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Foxes and Lions: Renaissance City-States in the Age of Machiavelli - Stanford University

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Join the Silicon Valley Archives in welcoming cultural historian Paul Wright to discuss his forthcoming board game from GMT Games, Foxes and Lions: Renaissance City-States in the Age of Machiavelli, on Wednesday, October 21st at 4pm. Foxes and Lions (co-designed with Liz Davidson) is a richly historical “sandbox game” in the same series as GMT’s Here I Stand, Virgin Queen, and Tanto Monta—each of which covers a different aspect of 15th or 16th century Europe. While most games in the series have a broader canvas, Foxes and Lions focuses specifically on the Italian Wars during the period 1494-1527, both in Italy proper and in the Venetian colonies of the Balkans; this is the period stretching from the rise of Friar Savonarola to the notorious Sack of Rome. Five players take on the roles of five key political protagonists identified by Machiavelli in The Prince—the Republic of Venice, the Duchy of Milan, the Republic of Florence, the Kingdom of Naples, and the Papacy. In part, the game exists to put the emphasis on Italian experiences of the Italian Wars, an emphasis lacking in most wargames on the period, which often devolve into narratives of “greater powers” like France and Spain. In Foxes and Lions, players are fundamentally underdogs in a precarious environment, and while strenuously competing with one another, they must also beware of non-player antagonists among the “great powers” of the era, which include France, Spain, the Holy Roman Empire, and the Ottoman Empire. In fact, players may even lose collectively to the great powers and find “Italian virtù” exhausted by external threats, much as Machiavelli had warned throughout his writings—and what was arguably the ultimate outcome of the historical conflicts. Foxes and Lions also promises to be the first board game to honor the full range and dynamism of Machiavelli’s writings, including the Discourses on Livy, Florentine Histories, The Art of War, and more. The game also includes the colorful, talented, and

This event is over. Event Details: Join the Silicon Valley Archives in welcoming cultural historian Paul Wright to discuss his forthcoming board game from GMT Games, Foxes and Lions: Renaissance City-States in the Age of Machiavelli, on Wednesday, October 21st at 4pm. Foxes and Lions (co-designed with Liz Davidson) is a richly historical “sandbox game” in the same series as GMT’s Here I Stand, Virgin Queen, and Tanto Monta—each of which covers a different aspect of 15th or 16th century Europe. While most games in the series have a broader canvas, Foxes and Lions focuses specifically on…

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