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| The Rules of the Game |
| Made simple for those who are not running the game |
| The Basics |
| Each player starts the game with a single general and one or more regions of the map, each with an army in them. Each turn the players command their generals to move the armies and conduct their wars. The players do not control their generals and armies directly, but can give the generals orders, which the general will obey completely. Over the course of the game, the players will gain and lose troops and generals, participate in battles, gain victory points, and so on. |
| The goal of the game is to gain as many victory points as you can. A player gains victory points when his armies accomplish tasks that are extremely important to that group. Alliances and wars between players may also spring up, so players can spend some extra time plotting with or against each other. |
| The Army |
| Each army is composed of units. Each unit is a type of troop with a certain number of men. Each type of troop has statistics determined by the troop's weapon, armor, transportation, training, and other things. Each unit ends up with the following statistics: movement, offense, defense, health, range, morale, and point value. |
| The army is how players control regions. To control a region, a player must have troops stationed in the region. Doing this gives the player money from that region, and use of the region for hiring troops, moving through, etc. Taking troops out of a region makes the player lose these benefits. |
| The Rules of the Turn |
Each turn the players choose the actions that their generals will take for the turn. It is a relatively simple process. The player must choose one action for each general, and a defensive order for each region he controls. The defensive orders are the way the army chooses to defend itself when attacked by an enemy. The orders will give certain units bonuses in combat depending on the type of order. Below is a list of defensive orders, and a list of actions that the general can take.
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Defensive Orders
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| Ambush | The defenders wait to surprise the enemy when they attack. There is an average of a one in four chance that the attacking army discovers the ambush before it is sprung, in which case both armies switch to skirmishing orders.
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| Skirmish | The defenders mobilize their troops and keep them moving, using hit and run tactics to whittle the enemies down without suffering many losses. It is a slow and demoralizing process, but often helps small, fast armies against larger armies.
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| Field Battle | The defending forces charge the enemy and fight all-out. The field battle is the standard battle plan for any large body of troops.
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| Fortify | Instead of counter-attacking the enemy, the defenders hole up in their camp area and wait for the attackers. This is a very dangerous alternative to normal battle, since it gets rid of most chances of retreat, but it is also very effective with the right troops.
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| Withdraw | The defender designates a portion of his army to fight as the rearguard for his army. The rest of the army moves away from the battle with all haste, while the rearguard battles to keep the enemies from overtaking them. If the rearguard stays fighting for a certain amount of time, the rest of the army will get away. The rearguard is often obliterated if an army resorts to withdrawing, but it may sometimes get away with only some casualties.
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General's Actions
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| Travel | The general may travel to any region in the player's kingdom as long as there is a direct path through adjacent regions controlled by that player.
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| Move Army | The general chooses any number of troops in the region that he is in to move with him to a region up to two spaces away. The regions that the army moves through and into must be controlled by that player, and be adjacent to one another.
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| Attack Enemy | The general chooses an attack order (see the battles section), and moves any number of troops in the same region to an adjacent region controlled by an enemy player. From there the battle commences.
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| Recruit Troops | The general may hire troops of the designated type from the region he is in. He may hire a total point value equal to or less than the limit for the region he is in. He must pay one gold from his treasury for every point worth of troops he hires.
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| Prepare Battlefield | With this action the general sets about making the battlefield better for him. After this action, if an enemy attacks the general in that particular region before he leaves it, the troops of the defending army gain a bonus to their attack and defense as if they were using the fortify defense order, as well as giving them the bonuses for their normal defense order. If the general leaves the region, the prepared battlefield bonus is lost.
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| R and R | The general does nothing.
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| Train General | The general takes a turn to train another general for the same player. The new general costs 100 gold from the player's treasury, and he cannot take any actions except to move until the next turn.
