The Warlord Game

The Warlord Game Rulebook

Table of Contents

Setup

The fiefs of Anholt, Hereford, Lingen, Lippstadt, and Rheida are church fiefs (fiefs d'église). Each player draws one fief from the following: Bentheim, Duisburg, Emmerich, Essen, Gemen, Gohfeld, Munster, Osnabruck, Rees, Steinfurt, Techlenburg, and Unna. Then draw three more church fiefs.

Each player places one Knight 6-6 and two Foot Soldiers (Fantassins) 2-4 inside two hexes of the capital of his fief, then receives the amount of silver indicated. Place a monastery inside two hexes of the capital of each church fief.

Finally, each player rolls the dice to determine who begins. The highest roll goes first, and turns proceed clockwise.

One player should be designated to manage the bank and the calendar.

The Turn

Each turn represents a season of the year. Note that there is no combat in winter.

Spring:

Capture of fiefs (receive the troops and the bonus silver)
Construction (optional)
Troop levy (optional)
Growth
Movement
Combat

Summer:

Capture of fiefs
Movement
Combat

Autumn:

Capture of fiefs
Movement
Combat

Winter:

Capture of fiefs
Movement
Destiny (Destin)
Taxes

Movement

Each unit carries two numbers. The number on the left is the unit's combat factor; the number on the right is its movement factor. The terrain determines the rate at which a unit spends its movement points to move. Open ground and villages cost 1 point; roads cost ½ point (provided the units that follow them are also on roads); forests, mountains, cities, castles, ravines and rivers cost 2 points; lakes are impassable.

Effects of Terrain

Terrain affects combat. Castles triple the defence. Woods and fortified cities double the defence. Mountains double the defence except against Archers. Cities and villages double the defence against Cavalry and Archers. A river doubles the defence unless there is a bridge, or unless the enemy is able to attack from both sides.

These effects are cumulative, but a defence can never be more than sextupled. Each additional multiplicative factor is added to the first, minus one. Thus a castle on a mountain attacked across a river multiplies the defence by five (3 + (2 − 1) + (2 − 1)). Terrain also affects retreats, as will be seen later.

Terrain	Movement Cost	Effect on Combat
Open ground (Dégagé)	1	None
Road (Route)	½	Depends on the underlying terrain
Bridge (Pont)	½	None
Forest (Forêt)	2	Double defence
Mountain (Montagne)	2	Double defence, except vs. Archers
Castle (Château)	2	Triple defence
Fortified city (Ville fortifiée)	2	Double defence
City (Ville)	2

Transcriber's note: the text above says cities and villages double defence against Cavalry and Archers, while the table gives "except vs. Foot Soldiers" for city and village. Both are kept as printed.

Stacking

The stacking limit is three pieces (including Catapults). A stack may be split to attack in several directions, but it defends as a single block.

Combat

Combat occurs when units are in contact. The six hexes around a piece are its zone of control: as soon as an enemy unit enters it, that unit must stop. All enemy units in contact must be attacked. The ratio of forces determines the outcome of the combat, and it is rounded in favour of the defender. Thus 29 against 10 becomes 2:1, and 31 against 10 becomes 3:1. Tournaments are resolved in an entirely different way.

A river is considered to lie between the combatants if one of the two stacks (but not both) is on the river hex.

Encirclement (Sieges)

Units are encircled if enemy zones of control form an uninterrupted perimeter around them (only enemy units within two hexes of radius count). An encirclement must be broken within a time limit, or the units are eliminated. In a castle you have 4 turns (the winter turn is excluded); in a fortified city, 2 turns; in all other cases, 1 turn.

Retreat

The winner determines the retreat. If there is no possible retreat (a unit cannot retreat into an enemy zone of control, out of a castle, across a river, or through a saturated friendly stack), the unit is eliminated. The attacker may advance onto the position abandoned by the defender if and only if it is a multiplier position (position multiplicatrice). The defender may never advance onto a position.

Command

Only units under command may attack or enter a fief that you do not control. This implies that a unit cannot enter an enemy zone of control if it is not under command. The command radius depends on the unit: it is 1 hex for a Foot Knight 5-4 (the knight's hex plus the six immediately adjacent hexes), 2 for a Knight 6-6, 3 for a Duke 8-6, 4 for a King 10-6, and 5 for an Emperor 12-6.

At the start, the player has no commanders other than himself. He gains (designates) further commanders as follows:

Duke (fourth fief): a Foot Knight 5-4.
Eight fiefs: a Knight 6-6.
King (twelfth fief): a Duke 8-6.
Sixteen fiefs: a Knight 6-6.

If a commander is killed, you may designate a replacement of equal value (or of lower value if none remain). As with extra troops, once acquired you keep your number of commanders even if you lose fiefs. You cannot hire mercenary commanders.

