DBMF
When we first discovered DBA, DBM, and HotT, we quite naturally wanted a DBM version of Hordes. We called it DBF (no relation to the commercial rule expansion with the same name). It was an integrated fantasy replacement for DBM, using an OCR copy of the DBM rules. Quite naturally, it was not and could never be, intended for sale. The primary developers were me (Markus Viklund) and Torbjörn Andersson. The last DBF version was updated to DBM 3.0, and summarily playtested.
With DBM out of print and the publication of DBMM, I've decided to update the DBF rules for DBMM. This time, the DBMF ruleset will not be integrated into a copy of DBMM, but presented as a set of changes and additions. This enables me to "publish" it here for all to see, and hopefully comment.
Troop Definitions
Aerial troops can be Avatars, Dragons other than (X), Flyers, and Airboats. Aerials are assumed to move and charge on the wing, but do most of their fighting on the ground. Therefore, aerials are also classified as either naval, mounted or foot.
Mounted troops are Behemoths (Elephants), Dragons, Flyers, Knights, Cavalry, Clerics, Light Horse, or Expendables.
Foot troop types are Avatars, Auxilia, Blades, Bows, Giants, Hordes, Magicians, Pikes, Psiloi, Shot, Spears, or Warband.
Train troop types are Artillery, War Wagons, or Baggage.
Naval are Galleys, Ships, Boats, or Airboats. Airboats are assumed to fly so close to the ground that they remain at least partially vulnerable to shooting.
Avatars, Dragons, (X) Clerics and all troops graded (E) are collectively referred to as Supernaturals.
Troops within each type are additionally graded for efficiency relative to the average for that type, taking into account lesser differences in morale, degree of training, equipment or mobility, but not in prestige alone. This is necessarily subjective.
Superior (S) Troops recognized to be of significantly superior morale and/or efficiency.
Ordinary (O) Representing the great bulk of troops of that type.
Inferior (I) Brittle troops identifiable as of significantly inferior morale or efficiency.
Fast (F) Troops who move faster and further than average but are worse protected.
Construct (C) Golems, clockwork men, mindless undead and other troops completely lacking both initiative and fear. Also some elementals. If well-made by an artificer or necromancer well-versed in warfare, constructs can be regular.
Constructs never make spontaneous moves of any kind.
Entity (E) Troops who are undead, demonic, angelic or otherwise out of this world. They are always irregular. They are always impetuous unless Train.
Heroic (H) Troops whose leader is so superior in courage and fighting ability so as to upgrade the entire unit, wether by exceptional strength or skill, magical weapons or the favouritism of gods or authors. In most cases they are threated as (F) units, but they can count themselves as any other troop grade for the purpose of receiving rear support. A heroic element can never give rear support. Heroes are usually irregular.
Mounted heroes can dismount and remount freely, even if their mounts would normally have been lost in the chaos of battle.
Exception (X) Other troops treated as special cases.
Dragons [Dr]
Including only the traditional large intelligent armoured flying creatures. They are too arrogant and indiscriminate in their fighting methods to co-operate closely with other life forms and especially not with other dragons. They are at risk from heroes and magicians, but largely invulnerable to other troops. Being extremely long-lived, they have much to lose, so are apt to panic on finding themselves in real danger of death. They are always irregular. Unless specifically mentioned in a rule, dragons behave as aerial behemoths.
Superior (S) The eldest and most powerful of all dragons, akin to gods in power.
Ordinary (O) Younger dragons, not yet out of their second millenia. Gloranthan dream dragons.
Inferior (I) Mere hatchlings, or greater dragonkin such as the larger wyverns.
Entity (E) Undead or chaos-corrupted dragons, and some draconic demons.
Exception (X) Sea dragons and serpents. They cannot fly, and therefore count as naval instead of aerial.
Avatars [Av]
Including all major spirits, greater demons or angels, and all avatars of pagan polytheistic gods or goddesses such as those of Olympus, but not those of Asgard, who instigated rather than assisted mortal battle. They are nearly invulnerable, and fickle. They should not be invoked until in real need, lest they get bored and leave too soon. Avatars are always irregular.
Superior (S) Avatars of gods of war appearing on a battlefield, possibly with a retinue of immortal warriors.
Ordinary (O) All other godly avatars, and the greatest demons, elemental rulers and other extradimensional beings, who are powerful enough to serve no higher power.
Inferior (I) Mortals possessed by a major spirit, but lacking the true essence, and all other major demons, angels and divine servitors who are the subjects of a greater power.
Flyers [Fl]
Troops with flying ability, usually due to wings or flying steeds, but mechanical contraptions such as light gyrocopters are certainly possible. They are mainly useful for raiding, or harassing the rear of engaged ground troops. They are always irregular.
Superior (S) Powerful flyers either the size of small elephants and minor dragons, such as pterodactyls, or with gryphons and suchlike with well trained, armed and armoured riders.
