Comments (0) Doing a video review of Here I Stand. Don’t forget I also have other Here I Stand related stuff including common opening moves. Also if you want to play, stop by Wargameroom.com on Saturday at 1PM EST for WGR’s Multiplayer Saturday.
Board Games
| 
Board Game, Boardgame, Diplomacy, Ed Beach, English, France, GMT, Hapsburg, Here I Stand, HIS, Ottoman, Pope, Protestant, Wargame
I’ve been having awful luck my last few games of Here I Stand. I just realized that I haven’t won a game since late October. Some of those are due to games ending early. But my bad luck in the last three games is starting to reach epic levels. We’ve been testing out lately doing 5 player with Haps/Pope instead of Eng/Prot. I’m just going to run down the last turn of all three games.
Game 1
Prot/Five Player
I spent most of the turn floating around 21/22 VPs while holding Copernicus (A card that if played as an event gives +2 VP). Fortunately for me due to a lot of building, the Pope was closer to winning. He even got up to 25 VPs during the turn. The Pope played Papal Bull removing Calvin, debating in France with Campeggerio. The Pope wins the first debate only by 1. I flipped my German debaters with lower ratings. I then targeted Campeggerio as the Pope hadn’t flipped any other debaters. I win the Debate 3-1 but Campeggerio’s special ability cancels the debate win. I go back and forth a bit with publishing treatises to counter burning books. Campeggerio is still the only committed Debater,so I try again. I win the Debate 5-1. This would have disgraced Campeggerio giving me two vps and flipping four spaces. But once again Campeggerio’s special ability struck and canceled the debate win. This was actually the third time that game in which a debate had been cancelled.
In the end we didn’t finish the game, but I was at 21 or 20 VPs and without enough cards to get me up to the 23 I needed to win. This was just about the first time I had ever seen Campeggiro’s ability have an effect on the game this big.
Game 2
Ottoman/Six Player
I took over for the Ottoman player who was new. For some reason despite being at war with the Haps, most of his forces were in the Coron area. He had just finished conquering Malta and Messina. This actually hurt his cause since pirating in Ionian Sea against the Haps faced only 1 port (meaning 2 dice max for Pirating with Barbarossa). The Ottos were also dead last in the game at this time. Through a liberal use of the Otto Home Card and other powers attacking the Haps I was able to turn things around. I rolled back the Haps to Vienna and slowly started pirating. Finally the Haps player, upset at the English for using Eight Wives against him sent Charles to Antwerp and built up there. I took Vienna and Prague, despite being the target of both Foreign War cards that turn. My final last chance at Pirating gave me the 1 VP I needed to get to 25.
Unfortunately the Haps weren’t able to make any headway against the English. With 22 VPs the English had sent out an Explorer and Conquistador. The Amazon River and one of the 2 VP Conquests. Amazingly the English successfully hit both, giving them 26 VPs and they had the tiebreaker from the previous Turn.
Game 3
Prot/Five Player
On my first turn I picked up Printing Press from the Discard and saved another five op card. The next turn I saved them both again, while getting both German and French New Testaments One op from completion. Using Printing Press and the rest of my cards I was able to finish both New Testaments and the German Bible to convert almost all of Germany and a large portion of Northern France.
On the last turn I finished off the French Bible while the Pope kept losing debates. The French had attacked the Haps at Metz and Antwerp. This left Paris and the surrounding area devoid of troops. The Pope wasn’t able to successfully burn books and I even began converting northern England (and the Scots). At this point I was at 26 VPs and even after the English gave a card to the Pope, they weren’t able to push me back down.
Meanwhile though during turn one the Haps had used Diplo Marriage on Hungary. The Ottos captured Belgrade twice but weren’t able to hold it. Even with the lose of Metz and Antwerp the Haps were at 11 Keys. Once the French used his last card, Charles used Holy Roman Emperor to move to Navarre. He then moved the Duke of Alva with 7 Sps and combined him with the 4 Sps in Navarre. Charles crushed the Eng/France army in Bordeaux, then quickly marched on Lyon. Without the French being able to react the Haps took Lyon and marched on Marseilles. The last hope was that the Ottoman fleet could destroy the Hapsburgs and not allow an assualt. The battle ended up being a 5-5 tie, giving the win to the Haps. A desperation assualt on Belgrade only killed 3 of the 4 Sps, while the assualt on Marseilles was successful giving the Haps an auto victory before the end of the turn.