The stack of which a commander is a member has its combat value increased by 1 factor.

Victory

To win the game, a player must become King and hold at least 17 fiefs for 4 turns (one complete year), or become Emperor and hold at least 18 fiefs for 3 turns. If the game lasts more than 25 years, the players should declare it a draw.

Capturing a Fief

To capture a fief, a player must be the only one with pieces there, and those pieces must count for at least 8 combat factors, including one combat piece on the capital, for one complete turn.

Once captured, you receive the purse (granted only once per game for each fief) and any additional troops to which you may be entitled. Capturing a church fief has further consequences, as will be seen later.

Holding a Fief

To hold a fief, it is enough for the player to have at least one combat piece somewhere. If the fief is left unprotected, it returns to the bank (or to the conquering player).

Money (Wheat, Gold, Cows, Pigs, Silver)

All the money tokens are interchangeable. With money you can:

Raise troops. Cost: 5 marks per foot combat factor, 10 marks per mounted combat factor. Catapults cannot be purchased. You may raise troops only in spring. See the section on Additional Troops.
Hire mercenaries. See the section on Additional Troops.
Build. See Construction below.

Construction

A castle or a fortified city costs 100 marks and takes one year to build (the terrain must be cleared beforehand). You are entitled to one fortified city and one castle per fief; the fortified city must be built on the capital.

A bridge or a monastery costs 25 marks and takes one turn to build (if the terrain must be cleared beforehand, add one turn and 5 marks). A monastery cannot be built on a capital or on a river (just as with a castle). A bridge can only be built to join two road segments or to extend one.

A road, or the clearing of a forest hex, costs 5 marks and takes the same turn. Road segments built must be connected to the existing road network; a forest must be cleared beforehand (add 5 marks and one turn); and you cannot build roads in mountains.

In each case, at least one Foot Soldier 2-4 must be present from the beginning to the end of the construction. All constructions are permanent, and construction begins in spring.

Loans

Only once during the game, each player may borrow 500 marks (or less). This sum must be repaid within two years at the latest, in a single payment. If the borrower is unable to repay it, or if he ever finds himself in a position of indebtedness, he loses all his fiefs except one and restarts at zero.

Additional Troops

Promotion

Your main source of troops is promotion. At the start, each player has one fief, one Knight 6-6, and two Foot Soldiers 2-4.

The table below gives the units by number of fiefs held, as printed in the source. The 4-4 foot soldier row is printed as Fantassins; the text below calls these heavy foot soldiers (Fantassins lourds), and they are rendered that way here.

Number of fiefs	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	16	17
Catapults (0-2)												2
Foot Soldiers (Fantassins) 2-4

When the player captures his second fief, he receives one Foot Knight 5-4 and two more Foot Soldiers 2-4.

At the third fief, he receives a Foot Knight 5-4 and two Foot Soldiers 2-4.

At the fourth fief, his Knight 6-6 becomes a Duke 8-6, and there are added a Knight 6-6, an Archer 4-4, a Heavy Foot Soldier 4-4, and two Foot Soldiers 2-4.

At the fifth, sixth and seventh fiefs, there are added a Knight 6-6, a Foot Knight 5-4, and three Foot Soldiers 2-4.

At the eighth fief, there are added a Knight 6-6, an Archer 4-4, a Heavy Foot Soldier 4-4, and two Foot Soldiers 2-4.

At the ninth, tenth and eleventh fiefs, there are added a Knight 6-6, a Foot Knight 5-4, and three Foot Soldiers 2-4.

At the twelfth fief, the Duke 8-6 is replaced by a King 10-6, and there are added a Duke 8-6, three Knights 6-6, four Crossbowmen 4-4, two Catapults 0-2, four Heavy Foot Soldiers 4-4, two Archers 4-4, and four Foot Soldiers 2-4.

At the sixteenth fief, there are added two Dukes 8-6, four Knights 6-6, three Longbowmen 5-4, six Heavy Foot Soldiers 4-4, and four Foot Soldiers 2-4.

At the seventeenth fief, the King 10-6 is replaced by an Emperor 12-6, and the player receives a purse of 500 marks.

Bonus troops (troupes boni) appear on the corresponding fief, with the exception of the bonus armies (at the twelfth and seventeenth fiefs), which appear on the controlled fief where the King is located or, if the King is not in one of his fiefs, on the nearest controlled fief. If several of the player's fiefs meet this condition, the player chooses.

You do not lose your rank if you lose fiefs, unless you are killed. Additional troops are gained only once: if you capture a twelfth fief and then lose it, you do not receive a second army when you win it back.