Ordinary (O) Light flyers with armoured riders. Powerful flyers without crew, such as the great eagles of Middle Earth. Also dwarven gyrocopters.
Inferior (I) Snotling bat-riders and the like.
Entity (E) Winged lesser demons or angels.
Fast (F) Light flyers with unarmoured riders, such as valkyries on winged horses.
Elephants [El]
Including all ground creatures or machines of exceptional size and physical or magical strength or invulnerability. Note that grading is even more relative than usual - elephants with crew that might qualify as (S) in our world might be only (I) or (O) in some worlds, depending on how large and fearsome their biggest creatures are.
Superior (S) Extremely powerful giant monsters, such as hydrae or wingless dragons, or crewed dinosaurs. Also behemoths that would be (O), but accompanied by their own organic anti-skirmisher troops.
Ordinary (O) Large elephants or mammoths with fighting crew. Also large dinosaurs, giant tortoises, the thomplods of Kregen, Paluan giant lizards, and larger landships.
Inferior (I) Smaller elephants and suchlike, with small fighting crews. Leonardo's turtle cars and other smaller clockwork or steam tanks.
Fast (F) Faster but lighter dinosaurs and large lizards.
Construct (C) Undead elephants or mammoths. Some clockwork tanks.
Entity (E) Huge demons and chaos spawn. Magic-powered juggernauts and dragon engines.
Heroic (H) Heroes mounted on behemoths, such as some Indians on elephants, and also some intelligent and self-willed behemoths, counting as heroes in their own right.
Exception (X) Bolt-shooting engines mounted on behemoths. They shoot and inflict shooting outcomes as if (F) artillery, but suffer shooting outcomes as (I) behemoths. They are treated as (I) behemoths in all other circumstances. Opponents use their CF against behemoths if in close combat, or if war wagons or bowmen shooting or shot at, that against artillery if not.
Expendables [Exp]
(O) as before.
Entity (E) Stampeding undead or demonic cattle-herds, or scythed chariots crewed by the undead. Also ghostly apparitions and spirit hosts, frightening but with little substance.
Knights [Kn]
(S), (O), (F), (I), and (X) as before.
Construct (C) Heavy clockwork chariots.
Entity (E) Undead chariots with large crews, and demonic knights fresh from the netherhells, often mounted on demonic steeds, armed with fell weapons and armoured in rune-encrusted plate.
Heroic (H) Most classical heroes, typically mounted on a splendid horse, armed with lance and enchanted sword, and either heavily armoured or protected by the gods. Also some heroic charioteers.
Cavalry [Cv]
(S), (O), and (I) as before.
Fast (F) Cavalry who would otherwise be light horse (O), but is too numerous to skirmish effectively.
Entity (E) Undead cavalry, riding ghostly horses across the hills. Demonic steeds with demonic or mortal riders.
Heroic (H) Heroic riders or charioteers that lack sufficient armour, or has too much discipline, to count as knights.
Light Horse [LH]
(S), (O), (F), and (I) as before.
Entity (E) Some demonic beasts, fearsome but cowardly, that roam the battlefield harassing anyone they deem weaker than themselves, always ready to flee should they have misjudged the enemy.
Camelry
(S), and (O) as before, except that they ride any local animal generally inferior to the local horse-equivalent.
(X) as before.
Clerics [Cl]
Including all holy priests, priestesses, mullahs, hermits or military leaders with powers which are protective rather than offensive. They hinder all magic in their vicinity and defy and sometimes daunt heathen gods. While mounted, they often dismount to pray, conduct ceremonies or fight manfully among their flock. They can be regular or irregular.
In general, an army will have Clerics or Magicians, not both.
Superior (S) Clerics and holy warriors born and bred to fight the infidel. They have the best equipment, both arms and armour, and have no time for pursuits other than combat. Unlike their lesser brethren, they habitually fight from the saddle.
Ordinary (O) Clerics well-equipped and trained, but usually with other duties that prevent full development of fighting skills, and sometimes followed by lesser brethren without mounts.
Inferior (I) Ill-equipped non-military hermits and holy men, strong in faith but weak in battle, often entirely on foot.
Heroic (H) Heroic holy warriors, mighty in their own right but too worldly to ascend to true paladinhood.
Exception (X) Paladins, including true unicorns and magical lions, and all those saintly human warriors whose strength is as the strength of ten because their hearts are pure and who are almost impervious to magic, such as Galahad or St. George. They are treated as (H) clerics in all ways, but are also supernaturals.
Spears [Sp]
(S), (O), and (I) as before.
Construct (C) Undead or clockwork spearmen, excellent at standing in line but lacking initiative.
Heroic (H) Heroic spearmen, such as some dismounted heroes.
Pikes [Pk]
(S), (O), (F), (I), and (X) as before.
Construct (C) Undead or clockwork pikemen, excellent at standing in line but lacking initiative.
