Sun of York. A Game Demonstration

Transcription

1 Sun of York A Game Demonstration

2 What s Sun of York About? Sun of York is a card game depicting tactical battles during the Wars of the Roses in England, that occurred throughout the latter half of the 15th Century. The game system is inspired by the Dixie and Eagles games published by Columbia Games. Sun of York is uncommon with other games in that there is no map used. The game is more akin to a miniatures game where cards representing units and leaders are moved on the table to engage and attack opposing forces. Depending upon how a game plays out, battles can take from 30 minutes to around two hours to complete. Every major engagement that took place during the Wars of the Roses is represented within Sun of York (18 individual scenarios so far), offering a huge amount of playability within a single game box. Each game comes with two decks of 100 cards each, one for the Lancastrian player and the other for the Yorkist. In addition, a sheet of markers are included to keep track of combat hits and damage, as well as the general status of units on the battlefield. This demonstration describes the game components in detail and then steps through a few turns of a scenario to show how the game is played. The graphics used in this demonstration are from the current Desktop Published version of the game, and will be significantly enhanced and updated when rereleased by GMT Games. Cry Havoc!

3 Battles Included 1st St. Albans ( May 1455) Blore Heath (3 September 1459) Ludford Bridge (1 October 1459) Northampton (10 July 1460) Wakefield (30 December 1460) Mortimer s Cross (3 February 1461) nd St. Albans (17 February 1461) Ferrybridge I (7 March 1461) Ferrybridge II (8 March 1461) Towton (9 March 1461) Hedgeley Moor (5 April 1464) Hexham (15 May 1464) Edgecote Moor (6 July 1469) Losecoat Field (1 March 1470) Barnet (14 April 1471) Tewkesbury (4 May 1471) Bosworth ( August 1485) Stoke (16 June 1487) Also included are a random deal your own scenario and a full campaign that strings many of the historical scenarios together in order to simulate the complete struggle for the crown.

4 Sun of York Card Types There are four types of cards in Sun of York: Leaders Troops Terrain Special King Edward IV Footsoldier Men-at-Arms Terrain Stream Special Rally BATTLES Towton Losecote Field Barnet Tewkesbury Card 006 LEADER 5 Card 064 COHESION 4 MOVE 1 Affects all positions (place to the side of the play area). All units deduct two (-) from all morale checks. Moving a unit into a Battle costs four Orders. Card 091 Card 098 May be played on an engaged or unengaged area. At a cost of one Order per unit in an engaged area or at no cost in an unengaged area, roll a die for each unit and deduct that many Cohesion hits. Units in the chosen area are not required to benefit from this event.

5 Leader Cards Leaders (and leadership) are the key to victory in Sun of York. Leader cards provide the means to easily maneuver units in the battle, as well as keep them there. Leader card values are as follows: Footsoldier Men-at-Arms King Edward IV Royalty Indicator: The presence of a crown icon indicates that a leader is Royalty. This status has an effect on Special card play. Card 064 COHESION 4 MOVE 1 BATTLES Towton Losecote Field Barnet Tewkesbury Card 006 LEADER 5 Ability: This is the number or less that a leader must roll to inflict a hit on an enemy unit. Leadership: This value indicates a die roll modifier added to Morale checks. Orders: The number of order points derived when playing a Leader card as an Orders card. Terrain Stream Affects all positions (place to the side of the play area). All units deduct two (-) from all morale checks. Moving a unit into a Battle costs four Orders. Card 091 Special Rally Card 098 May be played on an engaged or unengaged area. At a cost of one Order per unit in an engaged area or at no cost in an unengaged area, roll a die for each unit and deduct that many Cohesion hits. Units in the chosen area are not required to benefit from this event.

