One of the variant games of HYW.

Updates are on the same schedule as the Standard Game of Hundred Years War.

Historically, by 1337, France and England had developed as the two largest and most cohesive kingdoms in Europe. England was far more united and centrally administered than France, but France was far larger (13 million to 3.7 million souls) and had prospects of becoming still larger. By the end of the HYW, France was the most powerful nation in Europe and stayed that way until the early 19th century.

It didn't have to turn out this way. Take, for example, Germany in the early 14th century. There was no central administration and the free cities (most towns of any size had some degree of autonomy from feudal rule) were organizing to oppose any feudal rule on a permanent basis. The German nobles were not helpless in the face of this, but they were too busy fighting each other and resisting the Holy Roman Emperor to do much about it. The Holy Roman Empire might have developed into a unified Germany, but it never got the string of strong emperors and lucky breaks that this required.

Therefore, the Magnates Game assumes that France did not get enough strong kings, while the magnates (counts and dukes) expanded their land and rule at the expense of the nominal king. We assume that the Capetian kings of the 11th and 12th century managed to do away with the election of the king, but little else. To maintain their position they had to trade land and authority. By 1337, there was still a king of France, but his lands and authority was restricted to those held by himself and his son in the vicinity of Paris. Throughout the rest of France, other nobles held sway, including English lords who ruled large tracts of land in France. The English king had lost his other French lands in the preceding two centuries.

It is assumed that England also lacked strong kings at the right times. A Plantagenet king still ruled London, but little else. In the wake of the Magna Carta, the English nobility expanded their rights and privileges, rather than seeing them restrained by strong kings.

The names are still the same in this game, but the lands held are often different. The many small wars of the preceding three centuries had arranged the political landscape differently. In addition, we have added a strong Moorish ruler in Spain, on the assumption that the Spanish had been less successful in their Reconquista and the Moors more capable. In addition, we have assumed that the second wave of Mongol armies did not get distracted by Persians, India and the Middle East, but instead shot right through the Turks (as they did historically) and went into the Balkans, entering Europe via Italy before the end of the 14th century. The Mongol leader (the historical Timur) was born in 1336 and by the 1360s had consolidated his power and put his armies into motion.

(unless noted below, all existing features of HYW apply in the Magnates Game.)

-105 magnates (including kings) are active in the game: 54 French, 27 English, 26 Other.

-Each magnate (including kings) is assigned 1-12 fiefs, with the idea being that each has giving them about the same total population and GDP.

-Sign up will be random, with the system selecting character.

-NPC Hiring and combat will be turned on quickly. Exact time will be announced on the announcement screen for the game and via in game message by the Game Sysop.

-The object of the game is to see who can cobble together the largest kingdom after a century, and who acts the most nobly. The final scorecard will have two top ten finishers, one will be the "Conquerors" and the other the "Nobles." The Conquerors list will be based on your percentage increase from your beginning population and GDP. The average of these two numbers will give you your final score. You cannot finish in the top ten here unless you also are a king at games end. The Nobles list will be based on the scoring system already built into the game.

-No outlawing. The kings legal powers were not firmly established yet.

-Leon-Castile is the Moslem state of Cordoba. Historically, it was absorbed by Leon-Castile during the 10-13th centuries. If conquered, an army of 10,000 - 20,000 appears from the south (North Africa) the next season. This will happen three times, after that Cordoba stays unmolested by Moorish armies from the south. If the Moorish player is killed off, he also gets "cousins" to take his place three times. The player of this position is otherwise normal, and can recruit outside Cordoba (money talks, and how do you think they converted so many Christians to Islam in the first place?). Note that the "Moors" were led by Berbers, who founded and presided over the ruling dynasties in this period. So you have blue eyed warriors on both sides.

-In addition to the Plague, there will be a Mongol horde. It will only last a few years before attrition and politics back home in Mongolia recall it. Two or three Heralds, or players, can assume Mongol magnate characters and handle this. These Mongol generals each enter the map leading a 20,000 man army of cavalry (men at arms) and have excellent top line stats. Each Mongol general has 100 million ducats. When that is gone, they have to live off whatever they have conquered. Mongol generals have no heirs. If they die, their army disbands and their fiefs become disputed. Mongols can recruit anywhere as Others, via their Italian speaking flunkies, thus they will use Italian as their language.

-Pope is in Rome. The Papal States are his only property, and he cannot lead armies. The Pope approves title transfers and knightings, as well as his usual powers, plus calling crusades against the heathen Moslems and Mongols. The Pope can make quite a bit of money soliciting donations from nobles desiring to be kings,as well as in the usual fashion.

-No church tax or BCCI.

-No CTA (Call to Arms), you have to recruit. This will limit the number of Yeomen in the game.

-No playing Heralds in the game, because there are no national teams, except for the brief fling as Mongols. A Sysop is present to oversee routine matters. The Sysop has one fief. If you take this fief, it will promptly go into rebellion and do so again after you quell it as long as you own it. Take the hint, there are easier ways to expand your holdings. Note that there may be Heralds playing for the fun of it in this game. This is OK, in that we can't be expected to keep anyone out of the game simply because they are very good at it.

-Parliament and kingly functions turned off.

-The Pope cannot excommunicate the Mongols or the Moslems, the Sysop will police this.

-Pope can anoint new kings. This is a one way process, it cannot be taken away. Potential kings must have a 9 stature, hold all the fiefs in at least three contiguous provinces (megafiefs don't count) for at least two seasons in a row. The title will be shown by one of the new kings province titles being changed to KING.

-The Pope can authorize the transfer of a magnate or royal title if the current holder is landless for at least a year and agrees to the transfer.

-Initial holdings conform as closely as possible to province boundaries. This has the added benefit of encouraging players to use their senior title instead of family name.

-Ancestral rebellions are still in use.

-Cannot transfer Ancestral fiefs, as per normal game rules. Non-ancestral fiefs may be transferred at will.

-A landless noble can take service under another noble, managing lands, scouting, quelling, recruiting, etc.

-The families of the non-active players are still there, representing the families of the minor nobility and provide marriage partners for the active players.

-Every year ending in 0 or 5, the Sysop will post Player Standings for the Conquerors list (i.e. who has grabbed the most territory).