Through The Ages - Card - Joan of Arc

This is a series of blogs written about each card in Through The Ages.  To find more, simply click on "Cards" label.
Joan of Arc

History

France and England haée tactics had devastated the French economy and strong French leadership was missing.  This was the state of affairs in France when Jehanne D'Arc (Joan of Arc), an illiterate farm girl of no particular fame, began receiving visions from God.
d been waging war since 1337, with some truces within that time.  Over this time England slowly had gained the upper hand.  By 1427 France was badly mauled.  Morale was low, English chevauch

In 1428 the English besieged the city of Orleans.  So desperate was the situation when Joan approached the heir to the French throne, the Dauphin of France Charles VII, he did more than listen to her.  He let her travel with his army and, after they were donated to her, let her wear the equipment of a knight.  Joan's presence transformed the French view of the war from a simple fight against the English, to one of religious fervor.  The French army's vigor was renewed with her speeches and her sermons of success by the will of god.  When they met the English army outside Orleans in 1429, the English were defeated.

Joan's actual role in the battle is not known.  It can be confirmed she at least bore a standard, but whether she commanded any troops is not known.  Just her mere presence, however, was enough to inspire the French to fight with renewed strength.

After Orleans Joan convinced the Dauphin to give her co-command of an army.  Furthermore, she proposed a bold move to take a series of bridges deep within enemy territory to reclaim the city of Reims, where she said Charles VII would be crowned King.  From the 12th of June to the 16th of July the French recaptured town after town, most of it without bloodshed.  The battles which did occur were completely one-sided in the favor of the French, and Charles VII became King of France at Reims.  By December of that much of France, including the capital city of Paris, were back under French control.

In one short year, Joan's visions had come true.  France was a nation again.  However, in 1430 she was captured by the English.  She was tried as a heretic and, despite displays of incredible oratory talent, she was condemned.  Evidence suggests her English captors put her in a position where she was forced to break the law.  In any case, she was sentenced to death and burned at the stake.

She was 'retried' for her crimes in 1455, and found not guilty in 1456.  She became a symbol of the Catholic church.  In 1920, nearly 500 years after her death at the age of 19, Joan of Arc was canonized to sainthood.  

Game Stats

Joan of Arc seems like a good leader to permit a player to continue building culture while maintaining military strength.  Unfortunately, her statistic indicate she may have saved France, but at best she is more likely to result in costing the player the game in Through The Ages.
Opinions
Joan of Arc suffers, like almost all Age I Leaders, suffers from "Not Good Enough" syndrome.  Basically, there lacks a compelling reason to 'upgrade' to an Age I leaders.  Perhaps Joan's best use is as a deterrent.  Her play at least gives compensation for a player who is being attacked by all the other players.  She therefore buys some breathing room for the player to rebuild their economy.  Otherwise, far better leaders exist than Joan of Arc.

HIS - Ottomans - Strategy - Knights of St John

While the Knights of St. John remain in play there is a constant possibility of another player playing the Knights of St. John card.  If the Knights of St. John are in play when the card is played, the Ottomans will lose 1 card from their hand.  Additionally, after Piracy is played, the Knights roll 1 die to sink corsairs if the piracy is in an adjacent sea zone.

The odds of the Knights appearing in an opponent's hands is roughly around 30% or less.  Thus, the Knights results in the loss of three cards per game on average.  The problem here is they can seriously disrupt any plans the player attempts in the middle of the Ottoman's turn.

Dealing with the Knights

The main way to deal with the Knights is to assault their position take over Rhodes.  Removing the Knights effectively requires a full two impulses and 4 cp:

• Move ships to a sea zone - 1 cp
• Move 5 troops, and a leader, to Rhodes - 2 cp
• Assault Rhodes - 1 cp

Consequences of Removing Knights of St. John

Removing the Knights adds a degree of certainty to the Ottoman's turns.  It makes it easy for the Ottoman player to ensure any plans they have will proceed as expected.  Additionally, if a player wants to bring the Knights back into play it will cost the player 2 cp.

Opinion

In my opinion, I prefer to remove the Knights rather than have them remain in play.  If played against the Ottomans, the loss of a card can seriously disrupt the Ottoman's plans.  This can leave the Ottomans in a seriously weakened position at the most inopportune time.  It is possible to leave the Knights alone throughout the game and they may have no effect.  But their threat is something to consider.

HIS - Ottomans - The First Turn

The Ottomans have a very specific action for their first turn: Attack Belgrade.  No other option makes sense.

Why take Belgrade?

At the start of the turn, the Ottomans gain 3 cards (plus Home Card).  To gain a 4th card they only need one key.  From their territory there are only two keys to attack: Belgrade and Buda.

Buda: Not an Option

Deciding to attack Buda first is suicidal for the Ottoman player.  First, Buda requires 4 CP  minimum to initiate the combat:

• 2 cp to cross the pass to Sezgedin, 
• 1 cp to convert Sezgedin to Ottoman control,
• 1 cp to move and siege Buda

Unlike most spaces, there will be a field battle to control Buda before there is an assault.  The Ottomans should have no trouble taking Buda if they bring all their armies (reinforced with their Home Card).  This is, however, an expensive option compared to Belgrade.  Furthermore, Buda cannot be reinforced during the Spring Deployment phase as it is across a Pass.

