If you dont have the diploware on your computer, you should download it asap here.

If you are just starting out, you probably have only a vague idea of how things work at this point. Don’t worry; you shall soon get the hang of it. The tutorial is available from your start menu when you install the diploware, and its important that you work through it. There are plenty of experienced players with good advice, just join the discussion group from the webpage and dont hesitate to fire off your questions.

You can ctrl+click on the hyperlinks to go straight to a chapter or section – I’ve offset some of the links so that you don’t accidentally hit the wrong one.

First, close any unnecessary programs you have running. This helps to ensure that you don’t have too many things running on your computer, and so your Diploware will run efficiently. This is a very important step! After this, start the Diploware, which brings you to the Start-up Menu, where you can select a file to load. When you are playing in a game, you should select either your saved orders, or your newest Results file, which was sent to you by the GM. When you select this and open it, you are brought to your Headquarters (if not, then contact the GM for troubleshooting).

At the top part of the Diploware, you can see:

• Main Menus: The Diploware has 4 main areas. Each has a separate button at the top:

1. Headquarters: This is where you manage your diplomatic relations.
2. Map: This shows you the map, and is where you manage your various forces.
3. Messages: This shows you various reports and messages about what happened on the last turn.
4. Game: This allows you to save your orders, or open a new turn.

• HQ Plans: Also at the top of the menu, you can see HQ Plans. This has all of your planned Headquarters orders listed. These are orders for your realm as a whole, not for particular units you control. Any time you perform a Headquarters order, it will be listed here, and you can undo any orders if you change your mind. Note that your HQ Plans is available from all main parts of the Diploware.
• Help Menus: The Diploware has a help message for most of the menus. If you are not sure about something on the Diploware, click on the question mark, which will show you the help message for that menu.
• Turn Number: The number of the current turn is also shown at the top.

By clicking on the Messages at the top, you can see reports of the last turn’s events. You can click between normal Messages, Battle Reports, and Proclamations. You can see the following:

Even though you are impatient to learn about the map, I will now talk about the Game menu. Here, you can do the following:

Turns are due at the same time for all games, and there is 1 turn per week (unless otherwise indicated for your game).

• About Turns: Just to repeat how the game works: Each time turns are processed, you will be sent a unique Result file for your realm. This is a computer file attached to an email message, and you load this file into your Diploware to see your realm, troops, etc. You issue your orders using the Diploware, and then save them to an Orders file, and you send this as an email attachment to the GM. On the due date, the GM will run all turns at the same time, and all game events will occur. Then everyone is sent their new Result file, and things continue in this manner.
• Due Date: The normal due date is: Tuesday, 5:00 PM, Pacific Time (Pacific Time is for California, USA. In GMT this is 1 AM Wednesday). For the first turn of the game, the due date may be different, but the normal due date is used for other turns. To help get your bearings with the time zone, see below:

If you don’t send your turn in on time, please don’t expect the game to wait for you. Sometimes you

might get lucky – if you haven’t received your next turnfile, there is a good chance you can still send

your turn in and get it processed, but there is no guarantee. Send your turn in before the deadline if you

want to be sure it will get processed.

• Email Address: Send all email, and your turnfiles (the file created by the Diploware that has your orders) to: gm@agegames.co.uk

But, please be advised that replies to email by the GM are fairly slow, because of the volume of email.

After opening your turn, you are brought to your Headquarters, and you can return here by clicking on Headquarters at the top of the Diploware. You can think of this area as your Throne Room, where your advisors are available to carry out your commands. Performing an order would be similar to summoning your Grand Chamberlain, Chief Diplomat, or other minion to carry out your instructions. Here, you will see:

Please understand that these values are not always exact – some values may be rounded to the nearest number. To be on the safe side, you should consider leaving a surplus of two gold in your treasury.

Each Realm has Diplomatic Relations with every other Realm in the game, which is shown on the list of Realms at your Headquarters. Your main Diplomatic Relations with each realm will be one of the following:

• War: Your forces will attack each other when they are in the same location.
• Neutral: Your forces will ignore each other.
• Alliance: Your forces will work together in battle.

The orders you can issue to change your diplomatic relations are:

Each Realm also has diplomatic statuses with other Realms, which are:

• Acceptance: You can indicate whether you will accept gifts from another Realm or not. If you don’t want to accept any gifts from a Realm (like a province they want to give you), then you can give instructions to refuse any gifts from that Realm. To change acceptance, you can:

As mentioned before, here you can see all of your planned Headquarters orders. This has:

• Capital Treasury: this is the amount of gold you had in your capital garrison before issuing any orders. Your capital garrison is one of the garrisons you own (it’s a normal unit listed on the map).
• Used: This is the total amount of gold you have spent from your capital garrison. This includes garrison activities (like building troops), as well as other headquarters actions. You may use more than you have, but this will probably result in not having enough gold to do everything you planned on doing.
• Undo: You can select any planned order, and undo it.

At last, we come to the map. To get here, click on the Map at the top of the Diploware. You can see a giant game board, with provinces and seas marked by black borders, as well as the troops in each location. You can scroll up and down to see a greater area of the map. You can think of it as if your realm’s advisors have built a model replica of Europe. Major locations and scouting reports of troops have been plotted here with miniatures as well, and all of this represents your view of the actual political situation of Europe. It is up to you to write planned orders for your followers; to expand and protect your realm. Here, you will see the following:

A province is a large tract of land in the game, with the name written in black. Some important notes about provinces are:

• Ownership: Each province is either owned by a Realm, or is independent. Each realm has a banner, and this banner is shown on the map. Provinces without a banner are independent. Your forces can invade provinces to conquer them. When owned and annexed to your realm, they will provide revenue.
• Annexation: To get the full revenue from a province, you must annex it (which costs gold). Being annexed to a realm means that the realm has established a government and dominion over that province, so revenue can be extracted from it. A province annexed to the owner will be adorned with a green eagle over the ownership banner (otherwise, the banner is bare). The green eagle signifies that the owner of the realm has established a bureaucracy there that will be able to extract revenue from the inhabitants.

Each province and sea may have troops stationed there. Ships can be anchored in a province, or can be sailing in a sea. Soldiers can be located in a province, or aboard ships in a sea. On the map, the troops (soldiers and ships) are shown in the following manner:

• Troop Miniature: Troops at a location will be shown by a painted miniature. The miniature will be for the most formidable troop there. A single miniature is shown for foreign troops, and a separate miniature is shown for troops you own.
• Troop Base: Each troop miniature has a base or shield. This indicates if you own the troops, or if they are owned by a foreign realm. Troops you own are shown with a blue base (or a blue shield). Foreign troops are shown with a red base (or a red shield).

• Quantity: To the bottom right of the miniature, you can see the number of troops at the location.

JB: To get more information, click on the Troop Miniature. A box will open, explaining what troops are there, and which country owns them. Independent troops hold many provinces at the start of the game, and it is typical strategy for many players to start the game by attacking neighbouring independent provinces.

On the bottom-right of the map, there is a button with a hammer and wrench. This changes the map display. You can do the following:

To get more detailed information about a location, click on some part of it on the map. This brings up the Location Report. This shows you:

• Name: The name of the location is shown (in blue for seas, in black for provinces).
• Owner: This is the realm that owns the province, or if it is independent (owned by no realm). Of course, for seas, there is no owner, or any locations.
• Annexed To: This is the realm that the province is annexed to (or, if it is annexed to no realm, it is locally controlled).
• Province Damage: Provinces can be damaged by battles, pillaging, or changing ownership. Damage reduces revenue, but will recover over time.
• Tax Revenue: This is the gold revenue the province will yield if it is owned and annexed to your realm (the actual revenue will be reduced by damage). You can also get reduced revenue by pillaging it, in which case the annexation doesn’t matter.
• Special Passage Rights: This is only shown if you own a province, or if you have been granted special passage rights to a province. This just means you have gained permission to move through the province (of course, you don’t need this for your own provinces).
• City: Some provinces have a City. A City represents 1 or more large population centres in a province. Only some provinces have a City, which cannot be built or destroyed. A province with a City will always have a garrison, and troops can only be built in provinces with a City.
• Defences: Each province may have defences built. There are different levels of defences, which give combat bonuses to the defenders in battle. Defences can be damaged from battles, and if so, will give a reduced bonus to defenders. The type of fortifications built, and a description of damage is shown.
• Harbour: A harbour means that there is a port at a province. This is necessary for ships to be docked at a province, and for ships to be built. These structures can be built or destroyed.
• Your Forces: There is a list of all units you control at the location. All of your units are shown, with the name, total combat strength, total hit points, and all troops.
• Foreign Forces: There is a list of all troops owned by foreign realms, or independent troops. All such troops are shown, with the total combat strength and hit points.
• Movement Routes: At the bottom, the movement routes available for the location are shown, including bordering provinces, and seas with coastal connections.

When you open the Location Report for a province, orders may be available. The order buttons are on the right-hand side. These are all Headquarters’ Orders, and can be seen on the HQ Plans menu (these activities are not done by units). The orders available are:

• Permission: This is only for a province you own. This is to change the Special Permission for that province. You can indicate a number of realms that will be permitted to move through this single province, by adding or removing them from a list. Also, if you have been granted Special Permission by an independent province, you can remove this, which will allow you to invade it. Units owned by such a realm will have permission to move freely through the province. Changes take place before movement during game events.
• Study: This is to get more information about something in the location. You can study a type of fortification, or type of troop. Any troop at the location can be studied. Details about troops and fortifications are explained in Chapter 5.

Under the map, there is a list of units that you own. You can see the following for each unit:

• Unit Type: There are 3 types of units: Garrisons, Armies, and Fleets. A garrison is a land force tied to a particular location, and is shown with a G (like G5 would be Garrison#5). An army is a land force with the ability to march to other locations, or be loaded aboard fleets - these are shown with an A (like A11 would by Army#11). A fleet is a group of ships, which can sail to other locations, dock at harbours, and transport armies - these are shown with an F (like F3 would be Fleet#3).
• Name: this shows the name of the unit. It’s a good idea to name units in a way that makes it easy to organize them.
• Location: this is the location that they are currently at (you can give movement orders of course).
• Troops/Commanders: There are 2 numbers shown here. The first is the number of troops in the unit (including ships and soldiers). The second is the number of commanders in the unit.
• Moves: This shows the move points of the unit. The first number is the available move points (how many move points remain). The second number is the move points that the unit had before any move activities. Issuing movement orders will decrease the available move points, and transferring troops may change the starting move points. Of course, garrisons can’t move and so they have no move points. If you want these soldiers to move, form an army in the province, and transfer the troops from the garrison to the army.
• Burden: This is only for fleets, and shows the weight and storage statistics for the unit. The first number is the total weight loaded onto the unit. The second number is the total storage of the unit. If there is more weight than storage for fleets, something may be thrown overboard during turn events!
• Important Note: If the unit list looks odd on your computer (it’s not in alignment, or you can’t scroll down), then you need to make a small change to your computer settings. To do this, go to the Start-up Menu, click on Help Guide, and read the trouble-shooting guide for how to fix the Unit List problem. If you are still in the dark, contact the GM. For most people, the unit list will look fine, and if so, you don’t need to do anything.

From the map menu, you can issue a number of orders to your units. First, select a unit on the unit list by left-clicking your mouse on the unit. The available orders for that unit will then be shown to the right of the unit list. When you select a unit, you can see its location on the map, as the troop base will be outlined in white. Also, any movement orders for that unit are shown with blue and red arrows (a blue arrow means you are moving through a location, a red arrow means the location is your last destination). You can also double-click on the selected unit, and the map will centre on it. Once you have selected a unit, you can perform different orders. The major unit orders available are listed on the right-hand side of the Unit List. You select an order, and then you receive a menu where you determine the specifics of the order. Each type of unit has different orders available. The orders are:

• Sail: (For Fleets) This is to move to a different location. You can sail to a sea or province, and can sail to more than 1 location by issuing multiple sail orders.
• Load Army: (For Fleets) This is to load an army onto a fleet. This can be an army you own, or owned by a foreign Realm.

• Unload Army: (For Fleets) This is to unload an army from a fleet onto a province. A fleet in a sea can only unload to a province on a connected land, and a fleet in a land can only unload onto the location of the fleet.

• Board Foreign Fleet: (For Armies) This is used by an army to prepare to be loaded onto a foreign fleet (this is only needed if you want a foreign fleet to load the army - this is not necessary if you will be loading your own army).
• Pillage Province: (For Armies and Garrisons) This is to seize revenue and cause havoc and devastation in a province. You can do this in a province you own, or a foreign province, but this yields less revenue than normal.
• Build Harbour: (For Armies and Garrisons) This is to construct a harbour in a province.

• Raze Harbour: (For Armies and Garrisons) This is to destroy a harbour in a province. You may be able to salvage gold from doing this.
• Build Defenses: (For Armies and Garrisons) This is to build a new fortification in a province.
• Upgrade Defenses: (For Armies and Garrisons) This is to upgrade the fortification in a province to a higher level, for a cost in gold.
• Raze Defenses: (For Armies and Garrisons) This is to raze 1 or more levels of fortification in a province. You may be able to salvage gold from doing this.
• Form New Unit: (For All Units) This is to create a new army or fleet. To issue this order, select Create Unit, then select the type of unit to create.

• Recruit Soldiers: (For Garrisons) This is to recruit soldiers. There must be a City at the province to do this.
• Build Ships: (For Garrisons) This is to build ships. There must be both a City and a harbour at the province to do this.
• Hire Commander: (For Garrisons) This is to send your agents out to hire a commander in a city. They will then hire an individual of unknown skill. There is a cost of 9 gold to do this. Only a garrison with a city can perform this order. The total gold cost for this order and all other garrison orders will be shown on your Headquarters.

As you know, you can give your units various orders. The orders given to a unit are saved onto the Unit Plan for that unit. Each unit has a separate Unit Plan. To see the unit plan, right click on any unit on the unit list, or select a unit and press the View Orders button. The Unit Plan shows various information about the unit. In the middle part, you can see:

At the top left of the Unit Plan, you can select to show the troops or commanders in the unit. If commanders are selected, then any commanders in the unit will be shown, and you can perform orders for them, which are:

At the top left of the Unit Plan, you can see the troops in the unit. At the top, you can select to show commanders or troops. If troops are selected, then you can perform orders for them, which are:

• Reassign Troops: This is to change the ranks that troops are placed in, which will affect when troops are taken as casualties during a battle. To issue this order, click on the troops in the unit. Then, select a type of troop and select Reassign Troops.

• Disband Troops: This is to decommission troops from your Realm, so you don't need to pay upkeep for them. To issue this order, click on the troops in the unit. Then, select a type of troop and select Disband. You won’t gain any gold from disbanding troops.
• Salvage Troops: This is the same as disbanding, except you may gain gold from the troops that are disbanded (this depends on the type of troop). The troops will be decommissioned. To issue this order, click on the troops in the unit. Then, select a type of troop and select Salvage Troops. You may gain gold from the disbanded troops (this happens during First Events).

• Study: This is to get more information about a type of troop. Troops are explained in more detail in Chapter 5.

