RULES

Warmaster Ancients Campaign Rules Download

Appendix A Downloads

II. Conventions
a. Factions. There are seven factions in this 250BC Mediterranean Campaign:
i. Rome – Chris N (Late Republican List)
ii. Romana-Hispania - Rick N (Imperial Roman List)
iii. Carthage – Roger D (Carthaginian List)
iv. Macedonia – Wolf T. (Alexandrian Greek List)
v. Ptolemy – Barry B (Seleucid List )
vi. Selucus – Brian C (Seleucid List)
vii. Gaul – Rob P (Gallic List)
viii. Indo-Egyptians – Chris W (Classical Indian)

b. Factions belong to one grouping type that adds “National Characteristic” differences in Event Card Play and in Sources Cost. These groups are:
i. Roman Type Factions – Rome, Romana-Hispania
ii. Greek Type Factions – Carthage, Macedonia, Ptolemy, Selucus
iii. Barbarian Type Factions – Gaul, Indo-Egyptians

c. These factions are situated around the Mediterranean Sea:

d. Forces
i. Armies. Armies are composed of “Combat Units” or “CUs”. The CUs each represent 200pts in the Warmaster Ancients Rules standard army list. Any Army must command of (“stacked with”) a general.

ii. Fleets. Fleets also are composed of CUs. Each fleet CU represents a sufficient number of vessels to transport one army CU (200 WMA points). The campaign will include naval battle fights as well using NAVWAR. The ratio of opposing fleet CU strengths in naval battles will be directly proportional to the actual model/miniature fleet strength used.

III. Turns.
a. Year Turn. Each “Year” turn will consist of several phases and four seasonal turns.

i. Alliance Phase.
1. During the Alliance phase players may negotiate among themselves to make formal alliances or “under the table” informal alliances.
2. Formal Alliance last for the whole year and may not be broken until the next Alliance Phase other than through playing Event Card ___.
3. Only Factions in a Formal Alliance can support each other:
a. By providing army CU or navy CU supports.
b. By transferring revenues.
4. Informal alliances can be made or broken at any time. They essentially are and “gentleman’s agreement” to cooperate indirectly, i.e. not to fight each other and or to coordinate to attack specific opponents. Treachery may be employed here as this is the shadowy side of diplomacy and the adherence or downright duplicity to in any agreements is purely up to the players.
5. The Alliance phase ends when all players have e-mailed in their intentions to enter into any number of formal alliance or not.

ii. Draw Events Phase.
1. In the 250BC year, each player draws three random events to be played in the following years.
2. In every year following 250BC, each player on draw one random event to be played in that year.
3. A player may never have more than three events in his hand at anytime, and may choose to discard whichever card (s) he desires after a new draw to keep at three cards.
4. Event cards may also be awarded as a result of battle.

