Overview
Each player is a king of one of the realms that formed when the Roman garrisons and legions withdrew from Britannia and the Britons and Anglo-Saxons started to fight over the remains. Players control their armies as part of the fight for their kingdoms' dominance over the old Roman provinces of Britannia and the lands of Arthurian lore in this dramatic and violent period, competing against other players' kingdoms.
Winning conditions
The campaign ends as soon as one kingdom at the end of any
Spring round can declare victory through:
- controlling the Court of at least another kingdom (while still controlling its own Court), and/or
- accumulating at least 20 Victory Points (VP).
If more than one kingdom declares victory at the same time, the one with the highest number of VP wins, and if tied in VP, the campaign will continue until one of them has more VP than the other kingdoms claiming victory.
Victory Points
A kingdom earns
VP through
gaining control over a
Town (1 VP),
Kingdom or Civitas Capital (2 VP), or
City (3 VP).
Thus, VP are only earned when
gaining control,
not maintaining control.
Kingdoms and Courts
Southeast Britannia consists of three kingdoms: in
The East, in
The North, and in
The South, each with its own
Court.
- kronenblatt: Kingdom of The East, with its Court in Venta Iceni.
- carpenkm: Kingdom of The North, with its Court in Lindum.
- Karvon: Kingdom of The South, with its Court in Venta Belgarum.
Players and armies of a kingdom compete with and fight other kingdoms and their players and armies. In a similar fashion, structures are controlled by kingdoms and not by individual players or armies.
Map
The armies of the players move around and fight armies from other kingdoms on the detailed hex map showing southeastern 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, coded with their kingdom colors and banners and numbered with the army numbers.
- Control over structures is marked on the map through color-coded hexagons.
- Courts are structures marked as six-point stars.
Designing the armies
The unit types out of which to create army lists for players are presented in the list below. It's using unit types from army lists in and nearby Britannia (or that could have served as Roman auxiliaries and garrisons in Britannia and after the Roman withdrawal) during the fifth century AD, e.g.,
Alan 25-650 AD, Anglo-Saxon 449-599 AD, Breton 411-579 AD, Frankish 260-495 AD, Germanic Foot Tribes 260-599 AD, Germanic Horse Tribes 260-492 AD, Hunnic (Western) 376-454 AD, Pictish 210-476 AD, Roman 425-492 AD, Romano-British 407-599 AD, Scots-Irish 50 BC - 476 AD, Visigothic 419-621 AD. But all with the purpose of getting army lists typical of Dark Age and Post-Roman Britain, with some Roman or exotic elements.
Unit types belong to two categories:
Main and
Auxiliary, from where players create their own army lists (same army list for all armies that a player controls or individual army lists per army, whatever the player desires). Players will select units for a worth of maximum
3500 FP in total (roughly the same size as base game army list sizes), of which a maximum of
700 FP can be spent on
Auxiliary unit types.
In total, units from no more than
12 different unit types can be selected, and of these no more than
4 different
Auxiliary unit types.
Furthermore, a maximum
12 units from each
Main unit type is allowed, and maximum
4 from each
Auxiliary unit type.
Only an
even number of units from each unit type can be selected (i.e., 0, 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12), and for each 2 units (in excess of the first 2 units) selected of a unit type (whether
Main or
Auxiliary), 1 will be compulsory (i.e., 2 -> 0+0/2, 4 -> 1+0/3, 6 -> 2+0/4, 8 -> 3+0/5, 10 -> 4+0/6, 12 -> 5+0/7).
Once all participating players have created their army list compositions, I’ll bundle them all into a module, to be used in-game
FoG2:Medieval, in the
ExCoB III campaign.
Download of Module with Armies
- Will be available once players have decided on their army lists.
- The Winter Kings (ExCoB III) v1 module is needed to set up and play battles with the De Excidio et Conquestu Britanniae III armies.
- The module includes army lists for each of the armies, as designed and created by its players.
Starting the campaign
Army lists
- Players design and create their respective armies (see above), out of 3500 FP worth of units from a list of base-game army lists from this time period and region, and subject to certain limitations and constraints.
- (3500 FP is the rough size of base-game army lists and will produce the numbers of units available for selection in a 2000 FP battle, such numbers reduced correspondingly in smaller battles.)
Armies
- Each army starts out with 1600 FP army strength in a hex of one of its controlled structures.
- No armies can start in the same hexes.
Rounds
Seasons
Abstracted seasons are applied for rounds:
Autumn,
Winter, and
Spring.
Round 1 starts with Autumn.
A d10 is rolled at the end of each round until Spring has arrived. If the result below is rolled, season progresses one stage (i.e., from Autumn to Winter or from Winter to Spring), coming into effect the next round.
- First or second round with current season: 1.
- Third or fourth round with current season: 1 or 2.
- Fifth or sixth round with current season: 1, 2, or 3.
- Seventh or eighth round with current season: 1, 2, 3, or 4.
- Ninth round or more with current season: 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5.
