Slitherine

'Eis tin polin' is Greek for '(in)to the city', coined by the Byzantines themselves when referring to their capital (the grandest in the world) and later (many claim) derived by the Turks to rename the city Istanbul.

This is a player-versus-player campaign with one player being Byzantine and the other the enemy (of the Byzantines). It spans from the fourth century AD all the way to the fall of Constantinople in 1453 AD... If the Byzantine player survives that long! Different enemies and their armies move relentlessly towards Constantinople (hence the campaign name 'eis tin polin'... '(in)to the city') over the centuries, and it is up to the Byzantine player to stop or at least slow them down, because once Constantinople falls, all is lost.

Although the thread of the campaign is located in the Field of Glory II: Ancients forum, it will in the later centuries involve army lists from Medieval.

• Byzantine player: SnuggleBunnies

• Enemy player: kronenblatt, with Karvon, tyronec, Lennard, and Rosedelio guest starring

The campaign itself is at low pace and for leisure only and thus we may adjust rules on an ongoing basis to achieve and keep the desired balance. However, we all know how leisurely SnuggleBunnies in fact plays (not!) and what a bad loser I can be. The battles will all probably be published on YouTube, on SnuggleBunnies' channel, as and when they are concluded. Other interested players may be welcome and invited to play a game as Enemy Player from time to time.

Credits to Steve Ashing (game design) and Ilya Kudriashov (art) for the Constantinople board game and its gorgeous map, and many thanks to Rico on the The Few Good Men forum for advice and inspiration from his own campaign based on the same map.

Round X (13th and 14th centuries AD)

The campaign has ended.

The Byzantines managed to pacify the Arabs as well (in total, eight pacified enemies!) and repulse the Turks but succumbed to the invasion of the Crusaders who managed to reach Constantinople and caused its fall.

(Abrikos font used)

Overview

• The campaign covers the millennium between the foundation of Constantinople in the fourth century AD and its fall in 1453 AD, more than a thousand years later.

• It involves two players; the Byzantine Player and the Enemy Player.

• The task of the Byzantine Player is to use his limited and stretched resources to beat back the invading enemies and their armies that advance down the tracks towards Constantinople, and to keep them from capturing and ravaging the imperial capital.

• Thus, the Byzantine Player's challenge is to survive for as long as possible, ideally throughout the full eleven rounds, surpassing and outliving the historical Eastern Roman Empire.

• The invading armies are commanded by the Enemy Player, playing more of a supporting role to the starring Byzantine Player in the latter's struggle for survival.

Ending and winning the campaign

• The campaign ends once a territory adjacent to Constantinople is ravaged and thus an invading enemy has reached Constantinople causing its fall or round XI has been completed (whatever occurs first).

• The Byzantine Player wins if no enemy army has yet reached Constantinople at the end of the campaign.

• Even if the Byzantine Player does not manage to protect Constantinople throughout the eleven rounds, his success can still be measured in the number of rounds before that happens, and compared to other Byzantine Players, to himself in a rerun of the campaign, or to the Enemy Player if switching roles with the Byzantine Player.

Map

• The beautiful map is borrowed and adapted from the Constantinople board game, with all credits to Steve Ashing (game design) and Ilya Kudriashov (art) and thanks to Rico on the The Few Good Men forum for advice and inspiration.

• It consists of a number of territories, linked to Constantinople through five different tracks (separated by color), along which enemy armies move in order to reach and ravage Constantinople, and in which Byzantine and enemy armies clash in battles.

• Ravaged territories are highlighted by flames in the upper part of territory space, underneath any enemy armies located there (but still hopefully visible).

• The current round is marked with a green check mark in the upper left part of the map.

• Existing and available Byzantine armies (i.e., those to which the Byzantine Player can give orders in the Byzantine Orders phase) are located in the "Byzantine Armies" box.

Enemies

• The Enemy Player controls ten different enemies (with different army strengths, starting territories, and time of appearance), all hostile to the Emperor in Constantinople.

• An army's strength will determine its number of FP in the battles and how damage it can sustain before becoming eliminated.

• Some enemies are active and playable already at start, in the first round, whereas other enemies become available only later, in Periods II or III.

• Enemies that are already active at start:
  • Armenians (army strength 2, starting territory Armenia, yellow track).
  • Goths (3, Italy, red).
  • Huns (3, Moesia, green).
  • Persians (4, Persia, white).
  • Vandals (2, Africa, grey).

• Enemies that can become activated by the Enemy Player at any time during Period II and onwards:
  • Arabs (army strength 4, starting territory Egypt, grey track).
  • Bulgars (3, Bulgaria, green).
  • Holy Roman Empire (3, Sicily, red).

