Strategy & Tactics # 342 - Carolingian Twilight

From Decision Games:

The Magazine:

Carolingian Twilight
The Frankish kingdom reached its zenith as the Carolingian Empire during the reign of Charlemagne (771–814), but it sundered when his grandsons fought each other for control. The next generation continued that internal strife, creating a permanent division in 888. The causes included the personalities of the contenders, some unexpected royal deaths, external enemies and cultural traditions.

Articles

-The Battle of Marawi: May—October 2017 From 23 May to 17 October 2017 the Philippine armed forces conducted an urban battle against Islamic insurgents who had seized the city of Marawi, on Mindanao, proclaiming the Islamic State of Southeast Asia. Philippine victory came only after a five-month struggle that left a ghost city reduced to rubble by the fighting.

-World War I in East Africa The 1914–18 campaign in German East Africa has ever since been regarded as a legendary epic in which supremely competent German leadership motivated soldiers to fight for four years despite hardships. Here is our analysis.
    
-The Seminole Wars: 1817–58 In Florida during the early 19th century, the American South’s economic interest in slavery conflicted with the earlier Spanish policy of tolerance and coexistence with the Seminoles, free blacks and runaway slaves who had found sanctuary there. That led to three wars between 1817 and 1858. Taken altogether, they were the longest, bloodiest and most expensive of the Indian wars.

The Game:

Carolingian Twilight: Decline of an Empire AD814 is a two to six-player game covering the decline of the Carolingian Empire following the death of Charlemagne (Charles the Great) in AD 814. The Salic Law of the Franks required that at a man’s death, his property was divided among all his sons, which led to civil wars among Charlemagne’s descendants when the inheritance in question was the Empire itself. From the various wills, wars and treaties dividing and redistributing the Empire during the 800s, emerged the nuclei of the modern states of France, Germany, and Italy. Each scenario depicts the period following a particular division of the empire, with each player taking on the role of one of the heirs. The object of the game is to reunite the Empire under a single ruler, while fending off not only fraternal Frankish rivals, but also the hostile surrounding foreign powers. Each game turn represents 1 year. The map scale is one inch to 75 miles. Each area is an historical region. Each unit represents 100-5,000 soldiers (plus camp followers, etc.).

Components: One 22 x 34-inch game map 280 1/2-inch counters.