Today marks the Kickstarter launch of a trio of new wargames for Worthington Publishing. Known as the Great Sieges series, these solitaire games feature plenty of tense decision making in order to claim victory. Available are 414 BC Siege of Syracuse, 1565 Siege of Malta, and 1759 Siege of Quebec. You can reserve a copy of one game for a $59.00 pledge, two games for a $109.00 pledge, or score all three for a $149.00 pledge (or a $135.00 pledge today only!) through May 8th. Expected delivery is this October.
About the games:
Syracuse 414 BC – The Athenian army lays siege to the great city of Syracuse.
Malta 1565 – The Turks versus the Knights of Malta in the last battle of the Crusades at the dawn of gunpowder.
Quebec 1759 – The siege that won North America for the English.
The Great Sieges game series highlights command decisions for players against a solitaire game engine opponent. They have been designed for easy set up and quick game play. Game unit placement is shown on the game board and units are wooden markers representing troop and ship formations.
Each game was developed for solitaire play. In 414 BC Siege of Syracuse and 1759 Siege of Quebec there is also a two player version of the game. Both sides require you to make great decisions based on good strategy, keep your wits about you when orders do not turn out well, and press on to victory.
All three games use a common set of rules for game play but each game has it own set of unique rules related to specifics of those individual sieges.
Solitaire as Athenians and 2 player version too
Unique to 414 Siege of Syracuse:
New rules for constructing walls and counter walls
Solitaire Cards are divided into 2 decks to represent 2 Epochs of the lengthy siege
Aggressive Commander Orders have been replaced by Leader cards that allow high risk/high rewards decisions by players.
As the Athenian side you win the game in two ways:
1. Complete your siege walls around the city AND have a ship in a blockade space.
2. Or, reduce the morale of Syracuse to zero.
As the Syracusan side, victory is achieved by:
1. Holding out until the siege ends (all cards have been played).
2. Or, the Athenian morale is reduced to zero.
The Athenian player must keep up attacks and deal with Syracusan reinforcements that come into play. They must also construct siege walls to choke off the city and fend off counter attacks by the city army. As Syracuse builds counter walls the Athenian must destroy them if he expects to encircle the city.
The Syracusan side is playing for time. It must defend the city against attacks by land and sea. Its forces must sally out of the city to drive the morale of the Athenian side down. Further, as the progress of siege walls is advanced by the Athenian side, Syracuse has the ability to build counter walls to slow down the progress.
New rules for artillery, gunpowder and siege towers
New rules for Elite units
Modified sequence of play that requires all orders to played once before an order can be played a second time.
As the Muslim Turks you win the game if the Knights morale is driven to zero OR all three of the fort locations have been cleared of Knight troops.
As the Christian Knight player you win the game if the Turks morale is zero OR if you can hold out until the siege ends.
Both sides have elite units that can affect battle results with die re-rolls. These are limited so deciding when to use them is important.
The siege in 1565 was during the early days when gunpowder came into use. Each side has very limited use of gunpowder for musketry which can help their odds of success.
The Turks also have limited gunpowder for artillery. While in supply they can bombard the Malta forts. The Turks also have a siege tower they can use.
Play solitaire as Muslims or Christians
New art style to the game board and cards
New rules and game pieces for artillery
New white French/red British/brown Indian pieces
Updated rules
Play Solitaire as French or British and a 2 player version too
Any time one side’s morale reaches zero during a turn, the other side wins the game. Also, the French win if they hold out until the British Navy departs. And the British can win by taking Quebec.
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