Here's a tentative approach on MARCH operations. Conducting a MARCH operation allows a faction to move all its armies (own and allies). (Thus, as factions alternate in conducting operations, factions’ armies also alternate in moving, first all armies of one faction, then all armies of the other faction, and so on.)
MOVE ATTEMPTS: An army (attempts to) move from one hex to another (with the potential to move further), rolling a d10 and applying any modifiers to see the outcome. Depending on the terrain of the hex to move to, a certain die roll is required. See the picture below. For example, in order to successfully move into a Forest hex, a die roll of more than 2 (the Forest threshold) is required (for a Marsh hex, more than 3 (the Marsh threshold) would be required). Furthermore, if the movement involves crossing a River, double (x2) that threshold so that more than 4 (2x2) is required (in the Forest examplle).
CONTINUING THE MOVE: In addition, if the d10 roll is more than twice the threshold, the army is allowed to continue to attempt moving into yet another hex (e.g., moving into a Forest hex and crossing a river, more than 8 (2x4) is required). This will continue until the army fails ito make another attempt, so that an army can potentially move several (if lucky) or no (if unlucky) hexes as part of one MARCH operation.
ALWAYS SUCCESS AND FAILURE: (Unmodified) d10 rolls of 1 always result in failure (i.e., no movement into that hex and end of the operationfor that army), and those of 10 always in success (i.e., the army moves into the hex and is allowed to make another attempt at moving into yet another hex, as part of the same operation). This is independent of the actual movement threshold.
SIEGE INSTEAD OF MOVE: An army may instead of attempting to move (or move further) make a SIEGE d10 roll upon an uncontrolled City in the hex in which it is located.
Mountains are impassable, i.e., those hex sides can not be crossed.
Another idea on armies and their status: all armies start out as Strong but may be reduced to Weakened, Disarrayed, and finally (and irrevocably) Eliminated as part of battle casualties or lack of supply. An army's status will affect its number of FPs in battle as well as d10 rolls in movements and sieges:
-
Strong (no d10 modifiers, no FP adjustments)
- Weakened (-1 to d10 rolls, -50 FP)
-
Disarrayed (-2 to d10 rolls, -100 FP)
- Eliminated (removed from map for remainder of the campaign season)
Incurring casualties of 40% or higher in a Field of Glory II battle (whether winning, losing, or drawing) will reduce status 1 notch. Ending an operation unsupplied will reduce status 1 notch.
Each operation that an army stays in a controlled and unbesieged City will improve status 1 notch, up to but not above Strong.
The movement values for Forest, Marsh, Clear, and Rough will serve both as the thresholds as set out above and as points to measure the maximum distance allowed for a supply line back to a controlled and unbesieged City, and is checked as follows at the end of every operation turn that the faction has conducted:
1. Use the supply value of the hex in which the army is located (e.g., 12 for Clear).
2. This is the maximum distance in terms of movement points that a supply line can trace from (but not counting) the army's location to (and counting) the nearest controlled and unbesieged City. Crossing a River into a hex doubles the movement point of that hex.
3. Supply lines cannot be traced through Mountains, through hexes containing enemy controlled and unbesieged Cities, or through the ZoC's (Zones of Control) of enemy armies.
The supply value is meant to reflect the extent to which the army can forage where it is located and thus the army's reliance upon being supplied from friendly territory. With a high supply value such as 12 for Clear, it can therefore afford a supply line that is long and therefore prone to inefficiency and losses along the way, whereas an army located in a Marsh (supply value of 6) needs a steady and reliable external flow of supplies from a source nearby because the risk of diluted and lost supplies increasing with distance.
For example, Bulgar army 1 is located in a Clear hex with a supply value of 12. The distance in movement points to the nearest controlled and unbesieged City (Pliska) is 10.5 (1+1+2.5+2+2x2), which is not exceeding the supply value of 12. This means that Bulgar army 1 is supplied. Please note that this route is possible thanks to Ankhialos not being controlled by the Byzantines; if it were, then the supply line would instead have had to be traced (dotted line) through the two Rough hexes with a total distance to Pliska of 13.5, exceeding the supply value and maximum supply line distance of 12, causing Bulgar army 1 to be unsupplied.
Armies exercise zones of control (ZoC).
The ZoC covers the hex in which the army is located and all adjacent hexes, however never across mountain hex side (impassable for movement, attack, supply as well as ZoC).
ZoC interrupts enemy armies’ supply lines (see previous post) and their movements.
If an army moves into an enemy army ZoC, it must halt and allow for the enemy army to decide whether to attack. If the enemy army decides not to attack, the army may continue its MARCH operation (if having received the necessary d10 outcome to do so of course), without being interrupted by that army’s ZoC for the remainder of that operation, or make an attack itself.
Armies within the ZoC of each other at the end of an operation (whether its own faction’s or the enemy faction’s) may attack. The enemy army will however first get the opportunity to make the attack (see previous post). Even if an army has several enemy armies in its ZoC, it may elect which one or ones to actually attack (i.e., none, one, more than one, or all).
An army that attacks across a river will suffer a 50 FP penalty.
All attacks are fought out in Field of Glory II simultaneously once the operation as a whole has been concluded.
RETREATS: An army has the option to retreat before battle but must then roll on the RETREAT ATTRITION TABLE (determining the extent of status drop effects), one d10 roll for each attack it is retreating from. Effects from several rolls are cumulative.
If being attacked by several enemy armies it must retreat from none or all of them.
Upon retreat, the army moves one hex away from all attacking armies, into a hex that is not within the ZoC of any enemy army. If it is unable to do so, its status drops to Eliminated.
Here's a tentative approach on MARCH operations: factions’ armies alternate in moving, first all armies of one faction, then all armies of the other faction, and so on.