iii. Season Turns – Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter
1. Orders Phase. This is the phase where the game action occurs.
a. Each player will e-mail their orders to the Campaign coordinator NLT midnight on 2nd and 4th Thursday of each month.
b. Army Orders: An army can be given one of the following orders each seasonal turn.
i. Move. Move from one friendly territory to another adjacent friendly territory.
1. Troops may be left behind in garrison.
2. Can be over water if transported by the same number of Fleet CUs.
ii. Attack. Move into an adjacent unfriendly territory or contains an enemy army.
1. Troops may be left behind in garrison.
2. Can be over water if transported by the same number of Fleet CUs.
iii. Fortify. Any army can build up the defense value of a Stronghold by converting army CUs into Fortification Points (FP).
1. Stronghold value will increase by 1 FP for very 2 CUs converted.
2. Rome may convert 1 1CU into 1FP.
3. The max level for any Stronghold is 5 FP.
iv. Siege/Subjugate. Any army may conduct a siege or subjugation attempt by accumulating Siege/Subjugation Points (SP).
1. Armies or garrisons attempt that a siege or subjugation roll on the Siege/Subjugation table to accumulate SPs.
2. When the SPs accumulated are equal to the to the Stronghold’s FP it falls to the attacker.
3. When the SPs accumulated against a territory are equal to that territory’s resource points RP, it submits to the attacker and is now part of the attacker’s faction.
v. Recruit. An army may recruit new troops as an action.
1. 1 Resource Point (RP) is expended and the army may recruit up to 200AP pf units.
2. Each Faction Army List is includes Appendix A. Each unit entry on these lists will specify in what territories that unit type can be recruited in. For the most part most any unit can be recruited in Home Territories, but as armies leave their homelands they must draw upon local levies, tribes, militia, etc which can provide core type foot and light troops but may not be able to provide special units like Elephants, Elite Legions, Guard Phalanx, Camel etc.
c. Fleet Orders: Fleets can be give one of the following orders each seasonal turn.
i. Move. Move from one sea in to another adjacent sea.
1. If enemy fleets are in that sea also, a battle will occur unless of the fleet evades.
2. Fleets may attempt to evade with command activation rolls.
3. Fleets may not move into “Deep Water”. These are the dark blue sea areas on the map as sailors fear to trespass so far into to Neptune’s realms.
ii. Transport. A Fleet may transport army CUs equal to the total number of fleet CUs in the fleet from one territory adjacent to the same the fleet is in to another territory also adjacent to that same sea. If the territory that being moved into is not a friendly territory or contains and enemy force, a General must be leading the amphibious force.

d. Examples of orders (Keep them Simple!):
i. “Army-1 Attacks Bruttium with 7 CU, leaves 2 CUs in garrison at Italia.”
ii. “Fleet-5 move to Upper Adriatic Sea.”
iii. “Fleet-3 transports Amy-4 with 6 CUs from West Sicily to Carthage.”

e. Orders Activation. Armies and Fleets do not always do what the high command wants them to do. Weather, local hostiles, supply shortages, or even just plain incompetence or willful disobedience can delay or halt a planned campaign or major transfer.
i. Armies.
1. Move. A simple move will occur unless there is an order “blunder” or “12” on a 2D6.
2. Attack. An attack will be executed if the army general’s command rating or less is rolled on a 2D6. If the general rolls a “12” and “blunders”, then the army will not move and will have to take an attrition roll. A general must be present in the army to attack.
3. Fortify, Siege, Subjugate do not require order activations.
4. Mountain Movement. Movement into a mountain area is always (Pyrenees, West or Central Alps) is always hazardous.
a. There is a -1 Command Roll Modifier for this move attempt and a blunder occurs on “11” or “12.”
b. Mountain moves not be attempted in a Winter Seasonal Turn.
c. An attrition roll is made whenever attempting such a move, and is also made for the end of each turn that an army remains stationary in the mountains.
d. A “blunder” that occurs in an attempt to move on or off the mountains incurs a +1 modifier to the attrition roll.
5. Recruitment. Automatically activates.
6. “Land Bridge” Movement. There are three land bridges on the board that allow movement across narrow waterways without the support of fleet transport.
a. The Land Bridges are between:
i. Thrace and Pontus
ii. Bacticia and Mauretania
iii. Bruttium and Syracuse
b. There is a -1 Command Roll Modifier for this move attempt and blunders occur on “11” or “12.”
c. There is a +1 modifier to the attrition table for a Land Bridge “blunder.”

