"God save us from the Fury of the Northmen" is now up to turn 3 (with 4 In the offing). As I have said before, God save us is a Matrix Game which simulates a Viking raid in England sometime In the Dark ages. As with other MGs it uses words to recreate the situation rather than numbers. It is like we all used to do when we played cowboys and Indians as kids - "Bang, Bang! You're dead." "No I'm not. You just grazed me!". The difference is that MGs don't boil down into yes-no- yes-no pushing shoving matches. The action is taking place around Alton. The reasons that support the argumento for this turn come from the Matrix that follows. Turn 1 England is at peace - so nothing happens - except that Egbert, Thane of Alton, rides to Lindesfaine with all his housecarls. Turn 2 The Vikings land east of Alton at night - They are prepared to attack Alton at dawn. Vince Zahnle won turn 2 and provided the following PRESENTING ARGUMENT for turn 3. Mind you, though Vince's argument is likely to happen, it may not (since Vince won on an argument that went against the PA of turn 2). Action: The Vikings attack Alton at dawn. Result: All who bear arms against them are killed, but all others (more or less unharmed) are rounded up In the town center Reasons: 1) Surprise is the best weapon. 2) Peasants are poor in battle. 3) Raiders are well trained. Players respond to the argument by 1) agreeing with the action and result of the presenting argument (which makes it happen) and adding a second result to the action (called a YES AND argument); ) by agreeing with the act on of the presenting argument but with a different result (called a YES BUT argument); 3) by saying that nothing In the presenting argument happened and that instead a completely different argument happened (called a NO ACTUALLY argument). Note that Vince won the last turn with a NO ACTUALLY argument. This turn includes YES AND and YES BUT counter arguments. Turn 3 Chuck Hagen sends Action: Yes; The Vikings attack Alton at dawn. Result: All who bear arms against the Northerns are quickly dispatched AND the looting begins. Reasons: 1) Surprise is an excellent tool for combat, 2) Peasants are not trained for battle, 3) Vikings are here to gain wealth. (Chuck did not specifically say this was a YES AND counterargument, but it seems to follow from his words. Also, though he did not use the exact words from the matrix, he paralleled them in meaning. Which is what I always do in face to face MGs.) Carl Carlson sends Action: Yes; The Vikings attack Alton at dawn. Result: But; The attack routs the inhabitants quickly, leaving the village Intact, while the refugees demoralize the countryside with stories of demons from the sea. Reasons: 1) Saxons are wimps, 2) Raiders are well armed, 3) It takes time to organize for battle. [Carl's result was different from Vinces since it had the peasants routing away rather than being rounded up. But you can see the benefits of letting some of the defeated get away, because they will do as much or more to help you conquer the land than your own men will.] Chris Blair sends Action: Yes; The vikings attack Alton at dawn. Result: They kill and round up everyone, AND; The Thane of Alton returns to his home when the Raiders are drunk with their spoils! Reasons: 1) Mounted men can travel anywhere in 1 turn, 2) Thanes seek glory in battle, 3) It is nearly impossible to prevent raiders from getting drunk-while they loot. [Chris' 3rd reason is not on the matrix, but I think it sounds reasonable considering all the pirate movies I've ever seen. I in not certain Vince had the Vikings looting yet, but to give the ONLY Saxon player a chance, I am allowing it.) Chris Engle sends Action: Yes; The Vikings attack Alton at dawn. Result: They kill and round up everyone, AND; the men of Puddleby, really Viking settlers, rise up in revolt Reasons: 1) Towns ending In BY are of Viking origin. 2) Vikings are Barbarians. 3) Saxons are wimps! [I use a non-matrix reason as well, but since towns with by endings really were Viking settlements, I think it is acceptable.) Next Turn If your argument wins, you get to make the Presenting argument for the next turn. Since this is a PBM game the players have to assume that they will win and send their presenting arguments along with their turn. The possibilities for turn 4 are ... Chuck sends Action: The Vikings search for and carry off their booty. Result: The Vikings, having what they came for, load their prizes onto their ship(s) Reasons: 1) The raiders are here to take wealth. 2) There is little challenge. [I guess from defenders.] 3) The Vikings must leave before they are met by any organized force. [or face being wiped out.) Chris Blair sends Action: Egbert and his housecarls fight a ferocious battle with the raiders. Result: The raiders are driven out of the town, sans loot, back to their ships. Reasons: 1) Vikings are disorganized by their looting. 2) It takes time to organized for battle. 3) Combat is bloody. Chris Engle sends Action: The Vikings of Puddleby march on Lindesfarne. Result: If they kill Egbert then they have conquered the land. Reasons: 1) Villages' food and animals are real wealth. 2) Raiders seek to gain wealth. 3) Thanes lead housecarls and districts. Carl ... did not send a new presenting argument (Don't worry, as you have seen, nearly everyone has forgotten at one time or other.] Vince ... also did not send in a new presenting argument. [I am sorry, I have not made it clear that it is possible for the presenting argument to happen with no counter-arguments attatched] Resolution So now we figure out which argument wins. This is done like a dance marathon, i.e. the last couple standing, wins. Each argument is given a value from 1 to 6 (from an arbitrary scale of what is a "strong" argument). A roll is made against each argument to see if it rules ITSELF out. An argument rules itself out by a roll higher than the number it was given. Eventually only 1 argument remains. The arguments value comes from... Per reason given (max 3): 1 Presenting argument: 0 YES AND argument: 1 YES BUT argument: 0 NO ACTUALLY argument: -1 Strong argument: 1 Weak argument: -1 This turn the values came out as follows ... Vince Zahnle 3 reasons + presenting argument = 3 Chuck Hagen 3 reasons + YES AND = 4 Carl Carlson 3 reasons + YES BUT = 3 Chris Blair 3 reasons + YES AND = 4 Chris Engle 3 reasons + YES AND = 4 The first round of rolling ruled out Vince, Carl and Chris Blair. The second round of rolling ruled out no one. The third round of rolling ruled me out, so Chuck is the winner! Result The following happened on turn 3 ... Action: The Vikings attack Alton at dawn. Result: All who bear arms against them are killed, but all others (more or less unharmed) are rounded up in the town center. (So both Vince's turn and Chuck's turn happened but Chuck is the one who makes the next presenting argument.] The presenting argument for turn 4 is ... Action: The Vikings search for and carry off their booty. Result: The vikings, having what they came for, load their prizes onto their ship(s). Reasons: 1) The raiders are here to take wealth, 2) There is little challenge, 3) The Vikings must leave before they are met by any organized force. An Interesting event happened this time. Ned Zuparko, who was in the first 2 turns, was not this turn. At the same time, Carl Carlson (from Sweden no less) joined in the game. As you can see, players coming in and out of the game has NOT disrupted the continuity of play. It is possible for a player to come and go from an MG with ease. This is not a virtue that many games have. Back to Experimental Games Group # 4 Table of Contents Back to Experimental Games Group List of Issues Back to MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 1989 by Chris Engle 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