Kingmaker Cyprus: Setup and first moves

I don`t intend to follow my Kingmaker Cyprus game move by move on the blog.  This is my wargames diary of course, but it`s for wargames rather than boardgames.  Even so this is essentially the basis for a Lion Rampant Campaign, so I will probably have to keep it updated to some extent.  It remains however a work in progress, and I will be amending and changing it as I find out what works and what doesn't.

The initial setup is displayed on the board:

The Holdings are as follows:

The House of Clugney

Fief  Saranta Kolones Pafos  (the Castle of the Columns)

Mercenary Bowmen

Sir Alain

Chamberlain of Paphos

Holdings Vineyards

Ship  il Bassanio di Genoa (Mercenary) (Galleass)

Admiral of Cyprus: Lemesos

Ship: Le Roi de Jerusalem of Famagusta (Galleass)

Ship:  La Belle de Kyrenia (Galleass)

The House of Conrad

Fief Kolossi Castle, Lemesos

Sir Jaques

Bishop of Pafos

Chancellor of Cyprus

Archbishop of Nicosia

Captain of Acre

Constable of Nicosia Castle

The House of Gilbert

Lordship of Carpaso

Constable of the Castle of Famagusta

Bishop of Kyrenia

Mercenary crossbowmen unit

Sir Roger

Treasurer of Cyprus

House of Gaston

Lordship of Kantara

Kings Pardon

Sir Gunter

Bishop of Famagusta

Steward of Royal Household

Count of Famagusta 

Warden of the Royal Ports: 50

Ship   Le Trinity de Famagusta (Round Ship)

Ship   Le Guillaume de Pafos (Round Ship)

House of Roland

Lordship of St Hilarion

Royal Counter 6:The Royal Bastard

Marshal of Cyprus

D'Ibelin: Count of Lefkara

Abbot of Kikkos

Holdings: Merchant

House of Richard

Fief of Pergamos

Mercenary Foot Sergeants unit

Sir William

Holdings: Stables Horse Stud

Count of Larnaca

Count of Lemesos

This is a solo game, and I turned the first card in the event deck as: "Bloodfeud between two factions."  A dice roll indicated that this is between faction 5 and faction 6.    The House of Richard and the House of Roland clearly hate each other's guts!  This is made even more interesting since both are powerful factions.  Only one Royal heir counter has been drawn, and that is the Royal Bastard who is one of the Roland's, but Sir Roland does not have a Bishop that can crown the Bastard as King, and even if he did the bastard is the weakest of the Royal Counters and could be easily challenged.  Unlike in normal Kingmaker the bastard is in play here as a character, and I diced the Royal Castle at Nicosia for his location.  That means the crown deck draws will be critical, and should Roland draw a Bishop and get the Bishop to Nicosia I could have a Bastard King on my hands!

The Game Opens

Sir Clugney draws the Blood feud card.  Random dice allocate this to Sir Richard and Sir Roland`s factions.  (This may need reworking and it may be that I should have made it Clugney since he drew it.

Clugney moves his retinue to Kourion.  Since he is Chamberlin of Pafos he takes control of the castle.

The Crown card he draws Count of Kyrenia, adding 6 Lion Rampant points to his retinue.

Sir Richard draws Crusade, but the prince of Antioch is not in play so no result.

Richard moves his retinue to Nicosia, but the Castle is already occupied.  He knows that his old enemy Sir Roland will have to join his proxy, the Royal bastard inside the city to crown him, so he waits outside.

Richard draws Sir John, adding four points to his retinue.

Sir Roland draws a skirmish card as an event.  These are straight from Lion Rampant.  This one is Hammer and Anvil. 

He gathers his retinue knowing that Sir Richard is attempting to block his way into Nicosia.  He cannot crown a King without a Bishop, but I reason that he would be better placed in Nicosia, so Sir Roland marches to give battle.  Battle is a misnomer of course, Lion Rampant is about skirmishes.  He plays the Hammer and Anvil card because choosing this may give him an advantage.

Sir Richard moves into contact outside Nicosia, and I have to resolve the battle as a tabletop game before I can make any further moves.

Sir Richard boasts that he will slay Sir Roland in this battle.  Sir Roland boasts that he will destroy Sir Richard’s Forces entirely.

