Campaigns are the contexts of battles. When we wargamers only play set piece battles we lose 50 to 75% of what that battle meant historically. Over the last few years, I've been trying to make campaign games easier to do by using Matrix Games. My hope is that one day, gamers will not have to leave out the thrill of the chase (that is an important factor in campaigns), but can instead hunt down their foes and bring them to combat on the tabletop. The following scenario is for a "Campaign in a Day" ancients game. I envision it being gamed out using the DBA rules. But the players are of course free to use any set of miniatures rules they like. WRG 7th ed., Tactica, A to Z Ancients, or some other game could be used. DBA lends itself best to this game though, since it will allow the entire campaign to be played out (battles included) in a single day of play. HISTORICAL OUTLINE Rome is a republic, but for the last 40 years it has been plagued by political turmoil. In the 80's the republic was torn by a civil war.The democratic Marius, fought the autocratic Sulla for control. While they fought, Spartacus ravaged southern Italy in a slave revolt. Marius won the upper hand in Rome and conducted a liberal reign of terror that lasted till 82BC. Sulla then returned to rule as a dictator until 79 BC when new elections to the senate were held. Sulla died the next year of natural causes. Sulla left behind two of his lieutenants to vie for his office.Pompey was the older of the two, and the one who stepped into the central role first. Julius Caesar was the second man. He bridged the gap between the plebeians and patricians, so in the long run his position would improve.By the 60's Pompey, Caesar and another strong man, jointly ruled the Roman world. Caesar began his conquests of Gaul which brought him great prestige. Pompey was jealous of Caesar's glory, so when their partner in rule died, he was ready to fight out who would be undisputed ruler of Rome. The first phase of the civil war was fought between Pompey and Caesar. They chased one another around the Mediterranean, picking up Cleopatra on the way, until eventually Pompey was killed by his "allies" the Egyptians. All would have been well had not the dogs of war been set lose. Marc Antony, and Octavius were raised on civil war. Both wanted to rule in their own right. Meanwhile the democratic party was still championed by Brutus (Caesar's illegitimate son) and Cassius. No sooner was the crown on Caesar's head than he was cut down on the senate floor. The second phase of the war was fought between Anthony and Octavius on one side and Brutus and Cassius on the other. Cassius had Anthony and Octavius declared public enemies and subject to death should they return to Rome (without an Army!). Naturally Anthony did not accept this and campaigned against the democrats in Macedonia. At Philippi, Anthony got the upper hand. Both Brutus and Cassius committed suicide which ended the war. In the last phase of the war Marc Anthony (plus the lovely Cleopatra) fought Octavius. Octavius defeated Anthony at Actium and changed his nameto Augustus Caesar Emperor of the Roman Empire! So ended the civil war and the Roman Republic. The whole set of wars was fought out between Romans. But as the fighting goes on, there is great room to use Egyptian, Macedonian, Pontic, Celtic, and even Parthian armies. Does this sound good, or what? ORDER OF BATTLE Pompey: You start in Italy and are in control of the government. You have one Roman army in Macedonia. You control Italy and Macedonia. You are a member of the Senate and have one vote there. Caesar: You start in Belgica with one Roman army. You control Belgica, Aquitaine, Narbone, and Cisalpine Gaul. You break the constitution by crossing the Rubicon river that runs between Italy and Cisalpine Gaul. You are a member of the Senate and have one vote there. Octavius: You start in Belgica with Caesar. You have no army but you may recruit a Roman army. You are a member of the Senate and have one vote. Anthony: You start in Belgica with Caesar. You have no army but you may recruit a Roman army. You are a member of the Senate and have one vote. Brutus: You start in Rome. You have no army but you may recruit a Roman army. You are a member of the Senate and have one vote. Cassius: You start in Rome. You have no army but you may recruit a Roman army. You are a member of the Senate and have one vote. Mauritania, Pontus, Thrace, and Egypt are outside of Roman control. If an army enters their territory without first making diplomatic arrangements must fight the local army. Fleets: Individual leaders may make sea moves at will. To move an army by sea, one must first rally a large fleet to carry them. Reinforcements: Each leader starts out with or may recruit a Roman army. When that army is damaged in battle, the leader may recruit replacement units, if the army is not more than 50% destroyed. Leaders may also recruit totally new armies if their legion is more than 50% gone. New armies are made up of units appropriate to the area where they were raised. VICTORY CONDITIONS The player who controls the most important areas wins the game. But the player who best accomplishes