Upcoming game Žižka: Reformation and Crusade in Hussite Bohemia, 1420-1421 comes with a bunch of new mechanics such as new Assets, new rules for Crusade, for immediate surrender of some types of Strongholds, new multi stronghold Locale (Prague), or the whole new multi-purpose deck of so called Cause cards.  It also relies heavily on mechanics already introduced with the Levy & Campaign system by Volko Ruhnke.  When the series system is good, merely tackling its parameters and prerequisites can provide very different historical narratives from previous volumes. In this first part of the design diary, let’s take a look at how the already-known ruleset provides a new story and new challenges for the players by simply changing a few numbers or conditions.

In Nevsky, Almoravid, and Inferno, the map could be roughly divided into your and your enemy’s territory. This is not the case in Žižka as both Hussites and Catholics considered Bohemia their own country. The land is not a subject of dispute here, while the faith and the ruler are. With that, the first parameter changes come. The VP award for Ravaging is not 1/2 VP but 0 VP. Gone is the familiar hunt for VPs by inflicting as much damage on the opponent’s land? as possible. There is still an incentive for Ravaging as it helps to force Strongholds to surrender, brings the armies more food, and may prolong the sides’ will to fight (more on those later).

The scoring in Žižka is not solely based on an allegiance of the Strongholds. Hussites need to conquer a vast part of the country to win, therefore scoring lots of VPs. To balance that, I have used an already existing mechanic, the Victory Point box. In this “Suppress Heresy” box, Catholics will be accumulating VPs gained mostly for controlling the majority of Strongholds in each territory. That brings us to another simple Command condition.

The basic means to get Coins and prolong the time Lords stay in the field with them, the Tax action, is only allowed in territories with already mentioned majority. As Hussites control nearly nothing early in the game, one can imagine they will struggle for Coins to keep the war machine going. You may recall there is a way to substitute Loot for Coin when paying the Lords in the system. It is the same here but, again, conditions are slightly different. Hussites may Pay with loot only at Locales with their original Communes. Therefore the Hussite player has to run small campaigns to Ravage for Loot (from churches and monasteries in this case) but will have to return with it back to the original centers of the Hussite movement (marked with mountain and chalice). It is similar to border raids in other volumes but not bound by any specific border.

Catholic foreign Lords, the Crusaders, will face the same issue. They have no Seats in Bohemia, therefore no option for Tax. To have them in the field for a longer period of time, Crusaders rely on Coins gained when Sacking the towns or Coins provided by those who invited them into Bohemia – Holy Roman King Sigmund and Bohemian Catholics. They have an option to Pay with Loot, but this time the condition is during the Levy phase only. They can send some booty to their homelands, but their forces need to eat first. This brings us to the parameters of these Lords and their Command Actions.

Players familiar with the series often try to create a long supply train to have their Lords fed. But the Crusaders didn’t come to bring food to the country. They came to redeem their sins and make some profit. The foreign Lords in Žižka start with a low number of Carts and have Lordship 1 (allows for acquiring little more), therefore the usual long supply train strategy might not work here. On the other hand, their Forage and Ravage Actions are doubled in gain in Žižka. Their huge number of foragers can obtain more food. The Crusaders have additional mats and cylinders which makes the doubling easy to remember. The cost of shifting their Service is doubled as well by the way.  This is in contrast to local Bohemian Catholic Lords. These have enough Carts to gain supplies for their small armies quickly anywhere if campaigning in close proximity to their home castles and towns. But they are not allowed to Ravage. It is their country and their subjects after all.

Much of the game asymmetry comes from the composition of forces. To give you some numbers (subject to change during playtesting): Catholics have 20 Knights, 28 Sergeants, 26 Men-at-Arms, and 15 Militia. Hussites have 1 Knights, 12 Sergeants, 4 Men-at-Arms, 14 Militia, and 10 Serfs (called Cziepnici). No surprise the game developer Christophe Correia commented that Žižka is the most asymmetric volume of all published or currently on P-500. His comment was not only about the forces but the disparity itself brings the question: “How can Hussites conquer Bohemia with such a disadvantage?” The part of the answer is again in the numbers. Hussites on average have higher Fealty, Service, Lordship, and Command ratings than their Catholic counterparts. The most striking here is the one-eyed general Žižka with a Command rating of 4. He can March the same distance as most of the Catholic Lords even Laden. Why so high? Because most of the successful 1420-1421 campaigns were his achievements. His name is on the box for a reason. And the Catholic hunt for him early on in the game is very real as well, as he starts with 1 Sergeants and 1 Militia only. Strong Catholic forces face more Hussite actions of all types. The skill of each player will decide who will be able to use their advantage to achieve victory.

I have mentioned that Lord’s characteristics are only a part of the game balance. What is the second part? Events, Capabilities, a new type of cards, etc. We’ll look at some of them as well as at some new rules that create Levy & Campaign not-yet-seen challenges in a subsequent article.

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