This is a campaign for four players, each representing an Anglo-Saxon or Viking kingdom, fighting for supremacy over Britain. Players will use their main army lists (i.e., Anglo-Saxon or Viking) throughout the campaign, but depending on the earldoms on the maps controlled and bordered, allies will for each battle consist of Scots, Norse-Irish, Welsh, or Brythons, in addition to potential Anglo-Saxons or Vikings, for that matter.
Battles will be fought in Field of Glory II: Ancients, using a condensed version of Schweetness101's Dark Ages Britain Mod (this wonderful mod offering new army lists, units, and rules, adapted to the shieldwall era).
Round 4 (930's AD)
The Final Stand, the Battle of Britain, at the crossroads between Danelaw and Anglia.
kronenblatt (Vikings with Brythons as allies) versus Chiquichops (Anglo-Saxons with Vikings as allies). North European Plain.
Seeing that there is a LOT of FOG Ancients games in my future, I have pivoted over to a similar idea for a FOG: Medieval campaign set in a semi-fictional French dynastic civil war with English thrown in.
Posting details soon.
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
OK, I love that era; the Viking-Anglosaxon conflict at the end of the first millennium AD. So that and the cut-throat aspect is an opportunity to great to pass. 🙂
And I also love a mod for Ancients called Dark Ages Britain, with new army lists, units, and rules, created by Schweetness101 in the Slitherine forum. (I will in the Danelaw campaign use a condensed version of that mod, with smaller size including only the used army lists and allowing for the desired allies.)
So I'm preparing this Danelaw campaign, see opening post. Rules to follow. Hope there'll be an interest among at least 2-3 other players. 🙂
Map
The map depicts Britain at the end of the first millennium AD, consisting of twelve earldoms and with Anglo-Saxon and Viking presence and rule among these earldoms.
Earldoms are connected to each other by land borders, and an earldom with a land border to another earldom is considered to neighbour the other earldom.
Starting the campaign
Players represent kings in Britain in 900's AD, at start controlling a number of earldoms.
At the start of the campaign, each player decides whether his kingdom is Anglo-Saxon or Viking. This will be his primary culture and constitute the main army to be used by him in battles for the remainder of the campaign.
The Danelaw module for use in Field of Glory II: Ancients battles is downloadable in-game as Danelaw campaign custom battles v1 (MP), see picture below and instructions how to download HERE. And explanations to the changed dynamics of the module and the Dark Ages Britain Mod is found in pdf HERE.
Ending and winning the campaign
Earldoms are gained through winning battles. As the campaign progresses and with each increasing round, the number of earldoms gained is increased as well, making the stakes higher and higher!
A player who does not control any earldoms has lost and is irrevocably eliminated from the campaign.
The campaign ends at the end of a round as soon as a player, the victorious king!, controls all of the twelve earldoms. If this has not occurred by the end of the fifth round, the player controlling the most earldoms is the victor.
Cultures
Cultures will have effect on the main armies and which allies that can and must be chosen in battles. There are in total six cultures; two located within the earldoms and four bordering them.
Each earldom is dominated by either Anglo-Saxon or Viking culture, as illustrated by the font colour of the earldom:
- Anglo-Saxon: BLACK font (Bernicia, West Anglia, Hwicce, Wessex, South Anglia, Sussex).
- Viking: WHITE font (Deira, Lindsey, Middle Anglia, East Anglia, Essex, Kent).
In addition, there are a number of cultures bordering some earldoms:
- Scots: Bernicia, Deira.
- Norse-Irish: Deira, West Anglia.
- Welsh: West Anglia, Hwicce.
- Brythons: Hwicce, Wessex.
Rounds
A round represents one decade, with the first round being the 900's AD, the second the 910's AD, and so on.
Each round consists of the following three phases:
1. Attack declarations
All players announce, one by one, which attack that they will make.
The player with the largest inflicted casualty difference in any battle during the previous round announces first, and so on.
In the first round, attacks are announced in the order that players joined the campaign.
2. Battle resolutions
All battles will be simultaneously played and completed in FoG2:Ancients, using the Danelaw module.
3. Administration
Changes to control over earldoms are made.
Attacks
General
Each round requires (if possible) a player (the "Attacker") to announce an attack upon another player (the "Defender"), from one of his earldoms ("Attacker Earldom") upon a neighbouring earldom of the other player ("Defender Earldom").
The Attacker Earldom and the Defender Earldom constitute the "Earldoms-at-Stake" for that particular attack.
The attack announcement is made in a post in the campaign's thread on the forum, also specifying which allies are used by the attacker.
Limitations
No further attacks are during this round allowed to be made upon or from any of these two Earldoms-at-Stake.
No further attacks are during this round allowed to be made upon any other of the earldoms of the Defender.
The Defender is not allowed to attack the Attacker during this round.