The other reason is the fall of Buda will cause a war with the Hapsburgs on Turn 1, who will gain all the Hungarian spaces as friendly allies: including Belgrade.

This puts the Ottomans at a war with the militarily strongest power in Europe.  Furthermore, troops left in Buda are isolated with expensive reinforcement costs.  Lastly, with control of Belgrade, the Hapsburgs not only have the Ottomans contained, but are able to begin launching attacks directly into Ottoman territory.

On Turn 1, with the worst cards played against them, the Ottomans have an 80% chance of Success at taking Buda.  Long term, however, attacking Buda before Belgrade is unsound.

Belgrade

Belgrade on the other hand is only 1 cp away.  It will take another card to initiate the siege, but with a full assault of Ottoman troops, Belgrade will almost certainly fall.  Lastly, the fall of Belgrade will not cause the Hungarians to ally with the Hapsburgs.

Optimum First Turn

The optimum first turn for Ottomans is as follows:

• Spring Deploy all troops from Istanbul to Nezh (or Nicopolis)
• Round 1- Play Home card to add 4 regulars to troops to Nezh/Nicopolis (bringing total army size to 12 Regular and 1 Cavalry).
• Round 2 - Play any card to place Belgrade under siege (If 3cp or higher, can build more units)
• Round 3 - Play a card to Assault Belgrade.

Optimum Attack Path

If the above method is used, the assault will have at least strength 8 during the assault to Belgrade's 2.  Facing only one enemy, this assault will succeed 96% of the time.  If it fails, a second assault needs to be made which, even with maximum casualties, will succeed 91% of the time.  Thus, the odds of success in this methodology is greater than 99%.

With these odds, Belgrade will fall!  The Ottomans now draw an additional card each turn.  The problem now becomes, what to do on the following turns now that the door to Europe is open.

Obstacles

This opening move is so standard no other player should feel threatened by it.  However, there are three possible cards which might disrupt the Ottoman plans:

• Knights of St John
• War in Persia
• Revolt in Egypt

War In Persia and Revolt in Egypt

 War In Persia and Revolt in Egypt both remove armies from Ottoman forces, but the Ottoman player may choose the armies.  In this case, the first three armies can come from Athens, Salonika and Edirne.  If the Ottoman Home Card is not played for armies (like it should be), the Ottomans will find themselves attacking Belgrade with 4 troops.  This still leads to a 80% chance Belgrade ill fall on the first assault if both are present.

Knights of St John

The other card is Knights of St. John, which causes a loss of 1 card from the Ottoman hand.  This simply reduces the number of turns the Ottomans have to capture Belgrade from two to one.  Still, the odds are 96% of taking Belgrade if the Home Card is played for armies.  If not played for armies, the Home Card provides odds of taking Belgrade to 92%.

With the above, Ottomans should always take Belgrade on the first turn.

Through the Ages - Card - Frederic Barbarossa

This is a series of blogs written about each card in Through The Ages.  To find more, simply click on "Cards" label.
Frederic Barbarossa

History

It is the mid-1100's AD, and Germany is in disarray.  The "country", such as it is, consists of 100's of small fiefdoms.  Some of these are little larger than a town or hillside.  Just 300 years earlier Germany had been a unified nation under Charlemagne.  Now it was sinking in a quagmire of every increasing personal disputes and disunion.

In 1147, Frederic Barbarossa rose to the title of King of Germany, confirmed by the Princes Electorate.  Little is known of Barbarossa's early life, except for the fact he came from two of the strongest families of Germany, who were often at each other's throats.  And his flaming red beard.

But shortly after his ascension he began immediate reforms and reunification.  Unable to muster an large military force through his home province, he managed uniting the Germans through diplomacy and reasoning.  His judgments were fair and disputes settled fairly, if not equitably.

Once united, Germany became a force.  Frederic quickly raised armies and began a campaign into Italy.  His goal was the Papal state of Milan, a strongly fortified and virtually impregnable town.  Rather than assault Milan directly, Frederic struck all of its neighboring allies.  The towns fell one by one before his forces.  The final city in this campaign, Tortona, was not only burned to ashes, but he then had the ground leveled so it was as if the city didn't exist.  Milan capitulated, and Frederick was crowned Holy Roman Emperor.

Frederick's history is very long and intertwined with deceit and treachery, with Frederick being the victim.  He successfully navigated an unending number of military campaigns to extend its influence.  Despite betrayal after betrayal, with the world seemingly against him, Barbarossa rebuilt the Germanic tribes into a united and strong country.  His impact on European history is evident as the unified German nation he sought to restore would become a force to be reckoned with throughout history.  This stronger Germany would become the focus of religious change during the Protestant Reformation.  His territorial gains would become the focus for the Third Reich's claims to land in Poland, the Ukraine, and portions of France.  Barbarossa's impact on Germanic history, and the World's, would be profound, despite the fact he was not particularly inspired in military tactics.

