Vae Victis - Romans vs. Etruscans: Ongoing

[ilpars]

Only hex Roman army can retreat is Cosae.

Rulebook:

A retreat is made away from the Hostile Army, into an Adjacent hex that is not occupied by any other Army and not within the ZoC of any Hostile Army. If unable to do so, the retreating Army’s Status is reduced to Eliminated.

Etruscan faction is now at 4 momentum which is maximum.

[DIVM]

Etruscans were superior in this battle, but Romans will increase their sacrifices.

Retreat roll: 6 -> no effect.

[ilpars]

Weakened Roman army retreated to Cosae without any additional damage. Will Etrusk army advance after battle?
After that decision it is over to Romans for their 4th OP.

[teodor6100]

Yes, we advance, no reinforcements for Rome.

[ilpars]

Latest Positions:

[ilpars]

Year 2 Roman 4th Op: Army Operation.
Supply phase: Gallic army is in Supply. 1st Roman army is not in supply and drop to Disarrayed status.
Gallic army move NW. Rolled 2. Move 1 hex and end movement.

[DIVM]

Roman 1st Army has suffered much this year. The troops have been promised a feast, and the augurssacrifices foretold of a victory. With that, the army reorganized and moved:
North - roll 6, plus -1 modifiers (-2 army status, +1 road); total of 5. Moves and keep moving.
North East (Aurinia) - roll 7, -1 mod; total of 6. Moves and keeps moving.
South East (hex north of Vulci) - roll 5, mod -1; total of 4. Moves.

We stop there and camp. Extra wine for the men.

[ilpars]

Map after Roman 4th Operation.
Take note that Etruscan 2nd army is out of supply but not yet shown on the map.
Over to Etruscan side

[teodor6100]

Yeah, we took notice of that, nice one. We will be giving you an answer in kind.

[Maeglyr]

Etruscans - Year 2 - Operation 4 : Army

First Etruscan army moving south-east
Supply status : 7 hexes from Pisae - 7 roads = 0
Supply value 4 (hills) -> 4-0 is not below 0 so the army is supplied.

- roll 8 +1 road = 9 > 2 x Threshold, allowing it to continue
- roll 3+1 road = 4 Allow move and end Operation for that Army.

They stay on Luna, near the beach.

Second Etruscan army moving north
Supply status : 8 hexes from Clusium (the intendant is crying) - 3 roads = 5
Supply value (farmlands) : 5 -> 5-5 is not below 0 so the army is supplied.
We just need to plunder one or two latifundia.

- roll 4 > 2 x Threshold, allowing it to continue but...we enter the ZoC of the poor First Roman Army.

Romans ? Fight ? Decide !

VaeVictis Y2O4 Etruscan.png (890.37 KiB) Viewed 69 times

[teodor6100]

Rules on army supplies do not work like that.

On I Etruscan army, Luna is cutting off the natural supply route via road, so it needs to be rerouted 3 hexes before it reaches the road again behind Luna. (I mention that a settlement does not emit a ZOC so it does not cut off supply lines in adjacent hexes as well).
So the math goes -8 (distance from nearest settlement with the reroute needed around Luna calculated) +5 (from hexes connected with each other via road) + 4 (army forage from hill) = +1
So you were right, we are still supplied, but not the way you thought it was.

On II Etruscan army, I would like to tell you that the ZOC that hostile armies emit does extend to supply lines as well and an enemy settlement will cut off your supply route if it runs through its hex. Furthermore, the supplying city has to be the nearest settlement that has a connection to the capital (via road). Presently, the Roman I army does cut off such a direct connection on Vulci, so it can not be used for supplies. Cosae cuts us off from NW and the ZOC of Roman I army is cutting us off so bad that there are 8 hexes which need to be traversed from Clusium and only one is connected by road, so even in farmland we are on -2 on army supply status. Army supply status is calculated at the begining of army operations, not at its end. So our army does start its operations as weakened no matter how rich their latifundias are.

[ilpars]

I am guessing your supply route for 2nd Etruscan army pass East of Volsinii.
Supply Route 2nd Etruscan army SE NE NE NE NE N NW Clusium
That route only pass once a Road hex where path enters and exits through hexsides crossed by a Road (that is the hex from the army to SE. 8-1=7
Farmlands Supply Value is 5. Army Supply Condition is 5-7=-2
If you are not using another supply route that I can not see that army is unsupplied and losing 1 status.

For 1st Etruscan army Theodore is right. It is supplied but supply route is passing around Luna not through the city.

[Maeglyr]

On the discussion on Luna

Luna is not a hostile city, it is a neutral city, as all non-major cities.
As a neutral city, Luna doesn't interrupt our path.
So Luna doesn't cut our supply lines.

Capture d'écran 2026-10-02 210027.png (61.98 KiB) Viewed 51 times

Capture d'écran 2026-10-02 210351.png (120.69 KiB) Viewed 51 times

[Maeglyr]

You're both right on the road rules, I misread it. Indeed, we are at -2 because of the orientation of the roads.
So Second Army is Weakened, but it doesn't change the question : Romans, do you want to fight ?

[teodor6100]

Maeglyr is actually right about Luna. I think that rules should be modified (maybe for next year in campaign?) so that cities belonging to a non-major faction after planning phase ends with +2 diplomacy in favour of one major faction, the other major faction should treat it as hostile from an army supply standpoint until conquered or if their diplomacy drops from +2 to -1 in relation to the major faction. It just feels very wrong that our most direct supply route is not cut off after we fought a gallic army.

[ilpars]

At the end of every year we talk and vote about rules and map.
For example at the start of campaign several cities were not connected to any other city. We found out that makes them unimportant. At the end of first year Andreas changed the map to connect all cities by road.