On the left side of the Unit Plan, there are different admin orders for units. Each type of unit (Army, Fleet, Garrison) has different orders available, and the units that can perform each order are listed. All of these orders are done from the Unit Plan. None of these orders cost Move-points to perform. In addition, for garrisons, you can examine fortifications in the province. The orders that can be performed here are:

• Change Marines Option: (For Armies) This determines whether an army will fight as marines aboard ships or will remain below decks during sea battles. Each army indicates whether or not soldiers in the unit will participate in any naval engagements. If no, then the soldiers in the army will not cause damage or suffer casualties in naval battles. If yes, the soldiers in the army will cause damage and suffer casualties in a naval battle (the amount of soldiers that can participate depends on the Marine Capacity of the fleet though). To issue this order, click on the Sea Battles button, which will switch to the other option.

There are some map options available that make viewing the map easier:

• Map Options: There is a hammer and wrench next to the Zoom feature. Clicking on this gives you a number of options.
• Zoom: Click on the small magnifying glass on the bottom right of the map. Clicking on this will switch between normal map view, and zoom-out (where you can see more of the map).
• Change size of unit list: You can change the height of the unit list. To do this, place your mouse arrow in between the map and the unit list. Drag the unit list down to decrease the size of the unit list, to show more of the map. Drag the unit list up to increase the size of the unit list, so you can see more of your units.

Determine Units Shown on the Unit List: You can change the unit list so that only some types of units are shown. Click on Map Options, and you can see 3 buttons: Armies, Fleets, and Garrisons. Clicking these buttons will change the units shown on the unit list. For example, click on Armies, making the button unlicked. Now, go to the map, and Armies are not shown on the unit list. Go back and select armies again, and they will now be shown on the unit list.

Everyone prepares their orders separately, and then sends them to the GM to be processed. Everyone’s orders will be carried out at the same time. If you don't send in orders, then your Realm won’t do anything except pay upkeep and collect revenues (your forces will still defend your lands). But, other Realms will still carry out their orders. All the game events happen in a certain order, which is shown here. Pay special attention to the order in which events are listed. This is the exact order that they occur when turns are processed. Also, please see the Details section - these concepts are important for understanding this chapter.

Everyone’s turn is processed together at the same time. There are "First Events", then "Movement Events", and then finally "Last Events". The First Events are things like declaring war, etc., which all happen before the Movement Events. The Last Events are things like gaining revenue, etc., that all happen after Movement Events. Pay close attention to the order of events in the Turn Events section. This is how you will know when each of your orders will happen when turns are processed. For example, changing Acceptance happens in First Events, so this will happen before any movement. Also, ownership change happens during Movement Events, so this is only after all First Events are done (Ownership change happens in phases, so the ownership of a province can change more than one time during the turn). Gold revenues happen in Last Events, so this happens only after all movement and battles (in the Phases of Movement Events) are complete.

Movement Events happen in a number of "Phases". A Phase is about 1 month of time (a Phase could also be called an "impulse" if you are more familiar with that term in wargaming). Each phase, various events will occur, and they repeat a number of times until no units have any Move-points. For example, on Phase 1, all units move 1 location, and then battles happen, province ownership changes, etc. Then, there is a Phase 2, and all units move 1 location, then battles happen, province ownership changes, etc. These Phases continue until no units have any Move-points left. When there are no more units that can move, then there is 1 more extra Phase, and then Movement Events are complete. When that happens, the Last Events happen. For transferring, units will transfer only if they are in the same location at the same phase. If units never arrive at the same place at the same phase, then no transfer will happen! Also, remember phases for coordinating unit movement. For example, you give Army#1 orders to invade enemy Province A, and you give Army#2 orders to move to friendly Province B, and then invade Province A. These armies won’t arrive at the same time! This is what will happen: Army#1 will invade during Phase 1, while meanwhile, Army#2 will move to Province A during Phase 1. Army#2 will invade during Phase 2 (although if Army#1 succeeds, you will own the province by the time Army#2 gets there). A better plan would be to give Army#1 orders to Wait and then invade, while Army#2 has orders to move and then invade. This way, on Phase#1, Army#1 will wait (remain in place) while Army#2 moves to Province A. Then, on Phase#2, both units will attack together.

Here is the list of all events that occur in each round, in order. Note that the movement events repeat until all possible ordered movements are completed. Each event is explained in the rest of the chapter, in order.

This is the first part of Turn Events. These steps are:

This happens first. This changes the diplomatic relations between Realms from Neutral to War. This is done by Declaring War. Only 1 Realm has to do this, and then war will be declared. However, you can’t declare war with a Realm that is your Ally. In this case, you can’t declare war this same turn. For an ally, you will need to cancel your alliance. It will take one turn to break the first relations, and then you can declare war the next turn. When war is declared, then all Passage Rights and Special Permission will be immediately cancelled between the two realms, and cannot be established while the two realms are enemies.

This step is to change the Acceptance between all Realms. You do this with the Change Acceptance action. This indicates whether you will accept gifts from another Realm (including provinces, transfers and gold sent). If you don’t want their gifts (for whatever reason), then change your Acceptance to No. This happens at this time. A realm could give you a province it is about to lose to try and embroil you in a conflict you want nothing to do with.

This step is to change Passage Rights between all realms. This is not the only way to give permission for a realm to move through your territories. You do this with the Grant Passage Rights or Revoke Passage Rights actions. You can grant or revoke Passage Rights to another realm (but not an enemy realm). If you grant Passage Rights to a realm, then they can move through all of your lands at will. This is potentially hazardous, for should they decide to attack you, they could send out small units through your lands. Next turn, they could declare war, causing all manner of havoc. For a trusted ally, this is useful, as he will be able to retreat into your lands, etc.

This is to change the Special Permission for any provinces you own. For each province, you can indicate which realms will be granted permission to move through it. You do this with the Grant Special Permission, Revoke Special Permission actions. This is to give a realm permission to move through a single province, which is safer than granting full Passage Rights.

This step is to form all new armies. This can only be done by armies and garrisons. For all new armies being formed, they are created now. Each Realm can have only 99 armies. Armies formed can have troops and commanders transferred into them, and can be given orders the same turn they are created.

This step is to form new fleets. This can only be done by fleets and garrisons. For all new fleets being formed, they are created now. Each Realm can have only 99 fleets (these are completely separate from armies). Fleets formed can have troops and commanders transferred into them, and can be given orders the same turn they are created.

At this time, a number of administrative orders are performed, which are:

• Change Retreat Level: This is the Rank that when empty of troops, will cause the unit to retreat in battle (see Ranks & Retreat Level section for more information about Retreat Level).
• Change Defend Fortifications Option: Whether the unit will enter into fortifications and defend them in battles or not.
• Change Marines Option: Whether or not an army will fight as boarders on a fleet or remain below decks during sea battles.
• Change Unit Leader: This changes the commander that is the leader of the unit.

This step is to transfer troops and commanders between units. These are transfers that will happen because the recipient and giving unit are in the same location. These transfers will always succeed, and will happen at this time (prior to any movement happening). Transfers also happen during Movement Events.

This step is to get rid of troops that you do not want. If you don’t want to pay upkeep for commanders or troops, then you can disband or salvage them. Disbanding soldiers or scuttling ships will remove the troop, so you won’t have to pay upkeep that same turn. Salvaging is the same thing, except that you may gain gold from doing this. Salvaging represents taking equipment, horses, etc. from the disbanded troops. To gain salvaged gold from ships, the unit must be in a province (not a sea).

Okay, now that all of the first events are complete, the main part of the turn activities happen. These are called Movement Events. These steps are performed one at a time. After the last step, if there are any more armies or fleets that have orders to perform, then all of the steps in Movement Events will repeat in the same manner. Each time Movement Events happen, this is called a Phase (this is explained better previously in this chapter). This continues in a number of Phases (each phase, movement events happen). After all units have performed all their actions, there will be 1 extra phase, and then Movement Events are complete. For example, an army has orders to March to province A, then March to province B. In the first Phase, all of the steps in Movement Events happen, and occur, and so during Phase 1, the army will march to province A. On Phase 2, the army will move to province B. If more units have actions to perform, then there will be additional Phases. There may be a Phase 3, Phase 4, etc. The steps of Movement Events are:

This step is for each army to prepare the Board Fleet action. You don’t do this if your own fleet will load your army, this is only for a foreign fleet that will do so. A foreign fleet can only load your army if your army performs this action! This will not cause an army to be loaded at this time, but will prepare the army to be loaded later. This action is only needed for boarding a fleet owned by a different realm. This action indicates which realm will be allowed to load the army. Without this action, your army will refuse to board any foreign fleet. When an army will board a fleet, it cannot move that turn (loading/unloading armies is explained better in the Details section).

Your army can be a marine on your ally’s fleet. So long as you have checked the box on your army’s description box so that it says "Board Enemy Ships in Sea Battles" then your soldiers will act on your ally’s ships as marines just as they would work on your own ships.

If your ally chooses to break faith with you, and your soldiers are on his ships, then there will be a battle between your soldiers (and any of your accompanying ships) and his ships (and any of his accompanying soldiers). Generally you would expect the ships to win such an encounter. But if the soldiers win, they could capture some of the ships, and thereby save themselves from drowning.

If you wish to load an army onto your own fleet, this is an action undertaken by your fleet, not your army. You order your fleet to load an army. You don’t need to order the army at all – unless you want your army to board a foreign fleet.

This step is for all armies to be loaded aboard fleets (remember, harbours are not needed for loading/unloading armies). In order for an army to be loaded onto a fleet, these conditions must be met:

• If the fleet is in a province, the army must be in that same province.
• If the fleet is in a sea, the army must be in a province connected to that sea, or loaded aboard a different fleet in that same sea. So, you can also load an army if your fleet is in a sea, and an army is in a province connected to that sea.
• For a foreign army, the army must have performed the Board Foreign Fleet action (this is not relevant if you own both the fleet and army involved).
• In order for an army to be loaded, the fleet must have sufficient storage to contain the army. Otherwise, the army cannot be loaded. For example, if a fleet has 10 storage available, but an army has a Weight of 11, the army cannot be loaded (in this case, the army would have to have a Weight of 10 or less) Foot units weigh one, horse units weigh two.

When an army is loaded, that army will not be able to move any further during the turn (it will have 0 Move-points). The fleet can still move.

Note: A Royal Galleon has Marine Space for 2, and Storage for 2. This does not mean you could put four infantrymen on as marines and two as passengers. You will only get two infantry units on the galleon, and you can set them to marine duties. A trading cog can carry the same amount, but cannot use the troops as marines in battle.

This step is for each fleet to sail 1 location. A fleet can sail between seas and provinces (for a province, this is to sail to the coast and dock ships there). A fleet can only sail to 1 location per phase - a fleet can sail to additional locations in other Phases. (It is important to understand Movement, Move-points and Permission, which are explained in the Details section). For sailing, there are the following conditions:

• A fleet cannot sail from a province to another province; a fleet can only sail out of a province to a connected sea.
• A fleet can only sail to a province if there is a both a City and a Harbour there, and also the fleet has Permission.
• A fleet can also Wait, which is to remain in place for 1 Phase. The first time a fleet waits; there is no Move-point cost. All other times after that, there is a cost of 1 Move-point to do this.
• Sea battles happen with normal cross-border battles. 

A Homeless Fleet is any fleet located in a province, but there is nowhere for the fleet to anchor. This will happen if there is no harbour, or if the province is owned (or conquered) by an enemy. A harbour can be destroyed, and in each case, all fleets there will be Homeless Fleets. Such fleets will flee to any connected sea (a random sea will be chosen). If a fleet flees in this way, it will do so in the next phase (not the current one) and will use up all Move-points, and will not be able to follow any sail orders. If for some reason there is no connected sea, then all ships in the fleet will be scuttled, and a new army will be created to contain all commanders that were in the fleet.

This step is for Sea-battles to be fought. This is a battle between enemy fleets and marines that are in a sea. Fleets are never engaged in battles on land. Sea battles occur according to the Sea-battle System (this is explained in Chapter 6). Enemy ships will be involved in the combat, as well as Marines, which are soldiers in armies loaded aboard the fleets fighting. Whether troops fight as marines depends on the Marines Option of an army, and also the available Marine Capacity of a fleet (this is explained in Chapter 5). Enemy fleets in the same sea will always engage each other in battle. If a fleet retreats from a battle, this will use up all of the fleet’s Move-points and the fleet won’t perform any other actions that turn (including transfers, etc.) The victors of a sea-battle may capture ships lost by enemy fleets. All Sea Battles will be resolved at this time, one by one, until there are no more enemy fleets in the same location. Note that a fleet could retreat from 1 battle, only to find itself in another sea, and have to fight another battle. If a fleet is destroyed in battle, any commanders in the fleet will be transferred to other available fleets (if none are available, the commanders will be lost at sea).

This step is to check all fleets to make sure there is enough Storage available to contain the total weight of all armies loaded aboard. All fleets are checked in this way. A fleet may have insufficient storage if ships are transferred out, discarded, or lost in battle. If a fleet has more weight loaded aboard than storage, then troops will have to abandon ship. If possible, these will be transferred to other fleets you own. If this is not possible, then troops will have to be abandoned at sea. Troops that are heavier and have less value have a tendency to be thrown overboard first, but you will have no control over what you will lose. So, try to make sure you have enough storage to carry your valuable cargos!

This step is for all fleets to perform the Unload Army action. Each fleet can have numerous armies loaded onto it. These armies can be unloaded onto a province (remember, harbours are not needed for loading or unloading armies). When an army is unloaded, it will be placed onto the target province. If this action is performed successfully, then the fleet’s and army’s Move-points will be all used up, and neither unit will be able to move any further for the turn. The conditions for unloading armies are:

• The fleet must be either at the target province, or the fleet must be in a sea connected to the target province.

• If the target province is not an enemy province, then it you must have Permission. Armies can only be unloaded at enemy provinces or provinces that you have Permission for.
• If the unload location is an enemy province, this is an Amphibious Invasion. In this case, whether this action will succeed or not depends on a probability. The chance that the invasion will succeed is the same as the total combat of all soldiers and being unloaded onto the province (for all units attacking the province). For example, if the total combat of all armies being unloaded is 50, so there is a 50% chance of success (if the total combat is 100 or greater, then the invasion will always succeed). If an invasion fails, armies will remain aboard their fleets, and will not disembark. This probability is in effect even if there are no enemies in the target province – sometimes tides and foul weather make it too difficult to unload troops.

• Your fleet can unload more than 1 army, but each army can only be unloaded 1 time per turn. You don’t have to have Move-points to unload, but if you do unload, all Move-points will be used up for both the fleet and army involved.

There is a negative combat modifier for your troops if they unload on a province where there are enemy troops. The modifier will only take effect during the first combat – if you win the first battle, and more enemy troops arrive in a later phase of the same turn, there will be no negative modifier. If you bring in more troops next week, and your enemy attacks at the same time, your troops will not have a negative modifier either, as the province is now owned by you and it is therefore not an amphibious assault.

Note – if there is an empty enemy province you wish to invade, and your enemy marches troops there in the first movement phase, they will meet simultaneously. The enemy will still own the province, so your invasion force will get the negative modifier for an amphibious assault.