Game Stats

Popularity wise, Barbarossa is liked just slightly more than Genghis Khan.  He sits near the bottom of the heap.  Unlike Genghis, Barbarossa at least has some statistically relevant effects on the game.  From the statistics, it can be said Barbarossa requires expert play as he either greatly benefits the player, or drags the player down.
Opinion
I believe Frederick is somewhat underrated.  His ability to quickly build military units can be very useful, particularly if a player attempts to gain territories.  When playing Frederick and seeding the Event deck with Territories, I've found myself controlling the three territories.  Frederick allows me to quickly rebuild lost units.

Frederick Barbarossa: territory
capturing machine

The above strategy has an interesting effect on the game.  If a player can gain a resource territory and a farming territory, I can quickly build a giant military force of inexpensive warriors without unhappiness.  Not only does this place me in a strong military face, there is a pressure on the other players to not allow me to take additional territories.  At this point, it becomes more important to deftly let other player's win territory bids at the cost of reducing their military.  They are then exposed to military attacks from Frederick, and therefore spend resources on military units rather than infrastructure.

Frederick's drawback, in my opinion, is he comes one Age too late.  Like all Age I leaders, it is rarely worth it to replace an Age A leader until he dies.  Furthermore, the Age II leaders are ultimately more useful.  In some way, this resembles the 'time frame' of the Dark Ages which was occurring in Age I, the Age I leaders are individually nice with fairly impressive abilities, but they are overshadowed by their Age I and Age II counterparts.  Despite the fun of going for a "territorial victory", I can't recommend Barbarossa for many games.  If Age A leaders were removed for one reason or another, (an variant I recommend trying), I believe Barbarossa would not only see more game play, but would be much more useful.

Through The Ages - Card - Genghis Khan

This is a series of blogs written about each card in Through The Ages.  To find more, simply click on "Cards" label.

The Great Khan: a lousy card

Genghis Khan

History

Temujin was born in Mongolia around 1155 AD.  At the age of 9 his father was murdered and Temujin returned home to claim his place as tribal leader.  The tribe rejected him and his family was relegated to refugees.  During a hunting expedition he regained his leadership after killing his half brother

His marriage to Borte at 16 provided him alliances with other tribes.  Borte was kidnapped by a the Konkirat tribe, but Temujin rescued her.  Around the age of 20 Temujin himself was captured by former allies and enslaved.  He escaped and began raising an army for revenge.

With 20,000 men he began his revenge by defeating the Tartars, the tribe which had killed his father.  Every male over 3 foot tall was slain.  He then fought his former captors, boiling all the chiefs alive after his victory.  The military conquests of Temujin had begun.  His territory spread West and would eventually consist  of almost all of Asia.  His empire would be the second largest the world has yet seen, with only the British Empire being larger.  Temujin would become known as Genghis Khan.

Genghis Khan revolutionized warfare.  Besides his military genius, he created signal corps to give commands over large distances.  Like Alexander the Great, he truly understood the importance of Supply and Logistics, creating a oxcarts which kept the army moving.  He identified the motivations of his enemies, and skillfully used spies to gather more information.

Genghis Khan was more than a military leader, he was a masterful diplomat.  He formed alliances and new concepts of government.  He formalized laws throughout the Mongol Empire.  He promoted people based on merit instead of lineage, a novel concept at the time.  He promoted religious tolerance, believing faith was a matter of personal conviction not subject to governmental authority.

Genghis Khan is best known for his military conquests, particularly with large cavalry engagements.  However, the Great Khan was a strong statesmen, powerful politician, and promoter of social reforms.

Game Stats

In real life Genghis Khan was a man who demanded respect and fear.  In Through The Ages, he receives very little respect.  He is the least popular leader of them all, and by a fairly wide margin.

Militarily, Genghis is the equivalent
of Light Cavalry

At first, Genghis may seem a great leader.  Increasing the value of every cavalry unit by 1.  However, he ignores the tactics cards.  In short, for every 2 cavalry units, the player's military strength is increased by 2.  This makes him equivalent to the Light Cavalry card.  His ability overrides the Light Cavalry card, so in effect, there is a net military gain of zero!

His secondary ability is to give one culture for each cavalry unit the player has in play.  Unfortunately, cavalry units have a more expensive base military cost than infantry, which makes this ability inferior to a similar leader: Homer.  The statistics for Genghis Khan are skewed since he was only played 11% of the time, with the only significant factor being he is a game losing leader:
Opinion

With Genghis: +1 strength
Without Genghis: +2 Strength
Why play Genghis?!

Genghis Khan is the weakest leader in the game in my opinion.  First, to use his ability requires the Cavalry technology.  This puts him at the whim of card draws.  Second, he is no better than Light Cavalry tactics, and is inferior to every other tactic!  This makes his only true benefit being the culture gain, which is hardly worth mentioning.

Perhaps a 'fix' to try would be to make Genghis Khan's ability stack with the Tactics cards.  Suddenly, the players could command the "Mongolian Cavalry Horde" which the name of Genghis Khan inspires. This would certainly create a potential surge of age I and Age II military tactics.  As he is now, the Genghis Khan card inspires pity rather than fear.  Avoid this card at all costs.