• Enemies that can become activated by the Enemy Player at any time during Period III:
  • Mongols (army strength 4, starting territory Paphlagonia, yellow track).
  • Turks (3, Anatolia, white).
  • Crusaders (3, Crete, red).

Starting point in round I

• The Byzantine Player starts with 9 gold and one strength-3 army available for order giving.

• The Enemy Player starts with Armenians, Goths, Huns, Persians, and Vandals active, their armies located in their assigned starting territories on the map (such starting territories already considered ravaged).

Rounds

• The campaign consists of up to eleven rounds.

• A round covers around two centuries (rounds overlapping time wise, with the first round covering the "4th and 5th centuries AD", the second the "5th and 6th centuries AD", etc.) and falls under one of three different periods (I, II, and III).

• Each round consists of the following five phases:
  1. Upkeeping and Raising Byzantine Armies: The Byzantine Player eliminates armies that he can not afford or does not wish to keep, pays upkeep costs for all his existing armies, and raises new armies.
  2. Enemy Movements: The Enemy Player receives movement points to activate or move enemies and their armies.
  3. Byzantine Orders: The Byzantine Player gives orders to his armies.
  4. Battles: Battles are fought in all territories in which there are both an enemy army and a Byzantine army located.
  5. Byzantine Income: The Byzantine Player receives gold.

1. Upkeeping and Raising Byzantine Armies phase

• Gold is used by the Byzantine Player to raise and upkeep armies.

• Three types of armies with different strengths can be raised by the Byzantine Player: strengths 2, 3, and 4 (being the Emperor army).

• An army's strength will determine its in-battle FP and the cost in gold for raising and upkeeping it.

• Raising a Byzantine army costs twice its strength in gold, thereafter it will cost its strength in gold per round for upkeep.

• An existing Byzantine army may (as part of raising armies) be upgraded to higher strength at a cost in gold amounting to twice the strength difference.
  • Example: the cost of upgrading an existing Byzantine strength-2 army to Emperor (strength-4) level would cost 4 gold.

• The Byzantine Player may decide to eliminate armies before their upkeep cost is paid, in order to not have to pay such cost.

• If the amount of gold held is insufficient to pay the upkeep cost for all its existing armies, the Byzantine Player decides which army or armies to eliminate and remove from the campaign.

• Any number of new armies may be raised, as long as there is sufficient gold left to do that after upkeep costs for his existing armies have been paid.

• Even if the Byzantine Player has eliminated one or more existing armies, he is still allowed raise new armies in the same round(as long as he has sufficient gold to do so).

• A newly raised army can be given orders already in the round in which it was raised, and does not need to be paid upkeep costs for that round.

• No more than one Emperor (strength-4) army may exist at any point in time.

• There are no limitations on the number of existing strength-2 and strength-3 armies, as long as their upkeep costs are paid in full.

2. Enemy Movements phase

• The Enemy Player receives two movement points that he can assign freely to all non-pacified enemies, whether active or not.

• If assigned to a still inactive enemy, that enemy will be activated and its army taken from the "Inactive Enemies" box and placed on its assigned starting territory on the map (such territory and all territories before it in the track in question becoming irrevocably ravaged) and thereafter move one territory from its assigned starting territory.

• If assigned to an already active enemy, its army will move one territory (whether already ravaged or not) in the direction of (and ultimately into the territory of) Constantinople.

• Both movement points can be, if desired, to one and the same enemy, e.g., activating an enemy and moving its army two territories, or moving an already active enemy army two territories.

• An inactive enemy can not be activated for as long as there still is another enemy army active in the same track that has not yet been pacified.

3. Byzantine Orders phase

• The Byzantine Player can (if he wants to) place some or all of his existing and available armies (those located in the "Byzantine Armies" box of the map) in the territories in which enemy armies are located (whether such armies have moved during the Enemy Movement phase or not).

• Not more than one Byzantine army can be placed in any territory, including Constantinople.

• Byzantine armies that drew battles the previous round cannot be given any orders, since they are still engaged to fight their battles again the current round.

• If no Byzantine armies are available to give orders to fight or or more enemy armies having moved into unravaged territories, the Byzantine player can elect to use any available gold to raise additional armies (at the standard cost) to face those threats, and (if not enough gold is available) elect to raise temporary size-1 (militia) Byzantine armies for 'free' in those territories.

4. Battles phase

• Battles are fought out in Field of Glory II: Ancients or Medieval, depending on the time period in question, as follows:
  • Scenario: Open Battle.
  • Turn limit: 24 turns.
  • Base armies: as historically plausible for the enemy and the time period in question (discussed and agreed between the Enemy Player and the Byzantine Player).
  • Allies: None.
  • Force size: 1440 FP + army's strength x 40 FP (i.e., army strength 2 = 1520 FP, army strength 3 = 1560 FP, army strength 4 = 1600 FP, and Byzantine militia army strength 1 = 1480 FP).
    • Always use enemy armies' original strengths, independent of how much damage has been inflicted upon them.
  • Map size: Wide (40x32).
  • Map type: as geographically plausible for the territory in question (discussed and agreed between the Enemy Player and the Byzantine Player).
  • Map re-rolls: each player can decide on one map re-roll each per battle, or as otherwise agreed between the players.

