Here I Stand is a way cool board game with an online PBEM system (using CyberBoard & ACTS). All that stuff going on in The Tudors? Here ya go. Notice London having shifted to the Protestant stain in image one - with Anglican Cranmer appearing once Henry VIII goes for Boleyn.

Here (image 1) the Holy Roman Empire has strategically deployed to Brussels, stoked to have the Schmalkaldig League card. It’s mandatory at a certain point - turning Luther’s Protestants into a political power at war with the HRE, and Charles V is gonna play it and siege Trier or Koln - kinda like Imperial Walkers vs. the Rebel Alliance.

But wait… France is being absurd! He’s deployed to Grenoble. Diplomacy didn’t work - he’s way pissed that Milan and Turin have previously fallen to the Empire and threatens to take it back. Francis should have shrugged off the past and aimed to take Metz so to confront Henry VIII’s growing power. But Noooo </belushi>

Now the Empire is pissed and has to get Medieval on France, who’s been ever so carefully warned - to no avail. Unfortunately for France, the Empire has ungodly response card assets!  Namely, Gout, Foul Weather, Swiss Mercs, Landsknechts, Arquebusiers and Tercios. In essence this means the HRE can frack France’s command and control - and summon 6 mercenaries out of thin air, as well as 5 more dice in field combat (3 of which hit at 50% rather than 33%). It’s truly sick.

He plays his Home Card for 5cps and dives south to besiege Lyons, leaving a trail of mercs for a line of supply (1 for each move and 1 for converting two spaces to Empire control), and cute photochoppery for good measure. He’s gotta stop at Lyons cuz it’s a fortress.  But the Frog doesn’t even try to think well tactically. He tries to move the whole stack in Grenoble to Geneva, convert it, and attack Lyons. But the HRE plays Gout on Francis, immobilizing him (and reducing what can go to Geneva to 6 units). Paris responds by changing his mind and just builds 4 mercs in Grenoble.

Now you can almost hear Kurtz from Apocalypse Now: “the horror, the horror”.

France has no retreat route for his huge army. The Empire then summons 6 extra mercs with Landsknechts and Swiss Mercs cards - blows up Lyons via assault and then moves for the kill into Grenoble, playing also Tercios and Arquebusiers for extra dice. The dice count is effectively 20 vs. 14. Remarkably, France gets 7 hits… but the Empire gets 11. Total carnage - both French leaders are captured when the remaining Frog force has nowhere to go.

France is reduced to twitching protoplasm before the might of the Empire … but Luther and his Protestant Rebels get a momentary reprieve. The Ottoman (not in the picture) quietly builds to make a go at overcoming past humiliation by the forces of Christendom. Europe seethes with intrigue and cunning.