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| Important Special Rule: Overtaxing Cities If you want more money out of a region, or you need to hire lots more troops than you should be able to from a certain region, you can "overtax" a region to get more of what you need. If you need more money out of a place you can just say on your turn orders that you are converting a certain amount of the hire limit in a region into monetary income, or vice versa. You may lower the income of a region by 1 to increase the hire limit by 10, or lower the hire limit by 10 to increase the income by 1. You can do this any number of times with each region, but it does have consequences, and you can't lower the hire limit or income below 0. The increase only lasts for the duration of the turn, but the decrease lasts for a while. At the beginning of every turn the income is increase by 2 until it is at its original value, and the hire limit is increased by 5 until it is at its original. This can come in handy when you're hiring very expensive troops, or when you need a crap load of money really fast. Using it too often in the wrong areas can mean bad things in the long run, but if used in the right places at the right times it can be extremely helpful. |
| The Battle |
| The offensive battle orders are declared whenever an army declares an attack, or they are chosen for the army based on other actions. This is the list of offensive battle actions:
| | Field Battle | The attacker moves his men into position and charges, trying to overrun the enemy. This is the same as the defending field battle.
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| Skirmish | Just like the defending skirmish, the attackers run around using hit and run tactics to whittle away at the defending army, while minimizing their own losses.
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| Ambush | The attacking army moves to the defending army and tries to make a sneak attack before the defenders know that the enemy is at hand. The chance of the enemy learning of the ambush is higher than a defensive ambush, but otherwise works the same as a defensive.
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| Flanking Maneuvers | This is like a field battle, but the attacker tries to set troops in place to move around behind the enemy formation. If successful, this leads to a large slaughter on the defender's part.
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After the attack and defense orders have been sorted out, each side gains certain bonuses to their attack or defense rating for each type of troop depending on the type of troop, terrain, and orders. For example, an archer has a higher offense rating while fortifying, but lower when in a forest. In an ambush, explosive units are more effective than standard infantry, and so on. After the offense and defense ratings are figured, the combat begins. During combat, the army with the higher average movement can defend itself better, but the army with more men can cause more damage to the enemy. Heavier types of troops can take more damage before dying than lighter troops, and monsters and giants also take more damage. Casualties are taken from the main fighting part of the army on each side before the reserves are killed.
Before each round of battle, the morale of each army is checked (defenders first). The morale depends on the general's ability to lead his men, the number of men killed so far, the size of the opposing force, and so on. Each unit in the army checks morale individually, and if they fail, the unit flees the battlefield.
The battle ends when one side has been annihilated, or fled the battlefield
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| After the Battle |
When the battle has finished, the losing side moves out of the region from which it has been defeated in to an adjacent region, and the round continues from there after both sides check for experienced units, dead generals, and gaining renown.
To see if the general died during the battle calculate the percentage of the number of men who died on each side of the conflict. Half of this percentage is the chance that the general died during the battle. For example, if every man on one side was obliterated, the general would only have a 50% chance of death.
Each surviving unit in a battle has a chance of becoming a veteran battle unit. Units on either side that become veterans add to their offensive and defensive values during combat. This may happen multiple times if a unit participates in battle more than once, every time the experience level of the unit rises by one.
After each battle, each general gains a certain amount of renown based on how many enemies he killed, if he killed the enemy general, and if he lost the battle.
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| The General |
The general of the army can be just as large a factor in the battles as the troops in the army, or the orders that the player gives. Every general has a renown rating, which starts at 0, which represents how experienced the general is.
Each general also has a group of skills. Each skill gives the general certain powers, and is rated on a skill level of one to ten. The higher the skill level, the more potent the skill is. The different skills are described below.
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| Arcane Magician | The general can add to the devastation caused by his troops by showering the enemy with offensive magic. Every round of battle the general will add to the casualties inflicted on the enemy side.
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| Necromancer | The general can raise the dead to fight for him. While recruiting new troops, the general gains some free undead units.
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| Healer | The general has some sort of healing enchantment that helps his wounded soldiers. The number of casualties in his army each turn is reduced.
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| Invincible Warrior | The general fights alongside his best unit, adding to their effectiveness in combat. The player controlling the general specifies a unit, and their prowess in combat is increased.
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| Undying | The general has an uncanny knack for living through much that would kill any other man. The chance of the general dying in combat is lowered.