So that’s been my last three games. I’ve been just banging my head into my desk as I’ve watched three victories slip away with nothing I could really do about it. The worst by far is the English win depriving me of an Otto win. As the chances of the English getting both a 2VP Conquest and 2VP Explorer on the same turn are hugely against them. Right about now I’m due for some luck to go my way.
But I did come with some good news. I finally won a game. It was a Three player as France/Ottoman.
On the final turn I SD’ed 20 SPs to Belgrade. Using Andrea Doria I flipped Agram, moved a single SP to Mohacs. Then I moved 16SPs to Szeged, flipped it and attacked Buda. I won 5-4 but I was now down to 12 SPs to Vienna’s 17. Charles (with Ferd) went to move on Presburg but I gouted Charles as Otto. As France I played Cloth Prices to force a discard (Haps lost Surprise Attack) and add Unrest to Graz and Trieste. As Otto I then played Zapolya giving me 4 more SPs in Buda for 16 total. Haps decided not to move on Buda and instead massed fleets in the Barbary Coast. The English player used Haley’s Comet to force a discard from the Pope, causing him to lose City States Rebel. Then as the French I played Unsanitary Camp on Vienna, knocking that stack down to 11 SPs. The Prot player sees that Tetzel is the only committed Papal Debater and uses Tetzel’s special ability to flip him. This puts Vienna and Linz both in Unrest along with Graz and Trieste.
I probably missed a turn in describing that. But right now as the French I’m holding Treachery after using Diplo Overture to give the Ottos Aquabustes. The Ottos have a single 3 Ops card left and two 1 ops left (Aqua and Landschnecks) So I have just enough to flip Pressburg and get to Vienna. The Haps have either 5 or 6 cards left at this point.
I use my 3 Ops to move on Pressburg, only for the Haps to play foul weather on me. I have 2 ops left, and now I know I can’t get to Vienna. Looking at what I can do I decide to move my one SP from Mohacs to Graz just to be a nuisance and flip it. The Haps decide to intercept and are successful using their whole stack (9 regulars, 2 Mercs, Charles & Ferd). I play Landschnecks, leaving them with just 9 regulars. So Haps are rolling 12 dice against my 1 dice. Haps miss on every single dice and I roll a 6 on my one dice for a 1-0 victory.
The Haps have no retreat path due to unrest, so their 8 remaining sps are destroyed and Charles & Ferd are captured by the 1 SP. When I let everyone know that I also have Treachery as France we decide to end the game. No one could believe what had happened, and a few more people had shown up so we could start a six player game.
So I finally got some luck my way and ended my streak of insanely bad luck. Apologies for the mis-spellings, I tend to always spell the names of a few cards/places in the game wrong.
Well its a few hours before New Years and I just started a new game of Here I Stand on WarGame Room. I’m the Ottoman’s in a Five player game. I figured I’d type this as I played. So I shortened a lot of the words to make it easier. Whenever I say “So and so played this” it usually means they played it as an event. Earlier in the night I was tracking what cards I was playing. This took roughly 7 Hours. For more info and more graphics of the Game map and such check out its listing on BoardGameGeek.
Prot/England was Ted/Argothair
France was David
Hapsburg was SK
Pope was TKaz84
I was Ottoman
Turn 1 Diplo
Haps and England Ally.
95 Thesis and Diet of Worms only give Prots Wittenburg, Brandenburg, Lepzig and Lubeck
Otto Spring Deploy Ibrahim and 6 SPs to Nezh
Haps send Charles and the Duke with 4 SPs to Barcelona
England Deploys everyone to Berwick
France deploys Charles to Rouen
I play Jan for SPs in Istanbul
HRE is played to move Charles to Antwerp.
England builds a Naval Squadron in Portsmouth
France adds a merc to Lyons and Marsellies
Pope Builds Mercs in Ravenna and works on St Peters
Prot Reformed
I play S-League to siege Belgrade and move the fleets into the Aegean
Haps reinforce Antwerp and move 5 SPs and Charles flipping Liege and besieging Metz
England uses its home card to declare on Scotland, France intervenes. 4 Mercs added to Berwick, 7 total besiege Edinburgh
France launches an Exploration
Pope works on St Peters
Prot plays Barbary Pirates and reforms
I play Trace Italliene, besieging Rhodes and successfully assaulting Belgrade
Search for Cibola by Haps cancels French exploration
England shifts its Navy to the north sea and assaults Edinburgh. French play of Mercs grow restless cancels siege (only 3 English SPs left, 3 Scots in Edinburgh)
France plays homecard for 1 VP
Pope plays Lepzig debate for Eck Vs Carlstadt, Prot inserts Luther via HiS for a 3-2 debate win by Pope
Prot reforms and works on Translation
I play Unpaid Mercs, assault Rhodes successfully and build Cosairs
Haps assault Metz successfully and convert Basel and Zurich
England sends Exploration
France plays City States Rebels on Tunis successfully
Pope plays Papal Bull which is negated by Wartburg
Haps Play Fuggers for an event
Then follow that with Defender of the Faith to build a fleet
End of Turn 1, Prots only have Brandenburg and Wittenburg
New World
Cortez Conquers Aztecs, Rut (England) finds Amazon, Magellan discovers Mississippi. No Colonies
Diplo
Ottos give random card for French play of City States.
