LORDS OF THE BALKANS circa 1305

[fogman]

The loss of Constantinople in 1204 to the Western forces of the 4th Crusade signalled the end of the glory days of the Byzantine Empire. Although the Byzantines recovered their capital in 1262 they were mere shadows of their former selves and by the turn of the 14th century were on the defensive, under growing pressure from the Ottoman Turks in Anatolia and the reinvigorated Bulgarians in Thrace. Further west, the Despotate of Epirus, a Byzantine successor state, had to contend with the rise of Serbia. The Franks still controlled most of Greece south of Thessaly but soon had to face the deadly threat of Catalan mercenaries, originally brought in by the Byzantines, but now independent powerful military entrepreneurs. This is the stage of Lords of the Balkans circa 1305.

Pre-set battles:

Byzantines vs Ottomans
Byzantines vs Bulgarians
Serbs vs Bulgarians
Serbs vs Epirotes
Catalans vs Latins

scenarios of match-ups available for download in the scenarios thread
viewforum.php?f=92

No fog of war, no double moves.
Scoring system as before.

start date: Saturday august 23

-------------------------------------
The Lords' history

1 Lords of the Steppes circa 1400
2 Lords of Khurasan circa 1000
3 Lords of the Western Mediterranean circa 550
4 Lords of Italy circa 280 BC
5 Lords of the Holy Land circa 1100
6 Lords of Italy circa 280 BC, 2nd edition
7 Lords of History, cavalry battles
8 Lords of the Steppes circa 1400, 2nd edition
9 Lords of Asia circa 200 BC
10 Lords of History, 2nd edition, Greek battles
11 Lords of the East circa 640
12 Lords of History, 3rd edition, English battles
13 Lords of the Balkans circa 1305

[fogman]

Players:
fogman, ulysisgrunt, iandavidsmith, batesmotel, bloodphoenix, jocaramiro.

Schedule:

lords of the balkans sked.jpg (63.26 KiB) Viewed 9484 times

read horizontally: for instance in round 1, jocaramiro is to challenge bloodphoenix and fogman, and will be challenged by ulysisgrunt, batesmotel and iandavidsmith. The challenger is side 1 (first named army): when playing against bloodphoenix, jocaramiro is serb and his opponent epirote.

since this is now scenario-based, the relevant scenarios are used. make sure you download them (link in first post)

settings: challengers are side 1 (which should correspond to first named army), no double moves, no fog of war. attention: not paired games, you will be playing side 2 in round 2.

round 1: saturday 23 august to saturday 13 september.

[ulysisgrunt]

Definitely interested
Danny Weitz

[iandavidsmith]

I like to play but one might have expected that.
Ian

[batesmotel]

Sign me up .

Chris

[gianfrancocimino52]

How many time to complete the games starting on August 2nd ?
Cheers
Gianfranco

[fogman]

How many time to complete the games starting on August 2nd ?
Cheers
Gianfranco

3 weeks per round (5 games) but we're not fussy about it.

[fogman]

we may push the start date back at least a week because i may be away a lot in early august.
so far we have

1. fogman
2. ulisisgrunt
3. iandavidsmith
4. batesmotel
5. gianfranco?
6. ?

i intend to make the final evolutionary change by using the test scenarios as games for this lords series. this will take care of the last issue i dislike: the implausible random map.

there are many who will think picking your army, even with all the restrictions which are the raison d'etre of the lords, is part of the generalship but i think in a tournament format everything needs to be equal on the battlefield. the test of generalship comes from making the most of what you're given, not to already have the upper hand before the battle through army mismatch and a lucky initiative die roll.

in the end what we have is the most historically correct armies fighting their historical opponents at the right time and in the right place on a map that looks like a real battlefield, devoid of all gamey tactics (eg weird light troops behaviour, hiding elephants behind a line of infantry, among other things). as i have stated before it all comes down to your outlook: whether FoG is a strategy game with a historical flavour or a historical simulation with a strategic slant.

[fogman]

updated first post.

take note of new start date. take note also of the new format discussed in previous post. nothing is negotiable!

[bloodphoenix]

I'll give it a shot...I'm definitely intrigued by the prospect of fighting historical match-ups on appropriate terrain.
And I'm willing to surrender my freedom to hand-pick my troops, since players so often succumb to the temptation of
Min-Maxing, and wind up with armies that are competitive but bear little resemblance to their historical name-sakes.

I wasn't aware that anyone was running a tournament of this type, and I'm excited to see how it plays!

[fogman]

"I wasn't aware that anyone was running a tournament of this type, and I'm excited to see how it plays!"

13th tournament of the series! the ultimate in historical match-ups are 'lords of history' (real historical battles) that run alternatively to this more conventional dag based edition.

a description of its aim and innovative evolution was given here:
viewtopic.php?f=95&t=47278

[fogman]

we're ready to roll. see second post.

[iandavidsmith]

Looking forward to it , thanks Fogman,
Ian

[ricoual74]

you can sign me up if possible.

[ricoual74]

you can sign me up if possible.

[fogman]

you can sign me up if possible.

sorry we're full. we'll call on you if someone doesn't play.

[JocaRamiro]

Hi,

I am confused. It seems I am to challenge blood phoenix as the serbians against the epirotes, and Fogman as the serbians against the cats (perhaps a lost cause).

Shall these be private games? Would you gentlemen like to choose your pass words?

J.Ramiro

[JocaRamiro]

A correction.

I am to be the Latins against Fogman

[fogman]

challenges for

bloodphoenix:
serbs vs bulgarians
pw: bloodphoenix

ulysisgrunt:
byzantines vs ottomans
pw: ulysisgrunt

iandavidsmith:
byzantines vs bulgarians
pw: iandavidsmith

attention: make sure you tick the 'password' box. also passwords are case-sensitive. everything else is default.

[fogman]

Hi,

I am confused. It seems I am to challenge blood phoenix as the serbians against the epirotes, and Fogman as the serbians against the cats (perhaps a lost cause).

Shall these be private games? Would you gentlemen like to choose your pass words?

J.Ramiro

you choose the password. see my challenges for example.