This set of campaign rules was written by Peter Clarke and is ideal for club play and one day events. As Pete has given his permission for me to send this into MWAN I thought a bit of background might be helpful.

Neither Pete, Derek nor myself are into ancient wargaming in a big way. We usually prefer our games to have a whiff of gunpowder smoke. DBA was such a fast fun and cheap way to get into the period that we were hooked. Being typical gainers we reasoned that more equals better and so started playing with double sized armies, while retaining one command die. Due to our lack of knowledge of the period and armies we simply doubled the army list, ignoring the fact that this might disrupt troop ratios. When fighting uneven battles, for example 15 bases against 24, you chose the standard 12 bases then any three additional bases from your list. The next step was a campaign. We wanted something with a bit more flavour than the campaign at the back of DBA but knew from experience that anything too complex or requiring lots of record keeping might never get finished. In time honoured fashion we discussed what we wanted in a campaign over a pint of beer. Well more than one actually. This is what we came up with. No umpire as all three of us wanted to play. Campaigns had collapsed before due to players not handing in orders, not turning up for battles on time or dropping out due to slow turn around. We would therefore do our moves at the club and if possible play out the battles that night. As we only had 3-4 hours club time this would require a quick campaign system with the minimum of record keeping. I had mumbled something about using a card system without having any useful ideas what so ever about how to achieve it. Pete went home and re-appeared next club night with the a fully designed system!

A typical campaign night would consist of setting up the 2' by 4' gaming board. Placing the campaign map nearby and marking our empires with counters, having referred to a diagram of last sessions end of play. Our hand of cards are kept in envelopes between sessions. Finally we shuffle the deck and play commences. Players will have a long term strategy but it may be hampered by the cards you draw. There may not be the resources to punish Hittite incursions into your empire. In other words you have no Clubs in your hand to counter attack, or the low Clubs you do play are tramped. How you play your hand of cards can be as important to winning the campaign as the battles themselves. On average we could get in three or four battles a night including the campaign moves required to generate them.

Although we have not tested it yet the system could easily be adapted to other rules. Advanced Armati springs to mind. Armies would consist of the core troops and each Diamond played would buy so many points worth of troops from the additional units allowed in the army list. A skirmish campaign would also work well. We would be very interested in hearing from anyone using this system for other rule sets or periods.

This campaign represents the struggle between the Egyptian, Assyrian and Hittite Empires for domination of the Near East. Campaign moves will be regulated by card play, whilst battles will be moderated using DBA 1. 1 (although in the examples, army lists are taken from the original version).

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Campaign Rules

Each of the three players begins with an empire of four provinces under their control. In addition, each player is dealt four cards from a standard pack of playing cards - no jokers. The playing sequence is first the Assyrian, the second the Hittite, and finally the Egyptian.

In a turn, a player may play one card, or a single card PLUS any number of additional Diamonds. Spades may also be played immediately before a battle, to help determine the terrain. Other players may then play cards to assist in the defence of an area being attacked. In addition, any card that has been played may be 'trumped' by playing a higher card of the same suit. This has the effect of canceling the action, unless the new card can be trumped by the original player,

N.B. Two players may NOT combine to contest the active player's move: once one player has either attempted to trump the active player's card, or played cards in an area's defence, the third player may not intervene until that action has been resolved. If the area concerned is friendly to an Empire, the third Empire may not play cards either in favour or against the attack.

At the end of a turn, the player may discard any number of cards, and then take one or two cards from the deck. They may not increase their hand beyond the number of Provinces in their empire. It is possible to increase a hand over this maximum, by winning battles (see below). However, until the hand is reduced below the number of provinces, no new cards may be drawn.

Effect of Cards

Hearts are used to make and consolidate alliances. Playing a Heart will make a neutral area which is adjacent to another friendly area into an Ally; if the area is already an Ally then it will become a Client; and if the area is a Client, and adjacent to a friendly Province, it will become a Province itself Hearts may NOT be played against areas which are already friendly to another Empire.

Spades are used to oppose enemy moves, or tactically, to help determine the battlefield. A spade may be played on an enemy Ally to make it revert to neutrality, or to increase a neutral army by three bases for a single attack or defence; or it may be used to direct a neutral area's army of twelve bases to attack any other area. See below for the effects of Spades played on a battlefield.

Diamonds are used to increase the size of a friendly army. A single card can EITHER increase the number of bases by three, OR allow the army to attack a second area, provided that the army wins the first battle, and that the second area is adjacent to the first. The army must carry over any casualties from the first battle to the subsequent attack, and the card must be played BEFORE the first battle is fought. In addition, a diamond card must be played if any army is making a sea crossing to or from Alashiya.

Aces: may be played as normal cards, or with the following specific results:

Ace of Diamonds: Allows player to continue playing cards until his hand is empty. At the end of the move, the hand may be filled to its maximum number.

Ace of Hearts: EITHER makes any neutral area or Ally into a Province if adjacent to an existing province OR makes a enemy Ally or Client into a Client of the player who played the card, providing it is adjacent to a friendly Client or Province.

Ace of Clubs: allows an army of Eighteen bases to campaign for as long as it wishes until it is defeated or the general killed: the first area attacked must be adjacent to a friendly Client or Province, and each succeeding area must be adjacent to the area previously conquered. The army may be increased in size by playing diamonds before the first battle, but not later; and any casualties suffered in earlier battles must be carried over to subsequent ones.

Ace of Spades: Played on any other player's province: the province immediately becomes neutral. Played on a battlefield, any one piece of terrain may be added or removed after all other terrain has been placed and the defender chosen sides.

