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Izulde · 09-12-2020, 03:40 PM

Round 2 - Season 1

Every year, in the third part of the first season (standard game), there's a Village Fair. One of the best things to do is start preparing for the fair before it starts. And so that's what Viscount George York and his heir, the Honorable Alan Waters, elect to do.

Game Mechanics
The butler attends to the needs of two family members in the Private Study tile. When flipped, the Private Study is stocked with Village Fair preparations, which nets 300 pounds and 2 Reputation Points if turned over before the Village Fair starts. So to me, in a standard game, this is pretty much like ramping in Magic: the Gathering - pretty much a Turn 1 or 2 automatic.

The Viscount collects rents and Young Master Waters decides to help him, adding 300 pounds to the York coffers. With that money, they elect to enhance the estate by having a Fencing Paddock constructed to provide a cozy home for the family's horses. (Fencing Paddock purchased from Market)

AI Turn
Middle finger to the AI. On the roll, they remove the Flower Room from the market - which I need for one of my Objectives. And oh look, a damn Monument showed up after the Flower Room got evicted. I hate you, purple d20.

Round 3 - Season 1

The village of Derbyshire is greatly impressed with the Yorks' dedication to the local fair, and money and esteem flow to the family. Delighted at the family's success and tired from Village Fair preparations, Viscountess Beatrice of York decides it would be great fun to have Miss Alice Barstow over for a game of whist in the front parlor. Though Miss Barstow is common, she'll make for a lovely conversationalist during cards, thinks Beatrice.

Until Alice remarks that she knows a young, wealthy American woman who is visiting England. The Norrises are North Carolina tobacco titans and the girl is fabulously wealthy. "You should invite the dear to visit," Alice says with a wide grin, "It would be quite the riot, I should think."

The Viscountess frowned at her hand, pretending concentration on her next play. The absolute scandal of a mercenary heiress! And an American at that! Absolutely not! She'd immediately write her and refuse her entrance. That was the only proper thing to do.

Still... such girls were rich beyond dreaming, and often freely showering of their money. Perhaps the notorious Miss Norris could be induced to show the proper monetary gratitude. That would give the Viscountess enough money for that proper English garden she'd dreamt of since the day she married George...

Game Mechanics
So I got 3 reputation points from the whist game, which moved up to Reputation Level 2. This is a major step up and opens up a lot of hosting and event doors. And then I pulled the American heiress. Opinions are split on American heiresses. They're boku money - literally - but they often come with huge downsides. In this case, I'd be giving the 3 reputation points right back and would have a guest who is worth -3 Victory Points at game end.

The Lady of the family, regardless of house has options for Favors - either draw two Casual Guests, keep 1; or dismiss a guest - in other words, take a card from the current activity, your hand, or your discard pile, and put them on the bottom of their relevant card pile - striking them from your list of acquaintances.

Originally, I'd intended on draw 2, keep 1. But when I drew this filthy monied Jezebel, I wondered if I could change to dismiss. Specifically, I wanted to know if 1. I had to declare which Favor I was using before the Favors phase and 2. If I had to declare the order in which the Favors of the same type occurred. In this case, it was two possible Invitations of a Casual Guest.

So I emailed Dan, asking him about this. His response: You can decide which option you want to use and don't have to declare beforehand. It's better thematically that way and reflects how the Viscountess might respond to the thought of an heiress in the house. The one thing you can't do is combine the favors in one action - for example, you can't use Alice's invite and then say you're going to draw a second card using the Viscountess's ability. Alice's Favor would resolve, and then the Viscountess's would.

After a lot of thought and studying the board, I decided to go with my original plan of Draw 2, Keep 1. My choices were two dudes both worth 200 pounds in Favors, both 1 Prestige Rank guests. But one was worth 1 Victory Point, the other 0. Easy choice. Welcome to the guest list, Sir Richard Beeston.

AI Turn
And of course, I roll a flipping 4 so the AI gets ANOTHER DAMN MONUMENT - in this case, The Largest Wine Cellar. Great - that puts me far behind in my two worst categories. Wonderful.

