Yeoman tops nanogame contest

And the winner is: Yeomen: The 9 Card Agincourt Game.

For the last few weeks I have been highlighting games from the 2016 9-Card Nanogame PnP Design Contest at www.boardgamegeek.com, so it was only reasonable to include the winner, and maybe another game or two which fared well in the contest.

Yeoman by designer Chris Hansen however cleaned up.

The game was a multiple winner;

• Best Thematic Game - First Place

• Best Wargame - First Place

• Best Solitaire Game - First Place

• Best Overall Game - First Place

• Best Written Rules - Second Place

• Most Innovative Mechanic - Second Place

From Hansen’s ruleset; “Yeomen: The 9 Card Agincourt Game is a solitaire micro wargame covering The Battle of Agincourt. This battle was fought on October 25, 1415 and was a major engagement of the Hundred Years’ War. The English king, Henry V, had taken an army into France to claim the French throne. After a longer-than-expected siege at the fortified city of Harfleur, Henry’s army was sick and exhausted so the decision was made to return his troops to the English-controlled coastal city Calais where safe passage back to England could be secured. Unfortunately for the English, they were intercepted on the way by a much larger French force near the village of Agincourt.

“Due to their vastly superior numbers, the French troops were confident of victory but they were about to suffer a decisive defeat thanks to the unfavourable condition of the battlefield and the devastating effects of the English longbow. At the end of the battle, French losses were in the thousands whereas the English losses were in the low hundreds.

“In this game, you’ll take command of the French forces and try to defeat the English invaders. You’ll face the same situations and challenges as the actual French troops and must carefully manage your actions to overcome them. Can you turn the tide of history, defeat the English forces, and capture the would-be usurper?”

This is a game which suits a particular gaming taste. Not everyone is into solo gaming. It is a bit different for sure.

Generally a big part of gaming is the camaraderie of the experience, whether it’s playing cribbage over an afternoon coffee with the better half, or gathering with buds to play an evening of Dragons & Dungeons.

The solo experience is more an effort of solitude, a way to get away in your own mind, and give yourself over the experience of the game.

Of course solo games are great when travelling alone, having coffee, or in the hotel room, or after the wide and kids trundle off to bed.

In the case of Yeoman it is also a war-game, which again can be a particular taste for many.

And, I’ll note that Yeoman is trying to mimic the historical elements of the Battle of Agincourt, which means that in controlling the French forces in the game, you are likely to lose, and lose often. You have to relish the attempt, more than the result in this game.

Kudos to Hansen for capturing the historic elements of the game, in particular the impact of the English lowbrow archers in the battle and the general disarray and bad positioning of the French.

The game made me curious about the battle, and Hansen provided a few links to web sources on the battle, so I popped over to www.britishbattles.com/100-years-war/agincourt.htm

The battle from Oct. 25, 1415 was part of the Hundred Years War, pitting  an English and Welsh army against a French army.

“The English army landed in France and besieged the port town of Harfleur some 30,000 strong. The siege took its toll, many in the army dying of disease, and a strong garrison had to be left to defend the captured port. At the Battle of Agincourt Henry’s army was probably around 5,000 knights, men-at-arms and archers. Estimates of the size of the French army vary widely, from 30,000 to as high as 100,000,” records the website.

“Beyond the village of Maisoncelles the French came into sight, a mass of knights and men-at-arms spilling across the valley from the East. Seeing that he could not pass without giving battle Henry ordered his army to encamp and prepare to fight the next day.

That evening an air of resignation hung over the English, caused by the heavy rain that began to fall and the enormous French camp two miles up the road, marked in the dark by myriads of twinkling fires, laughter and music: the French had little doubt but that they would prevail the next day.

“During the night Henry made his way around his army giving words of encouragement; again a dramatic episode made much of by Shakespeare.

“The next morning, 25th October 1415, the feast of St Crispin and a public holiday in England, the English army marched out of Maisoncelles, taking up position across the road to Calais in three divisions of knights and men-at-arms; commanded by Lord Camoys on the right, the Duke of York in the centre and Sir Thomas Erpingham on the left. The Archers formed wedged divisions along the front. …

“The English soldiers knelt down before the battle commenced and kissed the ground as a symbol that they might be returning to the earth before the day was over.

“… Finally Henry, urged to begin the battle by his commanders, gave the command “Forward banners” and the army advanced with trumpets blaring. Once in arrow range of the French Henry gave the command to halt and the divisions closed up, the archers setting their pointed staves in the ground forming a fence leaning outwards towards the French. Now within the confines of the two woods Henry directed parties of archers and men-at-arms to move through the trees nearer to the French.

“On the king’s signal the English archers opened a devastating fire on the compact mass of French knights and men-at-arms.…

“The battle raged over the stake fence along the English line, the archers abandoning their bows and joining the knights and men-at-arms in hand to hand combat with the French cavalry, much of it now dismounted; the soldiers from the woods attacking on the flanks.

“Within two hours of the battle beginning it was clear that the English had won. While individual French soldiers fought hard, it was from desperation as the English knights, men-at-arms and archers overwhelmed the struggling mass, taking as prisoner those who might be worth a ransom and killing the rest.

“It is believed that some 8,000 Frenchmen died in the battle, including many of the most senior nobles of France. English losses are thought to have been in the hundreds. The Duke of York died in the battle as did the Earl of Suffolk, whose father had died in the siege of Harfleur the month before.”

The desperation of the famous battle is captured very well in Yeoman, not a small feat for a game with only nine cards, a few markers, and four D6 dice. That actually fascinates, the simplicity of the game, and yet the history comes through well in game play.

This is a game that war gamers and solo age lovers must give a try, a deserved winner in the nano-contest.