Ancient/Medieval Campaign Rules Christopher Anders Berthier s Desk 2008 1 1 Revised after playtest feedback from John Martin & the North Georgia Diehards, Clay Knuckles/Marc Faircloth & NATO and Ian Buttridge & LSHM-DFW.
Table of Contents Table of Contents...2 General Outline of Play...2 Sequence of Play...3 The Players...3 Movement...4 Random Events...5 Battles...6 Independent Provinces...8 Battle Duration...8 Hopeless Battles...8 Naval Combat...8 Siege Resolution...8 Diplomacy...9 Resources...9 Force Maintenance...10 New Levies...10 Allied Contingents...11 Winning and Losing...11 General Outline of Play Scepter of Blood is a set of campaign rules designed to recreate campaigns for the Ancient through Medieval time periods. Battles will be resolved using Field of Glory (FOG). Unless otherwise stated, the tactical rules stand unchanged. The design objective of the campaign is to generate battles not paperwork and to simulate the interaction between multiple realms The umpire is responsible for moderating the campaign, record keeping and controls the forces of rebellious provinces and independent nations. However, the use of an umpire is optional. If one is not available, the campaign can be played as a modified boardgame with all orders declared at the end of the Write Orders phase of each turn. Scepter of Blood - 2 - December 2008
Sequence of Play Each Campaign year has four seasons (Spring, Summer, Fall, Early Winter). Each season has several phases. Some phases occur only in certain seasons. See the detailed sequence of play that follows: Place new armies (Spring season only) Place new fleets (Summer season only) Write orders o Orders may be: Move Move & Beseige Hold (default order if no order issued) Convoy (Fleet only) Movement - When multiple, opposing players invade the same province(s), the players roll initiative. The two players with the highest initiative rolls resolve their battle first. Random Event Roll - Random Events include Natural Disasters, Barbarian Raids, Barbarian Incursions and Rebellions. Battles (including post-battle movement) Siege Resolution Cities within a province have to be taken by siege cities do not automatically fall when a province is occupied. Diplomacy form alliances and break treaties Resources (Early Winter season only) provinces containing cities under siege, or blockade, generate 0 resource points. The Players Participants/Armies o Force Maintenance (Early Winter Season only) - At the end of the Early Winter season all players check to determine if the forces currently in the field can be supported. Any forces in excess of available resources are removed from play. o New Levies (Early Winter Season only) Purchase new troops and fleets. The ruler of each major realm (the Player Kings) Scepter of Blood - 3 - December 2008
Umpire Barbarian Incursions [Umpire Controlled] Barbarian Raiders [Umpire Controlled] Rebellions [Umpire Controlled] Movement Movement is conducted from province to province or sea zone to sea zone. Normal movement costs one movement point to go from one area to another. Most armies have two movement points per season while fleets have three. Fleets at sea at the beginning Early Winter are allowed a maximum of two movement points to reach a friendly shore or they are destroyed. Some armies of especially mobile nations have three movement points per season. These nations will be specifically identified in the scenario rules. Fleets may be used to transport armies of any size if given Convoy orders. During the Early Winter Season, voluntary fleet movement is not allowed and any land movement is subject to attrition [2d6% army points lost at end of the first movement point]. Fleets at sea at the beginning of the Early Winter Season must immediately move adjacent to the closest friendly province or coastal city or they are destroyed. No naval battles occur in Early Winter as all fleets are more interested in getting to a safe port rather fighting any battles. To capture a province, an army must end its move in the province and control any city within the province. Armies wishing to conduct siege operations must end their seasonal move in the province containing the city. The season an army arrives with siege orders counts as the first season of siege. Special Movement Consideration: Armies without Desert as a terrain type of one of its home provinces that invade a Desert Province suffer 2d6% APs of attrition upon entering the province. Desert Provinces are defined as provinces with Desert as the sole terrain type. Special Movement Consideration: Armies without Steppe as a terrain type of one of its home provinces that invade a Steppe Province roll 1d6 and use the following result: 1 or 2 lose 1 MP due to unexpected rain/mud; 3 or 4 No effect; 5 or 6 lose 1d6% APs of attrition due to extreme heat/cold. The die roll is modified by -1 in Spring and Fall and by +1 in Summer Scepter of Blood - 4 - December 2008
