Fief: France 1429 – Tactics
Fief: France 1429 – Tactics Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Fief Tactics Expansion
The Fief Tactics expansion adds four new types of Troops. These Troops can increase your defensive capabilities, give you extra initial firepower, or add other special protections.
Included are: 18 x Archers, 18 x Bombards, 5 x Mercenaries, 7 x Royal Guard.
TA 1. Archers (3 per Player)
Archers cost 2 Deniers each to purchase, they contribute 1 Strenght Point (SP) in battle, they move and fight like Men at Arms, and take 1 Hit to kill.
TA 1.1 Battles
Before Battle commences, Archers receive one special pre-Battle attack. Archers from both sides simultaneously fire once before all the other Troops. One Archer rolls one Battle Die, and each additional Archer adds +1 Bonus Hit to the Battle Die roll.
Example: David initiates a Battle with 3 Archers. He rolls 1 Battle Die and adds +2 Bonus Hits (for a possible 2-5 hits). At the same time Kirsten, David's opponent, has 2 Archers. She simultaneously rolls 1 Battle Die and adds +1 Bonus Hit (for a possible 1- 4 hits).
Hits are resolved by each Player determining which of his Troops are killed and removed from the Battle.
Now the normal Battle begins and each Archer fights like a Men at Arms, adding 1SP to their army.
TA 1.2 Sieges
When pre-Battle attacking any kind of Stronghold, at least 2 Archers are required to roll one Battle Die. Additional Archers add +1 Bonus Hit to the roll. (Allied Archers may attack together.)
When pre-Battle attacking any kind of Fortified City, at least 3 Archers are required to roll one Battle Die. Additional Archers adds +1 Bonus Hits to the roll. (Allied Archers may attack together.)
TA 1.2.1 Besieged Archers Targeting Lords
Archers defending in a Siege may, instead of rolling against the opposing Troops for their pre-Battle attack, aim at one of the attacking Lords. These Archers may not target a Lord using a Secret Passage to attack (10.2.2).
The defending Player announces which Lord he is targeting and rolls only 1d6, no matter how many Archers are present. On a result of 6, the targeted Lord is killed and removed from the map. Any other result has no effect. If the last Lord in the attacking force is killed in this way, the Battle ends immediately and NO Battle Rounds take place.
If the Battle continues, the Archers fight like Men at Arms and add 1 SP to their army.
TA 2. Bombards (3 per Player)
Bombards cost 4 Denier each to purchase. They move like Men at Arms.
For each Bombard a Player has in a Battle, he may re-roll one of his own Battle Die per Battle Roll.
Siege Engines do not add to a side's SP total (6.2), they only allow die re-rolls.
Siege Engines do not take hits. They are taken off the map if all other Troops have been killed.
TA 3. Royal Guards (7 total)
When elected, the King immediately replaces up to two Knights and two Man at Arms occupying the Village he is in with an equal kind and number of Royal Guards. When a Lady becomes Queen, she immediately replaces up to one Knight and two Man at Arms with an equal kind and number of Royal Guards. Exchanging for Royal Guards is free of cost.
Should the King die, the King's Royal Guards revert back to normal troops. Should the Queen die or if a new King is elected, the Queen's Royal Guards revert back to normal troops.
Royal Guards always follow their King or Queen, no matter where they go, and can never be left behind.
If at least one Royal Guard participates in a Battle, that Player adds +1 Bonus Hit to his Battle Dice rolls. Royal Guards do not affect Archer attacks.
Example: Kirsten has 2 Royal Knights and 2 Royal Men at Arms with her King in a Battle for a total of 9 SPs. She rolls two Battle Dice and adds +1 Bonus Hit (for a possible 1-7 hits). She adds the +1 Bonus Hit each time she makes a Battle Roll and still has a Royal Guard alive.
TA 4. Mercenaries (5 total)
At the beginning of a game, Mercenary counters are placed next to the map in a Reserve Pool.
T 4.1 Bidding for Mercenaries
Mercenaries available at the beginning of a Purchase Phase (4.0) are bid on by all Players. Each Player secretly places Deniers into his hand and holds it out. Players reveal their bids simultaneously. The high bidder takes all Mercenaries in the Reserve Pool and places them on his Family Board (not on the map). If more than one Player bid the same highest amount, these Players secretly bid again. They must equal or exceed their first bid. If there is still a tie, nobody gets the Mercenaries and they remain in the Reserve Pool. Only the winning bidder pays his bid to the bank.
T 4.2 Using Mercenaries
A Player may place any number of his mercenaries when determining his Battle strength during any battle roll in any Battle that includes one of his Lords. If he does not place all of his Mercenaries in one Battle, he may place his remaining Mercenaries into other Battles when they take place. Mercenaries may not be placed during an Uprising, but may be placed in Crusade Battles (see the Crusade Expansion). A Mercenary may only take part in the Battle they were placed in.
Note: If more than one Mercenary is placed at the same time into a Battle that is located in a Bishopric experiencing the Plague (2.3.3), half of these Mercenaries (rounded down) are lost and returned to the Reserve Pool.
Mercenaries fight and take hits like Men at Arms. Killed Mercenaries are place back into the Reserve Pool, available to be bid on during the next Purchase Phase. At the end of the Battle Phase, all Mercenaries that survived the Battles are placed back on their employer's Family Board.
T 4.3 Mercanary Upkeep
At the beginning of each Purchase Phase, a Player must pay the Bank 1 Denier per Mercenary he has on his Family Board and wishes to keep. Any Mercenaries he does not pay for are returned to the Reserve Pool.
Example: Grady has all five Mercenaries on his Family Board. Grady attacks Gunter with an Army consisting of 1 Lord, 2 Knights and 5 Men at Arms for a total of 12 SPs. Grady decides to add one of his Mercenaries to the Battle to increase his SPs to 13, gaining him three Battle Dice. Grady and Gunter both roll their Battle Dice and Gunter scores 2 hits on Grady. Grady decides to remove his one Mercenary and one Men at Arms. During the next Battle Roll, Grady only has 11 SPs remaining, so decides to add another two of his Mercenaries to the Battle to again increase his SPs to 13. Grady wins the Battle. He then has another Battle in another Village and commits his remaining two Mercenaries to it.
Example: Two of Grady's Mercenaries were killed during last round's Battle Phase and were returned to the Reserve Pool. His three surviving Mercenaries were placed back on his Family Board. At the end of this round's Income Phase, Grady pays only one Denier to keep one of his Mercenaries, losing the other two Mercenaries which are place back into the Reserve Pool. There are now four Mercenaries in the Reserve Pool available to be bid on at the beginning of the next Purchase Phase. As you can see, if someone other than Grady wins this bid, more than one Player can be employing Mercenaries!
Transcription Notes
Spelling and capitalisation are kept as printed on the source sheet (for example "Strenght", "Mercanary", "place back", "Man at Arms"). Section numbers (TA 1–TA 4, T 4.1–T 4.3) are as printed. Cross-references to base-game sections (6.2, 2.3.3, 4.0, 10.2.2) refer to the base Fief: France 1429 rulebook.