Invasions: Volume 1 – 350-650 AD
Invasions: Volume 1 – 350-650 AD Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
- I. Overview of Play
- II. Components
- III. Game Concepts
- IV. Sequence of Play
- V. Setup, Scoring, Winning
- VI. Status of Nations
- VII. Transition to Kingdom
- VIII. Transition to Empire
- IX. Reinforcements
- X. Events
- XI. Raids
- XII. Province & Area Control
- XIII. Administration
- XIV. Income
- XV. Purchases
- XVI. Revolts
- XVII. Stacking
- XVIII. Movement
- XIX. Opponent's Reaction
- XX. Combat
- XXI. Advanced Combat
- XXII. Military Campaigns
- XXIII. Fortified Cities
- XXIV. Sieges
- XXV. Sea Movement & Warfare
- XXVI. Alliances
- XXVII. Clientele
- XXVIII. Foedus
- XXIX. Submission (Vassalage)
- XXX. Diplomacy
- XXXI. Religion
- XXXII. Dramatis Personae
- XXXIII. Gazetteer
- XXXIV. Glossary
I. Overview of Play
Invasions (Volumes I & II) simulates the 350 to 925 AD time period, during which various barbarian and civilized peoples were active in Europe and the Middle East.
Each player has a set of assigned peoples known hereafter as Nations. Nations score victory points (VPs) for their player, mostly through the control of geographical objectives.
Most nations start off as Barbarians that invade the map, forcing their way in through sheer force of numbers.
As they settle down in conquered territory, they eventually become Civilized, first as Kingdoms and eventually, if large enough, as Empires. Nothing is eternal, so Empires eventually collapse and the cycle continues.
Each nation has an individual Nation Card. Each card lists some special rules that apply to that nation: its victory objectives, scheduled reinforcements, leaders, etc.
A Time Table indicates, turn by turn, the nations entering play, Barbarian reinforcements, and named leaders.
II. Components
- Rule Book ×1
- Appendices Book ×1
- Player Aids ×12
- Score Pad ×40
- Nation Cards ×33
- Special D6 Battle Dice ×20 (×14 white, ×6 black)
- D10 Event Dice ×2
- Cards ×108: Administration ×18, Diplomacy ×18, Event ×72
- Information Markers ×216 (Age, Treasury, Tribute, Calamity, etc.): Pillage, In Decline, Revolt, Fortified City, Capital
- Counters ×540 in 4 Player Colours: Unit, Leader, Limes, Horde, Fleet
- Large 56×84 cm mounted mapboard of the Ancient World (Map key, p. 5).
III. Game Concepts
A. Die Rolls
- Special white and black battle dice are used to resolve battles (XX.B).
- Note: The optional advanced combat rules (XXI) use two normal six-sided dice, 2D6, instead (not supplied with the game).
- A ten-sided die, D10, is used for everything else (sieges, revolts, etc.). The 0 counts as 10.
- When the rules call for a D2 check, roll a D10. The check is passed if the roll is even (✓), it is failed if odd (✗).
Rounding! In this game, all rounding is up. A negative value is rounded towards zero.
B. Military Units
- There are two types of Military Units: Standard & Elite.
- Each of these can be further distinguished as Heavy.
- Some nations have special units (Elephants, Horse-Archers, Frankish Infantry, etc.) that usually combine some of these traits.
- Units may be available on, or from, a certain turn—for example, the unit counter turn icon shown here indicates this unit becomes available on turn 3.
- Mercenaries are units of a nation that are under the control of another (XXVII.B, XXVIII.C, XXIX.D). They are always lent/redeployed when conditions occur, eg upon card play, submission in the military phase, etc.
Standard Units have only a front side. Infantry, cavalry, and archers are the most commonplace standard units.
- Infantry (crossed-swords icon): This is the basic unit.
- Archers (targeting icon): Archers of both sides shoot during each battle's opening archery round (XX.D), and fight normally afterwards.
- Cavalry (horse-rider icon): May gain a Tactical Advantage during battle (XX.C).
- Horse Archers (mounted-archer icon): Mostly used by nomads, these are archers and cavalry.
- Limites (singular Limes): Unmovable fortified units that stop invasions at a border (XVIII.I).
- Fleets (anchor icon): Used for naval warfare or transportation (XXV).
Elite Units (white diamond icon on the front side of their counter): These include legions, noble cavalry, and guards.
- Elite units can only be used by Civilized nations (Kingdoms or Empires), barring exceptions.
- Elite units present in a Barbarian nation's force pool are treated as standard units, ignoring the elite white diamond icon, until the nation becomes Civilized.
- Elite units have two sides. When an elite unit is hit, it is flipped to its reverse side, which displays a red diamond icon to indicate it is a hit/damaged elite unit and is now treated as a standard unit (infantry or fleet), no matter what it was previously. Elite amphibious (anchor), mountaineer (mountain), and francisque-wielding (axe) units maintain those attributes while damaged, as indicated by the icons on their flip side.
- Imperial Guards (two white diamond icons): count as two elite units but are still damaged by a single hit. (Custos, Custodes in Latin) The Palatine cavalry is made up of mounted imperial Guards.
Heavy Units (heavy icon) can be standard or elite.
- When a side has the Heavy Advantage in battle, their opponent suffers a penalty to its battle dice.
- Noble Cavalry (noble cavalry icon): These are heavy elite cavalry for Kingdoms.
- Amphibious Units (amphibious icon) ignore the river penalty during combat (XX.F) and the sea risk die roll during amphibious landings (XXV.E).
- Mountaineer Units (mountaineer icon) count double during a mountains ambush archery round (XX.D).
Images in the Rule Book show a Roman legion (left), an elite heavy infantry unit, and a Barbarian cavalry unit (right), a heavy unit that becomes elite when the Visigoths found a Kingdom.
C. Leaders
There are two types of Leaders: Intrinsic & Named. Neither can be purchased—they are in play when the Time Table calls for them.
- Intrinsic national leaders represent unremarkable leaders; they are unnamed and without any turn indication (i.e. available without special turn constraints).
- The initially Barbarian nations each have a Rex (Latin for King), which is only in play when there is no named leader.
- The initial Kingdoms and Empires have military leaders (bearing a general's star) with a relevant title such as Caesar or Satrap. They are in play alongside their King or Emperor. A Caesar or Satrap should always be in play if there is no named leader with a star ("general") meaning that both Roman Empires and Persians should have a named ruler plus either a named or intrinsic general each turn.
Named leaders are historic emperors, kings, or generals that are in play for up to two turns. The game includes a few fictitious, alternate-history leaders, such as Majorianus II, Claudius III, and Antoninus. There are a few instances where a nation has two kings, emperors, or generals in play during the same turn.
Although not units themselves, Leaders have a number of attributes that affect play:
- Top Center: The turn(s) during which the leader is in play. Intrinsic leaders do not have this attribute.
- Left, top to bottom:
- Combat Bonus: Number of re-rolls available during battle (XX.E), siege (XXIV.C), and revolt subdual (XVI.F). Bonus for interception and flight (XIX), and sometimes for transition to Kingdom (VII).
- Stacking Bonus: Number of extra units that can stack with the leader (XVII.B).
- N.B. Ermenaricus leader counter should have a +2 stacking bonus, not +1.
- Right, top to bottom:
- Administrative Bonus: Administration card draw bonus.
- Diplomatic Bonus: Diplomatic card draw bonus (XXX.A).
- Campaign Value: Number of times a leader can go on campaign during his nation's activation (XXII).
- Bottom: Name, followed by an icon showing whether the leader is a general, a (Barbarian or Civilized) king, or an emperor.
- Some leaders have a Mountains icon that indicates the leader cannot be ambushed in mountain terrain.
D. Barbarian Hordes
- Each Barbarian nation has a single special unit, the horde.
- It behaves as a sort of "mobile capital" for the Barbarian nation. When the Barbarian nation transitions to a Kingdom (VII), the horde is flipped to its reverse side, which depicts the capital.
- Barbarians control an Area (XII.C) if they (or their allies or vassals) are the sole Barbarian nation to have their horde there. Kingdom or Empire control of an Area supercedes Barbarian control.
- A horde never counts against the stacking limit (XVII).
- Barbarian reinforcements (IX) are placed in the same province as the horde.
- If the nation is raiding (XI.C), the target province must be within two provinces of the horde.
- A horde counts as a unit in defense only. It flees or retreats normally (XIX). It cannot be eliminated in battle, only submitted (XXIX.B).
- A horde moves like an infantry unit only during a unit stacks step, twice in an invasion (XVIII.H) including using a leader +1 movement bonus. It cannot move in a leader campaign.
E. The Map
- The map is divided into different land provinces and sea zones.
- Each province has a name, an income value, and a terrain type (background colour).
- Provinces may contain extra information such as city sites, cities (some of which are ports), granaries, or caravan sites.
- Provinces may be separated by a river or ridge, or connected to other provinces over a strait. Some are insular (Gothlandia, Balearica, Creta, etc.).
- Sea zones have a name and, in some cases, a commerce value.
- Provinces are grouped into Areas such as Arabia, Hispania, or Balticum.
- Areas have a name, a status (Barbarian or Civilized), a Kingdom income value, and, for Civilized areas, an Empire income value.
- Sarmatia is a special case (see Appendices and Byzantine aid).
F. Cities
- Control of a province goes hand in hand with control of any city therein.
- A city site is a spot on the map where a new city may be built as a result of an event or of the foundation of a Kingdom. They also serve to indicate the results of raids (XI).
- Cities can be fortified (XXIII) or non-fortified.
- For a province to be conquered, its city (if any) must also be besieged successfully (XXIV).
- Cities generate income (XIV.B) and can be looted after a successful siege (Error! Reference source not found. — broken cross-reference as printed in the source). Raids (XI.F) loot empty city sites (this represents the raiders pillaging the province's countryside).
- Cities grow in size as a result of an event card or by absorbing a Barbarian horde transitioning to a young Kingdom.
- Cities with a port have their coast on the sea zone where the port symbol appears and are coastal cities. (The source text omits the symbol name at this point.)
G. Capitals
- Each Civilized nation has a Capital marker (Capitolum), the nation's capital.
- A capital generates bonus income.
- It is always fortified (its walls cannot be dismantled).
- It is easier to intercept enemies entering a capital's province.
- Its province is immune to revolt.
- Its Area is immune to the Heresy calamity but not the Heresy event (XXXI.C).
- Looting a capital generates extra Gold.
- If a nation's capital is conquered, it loses all of its allies, clients, and vassals. It may also lose any or all of its federates. A Kingdom whose capital is conquered submits (XXIX.C).
- A capital is redeployed on the turn following its conquest. Its bonus income is not collected on that turn.
H. Treasury Track
- Each nation places its Treasury (Thesaurum) marker here to track accumulated income. This includes Barbarian nations.
- This marker's position (spaces 0 to 20) indicates how much Gold the nation owns. It is moved up for gains (income) and down for expenses (purchases and other costs).
- If the Treasury exceeds 20 accumulated Gold, flip the marker to its "+20" side. If it drops below 21, flip it back. After the Purchase step each turn the treasury cannot go above 40 or below 0, see XIV.A.
- The only allowed transfers of Gold between nations are those specified by the rules (tribute, mercenaries, diplomacy, etc.).
I. The Roman Limites
- Limites (fortifications and walls, singular Limes) protected the borders of the Roman Empire until 500 AD (turn 7, inclusive).
- The Roman Empire (Western and Eastern) has various Limes counters set up in its border provinces at the game's outset.
- A Limes has a blocking effect. All invaders must stop when they cross into a border province where a Limes is located. No passage in force, overrun, or raid in depth is possible.
- The Limes counter is set up in a separate stack, clearly visible, next to any Roman stack present. It does not count against the stacking limit, but there can only be one per province.
- It counts as a unit for the Romans in defense if supporting units are present. It can be assigned a hit.
- If the Limes is unsupported, there is no battle. It is immediately destroyed, inflicting a hit on the enemy (XX.H) if a D2 check is passed.
- If the Romans succeed in intercepting (XIX.A) inside a province garrisoned only by a Limes, the Limes is destroyed and makes the D2 check as above before the arrival of the intercepting stack.
- Before turn 8, any time a limes is destroyed, the Roman player may rebuild it for free in a province that previously contained one if he now controls that province.
- Starting turn 4 through 7 the Roman player can use a destroyed limes counter, flip it to its infantry side and place it as a purchase on the map for 2 gold, as regular infantry. (see special rules)
- On the Purchases step of turn 8, all Limites are removed from play and become local units (flip the counters): These units follow special rules (Romans: P and Byzantines: R Player Aids).
IV. Sequence of Play
Invasions is played over a number of Turns as determined by the chosen Scenario. Each turn is broken down into four phases that are further broken down into steps and sub-steps. Players will activate their individual nations during some of these steps.
Nation Activations begin with Barbarian nations, in order of decreasing age (breaking ties in order of increasing initiative on their Nation Cards), then similarly with Kingdom nations, and finally Empire nations. Exceptions are noted.
Turn Sequence
1. Time Phase
- A. Status of Nations (VI)
- a. Barbarian nations age (VI.D) – In Age Track sequence.
- b. Kingdoms and then Empires age (VI.E) – as above.
- c. Heresies age (Error! Reference source not found. — broken cross-reference as printed in the source).
- B. Reinforcements (IX) – In Nation Activations order (see Military Phase, below) †.
- C. Events (X)
- a. Event Cards (X.B) – In player order (Romans > Huns > Persians > Goths).
- b. Raids (X.C) – In Time Table sequence.
- c. Caravans (X.D) ‡ – Simultaneous.
- D. Diplomacy (XXX) – Civilized nations, in order of increasing age, starting with Kingdoms and then Empires.
2. Administration Phase (Kingdoms and Empires only) (XIII) – In Nation Activations order ‡
- A. Administration Cards (card reference missing in source)
- B. Income (XIV) (Barbarians: XIV.I Recovery from Pillage) †
- C. Purchases (XV) †
- D. Revolts Subdual (XVI.F)
3. Military Phase
- A. Nation Activations – Barbarian nations first, then Kingdoms, and finally Empires. In order of decreasing age, breaking ties in order of increasing Nation Card initiative.
- a. Unit Stacks
- i. Movement (XVIII, XIX, XXV) – One stack at a time, in player's choice of sequence.
- ii. Combat (XX) – In player's choice of sequence.
- b. Campaigns (XXII) – In player's choice of leader sequence
- i. Movement
- ii. Combat
- a. Unit Stacks
- B. End of Diplomacy
4. Scoring Phase (V) – Every 3rd Turn
Some nations also score bonus VP during each turn when the scoring conditions are met.
† May be done simultaneously if order does not matter.
‡ On turn 1, play begins with 1.C.a Event cards, and Caravans (1.C.c) and Administration Cards (2.A) are skipped.
V. Setup, Scoring, Winning
A. Setting Up
The scenario used (in the basic game, the only one is 350 AD Scenario I) indicates the nations in play. For each one:
- Place its Capital or Horde counter in the indicated province.
- Deploy the listed units in the provinces, areas, or sea zones indicated, setting aside the remaining units to form the nation's pool.
- Place its Treasury marker on the Treasury Track at the indicated amount.
- Place its Age marker on the Age Track's 1 space unless indicated otherwise.
- If a client nation, place the indicated Tribute marker with its patron nation's treasury marker.
Place a fortification marker on each fortified city as printed on the map (or as specified by the scenario, if different).
Deploy Heresy and other Calamity markers as indicated, if any.
Shuffle the Administration, Diplomacy, and Event cards separately and put each deck face-down within reach.
Finally, put the Turn marker on space 1 of the Turn Track and begin play with Time Phase step C, Events.
B. Scoring Victory Points
- Nations score victory points (VPs) for their player, mostly through the (direct or indirect) control of geographical objectives (provinces and areas). Vassalage (XXIX) affects this score.
- VPs for province and area control (XII) are scored at the end (phase 4) of turns 3, 6, 9 and the game's last turn (11 or 12) as indicated by the VP Icon on the Turn Track. (Check individual Scenarios for any changes.)
- Some nations score bonus VPs for other reasons such as raids (XI), and Foedus (XXVIII.E). Such VP are always scored whenever the conditions are met, for example "Each enemy eliminated" during Military activation, "Create a Kingdom" during the Age phase.
- "Each unit eliminated while raiding" for Raider nations refers to when a settled raider, XI.G, fights a combat and eliminates an enemy unit. For other nations it refers to eliminating a raiding unit, whether during the raid or after having settled.
- "Each Burgundian, Frank, Hun etc eliminated" refers to number of units of that nation eliminated in total in combat, i.e. from archery or melee, before recovery. This is regardless of who is the attacker.
- "Each Roman eliminated" as above but also includes limites and even if destroyed without combat.
- Each in non-heretical Christian (Catholic) province income (once) refers to rule XXXI.B Conversion to Catholicism.
- Romans and Byzantines score Catholic VP but get 1 or 2 VP per number of non-heretical AREAS controlled, at the end of each Admin phase.
- Example: W. Rome has 7 Areas, but 2 of which (Africa/Britannia) are heretical: gain is 5 x 2 = 10 VP. E. Rome has 6 Areas, but 2 of which are permanent heretics: gain is 4 x 1 = 4 VP.
- The Franks score once for conversion as per XXXI.B and then as Romans for each area held as Catholics.
- For Persia's condition of attacking Rome for 20 VP, a total of ten different Persian units must either fight a combat (interception or regular), take part in a siege or destroy a limes during the same activation, i.e. a unit stacks step or campaign.
C. Winning the Game
- The player with the most victory points at the end of the game wins (adding together the VPs of all nations under their control).
- The game ends on turn 11 if Islam is created, on turn 12 otherwise (Time Table).
- If players are tied in Victory Points, score the turn a second time. If still tied, the tie is broken by player number order: Romans > Huns > Persians > Goths.
VI. Status of Nations
A. Overview
- A nation's status is one of Barbarian, Kingdom, or Empire.
- Kingdom and Empire are Civilized.
- When each nation enters play, it places its Age Marker (Aevum) on one of the two Age Tracks. Each turn, a nation's marker may move forward on its track.
- One Age Track is for Barbarian nations; the other is for Civilized nations.
- The Barbarian track has 7 spaces.
- The Civilized track has 12 spaces grouped into three sections:
- Young: spaces 1 to 4
- Mature: spaces 5 to 8
- Old: spaces 9 to 12
- Each new Barbarian nation enters play on space 1 of the Barbarian Age Track. New Civilized nations enter play on space 1 of the Civilized Age Track.
B. Inactive Nations
- There are a number of inactive nations in the game, some Barbarian (e.g. Aestii, Sklaves), some Kingdoms (e.g. Euskalduns, Armenians).
- They do not attack, they do not age, they do not track Treasuries.
- They do not earn VPs for their controlling player by themselves, having no Nation Card. Once they are turned into a client (XXVII), federate (XXVIII), or vassal (XXIX), they earn VPs for their patron, federator, or suzerain as usual.
- Their controlling player is merely in charge of their reactive movement (fleeing from combat, XIX.B), battle (as defenders), and reinforcements (XXVII.C).
C. Raider Nations
- There are also a number of raider nations in the game, all Barbarians (e.g. Berbers, Vikings).
- Their units are held off-map, appearing only long enough to raid (XI) a rural Civilized province during the Time Phase's Events step as directed by the Time Table, earning VPs and loot in the process.
- After a particularly successful raid, their units may settle down in their target province. The raider nation then becomes inactive.
- Some raider nations are destined to become normal active nations later on (e.g. Angles, Saxons). Only these get to track Treasuries (from the outset) and age (once established on the map).
D. Barbarian Nations Age
- A Barbarian nation may never be older than space 7 or younger than space 1 on the Barbarian Age Track.
- A Barbarian nation automatically ages one space during the Time Phase's Status of Nations step, unless its age is already at 7. Remember: ageing does not occur on turn 1.
- A Barbarian nation may transition to a Kingdom (VII) voluntarily starting at age 3. It may suffer a forced transition starting at age 5. These checks are done the turn AFTER reaching that age, see VII.B and C.
- A Barbarian nation that ages from the last space for any reason immediately checks for transition to a Kingdom.
E. Civilized Nations Age
- A Civilized nation may never be older than space 12 or younger than space 1 on the Civilized Age Track.
