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]]>Each player has 9 pieces/towers (they are black, white and speckled). The pieces are 3 sizes - big, medium and small and 3 shapes - triangles, squares and hexes. Talat is a game of hierarchies where the weakest piece can capture the strongest piece completing the cycle.<br/>Originally posted in my blog<br/>Game play is a bit more involved here. Each player has two boards in front of them. The boards are 5x5 grids with player colors located on one side and opponent's color on the other. Players take turns placing one of their towers on their home color of one of the two boards.
]]></center><br/>It was a state of "cold war". The Natives were aligned on either sides and employed to wage a constant war and sustain skirmishes. When war broke out in Europe in 1689 (Nine Year's War) Britain and France found themselves one against the other and open war reached the colonies. The war took place in British New England/French Maine, French Acadia, British Newfoundland/French Terre-Neuve, in the Champlain-Richelieu Valley, the disputed Hudson Bay and along Lake Ontario/the Ottawa River. That could make a great extension to AFAOS (an extension including the Maritimes and the Hudson Bay)! <img src="http://geekdo-images.com/images/tongue.gif" alt="" border="0"><br/> <br/>For those who would like to dive into the history of that period (1690-1760), I prepared an overview of sources. For the most part, wars and conflicts happened in Europe with consequences in North America. Some engagements took place in North America or the conflict itself fully included North America.<br/><br/><center><b>***</b></center><br/><b>1.</b> For a great overview (search for wars, treaties, characters, periods, expressions...) (<img src="http://geekdo-images.com/images/cool.gif" alt="cool" border="0">): <br/><font color=#2121A4><div class='quote'><div class='quotebody'><i>Wikipedia</i></div></div></font><br/><br/><b>2.</b> But, for a deeper understanding (<img src="http://geekdo-images.com/images/snore.gif" alt="snore" border="0">):<br/><font color=#2121A4><div class='quote'><div class='quotebody'><i>Nouvelle France - English Colonies, by Robert Lahaise</i></div></div></font><br/>It explains 100 years of rivalries in North America from the first colonies (French, British, but also Dutch and Swedes) to the Treaty of Utrecht in 1713. You understand the meaning of besieging, ambushing, raiding, settling, and all the other “actions” in AFAOS. Lots of maps. There are plenty of other books (English and other languages too).<br/><br/><b>3.</b> And...<br/><font color=#2121A4><div class='quote'><div class='quotebody'><i><a href="http://www.ospreypublishing.com/18th_century/" target="_blank" class="postlink" rel="nofollow">www.ospreypublishing.com/18th_century/</a></i></div></div></font><br/>This is a gold mine: pictures, maps, etc. (<img src="http://geekdo-images.com/images/thumbs-up.gif" alt="thumbsup" border="0"><img src="http://geekdo-images.com/images/thumbs-up.gif" alt="thumbsup" border="0"><img src="http://geekdo-images.com/images/thumbs-up.gif" alt="thumbsup" border="0">)<br/><br/><b>4.</b> Until recently, lots of historians claim that New France did not stand a chance against the military efforts Britain deployed to conquer the colony. That would make AFAOS unrealistic! <img src="http://geekdo-images.com/images/sad.gif" alt="" border="0"><br/><br/>In the game, both sides have a chance to prevail. Well, history can show how circumstances can turn the tide and how luck can tip the balance in any conflict. But when we look at the “fundamentals”, could France have managed to get through the Seven Year’s War without losing most of its colonies overseas (Canada, India)? Many historians are revising the past with new evidence. <img src="http://geekdo-images.com/images/rock.gif" alt="" border="0"><br/><br/>For New France, the strategy during the French & Indian War was viable. And the French “little war” or guerrilla tactics had a great return on investment against the British war effort. The French and their Native allies used the wilderness to their advantage. <img src="http://geekdo-images.com/images/ninja.gif" alt="ninja" border="0"> <br/><br/>We now know for a fact that New France's commanders were optimistic with the outcome of the war. After all, they had faced other conflicts and prevailed (and sometimes to see their gains bartered off during treaties). In addition, despite its sparse population, New