Blades [Bd]
(S), (O), (F), (I), and (X) as before.
Construct (C) Clockwork swordsmen and skilled golems.
Entity (E) Mummies, wights, wraiths and other long-dead but skilled fighters. Demons equipped with infernal weapons and fighting in formation.
Heroic (H) Most heroes who would be knights if they were to be mounted. Spartacus and other heroic gladiators.
Warband [Wb]
(S), (O), and (F) as before.
Inferior (I) Goblin warbands, and other extremely brittle warbands with little belief in themselves. In most cases, these should probably be classed as Hordes (S) instead.
Entity (E) The greater part of all lesser demons.
Heroic (H) Most barbarian heroes, such as Conan, Bran Mac Morn and others.
Exception (X) Very lightly armed and armoured, but skilled and supremely fanatic. Counts as (S) when in close combat to their front, (F) in all other circumstances.
Bows [Bw]
(S), (O), (I), and (X) as before.
Fast (F) Centaurs or other quadrupeds relying on static shooting with bow rather than lance and cavalry tactics.
Construct (C) Skeleton archers and crossbowmen.
Shot [Sh]
- In most fantasy worlds, Shots are either unavailable, or restricted to (I). In others, firearms are better handled by Bows, as the latter are less brittle in melee. Shots as presented here should only be used for fairly primitive and/or unreliable firearms, unusual enough to frighten troops unused to them.
Inferior (I) as before. Also regiments of the least of wizards, casting minor spells in volleys, but incapable once enemies close.
Ordinary (O) Elite musketeers, with armor and melee weapons and trained in their use, capable of defending themselves in melee for a short while.
Exception (X) Bearing large rifled jezzails or long rifles, often with poisoned or enchanted bullets. They can shoot at the same range as Bows, but are treated as (I) shots in all other circumstances. Often required to be double-based.
Auxilia [Ax]
(S), (O), and (I) as before.
Entity (E) Dryads, tree-kin, and other spirits of the land.
Heroic (H) Wood elf wardancers, superbly trained according to ancient traditions. Little John and others of the Merry Men who where less skilled with the bow than their leader, but as good woodsmen.
Psiloi [Ps]
(S), (O), (I), and (X) as before.
Hordes [Hd]
Hordes other than (S) can sometimes be replaced when lost. The specifics depend on the army list. Typically, (O) and (F) are recruited from a BUA, while undead (C) and (E) are summoned or created on a graveyard.
(S), (O), (F), and (I) as before.
Construct (C) Skeletons, zombies and other mindless undead, lacking any particular skills or equipment.
Entity (E) Minor demons and elementals of little ferocity, lacking any particular skills or equipment.
Giants [Gi]
Giants have roughly the same battlefield role as behemoths, but have different weaknesses. A particular fondness for alcohol being one of them. They are always irregular.
Superior (S) The greatest and most skilled giants, or tree-men. Usually with retinue to keep enemy skirmishers away, or fighting platforms. These giants are tall enough to attack over fortifications.
Ordinary (O) Lesser skilled giants, and elite ogres with good weapons. Giants who would otherwise be (I), but with close skirmisher support.
Fast (F) Small lightly armed and armoured giants noted for their ferocity, such as rat ogres.
Inferior (I) Numerous but relatively weak, small, or ill-motivated gigantic humanoids, such as trolls and ogres.
Construct (C) Giant golems, zombies and skeletons. Some elementals. Large war clanks.
Entity (E) Spectral giants, lesser efreeti, or very large humanoid demons lacking in magic. Many elementals.
Exception (X) Large giants bearing fighting platforms filled with archers and bolt-shooters. They can shoot and inflict shooting outcomes as (F) artillery, but are treated as (I) giants in all other circumstances.
Magicians [Mg]
Including all learned humans or powerful supernatural beings capable of and willing to use offensive magic, such as wizards, necromancers, witches, druids, shamans and evil priests. Although classed as foot, since accurate arcane gestures and spell-reading require a steady posture, they are assumed to move with magical but finite speed. Although often good swordsmen, they still need protection by conventional troops. They are always irregular, as their magic seldom follows the dictates of tactical prudence.
In general, an army will have Clerics or Magicians, not both. Likewise, there should usually be no more than one Magician per command.
Superior (S) Mages from magically adept races, such as high and dark elves, and the mightiest of human wizards, such as Merlin.
Ordinary (O) Powerful human or other mages, or large groups of medium talent spellcasters.
Inferior (I) The very best mages and shamans from races and cultures known for their lack of magic skills, such as dwarves and halflings, or groups of the least mages.
Heroic (H) Wizards that combine superior wizardry with superior fighting ability, such as Elric.
Exception (X) Mages specialized in personal protections and enhancements. They count as (S) in close combat, but cannot bespell at range.
Artillery [Art]
(S), (O), (F), and (X) as before.