MOVE ATTEMPTS: An army (attempts to) move from one hex to another (with the potential to move further), rolling a d10 and applying any modifiers to see the outcome. Depending on the terrain of the hex to move to, a certain die roll is required. See the picture below. For example, in order to successfully move into a Forest hex, a die roll of more than 2 (the Forest threshold) is required (for a Marsh hex, more than 3 (the Marsh threshold) would be required). Furthermore, if the movement involves crossing a River, double (x2) that threshold so that more than 4 (2x2) is required (in the Forest examplle).
CONTINUING THE MOVE: In addition, if the d10 roll is more than twice the threshold, the army is allowed to continue to attempt moving into yet another hex (e.g., moving into a Forest hex and crossing a river, more than 8 (2x4) is required). This will continue until the army fails ito make another attempt, so that an army can potentially move several (if lucky) or no (if unlucky) hexes as part of one MARCH operation.
ALWAYS SUCCESS AND FAILURE: (Unmodified) d10 rolls of 1 always result in failure (i.e., no movement into that hex and end of the operationfor that army), and those of 10 always in success (i.e., the army moves into the hex and is allowed to make another attempt at moving into yet another hex, as part of the same operation). This is independent of the actual movement threshold.
SIEGE INSTEAD OF MOVE: An army may instead of attempting to move (or move further) make a SIEGE d10 roll upon an uncontrolled City in the hex in which it is located.
Mountains are impassable, i.e., those hex sides can not be crossed.
I don't understand the need for die rolls to determine if an army can enter a particular terrain, or continue to the next hex. Any board game I've played has only used movement points to determine the effect of terrain on movement, not die rolls. IMO there should only be prohibited terrain (deep water, high mountains). All other permissible terrain should only incur higher movement point expenditure (and of course, defensive and offensive combat effects).
I don't understand the need for die rolls to determine if an army can enter a particular terrain, or continue to the next hex. Any board game I've played has only used movement points to determine the effect of terrain on movement, not die rolls.
True that board games generally work that way. In this case, since it's not a traditional board game but serving as a simplified strategic element applied on a Field of Glory II campaign, it's a way to introduce some stochasticity in terms of the strategic part as well, not only the actual Field of Glory II battles, á la the Return to Magna Graecia campaign that I referred to above.
Okay, but what is the value of die rolls to proceed through terrain? I can understand the element of chance in deciding a siege or a battle in a game. Perhaps you want it to simulate the vagaries of weather etc?
Okay, but what is the value of die rolls to proceed through terrain? I can understand the element of chance in deciding a siege or a battle in a game. Perhaps you want it to simulate the vagaries of weather etc?
Yup, that could be one aspect. And overall adding a game mechanism with some uncertainty in these aspects of the strategic campaign layer as well to make it less deterministic. As an abstraction meant to reflect that marches don't always (or actually never) go according to plan: sometimes below expectations, sometimes above, for various reasons. 🙂
Map type of battle is determined through a d10 roll:
1-2 Terrain in attacker’s hex.
3-5 Terrain in defender’s hex.
6-8 Agricultural (for The North and The South).
9-10 Plain (for The North and The South).
Hex terrain translates into map type as follows:
- Mountain on any hex side: Mountains (independent of actual terrain in hex).
- Rough: Rough.
- Clear: Agricultural in The South, Plain in The North.
- Forest: Wooded.
- Marsh: Marsh.
Use North European in The North, and Mediterranean in The South.
Procedure before a battle:
- Map type is rolled for.
- Attacker decides upon allies (if any) to use for the battle
- Defender decides upon allies (if any) to use for the battle.
A few comments on ALLIES: there will be a number of external factions (Croats, Serbs, Magyars, Pechenegs, Arabs) who can provide allies to the faction’s armies or even outright standalone armies, all depending in their respective ALLEGIANCES.
Allegiances can be affected through DIPLOMACY, either during the Campaign Season through conducting a DIPLOMACY operation or at the beginning of the Planning Season when applying DIPLOMACY with the Momentum points earned the previous year.
The Allegiance slider of each external faction ranges in integer steps between +2 in the Bulgar faction’s favour and +2 in the Byzantine faction’s favour.
0: neutral (no involvement)
+1: provides allies to the major faction’s armies
+2: provides one own army (controlled by the major faction)
Different external factions will start the campaign with different Allegiance levels differing from zero, e.g., Serbs +1 in favour of Byzantines. Furthermore, for some external factions, certain Allegiance levels will be prohibited, e.g., Arabs can never be Allegiant towards Byzantines. Plus that they have different modifiers to rolls on the DIPLOMACY TABLE, depending on their natural/historical relations, e.g., +1 for Serbs towards Byzantines and -1 towards Bulgars, +1 for Arabs towards Bulgars and -1 towards Byzantines.
Al looks a bit over complicated ... I'll read through it again this evening. 🧐
One of the most horrible features of war is that all the war-propaganda, all the screaming and lies and hatred, comes invariably from people who are not fighting.
- George Orwell, Homage To Catalonia
Al looks a bit over complicated ... I'll read through it again this evening. 🧐
😎 That may be due to the unstructured format, me having posted as and when I got inspired with an idea. 😂 Wait a bit: I’m condensing it all into one document.
But true: needs some tidying up and simplifying. The idea is also that it can constitute a straightforward format for simplified Magna Graecia-style campaigns, allowing it to be applied to historical contexts in general.
Looks good for a few very committed players or face-to-face gaming. It could go a bit slowly online.
"En cualquier dirección que recorras el alma, nunca tropezarás con sus límites." Sócrates
Yes, and I’m fine with campaigns moving in a slow and steady pace.😀 People must have a chance to have a real life too and other undertakings and enjoyments without having to put in several turns every single day. 😎