 

Kingmaker Cyprus - A work in progress

Kingmaker meets both Lion and Dragon Rampant with some Cry Havoc thrown in for good measure.

On moving to Cyprus I sold my collection of 28mm Foundry feudals, investing instead in a 15mm setup, mainly for reasons of space.  These were intended to play an old favourite, Cry Havoc.  Actually a really old favourite.  To get these guys onto the tabletop I needed some kind of campaign system, and here it is...

A word of warning.  My map is a game map, and I update it regularly.  Please don't take it to be historical, particularly since I intend to play some Dragon Rampant games during this campaign.  After all I do live near the Tombs of the Kings in Pafos, where 2000 year old mosaic floors and ancient treasures can still be found!  I wanted some balance among my power hungry knights, and the map is aimed at delivering that.  Think of it as a Ludo board! 

This then is my game setup, the six "big" knights from Cry Havoc, some historical characters from the Latin Kingdom of Cyprus, and Kingmaker as the campaign game with Lion Rampant as the tabletop rules system.

The Kingdom of Cyprus was sold to Gui de Luisignan, loser of the battle of Hattin, by Richard the Lionheart.  More correctly it was re-sold, having been initially sold to the Templars, who in typical fashion massacred and looted their way to huge unpopularity on the island.  Gui settled the Kingdom by giving out Knights fiefs very generously and the de Lusignan family were to rule here for centuries.  

So why Kingmaker?  There were periods of great drama and crises during the Latin period of Cypriot history, but my game does not rely on history alone.  I intend to use the Lion Rampant rules, and my collection of figures was based and labelled to play the Cry Havoc rules.  So a small island Kingdom

where resources power and wealth are fought over in a series of skirmish rules.  It`s not exactly Kingmaker, but more my own version

The Crown Pack

Strength points will be converted to their Lion Rampant equivalent.

D'Ibelin Count of Lefkara 50

King of Cyprus  100

King of Jerusalem  100

Prince of Antioch  50

The House of Clugney

Fief  Saranta Kolones Pafos  (the Castle of the Columns)  50

The House of Conrad

Fief Kolossi Castle, Lemesos  50

The House of Gilbert

Lordship of Carpaso   30

House of Gaston

Lordship of Kantara   30

House of Roland

Lordship of St Hilarion   30

House of Richard

Fief of Pergamos   30

The Royal Counters in order of priority
These are allocated to the Crown deck.  Any may allow a faction to crown a King of Cyprus, in Nicosia, using a Bishop, but not if a more senior Royal Counter is in play.   

6   The de Lusignan Prince      

5   The former de Luisignan King`s Brother/Royal Uncle

4   The de Luisignan Queen/Heiress

3   The de Luisignan Child Heir

2   The Crown Jewels and Sacred Artifacts of the Kingdom of Jerusalem

1   The de Luisignan Royal Bastard

Marshall of Cyprus: 100

Admiral of Cyprus:  50: Lemesos

Ship   Le Roi de Jerusalem of Famagusta (War Galley)

Ship   La Belle de Kyrenia (War Galley)

Captain of Acre: 50  300 troops in Acre

Chamberlain of Paphos: 50

Chancellor of Cyprus: 50

Constable of Nicosia Castle: 50

Constable of the Castle of Famagusta 50   200 troops within 2 squares

of Famagusta

Steward of Royal Household: 50

Treasurer of Cyprus: 50

Warden of the Royal Ports: 50

Ship   Le Trinity de Famagusta (Hulk)

Ship   Le Guillaume de Pafos (Hulk)

Count of Famagusta  40

Count of Larnaca 40:

Count of Pafos 30:

Count of Kyrenia 30:

Count of Lemesos: 30:

Count of Tyre 30:

Archbishop of Nicosia

Patriarch of Nicosia

Bishop of Pafos:  30 troops in the West north

Bishop of Kyrenia: 30 troops in the north

Bishop of Famagusta

Bishop of Lemesos

Abbot of Kikkos

Prioress of Agios Ioannes

Master of the Temple
Templar Knights: 30

Mercenary War Galley

Mercenary crossbowmen: 30

Mercenary crossbowmen: 20

Mercenary crossbowmen: 20

Mercenary Spearmen  20

Mercenary Foot Sergeants  20

Mercenary Knights 10

Mercenary Skirmishers 10

Mercenary Bowmen

Mercenary Foot Sergeants

Turkish Akinji horsemen

Kings Pardon

Ship  il Antonio di Venice (Mercenary) (Hulk)

