Middle Provincial Era GROGPUBLIC game thread

[Erax]

OK, I'll spend my 'secret persuasion card' and Flaminius will spend 11 Talents (the most I can spend that still improves my chances) to try to persuade Calpurnicus.

[JasonPratt]

Dice roller has not returned to the forum, so I'll have to wait until around 5pm this afternoon my time (about 4 hours from now).

[JasonPratt]

Resolving! -- Erax plays his hidden "Blackmail" Intrigue card to the discard pile.



This is a cross-bolt that should make his opponents glad he spent it now, because he could have trolled an opponent awfully hard with it by setting up a situation where if he won then he got your senator, but if he lost then your senator lost 2d6 Pop and Influence! (I'm unsure if the rules specify one or two separate rolls for that loss.)

Having preliminarily nixed the possibility of counterbribing him, Flaminius spends 11 Talents for the maximum chance to persuade Calpurnicus: 9 or less to win on a 2d6. He rolls 3 and a 6 = 9! -- cruising just under the edge of an automatic loss, but he picks up the Senator! Normal vote tally up to 7; total Influence up to 9. Cal brings his new personal Treasury of 11 cash with him.

[JasonPratt]

Backtracking, AzTank specifies (by p-mail) that he's going to have Spurius be who tries for the knight, sacrificing both his Talents. That means a 4 or greater on a 1d6 will win... and he rolls a 4! That's Spurius' first minion, and the Faction normal vote tally goes up to 13.

AzTank also chooses to fulfill his Contracted payment now by sending 12 cash from his Faction Treasury to the Aristocrat Treasury. Since this isn't the Revenue Phase, however, the Talents will be delayed arriving until next Turn's income.

[JasonPratt]

I.I.'s Aristocrats roll 5+1=6, so not a random event, and draws a red-text Faction card to his hand face down. I have sent him a p-mail about the card already.

Since I don't have any instructions (I think?) from I.I. yet, I'll pause here.

[JasonPratt]

To clarify a point some Players may be wondering about: there are 7 cards remaining in the Italian Era, and only Tripoli remains (to possibly draw it I mean. I.I. still has to make Faction choices this Turn.)

[IncompetentIdiot]

Valerius will dump 5 on a knight.

[Erax]

Also Plautius was going to spend 3 on a knight.

And a random question: if the new Senator hadn't been scooped up by anyone, could he have died if his mortality chit came up next turn? The rules say Senators 'in play' can die, but I'm not sure if an unaligned Senator in the Forum counts as in play or not.

[JasonPratt]

Opps! -- I got distracted by the huge win of Calpurnicus!

Plautius of the Progressives sacrifices 3 of his 6 cash to roll for a knight, needing a 3 or better on a 1d6 -- and rolls a 4, gaining his first minion. Normal vote tally up to 8.

Valerius sacrifices all 5 of his Talents for an automatic 2nd minion. Normal vote tally up to 13.

Tripoli's Militarists roll 5+5=10, not a random Event, and he draws the Quinctian family (#18) to the Forum! In effect this means that Cincinnatus of the Aristocrats has survived long enough (perhaps with some Juniors in there quietly inheriting his training) for his family more generally to become politically important. Consequently, I.I. automatically picks up this card to place under Cinc! -- if Cincinnatus lives long enough to retire (which is practically certain at this point) then, being a pre-Early Statesman, he'll pass down all his pieces to the family Senator.

Per prior instructions, Julius of the Militarists sacrifices all 5 of his cash for a 3rd headquarters minion, bumping his Military skill to 7 (per Militarist special ability). Vote tally goes to 15.

This ends the Forum Phase.

[JasonPratt]

TURN SEVEN -- POPULATION PHASE
------------------------------

Time to get ready for the Senate!

All senators with PontMax and above get Major Marker. (In effect this is all three Plutocrat senators plus Manlius of the Militarists.)

No threatened Concessions yet, nor any destroyed Concessions in the Curia; nor any Enemy Leaders.

There is a family Senator in the Curia, however, waiting to respawn! Normally this happens on a 1d6 >=5, but as long as Statesman Appius is active (which won't be for much longer) then the roll only needs to be >=3. The Fabians roll a 1, however, so are unable to promote a scion this Turn.

Public Unrest is at level 1, +1 for the Unprosecuted 2nd Latin War, +1 for the Drought. New Unrest = 3.

The Highest Ranking Available Officer is Roman Consul Statesman Appius Claudius of the Plutocrats (soon to retire). He opens the Senate with this Turn's State of the Republic address. Popularity 2 - Unrest 3 + 3d6 (3+3+1) = 6 -- OUCH! +4 to Unrest Level! Unrest goes up to 7!

This ends the Population Phase and starts the Senate Phase.


I will post snapshots and Republic stats next. The first Mandatory Business meanwhile is, as usual, Proposal and election of two new Consuls.