Inferior (I) as before. Also most kinds of gimmickry, such as man-held rockets and flame cannon. If irregular, fire-breathing lizards or other living artillery too long-ranged to be Ps (X).
Entity (E) Undead and demonic artillery that fire enchanted or living projectiles.
War Wagons [WWg]
(S), (O), (I), and (X) as before.
Construct (C) Clockwork war tanks, emphasizing shooting and battlefield presence instead of close combat. Zombie-powered war wagons.
Entity (E) Undead and demonic war wagons, plague carts, doom bells and the like.
Baggage [Bge]
(S), (O), (F), and (I) as before.
Entity (E) Undead and demonic command litters, portable shrines, and sacrificial altars.
Airboats [Air]
Airboats are always irregular.
Superior (S) Large heavily armoured airships such as dwarven Overlord airships, Lunar moonboats, or flying boats using liftwood or magic to lift large and well-protected crews.
Ordinary (O) Smaller lightly armoured airships, or magic or liftwood airboats with smaller or lesser skilled crews.
Inferior (I) War balloons and other lightly armed and armoured airboats with limited maneuverability.
Fast (F) Small and fast airboats, such as those from Barsoom.
Exception (X) Explosive or incendiary balloons, set afire and allowed to drift over enemy formations, where they crash. They are treated as (I) airboats in all cases, except when in close combat. In that case, they attack using Artillery shooting factors and outcomes and are destroyed at the end of combat.
Galleys [Gal]
(S), (O), (F), (I), and (X) as before. While normal oar-powered galleys are always regular, it is conceivable that some fantastic means of propulsion could produce irregular galleys.
Ships [Shp]
(S), (O), (I), and (X) as before. Ships are always irregular if powered by sail, sometimes regular otherwise.
Fast (F) High elf eagleships and other very fast and maneuvreable ships.
Boats [Bts]
(S), (O), (F), (I), and (X) as before.
Exchanging Mounted and Foot Elements
- Add before the first bullet list beginning with "If armed with":
If (H) with another (H) element of a basic type indicated below.
- Add this paragraph at the end:
Flyers are troops that fight in the air, with enough stamina to last an entire battle. If so specified by their army list, other winged troops, including those mounted on winged steeds, can be designated air-mobile. Air-mobile troops deploy airborne, and can march, interpenetrate, flee, and rout as Flyers. They cease to be air-mobile after they (i) fail to march in their own bound or (ii) engage in combat. Once grounded, they're unable to take to the air again.
Organizing Your Army
Element Cost
- While DBF was playtested, it wasn't nearly enough to set proper points values for the more esoteric troops. Most of these values have been extrapolated and guesstimated to (hopefully) approximate something reasonable.
- Since DBMF is intended for non-competitive play only, approximate point values should suffice.
| Basic cost of: | Regular | Irregular | ||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| (S) | (O) | (I) | (F) | (C) | (E) | (H) | (X) | (S) | (O) | (I) | (F) | (C) | (E) | (H) | (X) | |
| Dragons | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 30 | 24 | 20 | - | - | 18 | - | 20 |
| Avatar | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 24 | 20 | 16 | - | - | - | - | - |
| Flyers | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 7 | 5 | 4 | - | - | 9 | 10 | - |
| Elephants | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 20 | 16 | 12 | 14 | 18 | 24 | 28 | 22 |
| Expendables | - | 8 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 7 | - | - | - | 10 | - | - |
| Knights | 15 | 12 | 10 | 11 | - | - | - | 13 | 12 | 10 | 8 | 9 | 11 | 15 | 18 | 11 |
| Cavalry | 10 | 8 | 6 | 7 | - | - | - | - | 9 | 7 | 5 | 6 | - | 10 | 12 | - |
| Light Horse | 7 | 5 | 3 | 5 | - | - | - | - | 6 | 4 | 3 | 4 | - | 7 | - | - |
| Camelry | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 8 | 5 | - | - | - | - | - | 7 |
| Clerics | 13 | 10 | 8 | 9 | - | - | - | - | 11 | 8 | 6 | 7 | - | - | 14 | 18 |
| Spears | 7 | 5 | 4 | 5 | - | - | - | - | - | 4 | 3 | 4 | 5 | - | 8 | - |
| Pikes | 5 | 4 | 3 | 4 | - | - | - | 4 | - | - | 3 | 3 | 4 | - | - | 3 |
| Blades | 9 | 7 | 5 | 6 | - | - | - | 8 | 7 | 5 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 9 | 10 | 6 |
| Warband | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 5 | 3 | 2 | 3 | - | 6 | 7 | 4 |
