Here I Stand (Version 3.2)
This module is in (eternal?) beta. Please report any problems or suggestions to jkoepp@gmail.com.
Scenarios
- 1517 Scenario
- 1532 Scenario
- Two Player Variant
Choosing a Side
The power you choose gives you access to its hand of cards. For 3, 4, or 5 player
games, alternate between player sides as necessary to access a power's cards.
Ottoman |
France |
Hapsburgs |
Papacy |
England |
Protestant |
To play the Two Player Variant, only the Papacy and Protestant sides are available.
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. Use the Religious Control View button (to the right of the Hide All button) to toggle the
visibility of all pieces except Control Markers to quickly review the religious status of map spaces.
Right-click actions:
Convert to Protestant |
Flips to Protestant religious influence (disabled in Ottoman home spaces) |
Convert to Catholic |
Flips to Catholic religious influence (disabled in Ottoman home spaces) |
Control |
Menu for placing an HCM matching current religious control of space (non-key spaces only) |
Unrest |
Adds Unrest to the space and decreases Protestant space count (if necessary) |
Remove Unrest |
Removes Unrest from the space and increases Protestant space count (if necessary) |
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 Spaces 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. To keep the count accurate, note the following:
- Before adding an SCM from the Power Cards to the map, always ensure its religious side matches that of the target key or SCM it's replacing.
- Add/remove Unrest by right-clicking a space or SCM and using the Unrest action--don't drag an Unrest marker from the palette (manually placing an Unrest marker will not lower the count).
VP Tracking
A power's VP total is automatically adjusted by the following:
- Dragging a key between the map and Power Card
- Changes in the Protestant Space count (Papacy, Protestants, England)
- Burning/disgracing debaters (Papacy, Protestants)
- Gaining/losing control of electorates (Hapsburgs, Protestants)
- Dragging a bonus VP marker from the palette to a Bonus VP box on the Power Card
- Making a New World discovery or conquest (Hapsburgs, England, France)
- Giving birth to Elizabeth and/or Edward VI (England)
- Advancing the Piracy track (Ottomans)
- Advancing the Chateaux track (France)
- Advancing the St Peter's track (Papacy)
If a power's VP total needs adjustment, drag it to the correct box on the VP track.
Card Play
While anyone can flip cards on the board, your hand is locked to you--other players cannot access it. If you need to reveal your hand
of cards to a player (e.g., by play of Venetian Informant, Spanish Inquisition, or Papal Inquisition), send that information by
email or private message. Each player hand has the camera tool to save a screenshot of your cards.
Each power's Home Card(s) are placed in the hand initially. Playing as CP or as an Event will place it on the Power Card and trigger a message.
Home Cards can be returned to your hand manually, or will be automatically returned by advancing the Turn marker.
For live play or non-ACTS PBEM, use the Hand Inventory window to keep track of the number of cards in each player's hand. Use the button in the main toolbar to deal cards to all player hands (one person can do this at the start of each turn for everyone). All cards may be right-clicked and played for CP or Event.
Even if you are using ACTS for card-tracking, you will still want to retrieve some cards from the deck and leave them in the Discard Pile or off to the side so they are ready when needed.
