The Boiling Cauldron - a Dark Ages Britain Mod campaign: Abandoned

[kronenblatt]

This campaign, with 5 players, will use Schweetness101’s wonderful Dark Ages Britain Mod (new armies, units, and mechanics) for ninth-century Britain with players fighting for supremacy in a cauldron of Anglo-Saxons, Vikings, Britons, and more. The players will attack each other, in the hope of gaining new regions but always with their own regions at stake.

Army lists used for main armies and allies in the corresponding Field of Glory II:Ancients game will be based on the regions attacked from and upon as well as nearby regions, creating new exciting situations and combinations on the battlefield each time. Thus, each player will rule a multi-culture kingdom with a patchwork of regions, held together only through his firm hand or fist.

Abandoned due to inactivity.

[kronenblatt]

Winning the Campaign

The campaign runs for a maximum of six rounds or until two players or less control any regions, whichever occurs first.

In the event of only one player controlling all 17 regions at the end of any round, he is of course the victor in The Boiling Cauldron campaign.

If two players are remaining, they will fight a Final Battle (or more, if needed) for victory in The Boiling Cauldron campaign. If, at the end of the six rounds, there are three or more still remaining, the two players controlling the most regions (and if a tie, the ones controlling the westernmost region) will fight it out in this Final Battle.


Map and Regions

The map over nine-century Britain consists of 17 regions, each with a specified culture affecting which armies to use in attacks and defences.

Two regions that share a land border between each other are considered adjacent. Furthermore, all coastal regions are considered adjacent to each other.

All regions except Hwicce, Middle Anglia, South Anglia, West Anglia are coastal.

Cultures and Army Lists of Regions

• Deira, East Anglia, Essex, Kent, Lindsey, Middle Anglia: Vikings.

• Elmet: Norse-Irish.

• Bernicia, Hwicce, South Anglia, Sussex, Wessex, West Anglia: Late Anglo-Saxons (without Mountable Fyrd).

• Strathclyde: Early Scots.

• Dyfed, Gwynedd: Welsh.

• Dumnonia: Brythons.

Starting the Campaign

Regions will in alphabetical order (Bernicia, Deira, ...) be randomly allocated to players, with each player receiving a roughly equal share of controlled regions at start. (For example: with three players participating, two will control six regions each and one five regions, etc., to make up the 17 regions.)


Attacks

Each player makes one attack per round, with the player having the best casualty difference in a battle in the previous round going first, etc. (For the first round, however, the player that was last to be randomly allocated a region in the above fashion will be first to attack in round 1, etc.)

Attacks can be made from any controlled and non-attacked region (”attacking region”) upon any uncontrolled and adjacent region that is not already involved in any other attack this round (”defending region”), provided however that every player can be attacked only once in a round and in turn cannot attack the player that has already attacked him that round. Given this, if a player has no attack possibility in a round, he will need to forfeit his attack that round.


Battles and Outcomes of Battles

Force Size and Map Type
Battles are fought using the The Boiling Cauldron module as Open Battle, with 1600 versus 1600 FP (Large) on a 40x32 (Wide) North European Plain map over a maximum of 24 turns.

Main Army
The attacker uses the army list of the attacking region’s culture as his main army, and the defender the army list of the defending region’s culture as his main army.

Allies
The attacker must use as allies the army list of a culture (other than that of the main army) if the number of controlled regions with that culture and adjacent to the attacking region is higher than the corresponding number of each other applicable culture (i.e., controlled and adjacent).

The same applies to the defender, albeit with reference to the defending region instead.

The attacker or defender will use no allies at all if there is no such sole culture (e.g., because of two or more cultures with the highest number of applicable regions).

Outcomes of Battles
A battle is won through routing the enemy, i.e., being first to inflict 60+% casualties or inflict 40+% with a 25+% casualty difference.

Gaining and Losing Regions
The victor gains control over one or more of the loser’s regions, the number of regions equalling the casualty difference (in percent) times loser’s number of controlled regions at start of the round, always rounded upwards to nearest integer (e.g., 36% of 3 regions = 1.08 => 2).

