Forward.
I have based the observations which follow on an English version of the First Edition rules which has been brought fully into line with those of the Second Edition German version. I have tried to make this commentary as complete as possible, but I do not claim that it is exhaustive. Other players may well discover further aspects of the game.
This commentary is concerned solely with the 3 - 5 player game known as "Interregnum". It leaves aside the two-player variant scenario which is known as "1264 Conradin".
For the purposes of this commentary, I have assumed that the reader is reasonably familiar with the game rules. The various analyses and examples which follow also assume a game with a full complement of five players, using all optional rules with the exceptions of A, B, C, G, H, J, M, N and V.
Within this text, I have used the abbreviation "T.C." for "Task Card". For example, the term "PTC 166" therefore means "The player who has been dealt task card number 166".
With special thanks to Gerhard H. Kuhlmann for his friendship and his advice, and to Joachim Helfer and Peter Tismer for their help in translating aspects of the game rules. Thanks also to the following members of the Finchley Games Club in London with whom I have enjoyed a series of interesting games of Konradin oder Interregnum: Simon (‘Fish’) Aubrey, Alan Beaumont, Stephen Cullimore, Paul Hannington, Gideon Moss, Ian Pearson, Mark Pinner, Mike Rogers and Peter Tismer (again!).
Yet further play has resulted in me and my own group of friends learning more about the game. I believe that this second edition of "Overview" reflects this. Firstly, some sections have been extended as subtleties which were not apparent a year ago have come to light as a result of further play. Secondly, we discovered that we had completely misinterpreted the victory conditions for TC 170, with the result that the relevant section has been completely re-written. I owe thanks to Gerd Kuhlmann, the author of the game, for bringing this to my attention. Thanks are also due to the unknown (to me) player who kindly pointed this out to him.
The majority of the old material remains. Readers will, however, find corrections and extensions throughout the text. Some of these consist of points which were not raised in the first edition of this paper. Others are corrections. I have recently just finished writing another paper, consisting basically of notes concerning the raising of armies in the game.
In addition, a player must be as familiar as possible with the rules governing movement, military action and the methods of gaining - and possibly losing - both "permanent" and "temporary" allies from amongst the neutral nobility and towns.
A player must also keep in mind the fact that, although his task card is the most important method of winning the game, there are also two other methods of achieving victory. Players may ally with each other in pairs during game years 5 and 6 and attempt to achieve a joint victory by fulfilling one of several completely different sets of victory conditions. If no player has fulfilled the conditions of his task card and if no alliance has been successful in achieving the alternative victory conditions by the end of game year 6, the winner of the game is determined by totting up victory points. In practice however, it has invariably been my experience that the game is won by a player fulfilling the conditions of his task card, and that this happens at some time between the beginning of game year 3 and the end of game year 5.