This step is for each army to march 1 province for the current Phase. This will only happen if the army meets all conditions for movement (Marching is explained better in Chapter 5). Each army will only march to 1 province at this time (an army can march to additional provinces in other Phases, but an army can only move 1 location per phase). After an army marches, then the Move-point cost is taken from the army’s Move-points. For marching to succeed, there are the following conditions:

• The army must already be in a province (it cannot march from a fleet to a province). If an army is loaded onto a fleet, then the March action will fail.
• Of course, armies can only march between connected provinces - not provinces that are not connected, or to seas. Barriers naturally will prevent movement.
• An army can march to an enemy or independent province, and invade it. If a province does not belong to an enemy, then you must have Permission. If you don’t have Permission, and the province is not enemy-owned or independent, then you will be refused entry. However, if you have been granted Special Permission by an independent territory, you must withdraw that first before you can invade it.
• The army must have enough Move-points to get to the province. One Move-point is not enough to get you into an enemy province. Nor is it enough to get troops into a province you have conquered in the same turn (in an earlier phase).

This is for all armies to change their Defend Fortification option, as they prepare for any battles. This option indicates if an army will enter and defend a fortification if there is a battle in the province. If an army does this, the army will gain a defensive bonus from any fortification. But, if there is a fortification, the army will not be able to retreat from the battle. If the unit is set to not defend fortifications, then it can retreat normally. If there is no fortification, then this option has no effect (the unit will be able to retreat then).

Now, all Cross-border battles happen. This is a battle that happens when 2 or more enemy armies attempt to move into each other’s locations on the same border. This is related to armies marching, and only the units actually moving are involved (garrisons will never be involved in cross-border battles, and neither will fortifications). For example, Province A connects to Province B. Army#1 moves from A to B. An enemy army moves from B to A (this is all happening in the same Phase). These 2 enemy units are moving to each other’s location, so this will cause a cross-border battle to happen, at the border of Provinces A and B. If another army was moving from C to A, that army would not be involved in this battle (only units moving from A to B or from B to A will be involved). You can consider the border a completely separate province for the purposes of this battle, and any unit not on the border will not be involved. So, no fortifications will be involved, and neither will units located in the provinces, or units that were unloaded into the provinces. Cross-border battles are resolved similarly to normal province battles. However, if a unit retreats, it will go back to where it was before it attempted to move. So, in the above example, if Army#1 retreated, it would just move back to Province A. This may cause another battle to happen in the next step (province battles).

Cross-border battles do not affect the immediate movement of the winning army – that force will continue to move to their ordered destination, and may fight another battle when they get there – but if it was ordered to do any more movements, it will not. As for the loser, his army will not be able to successfully complete its ordered move.

This step is to check for all Land Battles to happen. A land battle is a bloody combat between enemy armies (and any garrison, if there is one) in the same province. In the previous steps, all armies have marched 1 location and fought any cross-border battles. Now, land battles will happen in all provinces where there are enemy units. Battles will be fought according to the method explained in Chapter 6. Some important notes about land battles are:

1. Fleets and ships are never involved in land battles.
2. Armies that are not at war will never fight each other. So, if your ally attacks a unit, but you are not at war with that unit, then you will simply watch, and won’t be involved.
3. Independent armies will always consider an intruder an enemy, and will always engage in battles against those who cross their borders. The exception is if you have Special Permission to move into an independent territory, in which case you will be ignored when your forces enter the province.
4. At the end of each round of battle, each army involved may retreat. If an army retreats, then it flees into another province. This will be the province that the army moved from, unless this province has enemy soldiers in it. In this case, the army will retreat to any available province that it can move to. If there are no available provinces to retreat to, then the unit will not retreat, and will instead remain in the battle. When a unit retreats, all Move-points will be used up.
5. Units in cross-border battles will still arrive at normal land battles. They will arrive at the same time as other units that were not in a cross-border battle. Units that retreat from a cross-border battle will return to the province from where they started movement. These units will be involved in any battle in the province they started from (unless they were destroyed in the cross-border battle).
6. You don’t have to destroy the fortifications of a city to conquer the province. You just need to kill off any troops defending it. If there aren’t any, then you conquer the city without damaging it – the city throws open its gates to you! But if there are defenders, it might be very beneficial for you to damage or destroy the defences first.
7. If two attackers in an independent province are hostile towards each other, the battle will be a 3-way battle; each side will attack all the others. His troops may attack you or the other invader. The one he attacks is random, same with everyone else's forces. For example, you have 10 troops, the other invader has 15, then for each unit owned by the independent, there is a 10/25 chance the independent will attack one of your troops, 15/25 chance of attacking the other invader. The same thing for which troops you will attack, etc.
8. At the end of the battle, all survivors will have their Move-points set to 0, and any movement orders you may have given for them will be ignored.

This step is for the ownership of provinces to change. If a province is invaded, and all friendly armies are destroyed or have retreated, then the invaders will now own the province. If a province is invaded by more than one Realm, then the Realm with the greatest number of troops/commanders in the province at this time must have a total combat of at least 10 (which means a lone siege machine cannot conquer a province). If ownership changes, the following happens:

• If the province contains a Harbour, there is 25% chance that the harbour will be destroyed in the looting that follows.
• No realm will have Special Permission with that province.
• If a province changes ownership, then any garrison for that province will now be owned by the new province owner. In this case, any ships in the garrison have a chance of capture (the same chance as normal for the ship). Ships that are captured are gained by the new owner, and will be in the garrison gained by the new owner. Ships that are not captured will be scuttled and destroyed. No soldiers can change sides with a change of garrison – they will all have died or retreated in a previous phase.
• The Damage Level of the province will be increased +1, but this happens during Final events (to a maximum of 1 level increase per turn).

If two or more countries have troops in a province, and the province is to change hands, then it will belong to the country which has the largest total of troops in the province. Eg Denmark and Norway are allies; both move to Flanders, and conquer it. Denmark has eight heavy cavalry, Norway has nine men-at-arms. Norway will get ownership, simply because nine is more than eight. The quality of the troops is irrelevant in determining ownership – quantity rules!

If your province is conquered by another player, and that player doesn’t annex the province, you have only three turns to re-conquer it, before your annexation is automatically cancelled.

This step is to perform all Pillage orders for all armies and garrisons (fleets can’t Pillage). The ownership/annexation of a province does not matter for Pillaging. To Pillage is to seize gold from a province, which can cause devastation to that province (increasing the damage level). The conditions are:

• Each province can only yield revenue 1 time per turn. If a province has already been pillaged this turn (in a previous Phase), then nothing will happen, and no revenue will be gained.
• A unit can only Pillage if it unit has at least 1 Move-point. If a unit has 0 Move-points, it can’t Pillage.
• The unit must be at the location indicated for the action, or it won’t Pillage.
• The Total Combat of all armies pillaging should be checked. This must be at least 10, or an army cannot Pillage (in that case, the army doesn’t have enough strength to steal from the inhabitants).
• You can pillage provinces you own. For foreign provinces, if you have Passage Rights or Special Permission granted by the owner of the province, then you can’t Pillage it. ie you must be at war to pillage another player’s lands, and you can pillage your own lands any time you wish.

If all conditions are met, then the province will be pillaged. This results in:

• Revenue Gained: The revenue of the province will be gained and shared by the Pillaging units (this is explained better in Chapter 5). Pillaging a province will mean that no revenue is gained from taxing that turn.
• Pillaging uses up all Move-points for the unit for the rest of the turn (it takes all turn to scour the countryside for valuables).
• The Damage Level of the province will be increased +1, but this happens during Final Events (to a maximum of 1 level increase per turn).

This step is to check to see if the Movement Events should be repeated. If any unit has Move-points, or can perform valid actions, then Movement Events will repeat. In this case, there will be another Phase (so if the previous Phase was 3, then there will be a Phase 4). After all units have performed all their actions, there will then be 1 extra Phase, and then Movement Events are complete, and then Final Events will happen.

After all the Movement Events are complete, then there are the Final Events. These happen now.

This step is to check to see if the Damage of any province is increased. Damage will occur if:

• Pillage: If the pillage action was successfully performed in the province.
• Ownership Changed: If the ownership of the province changed during Movement Events.
• Province Battles: For each battle that happened in the province, there is a 10% chance that there will be damage (this is not for cross-border battles).

If any of the above events happened, then province damage will be increased +1, to a maximum of 3. The damage can only be increased +1 each turn (if multiple events happened, province damage is still only increased +1).

This step is to perform all Send Gold actions, where you send gold to another realm. There is a cost of 10% of the amount sent, which represent transportation expenses and merchant fees. The recipient garrison can be owned by a foreign realm, or the same realm. To send gold, the conditions are:

• The receiving realm must have Acceptance of Yes.

• Your realm must be able to draw a chain of connected locations from one of your garrisons to the foreign garrison. The connected locations can be provinces or seas. To use a sea, there must be ONLY 1 sea between provinces. There cannot be 2 seas (a province, then sea, then province is ok, but a sea, then sea would fail). A province can only be used if you have Permission for that province. Any available route will be used to send the funds. However, if there is no such link between one of your garrisons to the foreign garrison, then the gold cannot be sent.

This step is to pay the upkeep costs for your commanders, soldiers and ships. Commanders gain upkeep first. Gold used for upkeep will be lost. If there is not enough upkeep, you don’t necessarily lose half your
troops, but each troop not receiving full upkeep has a 50% chance of being lost.  So, you could lose half, or less than half, based on the chance of each troop.

This is for all soldiers recruited and all ships built to be placed onto their garrisons. If there are not enough funds to build a type of troop, then the number to be built will be reduced to what you can afford. If the province you were building in is conquered by another nation, you will not be able to build there. If your province is attacked, but you successfully defend it, then you will be able to build troops there.

Remember that your HQ is not always precise in determining exactly how much surplus gold you have. If you have a surplus of two gold when you send your turn on, you can be confident that all of your purchases will succeed.

This step is for garrisons to hire commanders (only garrisons can do this). The conditions for this action are:

• A garrison can do this only 1 time per turn.
• There must be City in the province with the garrison, and your realm must have the gold required to hire a commander.
• Your realm must not have the maximum commanders. Royalty players can have up to 5 commanders, while commoners may have none.

If the garrison meets all conditions, then a new commander will be hired. This individual will have ratings in different skills, some commanders have higher ratings than others (you may get a highly skilled individual, or you may get an amateur). Commanders will improve their skills from successful battles.

Remember that your HQ is not always precise in determining exactly how much surplus gold you have. If you have a surplus of two gold when you send your turn on, you can be confident that all of your purchases will succeed.

When a province changes ownership, it will remain annexed to the realm that it was previously annexed to. However, if the ownership of a province is different than the annexation, then the province will not yield revenue. In addition, if this continues for 3 turns, then the province will become annexed to independents. This represents the decline and wasting away of the officials and infrastructure previously organized there. So, if you lose an annexed province, try to recapture it in a few turns, because after 3 turns it will no longer be annexed to you (if you recaptured it after a long period, you would have to annex it again).

This step is for all structures to be built or repaired. These activities include building/upgrading/repairing fortifications, as well as building production areas and harbours. The conditions for construction are:

• The unit must have successfully performed the Construction Action during First Events. That uses up the Move-points for armies.

• There is a cost in materials for performing construction, a unit must have all of the gold available now (these can be gained by transfers or buying gold previously in turn events). These will now be used up by the construction action. This is usually 14 gold.
• There is a requirement of workers required to build each type of structure. A worker is a soldier. If there are not enough workers, then the construction will fail. Workers will be used up for each raze action. This is usually 3 soldiers.

• For a garrison, the province must not have changed ownership.
• For an army, the army must not have retreated or moved from where it was during First Events (including being loaded or unloaded).

• You must have permission for the province (annexation and ownership doesn’t matter). But, if you build in someone else’s province, they will own whatever you build there.

• For building/upgrading fortifications, each province can have its Fortification Level increased only once per turn. Also, you can’t build more than the maximum fortification level (12).
• For building/upgrading fortifications, and constructing harbours, there must be a soldier in the unit (this is not necessary for repairing fortifications).
• Each fortification can be repaired only one level per turn.

For a unit that meets all conditions, the unit will now perform construction.

A province could have it’s fortification level go up twice in one turn, but only if it has damaged fortifications that are left in peace for the turn, and you decide to build another level of fortification at the same time. Eg Your Fort is level 2, but it has suffered a little damage and is currently on Level One. The damage will repair automatically because the province is not attacked that turn, and because you’ve ordered 3 soldiers to build there that turn, it will be on Level Three at the start of the next turn.

This step is for any gold left in your treasury to decay. At this time, 7% of the gold in your treasury will now decay, which represents pilfering, and frivolous expenses by your ruler as he lives the high life.

This step is to raze a structure in a province; a harbour, production area, or fortification level. Only armies and garrisons can do this. Gold can be salvaged from razing, which is indicated for each structure type. The conditions for razing are:

• There is a requirement of workers required to raze each type of structure. A worker is a soldier. If there are not enough workers, then the construction will fail. Workers will be used up for each raze action. For example, the unit with 11 workers will raze 3 production areas, and each one has a requirement of 5 workers. The first one is razed, leaving 11-5=6 workers. The next one is razed, leaving 6-5=1 workers. The unit does not have enough to raze the last one, so it won’t be razed.

• For Armies performing this action, the Army must have successfully performed the Construction Action during First Events. This would have used up all of the Move-points of the Army.
• For an army, the army must not have retreated or moved from where it was during First Events (including being loaded or unloaded).

• For a garrison, the province must not have changed ownership.

• You must own a province to raze structures there (annexation doesn’t matter).
• For razing fortifications, you can raze more than 1 level, but a maximum of four levels can be razed each turn. More than 1 unit can raze fortification levels, but no more than this amount can be destroyed in a single turn, due to the intense labour required.

If a unit meets all conditions, then the structure will be razed. Any materials gained will be placed into the storage of the unit (these won’t decay, because of course decay happened previously). A unit can raze more than 1 structure, and if it has orders to do this, it will raze the first structure, then the next one, if possible.

This step is for all provinces to yield revenue to your main treasury. Province income is explained better in Chapter 5. The conditions for producing revenue are:

• A province will only yield income directly to your treasury if you own it and it is annexed to you. Provinces that are not annexed do not yield any revenue (also, a province does not yield revenue the same turn it is annexed). If the province is owned by one player, and annexed to another, nobody will receive the revenue.
• A province will not yield revenue the same turn that it changes ownership (there is too much disorganization across the countryside of that province).
• A province yields revenue only 1 time each turn. A province will not deliver any revenue if it was pillaged that turn (this happens during Movement Events). This is because the revenue has already been seized by another force.

At this time, all provinces will deliver their revenues (which the inhabitants have worked hard all season long to produce).

This step is to transfer the ownership of provinces between Realms. On the Diploware, you can give another realm a province you own. In order for this to happen, the following conditions must be met:

• The recipient realm (the realm to receive the province) must have Acceptance of Yes with your realm.

• The recipient realm must have a soldier or ship in the province, or in a connected province or connected sea. This represents a token force that is needed to accept the gift and install some basic infrastructure in the province.
• Only two provinces may be gifted per turn per player.

When ownership is changed, this won’t change the annexation of the province, and will also not affect any fortifications or harbour in the province (which will become owned by the recipient realm). Any garrison owned by the old owner will have all troops transferred into new units. So, you can’t use this to give away troops to another realm.