France was a military machine supported by the most populous country in Europe at the time. <img src="http://geekdo-images.com/images/arrrh.gif" alt="arrrh" border="0"><br/><br/>Think of New France as a Switzerland or Israel (in fact, Switzerland modeled its own defensive system on New France's following the Congress of Vienna in 1815, fearing the Austrian ambition; needless to say that the Austrian Empire never regained control it had lost over the Swiss Confederation). <br/><br/>Backed and supplied by France, New France had built up its defensive system (forts, outposts). Every capable colonial had to serve in the militia and the territory was organized and administered by a military regime (no chit-chating, a direct chain of commandment). Add up the Native alliance (over 300'000 people), the French army ownership over the communication and transportation network (the Interior Lines), French officers capable of conversing in the Native languages and vice-versa: New France was a well-defended natural fortress. Britain was well aware of that. It could have led to a victory for the French side. <br/><br/>British colonies were more populous and richer, but the number isn't the key to victory. After all, Prussia prevailed against more powerful enemies (France, Austria and Russia with greater military power and financial resources). In many engagements, the Prussian troops, although outnumbered, managed to outmanoeuvre their enemies using their superior training, mobility, and discipline. Frederick the Great had mastered the military tactic of the Oblique Order while moving his troops along his Interior Lines (look for these expressions on Wikipedia... <img src="http://geekdo-images.com/images/wink.gif" alt="" border="0">). Fifty years before Napoleon, Frederick the Great’s professional army managed to defeat a coalition of major European powers. <br/><br/>This book by René Boulanger examines the French strategy during the Seven Year’s War. <br/><br/><font color=#2121A4><div class='quote'><div class='quotebody'><i>La Bataille de la Mémoire<br/><a href="http://www.vigile.net/La-Bataille-de-la-Memoire" target="_blank" class="postlink" rel="nofollow">www.vigile.net/La-Bataille-de-la-Memoire</a><br/><a href="http://editions.lequebecois.info/publications/livres/la-bataille-de-la-memoire-nouvelle-edition" target="_blank" class="postlink" rel="nofollow">editions.lequebecois.info/publications/livres/la-bataille-de...</a></i></div></div></font><br/><br/>He is not alone as other historians support the thesis (or part of it) that France had its chance. <img src="http://geekdo-images.com/images/rock.gif" alt="" border="0"> During the second half of the war, a feud between the governor general and the general-in-chief explains how the French wasted their early successes in the war. In addition, France was ill-managed (which also led to the demise of the French in the Seven Year's War). As if the French player would have miscalculated his cards, switched his focus on the board or wasted time changing and reshuffling his cards! <img src="http://geekdo-images.com/images/soblue.gif" alt="soblue" border="0"> A blunder the British player exploited to “steamroll” the French. <img src="http://geekdo-images.com/images/arrrh.gif" alt="arrrh" border="0"> <br/><br/>AFOAS is then realistic. The victory could have gone on either side. The French player can win in AFAOS and France could have done so in the French & Indian War. But as Tolstoi put it in War and Peace: success (…in war or sports…) never depends on positions, orders, plans or even numbers. The battle is won by men determined to win it. <img src="http://geekdo-images.com/images/tongue.gif" alt="" border="0">" /> 
]]></center> <br/>New France encircled the English colonies with trading posts, forts and “their” Native allies. It was important for the French colonial administration to build a good rapport with the Native allies. Britain had another strategy: Natives were employed as auxiliaries. They were financed and armed to disrupt the French commercial networks. This explains France’s 2 Priests cards vs. Britain’s Native Leader card (who were mostly allied with the Iroquois Confederation, the Mohawks and other minor nations around the English colonies). In addition, France starts with one Native card and the French militia cards are immune to ambushes and Indian warfare (not the case with the British militia). <br/><br/><center>
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