and Early Winter. 2 Steppe Provinces are defined as provinces in which Steppe is the sole terrain type. Random Events - Natural Disasters, Barbarian Incursions, Barbarian Raids and Rebellions During each Season and after all Player moves have been resolved, but before battles and sieges, the Umpire rolls to determine in which and where a Random Event occurs. Random Events are scenario specific but the standard events are Natural Disaster, Storms at Sea, a Barbarian Incursion, Barbarian Raid or a Rebellion. Only one of each type (Barbarian Incursion, Barbarian Raid, or Rebellion) may be in play at a time (one of each). Therefore, if an event of the category rolled is already in play, treat as no event. Should a Barbarian Incursion convert to an empire, it ceases to be considered as a Barbarian Incursion. Natural Disaster (Disease, Earthquake, etc ): All forces that are participating in a battle in the effected area suffer 1d3% attrition prior to deployment. The controlling player subtracts the rolled percentage from his army points. Note: this is in addition to the effects of the Early Winter Season. Storms at Sea: Fleets moving in sea zones adjacent to the region affected roll a 1d6: 1 or 2 the Fleet is destroyed 3 or 4 the Fleet must move to an adjacent land province if possible if not the Fleet is destroyed 5-6 no effect. Barbarian Incursion: A random event may result in a Barbarian Incursion. The invading force will move toward the nearest city and attempt to seize it. Where more than one city is equally near to the incursion, randomly select one. If the city is taken, the barbarians will move toward the next nearest city and attack it. Unless the barbarians control at least one city by the end of the Early Winter Season they are eliminated. If a Barbarian Incursion controls at least one city at the end of the Early Winter Season it becomes a new empire i.e. player-controlled or independent. In the latter case, it cannot form alliances. To determine the size of a Barbarian 2 This attrition is in addition to any other attrition suffered for moving in the Early Winter season or any Random Event. Scepter of Blood - 5 - December 2008
Incursion, roll 1d6. On a 1-3, the Incursion has 600 APs. On a 4-5, the Incursion has 800 APs. On a 6, the Incursion has 1000 APs. Barbarian Raid: A Random Event may result in a Barbarian Raid. The raiding force will move toward the nearest city, place it under siege if necessary and attempt to sack it. Once they have occupied the city for one season they will leave. The sacked city will not generate any RPs in the following Resource Phase. To determine the size of a Barbarian Raid, roll 1d6. On a 1-5, the raid has 500 APs. On a 6, the raid has 700 APs. Rebellion: A Revolting Force is deployed in the nominated province. If a city is in the province and there is no garrison, the city automatically falls to the rebels. The rebels will attempt to take any garrisoned city by siege. If a player-controlled army is present, the rebels will fight the garrison in a field battle. If defeated the player-army will retreat into any city within the province or into any adjacent friendly controlled province. If successful conquered, the province (and included city) will form an independent state. If subsequently defeated, they will be removed from play. Note that if the province is independent at the time of the Rebellion, it will simply enter play as a one province empire that will not attempt to expand. Its army will fight in the open if its province is invaded and if defeated will stand siege. If the Rebellion does not control the province (and included city if present) at the end of the next Early Winter season, it is eliminated. Rebellion armies number 650 APs plus a 1d6 random roll of additional APs. On 1-3: 50 APs are added. On 4-5: 100 APs added. On a 6: 150 APs are added. If a city is present in the province, add 1 to the roll. If a coastal city is present in the province, add 2 to the roll. NOTE: Some Barbarian lists only have a minor ally list in the core books. In this case, a more complete list will be found in the scenario rules. At any rate, armies for Barbarian Raids, Barbarian Incursions and Rebellions are allowed a maximum of 2 generals for armies numbering 400 APs, 3 generals for armies numbering 401 to 800 APs and 4 generals for any army greater than 800 APS. Battles Battles are resolved using Field of Glory with current errata. Players select their Army list before terrain is placed for each battle with APs carried over from the previous season or battle (if more than one in the season). Terrain is determined using FOG but only using the terrain types available in the province where the battle is being fought. Scepter of Blood - 6 - December 2008
