Overview
Each player represents and controls an army from one of the factions present during the turbulent fifth century AD of Britain, at a time when the Romans departed, the Bretons returned, the Anglo-Saxons arrived, and the Picts and Irish crossed the border to raid the lands of the Britons and the Welsh.
Players fight for the factions' dominance over the old Roman provinces of Britannia in this dramatic and violent period, co-operating within their factions and together competing against other factions.
The campaign
ends as soon as one of the following conditions is fulfilled (whichever is the earlier):
- at least one faction has lost control over three or more of its five starting points, or
- at least one army has less than 1200 FP worth of units remaining in its pool.
The
winner of the tournament is the faction and all its players with the highest number of victory points at the end of the campaign, and if a tie, with the highest number of controlled structures.
Victory points
Victory points are allocated at the end of each round to the factions of each of the armies as follows:
- +1 for each fought engagement (whether winning, losing, or drawing).
- +2 for each won engagement.
- -1 for each drawn engagement.
- -2 for each lost engagement.
- -1 if retreating from engagement (without fighting it).
- +1 if enemy retreating from engagement.
- -1 for each army having remained within the ZoC of a Hillfort or Sacred Site or a Church Monastery longer than one round in a row.
Factions
The factions available are:
- Anglo-Saxons (starting points on the east coast): Praetorium, Banovallum, Branodunum, Gariannonum, Walton.
- Romano-Britons (starting points in the centre of Britannia): Durocobrivis, Braughing, Venonis, Durobrivae (northern), Derventio (near Ratae Corieltauvorum).
- Welsh (starting points in the western parts of Britannia): Condate, Caer Sws, Pennocrucio, Magnis, Vertis.
- Irish (starting points on the west coast): Din Eirth, Pen Llystyn, Bremia, Nidum, Brean Down.
- Picts (starting points in the north): Alauna, Aballava, Aesica, Coria, Arbeia (Caer Urfa).
- Bretons (starting points on the south coast): Nemeto, Moridunum, Vingocladia, Hengistbury Head, Clausentum.
- Romans (starting point Londinium and south-east thereof): Londinium, Novus Portus, Durobrivae (southern), Regulbium, Portus Lemanis.
The number of factions depends on the number of participating players, with several different combinations:
- 2 players: divided up into 2 factions.
- 3 players: divided up into 3 factions.
- 4 players: divided up into 2 factions.
- 6 players: divided up into 2 or 3 factions.
- 8 players: divided up into 2 or 4 factions.
- 9 players: divided up into 3 factions.
- 10 players: divided up into 2 or 5 factions.
- 12 players: divided into 3, 4 or 6 factions.
- 16 players: divided into 4 factions.
- 20 players: divided into 4 or 5 factions.
If 4 or more players are participating, each player controls only 1 army. If 2-3 players, it could be preferable for each player to control 2 or if desired even 3 armies, and any references to "the player's army" herein do then mean "each of the player's armies".
Which factions are participating then depends on the number of players and thus factions as well as players' collective preferences and wishes, for example:
- 2 factions: Anglo-Saxons and Romano-Britons, or Romano-Britons and Picts, or Welsh and Irish.
- 3 factions: Anglo-Saxons, Romano-Britons, and one of Welsh, Irish, and Picts.
- 4 factions: Anglo-Saxons, Romano-Britons, and two of Welsh, Irish, and Picts.
- 5 factions: Anglo-Saxons, Romano-Britons, Welsh, Irish, and Picts.
- 6 factions: Anglo-Saxons, Romano-Britons, Welsh, Irish, Picts, and one of Bretons and Romans.
Players and armies within a faction are co-operating, while competing with and fighting other factions. Therefore, victory points are allocated to factions and not to individual players. In a similar fashion, structures are controlled by factions and not by individual players. As such, controlling mines makes it possible for all armies within a faction to select mercenaries in engagements, however always subject to the limit of number of mercenary units available applicable upon the faction as a whole in each given round. (For example, if two mines are controlled, the faction may in total use two units of mercenaries in engagements that round, allocated among the armies of the faction.)
Map
The armies of the players move around and fight armies from other factions on (the whole or part of, depending on number of players and factions) a detailed hex map showing Britannia in the end of the Roman era, with roads and different types of structures included and divided up into six-miles-scale hexagons.
Full credit and many thanks are given to its creator and designer, Jorunkun, having made it available for download HERE.
Armies are marked on the map with squares, color coded with their faction colors and numbered with their players' numbers. Control over structures is marked on the map through color-coded hexagons.
Download of Module with Armies
- The Conquestu Britanniae v1 module is needed to set up and play battles with the De Excidio et Conquestu Britanniae armies.
