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Black Lotus (novel)

Black Lotus

Author	Laura Joh Rowland
Language	English
Series	Sano Ichirō
Genre	Historical mystery
Publisher	St. Martins Press
Publication date	2001
Publication place	United States
ISBN	0-312-26872-6
Preceded by	The Samurai's Wife
Followed by	The Pillow Book of Lady Wisteria

Black Lotus is the sixth in a series of historical mystery novels by American writer Laura Joh Rowland, set in late 17th-century Genroku-era Japan featuring the samurai investigator Sano Ichirō. It was published by St. Martins Press in 2001.

Plot

A fire destroys a building in the compound of the Buddhist sect known as Black Lotus, and three bodies are discovered inside the building, all of them murdered before the fire was set. The shogun sends Sano Ichirō, his Investigator of Events, Situations and People, and Sano quickly determines that one of the dead people is Oyama Jushin, a chief police commander. But the identities of the woman and the two-year-old child are unknown, and the Black Lotus sect denies knowing who they are.

A young girl, Haru, was found hiding near the fire, but refuses to answer any of Sano's questions, becoming hysterical instead. Sano asks his wife Reiko to interview Haru, who tells Reiko she is an orphan who joined the Black Lotus sect after her parents died. She led a happy life in the sect, and doesn't remember what happened the night of the fire, but her body is covered with bruises. Reiko also interviews the head nun, the head of security and the cult's doctor, and leaves convinced that none of them are telling the entire truth about the Black Lotus sect. On her way out of the compound, a young monk, Pious Truth, comes out of hiding and tells her that the Black Lotus sect hides many dark secrets. Young monks like him are starved and beaten, young nuns are sexually abused, young children are kidnapped and hidden away in underground chambers, and the entire sect is preparing for a religious apocalypse. Before Pious Truth can tell Reiko anything else, he is dragged away by Black Lotus monks.

When Reiko reports these things to Sano, he is unconvinced. He finds Haru's story of not being able to remember the events of the fire the usual story told by guilty people. Sano also believes that the story told by Pious Truth of abuse, underground chambers and kidnappings a fantastical invention. A rift develops between Sano, who believes Haru is guilty of murder and arson, and Reiko, who believes Haru is innocent. Both have a passion for the truth, which now threatens to tear their marriage apart.<refe name=pw />

As Sano investigates further, he discovers that Haru is not an orphan, but that she had been married to an abusive husband who had died in a mysterious house fire. This strengthens Sano's resolve that Haru is guilty of arson and murder. But he also uncovers stories about young children disappearing after Black Cult monks have visited the neighbourhood, further confusing the issue.

Sano puts Haru on trial for arson and confronts her with both her parents, and the truth about her past. Haru breaks down and confesses that she killed Chief Police Constable Oyama Jushin after he sexually assaulted her, but she says she ran from the building afterwards and denies setting the fire or killing the woman and child. She confirms the stories of sexual and physical abuse of young members of the cult, and she describes a network of underground tunnels and chambers.

Sano immediately marches on the Black Lotus compound with a force of soldiers, and takes Haru, accompanied by Reiko, to show him the underground chambers. However, when they arrive, Sano's force is attacked by hundreds of fanatical Black Lotus believers. In the confusion, Haru escapes and enters an underground tunnel, followed by Reiko. Sano pursues them, setting up a final confrontation with the Black Lotus leadership, where the real murderer and arsonist is revealed, and the evil plot to instigate a religious uprising is thwarted.

Publication history

Following the success of her debut novel Shinjū, published by HarperTorch in 1994, Laura Joh Rowland created a series of books featuring Sano Ichirō. Black Lotus is the sixth book of the series, published by St Martins Press in 2001. Rowland would go on to write nine more titles in the Sano Ichirō series.

Reception

Publishers Weekly called this the latest installment in Rowland's "outstanding series set in Shogun-era Japan." PW noted "The question of religious cults and the abuse of their influence gives this story contemporary resonance. and concluded, "Well-developed characters, a complex, absorbing plot and rich historical detail should help win the author, the daughter of Chinese and Korean immigrants, many new readers as well as a place on mystery bestseller lists."

Kirkus Reviews commented "In a final confrontation that makes Waco look like a throwback to the shogunate, Haru, the Ichiro family, and the Black Lotus Temple finally show their true colors. Honor and spiritual emptiness have a suspiciously contemporary feel in a mystery that can't decide which is more dangerous: love or the coming apocalypse"

In Issue 19 of The Historical Novels Review, Suzanne Crane noted, "Rowland’s latest novel of 17th century Japan will not disappoint her readers." Crane commented, "As with her previous novels, Rowland superbly portrays life in feudal Japan. The rigid societal structure is tested in the course of Reiko's investigation and the danger to Sano's honor is keenly felt. Buddhist temple life and religious fervor are beautifully described." Crane concluded, "Rowland’s talent is wide-ranging: to imbue her characters with powerful traits, to plot suspense beautifully and to entertain while teaching."