The complete list of cards with "Play as Event" effects is below (consider these optional when using ACTS unless otherwise noted):
- Luther's 95 Theses places the Luther reformer and flips Wittenberg to Protestant religious control
- Barbary Pirates enables an action on corsairs that places a Piracy marker in the current location, and enables play of Pirate Haven
- Schmalkaldic League places At War markers between the Hapsburgs-Protestants and Protestants-Papacy (disabled on Turn 1; required even if using ACTS)
- Zwingli Dons Armor removes the Zwingli debater and reformer from the game
- Dragut removes the Barbarossa naval leader and replaces it with Dragut (required even if using ACTS)
- Edward VI removes the Henry VIII counter and replaces it with Dudley (required even if using ACTS)
- Henry II removes the Francis I counter and replaces it with Henry II (required even if using ACTS)
- Calvin removes the Luther debater and reformer counters (required even if using ACTS)
- Calvin Expelled sends the Calvin reformer and debater to the next turn on the Turn Track
- Katherina Bora, A Mighty Fortress, and The Wartburg all commit Luther
- Augsburg Confession commits Melanchthon
- Calvin's Institutes commits Calvin
- Affair of the Placards commits Cop
- Book of Common Prayer commits Cranmer
- Papal Inquisition commits Caraffa
- New ruler mandatory events such as Clement VII, Paul III, Henry II, etc are placed on the Power Card display
Cards can be dragged to the Discard or Removed From Game pile if desired, but this won't generate a message. To retrieve a specific card from the Discard Pile--e.g.,
with the Here I Stand Protestant home card--right-click the pile and choose "Draw Specific Cards". The cards are sorted alphabetically and display
their CP value.
Cards that enter play in later turns can be added to the Main Deck by right-clicking on the pile in the Cards window, with the exception of the four cards with a Variable turn of entry--add these manually.
Awarding Card Draws and Random Discards
For non-ACTS PBEM or live play, there are toolbar buttons in each player hand that will give a random card to another player and discard one random card. If you need to give a specific card from your hand to another player with Diplomatic Overture,
flip it face-down in your hand and then move it to the board for the recipient to retrieve. In a PBEM game, you may want to send a log to only the recipient so other players cannot peek at the card.
For PBEM games, each player giving up a card draw during diplomacy will need to log that themselves.
Forces
Units for each power are in the Forces map window, since a power's units are limited to the number of pieces in the physical version of the game. Naval units and naval leaders are in a separate game piece layer that draws beneath land units. Land units can be right-clicked and eliminated,
which sends them back to the stack in the force pool.
Henry's Wives
Right-clicking on each wife counter will show the set of possible dice results. Choosing one sends the wife to the correct box on the Pregnancy Chart. The list of results gets smaller as attempts are made. A result of 4 will place the Elizabeth 2 VP marker on England's power card, and a result of 5 or 6 will
place the Edward 5 VP marker (replacing the Elizabeth 2 VP marker if previously earned).
Religious Struggle Display
Toolbar buttons allow the random selection of debaters from the uncommitted or committed pools. For those who wish to do it manually, the outlined boxes directly above the Current Debater holding boxes are shufflers for choosing debaters. Stack all the debaters from a pool in the shuffler, then
drag one debater off to get a random selection. Return the remaining debaters to their pool manually one-by-one.
Excommunication
Reformers and eligible rulers can be right-clicked and Excommunicated. This will place a marker on the Papal power card and a -1 Card marker on the targeted power if a ruler was excommunicated. Reformers are placed on the Turn Track along with their debater pieces.
New World
The module keeps track of which discoveries and conquests have been made (and by which power). It's
easiest to use the right-click actions for Explorers and Conquerors rather than trying to drag them around manually. The Crossing Atlantic box can be right-clicked to add Exploration/Conquest Underway markers.
There is a shuffler for getting a random selection from a pool of Explorers and Conquerors. Drag the stack of pieces onto the blue outlined box on the map, then drag a piece off. Despite the fact that all the pieces are face up and it may appear that the top one was taken, it is a random selection.
Except for the English, French, and Hapsburg versions of the Cabot explorer--which are found in the Markers palette--all explorers, conquerors, and colonies are stacked in the lower left corner of the map.
Pieces Removed From Play
Any piece removed from play (explorers, conquerors, debaters, reformers) is placed in the Removed From Game map window found in the Player Aids menu.
End of Turn Effects
Advancing the Turn marker will uncommit all debaters, remove Allied markers between major powers, remove Piracy markers, remove Loan markers from fleets, remove the Renegade leader (if present), and return all Home Cards to the owner's hand face up and ready for use.