-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Peter Perla - 08:13pm Aug 29, 2003 PST (#753 of 812) Played a four handed game at lunch today. We went nearly two hours and only had 2 Mongol cards played! Now I can see how the game can go 3 or more hours! Did I understand the rules for amphibious ops correctly? The player who declares an attack by sea must decide (and presumably conceal in his hands separately) both the number of naval DRMs he will purchase, and the number of militia drms he will purchase. Right? Now suppose some one decides to intercept. If they play a Spies card, do they get to see only the naval DRM expenditures? I would guess yes; you only get to see militia by playing the Spies card once the ground battle begins. BUt here's a better one. It is a multi card naval move. On one card, an opponent intercepts, but it is a weak fleet (say a +0 vs Venice's +4). MUST the original attacker (Venice in this case) reveal and apply his naval DRMs? Or may he choose NOT to count them and keep them concealed? Why might he do this, you ask? Because with the prospects of multiple intercepts, one good tactic is to do a recon in force, spending 1 florin for the intercept but none on DRMs in a forlorn hope, just to see how many naval DRMS the guy bought so that a later intercept can take advantage of that knowledge to more finely judge the number of DRMs the intercept force will buy. And, just for fun, a comment from Mike Markowitz, font of incredibly arcane knowledge. He was puzzled about the choice of florins for the money. He claims the florin did not get minted until much later (I forget which century he claimed). Could it be that Medieval is fatally flawed historically by a gaffe of such magnitude? I played Venice and the Moors in this game. I thought Venice might beinteresting, and it was. Unfortunately, those were the only power cards I drew, except for Norway, which I sold off for a bargain price to one of the two players who owned a Norway province. One thing that became clear to me over time was that Venice may be in dire need of royal marriages with the HRE if it hopes to expand. Even with its powerful fleet, the overhead of amphibious ops with its piss-poor army make it very expensive to attack any province with a power card in play. Anyone else have some experience with playing Venice? Maybe I am missing something. Peter -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Allen Doum - 02:29am Aug 30, 2003 PST (#754 of 812) Better to write a single Play-aid than to curse the RAW Peter = Here is my understanding. This is based on various discussions of about timing that have taken place here. First, you pay the one to attack and allocate Naval militia. Regular militia is not allocatted until the land battle takes place. Second, Naval militia by the attacker is allocated in the open. No "recon" is needed. Naval "movement" and Interception attempts are made before any other decisions about the land battle are played. If any intercepts are succesful, that attack is over. The "land" militai is only purchased when the land battle is played, so that the play of cards that effect DRMs is done (Jihad, KoC) before it is allocated. Then a Spies card, if any, is played. Lastly you roll the dice. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Richard H. Berg - 04:46am Aug 30, 2003 PST (#755 of 812) "I'll try to be nicer, if you try to be smarter"... www.charlestonstage.com/performances/season/annie/annie_photos54.html Allen D is right (except for the "lastly" part . . . you roll the dice, and then, lastly, you scream "Oh, F$#%&k!!"). . .and, Peter, tell Mike M he needs some ex-Lax. Playing time always depends on the players, much more so than the game. RHB -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Richard H. Berg - 04:07am Sep 5, 2003 PST (#803 of 812) "I'll try to be nicer, if you try to be smarter"... www.charlestonstage.com/performances/season/annie/annie_photos54.html "Enjoyed by all but preference for larger mapcards" We're listening . . . "Used small wooden blocks from one of the many euro games ..." Which is how I originally envisioned the components, and how the game was playtested. (We also used actual coins that I'd picked up at some convention . . . made for nice clinky audibles).However, publishign realities do raise their head occasionally. "1. can you have more than 4 cards or do you have to discard after buying one?" If you have 4 cards you cannot draw any (as the rules say). And where did you see you can "buy" a card? "2. I assume that a pope card can be played by a player who has no catholic powers" Yes, altho that changed back and forth during testing. Just makes it easier if you don't restrict it so. "3. I also assume that a KOC card can never be played by a non Caholic power even if being used to capture one of the striped areas" It cannot be used in Support by a non-Cathy . . . but to capture a province when played as a Power (see 7.1), the KoC card IS the Catholic "power", so the playe does not need to have any normal Powers of a Catholic bent to use it in that manner. (By the way, it the KoC card succeeds in sezigin, say, Lithuania, it is now a catholic Power for that player) "4. naval transport - what does the moving player pay? - 1 for using naval transport, 1 for each naval battle he is involved in or just 1 for the land battle at the end (assuming he makes it)?" The phasing player pays 1F to annoucne the Attack (as with any other attack), plus ?F for any naval or land suppport he buys. The latter can be used as many times as needed in that announced Attack. (There is a 1F cosat to announce an Interception thereof . . .) RHB