Kingdom of the Isles Campaign

petergarnett · Post by **petergarnett** » Tue Apr 27, 2010 12:21 am

This is great - I don't have to answer any of those questions - poor keyth

keyth · Post by **keyth** » Tue Apr 27, 2010 7:53 am

petergarnett wrote:This is great - I don't have to answer any of those questions - poor keyth

In no particular order, you will start with one town (grade 3), one hamlet (grade 1), one port (grade 1) and two farms (grade 1). Please let me know where you would like them placed, bearing in mind that no county can have more than 10 grades of improvements to farms, roads, ports and castles, and can only have one settlement. I forgot to mention this yesterday, sorry!

I'll track all this stuff for you on spreadsheets so all you need to concentrate on is what to build, which armies to raise, who to politic with or invade, etc.

You won't have an initial army but can get building right away. Your starting treasury is 1000 + annual income (640-ish) and you stores hold 1000 supply + annual income (500-ish). You have 640 manpower available. Income is one of the areas that may need the most tweaking to work well.

If you look at the settlements table in the Facilities section of the rules, it has the details there. Hamlet > Village > Town > City > Capital.

Paisley · Post by **Paisley** » Tue Apr 27, 2010 8:43 am

What's the position regarding the single hex islands? Are they occupied? Neutral? Will they bring in as much money as a county if taken over?

Do farms ports etc have to be placed in a specific hex, or are they just part of a county? If the former, can they be placed in the same hex as a town?

keyth · Post by **keyth** » Tue Apr 27, 2010 9:11 am

Paisley wrote:What's the position regarding the single hex islands? Are they occupied? Neutral? Will they bring in as much money as a county if taken over?

Do farms ports etc have to be placed in a specific hex, or are they just part of a county? If the former, can they be placed in the same hex as a town?

The single hex islands each have an 'office of state' relating to them and things can also happen to them - otherwise they are essentially considered neutral parts of the Kingdom. Ports and towns need to be placed in specific hexes, because fleets, armies, etc. need to know where they are for movement purposes. The other facilities are more abstract and should be considered as the development status of the whole county. Hexes are mostly there for movement and counties are the operational unit, if that makes any sense

Paisley · Post by **Paisley** » Tue Apr 27, 2010 9:19 am

Can a port be in the same hex as a settlement?

keyth · Post by **keyth** » Tue Apr 27, 2010 9:25 am

Paisley wrote:Can a port be in the same hex as a settlement?

Yes, but it doesn't have to be. I am just updating the main rules with these points - they are all in my head so obviously not that clear to you guys

Paisley · Post by **Paisley** » Tue Apr 27, 2010 9:33 am

That's great, thanks.

keyth · Post by **keyth** » Tue Apr 27, 2010 11:02 am

http://cid-404614788b316f26.skydrive.li ... 0Isles.doc

Index added, clarifications about a few things added, Miscellaneous appendicies added. Pretty much ready to roll once we have your facility placements in - this should be done via PM, then I will publish the 'new' map.

Cheers,

Blathergut · Post by **Blathergut** » Wed Apr 28, 2010 2:09 am

Is the 1 town we have for placement our Capital (or eventually grows into our capital)??

Blathergut · Post by **Blathergut** » Wed Apr 28, 2010 2:20 am

Do farms and roads and castles all get placed in the settlement hex? Or are they in seperate hexes? Or is it all just cumulative and affects the entire county and not actually located in a specific hex?

Blathergut · Post by **Blathergut** » Wed Apr 28, 2010 2:26 am

We start with 1 town, 1 hamlet, etc...

In the Build phase of this first winter can we build further improvements onto those initial ones?

Blathergut · Post by **Blathergut** » Wed Apr 28, 2010 2:31 am

Driving you all crazy with all these yet??

How to fortifications affect combat/seiges/etc.?????

Blathergut · Post by **Blathergut** » Wed Apr 28, 2010 2:35 am

Do improvements have to be built one grade at a time? Or can I build a grade 3 farm right from scratch?

deadtorius · Post by **deadtorius** » Wed Apr 28, 2010 2:35 am

He is just posting all these annoying queries so he can get promoted to the next icon thingy

Blathergut · Post by **Blathergut** » Wed Apr 28, 2010 2:46 am

Will there be upkeep/payments made for an army we build at the beginning of winter?