This step is for the revenue to be gained from any Proclamation that you made. When you make a proclamation, this will increase your prestige, resulting in extra production by your followers. Accordingly, you will earn 7 gold, which is placed into your treasury. In order to gain the revenue, the proclamation must be suitable, as explained in Chapter 5. Your population does not want to hear vulgarities, which may invoke divine wrath in this superstitious age - and some superstitions are real, for the GM is reading...

This step is to repair the damage level of provinces. Damage represents destruction that occurs to crops, population centres, bridges, etc. that reduces the revenue you can gain from a province. Each province has damage from none (undamaged) to 3 (heavily devastated). The damage level is increased at the beginning of Final Events (this happens from pillaging, battles, etc.) Damage is only repaired 1 level per turn. For damage to be repaired:

• The Province must not have changed ownership during the turn.
• There must not have been a battle in the province this turn (cross-border battles have no effect).

• The Province must not have increased damage this turn (from pillaging, etc.)

For provinces that meet these conditions, damage will be repaired 1 level at this time (this happens automatically). This step happens after revenues are gained of course, so revenues will be based on the damage level before damage is repaired.

This step is to establish peace treaties between Realms. If 2 Realms are at war, they can attempt to establish a peace treaty. This will only succeed if both Realms offered peace to each other. If this happens, then they will now be neutral. Otherwise, they will remain enemies.

This step is to cancel alliances. If 2 Realms have an alliance, then either Realm can cancel it. Only 1 Realm needs to do this, and then the alliance will be cancelled. If this happens, then they will now be neutral.

This step is to form an alliance with another Realm. If 2 Realms are neutral, then they can establish an alliance. Both Realms will need to offer each other an alliance. If this happens, then an alliance will be formed between them. Otherwise, nothing will happen. You can’t offer an alliance if you're at war. So, you can’t move from enemies to allies in the same turn, because that would take 2 turns (the first is to gain peace, and then next is to form the alliance).

Each ruler has limited prestige. A ruler’s personal prestige is vital to retaining followers and maintaining authority over the populace. Commoner status represents an undistinguished individual, of unremarkable qualities and bloodline, who is less able to gather a large following in his pursuit of empire. Royalty status represents a battle-tested ruler of royal bloodline, with great charisma, leadership, and other traits that mark a distinguished warlord. One gains this eminent status by simply contributing his GM fee, which is a modest donation that helps the GM with running the game. A ruler with Royalty status can control a larger realm and retain the loyalty of a greater number of followers than a ruler that is a Commoner. The limits are the following:

• Commanders: If a realm has more commanders than are permitted, then 1 commander will resign at this time. Commoners may not have any commanders, while Royalty can have up to 5 commanders.

• Annexed Provinces: If a realm has more annexed provinces than are permitted, then 1 will become annexed to local forces. This does not affect the number of provinces you own, only the provinces that are annexed to you. Rulers that are Royalty can have up to 70 provinces annexed. Rulers that are commoners can have only 7 provinces annexed.

This is the last step. If there is a Realm that does not own any provinces or troops, then it is defeated. A Realm needs to have at least 1 province or 1 troop, or it will be removed from the game. In this case, all remaining forces revert to independent status.

At this point, Turn Events are complete. Now, each player will be sent his new turn, and can load it into his Diploware, to see the results of the game

Here are a number of concepts that are useful to know about, as well as details about how things work.

This represents currency, precious metals, jewels and other portable items of wealth. You can send gold to another realm for diplomatic purposes. Gold is a common item used for recruiting troops, paying upkeep, etc. You gain gold by owning annexed provinces, or pillaging a province (you don’t need to own it to do that). You can also gain gold from making a proclamation.

For construction activities (like building or razing a fortification, etc.), you need gold and workers. A worker is a soldier. So, if a structure needed 3 workers to build, your unit would need to have at least 3 soldiers to build it.

You can see the total combat of a unit on the Location Report or Unit Plan (click on the status button). You can also see the total combat on the location report. This is the total Combat of all troops and commanders in a unit, added together. Each soldier and ship has a combat rating. Most troops have just 1 attack, but some troops may have more than 1 attack (the Attack is the number of times it can cause damage each round of battle). The total combat of a troop is the attacks multiplied by the combat. The total combat of a unit is the total combat of all troops. For example, a soldier with 2 attacks, and a combat of 35, would add (2*35) =70 to the total combat of the unit. In battle, this soldier type would have 2 chances to cause 1 damage each round of combat, and each chance would have a 35% chance of success.

All types of units can also be involved in battles. A battle is a conflict between 2 or more enemy units in the same location (units owned by realms with relations of war). Battles can occur on land, which only involve soldiers, or at sea, which involve both soldiers and ships. You don’t need to know all details about battles if you are just starting out, but some important notes are:

• When planning an invasion, compare the total combat and total hit points of your forces against the enemy’s (including allies of each side). This is shown on the Location Report. This will give you a rough idea of the fighting strength of each side. If you bring stronger forces to the field than your enemy, you will probably be triumphant.
• Concentrate your forces together when attacking. The more troops you have, the quicker you will wipe out the enemy. The fewer the rounds of battle, the less damage your forces will sustain.
• For sea battles, having armies set to fight as marines will increase your strength.
• For land battles, be aware of the Defend Fortifications option. Note that fortifications will add strength to the defenders, but a defender of a fortification cannot retreat. Also, siege weapons can cause damage to fortifications. The more damage a fortification has the less benefit it gives to defenders.
• Ships can be anchored in provinces, but are never involved in land battles.
• Put the troops you want to take as casualties in the lower ranks (like Rank #1) and the troops you don’t want to lose in your higher numbered ranks (like Rank#5). Troops fight the same no matter what rank they are in. Ranks allow you to determine which troops will be taken as casualties.

There are 3 types of units in the game: Armies, Fleets, and Garrisons. Each unit has a number of troops and/or commanders. Each realm controls a number of units, which can be issued different orders. A brief description of each unit type is:

1. Armies: These are mobile groups of soldiers, which can march from one province to another, and invade enemy provinces. In addition, an army can be loaded onto a fleet, and transported across seas, and unloaded onto coastal provinces.
2. Fleets: These are mobile groups of ships, which can have armies loaded aboard. Fleets can sail through seas, or be anchored at provinces with a harbour.
3. Garrisons: These are similar to armies, but cannot move. This represents a unit tied to a particular location, with orders to remain there and attempt to control the surrounding lands. Any province that has a City and/or fortification will have a garrison. Garrisons will always defend their province, and will never retreat in battle. Unlike other units, garrisons can contain both soldiers and Ships in it. However, a garrison can only contain ships if the province has a City and a harbour.

There are 2 types of Troops in the game: Soldiers and Ships. You can examine the statistics of any troop type from the Location Report, or the Unit Plan. A Soldier represents a formation of armed men that can be placed into armies, such as a regiment of swordsmen. A Ship represents a group of sea-going vessels with crews that are placed into fleets or garrisons, such as a squadron of Longships and their crews. Each type of troop has different ratings and statistics. Note that to make things easier to understand, ships are also referred to as troops, as they include their crews and vessels. Also, referring to a soldier really means a formation of 200 men or more (peasants may represent 400 individuals, while heavy cavalry may represent 100 individuals, etc.) Important notes about troops are:

• Combat: This is the percentage chance that the troop type will cause damage during each round of battle. Damage means severely mauling an enemy troop in battle. For example, a troop with a Combat of 50 would have a 50% chance of causing damage each round of battle. There are modifiers to combat (this is explained in Chapter 6). Most troops have only 1 attack (an attack can only cause 1 damage each round). However, some troops may have more than 1 attack. So, a troop with 2 attacks, and a combat of 80, would have 2 attempts to cause 1 damage each round of battle, and each attempt would have an 80% chance of success, so it could causeup to 2 hits of damage; and one that had a combat of 25 would have 2 attempts to cause damage, and each attempt would have a 25% chance of success.

• Hit-points: This is the Constitution of a troop, and represents the damage it can take before it will be destroyed. For example, if a troop has 3 Hit-points, it will take 3 damage to destroy the troop. A troop defended by a fortification may gain a bonus to its Hit-points (depending on the fortification level). A troop that has taken injuries in battle may disband at the battle’s end.
• Cost: This is the cost in gold and materials used to build the troop type, and are different for each type of troop. Heavily armoured troops will usually require iron, mounted troops will require horses, etc. You may also be able to gain gold by disbanding some types of troops (like disbanding cavalry may yield horses, etc.)
• Upkeep: This is the cost in Gold needed to feed and maintain the troop type each turn. For troops that do not receive their upkeep, If there is not enough upkeep, you dont necessarily lose half your troops, but each troop not receiving full upkeep has a 50% chance of being lost.  So, you could lose half, or less than half, based on the chance of each troop.
• Move-points: This is the number of Move-points that the troop has. The troops in an army will determine how many Move-points the army has to move into provinces (the troop with the least Move-points will be the Move-points of the army).

• Troop Capture Chance: There are various types of towed structures (such as Siege Machines) that can be captured by the enemy, which happens after a battle (only a troop taken as a casualty can be captured by the enemy). Only the victorious units in a battle will capture troops.

• Weight: This is only for soldiers, and is the storage space required by the troop in order to be loaded aboard a fleet, and each soldier has a different weight. Of course, the weight of soldiers has no effect for army movement. As a general rule of thumb, foot soldiers weigh one, siege machines and horse units weigh two.

• Siege power: This is only for soldiers, and is the ability of a troop to cause damage to Fortifications. The more damage a fortification has the less defensive benefit it gives to defenders.

• Storage: This is only for ships, and is the storage space available in the ship, which is used to contain armies loaded aboard, as well as gold stowed aboard a fleet.
• Marine Capacity: This is only for ships. Each ship type has fighting space for marines. These will be soldiers in armies that are loaded aboard a fleet. Soldiers can be assigned as marines, and will fight as boarders and missile-troops in sea battles. The total Marine Capacity of a fleet is the Marine Capacity of all ships in the fleet added together.

To recruit troops, go to the map screen and click on a garrison unit in the bottom section. Then go to "available orders" (bottom right side of screen) and select "recruit soldiers". A box will appear, showing you the limit of the province; it might say 0/13. This means you have recruited none, and can build up to 13 this turn. If you recruit two units, it will change to 2/11 (built two, can build eleven more). Pay attention to the price of your units. Make sure you don’t try to build what you can’t afford. The maximum number of troops you are allowed to build is equal to the maximum resource value for the city, as displayed on the map.

The troops you recruit will not be available to you immediately. You are simply ordering them to be recruited. If you can afford them, they will appear where you requested them in your next turnfile.

If you wish to build different kinds of troops than those currently available to you, then conquer cities in different regions, and see what you can build there. A list is not available here of what can be built in each city, as it has been left as a pleasant surprise for you to find out as you play.

When your troops are built, they will be in a garrison. To move them, you will have to put them into an army. If there is no army to transfer them into, click on the garrison, then go to "available orders" (bottom right of map screen) and select "form new unit", then click on the garrison and transfer the troops across to the new unit.

Commanders are skilled generals that can be assigned to lead units. A commander will give valuable bonuses to troops in battle. Some important notes about commanders are:

• Siegecraft: Each commander has a Siegecraft rating from 0 to 100. A leader’s Siegecraft will affect the performance of siege machines in the unit (this is explained better in Chapter 6). Siegecraft can be increased from battles where the leader has caused damage to enemy fortifications.

• Tactics: Each commander has a rating in 3 types of Tactics: Infantry Tactics, Cavalry Tactics, and Naval Tactics. A leader’s tactics ratings will affect the performance of the troops under his command. For example, a leader with a high Naval Tactics will give a bonus to ships in sea-battles. A commander’s Tactics ratings can be increased by victory in battle.

• Assigned Unit: Each commander is always assigned to a unit you own (an army, fleet, or garrison). You can transfer commanders to other units you own, but not to foreign units.
• Leader: Each unit can only have 1 leader (although multiple commanders can be in the same unit). Only the leader will give bonuses to the unit in battle. Other commanders in a unit that are not the leader do not give any tactics bonuses.
• Combat: Commanders have hit points of 0.5, and combat of 5. This represents the small combat ability of each commander’s personal guard. In a battle, commanders will always retreat if they are still alive, and there are no more troops in the unit. However, commanders can be taken as casualties like any other troop, and will be lost if this happens. Commanders will always be taken last as a casualty.
• Hiring Commanders: Commanders can be hired by garrisons when there is a City in the same location as the garrison. The cost is different for each City. The commander you get is unpredictable; some may have the skills you desire, while others you hire may be lacklustre.

Fortifications are walled, defensible structures, which can be manned by defenders in time of war. Each province may have a fortification, which gives a defensive bonus to troops defending the province. These structures can be built, upgraded, or razed. The statistics for each fortification level can be seen by examining it from the map menu (go to the Location Report for any location, then click Study, and then select the fortification there). All of the fortifications can be built by any of the players – castles are not restricted to Western nations. Some important notes about fortifications are:

• Fortification Level: There are a number of levels of fortification. Higher level fortifications give greater defensive benefits to defending troops. A fortification can be upgraded to a higher level, or razed to a lower level (or razed to the ground). The highest fortification level is 12, and this can be achieved in any province, if you’re prepared to keep building. You may upgrade only one level per turn, if you have the troops and gold available.
• Build Costs: Each fortification has different costs to build, in gold and workers. Also, you can gain materials from razing a fortification (salvaging some of the materials used to build it).
• Actual Fort Level: The actual fort level of a province is the level of the fortification, minus the fortification damage. For example, there is a fortification with level 5, which has level 2 damage. The actual fort level will therefore be: 5-2=3, so the actual fort level is 3. Troops will gain a defensive bonus as if the fort level was 3 (not 5).
• Barracks Space: Each fortification has Barracks Space. This is the maximum number of troops that will gain the defensive bonus in battles. For example, if there was 20 barracks space, then only 20 troops would gain the fortification bonus in battle. If there were 30 soldiers, then only 20 will gain the fortification bonus, the other 10 will not, unless some of the 20 get killed, in which case the other troops will fill up the spots in the barracks, thus gaining the fortification bonus.
• Combat Bonus: Each type of fortification has a Combat Bonus. This represents the increased combat ability of defending troops (troops defending walls are more effective against troops attempting to storm the walls). This increases the chance of defending troops to cause damage to the enemy in a battle. There is a different strike bonus for Infantry and for Cavalry. For example, if the strike bonus was 50 for Infantry, then archers would gain +50% to their normal strike (so a strike of 30 would be increased to 45). The maximum number of troops that gain the Combat Bonus each round depends on the Barracks Space. For example, if the barracks space was 40, and there were 40 defenders or less, all defenders would gain the bonus. If there were 50 defenders, each would have a 40/50 chance of gaining the combat bonus. As fortified troops are killed in a battle, their bonus is given to previously unfortified troops.

