Castelnuovo 1539: Come whenever you dare! DRACO IDEAS

Summer of 1539. Facing an Ottoman fleet of over 50,000 men and 200 ships, the Spanish garrison of Castelnuovo (present-day Herceg Novi, Montenegro) refused to surrender to Admiral Barbarossa, sealing their fate with the legendary phrase: “Come whenever you want!” The resulting battle was a brutal siege lasting over 22 days of combat, skirmishes, and assaults.

Immerse yourself in one of the most epic and dramatic feats of the 16th century with Castelnuovo 1539 – Come Whenever You Want!, a tactical wargame inspired by the historical siege, where a small Spanish Tercio faces an overwhelmingly superior Ottoman army.

Game Mode

In this 2-player game, one player takes the Spanish side, defending an outdated fortress with limited resources and aiming to inflict as many casualties as possible to reduce the strategic value of the enemy’s victory. The other commands the powerful Ottoman forces, tasked with capturing key strongholds without suffering unsustainable losses.

Main Features

• Complete asymmetry: each side has distinct objectives, forces, and play styles.
• Dynamic card system: each turn presents constant tactical decisions and maintains tension until the end.
• History on your table: recreates a desperate defense lasting nearly a month of combat.
• High replayability: the combination of cards and maneuvers ensures every game is different.

Game System

The map is divided into areas where troops, cannons, walls, bastions, and trenches are deployed. Combat is resolved using dice and cards that allow issuing orders, enhancing actions, digging trenches, and activating special events, keeping the game fast-paced with no downtime between turns.

Cards are the engine of the game: they activate units to move and attack and allow special actions, such as the Spanish player’s “encamisadas.” There is no fixed number of turns; the Ottoman player has time to prepare the siege, while Sarmiento’s Tercio attempts to thwart their plans.

The game ends when the Ottoman side captures three fortress points or reaches 12 casualties. Players alternate turns and can replenish cards even during the opponent’s turn, chaining attacks and counterattacks that narrate the historical development of the battle.

Turn Types

• Siege: several days of preparation and limited combat, with hands of 4 cards.
• Assault: decisive one-day attacks, with hands of 7 cards and higher intensity.

The Ottoman player sets the pace of the game, but each Assault turn increases their casualties, adding pressure and limiting operational capacity.

Player Turn

Unit activation is carried out using Command and Action cards, allowing units to move or attack. Although it is a siege game, cavalry units with greater mobility fight as dismounted infantry when assaulting walls or inside the fortress.

Combat follows a historical sequence based on unit types:

• Cavalry attacks first, except when pikemen are present, who act last.
• Arquebusiers receive bonuses for using firearms.
• Infantry (azabs, pikemen without enemy cavalry, dismounted cavalry, and janissaries) resolves damage simultaneously.

The defending player can use counterattack orders during the opponent’s turn, activating their own units not necessarily under attack and launching immediate strikes.