Villehardouin (2010)

From the Perfect Captain website:

The first in our series of Spare Change games, Villehardouin is a campaign game of the Byzantine Reconquest of the Morea in southern Greece in the year 1263 AD.

Players take the role of either the Achaean Franks under Prince William de Villehardouin, freshly back from captivity in Constantinople, or that of the Byzantine Empire under the Sebastocrator Constantine (the Emperor Michael VIII's step-brother).

As with all of our games, supply and logistics are as important as naked force. Never fear- there is of course no bookkeeping. At the start of each turn players figure out how much "change" they gather to fuel their activities for the turn. Simply marching off into arid and barren territory, even if it is strategically important, will leave you high and dry and out of supply- forcing a humiliating retreat. Players must plan carefully where they are going, how long they will be there, and what can go wrong; losing a battle will deplete your treasury as well as your army.

The opposing armies are different too, adding another element to strategy. The Franks have excellent cavalry and good foot troops, but not many skirmishers. The Greeks have an abundance of archers and ambushers as well as hard fighting regulars, and a corps of Turkish mercenaries (of dubious loyalty..). Both sides have to pick their battlefields and their timing must be near-perfect to pull off a game-winning battle.

The terrain is not the friendliest; each players base is green and lush, but you can't win by sitting still. Feint and counter-feint will be the order of the day, but when the time comes, you must strike. Sieges can be long, but sudden assaults costly. Greeks can set up ambushes while the Franks can attempt impetuous charges- either one can, if handled properly, bring about your opponent's overthrow.

This is the kind of game where there can be no wasted moves; everything is important, and dilly-dallying will hurt you sooner rather than later. This is a game that will lead to taut nerves and a lot of beard stroking!

Does it take long to play?
That's entirely up to you. You could easily fly through it in an hour, but if you want to win you'll need to think things through very carefully. Still, it's one of our quickest-play games.

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