In the June 2001 issue of The Internet Writing Journal, Claire E. White commented, "Rowland will keep you guessing until the very last page as to Haru's motivations, and hoping that Reiko and Sano can find a way to patch up their marriage." White concluded, "This is another fascinating entry in an excellent historical series."

Sedan, 1940 (wargame)

Sedan, 1940

Designers	Danny Parker
Illustrators	Redmond A. Simonsen
Publishers	SPI
Publication	1978
Genres	WWII

Sedan, 1940, subtitled "Guderian Across the Meuse", is a board wargame published by Simulations Publications Inc. (SPI) in 1978 that was a part of the Battles for the Ardennes "quadrigame" (four thematically-linked games in one box using the same rules system). Sedan, 1940 simulates the Battle of Sedan during Germany's 1940 invasion of France.

Background

Although France and Germany had declared war in 1939, the two sides did not engage in conflict for the remainder of the year and the first four months of 1940, prompting newspapers to call it the "Phony War". Following the First World War, the French General Staff had ruled out the idea of a future German thrust through the Ardennes–Sedan sector, certain that such terrain could not be crossed by tanks. They also believed Germany would respect the neutrality of Belgium and the Netherlands. For that reason, France was content to wait behind the heavily fortified Maginot Line that ran along the French-German border, south of the Ardennes Forest, believing that German would be forced to advance through that sector. On 13 May 1940, Germany confounded French expectations by striking through Belgium and the Netherlands as well as through the weakly defended Ardennes, bypassing the Maginot Line. French forces reeled back from Germany's blitzkrieg tactics, trying without success to slow the German advance as it approached Sedan and the Meuse River.

Description

Sedan, 1940 is a wargame for two players in which one controls the German forces, and the other controls the Allied forces. The hex grid game map

Gameplay

At the start of each game turn, both players determine if all units are supplied. The each player, starting with Germany, takes the following phases:

1. Air strikes
2. Construction of fortified positions and bridges
3. Deploy or move artillery
4. Movement (either convoy mode or normal mode)
5. Combat

The game lasts for ten turns.

Supply

All units must be within four hexes of a friendly road (unhindered by enemy units or enemy zones of control) that leads to a friendly edge of the map.

Movement

All units in supply on a road, not stacked with other units and not in an enemy unit's zone of control can be placed in convoy mode. This allows mechanized units to move three times their normal speed, while non-mechanized units move at double their normal speed.

Tactics

Critic Charles Vasey summarized the French position by pointing out that the French player must remember "he is not going to halt the German, his mission consists entirely of slowing down the advance, or putting it out of joint and being generally irritating." Karl Wiegers noted that the German player must rely on "mobility and concentration of force ... The movement of units in march mode must be sequenced so that each unit moves as far as possible each game-turn. It is especially important to avoid having infantry units blocking roads and impeding the movement of the mechanized forces, which must have movement priority."

Campaign game

The rulebook also includes a campaign game titled Blitzkrieg to the Meuse" that requires joining the maps of all four games of Battles for Ardennes together. The game is extended to 12 turns, and the victory conditions are simplified: The German player must exit 75 Strength points worth of mechanized units off the western edge of the map without losing more than 20 Strength Points of mechanized units.

Victory conditions

The German player wins by fulfilling all of the following by the end of the 10th turn:

1. Occupy three of: Charleville-Mexieres, Revin, Montherme, Vireux
2. Exit supplied mechanized units representing 30 Strength Points from three specific hexes on the western edge of the map
3. Exit supplied mechanized units representing 30 Strength Points from one specific hex OR occupy the city of Sedan.
4. Lose no more than 12 Strength Points in mechanized units

The French player wins by preventing the German player from fulfilling at least one of these conditions.

Publication history

In 1975, SPI published its first quadrigame, Blue & Gray. This proved to be popular, and SPI immediately produced further quadrigames. In 1978, SPI released the quadrigame Battles of the Ardennes featuring three games about the Battle of the Bulge, and one game, Sedan, 1940, about the German invasion of France. The quadrigame proved popular, immediately rising to #6 on SPI's Top Ten Bestseller List, rising as high as #3, and remaining on the list for the next eight months. Each of the four games, including Sedan, 1940, was also released as an individual "folio" game, packaged in an LP-style cardstock folder.

