The Phillipine Wars

[gusi]

No this has nothing to do with the Asian Archipelago and everything to do with the King after which it is named.

His father, Charles the V, raised in Flanders was king, lord or emperor over most of western Europe bar France and Britain.

Phillips II , raised in Spain, inherited the lot except the Austrian lands and the emperor's title which went to his German brother in law Ferdinand II.

Charles' instruction to his son was to keep the realm intact for his heirs and keep it save for Catholicism. On his deathbed fifty years later the realm was in a shambles. Almost constant warfare in the Netherlands, and frequent wars with the French, Brits and Turks saw most territories barely intact and the finances in ruins.

Famous events of the period are the Armada, Lepanto, the Paris Bloodnight, the siege of Vienna by Suleiman the Magnificent, the Campaigns of the dukes of Alva and Parma. Less famous are the conquests of the Philippines and the Moluccas, his marriages to his Portuguese cousin, a French princess, his Austrian niece and of course Mary Tudor which made him king of England (in name only). Of course he also tried to marry Elisabeth I.

It is a fascinating period which is AFAIK uncovered by games. I am not sure how similar warfare was to Napoleons time. There seem to be many more sieges than battles.

You'd think it needs a strategic game of mostly economic and political turns interspersed with operational segments in which an army/fleet sets off on a campaign. Alternatively interesting campaigns could be covered with an operational game.

The only games I know of the period are the old Armada game and the more recent 30 years war game (20 years after his death and lacking the pan European strategic options).

Anyone come across any games of the period?

[MHaggett]

Other than the old SPI Armada I am not familiar with any games on this period. Here I Stand by GMT is an excellent game but, by design, ends with the retirement of Charles V.

I suspect the lack of games on this period is due to research difficulties. It would certainly be interesting. Perhaps Nico would care to look at this period now that ALSH is out :) That has an interesting system to look at campaigns earlier in the century so might perhaps work for the latter 16th century.

[gusi]

I'll check out "Here I Stand". Charles V also lived in an interesting time.

I always thought there were no games on it because it is so long ago.

WWII is still in living memory, the American civil war wasn't that long ago, I lived in Atlanta for a while and the ACW was passionately remembered.

Even Napoleon isn't so long ago. My grandfather in Holland was born in the 1890s and was a "Napoleon-fan" in the way that our generation is interested in WWII. Even when traveling through Bamberg we visited a place that had a "Oh by the way this is the window where one of Napoleon's generals fell " from the guide.

Charles' and Philip's' time has far fewer anecdotes. My home town has an annual holiday for the relief of the Spanish siege (1574) and some older (protestant) churches still have decapitated statues from the religious riots of the era but there are no battle anecdotes.

You're right about getting accurate info though. I guess that all original documents are museum pieces and off limits to the public. The history books I have of the era all deal with the politics and are very vague on the orders of battle. Most are also quite biased and portray Phillips as a wicked tyrant. I imagine that Spanish books would view him in a more positive light.

Anyway as I have been out of Napoleonics after a decade of ASL so I'll be busy for a while catching up.

[gusi]

Just had a look at "Here I Stand" on the web. I expect that Phillips could be an alternative campaign with the same mechanics.

[MHaggett]

Have you seen All is Lost Save Honour? That covers a number of campaigns in the Italian wars of the late 15th and early 16th century--I think the last scenario is 1525. It has an interesting and innovative treatment of operational combat in the period.

[Nicola]

> I suspect the lack of games on this period is due to research difficulties.

I agree. There is plenty of good books on the subject, but few that can be useful to create an historical simulation. More, politic interactions among states were quite complex (as the modern ones are) and I do not think any game in the market has been able to catch them entirely.

> It would certainly be interesting.

Oh yes, this is sure!

> Perhaps Nico would care to look at this period now that ALSH is out :)

As this is a kind of "in-house" forum, I can freely reveal that one of the upcoming new projects could be exactly on this theme ... (more to come :) )

> That has an interesting system to look at campaigns earlier in the century so might perhaps work for the latter 16th century...

Well, ALSH would need to be adjusted for this. Also, campaigns after the first half of XVIth century are much less mobile, and my personal interest goes more to strategic issues ...

> Have you seen All is Lost Save Honour? That covers a number of campaigns in the Italian wars of the late 15th and early 16th century--I think the last scenario is 1525. It has an interesting and innovative treatment of operational combat in the period.

Well, thanks for your kind words. ALSH could have a follow-on with the campaigns in the south of Italy or those in the north-east ...

Nicola

[gusi]

Thanks Gents,

I'll have a look at ALSH. The campaigns in Holland were mostly siege warfare. In the 80 year war there were only a handful of battles. I'll have to dig out the history books and have another look.

regards
Gus