[JasonPratt]

Catchup snapshots of the Player mats:

I.I.'s Aristocrats trail slightly behind the Plutocrats in raw power (Influence + votes), and as long as his total Influence remains less than first place then his activist knights can't each bring a second vote. Moreover, he and AzTank have been politically outmaneuvered by the Frog, into being a minority bloc despite their relative strengths! How long that will last, who can tell? The Aristocrats remain potent, and despite naming himself "Incompetent Idiot" I.I. has played a clever game so far. He's got decent cash reserves, two unplayed cards, and a well-developed pre-Early Statesman who is about to pass down a secured inheritance. His grip on 2nd place is tenuous, but he could go up as well as down.



Tripoli's Militarists have shot up thanks to recent wars and political gamesmanship! -- tying the Frog for total normal votes, and jumping hard on total influence. Their cash is a little thin for a top Faction right now however, and they still lack the punch of the top Influences. But they've got a more secure stable of senators with more to offer than the Conservatives' (currently) decreasing relevance.



The Frog's Plutocrats scored a strategic political coup last Turn in swinging himself from 3rd place in a coterie, over to leader of a larger coterie -- and one which needs him a little more than he needs some of them (perhaps)! No one is likely to soon forget him arranging the execution of one of his prior allies; but neither can anyone discount his power, cleverness, and income generation abilities: he may not have a lot of cash at the moment, but that's because he has spent it improving his position. How much of the senatorial office power he'll be able to maintain this Turn remains to be seen.



AzTank's Conservatives, thanks to the judicial execution (or murder) of his Pontifex Maximus during the last Senate, has dropped into a close fourth places among the top four -- a positioned weakened further by the fact that Latin Era Statesman Spurius must be retiring very soon, with no heir. Under the circumstances, the newer two Factions will start overtaking him. (He also still owes the Aristocrats some judicial defense effort by Contract.) He'll need some better luck and canny political strategy -- or bad luck among his former peers -- to be jockeying for first place again! But he does still have two unplayed cards in his hand...



Malize's Populists suffered a massive back-stumble this past Turn, with the death of his Faction Leader Statesman before his family could inherit (at the start of the Early Era) -- though at least he did get his family Senator back immediately. He'll need a while to rebuild, but he also has 3 unplayed Faction cards on his wing. And while he and Erax equal the combined votes and influence, and while Erax wildly exceeds him in cash, for the Senate Phase his total votes capable of being deployed on any topic pro or con, remains the slightest deciding edge between them. For now.



Erax's Progressives have made solid gains this past Turn, but he still necessarily lags behind the other Players in 6th place. His activist voting will become more sought after as a political tool in competitions as his power increases, however, and he still retains 3 unknown faction cards in his hand. Moreover, with his very solid cash reserves he could soon pull ahead of Malize -- or, with bad luck elsewhere, even higher!



As for the Republic's stats:



The 2nd Latin War remains Active on the border and Unprosecuted for now, though its relatively weak land power and disproportionate rewards for the Republic's growth will surely make it both a prime target and a politically chaotic struggle for who gets to take Rome's 10 Active Legions and go squash it!

Rome's income is 40 Talents currently, with a high watermark Treasury of 176. Unrest however bubbles at another high watermark of 7! The Spolia Opima remains unclaimed, but with no Enemy Leader this Turn it will remain so.

[JasonPratt]

Aside from my commentary on current Player strengths and weaknesses, two more factors should be considered:

1.) There are still 6 cards remaining in the Italian Deck, which means the Early Provincial Era cannot start this Turn with the next Early card played face up. (I double checked: there must be 5 or fewer remaining.) Next Turn, however, is almost guaranteed the start of the next Era (unless I roll 6 sevens in a row), and all that it entails.

2.) Tribunes may now be played by any Player at will. Doing so will discard each one permanently out of the game, but you'll be able to make a Proposal or to veto (most) other votes (whether Proposal or Prosecution). We have never played with Tribunes active yet, and this will be a serious change to the game's balance! Playing a Tribune still needs to follow Mandatory Business order, however: someone right now can make a Proposal for Consuls, but not for Other Business (yet) like stripping Acilius of his PontMax office; nor for other valid Mandatory Business like Proposing a Censor; much less for currently invalid Business such as Proposing a Dictator (or a Consul for Life)!

Players get to temporarily be a Presiding Magistrate (or even a little more powerful with a veto). Not to go around the procedural rules.

[Ethel the Frog]

Ok.  So, the version of our coalition deal that I found for the second turn was that I am to propose Acilius and Flaminius for consuls and they will propose Claudius for Censor on condition that he not prosecute The Plutocrats, The Militarists or the Progressives.

So, that is my proposal.  If they will agree to propose Claudius, I will propose Acilius and Flaminius for consuls.

I will allow some time for discussion/response before we vote on this proposal in case I got the deal wrong. 

[Erax]

We agree.

[Tripoli]

The militarists agree