- A Kingdom or Empire nation automatically ages one space during the Time Phase's Status of Nations step, but not turn 1.
- A Kingdom or Empire also ages depending on the Administration card played later during that turn (by –1 to +2 spaces), because of certain calamities or events, or if it goes bankrupt (XIV.J).
- A Kingdom may transition to an Empire (VIII) when it reaches or exceeds a certain size.
- An eligible Kingdom is checked for transition to Empire every time its age marker advances. If it advances multiple spaces in one go, check only once.
- Civilized nations can also be In Decline, hastening their transition to the next stage (empire or collapse). The In Decline marker (Declinatio) has two sides: minus/single (–5 VP) and plus/doubled (–10 VP). Both count as being In Decline. A nation can only have one marker, see below.
- If a Civilized nation attempts to age from space 12 for any reason, increase its level of Decline instead.
- If a nation rejuvenates for any reason while In Decline, its Age remains unchanged. Instead, decrease its level of Decline.
- To decrease the level of Decline, flip a double level In Decline marker to its single level side or remove a single level one.
- To increase the level of Decline (because of Age, Bankruptcy, Calamity, or Event), add a single level In Decline marker if there is none or flip a single level one to its double level side.
- If instructed to increase the level of Decline and an In Decline marker is already on its doubled side, the marker is unchanged. Instead, a Kingdom immediately checks for transition to Empire as in VIII IF it controls 3 areas. If not, it must deduct 5 VP from its total. An Empire deducts ten Gold from its Treasury—possibly triggering bankruptcy, XIV.J. Only apply the effect once regardless of how many decline levels would be added from the same event, e.g. never penalize a Kingdom more than -5 VP if it cannot age two steps and take a decline due to bankruptcy.
F. Nations Activation Order
- Barbarian nations activate first during the Military Phase, followed by Kingdoms and then by Empires.
- Some special rules (like the Huns invasion turn 2) adjust the normal order.
- Within the same status type, the oldest nation activates first.
- If age and status are equal, use the initiative number listed on the Nation Cards (lower number activates first).
G. Barbarians
- Barbarians are quick to play as there is no administration, no purchase or maintenance of units, and no provincial or city income.
- They are immune to revolts and to heresies (as long as they remain Pagans or Arians).
- Barbarians can gain through tribute or pillage (XIV.C). Their leaders may conquer non-fortified cities by sheer terror (XXIV.B).
- On the turn they appear, Barbarians usually benefit from an Invasion (XVIII.H), which boosts them significantly.
- Barbarians have different kinds of units; however, their elite units are considered as standard (i.e. single-sided, ignoring the white diamond) until they transition to Kingdom.
- Barbarians receive reinforcements each turn according to the Time Table. Each turn they either receive a named leader or replace a lost intrinsic one. They also have a horde, separate from their other units, which cannot be eliminated, only submitted (XXIX.B).
- After a few turns, each Barbarian nation will eventually become Civilized and found a Kingdom. It is advisable to find a suitable location, preferably in a Civilized Area (i.e. regions with cities that are located within the Roman Empire at the beginning).
H. Nomads
- The Nomad (nomad icon) is a special type of Barbarian. Most originate in Central Asia. Alans, Avars, Hephthalites, Huns, Khazars, and Kushans are Nomads.
- Nomads can choose their reinforcements without constraints.
- They are always considered hostile to all nations (XII.D).
- They are the only nations (except for the Ostrogoths on turn 1) that can enter Scythia.
- They may cross a strait normally but may never use naval transport (XXV.D). This restriction does not apply to mercenaries lent to other nations (XXVII.B, XXVIII.C, XXIX.D) nor to auxiliaries (XV.B).
- They have a battle advantage in Steppe terrain (XX.G) but are at a disadvantage when besieging (XXIV.C).
- They may more easily submit other Barbarian nations in Barbarian Areas and pick the units recovered by their new vassal in the process (XXIX.B).
- They have control over their vassal-supplied mercenaries (XXIX.D) but their vassals are more likely to rebel (XXIX.G).
I. Kingdoms
- Most Civilized nations are Kingdoms.
- Kingdoms always activate after Barbarians.
- A Kingdom has a capital (on the flip side of the Barbarian horde counter), and must be administered every turn (purchases replace reinforcements).
- A Kingdom receives income each turn to run its administration.
- A Kingdom must pay for maintenance of its units (1 per unit).
- A Kingdom must play an Administration card each turn. This has various effects such as the administrative cost for the Kingdom (for the current turn), the calamities suffered, and additional aging.
- An Administration card could also prevent the Kingdom from having the use of its leader for a turn (i.e. the leader could be forbidden from moving actively, although present on the map).
- Kingdom removal. At the end of any nation's military activation, if a Kingdom has no units on the map, and controls no provinces or cities, it is permanently removed from play UNLESS the nation that controls its capital wants to keep it around as an inactive vassal IMK (XXVII). In that case the Kingdom is immediately and permanently degraded to that status and follows all those rules. It is also possible for a player to voluntarily remove their own Kingdom nation from the game permanently.
- A Kingdom must purchase its units and suffer the effects of any calamities received.
J. Empires
- Finally, there are Empires.
- Empires always activate after Kingdoms.
- An Empire is played more or less like a Kingdom except for its administration, which is a bit more delicate.
- An Empire has military superiority over Barbarian nations. It also benefits from an Imperial Capital bringing in more income.
- An Empire collects less than a Kingdom, but on the other hand it pays no maintenance.
- At the start of the game, Rome and Byzantium are united and represent the Roman Empire. They will split into separate entities on turn 3 (395 AD).
- The Hun nomads may transition directly to an Empire—or they could collapse instead.
- The Persians may become an Empire if they expand into the East.
- An Empire can collapse (XIV.K) if it reaches age 9 or older and suffers bankruptcy (XIV.J).
VII. Transition to Kingdom
A. Overview
- Sooner or later, a Barbarian nation will become Civilized and make a transition to Kingdom.
- This transition can either be voluntary or forced, according to the situation.
- The Huns may not transition voluntarily to Kingdom. When Attila dies, they either disappear entirely or immediately become an Empire (Huns: E Player Aid).
B. Voluntary Transition
- Once a Barbarian nation reaches age 3, its player may announce the transition to Kingdom at the start of the next turn, in the Time Phase's Status of Nations step before aging again.
- No die roll check is required, only the announcement.
C. Forced Transition
-
Once a Barbarian nation reaches age 5, its player must make a die roll check for transition to Kingdom unless a voluntary transition has been announced.
-
This die roll check is made at the start of the next turn, in the Time Phase's Status of Nations step before aging again. Die Roll Check for Transition to Kingdom
-
Roll a D10 with the following modifiers:
- –1 for every 10 Gold in the nation's Treasury
- +2 if the nation's horde is in a Barbarian Area
-
Result > nation's age: The transition fails and the nation remains Barbarian for this turn.
-
Result ≤ nation's age: The nation immediately becomes a Kingdom.
D. The Young Kingdom
- The nation's Age marker is set on space 1 of the Civilized Age Track.
- The young Kingdom immediately receives a bonus of 20 Gold for its Treasury.
- On the Status of Nations step of the next turn, it receives another bonus of 10 Gold—unless it becomes an Empire on that turn, a rare occurrence. There are no bonuses on the following turns.
- If there is an empty city site in a province it controls (XII.B), found a Level 1 city there. Otherwise grow a Level 1 city into a Level 2 or, if there is no other choice, grow a Level 2 into a Level 3. If all controlled city sites are already level 3, too bad—the growth is lost.
- The horde is then flipped to its capital side. It is assigned permanently to an existing city anywhere within the controlled provinces. The city could be the newly-founded one.
- If the young Kingdom has no city at all, the horde counter remains unflipped until a city site or city comes under its control, at which time the city growth and capital founding described above occurs. The Kingdom will have no capital until then, although its horde counter will be treated as a capital in all other respects (immunity to revolt and the Heresy calamity, etc. except granting bonus income).
- The Kingdom may remain Pagan or become Arian or Christian (XXXI).
- The nation is now Civilized and thus no longer receives free units from the Time Table as reinforcements.
VIII. Transition to Empire
A. Overview
- A Kingdom may become an Empire once it reaches a certain size. Its age is irrelevant.
B. Forced Transition
- Once a Kingdom controls at least 3 Areas (counting Barbarian Areas as ½ Areas—do not round up), it must make a die roll check for transition to Empire during the Time Phase's Status of Nations step.
- Exception: Do not make a die roll check on the turn the Kingdom is created, even if it satisfies the Area count condition.
Die Roll Check for Transition to Empire
- Roll a D10 with the following modifiers:
- +1 for a leader with a combat bonus ≥ 2
- +1 if In Decline (single side)
- +2 if In Decline (doubled side)
- +2 for each Civilized Area controlled beyond the first three
- +1 for each Barbarian Area controlled
- +3 if Roma or Constantinopolis are controlled
- +1 for each client (Persian Player Aid: B)
- Result < 8: The transition fails and the nation remains a Kingdom.
- Result ≥ 8: The nation immediately becomes an Empire.
C. The Young Empire
- The nation's Aeuvum/Age marker is reset to space 1 of the Civilized Age Track (exception: Persians, Player Aid: B). Any In Decline marker present is removed (even if flipped to its doubled side).
- The young Empire immediately receives a bonus of 20 Gold for its Treasury.
- On the Status of Nations step of the next turn, it receives another bonus of 10 Gold. There are no bonuses on the following turns.
IX. Reinforcements
A. Overview
- During the Time Phase's Reinforcements step, nations receive units (at no cost) and leaders according to instructions on the Time Table or on their Nation Card.
B. Displacements
- When the Time Table calls for a new nation to arrive in an occupied province, the occupiers must evacuate immediately.
- The displaced units must move towards adjacent empty or friendly provinces, if possible in the direction of their horde or capital. Stacking limits must be respected.
- If displacement is not possible for some (but not all) of the displaced units (because of stacking limits), they are removed from play.
- If displacement is not possible for any unit because they are surrounded, the displaced nation must pick its strongest neighbour (by total number of units) and seek refuge in one of its provinces (removing from play any excess units). It immediately submits to its new suzerain, who must evacuate in turn as usual (XXIX).
- If displaced from an island, naval transport by friendly fleets allows falling back across a sea zone (XXV.D). Otherwise the displaced units are removed from play.
- A horde in the arrival province is displaced. A capital is removed and can be founded again just as if the nation were transitioning to Kingdom (VII.D). The nation's Age and Treasury do not change.
- Displacements may not be intercepted nor trigger flight (XIX).
C. Named and Intrinsic Leaders
- Intrinsic leaders, as individuals, last only one turn. As one dies (of natural causes), a new one arises. To reflect this, intrinsic leaders are freely redeployed to any of the nation's provinces during Reinforcements.
- A new named leader may appear as a reinforcement. It may be placed in any of its nation's provinces.
- The intrinsic leader can never be in play at the same time as a named leader. It is moved to the Turn Track from whence it comes as a reinforcement on the next turn.
- Note: The military leader of an Empire (e.g. Rome's Caesar) is always allowed even if a named leader is present.
- Named leaders that appeared on the previous turn are removed during Reinforcements unless the Time Table calls for a second turn.
D. Barbarian Units
- Each Barbarian nation receives reinforcements as indicated on the Time Table unless it is a vassal (XXIX.F).
- These reinforcements are always placed in the same province as the one holding the horde (next to it). Stacking limits are ignored at this point, unlike Civilized nations—they will be checked later, during the Military Phase.
- If the Time Table no longer shows any reinforcements, a Barbarian nation will receive by default one unit as reinforcement each turn.
- If the Time Table calls for an unavailable unit type, substitute an infantry with as few attributes as possible.
- When the Time Table merely specifies a number of "units", at least half of those must be infantries (if available in the counter pool). The types of the rest are freely chosen by the player.
- Within a type, the player draws half at random from the available pool and picks the rest.
- Nomads choose each of their reinforcements—no random draws.
- No units can ever be purchased using a Barbarian nation's Treasury.
E. Kingdoms and Empires
- Civilized nations rarely if ever receive scheduled unit reinforcements; they instead purchase new units (or repair damaged ones) during the Administration Phase's Purchases step. Some exceptions exist, and are indicated on the Player Aids and Nation Cards.
- Inactive independent minor Kingdoms each receive one unit as reinforcement if eligible (XXVII.C).
F. Federates and Vassals
- If a federate mercenary (XXVIII.C) is eliminated, a new one is lent to the federator (deployed on the map) during the federator's Reinforcements.
- If a nomadic suzerain's vassal mercenary (XXIX.D) is eliminated, a new one is drafted by the suzerain during its Reinforcements. This is the only case where an eliminated vassal mercenary must be replaced.
G. Disappearing Nations
- If a nation has disappeared (has no units of its own on the map), during its Reinforcements one of its units controlled by another nation as an auxiliary ('B' unit, XV.B) or mercenary (XXVII.B, XXVIII.C, XXIX.D) is removed from each such nation (their choice).
X. Events
A. Overview
In this step of the Time Phase, there are three sub-steps: event cards are drawn (some of which trigger immediate events), raids are carried out by some Barbarians, and the income from caravans is determined.
B. Event Cards
- In player number order, each player draws one event card (regardless of how many nations they control).
- Some of the pillage markers obtained as a result of raids and sieges double as event "cards".
- Event cards are either public (18 cards) or private (54 cards).
- A public event card has a red-coloured back while private event cards have a brown-coloured one. Public events must be played immediately when drawn, while private events are kept by the player and used later.
- An event card's target is not necessarily a nation, stack, or unit controlled by the card player. For instance, an event can meddle with the outcome of a battle that does not involve any of the card player's nations.
- An event may not target an inactive nation (independent minor Kingdoms, Slavic Barbarians, settled raiders) except in battle.
- Played event cards are put in the event discard pile. The Pool public event is the only time the discards are shuffled back into the event deck.
C. Raids
- Some Barbarians called raiders stage Raids, as listed on the Time Table.
- Each of these nations has a pool of at least 2 units to raid with.
- They do not have initiative numbers on their Nation Cards as they do not get to act during the Military Phase.
- The raiding process is explained in detail in the next section (XI).
D. Caravans
- Aegyptus, Rhagae, Siraces, and Tripolitania are the Caravan provinces.
- A Caravan province normally provides an income of 1 Gold (in addition to the province's own income) to its Civilized controlling nation, in the income phase.
- Each turn, an exceptional caravan is randomly determined using a D10 roll on the Caravan Table shown below (and also on the map). The designated province receives an income of 5 Gold instead of 1 Gold.
- 1–2 Aegyptus
- 3–7 Rhagae
- 8–9 Siraces
- 0 Tripolitania
- The Caravan event card increases the caravan incomes to 10 Gold for the exceptional caravan and 5 Gold for the others.
- A Barbarian nation that controls (XVII.B) a Caravan province gets to pillage it if it passes a D2 check. Draw a pillage marker (see XXIV.D).
- If the Caravan is exceptional, looting it is automatically successful.
- If the Caravan event is in force, the Barbarian nation draws two pillage markers instead of one.
XI. Raids
A. Overview
- Raids aim to loot a province instead of conquering it.
- Raider nations raid during the Time Phase's Events step, Raids sub-step, when called for by the Time Table.
- Other Barbarian nations can choose to raid during their military activation.
B. Raider Nations
- The raid issues from the province indicated on their Nation Card. When the card specifies an Area, the raiders come from a province of the player's choice within that Area.
- Two units conduct each raid. If the nation has a pool of more than 2 units (e.g. the Picts), the raiding units are picked at random. If a nation has only one unit left (due to losses or settling) their raid result is one less. If it has no units left it may not raid.
- Raider nations have no units on the map until they settle down (XI.G); their raider units can be understood as coming from the wilderness of their starting location.
- Raider nations do not activate during the Military Phase. Some raider nations become normal active nations as indicated by the Time Table.
C. Barbarian Nations
- A Barbarian nation may raid during its activation, unless it is under Foedus (XXVIII) or vassalage (XXIX).
- Two units must be assigned to the Raid (if possible). The raid issues from the province where their horde is located, even though the designated units may be located elsewhere. If two units are not available, the nation may not raid.
- When raiding, the only other action the nation may perform is to move its units between its controlled provinces, before the raid.
D. Raid Process
- The raid targets a single province, which must be a Civilized enemy province with an empty city site (yellow square on the map).
- The target province must either be adjacent to the raiders' starting location, or there may be a single intervening province (this is called "raiding in depth").
- A province with a Limes or fortified city cannot be crossed.
- Raiders that pass through a garrisoned province to reach their target suffer a penalty.
- Amphibious raiders (amphibious icon) can cross one sea zone to reach their target province. If Civilized fleets are in the crossed sea zone, the raiders suffer a penalty.
- Raids may not be intercepted (XIX.A).
E. Raid Outcome
Roll a D10, with the following modifiers:
- –1 per Civilized unit present in the target province and in any province or sea zone passed through when raiding in depth
- +1 if a previous raid placed the Raid – marker
- +2 if a previous raid placed the Raid + marker
Result:
- [≤4] Failure: One raiding unit is lost permanently.
- [5–6] Raid –: Gain 1 Gold and 1 VP, place the nation's Incursio/Raid – marker.
- [7–10] Raid +: Draw a pillage marker, gain 3 VP, place the nation's Incursio/Raid + marker.
- [11–12] Raid +: As [7–10] above and the raiding unit(s) MAY remain in the target province.
All Raid/Incursio markers will remain in the province until the start of the Raid phase of next turn. A Raid + eliminates any Limes present.
F. Pillage Marker
- Some results award a pillage marker after the raid. Draw it randomly and resolve according to XXIV.D.
- As with any pillage, a face down marker is placed on the city site. As long as that remains (i.e. until the Income phase of next turn) the province cannot be raided again.
G. Settled Raiders
- Raiders that have elected to settle (remain in place after a raid result of 11-12) must resolve an immediate battle (XX) if there are enemy units in the province.
- A raider nation that has settled down becomes inactive (VI.B). It may become active again if indicated by the Time Table.
- Example: Angles that raid on turn 3 could settle down and become inactive. This means they would not raid on turn 4. On turn 5, their invasion would make them active again.
XII. Province & Area Control
A. Overview
- Provinces are grouped into Areas (e.g. Italia, Hispania, Graecia, etc.). On the map (III.E), island provinces indicate the Area to which they belong.
- A Barbarian Area is indicated by an axe icon before its name on the map. A Civilized Area is indicated by a Greek column icon.
- Control of provinces and Areas yields victory points (VPs) and determines most of the income of Kingdoms and Empires.
- A nation controls the provinces and Areas controlled by its vassals (XXIX.E). A federator controls the Foedus provinces of its federates (XXVIII.D), but not any other provinces these may control by themselves (a province garrisoned by federator and federate units is deemed controlled by the federator). Control may be shared between allies (XXVI).
B. Control of a Province
- A nation controls a province where it has a sufficient number of unopposed units.
- A single unit is enough to secure control of a Civilized province.
- The threshold for control of a Barbarian province is higher: a Barbarian nation will need two units or a unit and its horde, while a Civilized nation will need three units (some of which may be a federate's).
- Once a Civilized nation has control of a province it does not lose it until someone else takes control of it, either directly or takes control of its area (see below). This is not true for Barbarian nations who always need to maintain their conditions for control.
- Neutral city: a city in a province that no one controls is a neutral city. It must be besieged with a +1 modifier. Note that a neutral city will become controlled by a nation that controls its area. If a Barbarian nation has a unit in a city province, the city becomes neutral as soon as the Barbarian unit leaves, for any reason.
- When they have control of an area, a Civilized nation has automatic control of all empty provinces, city or no city, in that area, i.e. where there are no units from other nations. Nations with units in their provinces retain control of those provinces. Such automatic control is checked by the end of each nation's military phase, so that if a nation abandons a province it previously controlled, that now empty province will revert to the control of whomever controls the area. Note that per the second bullet above, if a nation had area control but lost it (e.g. through the loss of a city) but no one else has it either, that nation would still control all empty provinces in that area.
- N.B. Barbarian nations do not gain automatic control of any provinces when they control an area but must gain control of all provinces individually.