his personal victory conditions is the person most remembered by history. Important areas Victory points Rome 10 Macedonia 10 Cilicia 10 Cisalpine Gaul 5 Egypt 5 PERSONAL VICTORY Caesar: Refer to yourself in the 3rd person (HE came, HE saw, etc). Make classical allusions frequently (The die is cast, He came, he saw, he conquered. Oh the times oh the customs) Capture Egypt (and Cleopatra!) Pompey: Make yourself Dictator 1st. Fight all comers who challenge you. Defend the Republic from external enemies. Insult the democratic Senators Brutus and Cassius. Cassius: Have a lean and hungry look, think too much and be dangerous! Win Brutus over to your pro-democratic side. Kill Pompey, and assassinate Caesar. Commit suicide if Brutus suicides. Brutus: Cooperate fully with Cassius. Brag about being Caesar’s son. Commit suicide if you lose 2 battles! Octavius: Whine a lot! Brag about being Caesar’s Great Nephew. Lust after Cleopatra! Kill all your enemies and friends !!! Anthony: Be loyal to Caesar. Fanatically hunt down anyone who kills Caesar. Have Cleopatra! DEGREES OF VICTORY Pyrrhic Victory: No one has a majority of victory points but this player did the most personal victory conditions. Minor Victory: The player has the most points but is not in control of Rome. Moderate Victory: The player has the most points and controls Rome. Big Victory: The player has the most points, controls Rome and accomplished his personal victory conditions. SUPPLY Armies must always be in supply. If the go out of supply then they refuse to move. They will fight if attacked. Rome must also always be in supply. If it goes out of supply then the leader in charge there must get new supplies. If he has not done so in 4 turns, then the Roman mob rise up and kill him (or try to - if he has an army then this is a good excuse to have a Romans vs Rabble battle). KILLING LEADERS Outside of battle, leaders can never be killed in only one turn.It requires 2 turns of action to do a leader in. The first turn sets up the situation in which the leader can die. The player is now on notice that they are at risk. The second turn acts on the set up to do the leader in. (For example: Cassius plots to kill Caesar in the Senate if he becomes Dictator. Caesar become Dictator, so Cassius can now try to assassinate him.) MODIFIERS No campaign action can destroy more than 1/3rd of an army in 1 turn.No campaign action can cause more than +1 or -l dice modifier to any rules situation in one turn. Campaign actions can modify the tactical situation by: 1. defining what the battle field is, 2. whether or not one side is ambushing the other,3. what effect supply and desertion problems have caused to the tactical rules. Campaign actions can not force a player to fight a battle they are not willing to fight, or totally destroy a player's army without him getting a chance to counter the action. CAMPAIGN RULES MOVEMENT An army may move each turn. Armies move 1 area on a normal march or 2 areas on a forced march. An army or leader may move from any sea coast to any other sea coast in one turn. Once started moving, an army may keep on moving until it, 1. reaches its destination, 2. is stopped along the way for some reason, or 3. the player chooses to stop it. RECRUITMENT A player can only have 1 army at a time. When they so chose, they can recruit a new army either where they are, or in an area they control.New armies are placed on the board at the end of the turn. Battles do not automatically occur when 2 forces come into the same area. Campaign actions can cause a battle to happen, or the two players can mutually decided that they want to fight. If a player declines to fight when a campaign action calls for a battle, then the decliner must retreat back along his line of advance out of the area. If he can not do that then roll randomly where the army retreats to. DIVIDING UNITS It is acceptable to divide armies up into smaller field forces if the player so desires. If the game is using DBA rules, for instance, thegeneral might leave 2 of his 12 units in Rome, while he takes the other10 with him to Gaul. LEADERS All the player leaders are considered leaders in battle. But if a leader is not present with his field army (as Pompey is) then the army has a subordinate general. In DBA games each army only has one general who rolls for command points. If a minor leader was there before, he bows down to the big boss. If there are two player leaders on the same side(for 1, 12 unit, army) then one of the leaders only gets to give a combat bonus. CAMPAIGN ACTIONS Each turn the players get to make campaign actions. Each player gets one action in every turn. Actions are not 100% propositions, it is possible that a player's action does not happen. The more strongly presented,the better chance it has of happening. A campaign action consists of the player making up an ACTION that happens, a RESULT from that action, and THREE REASONS why that action should happen. Campaign actions can cause ANYTHING to happen. Armies can be started marching. Supply problems can develop between Egypt and Rome.Your enemies' army may refuse to advance across the Rubicon because it is an illegal unconstitutional