The victor determines which regions to be gained, provided that such regions must primarily be the attacking region or the defending region, secondarily the loser’s regions adjacent by land border (to the attacking region and/or the defending region) and not involved in any attacks or gained this round, and finally any other of the loser’s regions adjacent to the attacking region and/or the defending region (whether land or coastal). No other regions can be gained.

Draws result in no change of region between attacker and defender.

A player who no longer controls any regions has lost and is irrevocably eliminated from the campaign.


The Final Battle

A Final Battle is fought using the Dark Ages Britain v1.7 module as Open Battle, with 1600 versus 1600 FP (Large) on a 40x32 (Wide) North European Plain map over a maximum of 24 turns.

Each of the two players freely selects army lists for his main army and allies from among the cultures of the regions that he controls. The use of allies is compulsory, if more than one culture is controlled. The players are allowed, but do not need, to select the same army lists in different Final Battles.

A Final Battle is won through routing the enemy, i.e., being first to inflict 60+% casualties or inflict 40+% with a 25+% casualty difference.

If a draw, another Final Battle will be fought (again and again…) until a victor has emerged.

[alexhstandish]

Hello
I would like to play in this campaign please. Looks excellent.
thanks
Alex

[kronenblatt]

Hello
I would like to play in this campaign please. Looks excellent.
thanks
Alex

Great! I put you in the list. Two more players ideally but we can run with just one more.

[anderarcos11]

Hello! Im in, if is possible.

[kronenblatt]

Hello! Im in, if is possible.

Of course, welcome! I put you on the list. Could we attract one more player maybe? Or maybe even two more? If not, we're good to go with us three.

[Kroche]

Hi

I would like to join.

[Garokan]

I'd like to join
Thanks

[kronenblatt]

[kronenblatt]

Attack declaration order as follows (last player receiving a region goes first this first round, etc.):

1. anderarcos11 (September 13 at the latest)
2. kronenblatt (September 14)
3. alexhstandish (September 15)
4. Kroche (September 16)
5. Garokan (September 17)

Attacks can be made from any controlled and non-attacked region (”attacking region”) upon any uncontrolled and adjacent region that is not already involved in any other attack this round (”defending region”), provided however that every player can be attacked only once in a round and in turn cannot attack the player that has already attacked him that round. Given this, if a player has no attack possibility in a round, he will need to forfeit his attack that round.

Once it's your turn, please feel free to post earlier than your deadline in order to make us move on faster to the battles (and then PM the next player in line).

Please post attacks in this thread.

[kronenblatt]

I strongly recommend that you read the PDF change list (downloadable HERE), as the mod makes many gameplay, and not just aesthetic, changes.

The short list of important things to keep in mind though are the following:

• Anarchy and refusal charge: Units have a chance to anarchy charge (i.e., charge at its own initiative) and refuse charge now based on various conditions.

• Shieldwalls: Certain unit types (offensive/defensive spearmen, armoured heavy weapon, armoured impact foot) get an adjacency bonus to POA and CT checks, and defense against 90 degree flank attacks, if in shieldwall (adjacent to units of a similar type, see the mod page for a detailed description of this with pictures).

• Rebalancing: Some unit capabilities/POAs are rebalanced around anarchy, shield wall and other rules changes, including edits to warband Deep Impact, Light Spear (inf and cav), Lancers and Heavy Weapon.

• Limited ammo: Ranged units can run out of ammo (5 full and 5 half effect shots) but can also melee a bit more.

• Bows: Bow units, both Light Archers and Bowmen, can shoot over adjacent, same height, allied non-light infantry units that are not in combat.

• No free generals: All generals (aside from the C-in-C) must be purchased.

• Generals: Generals can move one square while in combat.

• Rally requires command: Units can only rally while in command.

• Combat speed resolution: Non-light infantry combat is somewhat slowed down, and cavalry melee is sped up.

• Cavalry fallback: Cavalry can fall back further.

• Cavalry ZoC loss: Cavalry enable loss of secondary ZoC of non-light infantry that they charge (even if falling back after charge).