6 Troop Cards Troop cards represent the forces used to attack your opponent. There are several varieties of these cards, including Foot Soldiers, Pikemen, Missile Units and Cavalry. Each of these types are further subdivided into different sub-categories. Footsoldier Men-at-Arms Card 064 COHESION 4 MOVE 1 Unit Name: The sub-category of the unit. If this name is printed in red text, the unit is considered veteran. Cohesion: This value represents the number of dice rolled in combat as well as the state of the unit itself. As a unit takes hits, this value decreases until the unit has been eliminated. Movement: This value indicates how many areas a unit may move within its wing of the battle. Ability: This value represents the quality of a unit. When attacking, this number or less must be rolled to achieve a hit. Missile Units have two Ability ratings to distinguish Melee combat from Ranged combat. King Edward IV BATTLES Towton Losecote Field Barnet Tewkesbury Card 006 Terrain Stream Affects all positions (place to the side of the play area). All units deduct two (-) from all morale checks. Moving a unit into a Battle costs four Orders. Card 091 Special Rally Card 098 LEADER 5 May be played on an engaged or unengaged area. At a cost of one Order per unit in an engaged area or at no cost in an unengaged area, roll a die for each unit and deduct that many Cohesion hits. Units in the chosen area are not required to benefit from this event.

7 Terrain Cards Terrain cards represent the various terrain forms that existed on the battlefields represented. These cards are placed only during the setup of a scenario and may not be placed as terrain after a battle starts. Later in a battle, these cards are used as Orders cards, only. King Edward IV Terrain Stream BATTLES Towton Losecote Field Barnet Tewkesbury Card 006 LEADER 5 Footsoldier Men-at-Arms Effects: This description indicates how the terrain type affects units within, moving into or Card 064 COHESION 4 MOVE 1 Affects all positions (place to the side of the play area). All units deduct two (-) from all morale checks. Moving a unit into a Battle costs four Orders. Card 091 out of an area containing the terrain type. Orders: This value indicates how many order points the Terrain card is worth when played as an Orders card. Special Rally Card 098 May be played on an engaged or unengaged area. At a cost of one Order per unit in an engaged area or at no cost in an unengaged area, roll a die for each unit and deduct that many Cohesion hits. Units in the chosen area are not required to benefit from this event.

8 Special Cards Special cards are played at defined moments to affect the state of units in play and to lend an authentic period feel to an otherwise generic system. They can be used to rally units, to cause confusion among your opponent s forces, to allow units to attack more than once in a turn, among many others. These cards can also be used as Orders cards if they cannot be played at a particular point during a battle. King Edward IV Special Rally BATTLES Towton Losecote Field Barnet Tewkesbury Card 006 LEADER 5 May be played on an engaged or unengaged area. At a cost of one Order per unit in an engaged area or at no cost in an unengaged area, roll a die for each unit and deduct that many Cohesion hits. Units in the chosen area are not required to benefit from this event. Effects: This description indicates how and when the special effect can be played. Footsoldier Men-at-Arms Card 064 COHESION 4 MOVE 1 Terrain Stream Card 098 Orders: This value indicates how many order points the Special card is worth when played as an Orders card. Affects all positions (place to the side of the play area). All units deduct two (-) from all morale checks. Moving a unit into a Battle costs four Orders. Card 091

9 Sequence of Play Both players roll a die to determine Initiative for the turn. Ties go to the player holding the Initiative on the prior turn (or the Attacker specified in the scenario description on the first turn). The player holding the Initiative determines who goes first in a turn, possibly allowing for double activations. The first player makes Morale checks for all units sustaining hits (leaders first) during the previous activation(s). This is done by rolling a die for each hit and comparing the modified result against the unit s current Cohesion. Failure of any of these rolls results in a retreat for that unit. Succeeding with all rolls leaves the unit in place, but lowers its Cohesion by the number of hits sustained. A unit dropping to zero Cohesion is immediately eliminated. The decision is also made at this point to commit or withdraw leaders from combat. The first player attacks with any and all units. This is done by rolling a number of dice equal to the Cohesion of an attacking unit. The modified die rolls are compared to the unit s Ability to see if hits are applied to enemy units. Hits are applied to enemy units as evenly as possible and leaders may only be hit if committed to combat. All attacking units are marked as having attacked, as they cannot move. The first player moves any units that did not attack. Units may only be moved if they are in command. A unit is in command if it occupies a battle area with a Leader or if Order Points are spent to activate it. The cost to activate a unit depends upon the type of movement it takes. Order Points must be spent to bring reinforcements into the battle. The second player now activates his own units for Morale, Combat and Movement. At any point during this process, Special Cards may be played to cause a variety of effects.

