Position of Armies and Navies Before the war, actions of attackers or defenders are determined and the location of armies and navies is decided. Use 1D6 to determine location (assigning numbers to each potential starting Triban.) Movement on land (see sea section for navies & armies moved on the sea.) Armies can move a maximum 2 Tribans unhindered. Hindrances are: An enemy defended Triban Forested and Wooded Tribans Desert and Mountain Tribans. Supply and Losses Armies are in Supply if they are in a Triban which is: Controlled by the Army Triban itself. Permitted by the controlling Triban who undertakes to supply the Army. And which is not under siege. Armies ending their move (or the end of the autumn round) out of supply will dice for losses. This is done before any battle or siege takes place in that move. Each move to get an army into supply at the end of the autumn round requires a die roll for losses. Basically field armies start with 12 “Regular” Troops Units (e.g. DBA list). Any difference is made up in hordes/militias. Losses cause units to regress to horde/militia status, not disappear. “Regular” means any unit in the DBA list. Size of Armies On campaign, armies of one Triban, Kingdom or Empire can be up to 16 units strong for a battle. This includes any allied units. The extra units above 16 are deemed to be elsewhere or not effective during the battle itself. Armies in excess of 20 units die roll in Summer for losses whether or not they are in supply. Where dicing out of supply, add 2 to the resulting score. Armies always campaign with 12 units. The difference between their entitlement and the 12 is made up with horde/militia units. Armies suffering losses that reduce them to less than 12 units make up the difference with horde/militia units. In diplomacy, horde/militia units do not count. Allied Contingents For each allied Triban, draw cards as follows: Fair 3 playing cards Good 4 playing cards Strong 5 playing cards Then draw five more cards. Ignore the suits and just compare values. Where they match the ally Triban sends a unit for the campaign. If you are using playing cards to allocate units, then the value denotes if it is for example 1 x 3CV or 1 x 4SP etc. The units join the Army by the most sensible and direct route. Sieges If a defender elects not to fight a battle, the Triban is besieged. The defender’s field army, if it exists, must stand siege or retreat to another Triban that will accept it. If there is nowhere to go, then the Army stands siege. Attacker dices 1D6 6 Triban captured if defending army is present. 5,6 Triban captured if no army defending it. If captured, defender’s army is destroyed. If siege fails, attacker loses 1 unit. Next turn (after losses due to supply rules) the attacker needs 1 less than previous score required to succeed. Sieges can be terminated by relieving armies forcing a battle. Sieges automatically end in Winter and when besiegers retire or are destroyed by supply problems. The defender can sally out and do battle if new action/reaction test permits at the beginning of each turn. Civil Wars Tribans field 12 units comprising their normal unit value plus a balance of hordes/militia. All types of unit apply in diplomacy reaction tables. LAND BATTLES This section is essentially taken from Tony Bath’s book. Land battles are determined by calculating relative army values throwing a dice for luck and consulting a reference table for the result. Determine Battlefield Terrain Triban Type Terrain Choice Wooded Battlefield is wooded Desert/Steppe Battlefield is open Mountain Battlefield is hilly Any other Type Die Roll 1, 2, 3 open ground 4, 5 hilly ground 6 wooded ground For Battles in wood or mountain Tribans: Legendary (35+) warrior leaders can always die roll for terrain. Famous (25+) warrior leaders can always die roll for terrain if they draw a red suit card from a standard playing card pack. For Battles in other Tribans: Legendary (35+) warrior leaders can always die roll for different terrain to original roll on drawing a red suit playing card. Strength of Position: die roll 1D6 for each army. 1, 2 Weak 20 points 3, 4 Good 50 points 5 Strong 100 points 6 Very strong 200 points Morale of Army: Lost last 2 battles/sieges 1 Lost last battle/siege 2 No fights this campaign year 3 No defeats or victories this campaign year 3 Won last battle/siege 4 Won last 2 battles/sieges 5 Morale of Warrior Leader: Unkown 14 or less 1 Known 15+ 2 Notable 20+ 3 Famous 25+ 4 Legendary 35+ 6 Army Values: These are determined by the number of units and their type: Blades 80 Elephants or war wagons 90 Spears, scythed chariots or artillery 80 Heavy chariotry, knights, pikes or camelry 70 +10 for pairs of pike units Light chariots, cavalry 60 Auxilia, warband 50 Bows 60 Light horse, Psiloi 30 Camp followers 20 Hordes & militia 20 Ground Effect Adjustment Per Unit: TYPE OF UNIT OPEN GROUND HILLY WOODED Psiloi 10 40 20 Blades 30 20 10 Light horse 30 40 -10 Cavalry, knights 40 30 -20 Auxilia, warband 20 50 30 Camels 30 10 -10 Elephants 40 0 -90 Chariots 50 -10 -80 Others 0 0 0 Spears or pikes 30 -10 -80 Calculation of Army Strength Determine battlefield terrain. Multiply number of units by value. Multiply number of units by adjustment for ground effect. Determine strength of position. Determine morale of troops. Determine morale of warrior leader. ARMY STRENGTH = (army units value + army units adjustment + strength of position) x morale of troops x morale of warrior leader. Compute the ratio of army strengths for the two opponents and roll 1D8. Now consult the table below for the outcome of the battle, casualties etc. The result is as follows: V Victory for superior force except within BOX A in which victory is given to the weaker force. D No decisive victor. Subscript number Losses in units by defeated force or both sides in a draw. GD Defeated force loses its warrior leader. Roll 1D6 1, 2, 3, 4 warrior leader killed 5, 6 warrior leader captured Throw 1D6 to determine victor’s losses in units: 1, 2 = 1 unit lost; 3, 4 = 2 units lost, 5, 6 = 3 units lost BAD WEATHER This includes all factors which prevented a battle from taking place! Assignment of losses by unit is determined randomly. I use playing cards with each unit assigned a card e.g. ACE, JACK etc. See Lone Warrior 140 for the next section of DECIMO. More Decimo Campaign Rules Introduction Rules People, Peace, and War Preparations for War...and Battles Decimo Part 2 Sea Battles Blight and Trade Cards Chance Events Kingdoms and Empires Decimo Part 3 Land and Peoples Creation Campaign Report Diary of the Campaign Back to Table of Contents -- Lone Warrior #139 Back to Lone Warrior List of Issues Back to MagWeb Magazine List © Copyright 2002 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