Virgin Queen

Virgin Queen

The Virgin Queen: Wars of Religion 1559-1598 is a grand strategy game for two to six players based on the military, political and religious conflicts in Europe during the reign of Elizabeth Α’ of England and Philip Β’ of Spain. Each player controls one or more of the great powers that led European politics at that time. Spain can draw on the enormous wealth of its global empire. But such a dominant power is sure to have many enemies. Ottoman expansion toward Spain’s Mediterranean outposts remains unchecked. Elizabeth’s sea dogs are ready to raid Spain’s overseas empire. And the forces of the Protestant Reformation will soon drag Spain into eighty years of rebellion in the Netherlands. Will Spain find help from its Catholic allies? Perhaps not from France, where the Catholic Valois dynasty is about to become embroiled with another group of Protestant faithful in the bloody French Wars of Religion. And even Philip’s relatives in Vienna who rule the Holy Roman Empire may be concerned with the Protestant faith rather than remaining true to their Catholic heritage and their Spanish brothers.

The six powers in Virgin Queen are:

Ottoman

Spain

England

France

Holy Roman Empire

Protestants (Dutch and Huguenots)

Virgin Queen: Wars of Religion 1559-1598 is the sequel to Here I Stand, another card-based grand strategy game that covered the previous forty years (from Martin Luther's posting of the 95 theses in 1517 to the abdication of Charles Ε’ in 1556 ). Players familiar with Here I Stand will find much that is familiar in Virgin Queen, as over half of the rulebook remains unchanged. New game systems have been implemented to emphasize the changing nature of the conflicts here in the late 16th century:

Religion: Improving on Here I Stand, the new rules for religious conversion and rebellion allow the quick resolution of actions, reflecting the already established presence of both Catholic and Protestant factions in the key areas of the religious struggle.

World Map: Ocean missions are now under the direct control of players as they sail the Caribbean and beyond to seize loot, find colonies and attempt to circumnavigate the globe.

Diplomatic influence: Alliances with minor powers (and great powers that can be activated in games with fewer than six players) are now formed through a unified system where players buy influence in each of those foreign arenas.

Marriages: The secret negotiation phase of Here I Stand is still present here in Virgin Queen, but with a new twist. Now you'll want to arrange marriages for each of the princes and princesses of your family dynasty with a suitable foreign royal. Will even the Virgin Queen succumb to love and gain a spouse, or will she deceive that suitor again at the last moment?

Support: Your royal court will be visited by artists, writers, scientists and architects, all of whom want you to invest in their efforts for the glory and advancement of the kingdom. Will you patronize Galileo, Cervantes or Shakespeare, or will you spend your treasury on a fruitless quest for the Philosopher's Stone?

Espionage: Attention, there is also a dark side to this period – an age of espionage and spycraft. In Virgin Queen you can ask your ambassadors to spy on foreign courts, send armed assassins, invest in cryptology and even recruit Jesuit priests for secret missions of conversion.

Many different scenarios are included that allow your game sessions to be adjusted to the number of players and the time available:

Two-player learning: Great for new players who are just learning the series, this 90-minute game pits the Ottomans against Spain during the Siege of Malta and the Battle of Lepanto. It uses a subset of the full rules so you can dive in quickly.

Campaign scenario: The full Virgin Queen experience, this eight-hour game can last up to seven turns and is usually played with 4 to six players. The variant rules allow you to play with only two or three players, if you want.

Armada Scenario: A faster game focused on turns 3 to 6 of the full campaign, this 4 to 5-hour game is ideal for tournament play. Once again it supports from 4 to 6 players.

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