• Hit-points Bonus: Each type of fortification has a Hit-points Bonus. This represents the defensive ability of fortifications (troops behind walls are more difficult to kill). This increases the Hit-points of defending troops. There is a different Hit-points bonus for Infantry and cavalry. For example, if the Hit-points bonus was 1.5 for Foot Troops, then Light Infantry with normal Hit-points of 1 would have their Hit-points increased to 1+1.5=2.5. The maximum number of troops that gain the Hit-points bonus per battle depends on the Barracks Space. The hit point bonus to troops defending a fortification is assigned
  randomly.  So, if you have more troops defending than barracks space available, a troop lost may not gain the hit point bonus (but the combat bonus is always gained each round).

If you conquer a fortified province, and wish to quickly rebuild it, you can do so in two ways. Firstly, if the province is peaceful for the turn, the fortifications will automatically repair, free of charge, by one level per turn. You can also use some troops and gold to build one level of fortification each turn. Eg I reduced the level 2 hillfort to defence level 0. The study view shows that it requires 3 workers and 14 gold to raise the fortification level by one. I have three soldiers in the province, so I order an increase in level to level 3.

The fortifications will repair one level per turn automatically, for no cost, so long as the province is not attacked while repairs are in progress. Repair only happens if there is no battle in a province during a turn, and no pillaging. If all is peaceful, I should have a level 2 fortification next turn. The turn after that, if I build fortifications again, the fortification level will reach four: +1 due to building, +1 automatic repair if peaceful.

Fleets have Storage and Weight ratings that affect the fleet’s ability to move. Storage represents the ability to carry things. For example, a fleet has ships with cargo holds. Weight represents the mass, bulkiness and difficulty of carrying a type of troops. Each ship has a different storage. For fleets, the total storage is the storage of all ships added together. If a fleet has more weight than storage capacity, then the fleet will have to dump excess soldiers overboard, until there is enough storage to contain the total weight of all troops loaded aboard. You cannot load an army onto a fleet if the weight of the army is 50% more than the storage of the fleet. But, you can perform transfers between fleets regardless of how this will affect the weight stowed aboard the fleet. But be careful, if a fleet has less storage space than weight (this can happen if a fleet loses ships in a battle or transfers ships out of the fleet), this will cause soldiers to have to be thrown overboard! Commanders have no weight, so this is not a worry for them.

Infantry have a weight of one. Horse units and siege machines have a weight of two.

A Harbour is a port area in a province where ships can be docked. These are structures that can be built by players for a cost in gold. Harbours are only used for building ships, and for docking a fleet at a province. You do not need a harbour to land your troops amphibiously on a province, or load them from a province. Some provinces have no coastline, either because they are landlocked, or the coast has a barrier. A harbour on such a province has no purpose whatsoever. When a province is captured, there is a small chance that any harbour there will be destroyed in the looting that follows. You can also destroy a harbour if you wish. A harbour can only be located on a province that has a suitable coastline (connected to at least one sea), and also has a City. If a province has a harbour, then fleets can be moved onto that province (otherwise, they cannot).

Warning: Do not keep your fleet in harbour, unless the province is well guarded. If an enemy took possession of the province, all the ships would be scuttled, and some might even be captured by him!

Permission means that an army has been granted the right to move through a province (you don’t need this to invade an enemy province. You have permission if you meet one of these conditions:

• You own the province.
• You have been granted Passage Rights by the owner of the province.
• Your realm has Special Permission to move through the province (this can be granted by players, or gained from independent provinces).

To give or receive Permission, you can do the following:

• Grant or revoke Passage Rights to another realm.
• Grant or revoke Special Permission to move through a single province.

Armies and Fleets can perform movement, which is travelling from 1 location to another. Armies can only march between provinces of course, while fleets can sail between seas or between a sea and a province (sailing to a province represents docking at a harbour there). Each unit has a limited amount of Move-points, which are used for movement, as well as other activities. For movement, the following rules apply:

• Move-points: The number of locations that a unit can move to is limited. This depends on the Move-points that the unit has. The unit must have enough remaining Move-points to pay the move cost, or the move will fail.

• Locations Must Be Adjacent: A unit can only move to a location that is connected to the unit’s current location. Barriers prevent movement of course.
• Permission: You can declare war on a realm, and then invade that same turn. To move into an enemy province, you don’t need permission (but don’t forget to make the declaration of war). However, for a province not owned by an enemy, you must have Permission. Without permission, attempting to move to a non-enemy province will fail, as your forces will be refused entry.

Note: the Diploware will allow you to order moves that won’t succeed. It will allow you to order your troops to march through six territories – even though the most Move-points you can possibly have is four! It is up to you to understand what the rules will allow your troops to succeed in doing in your turn.

Both armies and fleets have Move-points (garrisons can’t move of course). Each unit begins each turn with a number of Move-points. For fleets, this is the ship type in the fleet with the least amount of Move-points. For armies, this is the troop type in the army with the least amount of Move-points. For example, Army#2 has a soldier type with 2 Move-points and another soldier type with 3 Move-points in it. The Army will then begin the turn with 2 Move-points (because this is the troop type with the least amount of Move-points). Move-points are used to perform orders by armies and fleets, and are used in the following ways:

• Sailing: This is only for fleets. For sailing, the Move-point cost is always 1 Move-point. You can sail to seas or to provinces (this represents docking at a harbour there). You can only sail to a province if there is a harbour and City there, and also you have permission.
• Marching: This is only for armies. An army can only march to a province connected to the army’s current location. The Move-point cost of a province is either 1 or 2. This depends on the following.

1. If you have Permission, and the province has not changed ownership during the turn, then the Move Cost is 1.
2. If it is an enemy province, then the Move Cost is 2. If you only have one Move-point left, it is not enough to get you into an enemy territory.
3. If the province has changed ownership during the turn, then the Move Cost is 2 for the rest of that turn (no matter who owns it and this lasts until the end of the turn). This represents the chaos and disorder of a province after it has been captured, with burned bridges, confusion and refugees on the roads, etc.

• Waiting: A unit can Wait, which is to simply hold position in the same location for 1 Phase (Phases are explained in Chapter 4). The first time a unit waits, there is no move cost. All other times, the move cost for waiting is 1. This is useful for coordinating movement with your other units or your allies.

• Other actions: Some actions use up all of an army’s Move-points, causing them to be 0. These are:

1. Building or destroying any structure (Harbour, Fortification, or Production Area)
2. Repairing a Fortification
3. Pillaging
4. Preparing to Board a foreign fleet

• Battle: Battles that happen on friendly territory do not use additional move points. Battles that happen on foreign soil use all move points. Therefore, there is no move cost for a cross-border battle, or a battle that occurs on friendly or neutral territory.
• Army Loading/Unloading: When an army is unloaded from a fleet, or loaded onto a fleet, that army will use all its Move-points.
• Fleet Unloading: When a fleet unloads an army, that fleet will use all its Move-points. But, there is no cost for loading armies.
• Sailing to a Province: If a fleet moves into a province, then the fleet will dock its vessels, and will use all its Move-points. But, the cost for moving from a province to a sea is just 1.

When you conquer a territory, you won’t be able to travel through it for one Move-point until next turn. Neither will any other player – once a province has been conquered by a player, anyone trying to move troops into that province will have to use two Move-points.

JB: Pay attention to that! Only the provinces that started the turn under your control (and those provinces you had permission to move through at the start of the turn) will allow you to move through for just one Move-point. Moving through two consecutive enemy territories will now work only if your units have four Move-points.

Your army will lose all its Move-points if it is attacked by another player’s troops, unless this happens in your own territory.

An army, "The Royal Lions" has 2 types of Soldiers, Cavalry and Infantry. Cavalry have 3 Move-points, but Infantry only have 2 Move-points. At the beginning of the turn, the army will have only 2 Move-points (the same as the slowest troop type in the army). This army transfers all of the Infantry into a different army. Now, The Royal Lions will have 3 Move-points (because all of the slow troops are gone). The army moves into a province owned by the same realm, thus using 1 Move-point, so the army will have 3-1=2 Move-points remaining. Now, the army moves into an enemy province, for a cost of 2 Move-points. The army will now have 2-2=0 Move-points remaining, so it can’t move any farther in the turn. Example 2: Army A has Cavalry and Infantry. Army A moves through two friendly provinces, using 2 Move-points. Army A then transfers all infantry to Army B. Army A will now have (3-2) =1 Move-point to move. Army B will have 0 Move-points, as the infantry received had used up all movement before being transferred.

Another example:

I have 2 armies that I want to invade with. One army is next to the target province, but the other army is 2 provinces away. What should I do to make sure they both attack at the same time?

I need to have my infantry army hold position on Phase#1, and then attack on Phase#2. I need to have my cavalry army move 1 location on Phase#1, and then attack on Phase#2. This is what will happen:

Phase 1: Infantry stays where it is (no cost), Cavalry moves (cost of 1)

Phase 2: Infantry army attacks (2 move points used), Cavalry attacks (2 move points used), and both will be in the battle.

As a footnote, I could transfer troops before the battle, during Phase#2. But, if I move and then transfer, the receiving army will have the used move points of the giving army! So, I won’t do that. Also, as another footnote, to transfer troops, both units need to be at the same location at the same time, or the action will fail.

A final example:

Aquitaine has moved troops to the French border. The Aquitaine army can move to two French provinces. The French have one army that could stop it. How can they guard both regions? One way is to stay still and hope the Aquitainians run into you. Or move to the other province. Either way gives you a 50% chance of successfully hitting the enemy army. You could march to the other province, and then march back, but if the enemy has moved to the original province, then you will have used one Move-point already, and it will now cost you 2 Move-points to return to your original province, and unless your whole army is made up of cavalry, you won’t be able to do this. The certain way is to hold position for a phase, then move to the other province. This way, you have a 50% chance of him running into your army, but if not, then you can be certain of hitting your foe in the other province, and you haven’t used any Move-points, so you will be able to expend the required 2 Move-points to get to the other province. The only problem with this strategy is that your foe will have invaded the other province, which will result in a little less income for you, even if you recover the province during the same turn. The best option is to know where your foe is going, and to know that you will need to have another player as a spy, within his confidence. It can be done!

You will increase the size of your domain by invading enemy provinces and conquering them. You can invade independent provinces without declaring war. To invade provinces owned by another realm, you need to be at war. If you are not at war with a realm, you can only move through its lands if you have Permission. Your forces will never attack neutral or allied forces. As a note, the turn after you invade, you should annex all provinces if possible, and build as many production areas as possible if you intend on holding the province. Provinces only yield revenue if you have annexed them, and this investment will pay for itself many times over during the course of the game.

If two attackers in an independent province are hostile towards each other, the battle will be a 3-way battle; each side will attack all the others. The independent’s troops may attack you or the other invader. The one he attacks is random, same with everyone else's forces. For example, you have 10 troops, the other invader has 15, then for each unit owned by the independent, there is a 10/25 chance the independent will attack one of your troops, 15/25 chance of attacking the other invader. The same thing for which troops you will attack, etc.

At the end of a battle, all surviving troops will have 0 Move-points. If you invade an enemy territory and there are no enemy starships there, you may still have Move-points left eg: A Nomad has 4 Move-points. He spends 2 Move-points going to an enemy territory. If there are no enemy starships there, he still has 2 Move-points left, and can make another move. If there is an enemy peasant in the first sector he invades, however, and the Nomad eliminates the peasant, the Nomad will not be able to move any further – he has fought a battle, and his Move-points will be set to 0. Exception: Move is not lost for battles fought in your own territory.

An amphibious invasion is when you unload your army onto an enemy province. This is not when unloading an army onto a Province where you have permission - it is only for enemy provinces. An amphibious Invasion has a chance of failure, which represents the difficulty of forcing a landing on an enemy province, when the invasion may be foiled by even light resistance, unfavourable tides or foul weather, etc. If an amphibious invasion fails, then troops will remain loaded aboard their fleets (no troops will be lost). An amphibious invasion’s success depends on the total combat of all forces that are being unloaded (Total Combat is explained in Chapter 3). Add the total combat of all soldiers in all armies being unloaded, and this will be the chance of success (this is the normal combat of all soldiers, without any modifiers). For example, the total troops in all armies being unloaded, amounts to 3 soldiers, and each have a combat of 20 (and each has 1 damage chance). The chance of success will therefore be 3*20=60, so the invasion has a 60% chance of success. An army with 5 soldiers, each with a combat of 25, would have a 5*125=125% chance of success (the invasion would always succeed).

Remember that each activity has different rules, and happens in a specific order during turn events. Each activity and the order in which it happens is explained in Chapter 4. Please note that turn events happen in Phases. This is important for coordinating the actions of your units, and in planning joint actions with your allies. It’s best to invade enemy provinces with your units at the same time, so all your combat power is concentrated at the enemy in 1 battle (the quicker you wipe out the enemy, the fewer casualties you will sustain). You can coordinate a cavalry army with an infantry army by having the infantry army wait 1 Phase, while the cavalry army moves next to the target province (the first time you wait, there is not move cost). Then, both units can invade at the same time (having the units invade on different phases can be a disadvantage for you in battles). For example, if your forces are all together, then they may be able to kill the enemy in 1 round of battle. In this case you will suffer less rounds of damage from the enemy (if your enemy lingered for 3 rounds, he could cause many more casualties to your force.)

Note: A movement phase is not regulated by the Move-point cost. All one Move-point orders happen at the same time as the two Move-point orders. The first order happens in the first phase, whether it costs one Move-point, two Move-points or zero Move-points!

To coordinate one or more armies, you need to think in Phases. Where will army A be in phase one, Phase two, Phase three; where will army B be in Phase one, Phase two, Phase three, etc. You can check this up in the "Main Plans" of you diploware.

You can load armies onto fleets, and also unload them. Harbours are not needed for loading or unloading; you can do this without regard to harbours by being in a connected sea (or the fleet can be in the same location). For loading and unloading armies, the following rules apply:

• Loading in a Province: If the fleet is in a province, and wants to load an army, then the army must be in that same province (a fleet in a province cannot load an army in a different location).
• Loading from a Sea: If your fleet is in a sea, then it can load an army from any connected province, and can also load an army in that sea (such an army would be loaded onto a different fleet). So, you can switch fleets that an army is loaded on with this order.

• Storage Requirement: In order for an army to be loaded onto a fleet, the fleet must have sufficient storage to contain the army. Otherwise, the army cannot be loaded. For example, if a fleet has 10 storage available, but an army has a Weight of 11, the army cannot be loaded (in this case, the army would have to have a Weight of 10 or less for the fleet to be able to load it)

• Army Move-points Used: An army cannot move the turn it is being loaded or unloaded. If an army moves, it can’t be loaded. If an army is unloaded, then it can’t move that turn. So, your army can’t march, and then board a fleet.
• Loading Foreign Armies: You can load your own armies, and also foreign armies. A foreign army must issue the Board Foreign Fleet order, and indicate your realm (your units don’t need to do this). If a foreign army does not issue the Board Foreign Fleet order, then it will refuse to board any foreign fleets (when loading your armies, just ignore the Board Foreign Fleet order).
• Amphibious Invasions: A fleet can also unload an army onto an enemy province. This is an Amphibious Invasion, which has special rules (as explained later in this chapter).
• Move-point Cost for Unloading: When a fleet unloads an army, this will use all Move-points of the fleet. This will cause the fleet to have 0 Move-points remaining for the rest of that turn. Therefore, a fleet cannot unload and then move. You can bridge 2 provinces by loading from 1, and then unloading to another. You could actually bridge units 1 time each phase, so you could do this 2 times if your fleet has 2 Move-points (bridging is limited by the next rule though).
• Move-point Restriction: If a fleet begins a phase with 0 Move-points remaining, and the fleet unloads that phase, then the fleet will not be able to load or unload any more that turn. On this phase, the fleet can load and unload normally, but will not be able to do so in additional phases. For example, Fleet A has 0 Move-points at the beginning of Phase 3. Fleet A can load and unload normally on Phase 3, but will not be able to load or unload in any additional phases for the rest of that turn.
• Required Hold Position: If you don’t move in between a load and unload, then you need to do a hold position action between the load and the unload. 