Haps and England Ally
France and Haps end war
Pope and France end war
Pope and Haps Ally
England and Prot ally
France Declares on Genoa
Spring Deploy
Suleiman and 6 SPs deploy to Coron
Haps deployed Duke and 2 SPs (6 total) to Barcelona
England is back at Berwich with 4SPs
France deploys to Gernoble with 8SPs
I play Anabaptists to put the fleets to sea and Naval transport from Algiers to Tunis. France plays a card for 2 Mercs in Milan
Haps play Shipbuilding for Palma and Caligari
Henry asks for a Divorce
France Besieges Genoa
Pope Besieges Florence
Prot reforms and works on translations
I play Jan for Command, move Suleiman and 5 to Tunis and assault it successfully
Haps move a SP to Nuremburg to annoy the Prots
English reinforced Berwick, 7 SPs
France Builds fleets and takes Genoa
Pope plays Papl Bull, Luther Excommed. Debate inconcluxive
Prot continues reform takes western electorates and translates
Haps send Exploration
England moves fleets to North sea and sieges Edinburgh
France plays Sleague and sends a New World
Pope takes Florence
Prot reforms via Federick the Wise
Haps play around with Charles in Metz
England Assaults Edinburgh (failure)
Pope works on St Peters
Prot Reforms and Builds merc in Mainz
I use City State Rebels on Florence (Pope) successfully
Haps Besiege Trier
Pope uses Lepzig for Eck Vs Bucer 2-0 win Pope
Haps Assault Trier it fails and send a New World Conquest
Second attempt succeeds for Haps
Haps play St Johns on Tripoli
New World
Orlenna finds the Great Lakes, Cartier finds St Lawrence River, Spain conquers the Mayas
Diplo
Haps and England Ally
Prots and England Ally
France and Pope Ally
Pope Grants Divorce, it rolls a 4
Otto declares on Venice, Pope Intervenes
Spring Deploy
All Ottos (11 SPs) to Nezh
3 Hap SPs to Metz
England to Berwick
France to Rouen
Pope sends 3 SPs to Modena
I move from Nezh to Scutari and build a squadron
Haps put the fleets to sea and send an Exploration out
England gets Edward
France Empties Edinburgh
Pope Builds Venice Fleet and Sieges Florence
Prot builds Mercs
I Concentrate my fleet in the Adriatic and Naval Transport to Ravenna and begin siege
Haps add two SPs to Trier with Swiss Mercs
England puts Edinburgh under siege
France adds a merc to Rouen
Pope Captures Florence, Works on St Peters
Prots Play Diplo Oveture with England
I take Ravena and land in Acona forgetting I played Sack of Rome
Haps send out a New World Conquest
England tries to assault, stopped by Gout. Sends out Jamestown Colony
France plays Mercs demand pay, all English Mercs removed
Pope builds Mercs and sends them to Florence, 4 Sps there
Prot plays Printing Press and Reforms
I build a naval Squad and put it to sea in the Adriatic
Haps send out Puerto Rico Colony
England finally takes Edinburgh
France plays Shipbuilding two fleets in Rouen
Pope Builds one last Merc in Rome
Prot Reforms
I move all the forces in Italy to Venice, it is Besieged
Haps remove unrest and add a regular in Vienna
France moves to Bristol with Scottish SPs and put it under Siege
I move 3 Sps to Ancona, try to assault but Haps block with Foul Weather. I flip Ancona and build a cav in Istanbul
France sieges Calais
Prot reforms with Katherine Bora from the Discard
France captures Calais and puts London under Siege
Prots siege Augsburg
France Captures London And Bristol
New World
Hapsburgs conquer Aztecs
Diplo
England Sues France for peace, gets back Calais, London and Bristol
Pope Sues Otto, gets back Ravenna and Acona
Haps ally with England
Haps ally with the Pope
France allies with the Pope
England and Prots Ally
Spring Deploy
All Otts (14 SP) to Belgrade
Haps deploy the Duke and 4 SPs to Navarre in Spain
France Deploys Montco to South France
I play Jan for 4 SPs in Nezh
Haps play Cloth Prices in positive for them and England
France sends out a colony
Pope plays Papal Bull, ensuing debate is a loss for them
Prot reforms in France
I move to Szegdrin and flip it
Haps play Plantations for himself