• The Enemy Player creates the challenge in the Multiplayer Lobby, always with himself as Side B (in order for the other player to immediately be able to deploy when accepting the challenge).

• The winner, or (if a draw) the player having inflicted the highest casualties, reports the results in the campaign thread.

• Other players may, on a case-by-case basis and by invitation, take control over the enemy army in an individual battle for the sake of variety for the Byzantine Player, as decided by the administrator.

Outcomes and effects of battles

• The army routing the enemy is considered the victor of the battle, and the routed army thus considered the loser.

• A victory is considered 'decisive' if the enemy is routed with at least a 25% difference in casualties (as indicated in the upper left corner of the screen at the end of the battle).

• If neither army routs the enemy, the battle is considered a draw.

Byzantine victories

• A non-decisive Byzantine victory will push back the enemy army 1 territory and inflict 1 damage.

• A decisive Byzantine victory will push back the enemy army 2 territories and inflict 2 damage.
  • However, the enemy army can never be pushed back farther than the territory in which it started.

• Once accumulated damage inflicted upon an enemy army reaches at least its strength, the enemy becomes pacified and its army irrevocably removed from the territory and placed in the 'Pacified Enemies' box.

Enemy victories

• An enemy victory (whether decisive or not) will irrevocably ravage the territory or territories of the enemy army's movement that round.

• A decisive enemy victory will move the enemy army an additional territory closer to Constantinople, irrevocably ravaging that territory as well (whether the enemy army moved that round or not).

• The losing Byzantine army will become eliminated and removed from the campaign (but the same or a different type of army can of course be raised again in later rounds, as long as gold is paid for doing so).

Draws

• A draw will cause the territory to be considered contested and the two armies to remain there, still engaged to fight a battle again next round, with the Byzantine army there being unavailable to be given orders next round.

5. Byzantine Income phase

• The Byzantine income in a round amounts to +1 gold per territory that is neither ravaged by any enemy nor contested (as a result of a drawn battle).

• Income is capped at 9 gold and floored at 3 gold per round.
  • At start of the campaign, the number of unravaged territories is 15 (3 in each of the 5 tracks), subject to the cap of 9.

• Gold can be stored from one round to another, but subject to a maximum of 9 gold stored at the end of a round and transferred over to the next round, all excess gold being eliminated.

The Byzantine Player (SnuggleBunnies)

• 9 gold.

• 1 strength-3 army available for order giving.

The Enemy Player (kronenblatt)

• Armenians, Goths, Huns, Persians, and Vandals are active, their armies located in their assigned starting territories on the map (such starting territories already considered ravaged).

The Byzantine Player pays upkeep costs for all his existing armies, eliminates armies that he can not afford or does not wish to keep, and raises new armies.

SnuggleBunnies: you currently have 9 gold, of which 3 is used to upkeep your existing strength-3 army. What do you want to do with your remaining 6 gold?

We can join this campaign?

anderarcos11 wrote: ↑Mon May 23, 2022 9:16 pm We can join this campaign?

No, unfortunately not. It's only for two players.

3 gold for army maintenance
4 gold to recruit a strength 2 army
2 gold into the treasury

I, as the Enemy Player, assign my two received movement points as follows:

1. Goths from Italy to Sicily.
2. Persians from Persia to Syria.

kronenblatt wrote: ↑Mon May 23, 2022 8:17 pm A round is represents a bit more than one century (rounds overlapping time wise, with the first round covering the "4th and 5th centuries AD", the second the "4th and 5th centuries AD", etc.) and falls under one of three different periods (I, II, and III).

I'm guessing that should read "the second the "5th and 6th centuries AD"".

kronenblatt wrote: ↑Mon May 23, 2022 8:17 pm Force size: 1480 FP + army's strength x 40 FP (i.e., army strength 2 = 1520 FP, army strength 3 = 1560 FP, army strength = 1600 FP).

Assuming the formula is 1480 FP + army strength x 40 FP shouldn't it be army strength 1 = 1520 FP, strength 2 = 1560 FP, strength 3 = 1600 FP and strength 4 = 1640 FP?

SpeedyCM wrote: ↑Tue May 24, 2022 9:47 am

kronenblatt wrote: ↑Mon May 23, 2022 8:17 pm A round is represents a bit more than one century (rounds overlapping time wise, with the first round covering the "4th and 5th centuries AD", the second the "4th and 5th centuries AD", etc.) and falls under one of three different periods (I, II, and III).