10 Play Area Lancastrian Player Sun of York was not designed to use a map. Instead, players set their forces up on a table and move them through an imaginary grid. The grid is 3x3, with the rows adjacent to the players being their respective Rear Areas and the middle row being the Middle Ground. In the parlance of the period, the columns are referred to as Battles (as opposed to the more commonly used Wings ). Therefore, each player has a Left, Center and Right Battle through which to maneuver their forces. In addition to the battles, there are two flanking columns adjacent to the left and right Battles. Each of these columns have two areas that overlap Rear and Middle Ground areas, allowing units to attack into either when activated. The Battle areas each may contain up to four units and a leader. When a scenario is set up, terrain cards might be placed into a specific Battle area. Flank Right Battle Rear Center Battle Rear Left Battle Rear Flank Area Left/Right Battle Middle Center Battle Middle Right/Left Battle Middle Area Flank Area Left Battle Rear Center Battle Rear Right Battle Rear Flank Area Yorkist Player Units under orders may only move forward and backward within their own Battles (they cannot move from one battle to another). Units in Flank areas may move into adjacent areas (Center or Rear) in adjacent Battles, temporarily exceeding the four-unit limitation, in the form of a Flank Attack. A Battle is won by capturing either your opponent s Center Rear Battle area or both his Left and Right Rear Battle areas.

11 Scenario Setup First: Select a scenario and pick sides. One side is noted as the Attacker (who wins tied Initiative rolls on the first turn). Second: Both players remove the Leaders and Terrain cards indicated in the scenario setup from their respective decks and place them in the Battle areas as described. Any additional Leader and Terrain cards are considered Orders cards for the duration of the game. Third: If specified by the scenario, one player must discard a specific number of cards from their deck. This process simulates the historical disparity in force sizes during the battle. Fourth: Each player deals 16 cards from his deck and examines them. Four cards are placed face-down in each of the their three Rear Battle Areas, as desired, leaving each with a hand of four cards. Once each player has placed their cards, the cards are flipped over. If a player places non-scenario specified Leaders or Terrain cards (or unplayable Special cards) in their Rear areas, these are immediately discarded. Fifth: Both players roll for Initiative and the game begins! Optional: Certain scenarios require that players start with Special Cards or that other conditions may be in effect during the course of the game.

12 Some Play Considerations Play continues until either an automatic victory occurs (the loss of Rear areas) or the Attacker runs out of cards to play. Depending upon the scenario, this places the onus of attack upon the Attacker and enhances the requirement that they keep their units in command. Leaders are the key to play as they allow units to be moved without Orders cost. They can be used to funnel units into engaged Battle areas (thus staying safely behind the lines ). In addition, however, Leaders can significantly enhance the capabilities of units they re stacked with, particularly when committed to combat. This makes them vulnerable to elimination, but can provide enough of a punch to capture a Battle. Both sides have the same number of Orders points available within their decks. The Lancastrians have more Orders cards, but the Yorkist s cards are of greater value. This means that the Lancastrians can more easily keep units moving during the course of a battle, but the Yorkists can pack major punches all at once. Since reinforcements can only be brought into play via Order points, a handful of strong troops is worthless without the Orders to get them into the fight. Therefore, players must be willing to discard quality units in hopes of acquiring the Orders required to get any troops into play. A forward defense is important. If your army s back is against the wall, units will rout from the battle upon a single failed Morale check. Even when defending, you ve got to take the fight to your enemy.