By Otto Schmidt
You are the youngest brother of the King of Atholl. Ahead of you in line of succession in Prince Lanolin. While you hate Lanolin, you idolize your oldest brother Beltelephon. The War has not gone well. Legolam, son of Ltihium, self-styled “King of the Elves” has once again revolted in the north, and while your main armies are fighting there, the Salacious Empire has attacked in the south. Your brother Beltelephon has cobbled up a hodge-podge army of mercenaries and what troops he could spare and gone to meet them. Yet, the Swinns, your old allies have proven cranky and unwilling, no doubt because of division within Swinnland which question continued help to your dynasty and these interminable civil Wars. Worse, Prince Lanolin your lout of a brother is proving more than his usual pig-headed and stupid self. He has opposed every attempt your brother has made to modernize the army and copy modern methods. He continues to intrigue with the noble houses and try and undermine your position with them and your brother. He wants to be king. The only problem is that he is even more of an idiot than Legolam. This is not the worst of your troubles. Beltelephon seems somewhat happy. He got a message a few days ago which seemed to change his mood, but you don’t know why. One would normally think this is good, but not you. Honestly, you seem to be the only person in this army who wants to win! The Swins are alternately fighting with the Black Legion and then kissing up to them and vice versa. There are rumors of dealings between them and the Zwiss, and it is obvious that your brother is being a lout. You are personally loved by all, but what can you do? No one seems concerned about the enemy on your sacred soil. Several Nobles have approached you with the possibility of leading another revolt against Beltelephon but you have refused. NOTE: You have a special ability through your popularity. You may move ANY Atholli unit you wish (have the Atholli flag on their name tag) if you are within one measure of them. If it is an Atholli Gendarme unit you must roll a 1,2, or 3 to wrest control of it from Lanolin, and a 1 or 2 to wrest control of it from Beltelephon. You may similarly take control of any unit of the Mercenaries by rolling a 1 to 4, but again you must be within 1 measure of it. You have NO control over the SWINNS, but the leader of the Black Legion is your good friend. You may not control his unit, but you can, if within 1 measure of the leader of the Black Legion prevent him from doing anything that turn with a die roll of 1 or 2. If the De La Onslogger or Lanolin figures, are killed, the units revert to your permanent control. 1. You get 5 Victory points if you hold the four redoubts and Mortadella at the end of the game. 2. You get half of all Victory points that Beltelephon gets. More Truly Machiavelian Renaissance Games Elvish Civil Wars
Secret Victory: Beltelephon: King of Atholl Secret Victory: Prince Lanolin Secret Victory: Counts of Flotsam and Jetsam Secret Victory: William De La Onslogger Secret Victory: Marquise of Gorgonzola Secret Victory: King of Belgravia Secret Victory: Sha Na-Na Secret Victory: Benelux, General of Salacia Secret Victory: General Arnold Von Der Kukuclocken Umpire Notes Back to Table of Contents -- Courier #83 To Courier List of Issues To MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 2002 by The Courier Publishing Company. This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com |