| Bows | 6 | 5 | 4 | 5 | - | - | - | 7 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 4 | - | 8 | 5 |
| Shot | - | 9 | 5 | 6 | - | - | - | - | - | 7 | 4 | 5 | 7 | - | - | - |
| Auxilia | 5 | 4 | 3 | 4 | - | - | - | - | 4 | 3 | 2 | 3 | - | 5 | 6 | - |
| Psiloi | 3 | 2 | 1 | - | - | - | - | 6 | 3 | 2 | 1 | - | - | 4 | - | 6 |
| Hordes | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 2 | 1 | 1/2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | - | 2 |
| Giants | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 12 | 10 | 8 | 9 | 11 | 15 | 18 | 18 |
| Magicians | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 12 | 10 | 8 | - | - | 12 | 16 | 10 |
| Artillery | 10 | 8 | 4 | 10 | 9 | 10 | - | 4 | - | - | - | - | - | 9 | - | 3 |
| War Wagons | 14 | 10 | - | - | - | - | - | 7 | 10 | 8 | 4 | 7 | 9 | 12 | - | 6 |
| Baggage | 6 | 3 | 2 | 3 | - | - | - | - | 3 | 2 | 1 | 2 | - | 4 | - | - |
| Airboats | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 9 | 7 | 5 | 6 | - | 11 | - | 4 |
| Galleys | 6 | 5 | 3 | 4 | 6 | - | - | 6 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Ships | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 4 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | - | 6 |
| Boats | - | - | - | 2 | - | - | - | 6 | 3 | 2 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - |
| Additional cost if: | Regular | Irregular | ||||||||||||||
| Air-mobile | +2 | +2 | ||||||||||||||
Element Basing
- I'm using Citadel and Foundry figures, based on 80mm frontage. Base depth is twice that of 15mm basing, while number of figures is as per 28-30mm in the DBMM rulebook. Even at 80mm, many figures are hard to squeeze in in the proper numbers.
| If figure scale is: | 32mm | 25-30mm | 6-15mm | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Frontage (width) of all element bases = | 80mm | 60mm | 40mm | |
| Depth of element base if: | 32mm | 20-30mm | 6-15mm | |
| Dragon, War Wagons, Baggage (S), or naval including airboats = | 160mm | 120mm | 80mm | |
| Behemoths, chariots, Flyers, Expendables, Artillery, other Baggage, Knights in wedge unless double-based = | 80mm | 60mm | 40mm | |
| Other mounted, Hordes, Giants, Magicians = | 60mm | 40mm | 30mm | |
| Pikes (F), Blades (F), Warband (F), Auxilia, Bows, Shot, Psiloi = | 40mm | 30mm | 20mm | |
| Spears, other Pikes, other Blades, other Warband = | 30mm | 20mm | 15mm | |
| Figures per element (unless chariots) if: | 28-32mm | 15-25mm | 10mm | 6mm |
| Giants other than (S) and (X) = | 1-2 | 1-2 | 1-4 | 2-8 |
| Cleric, magicians = | 1-3 | 1-3 | 2-6 | 4-12 |
| Light horse, psiloi = | 2 | 2 | 2 | 4 |
| Knights (X) = | 3 | 3-4 | 5 | 15-16 |
| Other Knights, Cavalry, Camelry, Warband (F) = | 3 | 3 | 4 | 11-12 |
| Pikes (F), Blades (F) or (X), Knights dismounted as blades, Auxilia, Bows, Shot = | 3-4 | 3-4 | 5-8 | 11-12 |
| Spears, other Pikes, other blades, other warband = | 3-4 | 4 | 10-12 | 16 |
| Hordes, herds or flocks = | 4-6 | 5-8 | 11-15 | 19-32 |
| Models per element if: | 28-32mm | 15-25mm | 10mm | 6mm |
| Behemoths, Giants (S) or (X), chariots, artillery (S) or (F), War wagons (S) or (I), Airboats, Galleys, Ships, Boats (S) or (F), Avatar, Dragon = | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Artillery (O) or (I) = | 1 | 1-2 | 1-2 | 2 |
| Other War wagons = | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
| Other boats or Artillery (X) = | 1-4 | 1-4 | 1-4 | 1-4 |
A heroic (H) element is always based as if (F), except that the hero himself should be made very prominent.
Elephants and Giants sometimes have escorting infantry on base, especially if (S).
Some latitude must be allowed in base depths, especially for aerials and behemoths. The extra figures mounted with clerics or magicians will normally be henchmen, acolytes or familiars, positioned respectfully a little to the rear. Witches often come in threes. Avatars can often be of the next largest scale, or accompanied by an angel or two.
Command and Control
Stratagems
Disguised Troops
- Add:
Some army lists may have troops that are habitually disguised, and therefore trained for it. Such troops can move slower without expending extra PIPs, provided they move as if the troop type they're disguised as.
Unusual Troops
- Add:
In a pseudo-historical army, most of or all of the fantasy troop types qualify as unusual troops. On the other hand, nothing's really all that unusual in a full-on fantasy army. In that case, just ignore the Unusual Troops stratagem.