Thus, the campaign starts with Autumn, followed by Winter, and ends with Spring, the length of the three respective seasons being random and hence unknown in advance. Once Spring has arrived, no more rolls are made, since Spring will then last until the end of the campaign.
Phases
Each round consists of the following four phases:
1. Order giving
1.1 All players submit movement instructions for their armies, by way of PM to the administrator and in the form specified in GIVING ORDERS below.
1.2 The administrator opens only the PMs of the players belonging to his kingdom and publishes these movement instructions
before opening the PMs of the other players.
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).
2. Movement execution
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 kingdom or an army of another kingdom, it will be considered to have completed its movement and will make no further movement that round.
3. Battle resolution
The armies from different factions that are located within the ZoC of each other and/or that have the same structure within its ZoCs will fight "engagements" unless retreating (the term used herein for games of battle played in
Field of Glory II: Medieval), all such engagements to be simultaneously played and completed in
Field of Glory II: Medieval during a period of around four weeks.
4. Administration
4.1. Movement of armies involved in battles.
4.2. Changes of structure control.
4.3. Other updates of the map.
4.4. Army strength calculations.
4.5. d10 roll for potential season switch (only for as long as not yet Spring).
4.6. Miscellaneous.
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).
Movement
Armies consume Movement Points (MP) when moving from one hex to another.
Each army is allocated 12/10/12 MP (Autumn/Winter/Spring) plus 1 MP per Mine controlled by its kingdom, 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 (along the kingdom's lines of logistics), 1.5 MP (otherwise)
- Moors = 3/2/4 MP (Autumn/Winter/Spring)
- Swamp or Marsh = 5/2/6 MP (Autumn/Winter/Spring)
- Evergreen Mountain = 10 MP
- River = In addition to the above, it will cost +1/0/+2 MP (Autumn/Winter/Spring) to move into a hex that contains a River and lacks Roads and any structures.
The movement cost for entering a hex is floored at 1 MP and capped at 12 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 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.
If more than one army at the same time (thus, after the same use of MP) wishes to move into the same hex, the army in the following priority order will be the one making the move:
- lowest MP cost of moving into that hex.
- located in the hex with the lowest MP cost.
No army can at any point in time be located in the same hex as another army, whether from the same or from another kingdom. An army adjacent to a hex in which an army from even its own kingdom is located will, if instructed to move to that hex, halt and move no further that round.
This said, armies from the same kingdom are allowed to move through each other's hexes, if paying and having the necessary MP to do so and and if not ending its move in the hex of any other army.
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 kingdoms.
- 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 a full round within the structure's ZoC reinforces the army's strength (up to a maximum of 1600 FP).
- Royal Villa: +2 FP per round in location of Royal Villa.
- Village: +4 FP per round in location of Village.
- Town: +8 FP per round in location of Town, +4 FP per round 1 hex distance from location of Town.
- Kingdom or Civitas Capital: +16 FP per round in location of Kingdom or Civitas Capital, +8 FP per round 1 hex distance from location of Kingdom or Civitas Capital.
- City: +32 FP per round in location of City, +16 FP per round 1 hex distance from location of City, +8 FP per round 2 hexes distance from location of City.
- In addition, if the structure is connected to the kingdom's lines of logistics at the end of the round, the reinforcement effect is doubled (e.g., from +4 to +8 FP for Villages).
- Fort Ruins, Town Ruins: "Haunted" sites that cannot be controlled by any kingdoms but that cause armies to suffer FP penalties if fighting engagements located close to these structures.
- Fort Ruins: -20 FP in location of Fort Ruins.
- Town Ruins: -40 FP in location of Town Ruins, -20 FP 1 hex distance from location of Town Ruins.
- Hillfort or Sacred Site, Church Monastery: Cannot be controlled by any kingdoms, and armies located within the ZoC of these structures may neither attack nor be attacked, but don't exercise any ZoC at all and don't enjoy any potential benefits of recovering FPs (from Royal Villas, Village, Towns, Capitals, or Cities).
- Mines: +1 MP per Mine controlled for the movement of the kingdom's armies.
Gaining, losing, and retaining control over structures
- A kingdom gains control over another kingdom's structure if the structure at the end of a round (after all engagements have been concluded) is located within the ZoC of its armies and not within the ZoC of any other kingdom's army. Any other kingdom controlling that structure will then be considered to have lost control. Thus, in order for a kingdom to lose control over a structure, another kingdom must in fact have gained control over that structure, and until that occurs the controlling kingdom will be considered to still control the structure.
- Structures not yet controlled by any kingdom will be gained control over by the kingdom who last in the round has been located in the hex of the structure, even if having moved away from that hex.
Lines of logistics
Logistics lines serve the purpose of inter alia speeding up Road movement and increasing reinforcements to armies' strengths through structures.
