with the English. I still managed to two for third with the English at the end of turn six, so all was not completely lost. At least England didn't win. 

The real shocker was how close the game was. At the end of turn five, England, France and the Hapsburgs were tied at 21 points. The Ottomans, Protestants and the Papacy were all tied at 19 points. The auto-win was 25, so going into turn six, we really didn't know exactly who would win. Our Protestant player however, was on a role by turn six, and not even the Jesuit colleges could slow his expansion into France and England. My French armies couldn't help the religious struggle that much, and by the last turn I new I had erred by not dedicating more resources to striking down the English with events.

The Ottomans pulled some surprise moves in the game, taking Vienna and Charles V by the end of the first turn! He settled for a large peace deal, giving him a large chunk of points, but also allowing him the entire next turn to focus exclusively on piracy. The Hapsburg player hadn't remained allied to the Pope, nor did he have access to Italian ships, so he was quickly routed in the Mediterranena. After losing practically all his ships, the Hapsburgs dominated control of the sea except for Lyon where I was able to keep him at bay with several ships. The Hapsburg player spent a lot of time worrying about colonizing the new world and exploring, often to his detriment. All the points he gained from the New World didn't much help him in later turns when he was forced to give up four cards to the Ottomans for their repeated successes in piracy. I never actually warred with the Hapsburgs, and probably should have. He was so split trying to fight off Ottoman armies and pirates as well as the roming Protestant armies who controlled every electorate.

The final game came down to a Protestant win. His successes just kept him rolling, and a late game combination of the printing press and a full bible translation in French pushed him to near total conversion of France. His final score was 28, the Ottomans pulled in at second with 26, the English and French tied at 22, the Hapsburgs floundered at 19 and the Papacy crumbled to 17. It was a great game, vicious, fluid and exciting. Lots of debaters were burned, many wars were fought unsuccessfully and successfully and it only took us four hours and some change.

Good times were had by all. I hope I can keep the good will towards the game rolling in my game group. I don't want to play some Euro excuse for a game when I can play the real thing!