Ambush
- Add:
Some army lists may have troops specified as to always set up in ambush, unless flank marching. Up to 6 elements of these troops can form a free ambush, in addition to the ambushes gained by paying for the stratagem.
Tunnelers
If an army list includes troops designated as tunnelers, they can form a flank march command and attempt to flank march below the battlefield. Can only be used by a brilliant C-in-C as a brilliant stroke. Cost 10 AP.
The target of the flank march is selected after terrain has been placed, but before armies set up. Typically, it will be a BUA. When the PIP dice score 6, the tunnelers arrive. Place a marker on the designated spot. The next turn, dice again: 1) the tunnelers got lost, and all elements are spent; 2) they got lost, and arrive as normal reinforcements; 3-6) they arrive safely and break out into the open. Place up to 4 elements in contact with the marker. Remaining elements arrive on subsequent turns, 4 at a time. Elements that cannot be placed are spent.
Setting up a Battle
Weather
Weather Effect
- Add the following to the indicated weather types:
Rain: Combat disadvantage for aerials.
Dust storm: Difficult going for aerials. Air-mobile troops must dismount.
Strong winds: Airboats (X) are destroyed. Aerial and other airboats move only as single elements. Air-mobile troops must dismount. Difficult going and combat disadvantage for airboats and aerials.
Visibility
- Update third paragraph, first sentence as follows:
In addition, troops at least half way up hills cannot see or be seen from less than 800p beyond a lower hill, wood, orchard, olive or palm grove or sand dunes unless either element is aerial.
Fighting a Battle
PIP Expenditure
- Add to "1 PIP is expended for:"
- A single heroic (H) element switching position with adjacent element.
- Each active Avatar. The general can refrain from spending this PIP, in which case the Avatar immediately becomes spent.
(c) Unresponsive, Mixed or Forced Marching Troops
- Add these 2 bullets:
- If a group includes both (C) or (E) troops, and any other troops other than a general, (H) element, Magician, or Cleric.
- If a group includes both aerials and any other troops.
(e) Irregular Ineptness
- Replace first bullet:
- If a single land element or a land or naval group move includes any irregulars other than (i) light troops in good or rough going, (ii) Cavalry (O) in good going, or (iii) a general's or (H) element, and either:
Marching
- Add:
Aerials and air-mobile troops can ignore enemy troops unable to shoot at them, even to the point of moving over them. For simplicity, they may not end their march on top of or within 40p an enemy unit.
Single Element Moves
- Add at end:
As a special single-element move, any heroic (H) element may switch position with an adjacent (at least corner-to-corner contact) element of the same basic type, provided that this puts the heroic element in greater danger than before (from unengaged to overlap, from overlap to combat, from rear to flank to front contact), or fighting a more dangerous enemy (another hero (H) or general, or an Avatar, Dragon, Behemoth, Giant, or Magician, or an (E) element). This is possible because only the presence of a handful heroes makes an element heroic, and these few heroes can easily move between elements.
Tactical and March Move Distances
- Replace table with:
| Marching entirely along a road |
Normal | If entering or ending in: | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| RG | DG | |||
| Flyers, Dragon, Avatar. | --- | 480 | --- | 240 |
| Light Horse. | 640 | 320 | 240 | 160 |
| Cavalry, Camelry or Expendables. | 480 | 240 | 160 | 80 |
| Elephants, Clerics or Knights. | 400 | 200 | 160 | 80 |
| Auxilia, Giants, Magicians or Psiloi. | 400 | 200 | 200 | 160 |
| Spears, Pikes, Blades, Warband, Shot, Bows or Hordes. | 400 | 160 | 160 | 80 |
| War Wagons, Artillery except (S), land Baggage. | 400 | 160 | 80 | 0 |
| Artillery (S). | 240 | 80 | 40 | --- |
| Naval except (X), Airboats except (X), anything air-mobile. | --- | 320 | --- | 160 |
| Naval if (X), Airboats (X). | --- | 160 | --- | 80 |
- Change start of first bullet to:
- Troops classed as Fast (F) or Heroic (H), add an extra 40p ...
Spontaneous Advance
- Add to list of impetuous troops:
- Any troops graded (H) and any troops graded (E) except Artillery.
- Giants, Avatars and Dragons.
- Irregular Clerics (S).
- Change beginning of 6th bullet to:
- Any troops (except train or graded (C)) that are aware of broken or shattered enemy ...
Arrival of Delayed or Flank Marching Commands
- Add:
A flank march consisting entirely of aerials arrive on 5+ (4+ if using the Flank Attack stratagem), and are placed on map two bounds after that. They will thus tend to arrive sooner than ordinary flank marches, but give the opponent an extra bound to prepare himself (they are seen from farther away).
Moving Through Gaps or Passing Through Friendly Troops
- Add to 1st list:
- Magicians and avatars can pass through (or over) any friends.