Troop Levies

Purchased troops appear inside two hexes of the capitals of the fiefs you control; they cannot appear inside an enemy zone of control. You are limited by the stock of tokens.

You cannot buy troops whose prototype you do not yet have. Thus you cannot buy crossbowmen until you have captured twelve fiefs. Similarly, you cannot buy troops of a rank equal to your own.

Mercenaries

You may also hire troops belonging to other players. The contract is to be negotiated (duration, price). The contracting player (the owner of the troops) moves them on his turn until they enter one of the fiefs of the hiring player, who from then on moves them on his own turn. They cannot move twice in the same turn.

At any time, the contracting player may take back control of his units by refusing to let them move or enter combat. This would be a breach of contract, unless the hiring player has tried to use the mercenaries against a church fief. It may also be that the hiring player is no longer able to pay (or no longer wishes to).

In case of a breach of contract, the offending player must roll the dice once on the Destiny table (for Varletry).

Historically, mercenaries were remarkably unreliable, and the game reflects this.

Tournaments

It sometimes happens that Destiny orders a Tournament. All players must take part, either in person or by sending a lesser unit (but at least one Foot Knight 5-4). The players are paired off. If there is an odd number, roll the dice to determine who sits out this turn; the paired players fight, and the winners advance to the next turn. The grand winner takes a purse of 100 marks.

It may happen that a wounded unit is recalled to a Tournament before it has fully recovered from its wounds!

Jousts

Two players may decide to fight a Joust to settle a question of honour or for some other reason. The challenged player may refuse, but the challenger then has the right to call him a varlet for one turn, if the rest of the players so decide by vote (this is to prevent unjustified challenges). If the rest of the players find the challenge unjustified, it is the challenger who may be called a varlet for one turn.

A Joust is resolved like a Tournament.

Varletry

Any act of cowardice, sacking of a church or monastery, or breach of contract or of word is sufficient reason to call the perpetrator a varlet.

On the capture of a church fief, or upon a breach of contract or of word, the varlet must roll the dice on the Destiny table. Treat the favourable result "Merchants' Guild" as having no effect. Moreover, for as long as he has not restored his reputation, he may neither receive nor hire other Knights (6-6 or 5-4) or nobles.

Knights or nobles already in his service each roll one die. On a 1-5 they remain in his service. On a 6 they roll a second die: on a 1-2 they may be bribed to remain in his service (as for a troop levy); on a 3-4 they leave; on a 5-6 they go over to the nearest enemy (they change colour, then move immediately at double movement)!

If the player commits a second non-chivalrous act, only the Knights and nobles gained since the first act have to roll the die.

In addition, mercenaries he may have hired are free to break their contract without penalty. If they decide to remain in his service, however, they cannot change their minds later.

You (Your Commander)

Your highest-ranking piece represents you. Do not get yourself killed! Otherwise you would restart at zero on the following turn (one of your fiefs of your choice, one Knight 6-6, and two Foot Soldiers 2-4). You never lose a rank once gained: once a Duke, never again a Knight.

If you are wounded in a tournament, or if you leave on a crusade or a quest, this has a very important effect on your troops.

When you are absent, your troops can only play defensively. The only attacks permitted are those required by contact of zones of control, and the case of encirclement. If you are wounded in a tournament, you will pass your next turn (that is, the next time you move), or even your next two turns, at reduced combat value, and you will not be able to attack.

If you are ever killed and all the available fiefs are captured before your turn comes round again, your only option is to have yourself engaged as a vassal general of one of the other lords (which would allow that lord one more commander). If your suzerain is killed, you take control of his troops (as heir).

It is always possible, during the game, to renounce your allegiance in order to establish your own barony. This does, however, constitute an act of varletry.

Catapults

Catapults are of great value. You cannot buy them, and you must capture a large number of fiefs to be entitled to them. They can be captured if left undefended.

A Catapult placed next to a castle or a fortified city cancels the defensive effect in favour of friendly units attacking from the same hex.

Archers and Crossbowmen

Archers and crossbowmen shoot at a distance of two hexes. In this case they suffer no retreat or exchange (unless the combat is between archers and crossbowmen). Longbowmen shoot at three hexes. These units are not affected by the presence of mountains or rivers. However, they can alone attack only a castle or a fortified city.

Church Fiefs

The capture of a church fief makes you a varlet: you must roll on the Destiny table. In addition, a fine of 100 marks must be paid to the bank for each such fief captured. To become an honourable knight again, you must rebuild the monastery (then remove the old monastery from the map). You may pass through a church fief without penalty.

Transcriber's note: the rules refer to the Destiny table (table du Destin), a dice table that is not reproduced in this document, so its results are not transcribed here. The "Guild of Merchants" result of that table is mentioned in the Varletry section but its contents are not given.