Reception

In Issue 37 of the British wargaming magazine Perfidious Albion, Charles Vasey and Geoffrey Barnard discussed the game. Vasey commented, "This is a surprisingly elegant game rather in the Avalon Hill mode. Play is fast, the problems are well presented and the answers are not easy to find. "

In his 1980 book The Best of Board Wargaming, Nicholas Palmer noted that "As usual, the 1944 games steal the limelight, [but] the 1940 campaign is rarely simulated, perhaps because most people think of it as a pushover, but the game here is quite entertaining." Palmer gave this game an average "excitement" grade of 60%.

In Issue 65 of Fire & Movement, Jeff Petraska commented, "Game play is fairly simple and straight-forward, with nothing really innovative. However, it's entertaining and offers a lot of variety for the dollar."

In Issue 46 of Moves, Karl Wieger called Sedan, 1940 "well-designed, easy to play, fast-moving, and challenging for both players."

In Issue xx of the French games magazine Casus Belli, Frederic Armand noted, "Sooner or later, the panzers, supported by their infantry, will cross the Meuse and leave the map for the long ride that was to take them to Dunkirk. All the French can do is delay the deadline a little, but in any case, for the Germans, Sedan is almost a military stroll."

Other reviews and commentary

• Moves #46
• Strategy & Tactics #71
• Fire & Movement #18 and #20
• The Wargamer Vol.1 #33, and Vol.2 #17
• Campaign #95
• The Grenadier #27
• Zone of Control #4
• Paper Wars #21
• Simulations Canada Newsletter #13
• Wargame News #42

References

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Murfreesboro (wargame)

Mrufreesboro

Designers	Richard Berg
Illustrators	Stephen Peek
Publishers	Yaquinto Publications
Publication	1979
Genres	American Civil War

Murfreesboro, subtitled "A Game of the Battle of Stones River, December 31, 1862", is a board wargame published by Yaquinto Publications in 1979 that simulates the Battle of Stones River during the American Civil War.

Background

In late 1862, Confederate general Braxton Bragg withdrew the Army of Mississippi from Kentucky In Tennessee, he joined with General Edmund Kirby Smith's Army of Kentucky to form the Army of Tennessee, and took up a defensive position on Stone's Creek, just outside Murfreesboro. President Abraham Lincoln, having grown tired of the passivity of Union General Don Carlos Buell, commander of the Army of the Cumberland, replaced him with General William Rosecrans, and ordered Rosecranzz to find and engage the Confederate army of Braxton Bragg. Rosecrans found Bragg's army late in December 1862, and on the last day of the year, the two armies met in battle.

Description

Murfreesboro is a two-player game where one player controls Union forces and the other player controls Confederate forces. The game uses an alternating "I Go, You Go" system, where the first player follows the sequence:

1. Attempt to Rally disrupted units.
2. Move
3. (Inactive player): Defensive ranged fire
4. Offensive ranged fire
5. Assault

The other player has the same opportunities, completing one game turn, representing 40 minutes of the war. The 21" x 27" hex grid map is scaled at 225 yards (206 m) per hex.

An unusual detail is that infantry brigades are presented as a rectangular counter that takes up two hexes, representing two separate but physically connected units. Thus the units must move together; when marching as a column, the counter is moved with the narrow end at the front, and when in battle line, the long side is the front. Damage to the two units is tracked separately; when one side of the double unit is brought to zero, the large double counter is replaced by a single counter representing the surviving unit. Critic Steve List called this the "salient feature of the game [that] graphically captures the problems of handling large bodies of troops."

Publication history

Richard Berg, well-known in the wargaming industry for his large and complex Gettysburg wargame Terrible Swift Sword (SPI, 1976), designed a considerably less complex game based on a lesser-known Civil War battle. (Charles Vasey noted the uncharacteristic lack of extra and variant rules known as 'chrome', saying, "for a Berg game, it is so chrome-less that one notices it right away.") The game, titled Murfreesboro, was released by Yaquinto as a boxed set in 1979.

Reception

In Issue 46 of the British wargaming magazine Perfidious Albion, Charles Vasey noted that much emphasis was placed on facing and fatigue. Vasey also noted the rules were "much shorter than ... Terrible Swift Sword. Vasey found the game "hard to judge."

In Issue 54 of Moves, Steve List thought this game featured an "interesting system", but found some peculiarities in the rules, such as that infantry, while in combat line, cannot move forward across a creek, but can cross the creek while moving backwards. List put this down to "insufficient development, proofreading or both" and gave the game a grade of "B– ".

