Monarch Wars: The States & their Monarchs

This list is still very much in flux due to balancing issues and anticipation for future expansions. Each region has major and minor states. The major states include monarchs and change from year-to-year, while the minor states only change when a state ceases to exist or is merged into a larger state. Playable monarchs have an asterix preceding it and lead each section. Some of these monarchs are treated as normal monarchs when fewer than five players are playing

Western Europe
Major States:
* France — Charles VII (1422 – 1461)
England & Ireland — Henry VI (1422 – 1461)
Castile & León — John II (1406 – 1454)
Aragón, Naples & Sicily — Alfonso V (1416 – 1458)
Portugal & the Algarve — Afonso V (1438 – 1481)
Burgundy — Philip III (1419 – 1467)

Minor States:
Grenada (Until 1492)
Navarre (Until 1589)

Lorraine (Until 1766)

Northern Europe

Major States: 

* Denmark & Norway — Christian I (1448 – 1481)

Sweden — Charles VIII (1444 – 1457, 1464 – 1470)

Brandenburg — Frederick II (1440 – 1471)

Teutonic Order — Ludwig (1449 – 1467)

Poland & Lithuania — Casimir IV (1447 – 1492)

Moscow — Vasily II (1425 – 1462)

Minor States:

Scotland & the Isles (Until 1603)

Masovia (Until 1526)

Novgorod (Until 1478)

Central Europe

Major States:

* Austria — Frederick V (1424 – 1493)

Palatinate — Frederick I (1449 – 1476)

Saxony — Frederick II (1428 – 1464)

Bavaria — Albert III (1438 – 1460

Bohemia & Hungary — Ladislaus (1440 – 1457)

Brunswick — William (1416 – 1482)

Minor States:

Mainz (Until 1803)

Cologne (Until 1803)

Trier (Until 1803)

Southern Europe

Major States:

* Milan — Francis I (1450 – 1466)

Papal States — Nicholas V (1447 – 1455)

Florence — Cosimo (1434 – 1464)

Savoy — Louis (1440 – 1465)

Venice — Francesco (1423 – 1457)

Genoa — Pietro (1450 — 1458)

Minor States:

Switzerland (Until 1918)

Siena (Until 1555)

Modena & Ferrara (Until 1859)

Eastern Europe

Major States:

* Ottoman Empire — Mehmed II (1444 – 1446, 1451 – 1481)

Great Horde — Küchük Muhammad (1435 – 1459)

Serbia — Durad (1427 – 1456)

Wallachia — Vladislav II (1447 — 1456)

Moldavia — Peter III (1451 – 1457)

Order of St. John — Jean (1437 – 1454)

Minor States:

Trebizond (Until 1461)

Bosnia (Until 1463)

Cyrus (Until 1489)

Monarch Wars: Game Mechanic Trials

Alright, so the game will initially take place over the twelve months of 1453 and be subtitled "The Fall of the Byzantine Empire". After much thought, I've actually dropped the Byzantine Empire as a playable nation, though it will appear in the game.

Anyway, one of the mechanics is a pretty simple one: each player gets a special goal. In some games players get special abilities, in this game it's a goal. And the goals are pretty logical. They are based on the concept that players should have a local-influence goal. If a player achieves the goal, they earn a special 10 Victory Point chit that they can add to their final score.

So here is a preview of the five player goals. They are static and definitely will be cleaned up and modified. In this goals, you will get a preview of the playable states and the static states that will be appearing on the board. Not every state is mentioned, but most are.


Milan (Monarch: Francesco I) – Goal: The Rebirth of Europe
Achieve your goal if at any point in the game, you have at least 2 Influence in Savoy, Florence, Venice, Genoa, the Papal States, and Aragón at the same time.

France (Monarch: Charles VII) – Goal: The Battle of Castillon

Achieve your goal if you maintain control of England, Scotland, Burgundy, Portugal, and Aragón for the same 2 months. 

Denmark (Monarch: Christian I) – Goal: Northern Solidarity

Achieve your goal if you maintain control of England, Scotland, Sweden, the Teutonic States, and Poland for the same 2 months.

Austria (Monarch: Frederick V) – Goal: Imperial Election

Achieve your goal if at any point in the game, you have at least 2 Influence in Saxony, the Palatinate, Brandenburg, Bavaria, Bohemia, the Papal States at the same time.

Ottoman Empire (Monarch: Mehmed II) – Goal: The Fall of Constantinople

Achieve your goal if you maintain control of Moscow, the Great Horde, Wallachia, Moldavia, and Serbia for the same 2 months.

That's it for now. Some of the states are still in flux due to problems with consistency over many expansions. I don't want there to be over 30 states in 1853 but only 15 or so in 1916, so I'm still working this out. Also, 1453 happens to be a strange year between Vlad III Dracula's reigns, so I may craft the first expansion to 1476, a fairly random year, just to include Dracula as a playable monarch. The second expansion will be, predictably, 1492 or 1493, and include international conquests as a components. At any rate, the rules above are vague enough to leave you all guessing but specific enough to suggest a gameplay mode. I'll follow up with future ideas over the course of the next few months.

Monarch Wars: Spin-off Ideas

After some thought during a shift at Game Deck, I thought that if I have a game depicting the rise and fall of dynasties in Europe throughout the Early Modern and Modern era, why couldn't I also make games depicting the consolidation of specific countries throughout history? Thus far, my ideas are pretty Euro-centric, but it's a start:

• Monarch Wars: France
• Monarch Wars: Britain
• Monarch Wars: Spain
• Monarch Wars: Germany
• Monarch Wars: Italy

Furthermore, I have some basic concept ideas on how these spin-offs could work. Players would begin the game as rulers of specific duchies, counties, etc., much in the manner of the old computer game, Castles: Siege & Conquest. Pretty much anything that was officially or nominally autonomous. Throughout the game, players would be trying to inherit, conquer, or otherwise acquire neighboring lands. At first the game would be competitive, but over time, as the country consolidates, it would become cooperative as some of the players would eventually be inherited into another player's realm. Once they become a part of another player's realm, they continue to try and expand their influence, but through other means and for the benefit of the team rather than themselves. The winner is the player who inherits all (or most) of the land in the country in question. The four countries I've chosen thus far all consolidated largely from inheritance, especially France and Spain, so it would definitely be an interesting game.

France would be the first one I'd do and the five starting realms would probably be:

• Aquitaine
• Normandy
• Burgundy
• Provance
• Île de France

That would provide the basis for some of the historical divisions that eventually unified under Louis XIV.

Monarch Wars: Cardback Design

I can't think of any better way to start off this board game blog than with a preview of the primary card back that will be used with most of the cards. Different words may appear at the top or the color may change to denote different card-types but this is the generic backing for all cards.

The font is Lucida Blackletter with the footer font being Herculanum. The map I found on Google Images around three years ago and no longer remember who made it or what year it was made. When I find that info, I'll make a blog about it because I remember it being quite interesting.