England Plays Huguenot Raiders
France build Mercs
Pope uses Lepzig Eck vs Latimer 4-0 papal win, Latimer burnt
Prot translates
I move Nezh to Belgrade and from Szegredin to Buda, routing the Hungarians and adding to my VP
Haps build up Vienna
England plays Unsanitary on Buda
France puts its fleets out to sea
Pope plays Revolt in Egypt
Prots put a PC marker in Munster
I play Anjiki Raider against Haps and get Charles Bourbon
Haps build 2 regs in Vienna and go out to sea
England plays Marburg Colloquy as an event
France builds Chateaux
Pope calls a debate, wins 2nd round 2-0
Prot moves on Augsburg again
I play Bourbon on Algiers
Haps send out the Cuba colony and Exploration
France plays City State on Tunis and fails
Prots build more Mercs before besieging Augsburg
Haps put Mainz and Cologne under siege
France sends an Exploration
Prots take Augsburg try to break siege at Mainz but intercept stops them
Haps Assault on Mainz fails
Pope calls a debate and wins 2-1
New World
Devaca discovers the Pacific straits
Diplo
Haps Allied with England
Haps Allied with the Pope
England and Prots Allied
France declares war on the Pope
Spring Deploy
All Otts to Buda, 9 SPs total
Haps send 3 SPs to Metz
France Deploys 11SPs to Grenoble
Pope sends 1 SP to Florence
I send the fleet to the Ionian Sea, get no Piracy Hits
Haps besiege Mainz (England adds mercs via Lanshneckts) and Put fleets out to see around the Barbary Coast
England adds forces to Calais
France besieges Rome
Pope plays Bourborn on Dijon in France
Prots play Diplo Oveture on England
I attacked the Navy in the Barbary coast, tied 3-3, retreated to Gulf of Lyon, Pirated it for 1 hit.
Hapsburgs assualt Mainz it fails, they unify fleets in Barbary
England plays Galleons as an event
France uses Treachery on Rome it is successful
Pope Besieges Paris, works on St Peters
Prot builds SPs in Cologne to break siege of Mainz, Battle tie breaks siege. Also translate
I attack Haps fleet in Barbary Coast, they avoid and I move to the North Africa Coast and hit on Piracy for +1 VP
Haps send out Mercator Map exploration
England builds Roanoke Colony
France plays Copernicus for Command Points to save Paris.
Pope clears some French Mercs around Paris
Prots besiege Trier
I play Unpaid Mercs on French, they lose all Mercs
Haps move from Metz on Trier, Prots win Battle
England reforms England
Pope Assaults Paris Successfully
Prot Assault in Trier fails and they reform
I move my fleet to the Aegean
Haps build in Beanscon and before moving towards Trier and Prot retreat
England plays an anti merc card on Trier, Haps down to 1 SP there
Pope Excoms Francis
Prots pick up Copernicus and play it for 2 VP
I pirate Aegean and get a card
Haps play threat to power, bye bye Ibrahim
France sends a new world exploration
New World
Leon (Haps) finally Circumnavs
Diplo
Haps and England Ally
Haps and Pope Ally
Prots and England Ally
Spring Deploy
Ottos, Everyone to Buda (10 SPs)
Haps sent Duke and 3 SPs to Cartegna
I moved my fleet to the Ionian Sea and Pirated for 1 hit and 1 VP
Haps moved their fleet to Barbary, I intercepted and won the Naval battle leaving them with 1 Fleet. Also added 2 SPs to Vienna (12 Total)
England reforms England and rebuilds a fleet
France rebuilds its army and removes Excom Unrest
Pope uses Papal Bull in French, loses debate 3-0, near Disgrace
Prots add a regular in Augsburg and translate
I build 5 Cav in Nezh
Haps play Edward and build a new Fleet in Caligari
England reforms England
France moves 5 SPs from Milan/Genoa and Francis with 4 SPs from Rome to Florence
Pope Plays Lepzig for Eck Vs Olivetan, burning Olivetan 3-1
Prots reinforce wittenburg and Mainz
I play Julia Gonzaga
Haps add to Cartegana 5SPs now and Duke
England Builds Mercs and Reforms
France uses Lady Jane Grey
Pope Burns Books in France
Prots reform in England
I move my fleet to Tyhrean via Lyon sea taking out another Hap fleet
Haps move their last fleet to the Barbary Coast, I intercept and finish it off.