Chimaera (magazine)

Chimaera was a British zine published between 1976 and 1983 that became first Diplomacy-based zine to focus on other play-by-mail games that were often adapted from popular board games of the time.

History

The strategic board game Diplomacy was first published in 1959. Because of its length (4–12 hours), it was difficult to find seven players able to commit that time to a game. In the United States in the 1960s, this led to the publication of "Dippy zines" that enabled play by mail games of Diplomacy.

In 1969, Don Turnbull published the first British Dippy zine, Albion, and this was followed by a large number of others. In June 1975, Clive Booth published the first edition of Chimaera with the stated intention of not only administering games of Diplomacy but other games that could be adapted to a postal system as well. The first issue was only four spirit duplicated pages that only focused on Diplomacy, and this was the pattern for the next four issues.

With Issue 6, Booth broke the pattern — while he continued to adjudicate Diplomacy games, he also started to allow other game administrators to use Chimaera for different postal games, making it first British Dippy zine to do so. The first game was Soccerboss, a football (soccer) management game. Many players in the British Diplomacy community were not pleased with this, renaming the game Soccerdross, and calling it a trivial game that required little skill, where dice throws trumped strategy. Stephen Agar recalled that "Throughout 1977 zines were full of letters either supporting Soccerboss or denigrating Soccerdross." Alan Parr noted that the game as presented in Chimaera "inspired game after game, and in the search for increasing realism the games became complex enough almost to qualify as genuine simulations." Charles Vasey commented that "it is one of the few games that reads well for non-players."

Despite the controversy, Chimaera continued to feature Soccerboss as well as other games. As Robin Hood noted, "Clive runs Diplomacy games, but also allows anyone to run any other game that arouses player interest providing that the person making the game suggestion is prepared to run the game himself." Over the years, the list of other games included:

• a Dungeons & Dragons campaign called The Pits of Cil that lasted for 47 issues over 4 years
• Sopwith, a World War I aviation combat board game adapted to postal play (launched by Tom Tweedy as a sub-zine within Chimaera called Dib Dib Dib; Tweedy would eventually publish Dib Dib Dib as a separate zine.
• En Garde!, the tactical dueling game published by Game Designers' Workshop
• War of the Great Jewels, a Diplomacy variant based on J.R.R. Tolkien's The Silmarillion
• Kingmaker, a postal version of the Avalon Hill game
• Railway Rivals, a postal version of the educational board game administered by the game's creator, David Watts. The game presented in Chimaera was more popular than Watt's actual board game sales to schools.
• 1829, a postal version of the popular rail-building game.
• Mastermind
• Backgammon
• Formula 1, a popular British car-racing game of the time published by Waddingtons

The zine also contained various columns about gaming, such as Booth's own description of his involvement in a game of Empire of the Petal Throne, which

Booth's enthusiasm for the zine waned in the early 1980s, which was noted by critic Pete Tamlyn, who wrote, "These days Chimaera is something of a shadow of its former self [as compared to the time] when it twice won the Zine Poll." Booth ended his involvement after Issue 102 (July 1983), handing it over to Richard Morris, who renamed it Boojum.

Awards

Chimaera won the U.K.'s 1976 "Zine Poll" after less than a year of publication. It won again in 1977, then came third in 1978 and 1979.

Reception

In Issue 7 of Perfidious Albion, Charles Vasey wrote, "Every now and then one makes a discovery that makes all the trash worth it, Chimaera is such a magazine ... This really is a splendid 'zine, try a copy. It will certainly affect the way I present things in Perfidious Albion."

In Issue 8 of Owl & Weasel, Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone were "quite enthusiastic about [it], mainly because it's a general games zine as opposed a one~gamer. It is rapidly improving, and no.5, which we've just re— ceived, contains letters, zine reviews, humour (of sorts!), cartoons (don't line drawings really liven a mag up?) and games.

In Issue 15 of Owl & Weasel, Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone wrote, "We've always been happy to receive copies of Chimaera from Clive; it's one of the few 'games' zines (i.e. ones that run their own games) that gets read before it's filed away. It has now developed into an excellent little paper with a character of its own and apart from the useful (and useless—but-interesting) articles and comments, it actually makes you laugh!"

A 1978 poll of British gamers ranked Chimaera in second place for "Best Zine" and "Best Zine for Games Playing", and in third place for "Best Letter Column".

In Issue 45 of Diplomacy World, Alan Parr wrote, "Clive Booth's Chimaera is one of the half-dozen classic magazines of the British hobby. For most of its immensely long life (well over one hundred issues) it appeared frequently, had a famous letter column, and offered its many readers twenty or thirty pages of genuine reading matter every issue." Parr noted, "Clive wasn't a great inventor of games, but he had an enormously wide breadth of interest coupled with the vision to see how almost any game could be fruitfully offered in a postal context."

