RULES 7 MILITARY UNITS
Military Units
Heroes, military forces and non military are represented on the map by color coded boxes.
The number of figures in a military unit box determine how many population points are needed to provide for that unit. This is typically between one and three. If you have more figures than population points (adjusted for certain other factors) you must disband units, or your economy will suffer as there will not be enough people working. For some players, this might be an acceptable tradeoff.
Militia has been removed from the rules. Instead, all Cities and Nomads have a built in "defense" score that appears on your Nation Sheets. This is derived from the population, the Fortification score, and the Domains and Attributes of your people. It is assumed that all cities will have some of their citizens providing defense in an emergency but some (for example, if you have the War or Protection Domain) will be better than others.
Garrisons are small, light infantry units typically used for guarding places, and Infantry are your "regular" military units- you can convert one to the other buy paying the price difference if the new unit has a higher build cost. You do not get money back going the other way. You cannot convert in this way to get your special units.
Garrisons will typically not appear on the map, being "embedded" in their location. They will appear when required.
Military Units have two scores that represent them: The movement rating appears on the Token, and tells you how many Movement Points it has. Different types of units pay different costs to cross hexes. Each unit also has a Power Rating that gives you a guide to its total strength. It factors in skill, equipment, and raw numbers and it can change as a unit gets more experience. A is the highest rating, M is the worst. This number does not appear on the Token. It is reflected on your Nation Sheet. You can discover the ratings of foreign units with scouts, spies, rogues, etc,
Most typical Military units must be supplied. If they are in your area of Continuity, not a problem. If they are outside of it, they will start to forage to sustain themselves if not supplied, and their speed and power will be reduced. This does not happen to all units- certain units are able to self sustain in some environments. (Nomad horsemen, for example, in any grass, steppe, woods or hills). Nor does it happen if the troops are being supplied by allies, or are just beyond your borders. For long distances you will need ship actions to support them, or Supply units. Supply units represent baggage trains, or laborers, or pack animals, etc, carting food and other goods to the distant outposts and military units. For longer trips you may need to make chains of them.
Many players will have special units unique to them. You can only build what appears on your nation sheet. However, you may be able to gain allies and a wider variety from player and NPC nations.
Surrounding enemy forces entirely or partially in a battle gives you an advantage.
Defending in rougher terrain gives you and advantage.
Certain unit types gain advantages from different circumstances or terrain types. Attacking a fortified town without archers, engineers or others able to give you a bonus against fortifications is very difficult.
Opposing Military units (and heroes!) running into each other may not even meet! A weaker but stealthier side might elect to hide. Goblins are notorious for dispersing, stealthily retreating past superior foes, and rallying somewhere else.
The Stealth and Detection ratings of various military units is not shown on the unit, but may be inferred from their type. Heavy cavalry is very obvious. Elves are skilled at hiding in their home terrain. Perhaps the best of all are Elven Shadow Warriors, hand picked for their skills at camouflage and infiltration, they are rarely seen in a forest unless they want to be.
Naval Units
Ships are so mobile given the season long turns that they can reach almost anywhere. They are assigned to a port, and also given a sector in which they operate in. They are given a number of actions depending on the distance. A standard ship in its home port sector has
A ship is considered to be at its port, in the Sector in which it is performing actions, and in all sectors in between. Thus, if a ship is performing an action three sectors away, it can be attacked by enemies in its home port sector, in its action sector, and the two sectors it must travel through.
If you want to, you can split a ship's actions between sectors, pro-rating the number of actions available and rounding down. Thus a standard ship could have one action two sectors away and 2 actions in its home sector, in the same turn.
Units, creatures, and heroes that can move on water but are not ships do not have these features. They act normally, but for the ability to move on water.
Naval units can act on Rivers, but are slowed down. When rivers are on hex sides, count each hex side. If the river cuts through the hex, count it as one hex side. 1 Sector of ocean travel is 12 hex sides equivalent.
RIVER units must remain on Rivers and count 16 hexes or river hex sides as a sector.
COASTAL vessels count 16 hexes or river hex sides as a sector. They cannot enter all sea hexes that are not adjacent to land.
This message was last edited by the GM at 13:46, Fri 07 May 2021.