Here is an example of how much you can do in one turn with navies:

I have a fleet in the Baltic Sea, and I wish to attack Denmark, who has moved all of his troops north to assault Norway. My fleet has a storage capacity of 8. I also have an army of 4 Crusader Knights in Pomerania, and an army of 8 heavy infantry in Riga. I can split the Riga army up into

Army A – one heavy infantry

Army B – one heavy infantry

Army C – one heavy infantry

Army D – 5 heavy infantry

I order my fleet to load Army A, B, C and D.

I order it to move to Alborg Bight.

I then order it to move to Hanobukten.

I then order the fleet to unload Army A in Slavinia.

I order the fleet to unload Army B in Schleswig.

I order the fleet to unload Army C in Zeeland.

I order the fleet to unload Army D in Scania.

The fleet is now empty, and reduced to 0 move-points. But there is a rule that allows me to do one more load/unload.

I order the fleet to load up Army E – my 4 Crusader Knights in Pomerania.

I order the fleet to unload Army E in Scania.

I have now wrecked the Danish economy, and put a sizeable force in the way of the Danish army returning to Denmark. I just have to worry about what the Danish fleet can do….

JB: The funniest part of this example is that at the time of writing, I have a Teuton position, and by the time this document is published, my troops will be in very similar positions to the one outlined above. Now I can’t guarantee that Denmark will attack Norway, but I’ll bet this example puts the wind up him J Now, would I be fool enough to publish this if I intended on doing it? Or is that just a feint to make him think I’m not thinking about it? Ho ho ho!

Transferring is sending troops or commanders out of 1 unit and into another unit. For transferring, the following rules apply:

• Transferring Commanders: Commanders can be transferred between all types of units, but can not be given to a different realm (they have sworn allegiance only to you). Each unit can have several commanders, but only 1 commander can be assigned as the unit leader.

• Transferring Troops: Ships can only be transferred between fleets and garrisons you own. Soldiers can only be transferred between armies and garrisons you own. You cannot give your troops to a different realm. When transferring, you select the rank that the troops will be placed into. They will be taken out of the lowest-numbered ranks in the sending unit, and will be placed into the specified rank in the receiving unit.

• Same Location Requirement: A transfer will only happen if 2 units are in the same location at the same phase. If a unit has a transfer order, it will make the transfer as soon as the recipient unit is in the same location. So, if the 2 units are in the same location at the start of Movement Events, then the transfer will happen before any moves happen. If 2 units are never in the same location at the same phase, then the transfer won’t happen.
• Storage and Weight: Storage doesn’t matter for transferring; you can transfer to other units regardless of storage. Beware, if you transfer too much weight onto a fleet, this may cause the fleet to have to throw soldiers overboard!!
• Move Cost: When a unit moves, then all troops in the unit will have used Move-points. For example, Army A invades, using 2 Move-points. Now, all troops in Army A will have used 2 Move-points. If Army A transfers a cavalry (3 Move-points) to Army B, this cavalry will only have (3-2) =1 Move-point remaining. This could slow down Army B, to only 1 Move-point (the troop in a unit with the least amount of Move-points will be the Move-points of the unit).

• Important Note: Please remember, although you can select to transfer between units that are not in the same location, the transfer will not succeed unless both units are in the same province at the same time. Eg both armies are in Normandy, in the second phase of movement.

Each province yields gold revenue each turn. The amount of revenue a province will produce depends on the damage level of the province. Damage ranges from none to level 3 (the maximum), and occurs from battles and pillaging, and is repaired automatically by the local population (if the conditions are met). Damage affects revenue in the following way:

For example, a province normally produces 40 Gold. The province has a damage level of 2, so the amount of the gold gained will be reduced to 65%. The calculation is: 40*.65=26, so only 26 Gold will be produced. This works the same way with gold revenue (although production areas are not needed for gold revenue). Revenue is gained in 2 ways:

• Normal Income: If a province is both owned and annexed to your realm, then you will receive the gold income from that province, delivered to your treasury. You don’t get gold the same turn you annex, but you will receive the gold each turn thereafter.

• Pillaging: This is used to get income from a province and also damage the province (this will increase the damage of a province +1 during Final events). The ownership and annexation of the province doesn’t matter. For pillaging, revenue is reduced to 90% of normal. You may find that it is useful to pillage captured provinces to pay for the upkeep of your forces, or pillage your own provinces if you expect to lose them soon (a scorched earth policy). Remember that pillaging will increase province damage, and can turn a once-prosperous land into a wasteland that yields little income (damage to provinces is repaired at a rate of 1 level per turn, so it would take 3 turns for the province with damage level 3 to normal productivity). For Pillaging, revenue will be shared between the units doing this. The revenue will be gained on the first Phase of Movement Events that the Pillaging happens. After a province yields its revenue, it will produce nothing for the rest of that turn. If more than 1 unit pillages on the same phase, then the revenue will be shared (if the revenue has not been gained yet for that province). For example, there are 2 units pillaging the same province on the same Phase, and the province has not yielded revenue yet during the turn. Army#1 has 10 troops, and army#2 has 5 troops, so Army#1 gets 10/15 of the gold, and Army#2 gets 5/15 of the gold (rounded to the nearest 1).

In days of yore, an individual’s bloodline was deemed an important quality in determining his potential. A ruler’s personal prestige was vital to retaining followers and maintaining authority over the populace. To represent this, there are 2 player’s statuses for each ruler:

• Commoner: This represents a relatively undistinguished individual, with average traits of rulership. He is of the lesser nobility, and is viewed as an upstart by many of his peers, and some that serve under him. Such an individual is less able to gather a large following in his pursuit of empire. There is no cost whatsoever for the game when you have Commoner status.
• Royalty: This represents a battle-tested warlord, with a true commitment to his Realm, and with a Royal bloodline, reaching back to the greatest rulers in Europe, such as Charlemagne (at least on his genealogical history). Such an individual is able to command greater allegiance, and is viewed by many to hold a Divine Right to rule. To gain this status, there is a small GM fee, which is used to support the game.

Here are the differences between the 2 statuses:

Other than the above differences, both statuses are the same. Please note that Royalty status is completely optional, and not necessary at all. The average ruler can forge a powerful realm without it (but it has some useful benefits). Diplomacy is very important in the game (just like in real international politics). If you gather a small coalition together, your position will be strong, regardless of your status. Alliance victories are fine, so commoner status will not prevent you from sharing in the final victory. To see how to rise to Royalty status, go to:

http://www.agegames.co.uk/donate.html

Of course, anyone can change between commoner and royalty status at any time, and you can play as a commoner forever if you like (to see your current player status, go to the Messages Menu and click Player Info).

In the Middle Ages, the success of a realm depended largely on the qualities of its ruler, with royal bloodline as the most important factor in a ruler’s ability to unite his nation. A strong, able ruler could rapidly increase his realm’s standing and ability to expand, while a less able ruler often accomplished the opposite. But, regardless of a ruler’s ability, if his bloodline was not seen as Royal, he was simply less effective. Here is a case in point: Edward Longshanks, whose pedigree reached back to William the Conqueror, was a renowned warlord, able to carry out expansion and foreign wars. Longshanks’ son, Edward II, (the ruler of England in 1320) was overthrown in a conspiracy by his wife, and replaced a lesser noble, Roger Mortimer. However, without a Royal bloodline, Mortimer was an ineffective ruler. Whatever his other qualities, he faced continual problems in ruling England, as the English nobility had little allegiance towards one they saw as illegitimate. This led to Mortimer’s demise, who was replaced with one of Royal blood, Edward III (a strong leader, who masterminded major conquests in France). The game is designed to reflect this historical reality, and the game works very well with about 1/3 to 1/2 Royalty, and the rest of the rulers with Commoner status (its very flexible). This also adds realism to the map situation. While the average commoner is more than capable of forging a powerful nation, Royalty are somewhat more able to control a larger realm. With this and normal game events, larger realms will arise over time, intermingled with smaller ones. This creates a very interesting situation that corresponds to actual history. Europe has always been divided between smaller realms and larger ones (like larger France bordering smaller Belgium). Commoners and Royalty work very well together as allies, and both can be part of a victorious coalition. So, if you are a commoner, gather together some of your brethren and then kick some butt, and no excuses!

To discover the victory conditions, click on this hyperlink:

Diplomacy is important in the game, as it was in the Middle Ages. Try to forge some alliances, or at least non-aggression pacts for some of your borders. If another realm wishes passage through your lands, often the best option is to give them special permission to move through a limited number of provinces (this is one of the location orders). Only give full Passage Rights to a realm that you have complete trust in. Diplomacy may occasionally be erratic and unpredictable though. In the Middle Ages, at various times a ruler would fall in battle, perish by illness, or be overthrown. You will find the same holds true in the game, occasionally there will be a replacement for a neighbouring realm, so be aware of the small possibility that a valued alliance could be undone in a season, as a new ruler arises on your border. Also, another realm may go without orders for a time, and this is completely normal: it simply represents a realm in internal turmoil. This can be an opportunity for you, and be prepared to take advantage of this if possible. However, the great majority of realms will remain under competent rule by those seeking to expand. Be wary in your negotiations, and in defending your borders, as some players may resort to deception and a sudden backstab. As the ruler of your realm, you are also solely responsible for diplomatic relations, and neglecting this important element of rulership can be perilous. To do so is to risk waking up one morning to find your realm besieged by enemies on all sides, without any allies to support you!

A battle is a hand-to-hand struggle between opposing groups of enemy forces. There are three types of battles:

• Province Battle: This involves armies and any garrison in a province, for control over the countryside (ships are not involved). This is the only type of battle that involves garrisons. This happens when enemy armies and/or a garrison find themselves in the same province.
• Cross-border Battle: This only involves armies that are moving across the same border between 2 provinces on the same phase. Only armies moving across the border area on the same phase will be involved. For example, Army 1 is at war with Army 2. Army 1 moves from Province A to Province B, and on the same Phase, Army 2 moves from Province B to Province A. Since they are moving across the same border at the same phase (and are enemies), there will be a cross-border battle.
• Sea Battle: This involves fleets and armies that are stationed as marines aboard ships. This is the only type of battle that involves fleets and ships, and happens when enemy fleets find themselves at the same sea on the same phase.

All battles happen during Movement Events. During Movement Events, units move, then battles occur for locations which have enemy units in them. In real terms, battles represent a struggle between enemy forces that may last a period of days, beginning with initial skirmishes and probing attacks, as the enemy forces make contact. This is followed by a final massive struggle between opposing forces on the battlefield, where one side achieves victory.

Your forces will always attack those of your enemies. This happens automatically when the forces of enemy realms are in the same location. This is why you declare war on other realms, so that you will engage and hopefully vanquish them in battle, and conquer their provinces. For example, when 2 enemy fleets enter the same sea, a sea battle will happen. Also, when you move an army into an enemy land, and there are enemy soldiers there, a battle will happen, etc. Please remember that you will only attack enemies. Therefore, if your allies attack each other, you will not be involved. For cross-border battles, only armies moving across a particular border at the same time are involved (other units moving across other borders, or in the province are not involved). Land and sea battles are described below briefly, and then there is a Battle Notes section which explains things better. This is a lot of reading. The main thing to know is that you will usually be triumphant if you and your allies have superior combat power and Hit-points.

Land battles are fought the same way, whether they are normal province battles or cross-border battles. Fleets and ships will be docked away from the battlefield, so ships will never be involved in a Land battle. Commanders have Hit-points and a combat statistic, and are treated exactly like soldiers for the purpose of battle. Armies will fight normally whether they are loaded onto fleets or not. The steps for resolving this kind of conflict are:

This step is only for a battle in a province where there is a fortification (otherwise it does not apply). Of course, this does not apply for cross-border battles. Various types of troops have Siege Power. This represents the ability to destroy fortification defenses (like Siege Machines hurling large stones to shatter walls, etc.) Of course, troops only attack enemy fortifications, and cause no damage to neutral or allied fortifications. Each troop with Siege Power has one opportunity to increase the Damage level of a fortification +1 per battle (this only happens 1 time before the battle begins). The Siegecraft of the unit leader will increase the Siege Power of troops. For example, Siege Machines have a Siege Power of 50. An army with no commander, and 3 Siege Machines would have 3 attempts to cause damage, and each attempt would have a 50% chance of success (so if you were really lucky, you could increase fortification damage +3, and if unlucky you would cause no damage). The maximum damage that fortifications can have is the fortification level of the province (so, for example, a level 2 fortification could have a max of 2 damage - such a fortification gives no bonus to defenders). After all enemy troops use their Siege Power, fortification damage is assessed. Fortification damage will decrease the bonus gained by defenders (for example, a level 6 fortification with 4 damage would have its effectiveness reduced to a level 2 fortification, because 6-4=2). When a unit successfully increases the damage of a fortification, this will improve the Siegecraft of the unit leader (Siegecraft can only be improved 1 time per turn). Total Siege Power for a soldier is modified by the Siegecraft of the commander, as determined by:

• Siege Power: The Siege Power of the soldier type.

• Siegecraft: The Siegecraft of the leader of the unit, which is a rating from 1 to 100 (only the leader gives a bonus to the troops).

For example, a soldier has a Siege Power of 30, and the leader of the unit has a Siegecraft of 42. So, the total Siege Power of the soldier will be:

30+30*42/200=36.3

Therefore, the soldier will have a 36.3% chance of causing +1 damage to the fortification (even fractions help a little bit).

This is only for normal province battles where there is a fortification in the province (not for cross-border battles). This step is to see if any units will commit to defending a fortification or not (they make the final decision after assessing the damage to the fortification). Units gain a bonus if there is a fortification, and they are defending it. Note that Fortification damage only happens prior to battle rounds (it does not happen after units commit to defending fortifications). The bonus will increase their combat, and add Hit-points (the fortification bonus depends on the type of fortification). However, a unit cannot retreat if it defends a fortification. A unit will defend the fortification only if all conditions are met:

• For an army, it must be set to Defend Fortifications (this is determined by the Defend Fortifications option for the army). Garrisons always defend of course.
• For an army, the battlefield must be in a province owned by you or an ally. The army does not have to begin its turn in the province, it just has to be present at the time of the battle.

• The fortification must not be ruined. This happens if the fortification level is the same as the damage level (like a level 2 fortification with 2 damage would be ruined).

The first step of a round of battle is for all soldiers to cause damage. All soldiers will cause damage the same way, no matter what rank they are in. All troops in a unit also continue to cause damage against the enemy until the unit retreats, or all friendly troops have been wiped out. Each troop has a Combat, which is the chance of causing 1 damage. Some troops may have more than 1 chance to cause damage. The chance of a troop causing damage is explained better in Battle Notes. Ships are not involved in land battles.