- Aerials can pass over any friends except when recoiling.
- Any ground troops can pass under friendly aerials if these are not already in close combat.
- Change 1st and 4th bullets of 2nd list to:
- Elements passed through by Dragons, Expendables, or Elephants flee.
- Troops of a broken command (unless graded (C)) passed through by routers join them behind in rout.
Distant Combat
- Change 1st paragraph to:
Magicians, Artillery, Bows, Shot, War Wagons (S) or (O), Giants (X), Elephants (X), Airboats except (X), Ships (S), (O) or (X), Galleys, and Boats (S) (of an army including men with bows) or (X) can shoot at any 1 enemy element that is a valid target.
Valid Targets
- Change start of 2nd bullet to:
- Artillery (F), Giants (X), Airboats, Elephants (X), ...
- Change 5th bullet to:
- TF, PF or troops manning them cannot be shot over except from higher PF or by Airboats.
Shooting Range and Direction
- Change 1st sentence to:
Maximum range is 80p for Shot (I), 240p for other Shot, Bows, War Wagons, Artillery (X), Galleys, Ships and Boats (S), 320p for Artillery (I) and Airboats, 560p for other Artillery and Magicians.
Close Combat
- Change 3rd bullet in the list of ignored overlaps:
- The overlapping or overlapped element or that aided are Expendables or Dragons.
- Add:
Only aerials and units capable of distant shooting may count as overlap for or against Airboats.
Combat Factors
- Replace table with:
| Your element is: | Its opponent is: | Mounted. | Others. |
| Avatars or Dragons | +5 | +5 | |
| Elephants, Expendables or Shot | +5 | +4 | |
| Spears, Blades, Artillery if shooting, Giants if shot at or War Wagons. | +4 | +4 | |
| Pikes. Bows if shooting without being shot at that bound | +4 | +3 | |
| Bows in other circumstances. | +4 | +2 | |
| Giants if in close combat. | +3 | +5 | |
| Airboats, Clerics, Knights, Cavalry if in close combat. | +3 | +4 | |
| Cavalry if shot at, Magicians, Warband or Auxilia. | +3 | +3 | |
| Flyers. | +3 | +2 | |
| Light Horse, Camelry, Galleys or Ships. | +2 | +3 | |
| Psiloi, Hordes, Artillery unless shooting, Baggage or Boats. | +2 | +2 | |
| Any naval if troops disembarked. | +1 | +1 | |
Close Combat Rear Support Factors
- Add:
An element graded (H) may count itself as any other grade for the purpose of receiving rear support, but may never give rear support itself.
+1 in enemy bound only if:
- Change ends of 1st and 2nd bullets to:
- ... - only if fighting against Elephants, Dragons, Giants, Expendables, Knights, Camelry, Pikes, Blades, Warband or Hordes.
- ... - only if fighting against Elephants, Dragons, Giants or Knights.
- Change ends of last 2 bullets to:
- ... - only if fighting against foot, Flyers or Airboats.
- ... - only if fighting against Warband, Giants or against mounted troops except Knights (X).
- Add:
Any foot supported by any Cleric - only if fighting supernaturals. This will usually just cancel the -1 Tactical Factor for fighting supernaturals.
Tactical Factors
- Change 3rd bullet of +3 to:
- They are behind any fortifications and in close combat with or shot at by a War Wagon (S) or Ship (X) tower, or any aerials.
- Add:
+1 If graded (H) and either in close combat or shot at.
-1 If in close combat with supernaturals, unless supernatural, Magician, Cleric, or graded (C) or (H).
Grading Factors
- Add:
-1 if Entity (E) scoring equal or less: if fighting a supernatural (including another (E)), Magician, Cleric or any opponent graded (H).
Combat Outcome
- Add to 'Elements disregard outcomes when':
- When bespelling any but a magician, cleric or avatar, or when aiding bespelling.
