Development Diary #16 - Italian Realms + Snapshots from Essen Spiel 2024 + Painted Miniatures
Hi, all friends and backers! We are finally back with another Update, after the whirlwind that is Essen Spiel – including preparation and aftermath.
We are still hard at work, developing Defying Destiny content. It is taking us some time to make all the Stretch Goal content, but we are making good progress, and will show you some of that below. We are however a bit behind schedule as you may have guessed. Right now, we are hoping to finish development and art before the end of the year, so that we can get the MPC made before Chinese New Year, but the Chinese New Year Holiday will interfere with the production timeline and mass production will not go ahead until after the holiday. The world of international shipping is once again volatile, but if we manage to stick to this timeline, we can hopefully start fulfilling the pledges in June.
Defying Destiny Development Diary #16: Italian Realms Pack (Savoy/Piemonte + Milan + Florence/Tuscany)
Following on from Dev Diary #15 (Update #17) and the new tentative mechanic for Mercenary Leaders (Orange Banner), we want to expand on the Italian Realms. This pack (Stretch Goal #1) is a bundle of three separate new featured Realms, all with Events and Missions, who are intrinsically interconnected. Many of these Events offer expanded flexibility compared to the usual Realm-specific Events, as we will show below, and they will hopefully help bring the Italian peninsula to life regardless of what Italian or Italy-adjacent Realm you are playing. Additionally there will be some new Generic Events to flesh out Italian history even more. Today you get a look at the Realm-specific Events for Age I, with more to come soon.
Disclaimer: All illustrations and portraits are placeholders. The text is not final.
Florence/Tuscany
In 1444, the Republic of Florence was under the rule of Cosimo di Giovanni de’ Medici (Setup Card not shown, skills 4-3-3), who heralded a Florentine Golden Age.
Cosimo was a skilled diplomat and directly responsible for Francesco Sforza’s takeover of Milan, which he promoted to prevent Venice from taking over the region. He fomented the Milanese conflict against Venice and Naples, which culminated in the Peace of Lodi in 1454, a multilateral treaty that ensured peace in Italy.
However, this also meant that other neighboring realms saw Florence with envious eyes. Pope Sixtus VI orchestrated the Pazzi conspiracy of 1478, where Lorenzo de’ Medici had to witness the murder of his brother Guiliano, to try to remove the Medici family from power.
The invasion of Italy by Charles VIII brought a period of turbulence to Florence, that ended up with the Medici family expelled from Florence, and Girolamo Savanarola, a Dominican friar, in control of the new Republic. Girolamo was also a reformer, who openly disobeyed and defied the Pope, in acts such as the Bonfire of the Vanities, where cosmetics, art, and books deemed sinful, were burned in the public square.
Mercenary Leaders (orange banner and flag)Bonfire of the Vanities and Golden Ambrosian Republic (below) are examples of Realm-specific Events with Mercenary Leaders on them. These are Leaders that weren't part of a dynasty that had ruled for generations, and they could just as easily have become Rulers of other Italian states, if the conditions were in place.
If you play with the Mercenary Leaders rule, it means that a Mercenary Leader does not exclusively belong to the Realm associated with the Event (hence the half-orange flag). The player who picks the Event basically decides what happens with the Leader on the Event.
The Ruler crown shown right next to the A) in option A means that if the Active Player satisfies the requirements for this Mercenary Leader, they will get this Leader as their new Ruler. The requirement is to have a State Religion matching the Leader's Religion (if any) and have your Capital adjacent by Land to the Leader's Home Area (listed on their banner).
If you pick option B, you will not get the Leader as your Ruler, but often (like in the case of Francesco I (below), you can Appoint this Leader as your General instead.
This also means that these Realm-specific Events sometimes can be used as Generic Events, depending on the scenario.
Milan
In 1444, the last of the Visconti Dukes ruled over the realm. The death of Filippo Maria in 1447 saw the short-lived Golden Ambrosian Republic declared.
Constant internal turmoil and conflicts with their neighbors ended up with the Condottiero Francesco Sforza taking control of the Duchy, founding the Sforza dynasty. After the Peace of Lodi, Milan saw a time of prosperity, which would last until the French invasion of Italy in 1494.
The death of two Milanese Dukes in succession (both under mysterious circumstances) ended up with Ludovico Sforza as Duke of Milan. Ludovico's Ambition saw him inviting Charles VIII of France to reclaim the Kingdom of Naples from Ferdinand II, starting the Italian Wars. Later he would betray Charles, contributing to his defeat. However, in 1499 Louis XII, his successor, re-entered Italy, conquering the Duchy and ousting the Sforza from Milan.
Savoy/Piemonte
After clashing with the Ambrosian Republic (the short-lived Republic established in Milan), Savoy was pushed to forge a Strategic Alliance. Amedeo IX, under the influence of his wife, Yolande, the daughter of the French king, agreed to ally with Louis XI, allowing him free passage into Italy, where he claimed the Kingdom of Naples. Amadeus was a religious man, who allowed Yolande to practically rule the Duchy on his behalf.
Due to its geographical location, with a foot on both sides of the Alps, Savoy became a territory which Kings and Emperors in Italy fought over. As the Italian Wars intensified, the French staged invasions of Lombardy and Piedmont, with Carlo III attempting to keep out of harms way by allowing the French passage. Nonetheless, he ended up having almost his entire duchy occupied by the French for the better part of his reign when trying to ally with the Habsburg Emperor against the French.
Essen Spiel 2024
We demoed Defying Destiny content throughout the show, with Aragon and Burgundy featuring in the demo sessions once more, and with fans being able to pick up the flammant Flavor Pack 2: HRE and the fiery Flavor Pack 1: Britannia at our booth.
We sold out everything that we brought there and met fantastic people.
Even we managed to play a round of Third Crusade, to the detriment of Roberto and Balz.
We got to hang with Cole Wehrle, Andrew Wehrle, Tom from SUaSD, and all these other fantastic people. On the SUaSD podcast of Essen, when they mentioned Bauernschlau, I (Víctor) was playing that with Tom.
Painted Miniatures
We wanted to pay homage to the fans who have painted their miniatures and shared the results, and encourage YOU to show us your painted miniatures too over at Board Game Geek!
by Avramir @ our Discord server
by Ask Baumgartner
Next time, we will show all Age II Italian Events, and maybe some from other parts of the Holy Roman Empire too. We also have some nifty new art to show you.