Casualties take effect at the end of every second round. They accumulate every round. For each round of the battle, the damage made by troops against the enemy is determined. This damage is added to enemy units. For example, Unit A causes 5 damage, so this 5 damage will be applied to enemy units. The enemy unit that takes the damage depends on which troops are in the front ranks. Troops in front ranks take damage first, and friendly units work together for the purpose of taking damage (friendly means they are owned by the same realm, allied realms, or realms with feudal relations). For example, Unit A only has troops in Rank#3, and friendly Unit B has only troops in Rank#4. Because these 2 units are friendly, Unit A will take full damage before Unit B takes any damage, because Unit A’s troops are in the front ranks, and thus are shielding Unit B.

At this point, armies may retreat. If an army is following another unit, it will only retreat when that unit retreats. This is determined by the Follow option of a unit (if the leading unit is not in the battle, then this has no effect). If an army is not following another unit, then it will retreat based on its retreat level. This is explained in Battle Notes. Units that retreat are removed from the battle. The damage caused to the unit will result in casualties, which are listed at the end of the battle.

Sea battles represent a clash of ships at sea, which involve both seagoing vessels and troops aboard ships that are fighting as marines. The process for resolving sea battles is similar to land battles. Commanders have Hit-points and a combat statistic, and are treated exactly like soldiers for the purpose of battle. The steps for resolving this kind of conflict are:

The first step of a round of battle is for all ships and marines to cause damage. Marines are soldiers in armies that are in the Marine Area of the fleet (the amount of marines a fleet can have depends on the total Marine Capacity of the fleet). All marines and ships will cause damage the same way, no matter what rank they are in. Each troop has a Combat, which is the chance of causing damage. Some troops may have more than 1 chance to cause damage. The chance of a troop causing damage is explained better in Battle Notes. All ships and soldiers cause and make hits against each other.  You can organize your troops in ranks (like put the ships in the rear, soldiers up front) if you wish.  Soldiers are more likely to be taken as casualties
though. Better for them to die fighting than drown when their ship sinks.

For each round of the battle, the damage made by troops against the enemy is determined. This damage is added to enemy units. For example, Unit A causes 5 damage, so this 5 damage will be applied to enemy units. The enemy unit that takes the damage depends on which troops are in the front ranks. Troops in front ranks take damage first, and friendly units work together for the purpose of taking damage (friendly means they are owned by the same realm, allied realms, or realms with feudal relations). For example, Unit A only has troops in Rank#3, and friendly Unit B has only troops in Rank#4. Because these 2 units are friendly, Unit A will take full damage before Unit B takes any damage, because Unit A’s troops are in the front ranks, and thus are shielding Unit B.

Casualties are only destroyed on even-numbered rounds (like Round 2, 4, 6, etc., but not 1, 3, 5, etc.) The hits made on odd-numbered rounds are remembered, and will cause casualties on even numbered rounds. For example, you make 3 hits on Round 1, and 4 hits on Round 2. You will not cause any enemy casualties on Round 1, but you will cause 7 damage worth of enemy casualties on Round 2.

At this point, fleets may retreat. Armies never retreat from sea battles on their own, they only retreat if the fleet they are loaded onto retreats. If a fleet is following another unit, it will only retreat when that unit retreats. If a fleet is not following another unit, then it will retreat based on its retreat level. This is explained in Battle Notes. The damage caused to the unit will result in casualties, which are listed at the end of the battle. This chance is the same whether a unit is victorious in battle or not. If all ships in a retreating unit are destroyed, then any commanders will automatically transfer to other fleets owned by the same realm (if there is no such fleet available, the commanders will be lost at sea).

If there are still enemy fleets on the battlefield that are not wiped out, and have not retreated, then battle will continue (armies do not matter for determining whether battle will continue). In this case, there will be another round of battle. If all enemy units are wiped out, or have retreated, then the battle will be over. In that case, all troops that are casualties will be determined, and Battle Aftermath will happen (which is explained in Battle Notes).

Here are a number of notes regarding battles, where certain things are explained in more depth. Many of these notes apply for all types of battles, so they are listed here to save time

The battle report shows all of the units in the battle, then the rounds of battle. Here is an example battle report, which you will get on the Messages menu of the Diploware:

• A ship in a sea battle: (Combat+Commander)
• A soldier in a normal battle: (Combat+Commander)

• A soldier in a sea battle: (Combat+Commander)*Marine Modifier

• A soldier defended by a fortification: (Combat+Commander)*Fortification Modifier

• A soldier that was landed amphibiously: (Combat+Commander)*Amphibious Modifier

The Commander modifier is determined by the commander that is the leader of the unit. If there is no leader, then of course there is no modifier. This is for both soldiers and ships. Each Commander in the game has a rating in 4 types of tactics: Infantry, Cavalry, Siege, and Naval Tactics. Each troop gains a bonus based on the Tactics of the commander that is the leader of the unit (any other commanders not leading the unit give no bonus). The tactics bonus is determined by:

• Combat: The Combat of the troop.

• Tactics: the tactics rating of the commander (from 1 to 100). For ships, Naval Tactics is used. For a Foot troop, the Infantry Tactics is used. For a Mounted Troop, the Cavalry Tactics is used. For a Siege Engine, the Siege Tactics is used. For irregulars, or troops with no tactics type, there is no bonus.
• Number: If a soldier is defending a fortification, or attacking troops in a fortification, then this is 600. If the soldier is not defending a fortification, and is not attacking troops in a fortification, then this is 200. This represents the fewer options to manoeuvre available to a commander when a fortification dominates the battlefield. If only some enemy troops are defended by a fortification, then there is a chance of which number is used. For example, 10 enemy are defended by a fortification, and 30 are not, so the chance of gaining the bigger number is 10/40.

For example, a troop has a Combat of 30, and is a Foot type. The leader has a rating of 46 for infantry tactics. There is no fortification involved, so the Number is 200. Therefore, the bonus for the troop will be: 30*46/200=6.9 (even fractions help out a little bit). If the normal combat of the troop was 30, then the combat will now be 30+6.9=36.9, so the troop will have a 36.9% chance of causing damage. A different modifier would be gained by Mounted type troops in the same unit.

If the commander had a +20 modifier for mounted troops, then a Crusader Knight (combat 90%, or 2x45%) will improve by 9%. 90*20/200=9 90+9=99% But remember Crusader Knights have two hits at half their total, so it will actually be 2x 49.5%

Other armies in the same province are not affected by a commander. Only the troops in the same army as the commander can gain the benefit of the commander’s modifier.

If a soldier is defending a fortification in a battle, he will receive a modifier. This is not for Ships or for cross-border battles. The fortification modifier represents a soldier’s greater effectiveness against other soldiers (for example, a defender pouring boiling oil on the poor bastards trying to climb up siege ladders). Cavalry receive a much smaller modifier than other troops, as they have difficulty bringing their mounted strength to bear (although they are assumed to be sallying forth at times during the battle). The number of troops that gains the fortification bonus is different for each type of fortification, and is based on the Barracks space (this represents the limited space for defending the fortification at the same time, other troops must sally outside to bring their strength to bear). For example, if a type of fortification had Barracks Space of 10 troops, then only 10 troops would gain the modifier each round, and others would not (the troops are randomly determined). Soldiers in garrisons will always defend the fortification. For armies, this depends on their standing orders. An army with standing orders to defend fortifications will defend if the fortification is not ruined. An army with standing orders to remain outside of fortifications will never defend fortifications. In addition, the province must be owned by you or an ally. The modifier gained depends on:

(Fort Level-Damage)

For example, a fortification of level 8 that had 2 damage would be the same as a level 6 fortification (8-2=6). Each level of fortification has a different bonus for Infantry and cavalry. For example, a fortification is Level 5, with 3 damage, 5-3=2, so the benefit will be for Fortification Level 2. Fortification Level 2 gives a combat bonus of +50% for Foot soldiers. A Foot soldier defending the fortification with a normal combat of 40 would have its combat increased to 40+50%=60.

Whoever owns the province at the end of the phase before the invasion (and his allies) will be protected by the fortifications. If you have two allies, and they are at war with each other in your fortified province, they can both get the benefit of your defences.

If the province changes ownership in a phase, then the new owner gains the defensive bonus. The old owner would then become the invader if his troops arrived in the province in a later phase of the same turn.

Each commander has a Hit-points and combat statistic, which is usually small, and represents the small cadre of the commander’s personal guards and retinue. Commanders act exactly like soldiers in all battles, as well as giving the leader bonus to a unit. Commanders are always in Rank#5 (reserves), so they will be taken as casualties last, no matter what. The commander will only affect the troops of the army he is in. He will not affect other armies in the same province, neither will he affect the troops of your allies. If you had several troops in the fifth rank, and the commander is killed, the remaining troops will act as though they have no commander.

Each troop has a Hit-points rating. This represents the constitution of the troop; how difficult it is to destroy. For example, heavy infantry represent a hardened band of well-armoured foot troops, which would be more difficult to destroy than lightly armed peasants - accordingly, the heavy infantry have more Hit-points. Hit-points determine how much damage a troop can take before it is destroyed in battle. For example, a troop with 2 Hit-points would take 2 damage to destroy.

Each type of soldier will gain a Hit-point bonus when defending a fortification, based on the fortification type, and the type of soldier. This is only gained by a soldier defending a fortification (this is not for Ships or cross-border battles). The troops that will gain the bonus depends on the Barracks space of a fortification. For example, if the barracks space was 12, then only the first 12 casualties would gain the Hit-points bonus, other casualties would only have their normal Hit-points. The Hit-point bonus gained depends on the type of troop. Each fortification gives a different Hit-point bonus, based on the type of soldier. For example, a Fort Level gives 0.5 Hit-point bonus to cavalry, and 1.3 Hit-point bonus to Foot. So, a cavalry troop that had normal Hit-points of 3 would have 3+0.5=3.5 Hit-points when defending the fortification, and a foot troop that had normal Hit-points of 1 would have 1+1.3=2.3 Hit-points when defending the fortification.

At the end of each round of battle, units may retreat. Only armies and fleets can retreat (not garrisons). Also, armies that are defending a fortification (based on the Defend Fortifications Option) cannot retreat, as they are within the fortification walls, surrounded by the enemy. For each army and fleet, there is a Retreat Level. If a unit is following another unit, then it will ignore the retreat level, and only retreat if the leading unit retreats (but only if the leading unit is involved in the battle, otherwise it is ignored). If a unit is not following another unit, then the retreat level is used. So, as you can see, following takes precedence over the retreat level: this allows you to have all your units retreat at the same time if you wish (if all units are following the same leading unit, then they will all retreat when the leading unit does). This is a rank from 1 to 5. If all troops in this rank and all lowered numbered ranks are casualties, then the unit will attempt to retreat. If at least 1 troop in this rank or any lower-numbered rank is not a casualty, then the unit will not attempt to retreat. For example, the retreat level is 3, so the unit will attempt to retreat when all troops are casualties in ranks 1, 2 and 3. When a unit attempts to retreat, it will try to move to a connected location. An invading army will try to retreat to the province it invaded from. An army can only retreat to a province that you have Permission for, and which has no enemy troops. If following, a unit will retreat to the same location as the leading unit, if possible. Otherwise, a unit will attempt to move back to the location where it came from. For a cross-border battle, there is no retreat location needed, because a retreating unit will simply remain where it was before invading across the border. If an army takes heavy damage during a round of battle, it may have casualties in ranks lower than the retreat rank (or, it may possibly be wiped out in a round before it can retreat). In such a case, a unit will retreat as soon as it can. So, if a unit had all troops in Rank#1, and a retreat level of 1, the unit might still be destroyed if all troops became casualties in the first round of battle. When a unit successfully retreats:

• The unit will have 0 Move-points for the rest of the turn (it could still be involved in another battle, and retreat from that one too, but could not do any movement).
• Any construction actions will be cancelled (the unit will no longer be in the same location where it was to perform construction).

When you go to war, working with an ally against a common foe, there are some things to be aware of.

Your troops work as though part of the same nation. If all your troops are in the first rank, and all your ally’s troops are in ranks two to five, all of your troops will take damage before any of your ally’s. It’s worth your while to discuss how all your troops will be ranked. There’s usually no point losing your knights to protect your ally’s peasants.

There are a few things you should know about what happens when you break up with an ally.

1) If your ally goes neutral with you, there’s a good chance you’ll be at war the turn after. If you gave your ex-ally passage rights, there’s a good chance you’ll find foreign troops roaming through your lands. The lands will still belong to you this turn, but next turn when war is declared, you’re likely to lose those lands, and the ones near to them. If your troops are near the enemy, then combat will not immediately occur – examine the turn event list, and you’ll see that there will be a phase of movement before combat and province ownership changes – your troops will get the chance to move and engage or evade the enemy. Finally, if your troops are moving through their lands, and they withdraw passage rights from you, then your troops will be stuck if there is no neighbouring province they can move to. Your only options here are to ask for passage rights to be returned, or go to war, or have another player with whom you have passage rights to attack an adjacent province.

2) If you’re doing the stabbing, then there are a few things to remember. Get as many of your troops marching through your victim’s lands, so that next turn you can take as much of his land as possible, ruining his economy. Try to ensure you get your victim’s cities, so that he can’t build new troops to fight you. And remember that ownership change does not occur before movement, so you may want to hold position for a phase in the next turn when you declare war, so that you conquer the lands you have moved onto during the turn you went neutral. Also remember to withdraw passage rights from your ex-ally in the same turn you go neutral. This plan, by the way, is very nasty, and likely to get your victim very hot under the collar. But if you’ve ruined his economy and can defeat his army, you only have to worry about the envious glances you’re getting from every other player in the game. J

3) If your allies break up, and you are still allies with them, then in any fights where your troops are present, your troops will not fight either of them. Your troops will watch the battle, because you are not at war with either of the combatants. If they fight in your fortified province, they could both get the benefit of your fortifications!

When battle ends, these events happen:

• All casualties are destroyed. When your unit causes damage to the enemy, this is added to the total damage taken by that enemy unit. At the end of the battle, each unit will have taken an amount of damage. This damage will cause casualties among the enemy ranks. To determine which troops will be taken as casualties, the following process is used: First, you select a troop to kill. To select an enemy troop to kill, a wounded enemy troop will be chosen if there is one. If not, then the casualty will be an enemy troop in the front ranks of enemy units. Casualties are taken from lowest numbered ranks first. So troops in Rank#1 are chosen first, and the last rank that casualties are taken from its reserves (Rank 5). Your units and allied units will work together for taking casualties. This is done by forming a team, and then only a troop in the front ranks of the team will take the casualty. For example, your army has troops in Rank 1, and your ally’s army has troops in Rank 2. Therefore, for the first point of damage, your army will take the casualty, and it will be taken from Rank 1. Your ally’s troops in a rank farther back will be screened by your troops in front. So, if you had a lot of cheap infantry in front ranks, and your ally had lots of expensive cavalry in back ranks, you could work together in a battle, ensuring that his valuable troops had no casualties, while your more expendable troops took the brunt of the enemy damage. This would not happen for a unit that was neutral to you (that unit would be on a separate team). Once the troop that will be taken as a casualty is determined, there is a check to see if the troop is a casualty, or is only wounded. If the remaining damage is equal to or greater than the Hit-points of the troop, then the troop will be a casualty. If not, then the troop will only be wounded. This happens until all damage made during the round has done its deadly work. Fortifications add a bonus to the Hit-points of soldiers that are defending them (this is explained previously in this chapter).

