Spring 223

[Magmaniac]

Three Kingdoms
Spring 223
Next order phase is Fall 224, and orders are due Wednesday at 11 PM CST (GMT-6).

Orders:
drakarst -Shu Han
Lin move Jiy
Shu move Nan (bounce w/ Nan)
Kun move Jia
Tha support Kun to Jia
Man hold

Blammo! -Funan
F Sks -> JAS
F Mly -> Bru (bounce w/ MAS)
F MAS -> Bru (bounce w/ Mly)
F Srv -> Kan
F Kra (wc) Support Vay -> Mon
F Mon -> ANS
A Vay -> Mon
A Khm Support Lam Hold
A Lam Support Khm Hold
F Zhu Hold

kininvie -Gupta
BEN-ARA
PYU S BEN-ARA

Steppenwulf -Kushan
A Tax - Kas
A Gao S A Tax - Kas
A Tur - Kuc
A Sog - Sur
A Bac - Tax
A Pat - Til
A Bod - Pat
A Ay - Sat
F WBB - EBB
F Lbk - WBB
F LAS - INO
F Mal - WIO

TheRedArmy -Yamato
NPO move AIN
SJA Support NPO-AIN
WPO move TON
ECS support LIN-JIY
CES move MIN
ASU hold
EMI hold

deanchuk -Goguryeo
Mng - Kyr
Xib - Xio
Bae - Tai convey by YES
Lia support Bae - Tai
YES convey Bae - Tai
Yem - Mng supported by Buy
Buy support Yem - Mng
Pyo - Bae

Flatley -Cao Wei
Kas to Tur
Dun & Xih S Kas to Tur
Xia to Jiy (bounce w/ Lin)
Tai to Xib

President Muffley -Sun Wu
SCS move to WPO
Nan support Xia move to Jiy (cut)
Jia HOLD (dislodged, destroyed)
(F Ain dislodged, autoretreat to ARO)

Map:

223Spring.gif (80.3 KiB) Viewed 4103 times

[President Muffley]

Well it looks like this is the end for the kingdom of Wu.

Which is a shame because in the real saga of the three kingdoms Wu held out longer than Shu!
I blame all the non-Chinese interference . . . . . you foreign devils!
(I’m looking at you Red Army!)

What I would like to play is Mandate of Heaven by David E. Cohen
http://diplomiscellany.tripod.com/id6.html
http://www.variantbank.org/results/rules/m/mandate.htm

Although it’s not Three Kingdoms (it’s a type of earlier Warring States Era game) I think it has an Authentic Chinese flavor, not just in the map style and Chinese characters but in the different factions such as the invading barbarians (“the Mongols”) as well as the neutral units that are moved by “votes” from all the players representing political influence exerted from larger states on smaller ones. And in the unlikely event that one of the Neutral States does get 3 SC’s we should be able to find an 8th player on the forum to take it over. I also like rule #4.

I like the variant so much that I would be willing to GM it the first time.
Amy interested?

[TheRedArmy]

Which is a shame because in the real saga of the three kingdoms Wu held out longer than Shu!

Wu held out the longest, in fact. The Shu dynasty was over thrown in 261, and then a member of the Sima family (Sima Zhao, I think) overthrew the Cao-Wei emperor to form the kingdom of Jin. Jin, under the guidance of Du Yu (big military guy - forget exact rank), then overthrew Wu. Wu may have had a chance if Lu Kuang, the son of Lu Xun, was given full control of the navy and it's resources. Sun Hao, the emperor of Wu at the time, had a favorite minister who was bad for the nation (just like in Shu was Liu Chan and Huang Hao), and the minister hated Lu Kuang, and so Lu Kuang was given no control and demoted, I believe.

The late Three Kingdoms era is riddled with corruption, greed, incompetence, and all-around bad people. The Warring States era in China (Late Han, that is) has the opposite - oh sure, greed and all that still play a part (Dong Zhuo, Yuan Shu, Li Jue), but most of the rulers at the time were relatively competent and noble. As noble as one can be when trying to become Emperor, anyway.

[President Muffley]

Thanks for the history redresser!

No really . . . . . I'm not being entirely sarcastic
Its been a while since I read Three Kingdoms and to be fair by the end of it I was just plowing through and not as atentive as I was for the first three quarteres. The book is soooo long and there are soooo many characters that it gets hard to keep them all strait in my head. But its still a good read all in all.

So Red, what do you think of playing the Mandate of Heaven variant?

[TheRedArmy]

It looks good. I might be able to play, depending on when you get it running.

I haven't read the book, though I certainly need to. I know all my history from games about the story (and thus are not 100% historically accurate - but then, the book probably isn't either!)

[President Muffley]

No, its not all true to history.

Historians have traditionally said that it’s about 70% history and 30% fiction. It is a novel after all.
I to had my first exposure to Three Kingdoms in video games. The book is good. Long, but good. I read the Beijing Press translation and I recommend that one. http://www.amazon.com/Three-Kingdoms-Chinese-Classics-4-Volumes/dp/7119005901 It had some not so-infrequent English spelling typos but I think later editions than the one I have may have fixed much of this.

Yes it’s a bit pricey as books go, but if you are the type that likes to read it might be worth it to you.
It has TONS and TONS of footnotes in the back which help get through it and provide much enjoyment for the history buff such as yourself.

[TheRedArmy]

(cough cough) That is expensive!

I would hope that I'm a history buff. I am a History Major, after all.

I expect we mean the same video game - Romance of the Three Kingdoms?

If you enjoyed it (and have time for a forum game) I'm running something similar to it in the (Other) Forum Games section. "Rise of Kingdoms" it's called. Check it out.

[President Muffley]

WOW that looks complicated!
(so complicated I suspect it will limit the # of people interested to much less than the 20 you would like, it’s not a bad idea, infact it sounds prity cool, it’s just that simple games get larger followings)

But I might be interested . . . . . I just need some time.

As to games for me it was the Dynasty Warriors series. I just wanted to wade into battle as legendary figure an slaughter hundreds of Chinese game sprites. Deep strategy was over my head.

[TheRedArmy]

WOW that looks complicated! (so complicated I suspect it will limit the # of people interested to much less than the 20 you would like, it’s not a bad idea, it’s just that simple games get larger followings)

But I might be interested . . . . . I just need some time.

As to games for me it was the Dynasty Warriors series. I just wanted to wade into battle as legendary figure an slaughter hundreds of Chinese game sprites. Deep strategy was over my head.

I admit, it is complicated - but rulers will have to deal with the more complicated parts, not officers (and I have to deal with the most complicated parts as GM).

It's not due to start for some time yet.

DW was fun, just not quite my cup of tea. ROTK hit the spot, though.

[Magmaniac]

Still missing a set of orders. Please double check your outbox to make sure you sent me orders.

I will put the new map up with or without the last set around midday tomorrow.