Hastings, 1066

Hastings, 1066 is a board wargame published by TSR in 1987 that simulates the Battle of Hastings. The major part of the game was developed by Simulations Publications Inc. (SPI) in the late 1970s, but was not published before the company was suddenly taken over by TSR in 1982.

Background

Following the death of the childless English king Edward the Confessor in 1066, a several powerful men vied for the throne. Anglo-Saxon Harold Godwinson was crowned king, but had to defeat a Danish army at the Battle of Stamford Bridge before hurrying south to cade William of Normandy at Hastings.

Description

Hastings, 1066 is a two-player board wargame in which one player controls the Anglo-Saxons and the other the Normans.

The game is relatively simple, with only 200 die-cut counters, a 17" x 22" hex grid map and only ten pages of rules. The turn sequence is an alternating "I Go, You Go" system. Each turn is divided into two phases:

• Order Phase: Each army is divided into three parts. Each player secretly chooses a strategy for each part of their army, and rolls two dice to determine the Battle Plan
• Battle Phase: Composed of six segments, with Norman player active:

1. Active player: Rally
2. Active player: Missile fire
3. Active player: Movement
4. Non-active player: Reactive movement
5. Non-active player: Missile fire
6. Active player: Melee combat between adjacent units

The Anglo-Saxon player then has the same opportunities, which completes one game turn. The battle lasts for two days (8 turns each).

Players also track unit morale and fatigue, which are influenced by the battle strategies used by each part of their armies.

Victory conditions

Victory points are gained by eliminating enemy units and leaders. The Normans win by having more victory points than the Saxons, as well as either clearing the road to London or eliminating all the Saxon house carls. The Anglo-Saxons win by preventing the Normans' victory conditions.

Publication history

In the March–April 1978 issue of the SPI house magazine Strategy & Tactics, game designer Richard Berg announced he would be developing a series of six easy-to-play wargames called "Great Battles of History." One of these would simulate the Battle of Hastings. Throughout the remainder of 1978 and most of 1979, Berg kept S&T readers up-to-date on how he was developing and testing these games. However, game development was suddenly halted in late 1979, and none of Berg's six games were published by SPI. Instead SPI was taken over by TSR in 1982. Five years after the takeover, Berg's game about the Battle of Hastings, with some rule modifications, was published as a pull-out game in Issue 110 of Strategy & Tactics."

Reception

In Issue 6 of Battleplan, Keith Martens was enthusiastic about the game, especially by the Order Phase, noting that "the player can influence the final Battle Order by picking a strategy which will maximize the chances of rolling that Order, but does not have the absolute command control found in many games." Martens also thought the tracking of morale and fatigue was "Brilliantly linked with the Battle Order determination." He concluded, "All in all it is the moes realistic tactical ancients game I have seen. If you are interested in the period, try a game."

Other reviews and commentary

• The Wargamer Vol.2 #2
• The Grenadier #34
• The Canadian Wargaming Journal #7
• Wargame News #42
• Notiziario del Torneo Masters #22 (in Italian)
• Vae Victis #73 (in French)

References

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Cavern Flooring (generic)

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The Final Campaign (PBM)

Endless Plans (generic)

The Games Machine reviews

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Backstab reviews

• Fudge (role-playing game system) [1]
• Battle Cattle‎ [2]
• Cthulhu Live‎ [3]
• Conspiracy X‎ https://archive.org/details/backstab-magazine-french-02/page/n49/mode/2up
• Ars Magica‎ https://archive.org/details/backstab-magazine-french-02/page/n37/mode/2up
• Chivalry & Sorcery https://archive.org/details/backstab-magazine-french-02/page/n33/mode/2up
• The Cairo Guidebook [4]
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• Warhammer (game [10]
• GURPS Vampire The Masquerade [11]
• Constantinople by Night [12]
• Heir to the Empire Sourcebook [13]
• In the Shadows (Call of Cthulhu) [14]
• Stars Wars: The Roleplaying Game [15]
• Digital Web https://archive.org/details/backstab-magazine-french-02/page/n35/mode/2up

Different Worlds

• I.S.P.M.V.: Tethys‎
• Citybook I: Butcher, Baker, Candlestick Maker
• RuneQuest Companion‎
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GURPS Casey and Andy

Andy Weir & David Morgan-Mar Jennifer Brozak

• TV Tropes (https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Webcomic/CaseyAndAndy)
  • Record holders for Fatalball including the one for Only People Stupid Enough To Play.
  • Jenn's occupation as international jewel thief