If an element's total is less than that of its opponent, but more than half:
- Add these entries to the table:
| Avatars. | Banished by Clerics or Magicians. Stand unless fighting supernatural or any graded (H). |
| Dragons. | Destroyed by any graded (H). Flee if in close combat. |
| Airboats. | Destroyed by Artillery, Avatars or Dragons. |
| Flyers. | Flee from Light Horse, Magician, and from Bows shooting. |
| Elephants. | Destroyed by Magicians. Flee from any graded (H)? |
| Knights. | Destroyed by Dragons or Magicians. |
| Cavalry. | Flee from Dragons or Magicians, or if in enemy bound from Giants. |
| Light Horse. | Flee from Dragons or Magicians. |
| Camelry. | Flee from Dragons. |
| Clerics. | Destroyed by Expendables in enemy bound if opponent counts as in good going. |
| Spears, Pikes. | Destroyed by Dragons or Magicians. Destroyed by Clerics (S) in enemy bound if opponent counts as in good going. |
| Blades. | Destroyed by Dragons or Magicians. Destroyed by Clerics (S) in enemy bound if opponent counts as in good going. |
| Warband. | Destroyed by Dragons or Magicians. Destroyed by Clerics (S) in enemy bound if opponent counts as in good going. |
| Bows, Shot. | Destroyed by Magicians. |
| Auxilia. | Destroyed by Clerics (S) in enemy bound if opponent counts as in good going. Flee from Avatar, Magicians or Dragons if in good going. |
| Psiloi. | Destroyed by Clerics (S) or (O) or Flyers (S) if in enemy bound and opponent counts as in good going. |
| Artillery. | Destroyed by Magicians. |
| War Wagons. | Destroyed by Dragons, Giants or Magicians. |
| Hordes. | Destroyed by Dragons or Magicians. Destroyed by Clerics (S) if opponent counts as in good going. |
| Magicians. | Destroyed by any graded (H). |
| Giants. | Destroyed by Artillery or Magicians. |
If an element's total is half or less than half that of the enemy:
- Add these entries to the table:
| Dragon. | Spent unless in close combat with Magician, Cleric or supernatural, or in close combat or shot at by any graded (H). |
| Cavalry. | Flee from Airboats. |
| Light Horse. | Spent if in close combat against, or shot at by, Airboats. |
| Psiloi. | Flee from Airboats. |
Destroyed Elements
- Change last bullet to:
- The destroyed element was Dragons, Elephants or Expendables.
Recoiling Elements
- Add to 3rd paragraph:
Recoiling elements do not push Dragons or Avatars back. Recoiling Dragons cause elements passed through or pushed back to flee.
Storming Fortifications
- Add:
Aerials can assault any tower, and any fortification section not adjacent to an enemy-held tower.
Morale Equivalents
- Change ME list to:
- Expendables, Hordes (I), Camelry (X), Artillery (X), Airboats (X), War Wagons (X) and rear elements of required double bases = 0 ME.
- General's element of any troop type or grade = 4 ME.
- Baggage (S), Avatar or Dragon = 3 ME.
- Elephants except (I) or (X), Giants except (I) or (X), Knights, Clerics, Magicians, any element graded (H), Cavalry (S), Camelry (S), Spears (S), Blades (S), War Wagons (S) or (O), and regular army Baggage except (S) = 2 ME.
- Warband except (S), Auxilia except (S), Bows (I), Hordes except (I), Psiloi, irregular Spears (I), irregular Pikes, and Naval except (X) = 1/2 ME. Naval ME still count if water is lacking.
- Other troops and irregular or command Baggage except (S) = 1 ME.
- A dismounted element = the total ME of the mounted element/s it was exchanged for.
- Embarked troops or Baggage are in addition to the naval element.
Disheartened Commands
- Add:
Troops graded (C) do not become shaken when their command is disheartened, provided the command retains a Magician or Cleric.
Broken Commands
- Add:
Troops graded (C) do not have to rout when their command is broken, provided the command retains a Magician or Cleric. If no Magicians or Clerics remain, all such troops immediately become inert (effectively destroyed).
Army Lists
Terrain types are:
- S Sea.
- FS Sea that may freeze in winter.
- WW Waterway.
- Rv River.
- L Lake.
- DH Difficult steep hill.
- CH Craggy steep hill.
- WH Wooded hill.
- RH Rocky gentle low hill.
- SH Scrubby gentle low hill.
- GH Bare gentle low hill.
- BUA Built-up area.
- BUAf Built-up area if optionally allowed PF.
- FW Frontier wall.
- Rd Unpaved roads or frequently used tracks.
- PRd Paved road.
- F Large open fields.
- E Small fields enclosed by hedges, walls or irrigation ditches.
- B Boundary hedge or wall.
- O Orchard or olive grove.
- Oa Desert oasis.
- V Vineyards.
- Wd Wood.
- M Marsh.
- D Sand dunes.
- BF Boggy flat ground.
- SF Scrub-covered flat ground.
- RF Rocky flat ground.
- G Sunken gully.
The following abbreviations are used for troop types in these lists:
Av = Avatar. Dr = Dragon. Air = Airboat. Fl = Flyers. Bh = El = Elephants. Kn = Knights. Cv = Cavalry. LH = Light Horse. Cm = Camelry. Exp = Expendables. Cl = Cleric. Sp = Spears. Pk = Pikes. Bd = Blades. Wb = Warband. Ax = Auxilia. Bw = Bows. Ps = Psiloi. Hd = Hordes. Mg = Magicians. Gi = Giants. Sh = Shots. Art = Artillery. WWg = War Wagons. Bge = Baggage. Gal = Galleys. Shp = Ships. Bts = Boats. PF = Permanent Fortifications. TF = Temporary Fortifications. mtd = Mounted Infantry. aer = Aerial (air-mobile) Infantry.