- The module includes armies for Anglo-Saxons, Bretons, Brito-Romans, Irish, Picts, Romans, and Welsh (all based on corresponding base-game armies), plus Mercenary Warbands with certain units to potentially be available as allies to the extent Mines are controlled.
- Download the module through the following usual steps:
1. Click on the Download community scenarios button at the top of the main screen of the game.
2. Select Conquestu Britanniae MP Custom Battles v1.
3. Click on Download the Selected Campaign.
- The mod will then be automatically saved into the the My Games\FieldOfGlory2\MULTIPLAYER\ folder, within the MP_RUIN_CONQUEST_BRITAIN_V1 subfolder.
- (The single-player (SP) version is available for download in the same way, allowing the use of De Excidio et Conquestu Britanniae armies in battles against the AI.)
Starting the campaign
Before start of the first round, each player selects units for his army worth of 1600 FP. These are the units that at start constitutes
the pool of his army, and the only units (and only as long as not eliminated or transferred to other armies within the same faction) that can be picked for his 1200 FP engagements (played out as games in
Field of Glory II: Ancients) during the campaign; aside from mercenary units and units transferred from other armies within the same faction.
Each army is then placed by its player on the map in one of its faction's five starting points, with only one army in each starting point.
Rounds
Each round consists of the following four phases:
1. Order giving
1.1 The administrator first submit movement instructions for his army by way of PM to two other players; encrypted movement instructions to one player and the decryption key to another.
1.2 All other players thereafter submit movement instructions for their armies, by way of PM to the administrator and in the form specified in GIVING ORDERS below.
2. Movement execution
2.1 Armies move simultaneously, move by move, all armies at the same time and with the moves being conducted by the administrator. If any army enters the Zone of Control (ZoC) of a structure controlled by another faction or an army of another faction, it will be considered to have completed its movement and will make no further movement that round.
2.2 Once all armies have completed their movement, armies from different factions that are located within the ZoC of each other will decide whether to retreat or not (if allowed to), give instructions how to conduct such retreat (if possible). Finally the retreat movements are executed by the administrator.
3. Battle resolution
The armies from different factions that still are located within the ZoC of each other will fight "engagements" (the term used herein for games of battle played in
Field of Glory II: Ancients), all such engagements to be simultaneously played and completed in
Field of Glory II: Ancients during a period of three weeks.
4. Administration
Changes of structure control, move armies depending on battle results, other updates of the map, pool adjustment calculations, transfer of units between armies within a faction, etc.
Giving orders
Each player provides movement instructions for his army at the beginning of every round. These direction of a moves is based on the sides of the hex and the clock:
- Move up to the right (northeast) = 2
- Move down to the right (southeast) = 4
- Move down to the left (southwest) = 8
- Move up to the left (northwest) = 10
Movement instructions are expressed as a sequence of individual moves, e.g., 2 4 2 6 0 6, with
no other symbols in between, only
blanks (for easy copy-pasting by the administrator).
In order for all other players to be comfortable with a situation in which the administrator is a player too and does not base his movement instructions on those of other players, the administrator first of all players sends his encrypted movement instructions to one player (e.g., 7 -4 0 4 5) and the decryption key (additive or subtractive adjustments for each move) to another player (-3 10 0 2 -1), which when combined reveals the administrator's actual movement instructions (e.g., 7-3 -4+10 0+0 4+2 5-1 = 4 6 0 6 4).
Movement
Each army is allocated 12 movement points (MP) at the beginning of each round.
The cost in MP for moving into a hex with a certain terrain is as follows:
- Roads = 1 MP (in or between hexes with controlled structures), 1.5 MP (otherwise)
- Evergreen Mountain = 10 MP
Mountain Peak and
Snow-capped Peak are both impassable.
Hexes with structures in which
Roads end or intersect are treated as
Roads for the purpose of MP costs.
Furthermore, each instruction to
stand still "move" (i.e., each "0" in the movement sequence) costs 1 MP.
All armies move simultaneously and spend their 12 MP, move by move and if necessary MP by MP, all armies at the same time. The moves are conducted by the administrator and presented once all armies' movements have been completed.
Structures
There are a number of different structures present on the map that will have certain effects and implications and that may be of importance to be controlled or to wrest out of control from enemy factions.
- Tower or Signal Station, Fort, Fortress: If controlled, provide defensive support, as reflected by additional FP for engagements taking place within the structure's ZoC.
- Tower or Signal Station: +20 FP in location of Tower or Signal Station.
- Fort: +40 FP in location of Fort, +20 FP 1 hex distance from location of Fort.
- Fortress: +80 FP in location of Fortress, +40 FP 1 hex distance from location of Fortress, +20 FP 2 hexes distance from location of Fortress.