- If the active nation forces the retreat of all enemy units from a province with a city and has control of the area, that city province will change control by end of the active nation's military phase. If the active nation does not control the area it must lay a siege, see XXIV. If the siege is not successful, the attacker must leave the province at the end of the combat (but could re-enter later, or leave a unit as in a Leader's campaign).
C. Control of an Area
- Once a Civilized nation has control of an Area, it does not lose it until another nation breaks that control, for example by taking a city province. Barbarians must maintain conditions for control.
- Barbarians, Kingdoms and Empires may simultaneously claim control of an Area: the Empire claim overrides the Kingdom claim which overrides the Barbarian claim.
- Allies combine their holdings to determine Area control. Each ally shares in the Area's control.
- Barbarians control an Area (Barbarian or Civilized) if the only hordes present are theirs, their allies', or their vassals'.
- Barbarians control a Civilized Area if they control the absolute majority of its provinces.
- Kingdoms control an Area if they control the absolute majority of its provinces (e.g. 3 out of 5).
- Empires control an Area if they control the absolute majority of its cities. Note that an Empire cannot control an Area that is devoid of cities. An Empire has total control of an Area if it controls all of the Area's cities and there are no enemy provinces within the Area.
- Area Control Effects: See B. above, fourth bullet for how Area control affects provinces.
- For an Empire, control of an Area generates income. Total control improves this income.
D. Friendliness, Neutrality, and Hostility
- Friendliness, neutrality, and hostility are distinct from control and play a role during the Military Phase.
- Friendly nations can stack together. Neutral nations allow free passage through their territory but won't stack together. Only hostile nations may attack each other.
- Nations are mutually friendly if they are allies (XXVI) or if one is a federate (XXVIII) of the other or of an ally. Federates of a nation and its allies are also mutually friendly.
- Nations are mutually neutral if one is a client (XXVII) or vassal (XXIX) of the other or of one of its allies. Vassals and clients of a nation and its allies are also mutually neutral.
- Within a Barbarian Area, unallied Barbarian nations and their vassals are mutually neutral by default. When one activates, the others may declare they are hostile. This lasts for the entire turn. This means the active nation cannot declare hostility in its own activation.
- This does not apply to Nomads, who are considered hostile to all other nations, unless they declare the contrary in their own phase.
- It also does not apply to the Ostrogoths if they decide to Conquer Sarmatia turn 1 (see Appendices/Player aid).
- All other nations are mutually hostile.
- A city is friendly if its province is friendly.
- A province is friendly to a nation's units:
- if it is controlled by the nation or a friendly nation; or
- if it is occupied without opposition by the nation or a friendly nation—control is not required (as in the case of a province in an uncontrolled Barbarian Area).
- A province is neutral to a nation's units if it is controlled by a neutral nation or occupied without opposition by a neutral nation.
- All other provinces are hostile. This includes provinces with unresolved battles or sieges.
- Exception: Provinces in revolt (XVI), although still controlled by their nation, are hostile to their units.
The source's colour-zone diagram (green zone: mutually friendly; yellow zone: mutually neutral, and neutral to those in the green zone) is not reproduced here.
XIII. Administration
(On Turn 1: step 2.A, Administration Cards, has already been completed.)
A. Barbarians
- The only administration that Barbarian nations accomplish is the Recovery from Pillage of the Income step (XIV.I).
- A Barbarian nation collects no income.
- However, Barbarians may raid provinces, loot cities, or receive tribute from another nation. These activities provide Gold (that can later be used when the Barbarian nation becomes a Kingdom).
B. Kingdoms and Empires
- Only the Civilized nations (Kingdoms and Empires) need administration.
- During the Administration Phase's Administration Cards step, each Civilized nation draws a number of Administration Cards, and then pays for and plays one.
C. Administration Cards (18)
- There are three Administration card types: Passive (7 cards), Military (7 cards), and Reform (4 cards).
- Administrative Cost: Each card has a cost indicated on its back. There is a price for Kingdoms and a price for Empires.
- The cost is unrelated to the size or age of the Kingdom or Empire.
- Named Leaders: Some of the named leaders have an administration bonus on their counter (top right) that allows the nation to initially draw more cards.
- Minimum of Two Types: If necessary, a nation draws additional cards until it has a choice between at least two types of cards.
C. Administration Procedure
In nation activations order, skipping Barbarian nations:
- The nation draws two Administration cards plus as many as their leader's administration bonus, all face-down.
- If the cards are all of the same type, the nation draws additional cards until a second type is drawn.
- The nation chooses one set of cards (Passive, Military, or Reform). If the nation can't afford either type, the cheaper must be chosen. This triggers bankruptcy (XIV.J) at the end of the Income step.
- The nation pays the chosen card type cost (or empties its Treasury in case of bankruptcy).
- If the chosen set includes more than one card, the nation examines their faces and chooses one.
- The nation resolves the card, applying its effects immediately. Note that these effects do not trigger Bankruptcy.
- All cards drawn are shuffled back into the deck for the next nation (thus two nations could draw the same card).
Example 1: At the start of the turn, the Visigoths founded a Kingdom in Hispania. Therefore they must now administrate it. The controlling player draws two Administration cards: one Passive & one Military. They decide to keep the Military (costing 10 Gold). They then reveal the chosen card's face and apply its effects (according to the Kingdom's current age). Both cards are then shuffled back into the deck.
Example 2: Byzantium draws 2 Passive cards (of the same type). More cards must now be drawn, one at a time, until a second type comes up. The third card is Military. The controlling player now has 3 cards of two different types (two Passive and one Military). They decide to keep the 2 Passive ones (costing 10 Gold). The player may now look at the faces of the cards and choose the more favorable of the two to keep. They then apply its effects, and shuffle all 3 cards back into the deck.
Example 3: The Ostrogoths have founded a Kingdom in Italia. They have a named leader, Flavius Theodericus, with an administration bonus of 2. Therefore the player draws 4 cards (2 base draw + 2 bonus draw for the leader). The draw yields one Passive, two Military and one Reform. The player chooses the Reform card, pays its 20 Gold cost, looks at its face, and applies its effects. Then all 4 cards are shuffled back into the deck.
D. Resolving Administration Cards
Each administration card has a certain number of icons on its front:
- Duration: Some cards may last more than one turn. The duration is indicated next to an hourglass icon. (None use this symbol in Invasions Vol. 1.)
- Gold: Some cards provide or cost Gold. The amount indicated beside the Gold icon is added or removed from the Treasury.
- Calamity: A Civilized nation may receive one of 12 calamities, mostly harmful! (Calamities Player Aid)
- Leaders: If the card shows the leader head with a ✓ for "Yes", then the nation's leaders may act normally during the turn. If the card shows the leader head with a ✗ for "No", the leader(s) (emperor or king plus any unnamed extra leader) must remain inactive in the capital during the turn. Named non-ruler leaders (such as Roman generals) are always active.
- Important: An inactive leader may still intercept or flee during other nations' activations (XIX).
- Age: The scroll icon with numbers from -1 to +2 indicates how much this nation will age (apart from the standard +1 in the Time phase turn 2 onwards).
XIV. Income
A. Treasury Limits
- A nation's minimum Treasury is 0 Gold. The maximum Treasury at any time of a turn after the purchase step is 40 until new income is received (including caravans). All stored in excess of 40 after the Purchase step is lost!
B. Cities
City income is based on city level:
- Level 1: 1 Gold
- Level 2: 2 Gold
- Level 3: 3 Gold
A looted city brings only a half Gold piece (½ Gold), whatever its level.
Capitals: The capital generates an extra 5 Gold for a Kingdom, 10 Gold for an Empire. The bonus income is not collected the turn a capital is redeployed after being conquered (XIV.I).
C. Barbarian Nations
- Barbarian nations accumulate Gold in their Treasury by receiving tribute as a federate (XXVIII.E) or suzerain (XXIX.E), as a result of most Diplomacy cards (XXX), or by hiring out as mercenaries (Huns: D Player Aid). But above all, they get Gold as a result of pillage (X.D, XI.F, Error! Reference source not found. as printed in the source, XXIX.B).
- They do not get to spend any of it. Exception: if they become a vassal, the tribute they pay comes out of their Treasury (XXIX.F).
D. Kingdoms
A Kingdom's gross income is as follows: cities + provinces + capital + commerce + caravans + tributes.
- Cities: All controlled cities (including the capital) in provinces not in revolt.
- Provinces: All controlled provinces not in revolt. The income of a province is printed on the map in red (e.g. 2 Gold from Chaldea, 1 Gold from Susiana, and only ½ Gold from Hyrcania).
- The big Dark Red Dot with a crown icon next to an Area's name indicates the total income of all of its provinces (e.g. Gallia Meridionalis 12 Gold, Asia 8 Gold). This does not include cities!
- Kingdom Capital: +5 Gold.
E. Empires
An Empire's gross income is as follows: cities + Areas + capital + commerce + caravans + tributes.
- Cities: All controlled cities (including the capital) in provinces not in revolt.
- Areas: Each controlled Area earns 1 Gold; total control earns an additional 1 Gold.
- The Black Square with an eagle icon next to a Civilized Area's name indicates the total control income: 2 plus all of the cities (e.g. Graecia is worth 2 + 7 (3 cities) = 9 Gold).
- Imperial Capital: +10 Gold.
F. Other Income
- Commerce (Civilized nations only): Gain 1 Gold income per sea zone with a commerce symbol (the ship) where the nation controls at least one coastal city not in revolt.
- If a nation controls all of the coastal cities of a sea zone and none are in revolt, it gains the Monopoly Value (see ship) of that sea zone as an additional income.
- Note: At the beginning of the game, although Rome and Byzantium jointly control all cities coastal to M. Adriaticum and M. Siculum, neither gains the monopoly bonus because they are administered separately.
- Caravans: Income from caravans is calculated earlier, during the Caravans sub-step of the Time Phase (X.D) but added in the income phase.
- Other instances during the turn: Events, raids, pillage markers and looting cities add Gold to a nation's Treasury as they occur, but note that the limit of 40 Gold cannot be exceeded in that nation's Treasury if they occur outside the income/purchases steps.
- Tributes:
- Gain 1 Gold per vassal (even if the vassal has no Gold).
- Gain up to 2 Gold from each client.
- Pay 1 Gold to the suzerain.
- Pay 3 Gold to each federate.
- If unable to pay, the nation is bankrupt (XIV.J) and its federates may breach their Foedera (XXVIII.G).
G. Expenses (Revolt, Heresy, Decline, Maintenance)
- Provinces in revolt bring no income (to the owning Kingdom).
- Cities in provinces in revolt bring no income.
- Provinces in revolt each add 1 Gold to expenses, 3 if flipped to their Revolt + side.
- Each Area under heresy adds 1 Gold to expenses. In a Kingdom's case, this is true only if it straddles two Areas, only one of which is under heresy—if both Areas are heretical, there is no added expense.
- A single In Decline marker adds 5 Gold to expenses, while a doubled one adds 10 Gold.
- A Kingdom must pay 1 Gold maintenance for each of its units. A leader costs nothing. Empires pay no maintenance.
H. Net Income
The Gross Income minus the maintenance cost and other expenses is the Net Income (rounded up if necessary) that will be added to the Treasury. This may sometimes be a negative value (for instance, when there are too many units). If this happens, meaning the nation is unable to pay its expenses, the nation is bankrupt (XIV.J).
I. Recovery from Pillage
- Once income has been collected, remove any face-down pillage markers from all of the nation's cities. Redeploy a conquered capital.
- In each controlled Area, remove up to 2 face-down pillage markers from empty city sites. This is never done more than once per Area within a single turn.
- Recovery from pillage is the only administration that Barbarian nations execute.
J. Bankruptcy
- A Civilized nation suffers bankruptcy in three cases only.
- One if it could not afford to pay the basic cost of any Administration cards drawn in that step (see XIII.D).
- Second if it cannot pay for its Expenses after calculating Income, XIV.H.
- Third if it cannot add a decline level and cannot afford the penalty cost, VI.E.
- When a Civilized nation goes bankrupt, first check for collapse (see K below) if applicable. Then apply these effects:
- It ages by 2 spaces.
- It increases its Decline level.
- It draws one Administration Card and applies the indicated calamity (if any).
- In addition (only if bankrupted by expenses):
- If the nation is a Kingdom, it loses all units it cannot pay for or half of its current units, whichever is less.
- If triggered more than once during a turn, bankruptcy's effects are applied just once.
K. Collapse
If an Empire of age ≥ 9 suffers bankruptcy, a collapse die roll check occurs immediately. Roll a D10 with the following modifiers:
-
+? each age above 9 (+1 age 10, +2 age 11, +3 age 12)
- (The "+?" is printed as such in the source.)
-
+1 if In Decline (single side)
-
+2 if In Decline (doubled side)
-
+1 per calamity suffered this turn
-
+2 if the capital was conquered on the previous turn
-
–1 per Area controlled other than the capital's Area
-
Result < 9: The Empire stands.
-
Result ≥ 9: The Empire collapses and ceases to exist.
- All of its units are removed from play. So are its leaders and its Capital, Age, and Treasury markers.
- Roman auxiliary units of Barbarian origin ('B') are exchanged for infantries of their respective nations, as much as their remaining pools allow.
- Mercenaries are returned to their nations' horde or capital provinces.
- Vassals and federates regain their freedom (though Foedera may be transferred, Romans: K and Byzantines: G Player Aids).
XV. Purchases
A. Barbarians
- No units can ever be purchased using a Barbarian nation's Treasury.
B. Civilized Nations
- Civilized nations buy units with their Gold.
- Purchased reinforcements are placed freely within the provinces controlled as long as stacking limits are respected.
- The purchase prices are found in the appendices and all player aids and are the same for all nations, but greater for Empires than for Kingdoms. Heavy and elite units are more expensive than normal ones.
- When all unit counters are in play, a nation can no longer buy units. At best it can save unspent Gold in its Treasury up to 40.
- Empires and Kingdoms may restore (unflip) up to two of their elite units at half of their purchase cost each turn during Purchases.
- The Romans (Rome and Byzantium) have recruitment limitations for their national units: one per turn for turns 1–7, two per turn for turns 8+. However, they can freely recruit Barbarian auxiliaries ('B') once those are available in their force pools. (See turn value on counter.)
- They also obtain mercenaries from diplomacy (XXX.H), their federates (XXVIII.C), clients (XXVII.B), and vassals (XXIX.D).
- If In Decline, Rome and Byzantium must make a D2 check after the Purchases step; if it is failed, a Usurper calamity occurs (Calamities Player Aid).
C. Units with a Date
Some units are not available before a specific turn or before some particular conditions are met (Time Table).
Example: The Roman auxiliary shown above is only available from Turn 3 onwards.
XVI. Revolts
A. Overview
- Revolts occur as a result of a calamity or an event.
- Barbarians are immune to Revolts as long as they remain Pagans or Arians.
B. Designate a Chooser
One player (possibly the affected player!) is selected at random to choose the province in revolt. Roll a D10:
- [1–3] Roman
- [4–6] Persian
- [7–8] Goth
- [9–0] Hun
C. Designate an Area (Empires only)
When a revolt occurs in an Empire (Roman or otherwise), the Civilized Area to which the revolting province belongs is randomly designated using the table for the map half where the Empire's capital is located (this table also appears on the Calamities Player Aid):
Western Map:
- [1] Gallia M.
- [2] Illyria
- [3–4] Britannia
- [5] Gallia S.
- [6] Italia
- [7–8] Africa
- [9–0] Hispania
Eastern Map:
- [1] Moesia
- [2] Asia
- [3] Cappadocia
- [4] Graecia
- [5–6] Aegyptus
- [7–8] Oriens
- [9] Mesopotamia
- [0] Persis
Reroll if the Empire controls no province in the rolled Area.
D. Select the Province in Revolt
- A province with the capital or with a leader can't be selected.
- The presence of military units is irrelevant.
- The chooser places a Revolt – marker (Rebellio) in the revolting province or flips an existing Revolt – marker to its Revolt + side.
E. Effects of Revolts
- A province in revolt becomes hostile although still "controlled" by its owning nation.
- The owner loses the income from the provinces in revolt as well as that from the cities therein. A city in revolt is not eligible for commerce (XIV.F).
- The owner's expenses are further increased by 1 or 3 Gold for each province in revolt (1 for Revolt –, 3 for Revolt +).
- If a revolting province is conquered by another nation, it remains in revolt. The new owner may attempt to subdue it on its next Administration Phase.
- Revolts have no effect on caravans.
F. Subduing a Revolt
- Most revolts occur during the Administration Phase as a result of a calamity. Since the Revolts Subdual step occurs at the end of that phase, an attempt to subdue the revolt can be made on the same turn only if the nation already has a military presence. Otherwise, units will need to be sent in during the Military Phase in preparation for the next turn's revolt subdual attempt.
- Revolt subdual is not mandatory.
- Roll a D10 with the following modifiers:
- +1 per unit present in the province (whatever the type)
- –1 if the Area is under heresy (or if the capital's Area is under heresy and the revolting province is of the same religion but not heretical)
- –1 if the national religion is different from the Area's
- A leader provides as many re-rolls as its combat bonus.
- City walls are ignored; there is no siege or combat here.
- Result < 9: The revolt continues and the nation loses one unit (or flips an elite unit) of its choice from among those present.
- If the rolling nation has no units left, a now lone leader is eliminated if he fails a D2 check.
- Result ≥ 9: The revolt is subdued and the province reverts to being controlled. Remove the Revolt marker.
Example: In 375 AD, Rome suffers two revolts. The D10 roll to designate the player who places the revolt is 2 — it's the Roman player! The Area roll is 8 — Africa (a heretical Area). The Roman player chooses to place a Revolt – marker in the African province of Tripolitania. Rome loses 1 Gold from its income (losing total control of the Area) while its expenses increase by 1 Gold. With the heresy, the total expense is now 2 Gold.
For the second revolt, it's the Persian player (D10 roll of 4) who will choose the province. The Area roll is a 5 — it's Gallia Septentrionalis. The Persian player cannot choose Treveria (as the leader Caesar is there), so they select Neustria (Parisius). Rome loses 1 + 1 (total control + city) = 2 Gold from its income and adds 1 Gold to its expenses.
In total, Rome loses 3 Gold from its income and adds 3 Gold to its expenses. During the Military Phase of the turn, Rome moves its African garrison to Tripolitania and Caesar's army to Neustria in an attempt to crush both revolts in the Administration Phase of next turn.
XVII. Stacking
Sea zone stacking limits are treated separately (XXV.A).
A. Overview
- There is a stacking limit in each province.
- Only units of the active nation (including mercenaries under its control) and its federates and allies are taken into account (no matter who the opponent is and what units they have in case of battle).
- During movement, an unlimited number of units may cross a neutral or friendly province (XII.D), but when entering an enemy province stacking limits must be respected even during movement.
- Specifically, stacking is checked:
- When Barbarian reinforcements displace another nation (IX.B).
- When placing Civilized purchases (XV.B).
- Before an Overrun (XVIII.E).
- During Passage in Force (XVIII.F).
- Each time a nation has completed a Unit Stacks Movement sub-step, before beginning the Combat sub-step. Twice during an invasion (XVIII.H).
- After each Movement sub-step of a leader campaign (XXII).
- When an interception confrontation occurs, before combat (XIX.A).
- After fleeing (XIX.B).
- After retreating (XX.L).
- During Foedus redeployment (XXVIII.B).
- During mercenary redeployment (XXVII.B, XXVIII.C, XXIX.D).
B. Stacking Limits
- The limit is 4 units in all terrain except mountain, where it is 3 units.
- The presence of a leader gives a bonus (bottom left value +X). Only one leader may apply his bonus to a stack.
- During an invasion, the invading nation receives a +1 stacking bonus for all of its stacks during its entire activation (including any campaigns).
Example: A Barbarian leader with a stacking value of +2 may have 6 units (4 for terrain +2 for leader) in most provinces or 5 units in mountains (3 for terrain +2 for leader). During an invasion, these limits would increase to 7 and 6, respectively.
C. Special Cases
- A province is allowed to have a single Limes counter. Set it up independently, alone, beside the province's unit stack (if any). It never counts against the stacking limit.
- A Horde is never stacked. Set it up independently, alone, clearly visible next to a Barbarian stack (if any). It never counts against the stacking limit.
- The same applies for any city (fortified or not) or a pillage marker.