Ship  il Bassanio di Genoa (Mercenary) (Hulk)

Events Deck

FREE MOVE

WRIT

PARLIAMENT may be summoned by the Chancellor

PARLIAMENT must be summoned if there is no sole King

STORMS AT SEA

EMBASSY: King to D6 random City Kyrenia, Famagusta, Pafos, Nicosia, Larnaca, Polis

Revolt.  D6 random ie... Greek Peasant Revolt: Constable to Famagusta, Marshal to Nicosia

Pirate Raids: Marshal to Lemesos

Pirate Raids: Admiral to Famagusta

PLAGUE: D6 City

MERCENARIES GO HOME: Crossbowmen, Sergeants, Knights

Sir Clugney does his version of diplomacy

But this is a work in progress so...

Possibly also :

A Knight unhorsed?  Run Away! Run Away!

Assassination
        Draw event cards until you get one with a Nobles killed
section.  The Noble at the bottom of the list has been assassinated by
his butler for non-political reasons.  That noble along with all
titles and offices is lost (but if titled roll on the noble
returns table in the advanced rules).

Plague in Acre

Mercs Go Home Sergeants

Religious Diet
        A meeting of all Cypriot Clergy is held according to the die
role 1-2: Nicosia, 3-4: Kykkos, 5-6: Agios Ioannes.  King's peace in that
location for one round just like after parliament.

Heresy
        All Clergy must return to their home dioceses to put down new
heretical teachings.

Papal Diet
        All Clergy get a free one way trip to the continent to meet
with the Pope. No Refuge is necessary.  All must attend even if
under siege.  No ships necessary to go, but you must provide your own
transport back.  No fighting in the Holy Land for one round after the diet.
     
Excommunication
       You annoyed the Pope again.  Your faction is now
under the following restrictions:

a) All religious offices and town cards held by the faction are
returned to crown deck.

b) If you are in a city you just lost to the deck, you are immediately expelled to the surrounding area.

c) No member of your faction may enter Nicosia or a religious site.  Thus no coronations can be performed.

Rolica Game 3.2 The 4th foot storm the Convent at Po

Nun of that... Sir Arthur has a quick chat..

"Ah Qwiulp,

twake youwre chaps down to Po immediwatley and seize that Cwonvent, thweres a good fwellow,

Cwarry on."

Your scouts have looked over the convent, in a valley heading south from Pó.   Map attached.  They also report that the famous Captain von Wiessmehr and a Company of Rifles marched on a quicker route than you, and have already been in action.  They have captured the farm at the entrance to the Convent valley in a heated battle with Voltiguers.  They took the farm at "sword" point and now occupy the olive groves to the south of the farm itself.  

The noble Captain is is usual mercurial self, calmly drinking a glass of Oporto wine from the farm's own vines, which he offers to share.  He has charmed the farmer's daughter into keeping his glass filled.  He requests that your men assault the convent whilst he uses his rifles to support with thier longer range weapons.  He warns you that the dastardly Lt Capone has been seen retreating to the Convent.  

Wachtmeister Feuct, the Captain's Jeeves like Butler, and Sergeant, quietly tells you that the Captain believes that the 4th Foot are better equipped for this, as that he has lost too many men to advance here, and blames himself.  The Convent is, he tells you, held by French Grenadiers of the 27th du Ligne,  with few skirmishers left to them after the Rifles attacked the farm.  He estimates that there are no more than half a company, and that the place is vulnerable from its eastern side, where trees grow right up to the buildings.

Behind you on the road, perhaps an hour back, you can see the approach of Colonel Trant, with his Portuguese brigade of three battalions and half a squadron of Cavalry. This is Sir Arthur ' s flanking move to pass around the French Left.  But the Convent will block their way.  Captain von Wiesmehr shares your contempt of these Portuguese.  Why is Wellesley relying on them for a flank attack?  The Captain tells you that this is "why Wellesley is a General and we ain't."

