New Rule

This will be a bit different.

I designed this game last night after reading Brenda’s posts on Irish history games. I had hoped I could make a game that really brought home the experience of the Irish during Cromwell’s Irish Campaign… and perhaps I have done so. It’s not a good game, though. There are few decisions for players to make and none of them are meaningful. There is no pattern to master. It is not fun.

I would term it an “art game” or a conceptual game, similar to the types of pieces created and explored by experimental game designer Mary Flanagan. In a direct way it does what it intends, however, which is to simulate the despair and helplessness the Irish suffered in the face of Cromwell’s invasion. But it is not the sort of thing I set out to make, nor am I necessarily pleased with it. I withheld myself from publishing it at first because of it’s near-total unplayability. However, I publish it now because I believe it can lead to valuable debate, not only about Irish history but about game design and the merits or demerits of “games” of this type.

I would like to add that I do not toss this out here with the intention of abandoning it. I have been inspired by this failure to attempt to create a game that really does do what I had in mind: communicate the Irish experience of 1650. I expect this will be a longer, more complex undertaking, not likely to be seen as a Simple Sunday design. Nevertheless, watch this space for “Cromwell 2.0″ at a near future date. In the meantime, please: read the game, and give me your thoughts.

Introduction: “Upon all of these Cromwell’s record was a lasting bane. By an uncompleted process of terror, by an iniquitous land settlement, by the virtual proscription of the Catholic religion, by the bloody deeds already described, he cut new gulfs between the nations and the creeds. ‘Hell or Connaught’ were the terms he thrust upon the native inhabitants, and they for their part, across three hundred years, have used as their keenest expression of hatred ‘The Curse of Cromwell on you.’ … Upon all of us there still lies ‘the curse of Cromwell.’” - Sir Winston Churchill

Players: 1+

Materials:

• At least three six-sided dice, preferably ten.
• At least thirty tokens or counters to represent population points.

Setting Up: Separate the tokens into piles with the following amounts: 8, 8, 6, 5, 3. Each player roles two dice to determine their role in the conflict: if they roll less than ten, they are designated Catholic, otherwise Protestant.

How to Play: In this game, players collectively represent the population and/or leadership of Ireland during Oliver Cromwell’s Irish Campaign, 1649-50. Their objective is to survive the invasion with as few losses as possible. Each token pile represents an Irish town or city, as follows:

• Drogheda (8 tokens)
• Wexford (8 tokens)
• Clonmel (6 tokens)
• Waterford (5 tokens)
• Kilkenny (3 tokens)

All Catholic players roll off : highest roll controls Drogheda, next-highest Wexford, and so on. Any towns not controlled by a player are neutral. All Protestant players collectively control Ulster, which starts with no tokens.

Beginning with Drogheda, Cromwell will attack and besiege each of the Irish towns (designate a player to roll from Cromwell). Cromwell begins by rolling three dice: for each six he rolls, the town loses one token. After the initial assault, the controlling player may accept or reject Cromwell’s terms of surrender. If they accept, the assault ceases and all remaining tokens are arrested and set aside. Note: they are not out of the game yet (see below). If they reject, Cromwell will massacre the town. He rolls ten dice: each six he rolls removes one token, and each non-six may be re-rolled up to two times until it shows a six. Once the attack is finished, the remaining tokens are arrested and set aside, and Cromwell moves on to the next town.

At any point, any Protestant player may give aid to the Irish players by negating a single six on one of Cromwell’s dice. If they do so, the Protestant player will be treated as Catholic during the scoring phase.

Cromwell continues to sack each town in order, including neutral towns. Neutral players are assumed to reject surrender.

To Hell or Connaught: After Cromwell leaves Ireland to fight the Scottish rebellion, the Commonwealth Parliament passes the Act for the Settlement of Ireland. Each Catholic player rolls a dice for every token that had been arrested from their town: on a roll of one, the token is released. Otherwise, if they roll evens the token is resettled to Connaught and the lands west of the River Shannon. If they roll odds, the token is deported to the Caribbean as a slave.

Winning the Game: Catholic players earn one point for every token they retain not resettled, deported, or dead. Protestant sympathizers receive the same score as the Catholic player they helped during the invasion. Protestant players who did not sympathize earn one point for every token resettled to Connaught. The player with the most points “wins.”

Tags: Game Design //