ii. Fleets.
1. Fleets normally have a command value (CV) of 8, a 9 for Carthage and 7 for Barbarian Factions.
2. Move. Fleets must make a command roll in order to move from one sea to another.
a. If the command roll is less than the CV of the fleet, it moves as planned.
b. If it fails, it stays in its original sea position and takes a roll on the attrition table.
c. If the command roll is a blunder, the entire fleet is lost at sea. “Poseidon is a Bi’otch”
3. Transport. Fleets must make a command roll in order to transport army units from one territory to another across the sea the fleet is stationed.
a. If the command roll is less than the CV of the fleet, it transport occurs as planned. The transported army may make no other actions once landed other than a battle against any enemy armies present. An army that loses in an Amphibious attacked is completely destroyed.
b. If the sea transport fails, the fleet takes a roll on the attrition table, and the corresponding number of fleet CUs and their transported army CUs are lost.
c. If the command roll is a blunder, the entire fleet and all of the Army CUs being transported are all lost at sea. “Neptune is a Mutha!”
4. Pirates Fleet CUs may be hired for two RPs each. They may not take any other action in the turn they are hired. They may be placed in ANY sea zone. A Pirate Fleet (has more pirates than regular fleet CUs in it) has a CV of 9.

f. Confusion. Make your orders clear, if the Campaign Coordinator misinterprets your orders, your forces will be stuck with whatever the coordinator thought you were trying to do.

g. If orders are not received by the by-weekly deadline, that Faction will be deemed to be under “Turmoil at Court” and not have any armies or fleet moves/actions completed that turn. They may defend normally if attacked.

2. Events Play Phase. During this phase players may play one of their event cards in their hand. Some events may cancel out or reverse moves/actions from the orders phase. Some cards may be played at other times as specified on the card, i.e. during Battles or after a certain event has occurred.

3. Battle/Siege/Subjugation/Laurels Phase.
a. Battles.
i. Land Battles will be either resolved on the table top using Warmaster Ancients rules. 1 CU = 200 WMA army points.
ii. Any army may draw an additional 1 CU from local militia if it is fighting in a province under its control. These can only provide troops that are allowed
iii. Naval battles will be played on table top using NAVWAR.
iv. If a battle has not been played and results not turned in by the deadline for the next orders phase, then the Campaign Coordinator will resolve the battle using simple Combat Resolution Rolls.
1. Each force will roll one D6 for each CU.
2. The side with the most “5’s” and “6’s” wins.
3. For each “6” rolled an enemy CU is destroyed.
4. For each “5” an enemy CU is “disrupted” and knocked out of the battle.
5. In the event of a tie, and another round is fought and so on until a round is won.
6. When a loser is determined all CU’s disrupted are eliminated. The winner gets his disrupted units back.
7. At then end of the each General rolls a D6 on a “6” the General is eliminated.
v. Tabletop Battles Resolution.
1. Tabletop battles are resolved normally WMA rules.
2. After a battle is one, or time expires calculate losses.
a. All fully eliminated units are lost.
b. All units with two stands lost the loser’s army are also lost.
c. All other units regroup in their army.
d. If lost units has Battle Honors they are lost with the unit.
e. E-mail in the results and list of lost units to the campaign coordinator.
f. The new CU level for the army will be recalculated by dividing totally WMA point by 200, rounding up.
vi. An army that loses a battle must with draw to an adjacent territory. If that territory is non-friendly it suffers attrition.

b. Sieges/Subjugation.
i. Sieges and Subjugations are resolved with die rolls only.
1. Subjugation – Roll a D6 for each CU present. Each 5 or 6 rolled earns a subjugation point. The territory fights with a D6 for each RP level in the territory. On a 6 the subjugation force looses a CU (randomly determined) In subsequent rounds the territory only fights back with its RP value minus its accumulated subjugation points.
2. Siege - Roll a D6 for each CU present. If a number of 6’s rolled is equal to the Defense Level of the Strongpoint the Defense Level is reduce by one. If the number of 6’s is twice the Defense level then that level is reduced by two. Siege Trains add +1 to each die roll (5 or 6 needed). The Stronghold attacks the besieger with a number of dice equal to its Defense level at the start of the turn. Each 6 rolled by the defender incurs a one CU loss on the besieger.
ii. Once a stronghold’s defense level is reduced to zero it falls to the besieger.
iii. A Stronghold must be reduced before subjugation attempts can be made on the territory where it sits.
iv. To subjugate a territory, the attacker must accumulate a number of subjugation points equal to the resource value of the territory. When he does so, the territory becomes part of his faction.

