Virgin Queen (Version 4.2)

Please report any problems or suggestions to jkoepp@gmail.com. Rules are not enforced.

Testing: Thanks to VASSAL PBEM Discord channel users TGLS and lentalte for their suggestions and thorough testing.

Scenarios

Choosing a Side

The power you choose gives you access to its hand of cards and treasures. For 2-3 player games, the player controlling Spain/France or England/Protestants must switch seats when appropriate.
Ottoman France
Spain Holy Roman Empire
England Protestant

Number of Players

The Campaign and Tournament Scenarios are set up for 6 player games. For games with fewer than 6 players, use the Player Aids toolbar menu (2-5 Player Adjustments submenu) to trigger the setup adjustments listed below:
2, 3, 4 player games Removes Ottoman and HRE home cards, removes War with Persia and War with Poland; adds German Intervention and The Sublime Porte to the deck. Removes Rudolf II royal and Ottoman/HRE artists, scientists, sea captains, and patronage VP awards. Places starting diplomatic influence on Ottomans and HRE.
5 player games Removes Ottoman home cards, removes War with Poland and The Sublime Porte; adds German Intervention to the deck. Removes Rudolf II royal and HRE artists, scientists, sea captain, and patronage VP awards. Places starting diplomatic influence on HRE.

In 2-5 player games where the Ottoman and/or HRE are activated major powers, the activating power should use the Retire/Change Sides button in the toolbar to join as Ottoman or Holy Roman Empire to view and play that power's cards. When finished with the activated major's impulse, change back to your normal side.

Control Markers

Hex control markers (HCMs) are built into the map itself. Right-clicking a non-key map space will let you do everything: set political control, change religious influence, add/remove unrest.

To quickly review the political and religious status of map spaces, use the Religious/Political Control View button (next to the Hide All button) to toggle the visibility of everything except control markers.

Right-click actions:
Convert to Protestant Flips to Protestant religious side (only in religious struggle areas)
Convert to Catholic Flips to Catholic religious side (only in religious struggle areas)
Control Menu for placing an HCM matching current religious control of space (non-key spaces only)
Unrest Adds Unrest to the space (decreases Protestant space count if applicable)
Remove Unrest Removes Unrest from the space (increases Protestant space count if applicable)

Unrest

To place unrest in map spaces, right-click the map space or key marker. Do not use unrest markers from the palette--these are for marking boxes on the power cards only.

Protestant Space Tracking

The Protestant Spaces marker moves automatically as the Protestant space count changes. If the count is incorrect, manually move the marker to the correct value. Handle unrest by right-clicking a map space or key and using the Unrest/Remove Unrest actions. Unrest markers dragged from the palette onto a Protestant space will not lower the count!

NOTE: Unlike previous versions of this module, keys no longer need to match religious states when being exchanged between the map and power cards--removing a key from the map while on its Protestant religious side will drop the count by 1.

VP Tracking

A power's VP score is adjusted automatically by the following: If a power's VP total needs adjustment, drag it to the correct box on the VP track. Deleting mistakenly placed VP tokens in a power's Bonus VP Box will not adjust their VP total. Revealing the HRE's secret religious preference does not update its VP total.

Card/Treasure Play

Cards and Treasures are on the Cards display, accessed via the main toolbar. Use the toolbar menus on the Cards display to deal cards and treasures to each power. At the start of Turn 2, use the toolbar button to give the Ottoman the Selim II card before dealing cards (if it hasn't already been played).

Each power's Home Card(s) start in its hand. During Spring Deployment when both your Home Cards are available, right-click the one you don't want to use this turn and choose Discard to send it to your Power Card without revealing it. Playing as either CP or as an Event will place it on the Power Card and trigger a message. Home Cards are automatically returned to your hand face-up by advancing the Turn.

For live or non-ACTS play, the Hand Inventory window tracks the number of cards/treasures in each player's hand. Right-click and play cards for CP or Event/Combat/Response--they can be dragged to the Discard/Removed From Game piles if desired, but the right-click actions add a message to the game log for everyone's benefit. Treasures can be right-clicked and expended, sending them to the Treasure Discards. To retrieve a specific card from the Discard Pile, right-click the pile and choose "Draw Specific Cards". Cards are sorted alphabetically and display their CP value.