- If a province is overstacked when attacked because a Barbarian nation received reinforcements and has not yet moved, only units up to the stacking limit will do battle (owner's choice), the rest retreat if necessary.
- A leader is placed on top of a stack of units. It never counts against the stacking limit.
XVIII. Movement
This section concerns the movement of land units. Sea movement is treated separately (XXV).
A. Overview
- A player can move as many units of the active nation as they want during each of their nation's movement sub-steps (all, some, or none).
- Nations move their units one stack at a time and the composition of a stack can change during movement (XVIII.D). Moving one stack at a time is important for resolving interception attempts, overruns, naval transport, etc.
- A stack may move only if all of its units have movement allowance remaining (XVIII.B), and can be moved using only part of this allowance at a time—in other words, a stack's movement may be interrupted to move other stacks before resuming.
- A stack moves from a province to an adjacent province with a common border or over a strait. It may not skip intermediary provinces during the move.
- A stack may also use sea movement (naval transport or amphibious landing) to cross up to two sea zones adjacent to both its starting and ending provinces.
- Exception: A stack including nomadic Barbarians may not use sea movement.
- The vassal of a nomadic suzerain must remain in the same Area as its suzerain's horde or in an adjacent Area.
- Rivers, ridges, and other terrain have no effect on movement except for straits (XVIII.J). Straits and ridges affect interception and together with rivers these affect flight (XIX).
- During movement there are no stacking limits except in enemy provinces. Once a movement sub-step is completed, stacking must be checked, regardless of whether the provinces of arrival are friendly or not.
B. Movement Allowance
- Each land unit has a movement allowance—a set number of provinces it can move—measured in paces, that is renewed in full at the beginning of each Movement sub-step.
- For example, units of an invading nation (XVIII.H) get their movement allowances twice—at the beginning of each of the invasion's two Unit Stacks sub-steps. The units get their movement allowances again at the beginning of each leader campaign.
- Unexpended movement allowance cannot be kept from one movement step to the next nor transferred from one unit to another.
- Units are split into two types for movement allowance:
- Infantry: 3 paces.
- Cavalry: 4 paces.
- A Leader increases the movement allowances above by +1 pace, but only if the units move with the leader for their entire movement.
- During leader campaigns, units may move only to join the leader or under his direction (XXII.B).
- Limites never move, they are fixed in place.
C. End of Movement
- Units must stop when they enter a province that contains units, including a limes (XVIII.I), of a hostile nation, even if controlled by the same player.
- Remember:
- Within Barbarian Areas, Barbarian units are usually not hostile to each other (XII.D).
- Overrun (XVIII.E) merely slows down a stack.
- Passage in force (XVIII.F) stops a number of units in order to allow later stacks to go through unimpeded.
D. Dropping Off and Picking Up
- A stack may drop off units and continue moving, including in an empty province to besiege an enemy city. It may also pick up units along the way. Units that leave a stack may move later, units that join a stack may have moved before: the only limitation is the individual units' movement allowances.
- Units that do not move with a leader for their entire movement do not benefit from his movement allowance bonus.
Example: Roman emperor Iulianus starts from Osroene with a stack of 4 fresh units (3 cavalry and 1 infantry). He first moves into Amida, friendly territory. The Roman player then moves a stack of 2 cavalry and 1 infantry from Coele Syria to join him in Amida. The emperor's stack, now 7 strong, resumes moving into Euphrates, overrunning the lone Satrapes defending it. That's 3 paces spent by each unit so far: the 1 infantry originally from Coele Syria can no longer move. The remaining units move one last time into Babylonia (the infantry from Osroene can because it spent its entire movement with the emperor).
E. Overrun
- If a moving stack has 6 units (or more) versus a single enemy unit that did not successfully flee (XIX.B), it can overrun it.
- The overrun unit is eliminated without combat.
- An Overrun costs a moving stack an extra 1 pace (in addition to the regular 1 to move into a province). A stack can't overrun if it only has 1 pace left.
- Exceptions: Roman Limites, units in provinces with fortified cities, and defenders behind straits cannot be overrun.
Example: Roman emperor Iulianus enters Mesopotamia with a mixed stack of 7 units (cavalry and infantry). He first moves into Adiabene (costing 1 pace) where 1 Persian unit is located. The Persians refuse to react (no interception nor flight). The Roman player announces an Overrun (costing another pace) and eliminates the Persian unit. Iulianus continues into Akkad (costing a third pace) where there is another Persian unit, which also does not react. The Romans announce a second overrun, spending a fourth pace. Although his cavalry could still move one last province, Iulianus wisely stops now, as his infantry can no longer continue (the cavalry movement allowance is 4 + 1 [leader] = 5 paces; while the infantry movement allowance is 3 + 1 [leader] = 4 paces).
F. Passage in Force
- This is a special movement that allows stacks to cross an enemy province without stopping there once other units have forced the passage for them.
- If twice as many units are moved into the attacked province as there are defenders there, the defending units are neutralized.
- The units used for the passage in force are subject to the stacking limits, cannot move any further, and will participate in a battle against the defending units in the following combat sub-step.
- Other units can freely cross the province, but it remains hostile.
A large enemy presence will prevent passage in force if the friendly stacking limit is insufficient.
- Exceptions: Roman Limites, fortified cities, and straits do not allow passage in force.
Example: The Visigoths have 1 unit in Aquitania. The Frankish player moves 2 units into this province to create a passage in force. Other Frankish units may now freely move through Aquitania without stopping. If the Visigoths had 3 units in Aquitania, the Frankish player would have needed to move 6 units there to establish passage in force, which would only be possible with a leader because of the stacking limit (4 for terrain + 2 for leader).
G. Migration of a Horde
- When a horde moves, the entire people it represents can be thought of as migrating. As such it has a few special rules: it moves exactly like an infantry unit (including leader bonus) but cannot move in a leader campaign, III.D. It may accompany a stack on the attack but then does not count as a unit. It does count as a unit on defense and will flee and retreat like a normal unit.
- If all friendly units accompanying it in combat are eliminated and there are hits left to allocate to its side it is not eliminated but forced to submit instead, becoming its enemy's vassal (XXIX.B).
H. Invasions
- The Time Table indicates the turns when Barbarian nations invade.
- An invading Barbarian nation is especially active and dangerous.
- Invasion: When invading, the Barbarian nation plays its Unit Stacks sub-step twice in a row during its activation: 1st movement + combat followed by 2nd movement + combat.
- While invading, the Barbarian nation benefits from a stacking bonus of +1 unit everywhere. This is cumulative with any leader bonus. Stacking is checked after each of the two movement sub-steps, however.
- After the invasion Unit Stacks sub-step, a Barbarian leader carries out his campaigns still benefitting from this stacking bonus.
I. The Roman Limites
- As noted in III.D (cross-reference as printed in the source; the Limites rules are at III.I), a Limes has a blocking effect. All invaders must stop when they cross into a border province where a Limes is located. No passage in force, overrun, or raid in depth is possible.
- It counts as a unit for the Romans in defense if supporting units are present. It can be assigned a hit.
- If the Limes is unsupported, there is no battle. It is immediately destroyed, inflicting a hit on the enemy (XX.H) if a D2 check is passed.
- If the Romans succeed in intercepting (XIX.A) inside a province garrisoned only by a Limes, the Limes is destroyed and makes the D2 check as above before the arrival of the intercepting stack.
J. Straits
- A two-way arrow on the map linking two provinces over a sea indicates a strait.
- Provinces linked by a strait are considered adjacent to each other.
- A land force may cross a Strait. No fleet is necessary.
- To move through a Strait, the stack must start its move in the province on one side of the strait and then move to the other side. This uses up all of the stack's units' paces (exception: Byzantines: P Player Aid).
- A strait prevents overruns or passage in force. A strait may also be blockaded (XXV.F). On the other hand, an interception or flight can cross a strait without needing to limit its movement to the crossing (XIX.A)—unless blockaded.
K. Special Cases
The following Barbarian areas and provinces are forbidden, except for some units.
- Scythia Area: Only open to Nomadic Barbarians and, on Turn 1 only, to the Ostrogoths. (Goths: D Player Aid)
- Arabia Deserta province: Only open to Arab raiders.
- Mauretania Area: Only open to Berber raiders and Mauritanians.
XIX. Opponent's Reaction
A. Interception
- When a nation enters an enemy-controlled province, the province's controller (the opponent) may react, announcing an immediate interception. It is possible to react with both interception and Flight (B, below) to the same move, this can be done in any order. Note: the Interception table on the map has the wrong modifiers.
- Interception movement and combat occur out-of-sequence, as part of the active stack's movement. Interception may not be intercepted.
- The opponent may react with one leader-less stack and with multiple stacks with leaders.
- The opponent must designate all the stacks that are reacting before resolving any of the interception attempts. The reacting stacks may leave units behind.
- Units that are under attack by the active nation cannot intercept.
- A land connection must exist from the location of each intercepting stack to the interception province through empty, neutral, or friendly provinces (XII.D). Passage through an unblockaded strait is allowed (XXV.F).
- The maximum land distance is 3 paces, regardless of the movement allowances of the intercepting stacks.
Example: A stack in Thracia could intercept as far south as Achaia; as far west as Illyricum, Dalmatia, Savus, or Tisia; as far north as Dacia or Hypanis; as far east as Pontus, Melitene, or Cilicia.
To resolve each stack's interception attempt, roll a D10 with the following modifiers:
-
+? Combat bonus of the leader present, if any
-
+3 if the target province contains the opponent's capital
-
+2 if the opponent is an Empire
-
–1 if the land distance is 3 paces
-
–2 for each ridge or strait crossed
-
–2 if crossing the Bosphorus (Byzantines: P Player Aid)
-
Result ≥ 6: The interception succeeds.
Consequences of Failure
- The intercepting stack remains in its starting province.
- It can no longer attempt to intercept the active stack (i.e. in provinces further along its movement path). However, it can attempt to intercept other stacks later in the turn.
Consequences of Success
-
The intercepting stack joins a defending stack in the target province or moves there if the province was undefended.
-
If the stacking limit of the target province would be exceeded by the intercepting stacks, units in excess must be left behind.
-
Units may not be dropped off along the way.
Interception Confrontation
- Once all interception attempts are resolved, a confrontation occurs between the intercepted (attacker) and intercepting (defender) stacks—unless the target province remained empty.
- If the intercepted stack exceeds the target province's stacking limit, the units in excess (chosen by their owner) do not participate in the confrontation but share the fate of the rest of their stack.
- The intercepted stack can overrun or use passage in force if applicable. Otherwise an immediate battle is resolved (XX).
- If the intercepted stack loses, it must retreat and its movement ends. Otherwise, it resumes its movement.
Example: In 375 AD, the Visigoths invade the Roman Empire in ungarrisoned Moesia Inferior. The Roman player reacts with attempted interceptions using a leader-less stack in neighbouring Thracia and a six-unit strong stack in Cappadocia with Emperor Valens. The first stack is checked: the D10 roll is a 3, +2 for Empire = 5, so it's a failure. The second stack is then checked: the roll is 9, +1 for leader, +2 for Empire, –2 for strait, –2 for the Bosphorus, and –1 for land distance of 3 paces = 7. This interception is a success! The second Roman stack moves to Moesia Inferior, but must leave one unit behind in Cappadocia to respect the stacking limit of the interception province: 3 for mountain terrain +2 for leader = 5 units.
B. Flight
- When a nation enters an enemy-controlled province, the province's controller (the opponent) may react, announcing an immediate flight. The flight process also appears on the map.
- Flight occurs out-of-sequence, as part of the active stack's movement. Flight may not use naval transport (XXV.D) nor be intercepted. All units intending to flee (including hordes) roll a single die roll together.
- Roll a D10 with the following modifiers:
- +? Combat bonus of fleeing stack's leader, if present
- +3 the starting province has a fortified city
- +3 the opponent has twice as many units as the attacker
- –1 the opponent has less cavalry than the attacker
- –2 if flight must start by crossing a river, ridge, or strait
- Result ≥ 9: The flight attempt succeeds.
Consequences of Failure
- The opponent's stack remains in the attacked province and a passage in force, overrun, or battle takes place normally.
Consequences of Success
- The opponent flees up to 3 paces through empty, neutral, or friendly provinces (XII.D) and across unblockaded straits (XXV.F), regardless of the movement allowances of the fleeing units.
- A hostile province may be entered if overrun (XVIII.E).
- A fleeing stack may leave some units behind. If a leader is present, his combat bonus applies whether or not he flees himself.
- Units may be dropped off along the way.
- The destination provinces must be friendly or else empty and rural.
- Stacking limits apply in the destination and drop-off provinces.
- A fled stack may nevertheless intercept other stacks that move later in the turn.
- Once the opponent's flight is complete, the active player's stack resumes its movement.
XX. Combat
Battle Sequence
- Tactical Advantages
- Archery Round
- Melee Round
- Victory Determination
- Leader Elimination
- Recovery
- Retreat
A. Overview
- After movement, combat takes place in every province that has units of two hostile nations, even if they belong to the same player.
- Combat can also occur during movement as part of interception (XIX.A).
- The active nation is the Attacker and the other is the Defender.
- Each battle is resolved in turn, in attacker's choice of sequence, until all are completed.
- A battle consists of an archery round followed if necessary by a single melee round.
- Combat uses custom battle dice.
- A leader allows a number of re-rolls during the melee round of the battle.
- A leader may die if his stack is completely eliminated.
- Some battle losses may be recovered after the battle's completion.
- The loser retreats if not completely eliminated.
- Event cards may also affect combat.
B. Battle Dice
There are two types of Battle dice: white and black. Their faces may be blank or show 1 or 2 swords, either white or red. Each sword rolled will count for 1 hit, although red swords only count in certain terrain types.
White die:
- 3 blanks
- 1 white sword
- 1 red sword
- 1 white+red swords
Black die:
- 2 blanks
- 1 white sword
- 1 red sword
- 1 white+red swords
- 1 two white swords
C. Tactical Advantages
- There are two Tactical Advantages: cavalry and heavy.
- They are checked before archery round and again before the melee round.
- Cavalry Advantage: A side with 2 cavalry units more than its opponent or with 1 cavalry unit facing none gains the cavalry advantage.
- Heavy Advantage: A side with 2 heavy units more than its opponent or with 1 heavy unit facing none gains the heavy advantage.
D. Archery Round
- The archer units (including Frankish infantry) of both sides, if present, engage in an exchange of fire before the start of the melee round.
- Results of both sides are simultaneous unless it's an ambush.
- Dice pools. Each side gets white dice equal to:
- Half the number of archers (e.g. 3 archers = 1.5 = 2 dice).
- 1 for every 4 Frankish infantry (Frankish infantry icon) (1–4 Frankish infantry = 1 die, 5–8 = 2 etc).
- Dice losses and trades:
- A side loses 1 die if its opponent has the heavy advantage.
- If in clear, steppe, or desert, each side can trade 1 white die for a black one for every 2 horse archers it has (e.g. 1–2 horse archers = 1 trade).
- A side may have no dice during this round.
- Losses are applied as in XX.H Melee round.
- Surviving archer units battle normally during the ensuing melee round.
- If hits are inflicted, the cavalry and heavy advantages may change, so they should be redetermined before the melee round.
- The battle ends prematurely if one or both sides are completely eliminated. Proceed directly to J: Leader Elimination.
Mountains Ambush
- If the battle takes place in mountain terrain, the Defender can set up an ambush archery round, which replaces the normal archery round but follows the same rules except as noted below.
- Exception: No ambush can take place if the attacking leader has a Mountains icon: Alaricus, Belisarius, Feargus, Baianus in Invasions Vol. I.
- The ambush is automatic if the attacker crossed a ridge or a river to enter the mountainous province. Otherwise, it happens only if a D2 check is passed. If failed, the archery round is normal (if there is one).
- In a mountains ambush archery round:
- Mountaineer units (bearing a mountains icon) count double.
- For each 4 other non-Frankish infantry units, the ambushing side gets 1 white die.
- The attacker fires back with their surviving units only.
E. Leaders' Re-Rolls
- Each leader has a combat bonus of 0 to 3 (top left).
- This is the number of re-rolls this leader may call for.
- Each melee round (not during the archery round), after both players have rolled their dice, each player may declare that one or more of the dice (theirs or their opponent's) must be re-rolled. The Attacker declares first.
- Each re-roll allows the player to designate a die and re-roll it. The new result stands (but may be re-rolled again).
- A player is never forced to use all of their re-rolls.
- OPTION: A leader with a combat bonus of at least 2 may forfeit a re-roll (no more than once) to add a black die to his side's dice pool (see below) or to remove a black die (if any) from the opponent's dice pool. This must be announced before the start of the melee round once the dice pools have been prepared. The Attacker declares first.
- Mixed tactical situations: In XX.F and XX.G below, the cases marked † indicate that for a die to be added or removed, all of the units involved must comply.
- Example: For the attacker to lose the 'Strait' die, all of the attacking units must have crossed the strait.
- Mixed stacks: The cases marked ‡ indicate that for a modifier to apply, it is enough that one of the units involved satisfy the condition (on both sides if pertinent).
- Example: In a fight between Civilized and Barbarian units in a Barbarian province, attacking Barbarians enjoy an additional die if there is one Barbarian unit in the attacking stack and one Civilized unit in the defending stack—even if Kingdom units (vassals) make up the rest of the attacking stack or if Barbarian units (federates or vassals) make up the rest of the Civilized stack.
F. Dice Pools
- Each unit (except Hordes and Limites) engaged in a battle initially provides 1 white die.
- Terrain and other factors affect the number of white dice as follows:
- Attacker's Dice removed (cumulative):
- –1 Marsh
- –1 Crossing a strait, river, or ridge † (except if intercepted)
- –1 Forest (if the Defender is a non-Nomad Barbarian ‡)
- Amphibious land units (amphibious icon) ignore the river penalty.
- The river, strait, or ridge die loss for the Attacker does not apply during an interception, even if the Defender had forces in place before adding intercepting units.
- Attacker's Dice added:
- +1 Barbarian attacker in a Barbarian province vs. Civilized ‡
- Defender's Dice added (cumulative):
- +1 Fortified city
- +1 Limes
- +1 One or more Hordes (e.g. allied Barbarians)
- Attacker's Dice removed (cumulative):
- Neither side may ever be reduced to less than 1 die.
- Event Cards may provide or remove dice in some cases.
G. Dice Trades
- A white die can be traded for a black die in each of the following cases:
- ✓ Have 2+ elites (2 trades for Rome or Byzantium with 4+ elites)
- ✓ Cavalry advantage
- ✓ Empire vs. Barbarians ‡
- ✓ Nomads in steppe ‡
- ✓ Fortified city (Empire only)
- Reminder: A Barbarian nation cannot use its elite units as elite. The icon is ignored and the units are considered 'standard'. Barbarians must become Civilized to gain their units' elite benefits.
- A black die must be traded for a white die in the following case:
- ✗ Opponent has the heavy advantage
- If there is no black die to trade for a white one, the opponent's heavy advantage is disregarded.
- Event Cards may provide die trades in some cases. These occur last unless the card specifies otherwise.
H. Melee Round
- Once the number of dice and their colours are set, the melee round can be resolved.
- The results (hits) of both sides are simultaneous.
- Both players roll their dice. By convention, the Attacker rolls first.
- Each sword rolled is a hit on the opponent's units.
- Red swords inflict hits only in clear, steppe, or desert.
- See XX.E for how to apply leader re-rolls to the dice cast and in what order. After rerolls are resolved, apply hits.
Hits
- Each player decides and chooses their own losses: i.e. each selects which of their units are damaged or eliminated by the hits.
- A hit eliminates a standard unit or damages an elite unit (flip the unit, turning it into a standard infantry or fleet unit).
- When a stack contains both national (including auxiliaries) and foreign units (mercenaries), the first unit eliminated must be a national one.
- A Barbarian horde can only be hit last; this does not eliminate the horde but instead causes its nation to submit to its victor (XXIX.B).
I. Victory Determination
Victory is determined as follows:
- If a nation eliminates all enemy units, it is the victor.
- Otherwise, the nation with the fewer units eliminated is the victor.
- Otherwise (if tied), the defending nation is the victor if its fortified city or horde is present.