A kingdom's lines of logistics:
- originate from its Court (provided that it is controlled);
- extend along Road hexes to other structures controlled by the kingdom for as long as no Road hex along the logistics line is "interrupted", i.e., within the ZoC of another kingdom's army or a non-controlled structure;
- Fort Ruins, City Ruins, Hillforts or Sacred Sites, and Church Monasteries do not count as non-controlled structures since they cannot be controlled and thus do not "interrupt" lines of logistics;
- end at the controlled structures from where there are no further uninterrupted Road hexes to other controlled structures farther away.
- It follows from this that a kingdom not in control over its Court does not have any lines of logistics at all.
Zones of Control (ZoC)
The ZoC of armies and of different structures (if controlled by a kingdom) is as follows:
- Army = 1 hex around location (unless within the ZoC of a Hillfort or Sacred Site or Church Monastery).
- Royal Villa and Village = only its own location.
- Town and Kingdom or Civitas Capital = 1 hex around location.
- City = 2 hexes 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.
An army within the ZoC of a
Hillfort or
Sacred Site or
Church Monastery does not exercise any ZoC at all, whether for the purpose of halting another army or gaining, losing, and retaining control over structures.
No armies can march through the ZoC of a structure controlled by another kingdom or through the ZoC of the army of another kingdom, 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 kingdom 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.
Structures that are not controlled by any kingdom do not exercise any ZoCs, so armies can thus move without interruption without such ZoCs.
Fort Ruins and
City Ruins can never be controlled by any kingdom and thus never exercise any ZoCs.
Engagements and battles
Two armies from different kingdoms that at the end of a round are located within each other's ZoC and/or have the same structure within their respective ZoCs will fight an "
engagement" (another expression for and in the form of a
Field of Glory II: Medieval game).
The
engagement will in
Field of Glory II: Medieval be set up as follows:
- Winter Kings (ExCoB III) v1 module.
- Map type on the terrain as specified in Map terrain of engagements below.
- Each army's strength as force size, adjusted:
- for any effects from the Tower or Signal Station, Fort, Fortress, Fort Ruins, and Town Ruins structures,
- by -30/0/-60 FP (Autumn/Winter/Spring) for the one of the two armies (if any) that has spent more MP than its opponent army that round, if at least one of the two armies in the engagement is located in a River hex (only if such hex has no structures), and
- If both players have spent the same amount of MP, none of them will suffer the River penalty.
- by -60 FP for each engagement that the army is fighting that round (for example, if fighting 1 engagement then -60 FP, if 2 engagements then -120 FP in each of the 2 engagements, if 3 engagements then -180 FP in each of the 3 engagements, etc.).
- by -100 FP if during Winter the army is not within 10 MP movement distance from its kingdom’s lines of logistics.
- Force size is capped at 1600 FP.
- The player having spent the fewest MP that round normally sets up the engagement in-game.
- The winner, or the player having incurred the fewest casualties, reports the results in this thread.
Main armies
- The army always uses its own army list.
Allies
Battles
A "
battle" consists of one or more engagements between armies from two different kingdoms.
Normally one
battle involves only one engagement and thus only one army from each of two kingdoms, but it may consist of several individual engagements involving several armies from each of the two kingdoms, if and to the extent that more than one army from one kingdom has at least an army from the other kingdom in common as opponent in engagements.
For example, if two different armies from the same kingdom are both fighting the same army from a different kingdom, 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 kingdom, that engagement is included in the battle as well.
Other examples (with armies A, B, and C being from one kingdom, 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 kingdom has an army from the other kingdom 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: Medieval 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, unless it is a
Winter round in which case
Frozen will be used.
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 kingdom and all its armies involved in that battle are considered to have won a battle against an enemy kingdom if at least one of the kingdom's engagements in that battle is won and none are lost, with the enemy kingdom (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 kingdoms and armies.
An army having:
- lost a battle moves 6-8 hexes away from the armies it fought, strictly in the direction of its kingdom's Court, whether moving within the ZoC of any army from another kingdom.
- drawn a battle moves 2-4 hexes away from the armies it fought, strictly in the direction of its kingdom's Court, whether moving within the ZoC of any army from another kingdom.
- won a battle remains in its hex or (if its player so instructs) moves into the adjacent hex previously occupied by a removed losing enemy army. If more than one army wishes to move into the same hex, the army with the lowest incurred casualties will make the move and if a tie the army with the highest inflicted casualties will make the move. If still a tie, no army will move into that hex.
Reduction of army strength
- The level of incurred casualties (as shown in the upper left corner of the screen when the Field of Glory II: Medieval game ends) from engagements will reduce the army's strength going forward.
- An engagement victory is considered 'decisive' if the difference in casualties is at least 25%.
- An army will suffer strength reduction from each of its engagements.
- The reduction amounts to:
- 1 FP per percentage point of incurred casualties for the army winning the engagement.
- 2 FP per percentage point of incurred casualties for the army drawing or losing the engagement.
- The army strength reduction during a round is calculated and becomes effective only at the end of the round, once all engagements and battles have been concluded.
Elimination of armies
- If the strength of an army at the end of a round is below 1200 FP, it will be eliminated and irrevocably removed from the map and the campaign.