Round 4 - Turn 1

Hearing that Miss Norris had a fondness for horses, the Yorks invited the tobacco heiress to come and see their horses and spend time riding them every day with the daughter of the house, the oh so pretty Honorable Marianne Waters.

Aww yeah... you know what's coming

All seemed to be going well, though some in Derbyshire called the Yorks money-obsessed to be parading about with a common American for her massive piles of pounds. And then it happened.

Two nights before Miss Norris was to travel back to Dover, where she was staying with a cousin, Marianne caught the heiress - as the young York woman would later describe it - "doing with poor Bricklebutter what a woman should be doing with a man, not a horse."

The Viscountess Beatrice flew into an absolute rage and had the male house staff bodily evict the disgraceful Miss Norris out into the pouring rain with her suitcases - forever barred from returning.

As she later gripped and sipped her tea, almost breaking the fine china in her fury, the Viscountess thought sadly, "I shall never be able to look at my new English garden quite the same anymore."

To make matters still worse, Marianne somehow got herself mixed up in the company of one Miss Elizabeth Perkins, who in all respects was a fine young woman - save for the very unfortunate flaw of not being able to keep a secret to herself for more than three seconds, so chatty and gossipy she was.

And on top of it all, despite Alice Barstow's efforts on behalf of the Yorks that her friend, the regal Miss Penelope Hill who had family in London, should come see them, Miss Hill was of the opinion that the Yorks were "presently not suitable to visit after that awfulness with Miss Norris and the horse."

But that wasn't the worst.

At the end of the season, rumor had spread throughout Derbyshire that Charles Fairchild was interested in visiting places that had the most comfortable essential necessities for family living. The Stuarts and the Yorks both wrote, inviting him to come, but he plumped so hurriedly for the Stuarts' gorgeous imported marble floor that the Viscountess York sat depressed in her English garden for three whole days.

Game Mechanics/AI Notes
So... busy turn as courtship rounds always are. I was able to boot the heiress after taking her money, but on Marianne Waters' Invitation, I got a Gossip, whose attack favor only works in multiplayer. So that's a -3 Victory Points Guest I will only play if I have to, and who I'd love to immediately boot. So many damn awful guests.

The loss of reputation cost by Miss Norris's visit knocked me back down to Reputation 1, Position 3. Miss Penelope Hill, who would net me my first Prestige Guest invite thanks to her family's London connections, will only visit if my Reputation is Level 2. Sigh.

On courtship, my only hope was to draw an Estate focus for a win or a Sporting focus for a tie. As the above text indicates...

This also hurts for the fourth and final courtship, which takes into account all of the previously revealed focuses. It's 7-1 Service advantage for AI now and it's only going to get worse as the game progresses.

Needless to say, AI won and as a result, they draw a Victory Point card. In a multiplayer game, they'd also get their choice of Charles or Elizabeth Fairchild added to their active hand until the next courtship.

On the bright side, we finally caught a break in the Market. The AI removed the Smoking Room... and the draw landed the second Flower Room! I still have a shot to get that Objective, since I already have an English Garden! That would be worth a potentially game-saving 11 Victory Points.

In the standard game, after the first courtship, you discard an objective card. Easy one here - the VP bonus stack for Monuments. There's only one left (thanks, jackass AI), so it's useless.

Here's the state after the first season:

I'm ahead in the Estate game so far, though need to flip the Main Gazebo that's currently -2 points to give myself a comfortable lead there for the next two seasons.

Essentials and Service I'm pretty much dead. Sporting is still a dead heat.

Here's my board:

My hand, objectives, and money:

Note: In a multiplayer game, Objectives cards would be face down if I remember right. Let me go look. Yep, face-down because they represent "the private passions of the family outside of the public pursuit of the Fairchilds".

Guest draws, on the other hand, are always revealed because this is Derbyshire. People know who knows who and who might go visit who.

That's the end of Season 1. I'm in bad shape, but there's still 3 more seasons to go. I'm loving the theme, flavor, and play of this game so far.. and I'm still just doing the solo play base game.