- Otherwise (if no fortified city or horde), the nation's leader with the better combat bonus is the victor.
- Otherwise (if tied), the defender is the victor.
The loser must retreat.
J. Leader Elimination
- When a stack is completely eliminated (before the subsequent recovery), its leader is eliminated if a D2 check is failed.
- A surviving lone leader retreats to the nearest friendly province, regardless of distance and of intervening hostile provinces.
- When an Empire is In Decline, each time a leader gains a victory (attacking or defending), roll a D10 check: on 8+, the leader is assassinated (eliminated).
- An eliminated intrinsic leader comes back as a reinforcement next turn.
K. Recovery
- Once victory has been determined (and leaders eliminated if applicable), each side recovers 2 eliminated units of their choice.
- An eliminated elite unit is recovered damaged, i.e. flipped.
- Small Battles: If one of the two sides had only 2 units at the start of the battle, each side recovers only 1 eliminated unit. If one of the two sides had only 1 unit at the start of the battle, neither side recovers any units.
- Nomad Barbarians: When a nomad Barbarian nation submits another Barbarian nation in a Barbarian Area, they choose the units that their new vassal recovers (XXIX.B).
- Civilized Nations: Once losses have been recovered (even if no units were recovered), each Civilized nation involved may restore 1 elite unit by flipping it to its front side.
- Naval Battles: All damaged elite fleets are flipped back to their front side.
L. Retreat
- Retreats cannot use naval transport (XXV.D) nor be intercepted.
- The loser's units must retreat up to 3 paces through empty, neutral, or friendly provinces (XII.D) and across unblockaded straits (XXV.F), regardless of their movement allowances.
- A hostile province may be entered if overrun (XVIII.E) or, in the Attacker's case, if passage in force is in place (XVIII.F).
- A retreating stack may split and drop off units.
- The destination provinces must be friendly or else empty and rural.
- The stacking limit must be respected in the destination province(s). If the only route possible, retreating units may pass through a fully stacked province to one where they can stack.
- The Attacker must retreat in the direction of the provinces it came from when it entered the battle's province.
- The Defender may never retreat towards or through a province the Attacker came from.
- Retreating stacks may move into provinces where a battle or siege is yet to be resolved involving friendly stacks.
- If a battle is to take place, set retreated units aside. They are ignored for those battles; however, if a battle results in a defeat for the friendly units or the retreating units can't stop there for some other reason such as exceeding stacking limits after the battle, they will be forced to resume their retreat.
- If a siege is to take place the retreated units can join that siege.
- When retreating, a Barbarian stack may cross any province in a Barbarian Area, whether it is occupied or not.
- A Limes may not retreat.
- If no retreat is possible, the units are eliminated.
Example 1 – First Battle of Assyria: Three Persian archers, two of which are horse archers, are in a battle against a Roman force which includes 2 archers (one mounted, the other not). During the archery round, the Persians have 2 dice (3 archers rounded up) while the Romans have 1 (2 archers). Additionally, the Persians may trade one of their two white dice for a black one because they have 2 horse archers and the battle is in clear terrain.
If the Romans had the heavy advantage (two more heavy units than the Persians), the Persians' 2 dice would be reduced to only 1, which would then be traded for a black die thanks to their 2 horse archers in clear terrain. Because the horse archer trade up occurs after the heavy advantage die loss during an archery round, there is no way for the heavy advantage of one side to make the other side lose a black die, although it can prevent the trade up by removing a lone white die.
Example 2 – Ambush in Armenia Minor: A stack of Persians in Pontus enters Armenia Minor, defended by a stack of 2 Armenian mountaineer archers and 3 other infantry units (2 of which are also Armenian). Because the Persians crossed a ridge, the Armenian ambush succeeds automatically. The Armenian defender gets 4 white dice: 2 for the 2 Armenian archers (which count as 4, being mountaineers), 1 for the 2 Armenian mountaineer infantries (also counting as 4), and 1 for the remaining foreign unit (¼ die, rounded up to 1 white die).
Example 3 – Battle for Nisibis: In 350 AD, Roman Emperor Iulianus fights a battle in the province of Assyria against the Sassanid Persian Sapor II, in front of the fortified city of Nisibis, recently captured by the Persians. No rivers were crossed, no interception took place, and the terrain is clear.
- Romans (7 units): 5 Legions (2 Roman, 3 Byzantine), 1 Guard, 1 Palatine cavalry
- Persians (6 units): 1 Clibanarii cavalry, 1 heavy cavalry, 3 horse archers, 1 elite infantry
(The unit-type icons in this example are graphic in the source; they are named in words here.)
a) Tactical Advantages: The Romans have the heavy advantage (7 against 2). The Persians have the cavalry advantage (5 against 1).
b) Archery Round: The Romans have no archers. The Persians' 3 horse archers provide 2 white dice, one of which is then lost because of the Roman heavy advantage, while the other is traded for a black one thanks to the horse archers in clear terrain (the other trade has no die to apply to). Bad luck, the die roll provides only 1 sword (1 hit), which the Romans assign to one of their legions (elite, thus flipped).
c) Dice Pools: The Romans have 7 units, so 7 white dice. The Persians have 6 units and the fortified city, so 6+1 = 7 white dice.
d) Dice Trades: The Romans have 8 elites remaining (bonus +2) = 2 trades. The Persians have 2 elites (bonus +1) = 1 trade; and the cavalry advantage (+1), so 2 trades in total. The fortified city does not give a trade as Persia is still a Kingdom. The Romans trade 2 of their 7 white dice for black. The Persians trade 2 of their 7 white dice for black. Then, the Persians trade a black die back for a white one because of the Roman heavy advantage.
- Romans: 5 white dice, 2 black dice
- Persians: 6 white dice, 1 black die
e) Melee Round: Leaders: Iulianus has 3 re-rolls and Sapor II has 2. The Romans roll a total of 5 swords (including a red one, which counts because the battle is in clear terrain). The Persians roll a total of only 3 swords (including a red one). The Persians do not like this and call for two re-rolls, one for the Romans (choosing a Roman white die with 1 sword) and one for themselves (their own black die). They have now used all of their re-rolls… The Roman re-roll is slightly worse this time, with a blank for a new total of 4 swords. Meanwhile the Persians do not improve either, still with just 3 swords.
Now the Romans call for a re-roll for themselves for their other black die. This gains them a sword, so they are back to a total of 5 swords.
- Romans: inflict 5 hits.
- Persians: inflict 3 hits.
The Romans flip an intact legion then eliminate it (2 hits), and eliminate the legion already hit during the archery round. The Persians flip their Clibanarii cavalry then eliminate it (2 hits), do the same with their elite infantry unit (2 hits), and finally eliminate one horse archer.
f) Victory Determination: The Romans win (2 units lost vs. 3 for the Persians).
g) Recovery: The Romans recover two losses, bringing the two eliminated legions back into play (recovered flipped). The Persians recover two losses: their elite infantry and their Clibanarii cavalry (both of which are recovered flipped). Both players are Civilized, so they each can flip back one elite unit. The Persians flip back their Clibanarii cavalry and the Romans flip back one of their legions.
h) Retreat: The Persians decide to retreat as far as Akkad (3 provinces away from the battle).
i) Siege of Nisibis (fortified city) (XXIV): Dice modifiers: –2 (walls value) +1 (Civilized besieger) = –1. The Romans do not assault, rolling just 4 dice (1 base + 3 for Iulianus's combat value): 6, 9, 3, 7 — victory! Nisibis surrenders and Assyria becomes Roman again.
Example 4 – Battle of Argentoratum: In 350 AD, the Alemanni invade Gallia Septentrionalis and cross the Rhine into the province of Lotharingia (no city has been founded yet on the Argentoratum site). The Limes stops their movement but is destroyed. A die is rolled, the result is odd, so the Limes does not inflict a hit on the invader.
A Western Roman army (led by Emperor Gratianus) intercepts the Alemanni, which means the Rhine crossing has no effect (the Alemanni had enough time to cross the river before the Romans arrived).
The Alemanni horde cannot attack so the player places it in the rear.
- Alemanni (7 units): 6 infantries and 1 archer (the horde doesn't count)
- Romans (6 units): 1 elite cavalry, 2 legions, 2 auxiliary infantries, 1 infantry (the flip side of the Palatine cavalry)
a) Tactical Advantages: The Alemanni have no advantage. The Romans have the heavy (2 against 0) and cavalry advantages (1 against 0).
b) Archery Round: The Alemanni have an archer, which would give 1 die, but the heavy advantage of the Romans removes it. The Romans have no archers, so there is no archery fire from either side.
c) Dice Pools: The Alemanni have 7 units, so 7 white dice. The Romans have 6 units, so 6 white dice.
d) Dice Trades: The Roman heavy advantage would normally force the Alemanni to trade a black die for a white one, but they have none, so nothing happens. Because the Romans are an Empire facing Barbarians, they trade 1 of their 6 white dice for a black one. A Roman stack entirely made up of auxiliaries would not have had this advantage. The cavalry advantage gives the Romans a second trade.
- Alemanni: 7 white dice
- Romans: 4 white dice, 2 black dice
e) Melee Round: Leaders: Gratianus and the intrinsic Alemanni leader (rex) each have 1 re-roll. The Alemanni roll only 5 swords, including 2 red ones. The Romans roll well and gain 6 swords, 2 of which are red. The Alemanni call for their opponent to re-roll the black die with 2 swords. The blank that comes up reduces the Roman sword total to 4. The Romans are unhappy with this and call for a re-roll for themselves for the same black die. They roll 2 swords again. Their total is back to 6 swords. Both players have exhausted their re-rolls.
As the battle is in forest, the red swords are ignored.
- Alemanni: 5 swords (2 red) inflict 3 hits.
- Romans: 6 swords (1 red) inflict 5 hits.
The Romans lose two auxiliary infantries and flip one legion. The Alemanni lose five infantry.
f) Victory Determination: The Romans win (2 units lost vs. 5 for the Alemanni).
g) Recovery: The Alemanni recover two infantry units. The Romans recover two auxiliary infantry units. The Romans, being a Civilized nation, flip back their damaged Palatine cavalry, bringing it to full strength. The damaged legion remains so.
h) Retreat: The Alemanni retreat back across the Rhine and wait for better times in the forests of Germania.
Emperor Gratianus, as a recent victor over the invaders, is now ready to help his uncle Valens in the East. Or not…
Example 5 – Battle of Adrianopolis: In 375 AD, King Fritigernus of the Visigoths invades the Roman Empire. His force is 7 strong (stacking 4 + leader 2 + invasion 1), including an Ostrogoth-lent noble cavalry (Goths Player Aid: A), and headed for Chalcidica. He crosses the Danube, overruns a lone unit in Moesia Inferior, and reaches Dardania before the Eastern Romans intercept him with an army under the command of Emperor Valens. The Western Roman Empire tries to intercept as well, but is too far away and fails. A big battle will now begin.
Because Dardania's mountain terrain has a base stacking limit of 3, one of the Visigoth units will have to wait out the battle. The infantry is chosen.
- Romans (5 units): 1 Palatine cavalry, 1 auxiliary horse archer, 1 Guard, 1 legion, 1 auxiliary infantry
- Visigoths (6 units): 4 heavy cavalry, 1 Ostrogoth noble cavalry, 1 archer
a) Tactical Advantages: The Visigoths have the cavalry and heavy advantages.
b) Archery Round: The Roman horse archer provides a white die, which is lost because of the Visigoth heavy advantage. The Visigoth archer gets lucky and rolls a white sword. A red sword would have been ignored since the terrain is mountain. The Romans eliminate their auxiliary infantry.
c) Dice Pools: The Romans have 4 units remaining, so 4 white dice. The Visigoths have 6 units, so 6 white dice.
d) Dice Trades: The Romans have 4+ elite units: 2 trades. As an Empire facing Barbarians, they would normally get a third trade, but this is voided by the Visigoth heavy advantage. The Visigoths get a trade from their cavalry advantage.
- Romans: 2 white dice, 2 black dice
- Visigoths: 5 white dice, 1 black die
e) Melee Round: Leaders: Fritigernus has 2 re-rolls, Valens has 1. The Romans roll 5 swords—none are red. The Visigoths roll 7 swords—plus a red one which is ignored because of the terrain. The Romans call for the Visigoths to re-roll their black die, but the Visigoths get lucky and roll another double-sword. The Romans no longer have any re-rolls.
The Visigoths then call for the Romans to re-roll one of their white dice and the black die with 2 swords. The Romans fail with their black die, getting a blank, while their white die re-roll produces two swords, one of them red (ignored because of the mountain terrain). Their total is now 3 swords.
- Visigoths: 7 swords, 7 hits.
- Romans: 3 swords, 3 hits.
The Visigoths lose their archer and two heavy cavalries. The Romans flip and eliminate their legion (2 hits) and their Palatine cavalry (2 hits), eliminate their horse archer (1 hit), and finally flip and eliminate their last unit, the Guard (2 hits).
f) Victory Determination: The Visigoths win as their enemy's entire force was eliminated.
g) Leader Elimination: The Eastern Roman army was destroyed in battle and therefore Valens, its leader, must survive a die roll check to avoid his own elimination. The die is odd: Valens is killed.
Special: Emperor Theodosius is immediately gained as a reinforcement on a Western Roman stack (Romans: D Player Aid). The Roman player chooses to deploy him to the soon-to-be-recovered Dardanian stack.
h) Recovery: The Romans recover two units, their Guard and their Palatine cavalry (both recovered flipped). The Visigoths choose to recover a heavy cavalry and their archer. The infantry that waited out the battle rejoins the stack, and King Fritigernus's movement can now resume. The Romans, a Civilized nation, restore their Guard unit back to full strength.
i) Retreat: The Eastern Roman army is now only two units strong and retreats to Constantinopolis under the leadership of Theodosius.
XXI. Advanced Combat
Battle Sequence
- Tactical Advantages
- Archery Round
- 1st Melee Round
- 2nd Melee Round
- Victory Determination
- Leader Elimination
- Recovery
- Retreat
A. Overview
Advanced Combat is like normal combat with two exceptions:
- The archery round is followed by at most two melee rounds.
- It uses 2D6 rolls and a similar but different set of modifiers.
B. Tactical Advantages
- The two Advantages, cavalry and heavy, are the same.
- They are checked before each round (archery and melee) of battle.
C. Archery Round
- The archery round occurs as in basic combat, including the possibility of a mountains ambush and the mountaineer advantage.
- Each side that has firing capability rolls 2D6 and applies the following modifiers:
- +1 per archer unit (+1½ per horse archer unit in clear, steppe, or desert)
- +½ per Frankish infantry unit (using francisque axes)
- +½ per other unit (mountain ambusher only)
- –2 if the opponent has the heavy advantage
- The resulting roll is looked up on the Firing Combat Table:
- ≤7: miss
- 8: 1 hit in clear, desert, or steppe
- 9–11: 1 hit
- 12+: 2 hits
- If hits are inflicted, the cavalry and heavy advantages may have changed. This may also be important in an ambush since the ambushee fires back after taking their hits.
- The battle ends prematurely if one or both sides are completely eliminated. Proceed directly to Leader Elimination (H).
D. Leaders' Re-Rolls
- Leader's re-rolls work the same way as in normal combat.
- OPTION: A leader with a combat bonus of at least 2 may forfeit a re-roll (no more than once per melee round) to gain a ±2 tactical modifier for either side. This must be announced before any dice have been rolled. The Attacker declares first.
E. Modifiers
There are a number of modifiers that are applied to the 2D6 thrown by either side during each melee round. They replace the dice pools and dice trades of normal combat.
- † Mixed tactical situations: For a modifier marked † in XXI.E to apply, all of the units involved must satisfy the condition.
- ‡ Stacks of mixed origins: For a modifier marked ‡ to apply, it is enough that one of the units involved satisfy the condition (on both sides if pertinent).
Attacker
- –1 Marsh
- –1 Crossing a strait † (except if intercepted)
- –1 Crossing a river or ridge †, 1st round only (except if intercepted)
- –1 Forest (if the Defender is a non-Nomad Barbarian ‡)
- +1 Barbarian attacker in a Barbarian province vs. Civilized ‡
- Amphibious land units (amphibious icon) ignore the river penalty.
- The river, strait, and ridge penalties do not apply when the Attacker is intercepted, even if the Defender had forces in place before adding the intercepting units.
Defender
- +1 Fortified city (+2 if Empire)
- +1 Attacker is crossing a strait †
- Note that crossing a strait both causes the Attacker to suffer a –1 penalty and the Defender to gain a +1 bonus.
Tactical Situation
- +1 Have 2+ elites (+2 for Rome or Byzantium with 4+ elites)
- +1 Cavalry advantage
- –1 Opponent has the heavy advantage
- +1 Empire vs. Barbarians ‡
- +1 Nomads in steppe ‡
- ±? Event card
F. Melee Rounds
- The two melee rounds now take place, one after the other.
- The battle ends prematurely if one or both sides are completely eliminated on the first melee round. Proceed directly to Leader Elimination (H).
- Otherwise, after the first melee round the defender and then the attacker may declare a voluntary retreat, conceding victory to the other side. Proceed directly to Recovery (I).
- The melee round results (hits) of both sides are simultaneous.
- Each side rolls 2D6 and applies all applicable modifiers.
- The adjusted roll is looked up on the Battle Combat Table, the number of units in the rolling side's stack specifying the column:
| Roll | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7+ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2– | 0 | 0 | 0 | ½ | ½ | 1 | 1 |
| 3 | 0 | 0 | ½ | ½ | 1 | 1½ | 1½ |
| 4 | 0 | ½ | ½ | 1 | 1½ | 1½ | 2 |
Note (as printed): ½ rounds up only in clear, desert, or steppe.
- The rounded result is the number of hits inflicted on the opponent.
- One or more Barbarian hordes count as a single unit in defense (and thus shifts the column used in the Battle Combat Table at most once). Hordes cannot be eliminated, only submitted (XXIX.B).
- A Limes counts as a unit for the Romans in defense (and thus shifts the column used in the Battle Combat Table). It cannot retreat (it is destroyed instead).
- Hit assignation works the same way as in normal combat.
G. Victory Determination
Victory determination works the same way as in normal combat.
H. Leader Elimination
Leader elimination works the same way as in normal combat.
I. Recovery
Recovery works the same way as in normal combat.
J. Retreat
Retreat works the same way as in normal combat.
Example 1 (Advanced Combat) – Battle for Nisibis: In 350 AD, Roman Emperor Iulianus fights a battle in the province of Assyria against the Sassanid Persian Shapur II, in front of the fortified city of Nisibis, recently captured by the Persians. No rivers were crossed, no interception took place, and the terrain is clear.
- Romans (7 units): 5 Legions (2 Roman, 3 Byzantine), 1 Guard, 1 Palatine cavalry
- Persians (6 units): 1 Clibanarii cavalry, 1 heavy cavalry, 3 horse archers, 1 elite infantry
a) Tactical advantages: The Romans have 9 elites (bonus +2) = +2; and the heavy advantage. The Persians have the cavalry advantage (+1), 2 elites (+1) and the fortified city (+1) = +3 –1 (Roman heavy advantage) = +2.
b) Archery Round: The Romans have no archers. The Persian archers fire 2D6 = 3 +5 (horse archers) –2 (heavy) = 6 — nothing.
c) 1st Melee Round: Leaders: Iulianus has 3 re-rolls and Shapur II has 2. The Romans roll 2D6 and get 11 +2 = 13. The Persians roll 6 +2 = 8. The Persians do not like it and ask for two re-rolls, one for the Romans and one for themselves (using all of their re-rolls). Romans re-roll 2D6, getting 6 +2 = 8. Persians re-roll 5 +2 = 7. The Persians must keep this roll (which is worse than the first time), but the Romans ask for a re-roll for themselves. They get 6 +2 = 8. They still do not like it and ask for another re-roll, this time getting 8 +2 = 10. They decide to keep the roll, saving their third and last re-roll for the second round.
- Romans: 7 units, 10 = 4 hits.
- Persians: 6 units, 7 = 2½ hits, rounded to 3 hits (clear terrain).