Should a battle result in a draw, the attacking player withdraws from the province. In the case of a besieged army making a sally, it withdraws back inside the city. Battle group losses between battles are NOT carried over. Only AP losses, as a result of postbattle recovery, are carried over to the next battle or season. An entire army may only be destroyed in battle if it cannot retreat. For Example, a Late Republican army of 800 APs invades Narbonensis at the same time that an Ancient Spanish army of 1,000 APs does. Narbonensis is defended by a 900 AP army of Gauls. The three players roll their initiative and the Romans and the Gauls roll highest and thus fight first. The Gaulic army of 14 battle groups loses 2 attrition points and all of its generals but holds the field. The Roman army of 10 battle groups loses all 10 battle groups. The Roman army retreats back into the province from which it came and is now reduced to 600 APs (10 APs/10 * ¼ * 800 = 200 APs). The Gaulic army now turns to face the Spanish invader with 865 APs (2 APs/14 * ¼ * 900 + 3 3 = 35). An army that is defeated, but not destroyed (i.e. defeated and the force has a legitimate retreat path into an adjacent friendly province) may: 1. not enter a non-friendly province; 2. not initiate a siege; 3. if attacked, must retreat; and 4. may move or retreat into a friendly town counting as its garrison for siege purposes. At the end of the current season (defined as the season in which the battle occurred), these restrictions are lifted and the next season the force may act as normal. Forces that lose a battle must retreat either out of the province or into the city in the province if friendly. The retreat move into an adjacent friendly province must be back the way the army came from (if an invader) or into any adjacent friendly province. Recovery of battlefield loses of AP are calculated as follows: Total attrition points divided by the break point of the army times 1/3 times total AP equals the APs to be deducted from the original APs. [Attrition points/army break point * 1/3 * Total original APs = lost APs] Modifiers: Held battlefield +10% of lost APs recovered All generals killed -10% additional APs of total army APs lost. 3 An additional 10% of army total APs is lost due to all generals killed Scepter of Blood - 7 - December 2008
Independent Provinces: Independent provinces are defended by armies of 650 APs plus a 1d6 random roll of additional APs. On 1-3: 50 APs are added. On 4-5: 100 APs added. On a 6: 150 APs are added. If a city is present in the province, add 1 to the roll. If a coastal city is present in the province, add 2 to the roll. The army of an independent province is allowed a maximum of 3 generals. Battle Duration: Battles may last a maximum of four hours of real time or until one army is broken at which point the victor is determined using standard FOG victory conditions. Hopeless Battles: If two opposing armies meet and the smallest army is less than ½ of the larger, the encounter is considered a Hopeless Battle. The smaller army automatically losses and retreats into the closest friendly city or friendly province losing 25% of its APs in the process (someone has to stay behind). If it cannot retreat into a friendly province without fighting a battle, it is automatically destroyed. Naval Combat A fleet in a coastal city that does not have a friendly army in garrison that is attacked by an enemy army immediately puts to sea and fights a naval battle against any enemy fleet units it encounters. Fleet-to-Fleet combat is resolved as follows: Each player rolls a 1D6 and adds a base factor of 2. Fleets supported add one to their score for each supporting fleet. If the results are tied, then both fleets maintain their current positions. Highest modified die roll wins. If the loser s modified result is less than the attacker but not doubled, the loser withdraws one area. If the loser s modified die roll is doubled by the attacker, one of the loser s fleets is destroyed and all other fleets participating must withdraw one area. Fleets combat does not occur in the Early Winter season. Fleets cannot invade a province and have no impact on tabletop battles. Siege Resolution A siege results when a defending army a) elects to withdraw into a city rather than risk a field battle or b) retreats into a city after losing a battle in the same province. One season after a siege is declared; the besieging player rolls 1d6 and adds all applicable modifiers. A modified roll of 9 results in the city surrendering to the besieger. On any other Scepter of Blood - 8 - December 2008
