the-alchemist.livejournal.com ([identity profile] the-alchemist.livejournal.com) wrote in [community profile] thisengland2009-10-28 10:21 pm

Oooh!

Well, now I know what I want for Christmas!

Richard the Third is an epic two-player game that recreates the 15th century, bloody dynastic struggle between the royal houses of Lancaster and York for the throne of England. Will the mad-king Henry VI and his Queen Margaret keep the throne or will the Duke of York recover it for the Plantagenets. Also strutting across the game's stage are Edward IV, Richard III, Henry VII, and Warwick, the notorious "Kingmaker".

The object of play is to eliminate all five enemy heirs and/or win control of the powerful nobles of England. The Lancastrians start the game holding the throne, and the Yorkists are in exile ready to invade. Kingship can be won or lost several times during the game. Will Richard III emerge triumphant, or will he perish in battle as he did historically?

Richard III is the first of a series of games about Shakespeare's historical plays. Other titles may include Julius Caesar, Macbeth, and Henry V.



EDIT: Since this blurb seems to have been causing an alarming amount of wailing and teeth-gnashing throughout livejournal, can I please point out that it was written by someone at Columbia Games, and not by me or anyone on this community. If you really find it that upsetting, you could write to them at one of these addresses.

[identity profile] mirabehn.livejournal.com 2009-10-28 10:49 pm (UTC)(link)
Oh, that's awesome!

Bags I get to play it with you sometime if/when you do get it. :-)

[identity profile] cisic.livejournal.com 2009-10-29 04:48 am (UTC)(link)
YES, please!

[identity profile] kerrypolka.livejournal.com 2009-10-29 08:22 am (UTC)(link)
!!!

[identity profile] lareinenoire.livejournal.com 2009-10-29 08:10 pm (UTC)(link)
WANT. SO BADLY.

[identity profile] theficklepickle.livejournal.com 2009-10-31 02:58 pm (UTC)(link)
Will the mad-king Henry VI and his Queen Margaret keep the throne or will the Duke of York recover it for the Plantagenets.

Possibly not a good idea to suggest that a Lancastrian is not a Plantagenet; my king would not be impressed. (You know, Henry ... of Monmouth ... father of ... )

[identity profile] hyarrowen.livejournal.com 2009-11-01 04:19 am (UTC)(link)
Yes, the second Lancastrian king didn't take kindly to insults... as the French discovered to their cost...

[identity profile] lareinenoire.livejournal.com 2009-11-10 01:29 pm (UTC)(link)
To be fair, though, the Lancastrians were avoiding the Plantagenet name like the plague for the most part -- not wanting to remind anyone of the fact that Henry IV usurped the throne from the last anointed Plantagenet.

While I have no doubt that Henry V did not take kindly to insults (which obviously he did not, as many tennis balls and even more dead French soldiers can attest), I don't think this qualifies.

As far as my research has unearthed, Richard of York was the first person to bring up the Plantagenet name when he claimed the throne in 1460. Even Richard II didn't really use it, though he used the broom device as a heraldic symbol. Henry IV, Henry V, and Henry VI seemed to think of themselves primarily as Lancastrians, as a divergence from the old (and corrupt) order of the Plantagenets. Even Henry VII insisted on referring to himself as a Lancastrian heir, not a Plantagenet or Tudor heir. Only the Yorkists specifically used the Plantagenet name as far as I've seen.