The Romans flip three legions to their damaged side. The Persians flip their Clibanarii cavalry, flip and then remove the elite infantry, and eliminate one horse archer.
d) 2nd Melee Round: The tactical situation has changed for the Persians as they lost their 2 elites (now on their "standard" flip sides) — their bonus goes down to +1 (fortified city) +1 (cavalry advantage) –1 (Roman heavy advantage) = +1. The Romans roll 2D6 and obtain 4 +2 = 6. The Persians roll 8 +1 = 9. The Romans ask for their last re-roll for themselves, and get 6 +2 = 8.
- Romans: 7 units, 2D6 = 6 +2 = 8 = 3 hits.
- Persians: 4 units, 2D6 = 8 +1 = 9 = 2 hits.
The Romans remove two of their already hit legions to satisfy the 2 hits. The Persians remove their remaining 2 horse archers and their already hit Clibanarii cavalry.
e) Victory Determination: The Romans win (2 units lost vs. 5 for the Persians).
f) Recovery: The Persians recover two losses: their elite infantry and Clibanarii cavalry (both of them on their flip sides). The Romans recover two losses, placing their eliminated legions back into play on their flip side. As both players are Civilized, they can flip one hit elite unit back to its front side, which the Persians do for their Clibanarii cavalry and the Romans for one of their legions.
g) Retreat: The Persians decide to retreat as far as Akkad (3 provinces away from the battle).
h) Siege of Nisibis (fortified city) (XXIV): Dice modifiers: –2 (walls) +1 (Civilized besieger) = –1. The Romans do not assault and roll 4 dice (1 base + 3 for Iulianus's combat bonus): 6, 9, 3, 7 — victory! Nisibis surrenders and Assyria becomes Roman again.
Example 2 (Advanced Combat) – Battle of Argentoratum: In 350 AD, the Alemanni invade Gallia Septentrionalis and cross the Rhine into the province of Lotharingia. The Limes stops their movement but is destroyed. A die is rolled, the result is odd, so the Limes does not inflict a hit on the invader.
A Western Roman army (led by Emperor Gratianus) intercepts the Alemanni, which means the Rhine crossing has no effect (the Alemanni had enough time to cross the river before the Romans arrived).
- Alemanni (7 units): 6 infantries, 1 archer
- Romans (6 units): 1 elite cavalry, 2 legions, 2 auxiliary infantries, 1 infantry (the flip side of the Palatine cavalry)
a) Tactical advantages: The Alemanni have no advantage. The Romans have an elite bonus (+1), the advantage of Empire over Barbarians (+1), and the heavy and cavalry (+1) advantages = +3. The heavy advantage decreases the Alemanni's modifier to –1.
b) Archery Round: The Alemanni have an archer so get an archery die, but the Roman heavy advantage causes a –2 modifier to it. The Romans have no archers so do not return fire.
c) 1st Melee Round: Leaders: Gratianus and the intrinsic Alemanni leader (rex) each have 1 re-roll. The Romans roll 2D6 and get 7 +3 = 10, while the Alemanni obtain 7 –1 = 6. The Alemanni ask their opponent to re-roll their dice, and this time the 2D6 shows 2 +3 = 5. The Romans are appalled and ask for a re-roll for themselves, getting 9 +3 = 12. Nobody has any re-rolls in store now.
- Alemanni: 7 units, 2D6 = 7 –1 = 6 = 2½ hits, truncated to 2 hits (forest terrain).
- Romans: 6 units, 2D6 = 9 +3 = 12 = 4 hits.
The Alemanni lose four infantries. The Romans flip two legions.
d) 2nd Melee Round: The tactical situation has changed, as the Romans no longer have the elite or heavy advantages, so the Alemanni no longer suffer the –1 heavy penalty.
- Alemanni: 3 units, 2D6 = 8 = 1½ hit, truncated to 1 hit.
- Romans: 6 units, 2D6 = 7 +2 = 9 = 3 hits.
The Alemanni are totally destroyed and lose their last three units. The Romans lose one of their auxiliary infantries.
e) Victory Determination: The Romans win (1 unit lost vs. 7 for the Alemanni).
f) Recovery: The Romans recover one auxiliary infantry (although entitled to recover two, they only lost one). The Alemanni recover two units (infantries). The Romans, being the sole Civilized nation, can flip their damaged Palatine cavalry back to its front side. It is up to full strength again. The two legions remain flipped.
g) Retreat: The Alemanni Barbarians go back across the Rhine and wait for better times in the forests of Germania.
Emperor Gratianus, recent victor of the invaders, is nevertheless now ready to help his uncle Valens in the East. Or not…
Designer Note: For the sake of the example, the Roman player flipped their two legions on round 1 and thus lost the heavy advantage and the elite bonus for the second round. A clever player would have instead eliminated the two auxiliaries to retain both, knowing that those two losses would be recovered post-battle.
Example 3 (Advanced Combat) – Battle of Adrianopolis: In 375 AD, King Fritigernus of the Visigoths invades the Roman Empire. His force is 7 strong (stacking 4 + leader 2 + invasion 1), including an Ostrogoth-lent noble cavalry (Goths Player Aid: A), and headed for Chalcidica. He crosses the Danube, overruns a lone Roman unit in Moesia Inferior, and reaches Dardania before the Eastern Romans intercept him with an army under the command of Emperor Valens. The Western Roman Empire tries to intercept as well, but is too far away and fails. A big battle will now begin.
The Romans intercepted in mountain terrain, but since they did not cross a ridge or river, a Visigoth ambush is not automatic. The Visigoth die roll check is odd, so no ambush occurs.
Because Dardania's mountain terrain has a base stacking limit of 3, one of the Visigoth units will have to wait out the battle. The infantry is chosen.
- Visigoths (6 units): 4 heavy cavalry, 1 Ostrogoth noble cavalry, 1 archer
- Romans (5 units): 1 Palatine cavalry, 1 auxiliary horse archer, 1 Guard, 1 legion, 1 auxiliary infantry
a) Tactical advantages: The Visigoths have the cavalry (+1) and heavy advantages. The Romans have 4+ elite units (+2) and the advantage of Empire over Barbarians (+1), but suffer from the Visigoth heavy advantage (–1) = +2.
b) Archery Round: The Visigoth archer fires and rolls 11 +1 (archer) = 12 — 2 hits. The Roman horse archer fires and rolls 5 +1 (archer) = 6 — nothing. The Romans flip and remove their legion.
c) 1st Melee Round: Leaders: Fritigernus has 2 re-rolls, Valens has 1. The Romans' 2D6 gives 7 +2 = 9, while the Visigoths obtain 8 +1 = 9. The Romans ask for the Visigoths to re-roll, which they do, and get 11 +1 = 12! The Romans no longer have re-rolls, to their eternal regret.
- Visigoths: 6 units, 2D6 = 11 +1 = 12 = 4 hits.
- Romans: 4 units, 2D6 = 7 +2 = 9 = 2 hits.
The Visigoths lose their archer and one heavy cavalry. The Romans flip their Guard and Palatine cavalry, and remove both auxiliaries.
d) 2nd Melee Round: The tactical situation has changed again, as the Romans have lost their elite bonus (all of their elites are flipped), reducing their modifier to zero (+1 for Empire vs. Barbarian, –1 for Visigoth heavy advantage). The Romans roll 2D6 and obtain 8, while the Visigoths obtain 3 +1 = 4. The Visigoths use their first re-roll for themselves and this time they get 10 +1 = 11. As they are pleased with the dice, they decide not to use their remaining re-roll.
- Visigoths: 4 units, 2D6 = 10 +1 = 11 = 2½ hits, truncated to 2 (mountain).
- Romans: 2 units, 2D6 = 8 = 1 hit.
The Visigoths lose one more heavy cavalry. The Romans lose both of their remaining units.
e) Victory Determination: The Visigoths win as their enemy is eliminated.
f) Leader Elimination: The Eastern Roman army was destroyed in the battle, and thus its leader must be checked: the die is 3, odd — D2 failed, Valens is killed (XX.J).
Special: Emperor Theodosius is immediately received as a reinforcement on a Western Roman stack (Romans: D Player Aid). The Roman player chooses to put him on the vanquished stack.
g) Recovery: The Romans recover their Guard and Palatine cavalry (both on their flip side). The Visigoths choose to recover one heavy cavalry and their archer. The infantry that waited out the battle rejoins the stack, and King Fritigernus's movement can now resume, the Roman interception being completed. The Romans are the only Civilized nation and put their Guard unit back to full strength (front side).
h) Retreat: The Eastern Roman army is now only two units strong and retreats to Constantinopolis under Theodosius's leadership.
XXII. Military Campaigns
A. Overview
- Once a nation has concluded its Unit Stacks sub-step, its leaders may continue play by going on campaign during the Campaigns sub-step.
- Leaders have a Campaign value ranging from 0 to 3 indicated on their counters (lower right). This is the number of campaigns he can go on. Some rules refer to a campaign cost, this is only deducted from the leader's campaign value, not from treasury.
- If a nation has many leaders, they are activated in any order desired. The campaigns of different leaders may not be interleaved.
- N.B.: At the start of each of his campaigns, a leader and his stack may be redeployed anywhere within connected friendly territory, at no cost in movement.
- A horde cannot move during a leader campaign.
B. Movement Allowances
- A leader may collect or drop off units as desired during his campaign movement, as long as movement allowances and stacking limits are observed.
- Units from nearby provinces can move into a province with a leader to join his stack and move with him, as long as each unit never exceeds its own movement allowance.
- No other unit may move during a leader's campaign.
- Basically, a campaign allows a leader, who has already moved and battled in his nation's Units Stacks sub-step, to move and battle with the same units again (and potentially again, and again) as long as the latter remain with him.
XXIII. Fortified Cities
A. Overview
- Fortified cities show a wall icon around them on the map.
- All capitals (present or future) are fortified.
B. Benefits of a Fortified City
- It prevents all passages in force (XVIII.F), overruns (XVIII.E), and raids in depth (XI.D).
- It is immune to the Barbarian terror effect (XXIV.B).
- Civilized nations: If a battle takes place in the fortified city's province, the Defender gets an additional die, upgraded if Empire. Advanced combat: +1 (+2 if Empire) to their 2D6 in both rounds of that battle (XXI.E).
- A fortified city inflicts a siege penalty (XXIV.C) on any besieger, usually –2.
- Exceptions: Roma's fortifications inflict only –1. Ctesiphon, Ravenna, and Constantinopolis inflict –3 (this increases to –4 for Constantinopolis after the Theodosian Walls are built).
C. Fortifying a City
- Fortifying a City costs 15 Gold during the Administration Phase's Purchases step.
D. Non-fortified Cities Special Rules
- A Barbarian nation may easily conquer non-fortified cities thanks to its leader's Barbarian terror effect (XXIV.B).
- Turns 4 and 5 (425–450 AD): During these two turns, non-fortified cities inflict a special siege penalty of –1 when besieged (Time Table). This represents the special defensive effort that was undertaken during that period of frequent invasions.
XXIV. Sieges
A. Overview
- If a stack finds itself in an empty enemy province with a city (including once any enemy units have fled, have been overrun, or have been defeated), the attacker must either move out, retreat, or lay a siege unless it is a Civilized nation in control of the area, in which case the city will change control automatically at the end of the nation's military phase (XVII.B).
- A siege is necessary even if the city is non-fortified.
- If the attacker cannot take the city, they must raise the siege and retreat (XX.L).
- If the siege is successful, the city is taken and may be looted.
- The siege resolution process also appears on the map.
B. Barbarian Terror
- When a Barbarian leader moves, a wake of terror precedes him and may inspire a non-fortified city to surrender without a fight.
- The non-fortified city surrenders if a D2 check is passed, otherwise it resists.
- If the city resists, the Barbarian leader's stack must either move out, retreat, or lay siege as usual.
- If the city surrenders and the Barbarian leader wants to loot it, he must stop his movement.
C. Siege Resolution
- The leader's combat bonus provides a number of re-rolls during siege resolution.
- Roll a D10 with the following modifiers:
- +1 Assault ordered: Besieger takes 2 hits to receive bonus
- +1 Civilized besieger
- +1 Neutral city
- –1 Nomadic besieger (until the end of turn 9)
- +1 Besieged is In Decline (single side; +2 if doubled)
- –? Wall value (fortified city) –2 to –4 (–1 for Roma)
- –1 Non-fortified city (turns 4 and 5)
- –1 Coastal city with a city-friendly naval stack off-shore (voided if an assault is ordered)
- Result < 7: The siege fails. The besieger must retreat.
- Result ≥ 7: The city falls and is taken. If it was a capital, remove the marker: it will be redeployed on the following turn. The city may be looted at the conqueror's option.
- Leader's campaign: A siege may be maintained (after failing a first time) by leaving one unit in the besieged city's province; this leaves the leader free to act elsewhere for the rest of his campaign. A siege die roll check will be made during each subsequent campaign of that leader this activation, even if he is not present (no re-rolls, however). If unsuccessful by the end of his campaigns, the besiegers retreat normally.
D. Pillage Markers
- When a city is looted, the pillaging nation receives a booty of 2 Gold and draws as many pillage markers as the city level.
- Pillage markers are also drawn when a raid is resolved successfully (XI.D) and when Barbarians loot a caravan on a successful D2 (X.D).
- Looting a Kingdom's capital generates an extra 5 Gold; looting an Empire's capital generates an extra 10 Gold.
- Pillage markers provide from 1 to 3 Gold (the average is slightly less than 2 Gold).
- Some markers have secondary event effects, shown as an event number on a scroll. If the event is public (red scroll, i.e. #26: Famine, #32: Heresy, #51: Revolt, #56: Scarcity), it is resolved immediately and then put back in the reserve.
- If it is "private" (brown scroll, e.g. #23: Dice, #48: Reaction, etc.), the pillaging player keeps the marker to play it later, as if it were an event card (Events Player Aid).
- Two markers have a secondary Usurper calamity effect (Usurpator). If the drawing nation is Barbarian, it is ignored. If it is Civilized, it occurs automatically if In Decline, otherwise it occurs only on a roll of 0 on a D10 (Calamities Player Aid).
- Once the pillage markers have been resolved, put a single new one, drawn without looking at its face value, face-down on the city. The city cannot be looted again until the marker is removed (at the end of its nation's next Income step, XIV.I).
- A looted city brings only ½ Gold in income to its new controller in the next Administration Phase, whatever its actual level.
Example: On turn 2, the Visigoths invade Graecia and reach Athenae, a non-fortified city. Checking the Barbarian terror effect, they roll a die, but the result is odd, meaning no effect… Athenae resists and the Visigoths decide to lay siege in order to capture the city.
The Visigoth leader Fritigernus decides not to assault, as he wants to preserve his army. He suffers a penalty of –1 to his D10 because there is a Roman fleet in the Mare Aegeum, adjacent to the harbor of Athenae—supplying the city.
To succeed, a 7+ is needed. Fritigernus has a combat bonus of 2, giving him 2 re-rolls. He rolls 3 D10 and gets 3, 9, and 1, adjusted to 2, 8, and 0. The second die is ≥7 — the city falls!
The Visigoths loot Athenae (a level 2 city) and receive 2 + 2 pillage markers. These bring an extra 3 Gold, for a total loot of 5 Gold. A single face-down pillage marker is put on Athenae to indicate its looted status.
E. Dismantling the Walls
- When a fortified city is captured, the conqueror may decide to tear down its walls.
- If so decided, the fortification marker on the city is flipped to its non-fortified side (it can be removed if the city printed on the map matches this new state of affairs).
- Fortifications can be rebuilt during the Purchases step of a later turn.
- Exception: A capital always remains fortified.
XXV. Sea Movement & Warfare
A. Fleets
- Fleets are always in sea zones.
- Each fleet may move up to 4 sea zones per activation, but can never be more than 2 sea zones away from a coastal city controlled by their nation.
- Fleets must be combined into naval stacks consisting of a maximum of 2 fleet units. A nation may have 2 naval stacks in the same sea zone only if it brings in a third fleet (e.g. Byzantium may place 4 fleets in Mare Aegeum, in two naval stacks of 2 fleets each).
- A naval stack may drop off fleets and continue moving. It may also pick up fleets along the way.
- Any number of nations may coexist in the same sea zone: naval battles are not automatic.
- Naval stacks may not flee.
B. Naval Interception
- When a naval stack of the active nation is in the same sea zone as an enemy one, either one may attempt naval interception in order to trigger a naval battle. The inactive nation declares first. Intercepting fleets do not move.
- If the interceptor controls all the sea zone's coastal cities, the naval interception succeeds automatically. Otherwise, a D2 check must be passed.
- During a nation's Military phase activation, each naval stack (of any nation) can declare an interception attempt or be the target of one just once.
- Exception: A naval stack that executes a second naval transport may be intercepted a second time, possibly by the same stack.
C. Naval Battle
- A naval interception is required to trigger a naval battle. Interception and the ensuing battle occur out-of-sequence, as part of the active naval stack's movement.
- A naval battle is between a single naval stack on either side, even if a second stack is present.
- A naval battle is resolved as a land battle, except that there is no archery round. In recovery, only the naval units are brought back, not transported units.
- No combat modifiers apply, unless mandated by an event or special rule (Nation Cards).
- In the Mediterranean and Pontus Euxinus, if one side controls all of the coastal cities of the sea zone where the battle takes place, it gains 2 re-rolls.
- Rome, Byzantium: Their elite fleets may take two hits—the first hit flips them.
- A naval battle is won by the side that eliminates the other one or, barring that, inflicts more hits. A draw is possible. Neither side may retreat.
- A leader can be assigned to a naval stack in order to give it additional rerolls; he is eliminated if his entire stack is lost.
- A naval battle can be refused; the refusing side is then deemed to have lost. If the active naval stack refuses battle, its movement ends. If the inactive naval stack refuses battle, the controlling player transfers 1 VP to their opponent.
D. Naval Transport
- A nation's land units may cross up to 2 sea zones by transport on a naval stack.
- Transport can only be made between friendly coastal provinces (a land stack can never end its move in a sea zone).
- A friendly naval stack must be present in each intervening sea zone.
- A fleet can carry up to 3 land units (and 1 leader) during a transport. The leader's stacking bonus does not apply.
- A naval stack may make a maximum of 2 transports during its nation's activation.
- The transport consumes 1 pace per sea zone for the land units and 1 pace for each naval stack used.
- A land stack may move before and after naval transport.
- A land stack may make only one naval transport per nation activation or campaign.
- A Nomad Barbarian nation may never use naval transport. This restriction does not apply when they are mercenaries (XXVII.B, XXVIII.C, XXIX.D) or auxiliaries (XV.B).
Example: A cavalry stack with a leader (movement allowance of 5) could move from Arvernia to friendly Septimania (1 pace), then cross Sinus Gallicus and Mare Mauretanicum (each of these sea zones holding a friendly fleet) to land in friendly Utica (2 land paces; each fleet consumes 1 pace). The stack would then have two paces left but could not use naval transport a second time.
- The player must declare each naval transport to allow enemy fleets to attempt a naval interception (XXV.B) in the sea zones involved.
- If the interception succeeds and the active player refuses battle, the transport is cancelled.
- If they do not refuse battle but their naval stack is diminished or eliminated, transported units are lost accordingly. For example, a naval stack transporting 5 units is intercepted and loses one of its two fleets: two units (5 minus 3) are lost with the sunk fleet and are not brought back in recovery.
E. Amphibious Landing
- This is the action of moving by sea from a friendly coastal province into an enemy or empty coastal province.
- The land and naval stack movement allowances are expended whether the landing succeeds or fails.
- An amphibious landing is a naval transport to which is added a sea risk die roll check, resolved before any interception attempts.
- Exception: There is no sea risk die roll when a Barbarian nation invades Britannia or if its units have the amphibious attribute (e.g. the Vikings).
- There is just one roll regardless of the number of sea zones crossed or of the number of land units and naval stacks involved.
- Roll a D10 with the following modifiers:
- –2 unless the nation controls a city on the same coast as the target province and coastal to the last sea zone crossed
- +1 if landing on a Mediterranean or Pontus Euxinus coast (Romans and Byzantines only)
- ±? Storm or Expert Navigation event
- Result < 5: The landing fails.
- Result ≥ 5: The landing succeeds, subject to naval interception.
