As you know, I love the COIN Series and anything associated with it. In the March 2021 Monthly Update from GMT Games, a new series was announced as well as the first game in that series. This new game is not a COIN Series game but it shares some of the same elements. In Fall 2020, there was a game design contest held called Consim Game Jam where designers had to repurpose a COIN Series game and it’s components and make a new playable game in about 48 hours! The game that won the competition was called Vijayanagara: The Deccan Empires of Medieval India, 1290-1398. The game is an asymmetric 1-3 player game depicting the epic, century-long rise and fall of medieval kingdoms in India over two dynastic periods. Since winning the contest, the team has continued to roll up their sleeves and continue the hard work of focusing the design and developing the final playable product to be published by GMT Games. That game is nearing its publication and should be on our tables by the end of the year/first of 2024.
The Irregular Conflicts Series, of which Vijayanagara is the first volume, attempts to bring some of the mechanics of the COIN Series to bear on conflicts that are just outside the counterinsurgency-based model of COIN. If you want to better understand this new series, you can read the excellent InsideGMT Blog post by Jason Carr at the following link: http://www.insidegmt.com/2021/03/what-is-the-irregular-conflicts-series/
We have agreed to provide a home for this series of quick articles on the History Behind the Cards involved in the game as they game continues to move through development and playtesting. We are lucky to be able to bring these articles to you and we hosted an initial series of 6 posts and we have bene informed that we will be given 3 more. This project is being led by Joe Dewhurst as developer and the design team includes Saverio Spagnolie, Mathieu Johnson, Cory Graham and Aman Matthews.
*Note: The cards and their event text, as well as any pictures used showing any of the various components, are nearing completion but the design and event effects and text might still change prior to final development and publication.
History Behind the Cards #9 Mongol Invasion
On an early morning in late September of 2023, I sat down at Noble Knight Games in Fitchburg, WI with a cup of coffee in hand, a map of 14th century India laid out before me, and The Players’ Aid duo seated right there across the table. Grant had claimed the Bahmani Kingdom. Alexander started further south, set to guide the Vijayanagara Empire. Play had just begun.
The Deccan was beginning to show signs of unrest – resentment was bubbling up among the Amirs and Rajas in the Deccan Plateau, as I, playing as the Delhi Sultanate, comfortably collected tribute and sent my powerful Governors into strategic positions. Grant watched, green with envy, as I reached over to grab more and more cavalry tokens, splashing them into a stack in the Sultanate’s holding box. Alexander saw his own Resources dwindling, unable to Tax until he had somehow found a way to cast off my Tributary Markers, which was impossible during the Khalji Dynasty! The subcontinent was mine and mine alone! Everything and everyone was under my control.
And then, Grant drew the next card, and let out a sound which I will not soon forget:
“Oooooooooh, Mongols!”
At various points in a game of Vijayanagara, Mongol Invasion Cards will be drawn. When they are, one of the factions other than the Delhi Sultanate is given the opportunity to carry out two basic Commands for the advancing Mongol Army (on the card shown, the Bahmani Kingdom will carry them out). Mongol invaders can Amass in the Mountain Passes to the northwest of Delhi, Advance ever closer to the capital city, or Attack & Plunder, which can be devastating for the Sultan.
A Sultanate player who does not keep a strong defense against this invading force can find themselves in a dire situation. This could be said of Sultan Ala-ud-Din Khalji, who in 1303, while traveling with an army in the south, learned that Delhi had been sacked by an invading Mongol army. But it was not in a position to hold the city – the Sultan hastily returned to Delhi, along with troops from the southern Provinces, to help to send the Mongols back into the mountains. In the game, the consequences of Attack & Plunder are worse the closer to Delhi that it is carried out. One Resource is taken from the Delhi Sultanate for each Mongol Invader remaining after the battle if in the Mountain Passes, the same plus a Troop is removed from the southern Provinces for each remaining Invader if in Punjab, and yet another Troop is removed per remaining Invader if in Delhi.
The Sultanate player will have to monitor the situation in the north closely. Then again, attention is always needed in the south as well to keep it from rebelling everywhere and all at once. Which is a reminder that It is Not Easy to be the Sultan.
When the Mongol Invasion Card is drawn it can be a crushing blow to the Delhi Sultanate player if they have ignored the ever-advancing forces emerging from the mountains. It is also an opportunity for the Bahmani Kingdom and Vijayanagara Empire players to enjoy some relief from the oppressive Sultan in the north, with his hoard of resources, and overflowing stack of cavalry tokens. Perhaps the attention required to protect Delhi from the Mongol Invaders will provide just enough breathing room, so that they may raise up the new flags of their own independent kingdoms in the south.
Before long on that fateful September morning, the tide would indeed turn. Grant had numerous opportunities to deploy his fearsome battle cry, “Oooooooooh, Mongols!”, and indeed, dear reader, Mongols there were. My Resources were crumbling. Troops were recalled from the south. My Governors were knocked out of their perfect strategic positions in the chaotic wake of an ill-advised relocation of the capital. Meanwhile, Grant had committed to a defensive strategy of Fort construction, and had even claimed the prosperous Province of Bengal.
In the end, Alexander’s Vijayanagara Empire grew too large to be contested, having maximized its Deccan Influence through economic achievements, and ensnared new allies in the Nayaka warrior kings. One more card could have tipped the scales back to Grant’s Bahmanis, but the second Timurid Empire Card fell, triggering a final Mongol assault on Delhi to end the game. A fierce battle left no Sultanate pieces – just as in 1398, Timur had successfully sacked Delhi.
It was an absolute treat for me to join The Players’ Aid for a game of Vijayanagara. And we remain grateful for the opportunity to share aspects of the game and the history through these History Behind the Cards articles!
You can catch up on the posts in this series to date by following the below links:
Card #2 – Uprising in Daulatabad
Card #3 – Kakatiya Empire Extinguished
Card #4 – The Hare and the Hounds
Card #8 – The Turquoise Throne
I want to thank Saverio for the opportunity we had a few weeks ago to play the game while visiting Noble Knight Games in Fitchburg, Wisconsin. Saverio made the 10 minute trek over from Madison to teach us the game and then played with us for 2 hours. We had a blast and you can check out a few videos on the experience on the YouTube channel.
We posted an interview with the design team and you can read that at the following link: https://theplayersaid.com/2021/11/16/interview-with-saverio-spagnolie-mathieu-johnson-cory-graham-and-aman-matthews-designers-of-vijayanagara-the-deccan-empires-of-medieval-india-1290-1398-from-gmt-games/
If you are interested in Vijayanagara: The Deccan Empires of Medieval India, 1290-1398, you can pre-order a copy for the special P500 price of $54.00 from the GMT Games website at the following link: https://www.gmtgames.com/p-918-vijayanagara-the-deccan-empires-of-medieval-india-1290-1398.aspx
-Grant
The Players' Aid 