Middle Provincial Era GROGPUBLIC game thread

Started by JasonPratt, September 17, 2018, 05:04:17 PM

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JasonPratt

Almost another Random Event, but not quite! This will be a Scenario draw.



The Aequi, a one time ally of former King Tarquinius, living to the east of Latium in the Apennine Mountains, have decided that now is the time to take his territory while his successors are distracted!

Historically, this happened for the first time in 494 BCE, very shortly after Tarqy was ousted, and inspired the Senate to raise 10 Legions for the first time in Rome's history! -- but the Republic doesn't have those resources (yet) in this game. They also allied with the Volsci when Coriolanus led them to attempt a coup over the Senate.

Fortunately, the Aequian War(s) lacks much power in this game, at a Land Strength of only 2. With Allies threatening to desert, however, there's a 50/50 chance of them adding 1d6 power temporarily this Turn for that fight! Cincinnatus voids Disaster and Standoff automatic failure rolls against the Aequian War, but he can't be Consul again this Turn. (And no other Statesman on the board has this ability.)


Anyway, I'll need AzTank's choices now on who should sacrifice how many Talents (all his senators have 4 each) for a knight roll; and also his vote on whether to add two extra rounds to the Forum Phase this Turn.
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ArizonaTank

Papirius and Fabius each spend two for knights. Conservatives vote yes on extra rounds.
Johannes "Honus" Wagner
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JasonPratt

The Frog notes from chat, that Fulvius is who used up his 4 Talents and who got the knight. Plutocrat Vote Tally increases to 12.

AzTank notes from chat that Papirius will be who tries for the knight this time; and if he gets it, and if the Players end up voting for extra rounds, and if he draws one of the extra rounds, then Fabius will try next time.

Papirius spends his 4 Talents; anything other than a 1 will win him a knight!

[blockquote]Rolled 1d6 : 3, total 3[/blockquote]
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JasonPratt

That's a win!  Normal Vote Tally goes up to 9.

Currently the vote for extra rounds is even at 2  and -2.

Malize upthread votes against the extra rounds, thus 2 and -3. Even if Erax votes for them, it'll be a tie not a majority, so no extra rounds this Turn.

Malize's Populists roll for an Event or Scenario:

[blockquote]Rolled 2d6 : 1, 2, total 3[/blockquote]
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JasonPratt

Not 7, so it's a Scenario, and he draws a historical Event:



And that's going to change the game temporarily, and permanently!

I'll discuss the Twelve Tables in a minute (although the card is fairly detailed). First, finishing out Malize's round, as per his instructions upthread, Aurelius spends all 5 of his Talents on an automatic knight persuasion. Vote Tally goes up to 9. No Leader change.

I'll have to resolve some things in the historical event before going on to Erax's round.
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JasonPratt

For historical context: Rome's laws had become a jumbled mess, kept somewhat secretly in the temples, which of course benefited the Patricians who alone had access to check the laws. The institution of the Republic hadn't exactly solved this problem! -- and the jumbling of the law was starting to hamper the Patricians themselves, not least fostering corruption among the senators exploiting contradictory and unclear laws.

So with agitation from the plebian citizens, and from populist senators, and even from some senators who just wanted more clarity so as not to fall foul of the law, a reformatory Tribunal Council was elected by the Senate: three Consuls rather than the usual pair of Consuls.

There's some dispute even among ancient historians (as well as modern) about whether the Consular Tribunes were meant to be permanent or temporary, but in any case their main task for the year was to study and harmonize the jumbled mess of Roman Law. At the end of their first year in office, they produced ten tablets of codified law to serve as the basis of Republican Law going forward. But they pleaded an extension of their term since there was still work to be done.

In the second year they produced two more tablets. But the Senate suspected that the Consuls were conspiring to seize permanent power for themselves as Consuls for Life, and a special prosecutor convicted them, stripping their titles and returning the Republic to two new Consuls elected each year. Yet it was generally agreed that the Consular Tribunes had done their job, and the 12 Tablets became the basis of Roman law for the Republic and for the subsequent Empire (out through the end of Constantinople near the start of the Renaissance period)!


What does that mean in game terms?

First, each senator with a major office aside from any Proconsuls (who only have consular authority in the field for fighting a war) and the Pontifex Maximus, loses his office, and also loses 1 Influence point due to suspicion of corruption. In practice for this game, that means Cincinnatus stops being Roman Consul and his Inf goes down to 10 (with the Aristocrat total going down to 27). There is no Field Consul right now; Camilus is a Proconsul in the field on extended campaign, so he's safe. And no other offices aside from PontMax have unlocked yet. The HRAO is now Fabius of the Conservatives, as Pontifex Maximus. He'll be the one to start the Senate soon.

Second, for one Turn only, the Senate will elect three Consuls, the Consular Tribunes. More on this when the Senate opens.