Do you attack Captain, or do you wait for Colonel Trant?

...and if you attack, what's your plan Captain?

Orders for the 4th Foot

Wait for the Portugee Johnnies - stuff and nonsense sir! We attack at once. We will form, as before, into 2 skirmish groups and 3 line. 

I shall request that Captain Weissmehr would oblige us by supporting our attack by skirmishing to the north of the convent. I understand that his men have had a hard time and as a consequence he need not press home his attack but his skirmishers should prove an admirable diversion.

Under cover of the rifles' diversion I shall lead the light company of the 4th through the woods to the west of the convent with the skirmishers in the lead. On reaching the west side of the convent, that fellow Wellhard will lead the skirmishers against that side of the convent. He is to press home his attack if the opportunity arises otherwise take up good skirmishing positions to the west of the convent.

Meanwhile, I will lead the formed troops at the double and stepping out whenever possible to circle around and make a dash for the convent, which we will storm with the bayonet.

Hopefully, the Frogs will think they are outnumbered and I have purposefully left them an avenue of escape through the orchards to the east.

Forwards and God Save the King (even if he is a mad German!)

The Game

 Von Weissmehr and his Rifles approach directly along the road and begin long range sniping to get the french attention.  The Girardoni air rifle of the Captain is accurate to 200 yards with a fully pumped charge, and Quitte von Weissmehr is notorious for his wrist strength!  The weapon fires 12 balls in very quick succession, with a distinctive popping noise, but with reduced range as the pressure drops.
With two groups of men using Baker Rifles, and one eccentric Austrian Air rifle the French at the gate are quickly reduced.

 Dick Wellhard leads the 4th Foot Light Company skirmishers through light tree cover against the western wall of the Convent.

Quilp appears, having scrounged up a white horse, and leads three groups in formation against the south west corner.
The French rely on Sous Lieuteant Bâtard, Casse Toi Bâtard to his friends. (of which he doesn`t have any incidentally)  Voltiguer fire is pretty good, causing a casualty and spreading some shock.

But Quilp uses his Sergeant to reduce the shock, picking up two flags Quilp orders a volley then a charge.

Some Fisticuffs.  Even the duelling pistols of Sous Lieuteant Bâtard, are not enough.  He shouts "Casse Toi Bâtard" at Quilp and runs away.  I think that he just wanted his name in Mr Oman's book. 

 

 The Rifles attack the gate whilst Wellhard reduces the French Line group with his two skirmish groups.
The French break and flee south eastward from the Convent.

The Convent of St Flagella of the Martyred Virgins is taken, but has been almost totally looted.  Wellhard reports to Captain Quilp that he has rescued the 86 year old nun, kidnapped two games ago by Capitan Claude Douche and his men.


The arrival of Colonel Trant and his Portuguese Brigade 30 minutes later amuse both Captains Quilp and Wiessmehr.  The Portuguese are worse than useless as troops and they break formation to loot anything remaining in the monastary.  So much for Sir Artur's flanking movement.  Trant is furious.  He tells the pair of Captains "I need proper Officers to turn these dregs into fighting cocks!" He is eying up Wiessmehr and Wellhard as he says this.

From Sir Charles Oman's "A Biased History of the Peninsular War"
... leading to the capture of the Convent.  One of the Frenchy Officers a so called Monsiewer Casse Toi Batard was among the last to run away like a scared girly.
Colonel Trant, mastering his dissapointment at the behaviour of his Foreign Johnny Portugee troops noted that he would need Officers of better quality to train his men.  He determined to speak with Sir Arthur as soon as practicable.  Even at this stage the name of Quitte von Wiessmehr (1), the German exile was being mentioned in connection with this role..."    
 
(1) Quitte von Wiessmehr, a veteran of Austerlitz, and former Jager Officer, served in the Rifles during the 1808 portion of the Peninsular War, prior to his transfer to the Portuguse Cacadores in 1809.  He is credited with bringing up the quality of the Portuguese, and famously siezed the convent at Busaco, and stormed the second, less well known breach at Badajoz against fearful odds.  On the arrival of his old friend the Duke of Brunswick in the Peninsular Quitte was given a command in the Oeels Jager, fighting almost continuously until his death beside the Duke at Quatre Bras in 1815.