Hellfire 2951: It Gets Worse
The default game design for solo miniature wargames is “make them feel like they are about to lose, until the end of the game when they pull it out and win at the end”. I have it on good authority that this is the case. [llink to Rule of Carnage]
Jim Webster laughs at that idea and kicks it in the fork while laughing maniacally as he forces you to scramble to hold the tattered edges of an empire together, and unlike the girl on fire, the odds are NEVER in your favor. There are just so many ways to lose at Hellfire and the Fall of Empire? that you’re hard pressed to ever feel truly comfortable. Heavy hangs the crown, and if you’re any kind of wargamer worth his salt, you love every minute of it. It’s not the feeling of winning that counts, it’s the feeling of knowing that you earned that win that counts. Jim doesn’t make the latter easy, which makes it all the more satisfying when it happens.
Spoilers: It’s probably not happening in my Decapolis.
The year starts off bad, with the death of our second leader despite only having a 1 in 20 chance. We should probably name these guys, something suitably byzantine yet still personal. Wargamius II dies, and his young son is thrust too early into the spotlight. His uncle plays on the hearts of the Hippopolitans, who are still smarting from the humiliation of last year’s temporary loss of Damascus. Though older and much respected, the Prince of Canatha can only rally five cities to his cause; his home city of Canatha, Scythopolis, Pella, Gerasa, and most troublingly the capitol of Hippos.
In Hellfire and the Fall of Empire you deal one card for each city, then deal one for the king and one for the Imperial military remnant. The King’s color determines whether red or black cards rise in rebellion, and the Imperial forces color tells you which faction they ally with. In my case, the narrative that results in the Imperial forces, disgusted by the bad showing in 2950 of throwing in with the Usurper. A late-night scramble by loyalists in Hippos manages to save the crown’s jewels and the treasury, which races by ship across the bay to Dion and up the Gray River to Damascus where Wargamius II was reviewing the progress of rebuilding that recently retaken city.
Financially, the Loyalists are in better shape, having the deep coffers of the years of plenty to draw on. Their income is cut in half this year, and further depleted as the loss of Damascus means no income from that city. Their military costs are also cut back – they aren’t going to pay the rebellious units from their treasury. On the other side, the Usurper has no savings and little income to upgrade his forces.
Because life on the margin isn’t hard enough, a mere civil war doesn’t mean that Jim offers any surcease from the barbarian hordes. Luckily, the outsiders have other things going on, and aside from an opportunistic Gray Horde tribe, things remain quiet.
The Gray Horde hits Damascus, and a diversionary attack leads to a successful raid by beast mounted cavalry that manages to run off with 5,000 creds worth of construction equipment, slow the rebuilding and costing a depleted Loyalist the chance to build up for a push against the Usurper. Worse, it forces the cancellation of a planned attack on Canatha – perhaps to cut the head off the rebellion in its infancy.
The Usurper has no such troubles, and uses a quiet year and heavy air power to seize Philadelphia, a large and wealthy prize, for his own faction. Now up six cities to four, it looks like the Usurper is in the driver’s seat as 2951 comes to a close. But can he overcome his financial woes? The game allows rulers to crank up tax rates, but the chances of city’s surrendering to invaders doubles or triples depending on how bad the hike is. As a naturally conservative gamer, it’s not a lever I’ve been willing to pull…yet.