Kris Hall: Stephen Cuyler and Crown of Roses

Perhaps the first non-hexgrid wargame I ever played as a teenager was Kingmaker, the old Avalon Hill game of the War of the Roses.  Ever since then I’ve kept an eye out for multi-player wargames that combine diplomacy with combat.  So when Crown of Roses appeared on GMT’s pre-order page, I was intrigued.  Stephen Cuyler, the game’s designer, was kind enough to answer a few of my questions by e-mail.

Kris: What drew you to the War of the Roses?  Were you a Kingmaker fan from way back?

Stephen: I’ve been a Kingmaker fan for a very long time. It was one of the first war games I ever played. Crown of Roses initially began as a simple upgrade of Kingmaker. That was back in 2003.

Kris: Crown of Roses is a block game, but also has cards.  Is it a card-driven game in the We the People/Paths of Glory mode?  Or does it use cards as Hammer of the Scots does? 

Stephen: It’s in the same vein as more traditional CDGs such as We the People. Each card has a variety of uses: activations, supply/troops/prestige generation, influence, recruiting, and player events and special actions. The cards are also used for random event generation as they are in Kingmaker.

Kris: Can you give us an example of a card from the game and explain all the options that might be available to a player who has that card?

Stephen: The card is “Conspiracy Revealed”. It is a 2 value card, and the shields across the top are de la Pole, Hastings, and Salisbury. The response at the base is a Writ of Summons. The random event and areas affected are on the sidebar and are not used by players directly.

A player holding this card has the following options on their action step:

1-Play the card as the ‘Conspiracy Revealed’ event - taking two prestige from any other player and adding that prestige to their own total. (Prestige is used for several activities in the game).

2-Play the card for the Ops points (2). These can then be applied to generate 2 supply, 2 prestige, or muster 2 points of troop strength in areas where you have units if those areas aren’t already depleted.

3-Play the card for the Ops points (2). These can be applied to activate nobles as leaders. Each noble has a cost in Ops points - some need only 1, others need 2, and the really stubborn ones need 3. Once activated, they can be moved, along with their “Stack”.

4-Play the card for the Ops points and place a like amount of Prestige onto the map as Influence in areas where you have units. If that area already has enemy influence, there is a brief period where the influence totals are reconciled.

5-Play the card as a recruiting action; either to recruit a random noble from the available pool, or attempting to recruit de la Pole, Hastings, or Salisbury if they are being held off-board by another player. Units in play on-board can only be recruited using cards that replace the shields with the word “Treachery” in a sort of Prestige auction.

6-Keep the card in hand and await the need to use it as a Writ of Summons (sending a unit somewhere in response to an event in lieu of the unit that was called). In this case they will play a different card or declare a Pass and draw a card.

Kris: What is the relative complexity level of the game?  How long will a game take to play?

Stephen: The mechanics are not overly complex, even with the larger number of player options available, so I’d call it Medium or Moderate in complexity at its most difficult. Playing time is 3 to 4 hours, and most games have been falling into this range. 

Kris: What are the goals of each side?  The strengths and weaknesses of each side?

Stephen: The goal is simple enough - to win the Crown for your House. Players have three ways that they can achieve this - kill all the opposing heirs (Military victory), control Parliament long enough (Political victory), or win over enough of the landed gentry (Economic victory). The houses themselves are fairly equal in power. Each has 5 heirs and one special ally that can’t be bought. For the Lancaster and Stafford factions, these heirs are spread out over the course of game, and there is a finite limit to the number available at any point. For York, the house can grow quite large, as all 5 can be in play late game. The Neville house starts out with all 5 available for play. 

Kris: Military victory seems clear enough.  Can you explain how players get to control Parliament to achieve political victory, and how they achieve economic victory?

Stephen: To get a political victory you need to control parliament, and to control of parliament a player needs to have units in play to send there when it comes up. Each noble has a number of votes they can pledge for their player. Additional votes are secured by controlling areas and regions of the map (by holding influence over them), and by skillful negotiating with other players to get their support for awards of offices.

To achieve an economic victory, a player must control a specified number of map areas in England (Wales doesn’t count), plus Middlesex/London. Currently that number is set at 35 plus London.

Kris: Can you tell us a bit about the combat system of the game?

Stephen: Better yet, here’s an example:

York is moving against Lancaster.

