New: SPI's "A Mighty Fortress" (out of print, released in 1977) (free, closed-ended, email, snail, www, human, historical, wargame, economic, opensource)

From: donotreply@pbm.com (PBM List Autoposter)

Date: Thu, 05 Aug 2004 07:13:00 +0000

Name:		SPI's "A Mighty Fortress" (out of print, released in 1977)
Costs:		free
URL:		http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/mightyfortress/
Frequency:		one per week, on average
Email:		findor_tallwillow zat yahoo.ca
Type:		Late Medieval, Early Reformation Wargame
Last-Update:		2004Jul24
Keywords: free, closed-ended, email, snail, www, human, historical,
wargame, economic, opensource

Description:

(copy of the text below is taken publisher. this game is out of print and
no longer available, but you can download free modules for either
CyberBoard or Aide de Camp)

The time is 6 February 1531.

Recreating the turbulent era of the Reformation, from the viewpoint of
political/religious interaction and military activity. A Mighty Fortress
is designed with a mechanical simplicity that is matched only by the
subtlety of the game's interplay among contesting forces.

A Mighty Fortress simulates the conditions, which made possible the spread
of the Lutheran Reformation and the subsequent Catholic reaction (the
Counter-Reformation) in the years 1532-1555. The game recreates the actual
historical objectives of the major countries in Europe in the Sixteenth
Century as well as their military strengths and resources. There are six
players in the game representing the six major countries, England, France,
the Ottoman Empire, the Hapsburgs, the Pope, and the collection of German
states we will call The Lutherans.

The Lutheran player is intent on promoting the Protestant cause throughout
Europe, and the Papacy is equally resolved to gather any straying nations
back into the Catholic fold. The Hapsburg Empire -- strong in arms and
sprawling across half the continent -- seeks to maintain its possessions
in the face of pressure from all directions. In England, Henry VIII is
engaged with his own confrontation with the Pope; and French forces are
marshalling to dismantle the Hapsburg dominions. And Suleiman the
Magnificent is constantly watching for the opportunity to expand his
Ottoman empire -- at anyone's expense.

The Hapsburgs have, by far, the largest number of combat forces.
Unhindered by other problems, they could easily suppress Lutheranism.
However, other players have objectives that can usually be achieved only
at the expense of the mighty Hapsburgs. Therefore, depending on the
rapidly shifting political situation, there will probably be several
alliances against Hapsburg influence. Because of this convoluted political
situation, the players will often find themselves at cross-purposes with
other players whom they were aiding the Game-Turn before. Thus, the
possibilities for political and military interaction are extensive.

A Mighty Fortress covers the twenty-four years from 1532 to 1555 -- a
period fraught with shifting alliances, political and religious fervor,
and frantic efforts to shift the balance of power. Theological debates,
treaties of peace, declarations of war, excommunication, taxation, and
missionaries -- all are included in this simulation of one of the most
violent and implacably hostile eras of European history. The game covers
all actions from the year 1532 -- right after formation of the
Schmalkaldic League -- until 1555 and the Peace of Augsburg, which
guaranteed Lutheranism as a religion [sic] and allowed the German estates
to choose between that and Catholicism.

Other notes:

Special rules include those for missionaries, conversion, peace treaties,
formal alliances, truces, ultimata, ceding territory, income and
borrowing, theological debates, excommunication, Henry VIII's divorce and
hidden, variable victory conditions.

[ This is a new entry for the PBM List. You can find the list
itself, and instructions for adding games or comments, at
http://www.pbm.com/~lindahl/pbm_list/ -- greg ]