Battles

Once a Battle is declared, each side must first plan in secret by deploying their soldiers into three different ranks.

Form Ranks
First, count up the total strength of the attacker's and defender's forces. Each sided secretly assigns their strength as dice to three ranks: Charge, Line, and Reserve. Each point of strength becomes 1 die to be rolled in battle.

No Player?
If the defender is a neutral city, the other players must agree on a player to deploy ranks and roll dice in the defender's stead. They may also nominate a second player verify the rank deployments and veto them if he wishes.

Besieged City?
If the defender is currently besieging your city, only your attacking Champion may participate in the Battle: your besieged city and any Champions or Garrison inside the city may not participate.



Place dice next to the corresponding icon on their Faction Leader Cards. Once both are ready, they reveal their rank deployments simultaneously.

Roll Dice
The attacker and defender both roll the dice in their ranks in the order listed below and count the number of hits rolled.

*The defender in any Forest Region scores 3 hits (instead of 2) on each roll of a '6'.

If both sides have strength in a rank, they are rolled simultaneously. Be sure to roll all dice in a rank and count its total before proceeding to the next rank.

For Battles against a city, see below.

Roll Charge
Count the totals for both sides. Each hit scored will kill an enemy Champion, unless it is countered by a hit from the enemy's Line.

Roll Line
Each hit counters 1 hit from the enemy's Charge.

If the hits of either Charge exceed the other side's Line, Champions are killed. The Battle ends here.

Roll Reserve
Reserves are only counted when no Champions have been killed by either side's Charge. Count the total hits from both sides' Reserves and compare them to each other. Determine the result as below:

Same Number of Hits

 * Draw
 * The Battle ends in a draw. There is no result.

Difference = 1

 * Rout
 * The loser must select 1 Unit Card from each of his Champions present and give them to the winner. The winner allocates them to his own Champions present at the Battle. Infantry and Cavalry Units must remain the same Unit Type. If the loser is inside a city, the city also falls to the winner. The loser's Champions survive and remain in the same region.

Difference = 2 or more

 * Collapse
 * The winner captures all Unit Cards of the loser and allocates them to his own Champions present. Cavalry Units may not be changed to Infantry Units or vice versa. If the loser is inside a city, the city also falls to the winner. The loser's Champions are killed.

Battles Against a City
Champions may also attack Cities via Battle. Battles are faster than sieges but if successful always exhaust the city.

To determine a City's strength, add:

City's Strength plus Garrison's Strength plus Champion's Strength

If all defending Champions in a city are killed, the city falls to the attacker so long as at least one attacking Champion survives.

No Defending Champions?
If there are no Champions inside the city, the attacker's Charge must score at least 1 hit in order to conquer the city, so long as at least one attacking Champion survives.

If the attacker's Reserve results in a Rout or a Collapse, the city falls to the attacker.

Strategy
A wise general never deploys into all 3 ranks because the Charge and the Reserve have similar goals. If you are unsure about what to do, you can deploy half your strength in your Line and the other half into either the Charge or the Reserve.

As the Attacker
Don't attack unless you have good odds (you outnumber your opponent by 3:1 or more) or you are desperate. Be careful when facing an enemy with many Action Cards; he could have a Rally Troops card, or even play Intervention to counter your own Rally Troops card, provided he has a Bishop in his faction.

If you are attacking a City, keep in mind that at least 1 of your Champions must survive the enemy's Charge in order to conquer the City; if all your Champions are killed, the City will not become yours.

As the Defender
Try to guess your opponent's aim. If you think he is after your Unit Cards, bolster your Reserve to make it hard for him to get them. On the other hand, if you are defending a city, you can put all your strength into your Charge and try to kill his Champions so the city remains yours.