- Royal Villa, Village, Town, Kingdom or Civitas Capital, City: If controlled, staying (and not moving) a full round within the structure's ZoC reinforces lost FP in the army's unit pool, IF connected through roads and other of these structures (none interrupted or controlled by another faction or any of its armies) to a controlled Kingdom or Civitas Capital.
- Royal Villa: +1 FP per round in location of Royal Villa.
- Village: +2 FP per round in location of Village.
- Town: +4 FP per round in location of Town, +2 FP per round 1 hex distance from location of Town.
- Kingdom or Civitas Capital: +8 FP per round in location of Kingdom or Civitas Capital, +4 FP per round 1 hex distance from location of Kingdom or Civitas Capital.
- City: +16 FP per round in location of City, +8 FP per round 1 hex distance from location of City, +4 FP per round 2 hexes distance from location of City.
- Fort Ruins, City Ruins: "Haunted" sites causing armies to suffer FP penalties if fighting engagements located within ZoC of these structures.
- Fort Ruins: -20 FP in location of Fort Ruins.
- City Ruins: -40 FP in location of City Ruins, -20 FP 1 hex distance from location of City Ruins.
- Hillfort or Sacred Site, Church Monastery: Armies located within the ZoC of these structures may neither attack nor be attacked, but don't enjoy any potential benefits of recovering FPs (from Royal Villas, Village, Towns, Capitals, or Cities) and will suffer negative VP if remaining there longer than one round in a row.
- Mines: If controlled, will enable the use of mercenaries as allies in engagements; 1 mercenary unit per controlled mine. Can be shared between the armies within the same faction, but not in the same round.
Gaining, losing, and retaining control over structures
A faction gains control over a structure if the structure at the end of a round (after all engagements have been concluded) is located within the ZoC of one of the faction's armies and not within the ZoC of any other faction's army. Any other faction controlling that structure will then be considered to have lost control. Thus, in order for a faction to lose control over a structure, another faction must in fact have gained control over that structure, and until that occurs the controlling faction will be considered to still control the structure.
Zones of Control (ZoC)
No armies can march through the ZoC of a structure controlled by another faction or through the ZoC of the army of another faction, but will then halt at the first hex that it enters the ZoC and move no further that round.
The ZoC of armies and of different structures is as follows:
- Army = 1 hex around location.
- Royal Villa and Village = only its own location.
- Town and Kingdom or Civitas Capital = 1 hex around location.
- City = 2 hexes around location.
- Fort ruins = only its own location.
- City ruins = 1 hex around location.
- Hillfort or Sacred Site = only its own location.
- Church Monastery = 1 hex around location.
- Tower or Signal Station = only its own location.
- Fort = 1 hex around location.
- Fortress = 2 hexes around location.
- Mines = only its own location.
No armies can march through the ZoC of a structure controlled by another faction or through the ZoC of the army of another faction, but will then halt at the first hex that it enters the ZoC and move no further that round. If an army at the beginning of a round is located within the ZoC of a structure controlled by another faction and if its first movement to another hex is still within the ZoC of that structure, it can move no further than to that one hex within the ZoC before halting again for the remainder of the round.
Engagements and battles
Two armies from different factions that at the end of a round are located within each other's ZoC will fight a "
engagement" (another expression for and in the form of a
Field of Glory II: Ancients game with 1200 FP worth of units in each army) unless one or both armies decide to retreat.
The
engagement will in
Field of Glory II: Ancients be set up as follows:
- Medium (32 x 32) map size.
- Map type on the terrain as specified in Map terrain of engagements below.
- Large (1600 FP) force size (although only 1200 FP can be spent on units).
However, please note again that (despite the 1600 FP force size set up) units are selected
only up to but not exceeding 1200 FP (including the FP cost for any mercenary units) for each army, and then only units from their respective pools of still available (i.e., neither eliminated or transferred) units and mercenary units (to the extent available).
Thus, engagements are fought with 1200 FP worth of units on each side. The 1600 FP set up is used only to make units of a sufficient number selectable, whether with or without allies.
Mercenaries as allies
A faction can in total select as many units of
mercenaries as the number of
Mines that it controls at the beginning of the round, to be distributed among its engagements during that round, with the following limitations:
- An army is not allowed to select mercenary units that are already in the army's own list of units.
- A maximum of six mercenary units can be used by an army in any individual engagement.
- Examples:
- If seven Mines are controlled by the faction, it can select up to seven mercenary units in its engagements during a round, for example, 1 unit each in seven engagements, or six units (the maximum) in one engagement and one unit in another.
- Breton, Welsh, and Romano-British armies can not select Brythonic Foot as mercenary units, since that unit is in the army lists of these three factions. Similarly, Anglo-Saxon armies can not select Superior Warband (Close Order) or Warband (Close Order) as mercenary units, and Pictish and Irish armes can not select Celtic Chariots.
