In Part 1 of this AAR we saw the first two turns of Frédéric Serval’s Red Flag Over Paris. The Paris Commune, played by me, had a very poor first turn, and was almost wiped out by Fred’s Versailles Government. In the second turn I was able to make a comeback, but I am still behind on both scoring dimensions (Military and Political). There are two turns left (turn three plus the Final Crisis round) for me try and save the Commune!

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Turn 3

Finally my luck turns and I draw a very good hand: three Commune events, one neutral event, and two achievable objectives. At this point I decide to go all in on the Military dimensions, and accordingly select Mont Valérien as my objective. If I can pull ahead of Fred on Military VPs then I can force the game to go to a tie-breaker, which I think is my best chance at victory. (The Versailles Government can only win outright if they are at least tying on Military VPs, and vice versa for the Commune and Political VPs. To win the tie-breaker I just need to be ahead on two of either overall VPs, objectives, pivotal spaces, or holding the initiative.)

Fred keeps the initiative, and the fierce battle for Butte Montmartre continues. After a couple of cards I am able to remove a Versailles cube there, and then push out into Mont Valérien (the process for removing cubes from Military dimensions is slightly random, making this an exciting and slightly risky strategy). Seemingly giving up on the fight outside Paris, Fred now discards a card to boost his momentum to the final stage, granting him access to the Prussian Occupied Territory bordering Pere Lachaise and an extra Military VP at the end of the game, but also allowing me to place a cube into the pivotal Press space, which I now control.

The rest of the turn goes well for me. First I play Paule Minck to replace a cube in Mont Valérien, my objective for the round. Fred responds by playing a 3-point card for Military Ops, placing 2 cubes in Mont Valérien and 1 in Butte Montmarte, but I am able to respond in kind and retain control of both Military pivotals at the end of the round.

I use my pivotals to de-escalate, removing cubes from both sides. This often makes sense for the Commune player, who is generally more lacking in cubes to place than the Versailles player. We both score our objective this round, and I am able to use the effect of mine to begin expanding into the remaining forts, and also decrease Versailles momentum. The Commune is now looking a lot stronger, but I am way behind Political VPs and the tie-breaker is not looking good for me either (Fred has more VPs overall, more objectives, and the initiative). My only hope of winning the game is to keep control of the pivotals and somehow overtake Fred on VPs during the Final Crisis, a suitable challenging finale for the doomed Paris Commune.

Final Crisis

I’ve managed to set aside some good cards during the previous three turns, so my hand going into the Final Crisis is looking pretty good (cards can only be played for their event text during the Final Crisis, so it is important to choose these carefully). In order to win I need to score Forts, Paris, and Public Opinion, and stop Fred scoring Institutions.

Fred opens by playing Les Amis de L’Ordre to place two Versailles cubes into Paris. This card represents a historical group of Versailles sympathisers who operated inside Paris during the Commune’s existence. I’m not sure why they are dissecting a corpse in this picture though…

I play Charles Delescluze, first removing 2 Versailles cubes from Paris, and then failing to remove one from Chateau de Vincennes. Finally I remove the only Versailles cube from Republicans (which will be hard for Fred to get back into, as it does not connect to anywhere he has presence).

Fred responds by playing Marechal MacMahon and commencing the final assault on Paris that became known as the “Bloody Week”. This time around it is not quite so bloody or successful as it was historically, but it still signals the beginning of the end for the Commune.

I play Louis Auguste Blanquis, boosting my momentum and taking back Butte Montmartre and Fort D’Issy from the Versailles forces. At this point it still looks like I might be able to sneak a win, but disaster is about to strike…

Fred plays his trump card, Fraternisation, and some cowardly communards in Fort Valérien defect to the Versailles Government. This effectively loses me the game, and the names of these traitors will not be forgotten.

Finally, I play Jules Valles to increase my momentum again, scoring me an extra Political VP at the end of the game and removing both of the Versailles cubes in Social Movements. It is too little too late, but will perhaps ensure that the revolution lives on elsewhere after the Paris Commune falls.

After we resolve the final pivotal spaces, and the dust and gunpowder clears over Paris, Fred is ahead on Political VPs and tied on Military VPs, so he has secured a solid victory. If I had managed to gain 1 more Military VP during the Final Crisis we would have gone to the tiebreaker, but Fred would still have won, beating me on all four criteria (overall VPs, objectives, pivotals, and initiative). Nonetheless, I still had a shot at winning during the Final Crisis, had I been able to pull ahead on Military VPs and seize three of the pivotals, but it was always going to be a tough fight.

I really enjoyed this game, but Fred is a tough opponent and I still have a lot to learn. As noted in Part 1, I think I made two early mistakes: allowing Fred to play Colonel de Lochner in Turn 1, and selecting Press rather than Butte Montmartre as my objective in Turn 2. Fred was able to keep the pressure up, and from the end of Turn 1 I faced a real uphill battle. Still, I am able to take some consolation from doing slightly better than the historical Commune – the fighting continues in Paris and Forts, albeit with no realistic hope of victory, and Public Opinion is firmly on our side!

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