English maneuver their forces for the adj prot unit bonus
France plays Council of Trent – No Effect
France fails to take Florence until the play of Siege Artillery by France
Pope moves Venice SPs to Ancona
Prots complete English New Testament
I move my fleet to Tyrrehain
Haps reinforce Beanscon
England plays Henry 2nd and rebuilds Fleet
The Pope sieges Rome
Prots work on English Bible
My piracy in the Tyrhean Fails. Game ruined for me
Haps play Andrea Doria
France garrisons Rouen and Genoa
Pope Besieges Florence
Prot Plays Society of Jesus and attacks Trier, Hapsburgs win
Move my fleet to Barbary Coast
Haps move Charles and 6 SPs to Besiege Augsburg, Ferd and 3 SPs besiege Mainz
England Reforms
Pope Fails to capture Florence
Prot Built a Merc
I pirate in Barbary, the Anti Piracy roll destroys my last Cosair
Haps Assault Augsburg and Mainz both fail, Haps besiege Cologne
Haps take Augsburg, Cologne in Assaults
Haps play Diplo Oveture get two more cards
Haps take Mainz
Haps win with 25 VPs
Final score at the end of Turn 6
Haps 25 VPs
France and Otto 24 VP
England 23 VP
Prot 20 VP
Pope 12 VP
For much of the last turn the Prot had 26 VP until he made a move and lost all his SPs and leaders at Trier. France got to 24 because of my play of Master of Italy in the last turn giving him a +1. If I had gotten any of my piracy rolls in the last turn I would have won. Especially in Tyrrehean after playing Gonzaga.
Hope you enjoyed this.
I am a huge fan of Wargameroom.com, Paths of Glory, For The People, Here I Stand among others are great to play. Now one of the common problems people have is that to host a game you usually need Port Forwarding. This can be somewhat troubling, especially if you don’t actually have access to your router. When trying to port forward, most people tell you to go to Portforwarding.com. They are good if the walk through works for you. If not then your out of luck except for a program they sell for 39.95 called pfconfig.
I recently went looking for another way to Port Forward and thankfully found one. Unfortunately this appears to only work for PC’s, not Macs and Linuxes. Its called Simple Port Forwarding you can get it by clicking here. It can basically setup your port forwarding. I was even able to let the program auto detect my router which was one of my problems. Since then I’ve been able to host and serve as a 3rd party server. You just need to open ports 2222-2223 for WGR.
Simple Port Forwarding is free and has worked perfectly since I started using it. Hopefully it’ll help some more people to host and to give WGR a try.
I recent have been informed that there’s a port forwarding program for macs. This Link is for an easy walkthrough/guide. This Link allows you to download it.
I recently had a post about opening moves in Here I Stand. For the Ottos I recommended heading towards Vienna. It has recently come to my attention that if pirates comes out in turn 1 or 2, there is the possibility of an easier path to victory. The Ottos start the game with 8 VPs. If you get Pirates early enough and the Hapsburgs can’t counter you it is easy to get the 10 Piracy VPs. Also, if you only take Belgrade the Haps can’t fight you fleet on fleet. Worst case scenario if the Haps do spread out their fleets you can always take Buda and then run around and try to destroy as many of their fleets before they combine them.
So now you’ve got your 10 VPs for piracy. That puts you at 18 VPs. Then you get two vps for taking Belgrade (20) two vps for taking Buda (22) and two vps for War Winner (24) leaving you only one VP from victory.
Meanwhile if you wait on pirating, the main problem becomes the entry of Venice and Andrea Doria. Also the Haps after turn one can turn a large amount of their attention towards just fighting you. The more time you give them, the more they can spare on building fleets.
My recommendation still stands though, during turn one take Rhodes and Belgrade. The removal of Rhodes is important for the Otto player, losing a card is a huge blow on any turn for Otto.
If anyone has better opening moves feel free to send them my way, I’m just trying to get a lot of them together for new people.