09-12-2020, 03:40 PM	#7
Izulde Head Coach Join Date: Sep 2004	Round 2 - Season 1 Every year, in the third part of the first season (standard game), there's a Village Fair. One of the best things to do is start preparing for the fair before it starts. And so that's what Viscount George York and his heir, the Honorable Alan Waters, elect to do. Game Mechanics The butler attends to the needs of two family members in the Private Study tile. When flipped, the Private Study is stocked with Village Fair preparations, which nets 300 pounds and 2 Reputation Points if turned over before the Village Fair starts. So to me, in a standard game, this is pretty much like ramping in Magic: the Gathering - pretty much a Turn 1 or 2 automatic. The Viscount collects rents and Young Master Waters decides to help him, adding 300 pounds to the York coffers. With that money, they elect to enhance the estate by having a Fencing Paddock constructed to provide a cozy home for the family's horses. (Fencing Paddock purchased from Market) AI Turn Middle finger to the AI. On the roll, they remove the Flower Room from the market - which I need for one of my Objectives. And oh look, a damn Monument showed up after the Flower Room got evicted. I hate you, purple d20. Round 3 - Season 1 The village of Derbyshire is greatly impressed with the Yorks' dedication to the local fair, and money and esteem flow to the family. Delighted at the family's success and tired from Village Fair preparations, Viscountess Beatrice of York decides it would be great fun to have Miss Alice Barstow over for a game of whist in the front parlor. Though Miss Barstow is common, she'll make for a lovely conversationalist during cards, thinks Beatrice. Until Alice remarks that she knows a young, wealthy American woman who is visiting England. The Norrises are North Carolina tobacco titans and the girl is fabulously wealthy. "You should invite the dear to visit," Alice says with a wide grin, "It would be quite the riot, I should think." The Viscountess frowned at her hand, pretending concentration on her next play. The absolute scandal of a mercenary heiress! And an American at that! Absolutely not! She'd immediately write her and refuse her entrance. That was the only proper thing to do. Still... such girls were rich beyond dreaming, and often freely showering of their money. Perhaps the notorious Miss Norris could be induced to show the proper monetary gratitude. That would give the Viscountess enough money for that proper English garden she'd dreamt of since the day she married George... Game Mechanics So I got 3 reputation points from the whist game, which moved up to Reputation Level 2. This is a major step up and opens up a lot of hosting and event doors. And then I pulled the American heiress. Opinions are split on American heiresses. They're boku money - literally - but they often come with huge downsides. In this case, I'd be giving the 3 reputation points right back and would have a guest who is worth -3 Victory Points at game end. The Lady of the family, regardless of house has options for Favors - either draw two Casual Guests, keep 1; or dismiss a guest - in other words, take a card from the current activity, your hand, or your discard pile, and put them on the bottom of their relevant card pile - striking them from your list of acquaintances. Originally, I'd intended on draw 2, keep 1. But when I drew this filthy monied Jezebel, I wondered if I could change to dismiss. Specifically, I wanted to know if 1. I had to declare which Favor I was using before the Favors phase and 2. If I had to declare the order in which the Favors of the same type occurred. In this case, it was two possible Invitations of a Casual Guest. So I emailed Dan, asking him about this. His response: You can decide which option you want to use and don't have to declare beforehand. It's better thematically that way and reflects how the Viscountess might respond to the thought of an heiress in the house. The one thing you can't do is combine the favors in one action - for example, you can't use Alice's invite and then say you're going to draw a second card using the Viscountess's ability. Alice's Favor would resolve, and then the Viscountess's would. After a lot of thought and studying the board, I decided to go with my original plan of Draw 2, Keep 1. My choices were two dudes both worth 200 pounds in Favors, both 1 Prestige Rank guests. But one was worth 1 Victory Point, the other 0. Easy choice. Welcome to the guest list, Sir Richard Beeston. AI Turn And of course, I roll a flipping 4 so the AI gets ANOTHER DAMN MONUMENT - in this case, The Largest Wine Cellar. Great - that puts me far behind in my two worst categories. Wonderful. Round 4 - Turn 1 Hearing that Miss Norris had a fondness for horses, the Yorks invited the tobacco heiress