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  1. #1
    James Ruhland
    Guest

    Grand Strategy vs. Politics

    Ok, after being:
    1) highly critical of the warcard thingie.
    and
    2) proving myself a Monty Hauler/Munchkin of the worst order (c'mon now,
    like ya'll didn't know that before).

    It's time for me to say a few good words about Birthright (even though
    what follows is a tale of frustration that nearly invoked a reign of
    dispicable "crimes against sentient creation").
    One thing Birthright as a whole really ends up invoking is how political
    considerations can get in the way of an effective "Grand Strategy". This is
    1) annoying, 2) really "true to life" and 3) fun (I guess. . . .well, in
    the end it will be.)
    At any rate, it certainly makes the game more rich and engaging than a
    simple table top "I move my units here to crush you, muhahahahahaha!"
    wargame. I'm sure everyone has examples (c'mon, share with the group), hear
    is my most recient one, from the same little war/fiasco that I touched on
    in the other thread.
    We're at war with this superpower, and we (me and my usual bunch of
    suspects) had gathered a nice little alliance together, and were all set to
    pounce on our opponent, having spoted a weak spot. We carefully moved
    ships, allied units, and the like to a province and would then sail up
    river and hit him where it would hurt, thus forcing him to battle (which is
    good for us, even though we would have "lost" the battle, because we can
    muster replacement units faster than he can. Yes, I'm talking a war of
    attrition here, and no, I don't like it any better than you do.)
    Anyhow, everything was all set when a third party decided to invade one of
    my allies provinces (his capital, in fact). Now, if this were a simple
    wargame, or if indeed I was sole "supreme commander", I would have ignored
    this little, insignificant distraction (yes, the units garrisoning the
    capital would have been overwhelmed by goblins and their revnants, but what
    do I care? We could always take it back from this guy whenever we wanted).
    Added further into the mix was if one of my allies helped this allywho had
    suffered the third party invasion, because of the mix of political
    alliances, this ally would have been declared a traitor in his homeland
    (er. . .her homeland, by her father, none the less). So only the troops of
    the ally who's nation was attacked could be involved in the defence of the
    province (none of the other forces except for the troops of this other ally
    were close enough to respond effectively).
    Rather than ignoring this insignificant pinprick, we thus had to send a
    significant component of our special attack force to engage the invaders,
    and there wasn't really time (that's another matter) to gather a new force
    for the assault that was planned. So, instead of going to their glorious
    deaths in aid of our cause, the troops of this "other" ally (och, let's
    call these units BPG from now on) sat alone in this province for the rest
    of the turn. . .we'd resume a sligtly modified version of this plan next
    turn you see, no problem.
    And, in a typical wargame, it would have been no problem. "your" units are
    "your" units, you see. But now the twisted nature of BR takes the
    forefront. Remember I said that if the BPG helped out the ally who was
    attacked, they'd be declared a traitor because the 3rd party who spoiled
    the plan was allied to her father's realm? Well, the father decides to take
    this oportunity to engage in yet another (*yawn* this happens every other
    year) attack in concert with the 3rd party.
    He orders her daughter to have the BPG troops betray the ally in who's
    province they sit. She refuses. But the BPG troops are made up of citizens
    of the father's realm, so the vast majority (all but 10%) defect.
    Now, also because of the politics (and this is the real kicker. . .), now
    I personally am about to be declared "Persona au Graten" (yes, "person of
    cheeze") throughout the bulk of the area where my realm exists, because the
    presence and defection of these units to the "other side" (yep, here's
    politics for you) kicks in the whiney little anxieties of a local,
    reciently installed ruler (his father and older brother having reciently
    purchaced nice little plots of real estate, you see). Oh, did I mention
    this guy is in the pocket of a realm that is my rival? So he's itching to
    declare me a worthless traitor in any case.
    In any case, so now we have to further divert resources to deal with the
    defected units in Tuor's Hold (which, in a normal wargame without any
    political component, I'd just ignore for now. I mean, who cares, right?),
    resulting in a mad scramble to scrape together an army and transport it to
    the affected area (heh, now it does sound like a bad rash, which it is. .
    .here comes the ointment), all without thining out our forces where they
    SHOULD be.
    Meanwhile, I just got word that our "Big Bad Enemy's" Assault Horde has
    started to march. Oh, goodie!
    So, we have mass confusion (unless you understood the above, in which case
    I would appreciate if you'd explain it to me). It all could have been so
    simple: Troops gather in Province A, Third party B assaults Province C,
    which we ignore and we instead attack enemy Province D, resulting in enemy
    army E marching to fight us (and thus being 1) weakened and 2) out of
    possition for the ever wonderful "Maintain Armies" spell), but we are
    Defeated F, resulting in that the BPG Troops G are mostly gone, so the
    father can't order their Defection H, and my wienie Prince I can't declare
    me "Person of Cheeze" J because of the presence and defection of said
    troops (G), who are mostly going home in body bags (K) anyhow.
    Then, at our leisure, we recapture Province C with our big army L, after
    having cleared out the rest of the Big Badguy's Army E.
    See how simple everything would have been? But how fun is that. *_+

    Anyhow, if you have time after reading the above (AKA "WAR AND PEACE"
    because of it's length, no doubt), I'm sure you have your own tales to
    tell, and I need to hear them. Please. 8-)