c. “To the Victor go the Laurels”
i. Having proved his worth as the winner of a tabletop battle, a player may petition the gods for favors. To make a petition, the winner writes a short battle report highlighting his glory and why the gods should favor him. Pleasing the gods will allow a roll on the following table (+1 on the D6 roll if the enemy had more CUs than your force):

1 The gods mock your puny offering, you get nothing
2 The gods mock your puny offering, you get nothing
3 The gods mock your puny offering, you get nothing
4 The gods are mildly amused, +1 on this table next time!
5 Your most glorious unit is favored with a Battle Honor Unit Upgrade
6 Your general is favored with a Command Special Ability
7 The gods favor your Faction, draw an event card

iv. Resource Phase. Each faction totals the total resource value for all the territories under his control. This is the total income for that year and is measure as resource points (RP).
v. Attrition Phase. Each army not in friendly territory.
vi. Maintenance Phase.
1. Each faction must pay for the upkeep of it’s CUs as follows:
a. 1 RP – Each Army CU
b. 1 RP – Each Fleet CU
c. 2 RP – Each Pirate Fleet CU
2. Factions may selectively choose not to pay for upkeep army or fleet CUs, however, doing so will cause an automatic loss of those CUs.

vii. Build Phase.
1. During the Build Phase there are any number of actions that can occur and they are only limited by how much the faction wishes to spend:
a. 1 RP – Raise a new Army or Fleet CU
b. 3 RP – Build a Defense Level One Stronghold (or 1 RP and one Army CU in the Territory for a Roman Faction )
c. 1 RP – Buy a Siege Train. Only good for one siege. (Barbarians Factions cannot build siege trains other than through event cards).
d. 3 RP – Games (Olympics or Gladiatorial) – Raise a territory RP Value by 1 (This only cost 2 RPs for Rome).
e. 5 RP – Build a temple to the gods (Draw an Event Card) (3 RP for a Barbarian Faction.
f. 5-10 RP raise a new army.

IV. Army Composition, Recruitment, and Losses.

a. All armies will be tracked down each unit the campaign coordinator will maintain a roster for all armies.

b. Each unit will have experience levels tracked by W/L participation in battles. W’s, wins count as two experience points. L’s, losses count as one experience point. When a unit achieves a multiple of 5 experience points it may roll for Battle Honors or may elect to lose an “Unreliable” status. A unit may only have one Battle Honor, but a player may decide which one to keep after the roll should a unit reach 10 experience points or more.

c. Each General will have experience levels tracked by W/L participation in battles. W’s, wins count as two experience points. L’s, losses count as one experience point. When a General achieves a multiple of 5 experience points it may roll for Battle Honors or elect to drop an “unreliable” status. A General may only have one Commander Ability Upgrade, but a player may roll for an upgrade to a Leader or Subordinate in a Generals Army, whenever a General reaches 10, 15, 20, 25 experience points or more.

d. Events and “Victor’s Laurels” may also allow Battle Honors or Commander Ability upgrades to be taken.

e. Raising an Army.

i. A new army may only be raised during the annual build phase.
1. It must be at least 5 CU 1000pts an up to 10 CU 2000pts in size.
2. It must include a General. Normally, General Upgrades may not be bought.
3. If an army is raised outside of a Faction’s home territories, it will be limed in its composition to troop types allowed to be recruited in that territory it is raised
ii. Recruiting may be done by any army as an action in a seasonal turn. One RP may be spent to hire 200 army points of troops, Leaders, or Subordinates, NOT Generals (These may only be purchased when an army is created.
iii. Barbarians Factions may recruit up to 2 CU’s for each army in a season turn, paying 1 RP each. This is possible due to the fact that Barbarian hordes are largely “irregular” and do not require as much formal training as a Roman Legion or Macedonian Phalanx.
iv. Greek Faction Generals – Greeks and Carthaginians generally chose Generals based on merit and ability more so than nobility or position. Each General in a Greek Type faction starts with a Commander Ability Upgrade. This upgrade is randomly determined and its value is added to the cost of General when he is hired (it is not optional and it is not “free”).