Example: An amphibious landing is launched by the Romans across Mare Mauretanicum from Cartaginensis into Caesarea. The city of Saldae is enemy-held. The D10 suffers a –1 (–2 +1) unless Hippo Regius has become a city (an unbuilt port city site does not count) and is friendly. The target province (Caesarea) and Tingis are on different coasts (S. Gaditanus for Tingis). Several sea zones have just one coast (e.g. Pontus Euxinus).
Once the landing has "succeeded", an opponent could declare a naval interception and thus possibly prevent some or all of the units from landing.
Example: The army from Carthago Nova consists of 3 legions and 2 auxiliaries under Stilicho (stacking bonus +2). If the Roman naval stack in M. Mauretanicum is reduced to a single fleet by enemy naval interception, only 3 of the units will land in Caesarea.
F. Blockade of Strait
- A naval stack may blockade the passage of a strait, in order to prevent enemy land stacks from crossing there. The blockade will stand even if a naval stack friendly to the land stack is also present in the same sea.
- To free the passage, the hindered nation (or its ally) must eliminate the blockading stack, or a friendly nation (i.e. a federate or an ally's federate) must do so earlier in the turn.
XXVI. Alliances
A. Overview
An alliance allows two nations to join forces in order to achieve common objectives. It differs from Foedus (XXVIII) and vassalage (XXIX) in that the two nations are nominally equal partners. In Invasions, it occurs as a result of the Alliance diplomacy card (XXX.B) or of the Alliance or Barbarian Coalition Events.
B. Mechanics
- Neither nation involved may already be a federate, a client, or a vassal.
- Goths: The "alliance" of the Visigoths and Ostrogoths (Goths: A Player Aid) is merely a perpetual mercenary-exchange treaty. It does not prevent either nation from concluding an alliance.
- While the alliance holds, the two nations activate together, on the later of the two nations' activations.
- The two nations and their federates are mutually friendly (XII.D). The two nations' clients and vassals are mutually neutral.
- The alliance expires if either party is federated, made into a client, or submitted.
- Control of provinces is shared when the controlling stack includes units of both nations. Consequent income and VPs are equally split.
- When the alliance expires or is broken, stacks in shared provinces must split apart, with one side retreating.
- The numerically inferior force retreats.
- In case of a tie, make a D2 check: if passed, the younger nation retreats; if failed, the older one.
XXVII. Clientele
Armenia, Colchis, Iberia, and Mauretania are independent Minor Kingdoms at the beginning of the game. Other Minor Kingdoms may appear as the game progresses, such as the Gallo-Romans, successors to the Western Roman Empire in Gallia.
A. Client States
- Independent Minor Kingdoms (IMKs), whether inactive or not, can become clients of an active Kingdom or Empire, their patron. In exchange for paying a tribute (usually 2 Gold) and lending a mercenary, the client retains its independence and is assured of the patron's neutrality. Markers (Cliens) are provided as reminders.
- Clients are neutral with respect to their patron, its allies, and dependents (vassals, federates, and other clients) of both (XII.D).
- The patron receives half the VP for all the territory of a client, as if it shared control with an ally.
- Details of each IMK are given in the player aids (Romans: R–T and Byzantines: S–U Player Aids).
- Inactive IMKs never attack and have no Treasury or Age markers. Active ones (the Britons, Gallo-Romans, and Cappadocians) operate as normal player-controlled nations.
- If the IMK's capital (if it has one) is conquered by a Civilized nation, it "submits" not as a vassal, but as a client. A Barbarian conqueror submits the Kingdom normally, as a vassal.
B. The Client Mercenary
- IMKs always lend 1 mercenary, chosen at random, to their patron—but only as long as they are at full strength, checked at the moment of redeployment (XXVII.C).
- The patron nation redeploys it to any province it controls, at the beginning of its Military Phase activation. Stacking limits apply.
- At the end of its patron's Military Phase activation, the mercenary is redeployed to its Kingdom (if it hasn't been eliminated).
- The mercenary is treated by the patron as one of its own for stacking, movement, and combat purposes for the duration of its Military Phase activation.
- Should it become important to distinguish the mercenary from the client's other units (for instance, if the mercenary ends up alone), turn its counter 180 degrees.
C. Recovery
- If an inactive independent minor Kingdom suffers losses, it rebuilds during the Reinforcements step (activating as the oldest Kingdom if it matters). If its capital was looted, the face-down pillage marker is removed at the end of the subsequent income step and its capital redeployed. Otherwise it recovers its units randomly, one per turn. Once at full strength, it restores (unflips) one random elite unit per turn if it has any.
D. Release from Clientele
- A client is released from its clientele if its patron's capital is conquered.
XXVIII. Foedus
Designer's note: A Foedus is a contract between an Empire (or Kingdom) and a Barbarian nation. By this unequal agreement, the Barbarian nation (hereafter the "federate") recognizes itself as a "subject" of the Empire. This subjection is mostly a diplomatic fiction, the Foedus best considered as a form of non-aggression pact.
A. Overview
- A Foedus is a voluntary agreement concluded between an Empire (the federator) and a Barbarian nation (the federate).
- An Empire can offer only 1 Foedus per turn. To acquire more federates, it must use Foedus diplomacy cards. A Kingdom may only acquire a Barbarian federate with that diplomacy card.
- Within a given turn, the offer must be made no later than the beginning of the Military Phase activation of the would-be federate.
- For the Foedus to be offered, the Empire must control 2 Civilized provinces, adjacent to each other, within the same Area, one of which is adjacent to one of the Barbarian nation's provinces.
- If accepted, the Foedus takes effect when the Barbarian nation activates, but only if the conditions mentioned above still hold.
B. Establishing the Foedus
- The federator cedes as Foedus to the Barbarian federate 2 Civilized provinces (adjacent to each other, within the same Area, one of which is adjacent to one of the Barbarian nation's provinces).
- The horde of the federate is immediately redeployed to one of the two provinces of the Foedus. So are as many of its units as the stacking limits of the provinces allow, ignoring any federator units.
- The federator must then evacuate (retreat) its units in excess of the stacking limits (if any) from the Foedus provinces. It may also evacuate any or all of the units not in excess. The federator can redeploy the evacuated units to any or all of the provinces vacated by the federate.
C. The Federate Mercenary
- The federate chooses 1 unit to lend to its federator. This mercenary is immediately redeployed to either the Caesar (Romans and Byzantines only), the Emperor (for another Empire), the King (leader, for a Kingdom), or the capital. If stacking limits prevent all of these, it is redeployed to a province of the federator's choice.
- Unlike a client mercenary (XXVII.B), a federate mercenary is redeployed just once.
- If the mercenary is eliminated, the federate lends a new one on the next turn's Reinforcements step, redeployed as before.
- The mercenary is treated by the federator as one of its own for stacking, movement, and combat purposes.
- Should it become important to distinguish the mercenary from the federate's other units (for instance, if the mercenary ends up alone), turn its counter 180 degrees.
D. The Federator
- Each turn, starting with the one during which the Foedus takes effect and for as long as the Foedus lasts, the federator pays a tribute of 3 Gold to its federate.
- The federate's units and horde are considered to be the federator's units for control and stacking purposes.
- A Kingdom federator gets the province income (which the federate can't collect anyway) for the federate-controlled Foedus provinces only.
- An Empire federator controls the federate-controlled Foedus provinces (only). Area control is resolved accordingly.
- Either type of federator also gets the VP for those provinces.
- The federator is allowed to move and station units freely within the federate provinces, as much as stacking limits allow. Either Roman empire may rebuild limites in the federate's territory (III.I, 8th bullet).
- It may not voluntarily denounce the Foedus.
E. The Federate (Barbarian)
- Federates are friendly with respect to their federator, its allies, and the federates of both (XII.D). They are neutral with respect to the vassals and clients of both.
- The federate continues to receive reinforcements as dictated by the Time Table.
- It must maintain control of its Foedus provinces.
- It must keep its horde within its Foedus provinces.
- It is not allowed to found a Kingdom (the transition die roll check is cancelled).
- It may not submit other nations.
- It earns 3 VP for its Foedus provinces each turn (even if it loses one of them).
F. Multiple Foedus (Foedera)
- An Empire (or Kingdom) can, if it so wishes, offer another Foedus to a Barbarian nation that is already its federate.
- This implies ceding a further two provinces to the federate, and increases the tribute paid to the federate accordingly.
- The federate scores an additional 3 VP per turn as a consequence.
- In return, the federate must now lend an additional mercenary to its federator.
G. Breach of Foedus
- The Foedus lasts from turn to turn. Only the federate is allowed to attempt to breach it.
- The federate may breach the Foedus on the turn immediately following its establishment, on its Military Phase activation.
- It may breach the Foedus on a later turn's Military Phase activation by passing a D2 check.
- It may also breach the Foedus:
- if a Usurper takes power within the Empire (this decision must be announced immediately); or
- if its federator's capital is conquered or if the federator is eliminated, goes bankrupt, or is submitted by another nation (this can only happen to a Kingdom); or
- by playing a Betrayal or Renaissance event.
Breach Effects
- When the federate breaches the Foedus, it takes control of its Foedus provinces (including their cities).
- Any co-located federator units may either stay (and fight, as defenders), or be evacuated (retreated) immediately.
- The former federate recovers control of all units lent to its federator. They are immediately redeployed to the horde's province (temporarily ignoring stacking limits if need be).
XXIX. Submission (Vassalage)
A. Overview
- A nation (Barbarian, Kingdom, or Empire) may vanquish another nation and force it to submit—unless that nation is an Empire. Empires never submit.
- A submitted nation becomes the vassal of its suzerain and pays a tribute to them each turn. Markers (Ambactus) can be used as reminders.
- Submission is done by force. A nation cannot submit voluntarily: it must be attacked and defeated. Exception: IX.B.
- If a vassal is forced into submission by another nation, it changes suzerains.
B. Submitting Barbarians
- A Barbarian nation will submit to a nation that forces its horde to take a hit in combat (XX.H), the horde can only take a hit if all its accompanying units have been eliminated. The defeated nation submits immediately and after recovery a mercenary is lent to the suzerain.
- Reminder: A horde counts as 1 unit when defending in a battle, but cannot be eliminated, only captured.
- If the defeated nation had any Treasury, it reduces its Treasury to half of what it was, the remainder going to its new suzerain. The suzerain also draws a pillage marker (XXIV.D).
- Nomad Barbarians may more easily submit non-nomadic Barbarian nations, but only if the attack takes place in a Barbarian Area. The target horde then cannot retreat if defeated, so the Nomads need only win the battle to submit it.
- When Nomad Barbarians submit a horde, they draw a random event card from the losing nation's hand (include event markers in the hand).
- Battle Recovery exception: Nomad Barbarians get to choose the unit(s) recovered by their new vassal when they submit a non-nomadic horde in a Barbarian Area (XX.K).
- Submission to a defender: This happens if a horde accompanies an attacking stack (during an invasion) and the stack loses so badly that the horde must be assigned a hit (or the attacking stack is wiped out against Nomads in a Barbarian Area).
- When a horde submits, the suzerain must immediately evacuate (retreat from) the horde's province and any other provinces where the suzerain had battles awaiting resolution against the vassal.
C. Submitting a Kingdom
- The Kingdom must be reduced to no more than 3 provinces and its capital must be conquered (and optionally looted).
- If the Kingdom has no capital (e.g. the Euskaldun Kingdom, Romans: T Player Aid), a Kingdom leader (if any) and its stack must be entirely eliminated instead. In that case, a Pillage marker can be drawn (resolving any public event this may trigger), representing the kinglet's Treasure.
- When a Kingdom submits, the suzerain must immediately evacuate (retreat from) the vassal's capital province (if any) and any other provinces where the suzerain had battles awaiting resolution against the vassal.
D. The Vassal Mercenary
- The vassal immediately lends 1 unit of its choice from among its surviving units to its suzerain as a mercenary.
- If the suzerain is Barbarian, the unit is redeployed to its horde.
- Otherwise it is redeployed to the suzerain's capital province.
- If stacking limits prevent this, it is redeployed to a province of the suzerain's choice.
- This is a one-time obligation; once the mercenary is eliminated, the vassal does not have to lend a replacement (unlike a client or federate).
- The mercenary is treated by the suzerain as one of its own for stacking, movement, and combat purposes.
- Should it become important to distinguish the mercenary from the vassal's other units (for instance, if the mercenary ends up alone), turn its counter 180 degrees.
- Nomadic Suzerain: The vassal lends a unit of the nomadic suzerain's choice as a mercenary. Further, when the mercenary is eliminated, the nomadic suzerain receives a new one (still of its choice) from its vassal during Reinforcements, redeployed as before.
E. The Suzerain
- Upon winning the submission battle, the suzerain receives half the vassal's Treasury (if a Barbarian nation) or has the opportunity of looting its capital (if a Kingdom).
- The suzerain (even a Barbarian one) receives a tribute of 1 Gold from its vassal during the income step of every turn. This is gained even if the vassal is broke.
- The suzerain receives VP for all of a vassal's territory as if it were controlled by its own units. The suzerain does not control the territory for income purposes. Either Roman empire may rebuild limites in the vassal's territory (III.I, 8th bullet).
F. The Vassal
- Vassals are neutral with respect to their suzerain, its allies, and the dependents (federates, clients, and other vassals) of both (XII.D).
- A Barbarian vassal receives no more than 1 unit as reinforcement each turn, regardless of what the Time Table indicates.
- The vassal of a nomadic suzerain must remain in the same Area as its suzerain's horde or in an adjacent Area.
- A vassal is free to increase its territory by the usual means.
- A vassal may not submit other nations nor get federates.
- The vassal receives only half of its normal VP.
- The vassal pays its tribute to its suzerain from its Treasury if it has one.
- A Kingdom vassal collects its income normally.
G. Return to Freedom
- The vassal may return to freedom in the following cases:
- The suzerain is itself submitted or federated by another nation.
- The suzerain is eliminated.
- The suzerain's capital is conquered.
- The vassal plays a Betrayal or Renaissance event.
- Nomadic Suzerain: A nomadic suzerain's vassal can attempt a rebellion each turn, starting with the turn after its submission. This is announced at the start of its Military Phase activation.
- The rebellion succeeds if a D2 check is passed.
- If the rebellion succeeds, the vassal mercenary is not redeployed to its horde: it remains under the suzerain's control until its elimination.
- If it fails, the vassal loses 5 VP and 1 unit of its choice.
XXX. Diplomacy
A. Overview
- Diplomacy is limited in Invasions. All diplomatic agreements between nations are conducted by means of diplomacy cards, except for the Foedus granted by Empires (XXVIII).
- The Diplomacy deck consists of 18 cards. Players draw diplomacy cards during the Time Phase's Diplomacy step.
- Cards are drawn in order from youngest nation to oldest. If there are not enough cards, then any subsequent draws for the older nations are lost.
- Barbarian nations do not draw diplomacy cards. No Diplomacy is allowed or playable against or in favour of an invading Barbarian nation.
- Each Kingdom draws as many cards as its leader's diplomatic bonus: if it is zero, then it gets no cards.
- Each Empire draws 1 diplomacy card + as many cards as its leader's diplomatic bonus (0 to 2 extra).
- Players should be careful of keeping their nations' diplomacy cards separate from each other.
- Diplomacy cards (except Mercenary which is played in the Diplomacy phase, Graft in the Military phase, and Nothing) can be played no later than the beginning of the Military Phase activation of the earlier of the two nations involved (the card-playing one and the target one).
- Upon reaching the Military Phase's End of Diplomacy step, any unused diplomacy cards are discarded. Each discarding nation receives 1 Gold in compensation. The discards are then shuffled back into the diplomacy card deck.
- A card that requires a payment cannot be played if the money is not available in the card-playing nation's Treasury.
B. Alliance (Unio) (3 cards)
- The card-playing nation offers a one-turn alliance (XXVI) to the target nation, which cannot be a federate or vassal.
- If the target nation is controlled by another player, they decide whether to accept or to decline the offer.
- If controlled by the same player as the card-playing nation, the alliance is accepted only if a D2 check is passed.
- When the two nations' Military Phase activation ends, so does the alliance.
- If the target nation is an independent minor Kingdom, the alliance is accepted only if a D2 check is passed.
- The independent minor Kingdom becomes a client of the card-playing nation—usually on a permanent basis (Romans: R–T and Byzantines: S–U Player Aids).
- If the independent minor Kingdom pays a tribute, the card should be played at the beginning of the Administration Phase in order for the tribute to be received on the same turn.
- Alternatively, the card can be used to break an existing alliance (or clientele relationship) between two target nations, one of which could be the card-playing nation. The target alliance or clientele is broken if a D2 check is passed.
C. Treaty (Pactum) (1 card)
- The Treaty card forces the target nation to accept a one-turn non-aggression pact with the card-playing nation.
- The card-playing nation pays 5 Gold to the target nation.
- The card-playing nation chooses a province of the target nation, subject to these conditions:
-
It cannot be the target nation's capital or contain its horde.
-
It cannot be a granary province (granary icon).
-
It must be adjacent to the card-playing nation or an island adjacent to a sea zone in which the card-playing nation has a naval stack.
-
- The chosen province is evacuated by the target nation (its units retreat). If it has no other choice, it can temporarily overstack. The card-playing nation then redeploys at least one of its units to the province.
- Once both parties have completed their military activations, the pact expires.
D. Marriage (Matrimonium) (2 cards)
- The Marriage card forces the target nation to hold a royal wedding with one of your princesses.
- The card-playing nation pays 2 Gold to the target nation (as dowry).
- The target nation gains 2 VP if it does not attack the card-playing nation during its next activation. The two nations remain hostile.
- The target nation lends one mercenary of its choice to the card-playing nation for its next activation. The card-playing nation redeploys the unit to a province it controls (XXX.H for restrictions on whom the unit will fight).
- At the end of the card-playing nation's activation, the mercenary—if it has survived—is redeployed by its target nation to a province under its control.
E. Tribute (Tributus) (2 cards)
- The Tribute card forces the target nation to accept a one-turn non-aggression pact with the card-playing nation.
- The card-playing nation pays 10 Gold to the target nation.
- The two nations become mutually neutral.
- Once both parties have completed their military activations, the pact expires.
F. Foedus (2 cards)
- The Foedus card forces a Barbarian nation to accept a Foedus with the card-playing nation, becoming its federate.
- For the prerequisites and consequences of Foedus, see XXVIII.
- This card is the only way an Empire can acquire more than one federate per turn, and is also the only way a Kingdom can acquire a federate at all.
G. Graft (3 cards)
- The Graft card lifts a siege. It is played during the Military phase.
- The card-playing nation pays 1 Gold to the besieging nation.
- The card-playing nation need not be the one besieged (the card could be used to lift the siege of a third nation's city).
H. Mercenary (4 cards)
- The Mercenary card forces a Barbarian nation to lend 1 mercenary to the card-playing nation for the latter's next activation. It is played in the Diplomacy phase.
- The target nation's horde must be adjacent or within one of the Areas controlled by the card-playing nation.
- The card-playing nation pays 3 Gold to the target nation.
- The card-playing nation redeploys the unit now to a province it controls.
- The mercenary will not fight against its own nation. Should such a battle be set up, it will desert and switch sides at the start of the battle (i.e. go to the opposing side). Neither can it be counted when resolving an overrun or passage in force against its own nation.
- Mercenaries from the same nation will fight each other, as long as they do it at the behest of nations other than their own.
I. Nothing (1 card)
- The Nihil ("Nothing") card is a decoy and has no effect at all.
XXXI. Religion
A. Religion and Civilization
- At the start of the game, there are five religions: Catholicism, Monophysitism, Arianism, Mazdaism, and Paganism (each shown by its own symbol on the map and in the rules, which are not reproduced here). Christianity is synonymous with Catholicism.
- Historically, Monophysitism and Arianism are Christian heresies. In Invasions, they are treated as full-fledged religions.
- Both of the Roman Empires (Rome and Byzantium), the Britons, the Armenians, the Colchidians, and the Mauritanians are Christians (Catholics).
- The Oriens and Aegyptus Areas are Monophysites.
- The Persians and Iberians are Mazdaists.
- The Goths (Ostrogoths and Visigoths) are Arians.
- All Barbarians other than the Goths are Pagans.
B. Conversion to Catholicism
- A non-Catholic Barbarian nation (Pagan or Arian) can decide to convert to Catholicism at the start of its Administration Phase, before Administration cards are resolved.
