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The game components and artwork was visually pleasing and interesting. With your turn affected by a season's random condition, by bidding on a particular place in the game turn with its own specific advantage, and the order of events being determined randomly by card draw, you constantly had to shift plans and try to be ready for the unexpected.

I was able to squeak out a victory, barely edging past Dave, by running a campaign focused more on military conquest (but also suffering a farmer's revolt in the 2nd year due to a rice shortage).

Turn 1: In the 3 player game, Stafford starts with the initiative, and Rex used this to make sure he went first. The midlands were heavily contested between York and Stafford, and both houses opted to spend the turn securing influence in the region and building a few smaller armies. Lancaster, concentrated in the Far North and South, spent the turn also building influence and capturing several additional votes for parliament.

Turn 2: Combat began in earnest, as Stafford had already had enough of York’s meddling and pounced. The attack was enough to push Richard of York out of a few areas, which Stafford then took control of with influence. York countered with attacks of his own, taking several areas from Stafford. Lancaster was perfectly content to sit back and build influence and recruited another house to his cause.

Turn 3: French raids along the southern coast sent Lancastrian forces into harm’s way, but thankfully no lives were lost. It did force several units to sit still for the turn though. York and Stafford continued their shoving match in the midlands, but Lancaster, with nearly half his units stuck in place ad unable to act, was forced to simply sit and watch the debacle. A “Busy Year” event play by Stafford to shake things up drew a parliament event, and then it was on to turn 4.

Turn 4: Lancaster had managed to be proclaimed King 3 turns running and had used his advantage to make certain that he went last. Unfortunately, Stafford, who was going first, played his “Affairs of State” event card on action 1, sending the game immediately to the parliament step and bypass the entire rest of the turn.

Turn 5: Having been delayed for a turn by Stafford’s last play, Lancaster took a lesson and placed York first and himself second, making Stafford last in the rotation. Much combat ensued this turn, as all of the houses saw a need to eliminate nobles from the game. Warwick (held by York) pounced on Buckingham (Rex’s leading heir). Stafford (Rex’s second heir) jumped York. Lancaster sent a large force of Percy and Clifford (both at full strength) to engage the survivor of the York/Stafford battle (which turned out to be York). Lancaster also sent a combined arms force of Beaufort, Holland, and Courtenay against the victor of the Warwick/Buckingham fight (which was Buckingham). The only major result of all of this (besides loss of armies) was that Salisbury (in Warwick’s force) was captured by Buckingham. At this point Yorkist forces under Mowbray moved into London to secure it.

Turn 6: At this point, with switching players and 2 new players learning the rules, the game had gone about 4 hours or so, so we called it for Lancaster, who had 19 of the 35 areas needed for an economic win, and also had 5 turns as King out of 9 needed for a Political victory. He also had the largest army in play.

Overall, I am pleased with play, though the learning curve seems a bit much for new players. There are a few minor rules issues that also need correction, and some graphic streamlining as well. My thanks to Rex, Steve L, and Scott for helping out this month.