Introduction This system allows the wargamer to play a solo campaign using Wargames Research Group's De Bellis Antiquitatis rules. I wanted a system that would make all the decisions for the participating nations such as when to declare war, make alliances, retreat, do battle or stand siege. The result is what follows. Basically, the larger the army, the more aggressive it is likely to behave. I use these methods to automate all the nations in the campaign but the player can of course take the part of one of the nations if he doesn't mind getting a good hiding! I've used the term nation which could be a country, state, tribe or whatever. The use of a circular style map as shown in the DBA rules is recommended although the system should work with any other map layout. Preparation For Play Besides your DBA rules, map and a normal six-sided die, you will need a pack of playing cards (excluding jokers). An Ace = 1 and (for most purposes) Jack, Queen and King = 11, 12 and 13 respectively. A Diplomacy Chart (see figure 1 for an example) is needed to show relationships between nations. I have an A4 sheet of paper for each army listing the 12 elements with each element numbered from 1 to 12. This is used to note the status of each element such as Reserve or with Allied Contingent and to record Prestige Points obtained. A list of who controls each city is also useful unless you use coloured pins on the map that don't get disturbed between gaming sessions. The Rules Diplomacy Relationships between nations are represented by three possible conditions: allied, neutral, and war. All nations are neutral towards each other at the start of the campaign. At the beginning of a nation's seasonal round, a card is drawn from the pack. A Heart means a change of diplomatic relations with an adjacent nation. A second card is then drawn to determine which neighbouring nation is affected and whether the relationship improves or deteriorates. The nation affected depends on the value of the card. An odd value means that lying anti-clockwise, an even value clockwise, and a Court card (J,Q,K) the nation controlling the centre city. The nation controlling the centre city treats a Court card simply as odd or even. A Red card = relationship improves (neutral becomes allied, war becomes neutral) and a Black card = deteriorates. A relationship cannot get better than allied or worse than war. Should the first card be of any suit other than Hearts there is no change of relationships so obviously the second card is not required. To indicate the relationships, place an appropriate marker on the Diplomacy Chart (see figure 1) at the intersection of the two nations; I use red and blue counters to signify war and allied respectively and leave neutral relationship squares blank. Ignore the shaded spaces on the chart. Figure 1. Diplomacy Chart. NATION Persia Macedonia Greece Skythia Persia . . . . Macedonia . . . . Greece . . . . Skythia . . . . Thrace . . . . Invasion When a nation is in a state of war, its actions depend on the draw of an initiative card. A card of value less than or equal to the number of elements in the army (including allied elements) is required to succeed. A higher value card (and in any case a King) means failure. Consult Table 1 and cross-reference the army's situation and strength with the appropriate succeed / fail column to determine the action to be taken. The situations are listed in order of highest priority first; hence, an army must respond to being besieged before it reacts to a threat towards another home city. Example: A ten element Macedonian army is at its own capital and war has just been declared against Thrace. The initiative card drawn is the 8 diamonds. The 8 is less than the 10 element strength so result is success. Consulting Table 1 we cross-reference the row 'Any other situation, strength 7+' with 'succeed' column to get the result "Invade Enemy". The gallant Macedonians then march off into Thrace in search of glory! Should a nation be at war with 2 or more nations and is able to take offensive action, use the following priorities to determine who to attack: 1. Enemy threatening capital city. 2. Enemy threatening any other home city. 3. Nearest enemy army. 4. Enemy army with fewest elements (including allied elements). 5. Enemy nation with fewest allies. 