In Populous, Rich and Rebellious, the first year of the Campaign ends with a “Consolidation Round”. This is the English Civil War and the idea is, after a few battles, every region declares for either King or Parliament. In our campaign the two sides started the consolidation round even, with 3 regions each, but finished with Parliament significantly ahead.
Consolidation rules
Here is what Populous, Rich and Rebellious has to say about the consolidation round:
9.4. 1642’s Consolidate round
Unlike the other years, 1642 starts with only two regions controlled and ends when all regions are controlled by either the Royalists or Parliament. So there must be 11 battles, one for each of the uncontrolled regions at the start of the campaign. This is true regardless of the number of players. Not all battles are on the table top.
In 1642 you should play the normal early and late rounds, fighting the battles on the table top for these rounds. Then follow them with a consolidate round to deal with the remaining uncontrolled regions.
In the consolidate round go through the players again in the 1642 order-of-play until all regions are controlled. In their player turn in the consolidate round the consolidation attacker can chose an uncontrolled area, even if not adjacent to a friendly region. Consolidation battles are resolved using dice rolls rather than table top wargames. The consolidation attacker and consolidation defender each roll 1d6. Add the number of friendly adjacent regions to the result. The higher score wins the battle and controls the target region. Re-roll ties.
Declaring for King or Parliament
The early round of 1642 had gone to Parliament but the King recovered in the late round. That left the two sides balanced as we entered the consolidation round.
And then it all went wrong for the Royalists. A combination of good choices on where to contest with good dice rolls, meant Parliament finished consolidation with 8 regions to the King’s 5 regions. Sigh. That was a blow but Adam and I were confident that right was on our side and we would prevail.
Where to get Tilly’s Very Bad Day and Populous, Rich and Rebellious
Both are available for download as PDFs:
Tilly’s Very Bad Day (PDF)
Populous, Rich and Rebellious – English Civil War Campaign (PDF)
Great! I am looking forward to trying this campaign later in the year when i finish my figs.
The campaign is remarkably good fun. We’ve played five games so far and every one has posed interesting challenges and provided interesting twists and turns.
One of my goals for 2023 was to play all the games for 1642. We have already achieved that and more, yet our appetite to continue remains high.