La Guerre des Ducs
La Guerre des Ducs Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
The Game
Number of players: 2
Components:
- a geographical map divided into hexagonal cells (hexes);
- counters (to be cut out);
- a results table and a terrain effects table printed directly on the map;
- one die (not supplied; must be provided by the players).
Each side has 31 counters (plus a turn marker): 1 duke, 10 infantry units, 10 cavalry units and 10 artillery units.
The counters carry NATO symbols: infantry is a crossed box, cavalry is a box with a diagonal slash, and artillery is a box with a dot. The duke is marked with a crown. The counters also show the following:
- the start of the country's name: ORF (for Orfburg) or WULF (for Wulfenburg);
- on the left, a number giving the attack and defence strength;
- on the right, a number giving the movement allowance (movement points);
- for artillery only, in the top right, the number 2, which gives the range of the guns: two hexes.
Object of the game: achieve a decisive territorial conquest, or annihilate the enemy duke or troops. As will be seen, one particularity of the Guerre des Ducs is that the two adversaries are not symmetrical: they do not stand in exactly the same position with respect to securing victory.
Setup
Each player places one of his units on every city or fortress that he owns. Then, one after the other and piece by piece, the players place the rest of their units inside their own borders until all of them are in place.
The player who holds Orfburg always begins the game.
Duration of the Game
The game lasts a maximum of 15 turns. Count the turns by advancing the turn marker on the turn track at the end of each turn.
Each turn is itself divided into two phases, each corresponding to the actions of one of the players. When both opponents have played, the turn is over and the next turn begins.
The Dukes
The two duke counters have only a defensive value: they cannot attack directly. However, their presence within two hexes of friendly units "fanatises" those troops and doubles their attack or defence strength.
Dukes suffer combat results like any other counter. In particular, a duke can be eliminated in a battle. In that case the game stops immediately and the player who has lost his duke is defeated, even if the other conditions of victory have not been met.
Fortresses
A fortress can hold only one unit (plus possibly a duke, which does not count as a unit). Without a garrison, a fortress has no defence and can be occupied by either belligerent. Artillery units may fire from a fortress.
Victory Conditions
The two belligerents do not win under the same conditions.
1: Marginal victory. The Duchy of Orfburg wins by seizing the city of Kaiserburg while keeping the territory between the two rivers. The Duchy of Wulfenburg wins if it manages to prevent the achievement of either of these two conditions.
2: Total victory. Total victory is achieved by one of the two countries by conquering the enemy capital, or by eliminating the enemy duke.
Movement
During its active phase, each player moves as many units as he wishes, within the movement points allocated to each unit.
The number of movement points needed to enter a hex depends on its terrain:
| Terrain | Movement cost |
|---|---|
| Roads | 1/2 point per hex |
| Cities | 1/2 point per hex |
| Normal terrain | 1 point per hex |
| Bridges | 1 point per hex (but 1/2 point if the bridge is crossed by a road) |
| Woods | 2 points per hex |
| Heights (brown) | 2 points per hex |
| Rivers | impassable except by bridges |
| Lakes | impassable |
Note: if a unit must use a road during a move, and it is not on that road at the start of its movement, it must first spend, to reach the road, the movement points required by the terrain that separates it from the road.
Movement limitations: a unit may never end its move on a hex occupied by another unit, friendly or enemy. The only exception: a duke, on city or fortress hexes, may stack with a friendly unit. However, during a move, a unit may pass through a hex occupied by a unit of its own country.
Zones of control: each unit exerts an influence over the six hexes surrounding the one it occupies: these six hexes make up its "zone of control". Zones of control have the following properties:
- a unit may enter an enemy zone of control without spending any extra points, but it has no right to move within it: it must stop as soon as it enters it;
- therefore a unit cannot pass from one zone of control to another without first leaving the first one;
- zones of control do not extend across a river, but they do extend across bridges;
- it is forbidden to retreat into an enemy zone of control.
Example: unit C, located in the zone of control of unit A, cannot reach hex X2 by passing through hex X1, which is also in the zone of control of A. It would have to leave the zone, go around X1 and re-enter the zone at X2. It would therefore spend 4 movement points instead of 2.
Combat
Combat procedure: to give battle, the attacking unit must be in sufficient proximity to the attacked unit: adjacent hexes for infantry and cavalry, one hex apart for artillery. Several units of the same country may attack a single enemy unit, provided that each attacking unit meets the proximity conditions.
When combat is declared, the attacking units' strength points are added together, and then the defence points are added (these are doubled if the defender is in a city, and tripled if it is in a fortress). The ratio of the points is then taken, with the attacker as numerator and the defender as denominator. The ratio may range from 1/5 (or "1 against 5") to 6/1 (or "6 against 1").
The attacker then rolls the die. The number obtained is modified, where applicable, by the nature of the terrain (see the terrain effects table). Then the ratio of the forces and the number given by the die are looked up on the results table. The intersection of the two lines gives the result of the combat.
The result is expressed as a pair of letters, whose meaning is as follows:
- Ae (attacker eliminated): the attacking units are removed from the game.
- Ar (attacker retreats): the attacking units retreat one hex.
- De (defender eliminated): the defending units are removed from the game.
- Dr (defender retreats): the defending units retreat one hex.
- Ex (exchange): the defending units are removed from the game, together with attacking units totalling a strength at least equal to theirs.
A unit that is unable to retreat, because it has a lake, a river or a zone of control behind it, is removed from the game, unless it is surrounded by friendly units: in that case it pushes one of these units aside and takes its place.
Three further rules apply:
- a given unit may be attacked only once during the same phase;
- a given unit (or group of units) may attack only one enemy unit during the same phase;
- several friendly units may join together to attack an enemy unit, but this counts as a single combat, with a single die roll.
The results of combat apply immediately, before the next phase begins.
Artillery in combat: an artillery unit may give battle either at a distance of two hexes (bombardment), or against an adjacent unit (close combat). In a bombardment, it neither retreats nor exchanges. On the other hand, in close combat it suffers the results of the table, like any other piece.
Advance after combat: when the outcome of a combat forces the defender to retreat, the attacking unit may, if it wishes, occupy the hex that the defender has abandoned, regardless of zones of influence and of its own movement limits.
The decision to occupy or not occupy the enemy's hex must be announced immediately after the combat. That decision is final: it cannot be changed afterwards.
Results Table (Table des résultats)
Rows are the die result (1 to 6). Columns are the force ratio (attacker : defender).
| Die | 1-5 | 1-4 | 1-3 | 1-2 | 1-1 | 2-1 | 3-1 | 4-1 | 5-1 | 6-1 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | AR | AR | DR | DR | DR | DR | DR | DE | DE | DE |
| 2 | AE | AR | AR | DR | DR | DR | DR | DR | DE |
Terrain Effects Table (Tableau des terrains)
| Terrain | Effect on movement | Effect in combat |
|---|---|---|
| City (Ville) | 1/2 movement point | Defence doubled |
| Fortress (Forteresse) | 1 point to enter | Defence tripled |
| Forest (Forêt) | 2 movement points | +2 to the attacker's die |
| Hill (Colline) | 2 movement points | +1 to the attacker's die |
| River (Rivière) | Impassable | Retreat forbidden |
| Road (Route) | 1/2 movement point | No effect |
| Plain (Plaine) | 1 movement point | No effect |