6. Dice for it! In cases 1 and 2, 'threatening' means actually at the city and besieging it. When calculating nearest enemy, count any sea routes as double the distance. Table 1. "At War" Actions Situation Element Strength Action Fail Action Succeed 1. Standing a Siege 7+ Continue to stand siege Do battle 1 to 6 Retreat Continue to stand siege 2. Enemy threat to a home city 7+ move to home city and stand siege move to home city and do battle 1 to 6 move to capitol city* move to home city & stand siege 3. Any other situation 7+ remain at current location invade enemy 1 to 6 move to nearest home city if abroad move to nearest home city if abroad * Also, stand siege if that is the home city threatened. When a nation is invaded, the defender draws an initiative card and consults Table 2 in the same manner as for the invading force. Note there are three action columns. A King is equivalent to a "Fail by 3 or more" regardless of the size of the defending force. Remember to count allied elements only if they are with the defending army at the time of the test. Example: Our Macedonians arrive at the first Thracian city ready for action. A depleted Thracian army is at its capital city recovering after a heavy time with some Skythians. They are down to 6 elements when they draw an initiative card. They pick the 8 clubs. This is 2 more than the number of elements in the army so they consult Table 2 and cross-reference the row 'Army not at invaded city, Strength 1-6' with the column 'Fail By 1 or 2' and find they must "Hold current location". Obviously the Skythian campaign had dampened their spirits somewhat! Had they drawn a card 6 or less, they would have advanced to the threatened city and stood a siege (using the 'succeed' column). Table 2. Response to Invasion Situation Element Strength Action Fail by 3 or more Action Fail by 1 or 2 Succeed 1. army present at invaded city 7+ retreat stand siege do battle 1 to 6 retreat retreat stand siege 2. army not at invaded city 7+ hold current location advance & stand siege advance & do battle 1 to 6 hold current location hold current location advance & stand siege Notes regarding tables Move: Move if possible even if destination cannot be reached this turn. Invade: Invade enemy territory by the most direct route. Main objective is enemy capital. Retreat: Retreat to friendly city if possible. If not, stand siege. An army will never retreat from its capital city. Home city : Any of the 3 or 4 cities controlled by a nation at the start of the campaign including the capital city and is still controlled by that nation. Allies If an ally is able to provide a contingent he does so by selecting the elements using the following method. Each element in the army is allocated a number from 1 to 12 (I do this for each army before the campaign begins). Three cards are drawn from the pack, the value of the cards corresponding to the element number. A King means no element, a duplicate value means only one element of that number and an element currently in the reserve or already with another allied contingent cannot be selected. This means that the resulting allied contingent could be from 0 to 3 elements in strength. If more than one element is selected, determine which includes the general. I use the following priorities for this; mounted before foot and heavy before light. Dice for it if there is any doubt! Any allied elements selected move towards their ally's army by the most direct route. No initiative card is required to move them. Example: The player draws the following cards: K hearts, 3 clubs, and 3 spades. This results in only 1 element (number 3) being selected. If this element just happened to be in the reserve then no allies would be sent - Tough Luck! This method of selecting elements can of course be used to determine which elements are lost at sea, siege, through inactivity or desertion. In these instances draw another card when an invalid number is selected. A nation allied to two or more nations at war with each other provides neither with elements. Independent Cities When a nation is eliminated from the campaign as per the DBA rules, any cities under its control become independent. A nation at war can only besiege an independent city if the city lies en route to its destination. Other nations must attempt to besiege any independent city adjacent to one of their own cities provided their army is at least 7 elements strong. They draw an initiative card and if the value is less than or equal to the number of elements in the army they move to the independent city and besiege it. If two or more nations meet the above conditions to attack an independent city, the first army to arrive at the city wins the race; any other armies remain at (or return) home. End Notes I hope the above ideas are easy enough to follow. They work easily enough in practice even if it may not appear that way when written down. I usually run the game for a set number of campaign years, 7 or 9 seems to work well, but it varies depending on how aggressive everyone gets. Should you feel motivated to try this system, I'd like to hear how you get on. Constructive criticism welcome along with additional ideas please. Also, if you use other means to control your nations I'm sure our Editor would be only too glad to hear from you! Back to Table of Contents -- Lone Warrior #110 Back to Lone Warrior List of Issues Back to MagWeb Magazine List © Copyright 1995 by Solo Wargamers Association. This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com