• Troops Captured: For any troop type with a capture chance, there is a chance that the troop is captured. This means that the troop is gained by the enemy. Troops that can be captured are Siege Machines and ships. For siege machines, the chance of capture is 20%. All warships have a 10% chance of capture. If there are no more troops in the battle (like both sides have annihilated each other), then no troops will be captured.

• Move-points Are Used Up: The Move-points of all units involved in the battle are set to 0.

• Tactics Increase: The tactics ratings of victorious commanders will be increased. Each type of Tactics can only increase 1 time per turn (all types of tactics can be increased). For multiple battles, the battle with the greatest increase in Tactics will be used as the increase for the commander for that turn. The more troops a unit destroys, the higher the tactics increase for a commander can be, but there is a random element as well. In addition, if a unit successfully caused damage to enemy fortifications, then the Siegecraft of the commander will be increased as well (all commander statistics have a maximum of 100).
• Loaded Armies: If a fleet retreats, all loaded armies will also automatically depart with the fleet to the new location, and will be removed from the battle.

There are different troops in the game. These can be built in garrisons where there is a population center (use Map Options to show population centers on the diploware). Each population center has different troops available, based on the region (for example, Longbowmen can only be raised in some English cities, while Berber Warriors are only found in some parts of North Africa). If you would like a printout that gets them all on one A4 page, look for it just before the FAQ at the end of the document.

Some notes about troops are:

1) All mounted troops (and Siege Machines) have a weight of 2, while all infantry have a weight of 1.

If a realm is controlled by Local (or "independent") Forces, this means the computer is in control.  Such a realm will build troops and defend its lands.  It will only attack provinces that are annexed to it, no others.  It won’t change its existing diplomatic relations.  Even if you are at war with such a realm, it won’t invade provinces unless they are annexed to its realm.

The organized realms (which have players) are:

This is Ye olde Kingdom of England, lying far to the northwest. The first step should be to consolidate the British isles, yet the realm holds claim to large holdings in France...

The ruler of Paris and the interior of France, the Kingdom has many expansion opportunities, and a stout standing army. Although holding the Ile de France (Isle of France), the King may unite the French-speaking provinces by skilful diplomatic manoeuvring and hard campaigning.

At one point a vassal of France, and later that of England, the Dukes of this realm often act independently of either throne. The lucrative wine trade from Bordeaux has filled their coffers, and made them lords of southern France.

This formidable kingdom in Western Spain has a secure position from which to expand. The past century has seen the decline of the great Muslim realms, which now have only a foothold in southern Spain. Yet Castile faces a rival in the Kingdom of Aragon for control of the Iberian Peninsula.

This strong realm in Eastern Spain sits on the trade route to southern France, and vies with Castile for control of the Iberian Peninsula.

Although nominally a part of the Holy Roman Empire, the Kingdom of Arles maintains its independence in Northern Italy. The Kingdom is the strongest power in Italy and Eastern France, holding sway over a large region.

This Kingdom is largely isolated in the far north, with good expansion opportunities into Sweden, which is a weaker and less organized domain.

The Danes rule a warlike trading kingdom in the north, holding sway over much of Scandinavia. They also have strong ties to eastern Europe. These descendants of the Vikings still yearn for lands and Conquest, with many shipping routes available to their forces.

The Duchy of Bavaria is the second group of German states that comprise the Holy Roman Empire. The empire, which has been termed "neither holy, nor Roman, nor an empire" remains an objective for the land-hungry German lords. Bavaria leads an alliance of states in the south-east of Central Europe, and maintains a rivalry with Saxony, its northern neighbour, for the dominance of Germany.

Lying in the north of Europe, Saxony leads the third group of German states, locked in rivalry with Bavaria for dominance in Germany.

Better Known as the Kingdom of the 2 Sicilies, this domain on the Southern Italian peninsula was carved out by Norman adventurers some time ago. The Kingdom maintains a major naval presence in the Mediterranean, and has a great deal of security from land-based invasions (though vulnerable to sea-borne assaults). The first task should be to bring a host to the gates of Rome, and thus secure a Papal blessing by bringing Rome under his dominion.

This prosperous Italian trading republic generates a great deal of wealth trading all manner of goods throughout the Mediterranean. Venice has many opportunities to expand through naval might, yet it must keep a wary eye to the Germans in the north. The capital of Venice is a tempting target, with its vast revenue-producing potential.

This powerful order of knights field the mightiest of troops, the Teutonic Knight. These monk-warriors have sworn to bring the Faith to the pagan tribes of Eastern Europe, by sword if necessary, and have carved out a mighty realm in the region.

Poland lies on one of the main invasion routes of Europe. This is a challenging position, with several threats; but the Duchy also has an excellent potential for expansion. The Grand Duke should consider carefully which alliances will do the most to increase his security.

Hungary is a mighty power in the Central European region. The kingdom is united under the leadership of its sovereign, supported by the Magyar nobles, with many paths of conquest available.

Though fallen from its previous glory, this remnant of the former Roman Empire still maintains great strength, cantered around its capital of Byzantium, the largest and wealthiest city in Europe. A talented ruler may yet return the Empire to its days of glory.

The Principality, a powerful conglomeration of Lithuanian tribes, holds sway over a large region in the East. The Grand Prince has many opportunities for expansion, yet must also be wary of invasions from several possible threats.

The Republic lies to the far northeast of Europe. Ruled by a popular assembly (the "Veche"), a Grand Duke is elected at various periods. Novgorod is a bustling trading centre well protected in the north, with shipping routes across the Baltic.

This realm represents the westernmost forces of the Golden Horde, a great Mongol empire, stretching eastwards. The Horde sends forth its feared Mongol mounted archers in raiding expeditions. These hairy riders are the bane of villagers throughout the east.

This Turkic realm commands a mighty war machine, yet it has recently been greatly weakened by Mongol incursions far to the east. Nevertheless, the Sultanate maintains a well-protected position on the Anatolian Peninsula, and is in a good position to expand outwards.

These rulers of Egypt and the surrounding lands of the Middle East are a formidable force. The Sultan has many opportunities for conquest, against both the infidel and any others in their way.

This Caliph, ruling from his seat in Tunis, has an excellent defensive position, with many opportunities for expansion over Northern Africa, as well as the Mediterranean.

This realm, ruled by the Marinid dynasty, lies to the far southwest of the map. From their base in Fez, these Berber lords have established a protectorate over parts of Spain. The Sultan will need to keep his Spanish possessions secure,

while expanding in Northern Africa.

Here is a checklist of things to do when you’ve got your first turn.

1. Examine the country you are now the leader of. Work out what you’d like to conquer first. But you don’t know what your neighbours are up to, so…
2. Send emails to all your neighbours, to all their neighbours if you’re really keen, send an email to every player in the game if you want! Try to work out who you want to work with, and who you want to conquer. You’ve got some time to finalise this decision, but it’s never too early to consider the possibilities. If you don’t write, other players may consider you hostile. Your first email shouldn’t be long - more than a page generally means you’re babbling, but you might like to open discussions about how the independents will be divided between you, whether you want an alliance immediately, and maybe suggest a move against a fellow neighbour in the turns to come. Take the initiative. When you’ve made up your mind what you want to do….
3. Open your turn; you’ll be in the HQ screen. Offer alliances to those you want to befriend. Ignore the rest of the options. You shouldn’t be giving away passage rights at this stage, you can already accept gifts from any player, you don’t need to send ambassadors as you already know everyone’s email address, and you shouldn’t be giving away your provinces or gold. On to the map….
4. All your troops are in garrisons. That’s no use to you, you want to expand. You should be able to conquer two or three neighbouring independents in your first turn. So form a new unit in each of your provinces, and transfer your troops from the garrison to the unit. Put the foot soldiers in the lower ranks, and the cavalry into the fourth or fifth rank. Leave the retreat level at 5 – you’re not going to retreat from battling independents, surely? Compare your force with the neighbouring independent. If your force has significantly more combat power and hits, you are almost certainly going to win. So go ahead, have a fight. Order your army to move into the neighbouring province. You can order two armies to hit the same neighbouring province – let your forces gang up on your independent foe, teach him a lesson about why he should be in your realm. J
5. If you’re planning a move overseas in the first turn, make sure you load and unload in the same turn, and take out an independent. The first few turns are all about grabbing independents.
6. Make sure you build more troops. Click on the garrison of your city provinces, then click on "recruit soldiers" and scroll through the options of what you can build. Work out if you want troops that will defend a border, or assault a foe. Archers make great garrisons, but the most expensive troops you can buy are usually the best purchase, because they’ll be very powerful, and you want to expand Try to get some infantry to work with your cavalry – cavalry are expensive to replace, whereas infantry can often take more hits and are cheaper to replace.
7. Consider building a commander – if you’re royalty. Don’t worry so much about building fortifications yet, your first priority is to expand. Be aware that attacking a province with defences is going to be significantly harder than one which is not. Don’t worry about building ships, either; you can build them in another turn or two – even if shipping is going to be a vital component of your gameplay, you still need the resources to pay for them. Don’t pillage your own lands. To get a little more gold….
8. Go to the Messages Screen, and make an announcement. Say a little something about how nice it is to be here, ask for everyone to send you a message, speak of your incredibly peaceful intentions for Europe…. J Maybe do a little roleplay. This is all very normal. Try not to say anything that will offend the other players, or tip them off regarding your military intentions. Leave that for later.
9. Go to the Game Screen, and click on "save turn", exit the Diploware, and email your saved turnfile off to the GM. Done!
10. Wait until the GM sends you your next turnfile. Try not to be anxious.

Here are some ideas to consider regarding strategy, and how to play a strong game.

The most successful players are those that have long-range plans. Although things probably won’t go exactly as you planned, it is best to think several turns down the road. The events of 1 turn will not decide the outcome of the game, so you can afford an unexpected lost troop here or there. Victory will be decided over the long haul.

You can gain income from any province you pillage. This is useful if you do not expect to own a province for a long time, or if you have Commoner status. Commoners should annex only their most valuable provinces, and pillage the others. It takes a unit with at least 10 combat to pillage.

Early in the game, there are many opportunities to expand into neighbouring provinces. But negotiate with your neighbours, to avoid an early war. Try to divide the provinces in a way that makes your valued neighbours happy.

Each army has a number of ranks. Use these to place your worst troops (that you can afford to lose) in the lowest numbered ranks (like Rank 1 or 2). Keep your best troops in the back (in Rank 4 or 5). Troops will fight the same in any rank, so you can keep your valuable hitters in the rear, screened by your fodder troops.

For hitting a tough foe, it is best to do so with overwhelming force. The fewer the rounds of battle, the less casualties you will have. So, try to wipe him out in the first round. You can send armies from multiple directions to converge at the battlefield. Just remember to make sure that they all have enough Move Points to make it, and you Hold Position if needed to synchronize their movement. Whether your forces are in 1 army or 2 armies, it won’t matter for taking losses. For example, if you have an army #1with 5 troops in rank 1, and army#2 with 1 troop in rank 2, army#1 will lose all of its troops first (the ranks work together). This works the same way with your allies (if you have an Alliance with another realm, your troops will also take losses as if you were in the same realm). With this in mind, beware of an ally asking you to help in an attack, while he puts all of his troops in the rear ranks, so that you will take all of the casualties!

Each realm has various troops available to it. All are useful. Troops with more Move Points can move into a friendly province and attack on the same turn. So, you can build them as reinforcements for an attack you will make. Slower troops are not able to move and attack the same turn (it takes 1 Move Point to move through a friendly province, and you need 2 to attack an enemy province). Also, use the heavy defensive troops in front. This can result in not sustaining losses during a battle. For example, a Man-at-Arms has 2 hit points. If you were in a battle with only Man-at-Arms in Rank#1, and received 3 hits, you would only lose 1 Man-at-Arms (the other hit would not affect you). The Heavy Infantry has a special advantage for this. Balance your attacks with enough hitting power in the rear ranks with enough cheap troops in the front ranks. Also, remember that when you have a large number of troops, upkeep costs will become a significant expense. If you are going to maintain a large force for a while that won’t see action, it is better to build the more expensive heavy defensive troops (like a Man-at-Arms or Heavy Infantry, for example). This is because the upkeep is half the cost for the equivalent battle strength in weaker troops.

Beware to whom you tell your plans to. Your trusted ally may be a double-agent for the opposition. Also, turns may possibly be delayed due to circumstances beyond the GM’s control. If this should occur, turnfiles may (but not necessarily) be accepted after the deadline. So, beware of telling anyone anything about your plans until AFTER you have received your new turn. If you divulge your plans, they may find their ways to the ears of your sworn enemies, who may then send in a late turnfile that could possibly be accepted. Usually, turns will not be accepted, but again, this is a matter of the GM’s discretion.

You can send in a turn early, and you can send another turn in later if you change your plans. Of course, try not to send in 10 turns, because this will get a little old for the GM. But, 2 or 3 turns are acceptable. Getting that first turn in early could make a big difference if you should forget (or if you face a power outage that prevents you from getting your turn in later). In the long run, 1 missed turn will have very little effect on your success. Time and time again, it has been proven that those who are most successful are those who consistently work to improve their position over the long haul. History teaches that 1 lost battle means little to a skilled, intrepid leader who has the endurance and fortitude to fight on (for example, Alfred the Great, George Washington, all of the victorious powers in the world wars, etc.) This is the spirit of sportsmanship that PBeM games are all about.

JB: These 2 pages are well worth printing out. It shows things like, "Why doesn’t my alliance take effect at the start of the turn before my troops start moving into my ally’s lands?" and "Why can’t I walk through my ally’s lands – he just ordered passage rights for me!" The second page will help you work out your chances of winning battles – every veteran pays careful attention to this info. What should I build…..

War Declared

Acceptance Changed

Passage Rights Changed

Special Permission Changed

New Armies Formed

New Fleets Formed

Various Administrative Actions Performed

Same Location Transfers Occur

Troops Reassigned to Ranks

Disbanding/Salvaging Troops

Transfers Happen

Armies Prepare to Board Foreign Fleets

Fleets Load Armies

Fleets Set Sail

Homeless Fleets Depart

Sea Battle Are Fought

Fleet Storage Checked

All Armies Unloaded onto Provinces

Armies March

Defend Fortifications Option Changed

Cross-border Battles Are Fought

Land Battles are Fought

Province Ownership Changes

Provinces are Pillaged

Movement Events Repeat

Province Damage Increases

Gold Sent

Upkeep Paid

Troops Built

Commanders Hired

Provinces Annexed

Province Annexation Declines

Construction Happens

Gold Decay

Structures Razed

Province Revenue Gained

Provinces Gifted

Proclamations Income

Province Damage Repaired

Peace Established

Alliances Cancelled

Alliances Formed

Realm Limits Checked

Defeated Realms Removed

Turn Events Are Complete