• Shorter LoS: Decreased line of sight by half, i.e., to 10 tiles (from 20 in vanilla).

• Less disordering: Heavy Foot are only slightly disordered in rough terrain.

There are more changes besides those, but the above list should get you started.

There are also some AI behavior and deployment changes, and map generation changes, which you will notice if you play a few battles vs the AI in single-player format.

[anderarcos11]

Hello. I attack alexhstandish's Deira from Elmet

[kronenblatt]

(So... Based on the rules and given anderarcos11's attack, I'm not allowed to attack Deira and Elmet since these two regions are already part of an attack this round, plus no other region owned by alexhstandish since he has already been attacked.)

Thus, I attack Kroche's South Anglia from Middle Anglia.

(This means that now none of Deira, Elmet, South Anglia, and Middle Anglia be attacked or attacked from, and neither alexhstandish nor Kroche can be attacked again this round.)

alexhstandish: you're next.



From the rules
Attacks can be made from any controlled and non-attacked region (”attacking region”) upon any uncontrolled and adjacent region that is not already involved in any other attack this round (”defending region”), provided however that every player can be attacked only once in a round and in turn cannot attack the player that has already attacked him that round. Given this, if a player has no attack possibility in a round, he will need to forfeit his attack that round.

[alexhstandish]

Hello

I will attack Garokan's Essex from East Anglia

[kronenblatt]

• anderarcos11 attacks alexhstandish's Deira from Elmet.

• kronenblatt attacks Kroche's South Anglia from Middle Anglia.

• alexhstandish attacks Garokan's Essex from East Anglia.

=> Kroche is next, and then Garokan last with his attack declaration.

(None of Deira, Elmet, South Anglia, Middle Anglia, Essex, and East Anglia can be attacked or attacked from, and neither alexhstandish, Kroche, nor Garokan can be attacked again this round. Also, you cannot attack the player that has already attacked you that round. This means, it seems, that only anderarcos11 is left for Kroche to attack (and only Dumnonia then), and then only kronenblatt left for Garokan. But please keep in mind that all coastal regions are considered adjacent to each other, in addition to land adjacencies, and that all regions except Hwicce, Middle Anglia, South Anglia, West Anglia are coastal.)

[Kroche]

Kroche attacks anderarcos11’s Dumnonia from Strathclyde.

[kronenblatt]

Kroche attacks anderarcos11’s Dumnonia from Strathclyde.

Ah, that’s when my new system with arrows broke down…

[kronenblatt]

It’s your turn to declare your attack, Garokan.

[Garokan]

Garokan atacks Kronenblat's Hwicce from Gwyned

[kronenblatt]

Great, then we’re off to the battles!

• Module: Dark Ages Britain v1.7 (downloaded in-game)

• Scenario: Open Battle

• Force Size: 1600 versus 1600 FP (Large)

• Map Size: 40x32 (Wide)

• Map Type: North European Plain

• Please note that Late Anglo-Saxons is without Mountable Fyrd!

=> Attackers set up battles

1. anderarcos11 attacks alexhstandish's Deira from Elmet.
   => anderarcos11 (Norse-Irish, no allies) versus alexhstandish (Vikings with Late Anglo-Saxons as allies).
2. kronenblatt attacks Kroche's South Anglia from Middle Anglia.
   => kronenblatt (Vikings with Late Anglo-Saxons as allies) versus Kroche (Late Anglo-Saxons, no allies).
3. alexhstandish attacks Garokan's Essex from East Anglia.
   => alexhstandish (Vikings with Late Anglo-Saxons as allies) versus Garokan (Vikings, no allies).
4. Kroche attacks anderarcos11’s Dumnonia from Strathclyde.
   => Kroche (Early Scots with Welsh as allies) versus anderarcos11 (Brythons with Norse-Irish as allies).
5. Garokan attacks kronenblatt’s Hwicce from Gwynedd.
   => Garokan (Welsh with Vikings as allies) versus kronenblatt (Late Anglo-Saxons with Vikings as allies).