Treasures in the Spanish Treasures holding boxes on the map can be peeked at, but only by Spain. Treasures in the Portuguese Treasures holding box cannot be peeked at by anyone, but can be discarded at the end of the turn if unclaimed. Treasures on the map can be awarded to a player if claimed in piracy. Use the Draw buttons on the map to quickly fill the treasure holding boxes.

Map Adjustments and Trackers

Map overlays are activated by the play of the following two events: Union of Arras (changes seven yellow/orange spaces in Netherlands to exclusively Spanish home spaces) and Paris Is Worth a Mass (turns Paris into a split French/Huguenot space; see the January 2013 FAQ).

On-map trackers have been added to assist with:

Awarding Card Draws and Random Discards

For live or non-ACTS play, the toolbar buttons in each power's hand give random draws and do random discards of cards/treasures. Some cards (Patron of Arts & Sciences, Taxis Family Couriers, Grand Tour, Sultana Safiye) allow giving a specific card to another player. Right-click the card you are giving and choose the recipient to send the card to that power's hand. These card options are only available in a player hand.

Certain events (Witchcraft, The Black Queen, Sir Edward Stafford) or a Gain Intelligence success allow a player to inspect another player's hand. VASSAL can't make a hand temporarily accessible to another player. Share the contents of your hand with a private message (in a live game) or use the camera button in your hand's toolbar to create an image to send by email (for a PBEM game).

Forces

Units for each power are stored on the Forces map window. Land units can be Eliminated via right-click option to return them to the correct stack in the force pool. Naval units and naval leaders are in a separate piece layer that draws beneath land units (and prevents naval and land units from stacking together).

Leaders

Leaders can be captured and sent to the captor's Power Card via right-click, then ransomed back to their capital if previously captured. When a named leader dies due to Untimely Death, assassination, or a wedding table result, right-click and choose the type of death. When prompted, choose if the leader will be removed from the game permanently, or replaced by a Default leader and sent to the Turn Track. It is up to the players to know and choose the correct option: see rule 5.1 on page 7 for details.

Espionage

Each power's Informants (and Spain's Jesuits), Assassination Used marker, and Cipher Key are placed on its Power Card. Informants and Cipher Keys will trigger a message when moved to another power's Spying on You box.

Royal Weddings

Royals are removed from the game by using the Marries! right-click option after their wedding is resolved. Valois royals are sent to the French power card with this option instead of being moved to the Removed From Game display. The royal trading cards are on the Weddings/VP display and separated into male and female decks. You can use these cards to show arranged marriages or view their marriage bonuses.

If a royal who is also a ruler dies (Husband Murdered marriage result for male royals, Dies in Childbirth/Assassination for Elizabeth), use the appropriate right-click option. The power card will be updated with an overlay to reflect the change in that power's Admin rating and Card bonus.

Patronage

Remove Artists and Scientists from the game after their attempts are resolved, unless the result returns them to the available pool. If they are in a Patronized box, an option to Cancel Progress appears (use if Index of Prohibited Books or Philosopher's Stone is played). Both types of VP awards and Science Bonuses can be sent to the Bonus VP box of the claiming power by right-click action.

New World

Sea captains may use the Circumnavigates! action (returning them to their stack) when located in an eligible ocean zone on the World Map, but it is disabled on all captains after the second use to stress that only two VP awards are available. English sea captains with a Battle Rating of 1 can be Eliminated in Naval Combat and sent to the Turn Track, but only when located in a sea zone on the Europe Map.

Piracy markers are stacked on the Power Cards to enforce each power's limit of 3 attempts per turn.

Treasures stack with sea captains to make it easier to move a captain and his pirated loot together.

HRE Religious Preference (6 player game only)

During first turn Spring Deployment while choosing a retained home card, the HRE player will find 3 pieces from which to choose his secret religious preference. Right-click the desired piece and choose "Select as Religious Preference"--the other two choices will be removed and the message window will note that the choice has been made. To reveal the chosen religious preference during the game, simply drag the piece onto the map.

Pieces Removed From Play

Any piece removed from play (sea captains, royals, leaders, artists, scientists) is placed in the Removed From Game map window found in the Player Aids menu.

End of Turn Effects

Advancing the Turn marker will do all of the following: