Castelnuovo 1539: Come whenever you dare! is published by Draco Ideas and designed by Francisco Ronco. It recreates one of the great last stands of the sixteenth century. In the summer of 1539 the Spanish garrison of Castelnuovo, today Herceg Novi in Montenegro, found itself facing an Ottoman fleet and army of some 50,000 men under Hayreddin Barbarossa. Offered terms, Sarmiento’s Tercio turned them down with the phrase that gives the game its subtitle – come whenever you dare. What followed was over a month of bombardment, trench work, sallies, and assaults, ending on August 7 when the last defenders were overwhelmed. Their resistance cost Barbarossa his campaign season, and that is the real point of the story.
This is a two player asymmetric design with a solo mode driven by an Ottoman automa, and it is very much a hybrid of wargame and Eurogame thinking. Armies are represented by upright wooden pieces with stickers, so you cannot see the type of your opponent’s units, which adds a nice layer of uncertainty. The board is divided into areas and you also handle cannon batteries, walls, bastions, and trenches. Combat is resolved with six-sided dice, while each side has its own deck of cards used to give orders, improve fighting, dig trenches, and trigger special events. Playing time sits around 60 to 90 minutes. The hopeless situation is baked into the design rather than hidden from you, and that is exactly what makes it tense. I also had the pleasure of talking to the designer some time ago in my interview with Francisco Ronco, which is well worth reading alongside this material.
Below I am presenting the game components, giving also a quick overview of the rules and key design features:
Enjoy the material!