I build a 400pt army at start. That costs me 400 florin. Will it also cost me another 400 florin + 200 stores at the end of the winter turn?

(Nope. Just working through the rules finally!!)

keyth · Post by **keyth** » Wed Apr 28, 2010 8:33 am

Is the 1 town we have for placement our Capital (or eventually grows into our capital)??

Yes, initially it is your de facto capital, if not yet a 'Capital' in game terms. If you wish to improve another settlement to Capital at a later stage and 'move', that is fine.

Do farms and roads and castles all get placed in the settlement hex? Or are they in seperate hexes? Or is it all just cumulative and affects the entire county and not actually located in a specific hex?

Farms, roads and castles are a bit abstract and are considered to be part of each hex of a county. Only settlements and ports are fixed in a hex (so that they can be moved to/from)

We start with 1 town, 1 hamlet, etc...
In the Build phase of this first winter can we build further improvements onto those initial ones?

Yes. You can build/improve once per county each winter (cash permitting)

Will there be upkeep/payments made for an army we build at the beginning of winter?
I build a 400pt army at start. That costs me 400 florin. Will it also cost me another 400 florin + 200 stores at the end of the winter turn?

This is a good question and one I have been mulling over. Part of the concept of the campaign is to make it difficult/expensive to maintain a year-round army (as was the case historically). Do you, the players, want to be able to raise an army and use it straight away in that season? Or pay the money one season in advance and have the army ready to go at the start of the next season?

I prefer option two, where for example you would pay 400 florins for a 400-point army in winter and have it appear in spring. You would incur no other costs in winter.

There is another inconsistency in the rules where it states that armies only get paid annually, in winter. Yet what if you have disbanded the army? Does it seem reasonable to fix army pay at (points value/4) per season instead? This works out to be the same florin value if you maintain an army all year, but takes into account short-term levies too.

(EDIT) I missed the question about castles and fortifications. Castles improve Security, which prevents raiding to a degree. You need to have an army with a points value greater than the security x 100 to raid a county. Fortifications are what keeps the baddies out of your settlements when they are under siege, and it is the fortifications that get degraded - when zero, the walls come down and the seige is over.

TheGrayMouser · Post by **TheGrayMouser** » Wed Apr 28, 2010 7:20 pm

Hey Keyth, regading the raising of armies...
I guess the ? at hand is do you raise in winter and have immedietly avaialble, or declare army being built and it appear next season....
I like the second option as well as it is more realistic and encourages planning. However it will likly mean more bookeeping and will need additional rules to cover odd situations.. For example what happens if I am raising an army that wont appear until next turn, but an enemy marches into that county and ravages the lands, siezes the town etc... What would happen to the army I was raising in same said county... Could get convoluted and or wierd.

Any deadline for our ist orders? (which I assume are placing our initial towns hamlet farm etc?)

Paisley · Post by **Paisley** » Wed Apr 28, 2010 7:47 pm

I'd say a solution might be to basically allow instant raising of an army but it can only move half distance on the turn it's raised (or take ship if raised in a port). But if a full turn is spent raising he army with no movement, you get some bonus - perhaps a 10% reduction in cost of raising or something.

I prefer option two, where for example you would pay 400 florins for a 400-point army in winter and have it appear in spring. You would incur no other costs in winter.

Though that works for me.

Perhaps if the muster province is invaded, the army can fight but at a 20% penalty in points (to represent incomplete muster)

keyth · Post by **keyth** » Wed Apr 28, 2010 8:47 pm

A theoretical example:

It's winter and in your orders, you raise a 400 point army. The sneaky Duke of (Insert Faction Here) has ordered his army to invade. Who gets priority, or should one action be dependant upon the other?

To my mind (and for ease of play/book-keeping) the 400 point army should exist when Duke Sneaky turns up, but cannot act independently that season; it could defend but that is all. The campaign rules are, I think, logical but not simple, and where possible we should avoid creating overly complex scenarios. Part of me likes the idea that the created army may only be 75% ready, but is it really worth trying to account for it?

All IMHO and very much open to suggestions!

Cheers,

Paisley · Post by **Paisley** » Wed Apr 28, 2010 8:48 pm

There but able only to defend works very well for me and would seem the simplest and best solution. Anything that saves you extra work, really.