Resolving Battles

An attacking Imperial army will have 15 bases, plus three bases for each additional Diamond played for that purpose, an attacking Neutral army will be 12 bases strong. The defending force will be 12 bases if the area is neutral, Allied or Client, and 15 if it is a Province. Other players may play Spades onto a neutral area to increase the size of the army by 3 bases per card; if the area is friendly to a player he may play diamonds in the same way as the attacker. The maximum size of any army will be 24 bases.

The first 12 bases of an attacking army is made up of a standard DBA list of the appropriate type. Any additional bases are made up of any combination of the relevant number of bases taken from the same list. Neutral defending are made up in the same way, using the list for that area. However, defending armies in an empire are slightly more complex. The first 12 bases of a Client or Ally state should be made up from the native army list: the remaining bases from the Imperial list. A Province will be defended by 12 bases of the Imperial list, supported by extra bases from the native list. The actual composition of armies should be written down secretly, but revealed before the ter-rain is determined.

Whatever the size and composition of an army, it only ever has one general, with ID6 Command points.

Determining the Battlefield

The number of pieces of terrain is dependent on the area in which the battle takes place. Before the terrain is laid out, the defender may choose to add or remove one piece of terrain. At the defender's option, up to half the areas may be large, and up to half may be rough terrain. Once these decisions have been made, either player can play Spades to alter the effects as follows: one card may change a large terrain piece to a small one, or vice versa; add or remove a small low hill or a river; change a piece of rough terrain to a low hill or vice versa.

The terrain is then randomly distributed on the table. Split the table into a grid of squares 6 by 6, and roll two dice to determine in which square the terrain piece will sit. For a river, roll dice to determine the sides which it enters and exits the table, then roll a die to determine exactly where it crosses each table edge. After all pieces have been located, the defender chooses which side he will defend then either player may play additional cards - a single spade will allow ONE location die for a particular piece of terrain to be re-rolled.

The defender sets up first, and the attacker moves first. Both sides may set up within 9" of their respective friendly table edge.

Victory and Defeat

If the winner inflicts at least twice as many casualties as he suffers, or if he defeats a larger army, he has won a major victory, and may take an additional card, either from the pack or from his opponent as appropriate. A Phyrric victory is won if the victor suffers casualties equal to one third of the opponent's original number of bases, or loses a general. No cards are gained by the player who gains such a victory.

Examples

1) The Assyrian player plays 4 Hearts on Amurru: no-one attempts to trump it, so it becomes an Assyrian Ally.

2) The Egyptian now plays 10 Clubs supported by 6 Diamonds, and declares an 18 base attack on Byblos. The Assyrian player plays 6 Spades to increase the defending force to 15 bases. A battle is fought, which the Egyptian player wins, and so picks an extra card from the pack, and Byblos becomes an Egyptian Client.

3) The Hittite player plays 6 Hearts on Aleppo, intending to make it a Province, but the Assyrian player trumps him with the King, so Aleppo remains a Hittite Client.

4) The Assyrian now plays the 3 Clubs supported by the 8 Diamonds to send an 18 base army to Carchemish. Aggrieved by the previous move, the Hittite plays 9 Diamonds to trump the Assyrian card (reducing the force to fifteen bases) and also plays the 6 and Queen of Spades to increase the size of the defending army to eighteen; the Assyrian plays the 7 Spades to trump the 6 Spades and so the end result is that each army has 15 bases. Assyria wins the hard fought battle, and Carchemish becomes an Assyrian Client, and Assyria picks up an extra card for winning the battle.

5) The Egyptian player now plays 2 Hearts to convert Byblos to a Province. When Assyria trumps this with the Hearts, Egypt trumps that with the King, and so Byblos does indeed become Egypt's fifth province.

6) The Hittite, continuing the battle against Assyria, plays the Jack of Spades on the neutral Qadesh province, sending the 12 base army of Qadesh to attack Carchemish. Since no other cards are played, the Assyrian must defend with 12 bases (Carchemish is a Client). Losing this battle, Carchemish becomes neutral, and Assyria must discard a card.

7) Egypt (now with a maximum hand of six cards, as he has six provinces) decides to conquer Alashiya, so plays the Jack of Clubs, supported by the Queen of Diamonds (as the army is crossing the sea). 15 Egyptian bases now attack 12 in Alashiya ...

8) Determining armies: it is later in the game. Byblos, a Hittite Client, is defending with 15 bases against an 18 base Egyptian army. Pharaoh takes the standard list (4 LCh, 2 Bw, 4 Sp, 1 Bd, 1 Ps). Knowing they face a warband based army, they choose to increase it with another 4 LCh, 1 Bd and 1 Ps. The Hittites are defending a Client, so take a standard army of the appropriate type: in this case, Sea People (1 HCh, 2 WW, 8 Wb, 1 Ps) but get to supplement it with three bases from the Hittite list. This is where it gets difficult: do you choose heavy chariots to counter the Egyptian mounted arm, or hope to neutralize it with terrain, and take auxiliaries? Whatever the choice, a variety of different armies can be constructed with this method, giving varied games.

Conclusion

Slightly to my surprise, DBA has stood the test of well over two dozen games using a limited set of armies, and I do not feel very inclined to move up to DBM. Yes DBA is (even more) abstract than DBM, but in most cases I can happily argue 'historical' explanations for apparently unlikely results. In particular, games with more than 12 bases take that much longer to reach a conclusion, so that the differences between two sides' command PIP rolls are likely to even out in the long run. As for choosing to limit command to 1D6, even when doubling the number of bases: this discourages (while not forbidding) over-complex battle plans, and as described above, tends to even out battles between armies of different sizes.