I'm guessing that should read "the second the "5th and 6th centuries AD"".

kronenblatt wrote: ↑Mon May 23, 2022 8:17 pm Force size: 1480 FP + army's strength x 40 FP (i.e., army strength 2 = 1520 FP, army strength 3 = 1560 FP, army strength = 1600 FP).

Assuming the formula is 1480 FP + army strength x 40 FP shouldn't it be army strength 1 = 1520 FP, strength 2 = 1560 FP, strength 3 = 1600 FP and strength 4 = 1640 FP?

Absolutely correct: thanks! (Although maximum FP is 1600 so will start at 1440.)

So let's see if I'm getting this right. I could attack 1/both of your advancing armies. If I beat them, I push them back down to their start position. *Or, I could ignore them, in which case the spaces they occupy get fried, and attack the others. If I win those others, I eliminate those tracks as threats until new threats appear there. Correct?

SnuggleBunnies wrote: ↑Tue May 24, 2022 1:30 pm So let's see if I'm getting this right. I could attack 1/both of your advancing armies. If I beat them, I push them back down to their start position. *Or, I could ignore them, in which case the spaces they occupy get fried, and attack the others. If I win those others, I eliminate those tracks as threats until new threats appear there. Correct?

Yes, you can attack whichever (of the currently five active) Enemy armies you want with each of your existing Byzantine armies (but not attack an Enemy army with more than one Byzantine army).

However, effects from a Byzantine victory are as follows:

A non-decisive Byzantine victory will push back the enemy army 1 territory and inflict 1 damage, whereas a decisive Byzantine victory will push back the enemy army 2 territories and inflict 2 damage. But the enemy army can never be pushed back farther than the territory in which it started.

And only once accumulated damage inflicted upon an enemy army reaches at least its strength (e.g., at least 2 in accumulated damage upon a type-2 enemy army), the enemy becomes pacified and its army irrevocably removed from the territory and placed in the 'Pacified Enemies' box.

kronenblatt wrote: ↑Tue May 24, 2022 1:40 pm

Got it, thanks. In that case:
Strength 3 army confronts the Persians in Syria
Strength 2 the Goths in Sicily

1. SICILY: kronenblatt (Germanic Horse Tribes 260-492 AD (1560 FP)) versus SnuggleBunnies (Byzantine 493-550 AD (1520 FP)). Mediterranean Agricultural.
2. SYRIA: kronenblatt (Sassanid Persian 350-476 AD (1600 FP)) versus SnuggleBunnies (Byzantine 493-550 AD (1560 FP)). Middle-Eastern Agricultural.

kronenblatt wrote: ↑Mon May 23, 2022 10:12 pm

anderarcos11 wrote: ↑Mon May 23, 2022 9:16 pm We can join this campaign?

No, unfortunately not. It's only for two players.

Why couldn't you have a player for each enemy and/or players for each Byzantine army? I could see having a single player to represent the Byzantine emperor handling the strategic decisions, who could opt to lead an army of course,

Just wondering,

Karvon

PS: After actually reading the rule I see not all the enemies are active each turn and the enemy player decides which one(s) to use on a single turn. Have fun!

Karvon wrote: ↑Tue May 24, 2022 10:58 pm

kronenblatt wrote: ↑Mon May 23, 2022 10:12 pm

anderarcos11 wrote: ↑Mon May 23, 2022 9:16 pm We can join this campaign?

No, unfortunately not. It's only for two players.

Why couldn't you have a player for each enemy and/or players for each Byzantine army?

I could, but I wanted to try out a campaign with just two players involved.

1. SICILY: kronenblatt (Germanic Horse Tribes 260-492 AD (1560 FP)) versus SnuggleBunnies (Byzantine 493-550 AD (1520 FP)). Mediterranean Agricultural.
=> SnuggleBunnies defeats kronenblatt 48-17 (+31, decisive victory).
=> Byzantines inflict damage of 2 upon Goths.

2. SYRIA: kronenblatt (Sassanid Persian 350-476 AD (1600 FP)) versus SnuggleBunnies (Byzantine 493-550 AD (1560 FP)). Middle-Eastern Agricultural.
=> SnuggleBunnies defeats kronenblatt 61-38 (+23, non-decisive victory).
=> Byzantines inflict damage of 1 upon Persians.

The Byzantine player receives 9 gold this round, and currently holds 11 gold.

The Byzantine Player eliminates armies that he can not afford or does not wish to keep, pays upkeep costs for all his existing armies (1 x strength), and raises new armies (2 x strength).

SnuggleBunnies: you currently have 11 gold, of which 5 will be used to upkeep your existing two armies (unless you decide to eliminate any or both of them). How do you want to spend your gold this round?