Third, if there was a senatorial family in the Curia waiting to respawn (or destroyed Concessions, or an inactive Enemy Leader), rolls regarding them would add +1 to their total. But nothing like that is waiting, so there will be no such effect for this game. (The 12 Tables are of course a unique historical event, so won't be returning.)

Fourth, next Turn (not this Turn), a new Senatorial office will unlock: the Censor. More about this later, but this is the permanent change in the game. Essentially the game is going to tempt players into competing against each other, instead of cooperating, by prosecuting each other with the Censorial office.
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JasonPratt

Time for Erax's Progressives. He has already registered a vote against extra rounds, but with Malize's vote it doesn't matter now, there won't be extra rounds this Turn (unless two people change their vote to 'for' before I'm done processing Erax!)

Rolling for Event/Scenario:

[blockquote]Rolled 2d6 : 2, 4, total 6[/blockquote]
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JasonPratt

That's a Scenario, and Erax draws a Faction card, which he puts with the other one in his hand. I've p-mailed Erax to explain what it is, and when he can use it.

Plautius and Flaminius each have 2 Talents. I'll need to know which one will be rolling for a knight, and how much cash will be spent on the attempt. Also whether the Leader should change. It would be impossible for either of them to persuade another senator to join, so that won't be an option (for this Turn).
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Erax

Sorry guys, I had guests over for the weekend and wasn't home much.

Flaminius spends one on a possible knight, no leader change.

JasonPratt

I'll have to wait until later tonight to make adjustments and run the Population Phase, but we can do the roll now. If he spends 1 Talent, then a 5 or 6 will win:

[blockquote]Rolled 1d6 : 6, total 6[/blockquote]
ICEBREAKER THESIS CHRONOLOGY! -- Victor Suvorov's Stalin Grand Strategy theory, in lots and lots of chronological order...
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JasonPratt

Natural 6, that's a win! -- I'll add the knight tonight, and adjust up the normal vote tally.

Since the majority voted for no extra rounds (though a tie would also stay normal, no extra rounds), this ends the Forum Phase.

As preparation for upcoming phases, the Pontifex Maximus will be giving the State of Republic speech this Turn. Unrest is at zero, so it's physically impossible to lose the game this Turn by mob revolt, and odds are good unrest won't go up. I think Publius has some popularity to help shift off some of the worst results, too (working from memory here, don't hold me to that).

AzTank will be leading the start of the Senate, since his faction has the HRAO (the PontMax in this case), and his first mandatory business will be to Propose three Consuls, the Consular Tribunal. Each Consul will pick up 2 (not 3) Influence. (Same 6 influence total, divided out by 3 instead of 2 senators.)

Next Turn we'll be back to 2 Consuls for the rest of the game, at no penalty for the elected Tribunal (unlike historically!) so Players shouldn't worry about being elected: there is no downside in the game rules to being on the Tribunal.

Valid senators must be in Rome (not captured or at war), and must NOT be PontMax. So for practical purposes that's everyone but two of AzTank's senators (Camilius, off at war, and whoever the PontMax is, Fabius iirc.)

The Consular Tribunal has all the same characteristics of normal Consuls, including the authority to lead a Force to War -- this is one of the few ways to send out more than two senators per Turn to War if necessary, and while that didn't happen historically it's a handy way to clean up accumulated Wars before the Italian Era starts. However, I'm pretty sure (I'll check the rules) that the Senate can also vote to just send reinforcements to a commander already in the field. The difference is that the arriving Legions will operate under the Proconsul's command, while sending a Force with a Consul (or with a Dictator in emergencies but the Republic hasn't triggered enough of a crisis to unlock the Dictator office yet) means that two Leaders will be attacking the same War, one after the other, using distinct sets of Legions.

Anyway, you'll need to set up three Consuls this turn, all at once (like two Consuls normally), and I think this will be all the Mandatory Business for the Turn. Next Turn you'll start electing a Censor, but we'll crash that boat when we get to it. ;)

The HRAO, and thus the Presiding Magistrate post, will be decided between the three Consuls by Influence, then Oratory, with the oldest family (lowest family number) breaking any final ties. (I'm working from memory here, I'll have to check the rules; it might be by agreement and/or dicing as with the normal Roman and Field Consuls.)


So, Players should be looking ahead to how you're going to deal with the two current Wars, one of which (the Veientine) already has a competent commander though possibly not the most competent available. If you intend to replace him with, for example, Manlius (who can fully command all seven currently possible Legions, some of which will have to be raised again), then you'll need to vote to Recall him (at no personal penalty to him, if I recall correctly but I'll check), and then send a new Consul (one of the elected Tribunal) to replace him (with or without extra units -- the units currently in the field can stay there but they won't fight without a Commander leading them.)