The mercenary units are made available through choosing
Mercenary Warbands as
Allies when setting up the
Field of Glory II: Ancients game.
Retreating prior to engagements
An army is allowed to retreat from an engagement if it can move 2 hexes in the direction of one of its faction's starting points or controlled structures without moving within the ZoC of any army from another faction.
Battles
A "
battle" consists of one or more engagements between armies from two different factions.
Normally one
battle involves only one engagement and thus only one army from each of two factions, but it may consist of several individual engagements involving several armies from each of the two factions, if and to the extent that more than one army from one faction has at least an army from the other faction in common as opponent in engagements.
For example, if two different armies from the same faction are both fighting the same army from a different faction, both these two individual engagements make up the same "battle". If in addition one of these two armies are fighting yet another army from that different faction, that
Field of Glory II: Ancients is included in the battle as well.
Other examples (with armies A, B, and C being from one faction, and X, Y, and Z from another):
1. A is fighting X, B is fighting Y, and C is fighting Z in three separate battles, since none of the armies from one faction has an army from the other faction in common.
2. A fighting X as well as Y, B fighting Y, and C fighting Z results in one battle including three engagements; A vs. X, A vs. Y, and B vs. Y (since A and B have Y in common as opponent), whereas C vs. Z is still a separate battle.
3. A fighting X as well as Y, B fighting Y as well as Z, and C fighting Z results in one battle including all these five engagements (since A and B have Y in common as opponent, and B and C have Z in common).
This means that each army can be involved in
several engagements but only in
one battle each round.
Map terrain of engagements
The engagement played out in
Field of Glory II: Ancients will use the map type and terrain of the location of the army having spent the fewest MP that round (until having completed its movement), or if both armies have spent the same amount of MP that round, in falling priority order in the list below.
- Farmed Land = Agricultural
- Evergreen Mountain = Mountains
All terrain will use North European.
Outcomes and effects of engagements and battles
The results of the individual outcomes of all the engagements within a battle will determine
the total outcome of the battle, which in turn will affect whether control of structures is changed and armies are moved from the locations.
A faction and all its armies involved in that battle are considered to have won a battle against an enemy faction if at least one of the faction's engagements in that battle is won and none are lost, with the enemy faction (and all its armies involved) in that battle then considered to have lost the battle. If there is no winner and hence no loser of a battle, the battle is considered to be a draw for the involved factions and armies.
An army having:
- lost a battle is removed from its hex and placed in the hex of a controlled tower or signal station, fort, fortress, town, capital, or city of its choice (or, if none of these available, in one of its faction's starting points).
- drawn a battle moves 2 hexes away from the armies it fought, in the direction of one of its faction's starting points or controlled structures, always without moving within the ZoC of any army from another faction.
- won a battle remains in its hex.
Depletion and reinforcement of the army pools
Depletion
The level of incurred casualties (as shown in the upper left corner of the screen when the
Field of Glory II: Ancients game ends) will deplete the pools of the armies; 1 FP per percentage point of incurred casualties; and potentially require the removal of units from the pool.
At the end of each round, units equivalent of the army's total level of depletion (i.e., the sum from all its engagements that round) will need to be removed. However, in order to not always having to remove cheaper units, the removal can be postponed and aggregated to a later round and the depletion level saved until other (by definition, more expensive) units can be removed instead. At that time only the expensive units having become available are then eligible for removal, and not the cheaper units that were available already when removal was postponed. Removal of units can therefore be postponed for as long as, but not longer than, there are units in the pool whose FP cost is higher than the army's aggregate depletion level. Once units have been removed from the pool in this way, the army's aggregate depletion level is reduced with the corresponding FP's of the removed units.
Once a unit is selected for elimination, it is removed from the pool and irrevocably gone (unless reinstated as part of the army recovering FP nearby a Royal Villa, Village, Town, Kingdom or Civitas Capital, or City, see below).
Armies within the same faction can freely transfer units between their pools but such transferred units will need one full round before arriving, during which time they are not in any of the pools of the armies.
Mercenary units are never considered included in the pool of an army and can thus never be selected for removal from the army's pool.
Reinforcement
Units can be reinstated to the pool, and the level of depletion (whether postponed or not) reduced and FP lost in the pool, through the army staying (and not moving) a full round within the ZoC of a controlled
Royal Villa, Village, Town, Kingdom or Civitas Capital, or
City (see
Structures for details). This will recover FP to the army's pool up to but never above 1600 FP, the number of FP recovered per round depending on the structure.
Only units originally selected and at start constituting the pool of an army can be reinstated to that army; neither mercenary units nor units transferred from armies within the same faction.
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