  2. #2
    James Ruhland
    Guest

    Grand Strategy vs. Politics

    >
    > It's time for me to say a few good words about Birthright (even though
    > what follows is a tale of frustration that nearly invoked a reign of
    > dispicable "crimes against sentient creation").
    >
    Oh, another point on the previously posted screed is that it should give
    pause to thouse who were giggling in ammusement because they thought the DM
    might be being too easy on us (200 unit armies?!? c'mon!). Things are far
    from easy on us.
    I even forgot to mention the Mysterious Invasion of the Brain-Eating
    Undead and the Sinister Sorcerer which we also had to concurently deal
    with. Of course we promptly blaimed the Big Badguy for that (hey, why not?
    plus, it seemed reasonable; the exact # of undead that his main pet mage
    could summon appeared. Now, the Big Badguy claims that his pet mage was in
    another realm at the time, playing some games, but anyone who knows this
    maniac would know he aint big on games; he might have been in that other
    Realm, but it weren't for no "fun n games" junk. He was up to something.)
    Plus, the Big Badguy has the support of more than one flunky Wizard. But,
    no, turns out this is just a replay of the whole "Evil Wizad Avrash (I
    thought it was Suthaze?)" plot.
    In fact, I seem to be at the epicenter of some big crisis of epic
    proportions every Turn or so, so either the DM 1) hates me really bad or 2)
    likes me way too much. Perhaps the latter; dispite my massive paranoia (oh,
    BR will give you that in spades if you don't have it already, and I already
    had a heaping dose before) and tendancy to panic (oh, don't forget tendancy
    to panic! :-0 ), I doubt it's #1.
    Could all be a test since the main bulk of all this attention started
    right around the time I declared it my intention to "start running an
    honorable character" (rather than evil, ruthless, backstabbing scum). Could
    all be a test to see how far he has to push me before I rejoin the bulk of
    the PCs (general alignment=CE) in the sewer. I'm ranting again, aint I? But
    it's all fun. 8-)
    Oh, some might think me evil now, especially after that little matter of
    the capture of the city (especially since some have put the previous ruler
    in the "good" catagory. . .but I would argue that this person was "good"
    only on paper. She certainly wasn't a good neighbor. During her brief,
    unlamented reign, this city became a hive of scum and villiany, a refuge
    for piratical attacks, mass brigandage, kidnappers, and the like. I won't
    be welcoming her back soon.)
    Anyhow, the purpose of these past two posts isn't just for me to get up on
    a soapbox and rant, or even to "prove" that dispite having the "power" to
    muster big armies, it's not like we have it easy. . .what I really want is
    to encourage people to share THEIR stories, too.
    I mean, we talk alot about rules and junk, and campaign ideas. But
    sometimes the stories can be the most enlightening.

  3. #3
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    Grand Strategy vs. Politics

    > It's time for me to say a few good words about Birthright (even though
    >what follows is a tale of frustration that nearly invoked a reign of
    >dispicable "crimes against sentient creation").
    > One thing Birthright as a whole really ends up invoking is how political
    >considerations can get in the way of an effective "Grand Strategy". This is
    >1) annoying, 2) really "true to life" and 3) fun (I guess. . . .well, in
    >the end it will be.)




    Thank god I'm not playing down there in Anuire with you...

    ******************
    Aleksei Andrievski
    aka Solmyr, Archmage of the Azure Star
    Visit the Archmage's Tower at
    http://www.geocities.com/TimesSquare/Fortress/2198/index.html

  4. #4
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    Grand Strategy vs. Politics

    > I even forgot to mention the Mysterious Invasion of the Brain-Eating
    >Undead and the Sinister Sorcerer which we also had to concurently deal

    Wherever did you get the idea that they were brain-eating?

    >no, turns out this is just a replay of the whole "Evil Wizad Avrash (I
    >thought it was Suthaze?)" plot.

    Avrash? Thanks for the tip, I'll have to read up on that :)

    > In fact, I seem to be at the epicenter of some big crisis of epic
    >proportions every Turn or so, so either the DM 1) hates me really bad or 2)
    >likes me way too much. Perhaps the latter; dispite my massive paranoia (oh,
    >BR will give you that in spades if you don't have it already, and I already
    >had a heaping dose before) and tendancy to panic (oh, don't forget tendancy
    >to panic! :-0 ), I doubt it's #1.

    It's #2 (at least for me).

    > Could all be a test since the main bulk of all this attention started
    >right around the time I declared it my intention to "start running an
    >honorable character" (rather than evil, ruthless, backstabbing scum). Could

    Thincol, honorable? You must be kidding :)

    > I mean, we talk alot about rules and junk, and campaign ideas. But
    >sometimes the stories can be the most enlightening.
    >
    Well, you can tell that I'm new to this thing since "I'm gonna move my units
    here and crush you, muhahahahaha" was about the first thing I did. :) But
    no, everyone in the area had to gang up on me, even though I'm the good guy
    (like there ever was any doubt of that). I mean, who else can show his
    middle finger to Old Rockbutt and laugh derisively while doing so? So here I
    am, trying to put my foot down on everyone in the vicinity, with my army
    slaughtered without dealing a single blow in return. Nah, I think I'll visit
    Anuire after all - you guys seem to have more taste for this mass warfare
    thing.
    Oh, and if someone doesn't know yet, I'm that self-important arrogant
    egoistic wizard who rules up north :)

    ******************
    Aleksei Andrievski
    aka Solmyr, Archmage of the Azure Star
    Visit the Archmage's Tower at
    http://www.geocities.com/TimesSquare/Fortress/2198/index.html

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