- At that moment or at the same instant of a later turn, the controlling player receives a one-time VP bonus equivalent to the total income value of all the non-heretical Catholic provinces it currently controls, provided that VP bonus is listed on the nation's card (e.g. the Alemanni or Angles but not the Alans or Avars).
- When this happens, the player controlling Roma (even once razed) also receives half of that VP bonus. This represents the role of the Pope.
C. Heresies
- Heresies happen as a result of an event or of a calamity and affect an entire Area.
- Pagans and Arian Barbarians are immune to them.
- A capital's Area is immune to the Heresy calamity but not the Heresy event.
- Heresies have an aggravating effect on the Intolerance and Usurper calamities, and make revolts harder to subdue.
- They last 2 turns. A Heresy + (Haeresis) marker is placed on the affected Area when it breaks out. At the Heresies age sub-step of the next Time phase, the marker is flipped to its Heresy – side then, on the turn after that, it is removed (Error! Reference source not found. — broken cross-reference as printed in the source).
- An Area is simultaneously of the religions of each nation present in it. Care must therefore be taken to choose and place the Heresy markers such that the affected religion is clearly identified. To help with this, the Heresy markers are religion colour-coded: yellow for Mazdaist heresies, white for Monophysite heresies, and black for other heresies (Arius, Donatius, and Pelagius).
- The Oriens and Aegyptus Areas are under a permanent heresy, Monophysitism. This is so well-entrenched that it is treated as a separate religion by the game. A Monophysite Area that suffers heresy can be understood as being agitated by zealous proselytes.
- The Visigoths and Ostrogoths (collectively, the Goths) are Arians, a second Christian heresy that is also treated as a separate religion by the game. They are immune to the Heresy event and calamity (like Pagans) but only as long as they remain Barbarians.
- Heresy is a relative thing: Once a capital becomes heretical (with respect to other nations of the same religion), its orthodox provinces become heretical in its eyes. If a capital is in a heretical Area and its provinces in another Area are also heretical, then there is religious harmony between them. This explains the phrasing of the rules concerning the expense incurred by heresy (Error! Reference source not found. — broken cross-reference as printed in the source) and the die modifier to revolt subdual (XVI.F).
XXXII. Dramatis Personae
The list gives each nation's English name followed by its Latin name as printed in the source. Nations marked with a religion symbol in the source are marked here as "(religion symbol)". Nations marked IMK are Independent Minor Kingdoms (see XXVII).
A. Germanic Nations
- Alemanni — Alamanni
- Angles (later Anglo-Saxons) — Angli (Anglosaxones)
- Bavarians — Baiovarii
- Burgundians — Burgundi
- Franks — Franci
- Gepids — Gepidae
- Goths (Ostro- and Visi-) (religion symbol) — Gothi (Ostro-, Visi-)
- Herules — Heruli
- Jutes — Iuti
- Lombards — Langobardi
- Saxons (later Anglo-Saxons) — Saxones (Anglosaxones)
- Suebi — Suebi
- Vandals — Vandali
B. Nomadic Barbarians
- Alans — Alani
- Avars — Avari
- Hephthalites — Ephthalitae
- Huns — Hunni
- Khazars — Chazari
- Kushans — Cossani
C. Raiders
- Arabs — Arabes
- Blemmyes — Blemmyes
- Hibernians (a.k.a. Irish) — Hiberni
- Picts — Picti
- Vikings — Viccingi
D. Romans and Successors (religion symbol)
- Africano-Romans (ex-Limites) — Africani (Africano-Romani)
- Brito-Romans (ex-Limites) — Britani (Brito-Romani)
- Byzantines (a.k.a. Eastern Romans) — Orientali (Romani Orientalis)
- Cappadocians (religion symbol) IMK¹ — Cappadocii
- Gallo-Romans (ex-Limites) — Galli (Gallo-Romani)
- Hispano-Romans (ex-Limites) — Hispani (Hispano-Romani)
- Romans (Western, Eastern) — Romani (Occidentalis, Orientalis)
E. Slavic Nations
- Aestii — Aestii
- Sklaves — Sclaveni
- Venedae — Venedae
F. Other Nations
- Armenians (religion symbol) IMK — Armenii
- Berbers — Barbari
- Britons (religion symbol) IMK — Brittones
- Colchidians (religion symbol) IMK — Colchi
- Ghassanids (religion symbol) IMK — Ghassanides
- Göktürks (symbol) — Turcae
- Guptas (symbol) — Guptae
- Iberians (Mazdaism symbol) IMK — Hiberi
- Kidarites — Kidarae
- Lakhmids (religion symbol) IMK — Lakhmides
- Mauritanians (religion symbol) IMK — Mauritanii (Mauri)
- Persians (Mazdaism symbol) — Persae
- Scots — Scoti
- Sogdians IMK — Sogdianae
¹ IMK: Independent Minor Kingdom
XXXIII. Gazetteer
Names in red in the source are from the Into the East map extension.
The Gazetteer lists the map's sea zones and provinces with their terrain, income and city data as printed in the source. For sea zones, the value is the Monopoly Value (XIV.F).
A. Sea Zones
Name — Monopoly Value
- Mare Adriaticum — 1
- Mare Aegeum — 3
- Mare Aralis — 0
- Mare Caspium — 0
- Mare Mauretanicum — 1
- Mare Nostrum Orientalis — 3
- Mare Rubrum — 1
- Mare Siculum — 2
- Mare Suebicum — 0
- Mare Tyrrheneum — 2
- Oceanus Atlanticus — 0
- Oceanus Britannicus — 1
- Oceanus Caledonicus — 0
- Oceanus Germanicus — 0
- Oceanus Hibernicus — 0
- Oceanus Indianicus — 3
- Oceanus Occidendalis — 0
- Pontus Euxinus — 2
- Propontis — 0
- Sinus Botnicus — 0
- Sinus Gaditanus — 1
- Sinus Gallicus — 1
- Sinus Persicus — 3
B. Barbarian Areas
Column headings as printed: Name, Terrain, Income, City, Level, Notes. Rows are reproduced as printed; the source's column alignment is not fully recoverable in plain text, so values are listed in print order.
- ARABIA (Area) Income 2 (2½)
- Arabia Deserta — Desert — 0
- Terodon — Desert — 0 — Bassora 0 — S. Persicus
- Hijaz — Desert — 1 — Iatrippa 0 — M. Rubrum
- Lachmidaria — Desert — 0
- Litus Arabicus — Desert — 0
- Mazania — Desert — ½ — Mazun 0 — O. Indianicus
- Nabatene — Desert — ½
- Palmyrene — Desert — ½
- ASIA CENTRALIS — Off-map transit box
- BALTICUM (Area) Income 3
- Albarussia — Forest — ½ — Miliniska 0
- Estia — Forest — ½
- Lethigallia — Forest — 1 — Riga 0 — S. Botnicus
- Novogardia — Forest — ½ — Nemogardas 0 — S. Botnicus
- Tueria — Forest — ½
- BARBARUM (Area) Income 4
- Gothia — Forest — ½
- Lituania — Forest — ½
- Polonia — Forest — ½
- Pomerania — Marsh — 0
- Prussia — Forest — ½
- Pripet — Marsh — 0
C. Civilized Areas
- AEGYPTUS (Area) Income: Kingdom 14, Empire 9
- Aegyptus — Clear — 3 — Memphis 2
- Arcadia — Steppe — ½
- Cyrenaica — Steppe — ½ — Cyrene 1 — M. Siculum
- Delta — Clear — 3 — Pelusium 0 — M. Nostrum Orientalis
- Nilus — Clear — 3 — Alexandria 3 — M. Nostrum Orientalis
- Nubia — Clear — 1 — Coptos 0
- Porphyrites — Clear — ½ — Myus Homus 0 — M. Rubrum
- Sinai — Desert — 0
- Thebais — Clear — 2 — Thebae 1
- AFRICA (Area) Income: Kingdom 9, Empire 6
- Africa — Clear — 3 — Carthago 3 — M. Siculum
- Caesarea — Mountain — ½
- Mauritania — Mountain — ½
- Numidia — Mountain — 1
- Saldae — Clear — 1 — Saldae 1 — M. Mauretanicum
- Tingitania — Clear — ½ — Tingis 0 — S. Gaditanus
- Tripolitania — Steppe — ½ — Leptis Magna 0 — M. Siculum
- Utica — Clear — 2 — Hippo Regius 0 — M. Mauretanicum
- ASIA (Area) Income: Kingdom 8, Empire 7
- Bythinia — Clear — 1 — Nicae 1
- Cyprus — Clear — 1 — Salamis 0 — M. Nostrum Orientalis
† For game purposes, these two provinces have no internal waters (sea zones).
- ITALIA (Area) Income: Kingdom 12, Empire 12
- Apulia — Clear — ½ — Brundusium 0 — M. Siculum
- Beneventum — Mountain — 1
- Campania — Clear — 1 — Neapolis 1 — M. Tyrrheneum
- Cisalpina — Clear — 2 — Mediolanum 2
- Corsica — Mountain — ½
- Latium — Clear — 1 — Roma 3F
- Liguria — Mountain — ½
- Sardinia — Clear — ½
- Sicilia — Mountain — 1 — Syracusae 1 — M. Siculum
- Spoletum — Clear — 1 — Ancona 0 — M. Adriaticum
- Taurinorum — Clear — 1 — Pavia 0
- Tuscia — Clear — 1 — Pisae 0 — M. Tyrrheneum
- Umbria — Marsh — ½ — Ravenna 2F — M. Adriaticum
- Venetia — Clear — ½ — Aquilea 1
- MESOPOTAMIA (Area) Income: Kingdom 12, Empire 9
- Adiabene — Steppe — 1 — Arbela 1
- Akkad — Steppe — 2 — Hatra 0
- Artemita — Clear — 1 — Dastgerd 1
- Assyria — Steppe — 2 — Nisibis 1F
- Atropatene — Mountain — 1
- Babylonia — Steppe — 2 — Perisabor 1F
- Chaldea — Clear — 2 — Ctesiphon 3F
- Euphrates — Steppe — 1 — Dura Europos 0
‡ On the main map, this province belongs to no Area.
- PERSIA ORIENTALIS (Area) Income: Kingdom 5, Empire 3
- Carmania — Mountain — 1 — Hormuz 0 — S. Persicus
- Drangiana — Mountain — 1
- Gedrosia — Mountain — ½
- Persia — Mountain — 2 — Pasargadae 1
- Sagartia — Steppe — ½
- PERSIS (Area) Income: Kingdom 9, Empire 5
- Cadusia — Mountain — ½
- Elymais — Mountain — 2 — Persepolis 1
- Hyrcania — Mountain — ½ — Rei 0
- Media — Mountain — 2 — Ecbatana 1
- Phraaspa — Mountain — 1
- [Rhagae — Mountain — 1 — Qom 0 — †]
- Susiana — Clear — 1 — Susa 1
- Zagros — Mountain — 1
- PERSIS — Off-map Kingdom & Empire Bonus (removed by Into the East): Persia Orientalis — n/a — 2
† This caravan is removed by Into the East.
D. Rivers
| River | Drains |
|---|---|
| Albis | Germania |
| Baetis | Hispania |
| Bagradas | Africa |
| Cyrus | Caucasus, Persis |
| Danapris | Barbarum, Sarmatia |
| Danuvius | Germania, Illyria, Danubius, Moesia |
| Donetus | Sarmatia, Scythia |
| Durius | Hispania |
| Dvina | Balticum |
| Euphrates | Cappadocia, Oriens, Arabia, Mesopotamia |
| Garumna | Gallia Meridionalis |
| Halys | Cappadocia |
XXXIV. Glossary
Activation – Within the Military phase of each turn, each nation is activated once during the Nations Activation step.
Advantage – A combat bonus enjoyed by one side or the other. This can be strategic (straits, rivers, and ridges; forest, marsh, or steppe terrain type) or tactical (having a greater number of cavalry and/or heavy units than the adversary).
Alliance – Occurs as a result of a diplomacy card or an Event. The allied nations activate together, on the older nation's activation. The income and VPs of shared provinces are split equally between them. They treat each other's territory as friendly for movement and retreat. They stack and battle as one nation.
Amphibious (amphibious icon) – An attribute of units that ignore river penalties during combat and sea risk die rolls during amphibious landings.
Archer (archer icon) – Shoots first at the start of a battle (archery round), fighting normally afterwards.
Area – A geographical grouping of provinces. An Area is either Barbarian or Civilized.
Auxiliary – A Roman unit recruited from a Barbarian nation, as opposed to a mercenary. Auxiliaries belong to one of the Alamans, Alans, Burgundians, Gepids, Goths, Herules, Huns, Mauritanians, or Vandals.
Barbarian(s) – The initial status of a nation. Barbarian nations eventually become Kingdoms (exception: The Huns may become an Empire directly).
Border – A separation between land provinces or sea zones, shown dashed on the map. Some land borders run along rivers or ridges, giving a strategic advantage to the defenders.
Campaign – A series of movement-and-combat activations of a stack led by a Leader with a greater-than-zero campaign attribute.
Capital – The city designated as the seat of a Civilized nation's government. It generates bonus income. Losing one's capital to another nation has dire consequences.
Cataphractae (singular Cataphracta) – Elite heavy horse archers of the late Byzantine empire (turn 8 onward).
Cavalry (cavalry icon) – May gain a tactical advantage.
City – Urban settlements, sources of income for Civilized nations. An Empire's control hinges on its cities. Some cities are fortified.
Civilized nation – A Kingdom or Empire.
Clibanarii – Persian elite heavy cavalry. The Latin word first designated the pike-and-bow-wielding armoured crew of heavy chariots, used against elephants.
Client – An independent minor Kingdom (IMK) that has a patron. Client states usually pay a tribute to their patron and lend it a mercenary. They are otherwise neutral, often inactive.
Collapse – The ultimate fate of Empires.
Control – Provinces and Areas may be controlled, which determines in large part whether they are friendly or not at any moment during the Military phase. The nation in control gets the income and VPs.
Custodes (Latin for 'Guards', singular Custos) – A double-elite (icon) heavy infantry unit (Imperial Guards).
Elite Unit (elite icon) – A tougher unit, capable of absorbing two hits before being eliminated. A damaged elite unit (damaged icon) is treated as a normal one until it is restored to full capability. Used almost exclusively by Civilized nations.
Empire (empire icon) – The ultimate status of a nation. Empires eventually collapse.
Federate – (Foederatus in Latin) A nation that has concluded a Foedus with its federator.
Federator – A nation that has concluded a Foedus with its federate.
Fleet (fleet icon) – The naval equivalent of a land unit. Fleets remain in sea zones and can engage in sea combat, including strait interdiction and amphibious landing interception. They can also perform naval transport.
Foedus (Latin for "contract"—also meaning "abasing, submissive"—, plural foedera; Latin pronunciation "foe-ay-doos", plural "foe-ay-day-rah"; English pronunciation "fee-duss", plural "fee-duh-rah") – A contract between an Empire or Kingdom (the federator) and a Barbarian nation in which the latter (the federate) recognizes itself as a "subject" of its federator. The federate holds provinces for its federator and lends it a mercenary, receiving tribute in compensation.
Friendly – Allies and their federates are mutually friendly. A province is friendly (to a nation's units) if it is controlled by the active nation (or a friendly nation) or if it is occupied by the active nation (or by a friendly nation) without opposition (i.e. there are no neutral or enemy units in the province). Provinces with unresolved battles or sieges remain hostile. A city is friendly if controlled or if it has been successfully besieged.
Heavy Unit (heavy icon) – May gain a tactical advantage.
Heresy – A doctrine held by a member of a religion at variance with established religious beliefs, especially dissension from Roman Catholic dogma. In Invasions, heresies are the "same religion" but cause internal disputes.
Horde – A sort of "mobile capital" specific to Barbarian nations.
Horse Archer (horse archer icon) – A unit that is both cavalry and an archer. Used by nomads mostly.
Hostile – A nation that is neither friendly nor neutral is hostile. A province is hostile (to a nation's units) if it is controlled by a hostile nation (except if empty) or if there is an unresolved battle or siege. A city is hostile unless controlled.
Imperial Guards – See Custodes.
Inactive Nation – A nation which does not activate during a turn (e.g. the Armenians, Sardes, or Sklaves). They have units on the map but do not attack, age, or track Treasuries. They do not earn VPs for their controlling player by themselves, but may earn VPs for their patron, federator, or suzerain.
Independent Minor Kingdom (IMK) – A minor Kingdom, often inactive (e.g. the Armenians, Iberians, and Mauritanians). It is usually the client of an Empire or a Kingdom, paying tribute and lending a mercenary to its patron.
Infantry (infantry icon) – This is the basic land unit of almost all nations.
Invasion – The sudden apparition of a Barbarian nation into the game's world. During its invasion, the nation activates twice and benefits from a few additional bonuses.
Kingdom (kingdom icon) – The intermediate status of a nation. Kingdoms eventually become Empires.
Leader – The ultimate authority of a nation or of its army. Besides historic (named) leaders, there are intrinsic (unnamed) 'default' ones. Barbarian intrinsic leaders are known as Rex (rex icon). Kingdom leaders also bear a kingdom icon, while Empire leaders are marked with an empire icon. Empires may have army leaders (general's star icon) in addition to their emperor.
Limes (Latin for "limit", plural limites, Latin pronunciation "lee-mess", plural "lee-mee-tess", English pronunciation "lie-meez", plural "limit-ease") – an unmovable fortified unit that stops invasions at a border.
Mercenary – A unit belonging to one nation but fighting under another's control, either for payment (a tribute gained by its nation) or as a form of payment. A mercenary is either a client unit lent to its patron, a federate unit lent to its federator, or a vassal unit lent to its suzerain.
Mountaineers (mountaineer icon) – A unit that gains an advantage in mountain terrain: they count double during the archery round of a mountains ambush. Mountaineer leaders cannot be ambushed.
Nation – Each of the various peoples assigned to players for the game. Game play is mostly performed nation by nation.
Neutral – Vassals and clients of a nation are neutral with respect to each other and their suzerain or patron or the latter's allies and their vassals and clients. A province is neutral (to a nation's units) if it is empty or controlled by a neutral nation.
Noble Cavalry – A Kingdom's heavy elite cavalry.
Nomad – A special kind of Barbarian.
Palatine cavalry – A double-elite (icon) heavy cavalry unit.
Patron – A nation that has one or more clients.
Phase – Each turn is broken down into four phases (Time, Administration, Military, Scoring), completed sequentially, which themselves consist of a sequence of steps.
Province – The smallest geographical land subdivision, as opposed to a sea zone. Land units are deployed to provinces. Provinces without a built city are said to be rural.
Raiders – Units that pillage a Civilized rural province in order to gain plunder.
Religion – In Invasions, there are five religions: Catholicism, Monophysitism, Arianism, Mazdaism, and Paganism (each shown by its own symbol in the source). Religions give rise to heresies and can make subduing a revolt harder.
Satrapes – Persian garrison infantries, which cannot operate outside of the Mesopotamia, Persis, and Persia Orientalis Areas.
Sea, Sea Zone – The smallest geographical water subdivision, as opposed to a province. Fleets are deployed to sea zones.
Stack – A grouping of co-located units, limited in size by the province's terrain. During the Military Phase's Nation Activations step, stacks are moved one at a time and later conduct battles.
Status, Nation Status – One of Barbarian, Kingdom, or Empire. As a result of aging and size, status can transition from one to the next.
Step – A subdivision of a phase. Each step must be completed before the turn moves on to the next one. Some steps are broken down into sub-steps.
Submission – A nation can be submitted by violence, becoming the vassal of its suzerain.
Suzerain – A nation that has submitted another, its vassal.
Themata (singular Thema) – Byzantine mobile combat units that replace Limites on turn 8 (525 AD). The word actually designates the military and administrative divisions of the middle Byzantine Empire; the units would be their garrisons.
Tribute – A payment in Gold made by one nation to another, either in return for a mercenary or as an obligation (of a client or vassal to its patron or suzerain).
Turn – The game is played in 11 or 12 turns in the basic scenario.
Unit, Military Unit – There are standard and elite units. They can be led by leaders and serve to conduct battles and establish control.
Vassal – A nation that has submitted to its suzerain.
Zone – See Sea Zone.