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| Inspirational | This leader knows how to whip his army into a killing frenzy. The chance that any unit in his army will break and flee during combat is lowered greatly.
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| Rabble Rouser | The general has a way with the crowds. Whenever the general raises units in a town, some extra men flock to his banner to fight for what they believe to be a true hero.
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| Sneaky | The general has a knack for getting his troops around without enemies seeing them. His chance to ambush or flank attack enemies is increased, and the chance for enemies to see his scouts is lowered.
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| Spies | The general mysteriously knows just what the other guys are planning. Ambushes and flank attacks have a lower chance of working on this general.
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| Master Tactician | Due to superb planning and ability to direct his troops during battle, the general increases the defensive value of his troops during battle.
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| Guerilla Tactics | This general trains his men for skirmishing better than most can. The troops' effectiveness during a hit and run battle such as a skirmish is increased.
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| Fortification Expert | The general has much experience with finding defensible areas and guarding them in battle. The effectiveness of his army while fortifying is increased greatly.
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| Battlefield Planner | Due to the general's quick thinking and ability to use the battlefield to his benefit, field battles go more in his favor.
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| Each general starts with two skills at level 1. To gain more skills, the general may decrease his renown rating by 5 during R+R, to gain a new skill. At any time during the game a general may increase a skill level one level at a time by lowering his renown rating by 5 times the new level of the skill. |
| Money |
Any army needs money to pay and hire troops, as well as for some other things. The money that each army has in this game is only used for diplomatic and hiring purposes. Each player starts the game with a certain amount of money, and may gain money through conquest, taxes, alliances, or other means. Money (represented by gold) can be used while in a city or region to hire troops.
Money can also be used as a helpful diplomatic tool. Many victory points come from monetary gain and from other players' money. It is always good to hold on to some money for bribes and politics. |
| Alliances and Wars |
Each player is either allied, neutral, or at war with each other player. All players start the game neutral to each other, but as they conduct their affairs, their status changes. Players do not need to have direct contact with their armies to converse with each other. Between turns during the game, and outside of the game, players may negotiate, make deals, form alliances, and so on, as long as both players involved agree and tell the supervisor of the game what the final decision is.
While neutral, players may communicate with each other, exchange gifts of knowledge and money, and conduct diplomatic relations. From neutrality, the players may step to an alliance or to war.
If both players agree to an alliance, and both tell the supervisor of the game of their alliance, the alliance is agreed upon. Alliances may go between more than two players, but all members of the alliance must agree to it, or it does not go through. There are two types of alliances that the members may agree upon. A formal alliance is public, and known to all players, but it is harder to break the terms of the alliance. A secret alliance is only known by those in the alliance. This is much easier to break, since only the people involved know about it. While allied, armies from either side of the alliance are expected to not attack the other side, or the alliance will be automatically broken.
If two nations are hostile towards each other, they go to war. Wars may only be between two players, but each player may have as many wars as he wants. One player can be at war with three others, and his allies also at war with those three others, which makes a two-sided war, which works the same as a war between multiple people. If one player declares war on another, both players are automatically at war with each other. Wars are declared against the enemy, and from that point until diplomatic relations change the situation, the two players are at war. To end a war, all sides involved must agree to it, and tell the supervisor just as if they were making an alliance. This may make the enemies allied or neutral. |
| Sending in Your Turn |
Once you are ready to start the game, before every turn the person who runs the game will tell you where your armies are, how much money you gain from the turn, what your scouts have found from the previous turn, and any other information that you need to know. When you have reviewed this information you must send in your turn.
The format of the turn (usually over email) should be something like this:
General 1's Name: General 1's actions
General 2's Name: General 2's actions
etc.
Region 1's name: Region 1's defensive orders
etc.
Any special actions, such as allying, sending money to a friend, or picking your nose.
With each action should be the correct description of exactly what the general wants to do. A move army order needs to include where the general is moving to, and his route, and which troops he is moving. A raise troops order needs to include the type of troops.
After each player does this, whoever is running the game will take care of all the messy stuff, and send the results of each turn to the players again. |
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