Battles
Setting up battles
The attack is fought out in Field of Glory II - Ancients, being set up by the Attacker as follows:
- Module: Danelaw v1.
- Scenario: Open Battle.
- Armies: see Armies in battles below.
- Force Size: Large (1600 FP).
- Map Size: Wide.
- Map Type: North European Agricultural or North European Plain, as decided by the Attacker (after the Defender has specified which allies to use).
- No map re-rolls are allowed.
Armies in battles
Main armies
The players' primary cultures are used as their respective main armies in all battles (e.g., either Anglo-Saxon or Viking as selected by each player at the start of the campaign).
Allies
Allies must be used, if any are available.
The Attacker selects allies available from among the cultures in and bordering any of his controlled earldoms.
The Defender selects allies available from among the cultures in and bordering the Defender Earldom.
Neither the Attacker nor the Defender can use a culture as allies more than once in one and the same round.
Effects of battle outcome
Victors and losers
The player having inflicted more casualties than the enemy player (e.g., 1-0, 45-20, 60-59, 59-58) when the battle is concluded is considered the victor (with the victory being Decisive if casualty difference is 25 or higher) and the enemy player considered the loser of that battle.
If the two players' inflicted casualties are exactly equal (e.g., 1-1, 59-59, 64-64), the battle is a draw and neither player is considered victor or loser for that battle.
Effects of victories
The victor (if any) of the battle takes control over a number of the loser's earldoms, such number being calculated as follows:
- (the current round minus 1) plus 1 if the victory is Decisive.
This means that in order for earldoms to change control in round 1, victories need to be Decisive, and that stakes are increased over the course of the campaign.
The losers' Earldoms-at-Stake constitute the automatic first selections for the respective victors. Thereafter additionally won earldoms are selected in the order of decreasing casualty difference (i.e., the victor with the highest casualty difference in his battle selecting his won earldom or earldoms first, then the victor with the second-highest casualty difference making his selection, and so on).
Where can we find the Danelaw module, and how are modules incorporated into the main game?
Is there a specific module file, etc.?
Where can we find the Danelaw module, and how are modules incorporated into the main game?
Is there a specific module file, etc.?
The Danelaw module itself isn't yet available (although it is finalised 🥂 ), because I hope that it can be downloaded in-game instead of each player having to do it manually (but I can provide a v0 for SP for manual download in order to have a look?).
I've sent you a PM and also made a public thread for everyone to know and see about modules/mods in Ancients and Medieval.
This said, here's a [LINK TO THE CHANGELIST] for the original Dark Ages Britain Mod, setting out the changed rules and mechanics. As mentioned, it's a wonderful mod with so much flavour! 🙂 The Danelaw module includes only six of the armies for the purposes of this campaign (making it much faster and above all much smaller, data wise, since it has allowed for removing a lot of unit and banner gfx files, hundreds of megabytes removed), keeping the rules and mechanics intact of course. 🙂
Where can we find the Danelaw module, and how are modules incorporated into the main game?
Is there a specific module file, etc.?
The Danelaw module itself isn't yet available (although it is finalised 🥂 ), because I hope that it can be downloaded in-game...
... And now it can (instructions HERE). 🙂
OK, who's up for the Danelaw campaign? 💣 2 or 3 more players needed.
Hi. I'll give it a spin. I've been letting my beard grow a little.
"En cualquier dirección que recorras el alma, nunca tropezarás con sus límites." Sócrates
Hi. I'll give it a spin. I've been letting my beard grow a little.
Excellent, welcome!
Could you please download the Danelaw MP module (and the SP, if you want to play around a bit on your own)? Plus it's useful to get the pdf as well (see the Starting the campaign section in the rules above.)
Cargol will also fight. ''Viking's disgrace'' will be my nom de guerre
Cargol will also fight. ''Viking's disgrace'' will be my nom de guerre
Ah, looks like you're destined as an Anglo-Saxon king? Whereas @chiquichops's beard growing ambitions reveal his Viking sympathies... 😎 Maybe.
Anyway, welcome!
Now we'll give some time to check if we can attract a fourth and final player. Or we'll launch it with three players: will be fun too! 🥂
I am at the ''user content downloads'' but I cant find the Danelaw campaign.
I am at the ''user content downloads'' but I cant find the Danelaw campaign.
Should be at the bottom when having scrolled down (got uploaded this evening, so make sure to exit/close and relaunch the game). But it's not? (Then which module is the one at the bottom on your computer?)
Is FOG II-Ancients = FOG II?
If it is, I'll give this a try, if you still need a fourth player.
Ah, I see that selecting allies such as Welsh or Scots requires "Wolves at the Gate" extension, which I don't have.
@otosan and @chiquichops :
Did it work for you to download the Danelaw MP module (and the SP, if you want to play around a bit on your own)? For instructions, see the Starting the campaign section in the rules above.