result, the siege continues and both armies sufferer 1d6% attrition to their AP total. The standard modifiers for siege operations are as follows (more specific modifiers may be found in the scenario rules): Barbarians 4 besieging -1 Coastal city under siege -1 Defending fleet -1 Besieging fleet +1 Per turn under siege No APs in garrison +3 +1 (after the 2 nd season) On an unmodified roll of 1 the province suffers disease and both besieger and besieged suffer an additional 1d6% of attrition. If the besieger s army is reduced to less than 400 AP, it automatically withdraws into the closest friendly province. If the besieged army is reduced to less than 200 AP, it automatically surrenders (i.e., the minimum garrison of a city is 200 APs). Once a city surrenders, the besieger rolls another 1d6 and on a modified roll of 7 or better the city is given over to plunder. Add +1 per season of siege after the 2 nd season. A city plundered provides 0 RPs for the next campaign year. A city must be placed under siege to be captured. Diplomacy Players may form alliances by lodging written alliances with the umpire. Alliances cannot be broken without first declaring that the alliance is void at the start of the Write Orders phase of a season. Each turn players must turn in their orders for their armies and any diplomatic moves they wish to make. Players should note where diplomacy falls in the seasonal sequence. Each alliance broken incurs a victory point penalty as defined in the Winning and Losing section that follows and in the specific scenario s victory conditions. Resources At the end of each Early Winter Season, players calculate the number of army points (APs) they are allowed by totaling the resource points each province they control can generate. Each province controlled generates a base of 5 RPs (Resource Points). To this base is added the following: 4 In this case Barbarians indicate any force generated from a Barbarian Raid or Barbarian Incursion. Scepter of Blood - 9 - December 2008
Terrain Type Resource Point Bonus Agricultural +4 Developed +6 Desert +1 Hilly +2 Mountains +2 Steppes +2 Woodlands +2 In addition, each coastal city controlled adds 5 RPs and each other city adds 2 RPs. Force Maintenance Each RP may be used to provide upkeep for 100 existing APs (rounded up). It costs 2 RPs to provide upkeep on each existing fleet. If the realm has more APs or fleets in play then it can support at the end of the Early Winter Season, the realm reduces the number of APs/fleets until it matches the allowed total. Maintenance for existing forces must be paid prior to the purchase of additional forces. New Levies APs are purchased at the end of the Early Winter Season and are placed in the following Spring Season. Fleets are available in the following Summer Season. 1 RP can be used to purchase 10 APS. 20 RPs may be used to purchase 1 fleet up to a maximum of one fleet per coastal city controlled. Each player is allowed to deploy his APs in armies in the following manner: o One army of between 801 and 1000 APs o Up to two armies of between 501 and 800 APs o Any number of armies of 500 APs or less as long as the army conforms to the player s army list minimums. Minimum armies for each realm will be listed in the scenario rules. New armies can only be placed in a province the player controls. New fleets may only be placed in a sea zone adjacent to an owned province with a coastal city. Scepter of Blood - 10 - December 2008
Allied Contingents Foreign allies [those listed in the format, Aitolian Allies See Field of Glory Companion 3: Immortal Fire: Greek, Persian and Macedonian Wars, for example ] are not used. Instead allies are drawn from the provinces controlled by the protagonists and that have an ally listed in the provincial list found in the scenario rules. All other rules for allies remain unchanged. To use an allied contingent, the controlling player only has to control the province in question. Winning and Losing The campaign will end when the specific victory conditions in the scenario are met or at the end of any season beyond the first four in which any one player has twice as many VPs as the player with the 2 nd highest total. Victory points are awarded for the following: +2 VP for each tabletop victory (must win by 2 Attrition points to count as a victory) +1 VP for each tabletop draw +1 VP for conquering a province +1 VP if the province conquered contains a city or +2 VP if the province conquered contains a coastal city -5 VP for breaking an Alliance Players that lose all of their home provinces are knocked out of the campaign. Any cities they have conquered rebel (see Natural Disasters, Barbarians and Rebellions above). Scepter of Blood - 11 - December 2008