Lancaster has Twdwr at maximum strength (Blue, Blue), de Vere at 1 strength (Green), and Welsh Mercenaries at 3 strength (Green, Blue) for a total of 3 Blue and 2 Green. He’ll roll 3 dice for the blue, scoring hits on Blue symbols and on Sword and Shield symbols. He’ll roll 2 more dice for the green, hitting on Green symbols only. He rolls: Blue, Green, Skull, and Green, Banner. So he scores 2 hits against York, and forces a rout check (the banner) against one unit as well.

York has Gloucester (Richard III) at maximum strength (Blue, Blue, Green), Stanley at maximum strength (Blue, Blue), and Bourchier at 1 strength (Green). He’ll roll 6 dice total - 4 Blue and 2 Green. His rolls: Blue, Blue, Skull, Skull and Blue, Green. He scores 3 hits against Lancaster.

York takes one hit on Bourchier, reducing him to his retainer (starting) strength of 0 dice. He takes the second hit against Richard III, reducing him to 2 dice (Blue, Green). The rout will go against Bourchier, forcing him to retreat. Before the rout is taken, York can try to cancel it, but he wants Bourchier available for parliament, so he’ll let it go. Then York rolls to check for his nobles - Richard III and Bouchier each suffered damage, so they will roll 1 die each, and they will die on a skull - The rolls are a Red and a Sword and Shield. Stanley did not suffer damage but was still in combat, so he’ll roll 2 dice and die on 2 skulls - Blue and Sword and Shield mean no loss.

Lancaster takes 2 damage against the Welsh and one against de Vere. The Welsh are now at one Green, and de Vere is at his retainer strength of 0 dice. Rolls for survival are made: de Vere rolls a red, and Twdwr gets a Sword and Shield and a Banner. Mercenaries do not roll.

The defending player now has the option to retreat units. At this point in the combat, Lancaster has 2 Blue and 1 Green and York has 3 Blue and 1 Green. Lancaster retreats de Vere (he has no troops anyway), preserving him. He also retreats Twdwr and his Welsh mercenaries to regroup and try again. The combat is over. Had Lancaster not retreated, York, as the attacker would have had the option. If York did not, then Lancaster would again have the option. But that’s as far is retreat options go.

Kris: I see that the game can be played with four players.  Can it be played with three?  Are players playing in teams or on their own? 

Stephen: Absolutely. In fact, it plays surprisingly well with three. Players can play as two teams of two if they like but the game is designed for 4 independent players.

Kris: What do you think is unique, special, or innovative about your design?

Stephen: Well, besides the 4 player aspect; its got the chaos of Kingmaker, the fog of war of Hammer of the Scots, the CDG aspect of We the People, and a combat system reminiscent of Commands and Colors; all rolled into a single game.

Kris: Will the game have multiple scenarios?

Stephen: Yes. At present we plan on including 4 scenarios for 2 and 4 player player. One will cover the entire period, while the other 3 will focus on smaller time frames.

Kris: What was the biggest difficulty you had designing the game?  What are you most proud of in the design?

Stephen: The biggest challenge for me in designing Crown of Roses has been to stop designing Crown of Roses. Really. The game is great - it plays well, has good replay capability, and is fun. But I’m a tinkerer at heart, and I simply must see how things look from different angles. So there is always another version on my laptop. I think I am most proud of the design itself - I set out to upgrade Kingmaker, and I think that’s what I’ve accomplished.

Kris: When is the earliest that gamers could expect to see the game published?

Stephen: I wish that were up to me, but it will depend on how quickly it moves up on P500. If there is a greater demand, it’ll make the cut sooner. Realistically though, given everything GMT has going on, it’s likely that it’ll be 2010 when it hits the shelves. I’d love for it to be sooner, of course, so all you readers out there - pre-order now.

Kris: What future games would you like to work on?

Stephen: I have a number of other titles in various stages. Back in 2005 I announced at WBC that my next projects would be another block game called “The Black and Bloody Hills”, about the Indian Wars here in the Americas; and “Tonneschlage”, a WW2 block game of the battle of the North Atlantic. These are still at the forefront of my projects - Tonneschlage actually predates Crown of Roses, and is at this point “complete”.

Thanks for taking an interest Kris, and thanks for giving me the opportunity to share my thoughts.

Kris: Thanks for the interview.

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