f. Recruiting for Armies.
i. Armies may recruit in any season turn but may take no other action.
ii. Recruiting Abroad.
1. When army or garrison CUs are raised outside of a Faction’s home territories, only certain troop types allowed by Appendix A may be recruited.
2. These must first be used to fill out missing MIN troop types in an army, and after that can be used to purchase other optional units within normal army units.
3. In general these CU’s will be common core type troops and commonly available light supports.
4. An army’s MAX allowances may never be exceeded.

iii. Recruiting at Home.
1. CUs raised at home are much less limited than those raised abroad.
2. In generally any units may be purchased as allowed by the Faction list. There are some limitations:
a. Late Republican Rome may only purchase troops allowed in its main section (not Troops listed under West, East, and Africa sections which are recruited by Roman armies abroad in the West, East or Africa).
b. “One Only Per Army” units like Alexander’s Companions or Seleucid Hypaspist & Camels may only have one type unit allowed in the campaign in at any time. These units “should” be in the C-in-C’s army.
g. Losses.
i. Battle losses have been covered previously.
ii. CU’s losses to attrition or Die-Resolved Battles. Troops will be selected at random for elimination until their tally equals the equivalent in CU’s lost. If the last unit selected at random puts the loss above the CU lost level, then that unit is “spared” and will not be eliminated. This should give expensive units a bit of a break as they were generally better supplied/equipped than cheap rank and file.

h. Merging Armies.
i. Armies may merge in any season turn but one army must remain in place (not move/attack) to allow the reorganization to occur. 10 CU limit remains.
ii. This may cause a temporary violation of unit MAX’s. These excess units will automatically be the 1st selected during CU loss due to attrition, siege, subjugation, etc.
iii. Only one general may remain in the army. If there is an open Leader or Subordinate slot, the General not selected for command, may be downgraded to one of these positions (Special Command Abilities are lost). Otherwise he his immediately returned to the Home Territories to await command in a newly raised army (will not have to be purchased again and retains Special Command Abilities).
iv. Factions in a formal alliance may merge armies within the 10CU limit. Both Generals remain in play in battles each commanding only their troops and subordinates. The faction with the largest portion of the force is the senior leader. His loss results in a defeat for both armies and he makes the required “Army” rolls.

V. Vassals. When a faction has all three of its original home territories subjugated by another faction it is defeated but still can play on in the campaign as a vassal.

a. On becoming a vassal, the losing faction now in effect becomes a teammate of the faction that conquered it under the same conditions as a formal alliance.
b. All territories outside of the original three home territories that were under control of the Vassal Faction go “neutral.”
c. A Vassal still manages his own resources, army and fleet orders, and build programs. However, his home territories and what ever territories he further subjugates count towards the victory count of the faction which he serves as vassal. A vassal is in no other way required to support the faction to which he owes service.
d. A defeated faction can elect to quit the campaign rather than continue as a vassal. The conquering faction has no choice here. If the conquered faction elects not to become a vassal, then conqueror simply takes full control of the conquered home territories as per normal subjugation.
e. “Throwing off the Yoke.” There is an event card which allows a vassal to rebel and become an independent faction again, however not all territories under the control of the Vassal Faction may want to follow in the rebellion. See “Throwing of the Yoke” event card for specific details.

VI. Events. Event Cards can be played at any time from a player’s hand according to the rules on the card. These are done by e-mailing the Campaign Coordinator and will be done in secret. A player may even play an event card against a faction in which he has a formal alliance or to which he is a vassal. “Plague, what plague?”

VII. Naval Battles. To be added.

VIII. Victory Determination. Once one faction controls 25 territories it will have established itself as the dominant force in the Ancient Mediterranean and its leader will be declared “God-Emperor.”