I will note that Camilus does still void the D/S results for this War, and he can command all 7 Legions if you max his reinforcements out: he just can't help more than 5 of them fight to their full potential. His War Power with 7 Legions would be (5x2) + 2 = 12. Julius' would be (6x2) + 1 = 13. The Manly One would be 7x2=14.  :coolsmiley: But neither Julius nor Manly would be able to void a D/S roll.
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JasonPratt

Let's see, I've got 30 minutes still at the house before I leave for the niece-party, so let's see if I can catch up!

TURN FOUR -- POPULATION PHASE
---------------------------------------

Nothing in the Curia currently to roll for, although the 12 Tables Event would add +1 to any such rolls this Turn.

No currently Unprosecuted Wars, and no Drought effects, so no Unrest adjustments. Unrest at 0.

Fabius is HRAO as PontMax currently (thanks to 12 Table Event), so he opens the Senate as Presiding Magistrate with the State of Republic Speech. Roll 3d6:

[blockquote]Rolled 3d6 : 2, 3, 6, total 11[/blockquote]
ICEBREAKER THESIS CHRONOLOGY! -- Victor Suvorov's Stalin Grand Strategy theory, in lots and lots of chronological order...
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JasonPratt

Fabius' Popularity 2 - 0 unrest + 3d6 total 11 = 13. That's a No Change. (The only plausible bad results in this circumstance might have been adding 1, 2, or maybe 3 to Unrest.)

With that, the Senate opens.

AzTank's Fabius will lead out with a Proposal on three senators for Consular Tribune, himself (as PontMax) and Camilus (at War as Proconsul) exempted.

Fabius as PontMax can also appoint one more senator as a priest at any time during this Phase, at will without a vote, if he wishes. Current priests are Fulvius of the Plutocrats, and Papirius of his own Conservatives.

I'll have to wait until tonight to post updated snapshots of the Player mats. Here's a snap of the current war situation, though:



Keep in mind that you've received a strong rumor, basically a 50/50 chance, that some of your allied support may temporarily desert this Turn, which you won't know for sure unless you fight. This won't be your Legions per se -- it's more like the logistic trains that keep them in supply. If this happens to a War you're fighting, the enemy will temporarily gain 1d6 force, which will factor into the dice-roll resolution. It can happen to either or both of the wars!

Also be aware that as long as you've got minimum Force at a War, which Camillus currently does, then he must attack the War. (If he has less than minimum Force, then his Player may opt to attack or not at his discretion, no personal penalty to the senator.) So if you don't want to attack that War this Turn, then you should either vote to pull back Camillus and/or at least one of his Legions (dropping him below the minimum force of 4 for this War). Legions parked at a War without a Commander, or at minimum Force with a Commander who opts out of attacking, will not be attacked by the War; but the War will be Unprosecuted, too. (Worth noting: if you do attack the War and you score less than a Victory and end up with less than minimum Force after casualties, the War will count as insufficiently prosecuted and thus as Unprosecuted!)

The rumors of Allied Desertion this Turn, will add some subtle factors into your decisions about how to handle the Wars this Turn.

Relatedly, the Republic has 76 Talents in the bank, and one Active Legion (the 3rd). Another two Legions (the 1st and 2nd) are waiting to be reconstituted in the Force Pool. The Republic can currently expect 30 Talents normal income next Turn, plus (yet!) another 25 Talents in Allied Enthusiasm.


That should be enough for preliminary discussions, if any happen tonight. I'll be back with snapshots before bedtime (probably)!
ICEBREAKER THESIS CHRONOLOGY! -- Victor Suvorov's Stalin Grand Strategy theory, in lots and lots of chronological order...
Dawn of Armageddon -- narrative AAR for Dawn of War: Soulstorm: Ultimate Apocalypse
Survive Harder! -- Two season narrative AAR, an Amazon Blood Bowl career.
PanzOrc Corpz Generals -- Fantasy Wars narrative AAR, half a combined campaign.
Khazâd du-bekâr! -- narrative dwarf AAR for LotR BfME2 RotWK campaign.
RobO Q Campaign Generator -- archived classic CMBB/CMAK tool!

IncompetentIdiot

I'd propose that we reinforce Camillus with all our legions or recall him and send Cincinnatus to fight the Aequii. Throwing everything at one war should minimize the risk of disaster if that event fires.

Erax

Our options are: throw everything at the Aequian War, throw everything at the Veientine War or try a balanced approach like last turn. Given that 1) we are facing what amounts to a random reinforcement for BOTH wars (should we try to fight both) and 2) the Republic's treasury is practically overflowing and 3) unrest is low; I suggest we raise 2 legions and try to knock out the Veientine War with everything we have. We can weather one unprosecuted war next turn for -10 cash and +1 unrest.