action. Diplomatic agreements may be reached with non-Roman states. Your own armies' morale might be increased by some good omen or other. Whatever the player chooses to do. It is best to run the scenario with a non-player referee.The referee decides how likely each campaign action is to happen. This is a judgement call. This can feel uncomfortable to do for many new referees,but as a rule of thumb 80 to 90% of all arguments are neither strong nor weak. Some arguments are naturally strong and other naturally weak (i.e. unlikely to happen). These tend to be obvious. Each player rolls 1d6 to see if their action happens. Roll equal to or less than the number on the below chart... Argument Rating Roll to succeed Very Weak 1 Weak 2 Normal 3 Strong 4 Very Strong 5 If a player makes an argument that the referee finds to be completely stupid. Or if the referee feels the player is making a action geared completely to wreck the spirit of the game then he can and should veto it! Campaign actions are made by linking together ideas found on a set of "Matrix Cards." The cards are meant only to act as suggestions as to what a player can do. Please do not let them limit your range of possibilities. THE MATRIX Normal March Normal March Forced March Rest/Prepare Rally Ambush Skirmish Open Battle Victory/Defeat Morale increases/drops Fatigue Halt Rout Retreat Recruit/Desert Tactical Advantage Terrain Effect Tactical Advantage Large Formation Small Formation Weather Effect Supply Lines Motivation Battle Cry Love Anger Fear Shame Wild Card Wild Card Wild Card Wild Card POLITICS The Roman Civil War was essentially a political fight between the forces of democracy and several contending autocrats. Throughout all of it though, the ideal of Roman rule was consistent. Rome was still growing into an Empire. It was not yet to its full extent. No matter who was in charge, someone had to rule the world! Rome can be ruled in three different ways 1. by the Senate, 2. by a Dictator, or 3. by the military. The Senate is the rule of the Republic. All the players are Senators.As such they get one vote in deciding all matters. Only the senators present in Rome can vote on issues. If the players are ruling Rome via the senate then they can have political debates galore above and beyond the campaign actions of the game. The players may vote on issues like what course of action to take or appointments to certain posts. The actions of the government in this system are handled by ALL of the players. Rome requires that you give up your personal ambitions for service to your nation! The senate can elect a dictator for the period of one year. The dictator has total control over what the government does (i.e. he decides what course of action to take, about appointments etc.) It is up to the dictator to use his campaign actions to carry out the state's decrees. Military rule of Rome is just like dictatorial rule except that it is indefinite. As long as the player holds Rome, he rules. The trouble with this kind of government is that it attracts other would be Caesars (with armies) to come along and try to pick you off. A variation on Military rule is to militarily banish all non-friendly senators so that you can win any vote! What ever government there is it must be ready to deal with problems.The government must 1. fight any foreign wars that come up, 2. keep Rome supplied with grain, 3. deal with any natural disasters, 4. maintain peace,5. and send out governors to the provinces to rule in the name of Rome!The last act alone can give control of an area to a player. But if someone else is there with an army, then they ignore the new bureaucrat! Appointments can be made without using campaign actions, but solving all the other problems require the ruler to use actions he could better use fighting the war. It is important to deal with problems of the state since they can be used to set up players to take falls. If the players so chose then they can hold treason trails for those leaders unfortunate enough to get caught by the other side. These can be played out either by role playing them, or by campaign actions. AFTERWARD The Roman Civil War yields not only a period of interesting battles,but also a world of interesting characters. The campaigns they fought shaped the Roman world for the next 500 years. They left behind ample documentation of what they did. So much so, that until the 17th century, generals knew much more about the conquest of Gaul than they did the campaigns of only a generation before! I hope that you will find this scenario fun to play. It promises to be a good battle generator. Right now I'm working on other ancients scenarios to form a second scenario book for my "Campaign in a Day" Matrix Game rules. The scenarios are, 1. Hittites vs Egyptians at Armageddon (1465 BC), 2. the Peloponnesian War (430 BC), 3. Alexander the Great (334 BC), 4. the 2nd Punic War (218 BC), 5. the Roman Civil War (50 BC), and 6. the Decline of the Roman Empire or Rome is burning (430 AD). Back to MWAN #63 Table of Contents Back to MWAN List of Issues Back to MagWeb Magazine List © Copyright 1993 Hal Thinglum 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