to come and see their horses and spend time riding them every day with the daughter of the house, the oh so pretty Honorable Marianne Waters. Aww yeah... you know what's coming All seemed to be going well, though some in Derbyshire called the Yorks money-obsessed to be parading about with a common American for her massive piles of pounds. And then it happened. Two nights before Miss Norris was to travel back to Dover, where she was staying with a cousin, Marianne caught the heiress - as the young York woman would later describe it - "doing with poor Bricklebutter what a woman should be doing with a man, not a horse." The Viscountess Beatrice flew into an absolute rage and had the male house staff bodily evict the disgraceful Miss Norris out into the pouring rain with her suitcases - forever barred from returning. As she later gripped and sipped her tea, almost breaking the fine china in her fury, the Viscountess thought sadly, "I shall never be able to look at my new English garden quite the same anymore." To make matters still worse, Marianne somehow got herself mixed up in the company of one Miss Elizabeth Perkins, who in all respects was a fine young woman - save for the very unfortunate flaw of not being able to keep a secret to herself for more than three seconds, so chatty and gossipy she was. And on top of it all, despite Alice Barstow's efforts on behalf of the Yorks that her friend, the regal Miss Penelope Hill who had family in London, should come see them, Miss Hill was of the opinion that the Yorks were "presently not suitable to visit after that awfulness with Miss Norris and the horse." But that wasn't the worst. At the end of the season, rumor had spread throughout Derbyshire that Charles Fairchild was interested in visiting places that had the most comfortable essential necessities for family living. The Stuarts and the Yorks both wrote, inviting him to come, but he plumped so hurriedly for the Stuarts' gorgeous imported marble floor that the Viscountess York sat depressed in her English garden for three whole days. Game Mechanics/AI Notes So... busy turn as courtship rounds always are. I was able to boot the heiress after taking her money, but on Marianne Waters' Invitation, I got a Gossip, whose attack favor only works in multiplayer. So that's a -3 Victory Points Guest I will only play if I have to, and who I'd love to immediately boot. So many damn awful guests. The loss of reputation cost by Miss Norris's visit knocked me back down to Reputation 1, Position 3. Miss Penelope Hill, who would net me my first Prestige Guest invite thanks to her family's London connections, will only visit if my Reputation is Level 2. Sigh. On courtship, my only hope was to draw an Estate focus for a win or a Sporting focus for a tie. As the above text indicates... This also hurts for the fourth and final courtship, which takes into account all of the previously revealed focuses. It's 7-1 Service advantage for AI now and it's only going to get worse as the game progresses. Needless to say, AI won and as a result, they draw a Victory Point card. In a multiplayer game, they'd also get their choice of Charles or Elizabeth Fairchild added to their active hand until the next courtship. On the bright side, we finally caught a break in the Market. The AI removed the Smoking Room... and the draw landed the second Flower Room! I still have a shot to get that Objective, since I already have an English Garden! That would be worth a potentially game-saving 11 Victory Points. In the standard game, after the first courtship, you discard an objective card. Easy one here - the VP bonus stack for Monuments. There's only one left (thanks, jackass AI), so it's useless. Here's the state after the first season: I'm ahead in the Estate game so far, though need to flip the Main Gazebo that's currently -2 points to give myself a comfortable lead there for the next two seasons. Essentials and Service I'm pretty much dead. Sporting is still a dead heat. Here's my board: My hand, objectives, and money: Note: In a multiplayer game, Objectives cards would be face down if I remember right. Let me go look. Yep, face-down because they represent "the private passions of the family outside of the public pursuit of the Fairchilds". Guest draws, on the other hand, are always revealed because this is Derbyshire. People know who knows who and who might go visit who. That's the end of Season 1. I'm in bad shape, but there's still 3 more seasons to go. I'm loving the theme, flavor, and play of this game so far.. and I'm still just doing the solo play base game. __________________ 2006 Golden Scribe Nominee 2006 Golden Scribe Winner Best Non-Sport Dynasty: May Our Reign Be Green and Golden (CK Dynasty) Rookie Writer of the Year Dynasty of the Year: May Our Reign Be Green and Golden (CK Dynasty)