Warfare Policy Card

Players command their Champions to wage war using the Warfare Policy Card. Note that there are 2 identical Warfare Policy Cards available each year.

Privilege
The Enactor of the Warfare Policy Card selects 1 of his Champions to gain +1 strength. This bonus lasts until the next Policy Card is chosen.

Warfare Turn
Starting with the Enactor and moving in Rotation, each player may perform these actions:



Play Action Cards
Action Cards offer an Ability that belongs to 1 of the 4 Champions. During the Warfare turn, each faction may play no more than 1 Ability of the corresponding Champion. Some Action Cards belong to the King and may be played by the King only, who is limited to 1 King’s Ability per Warfare turn (in addition to any Abilities of his Champions).

Action Cards have a specific timing that determines when they may be played. Some may even be played when it is not your turn. See the Action Card’s text for details.

If you are hosting a Diplomat from another faction and you harm them with an Action Card, their Diplomat is immediately recalled. Likewise, if they are hosting your Diplomat and you harm them with an Action Card, immediately recall your Diplomat. The relevant Action Cards are:


 * Intervention
 * Royalist Mob
 * Informers

Manage Units
If your Champion is inside a City, you may convert any number of his Unit Cards of either type into Garrison Units of equal strength. Simply move the Unit Cards onto the discard pile and place Garrison Tokens onto the city.

Garrison Units:

 * May never move or leave their city
 * May not exceed the city's Income as stated on the board


 * Are discarded if the city is conquered by an attacker


 * Do not require Upkeep, but decrease the effective Income of the city.

Champions may also discard units. This can be useful if a Champion has a mix of Cavalry Units and Infantry Units and needs to get rid of his Infantry Units to move farther.

Move Champions
You may move each Champion up to his current maximum movement.

In addition, different types of terrain affect this movement.

Negotiation
Before any attack between factions, the parties may negotiate to prevent the attack from happening. If they agree, the attack is called off.

If negotiation fails, any Diplomats exchanged between the attacker and defender are immediately recalled.

There are 3 types of attacks:

Battle

 * Champions may begin a Battle against enemy Champions or an enemy or neutral city in the same region.

Sieges In Progress

 * Sieges that were begun during a previous Warfare turn now complete.


 * The besieged city falls, the winner removes the defender's control marker, and Garrison Unit tokens (if any) and places his own marker at the city, with the 'Restored' side up.


 * The besieger captures all Unit Cards of the defender and allocates them to his own Champions present. Cavalry Units may not be changed to Infantry Units or vice versa. The defender's Champions (if present）are killed.

Starting a New Siege

 * To begin a siege, count your Champions’ strength and the strength of the defending city. Be sure to include any defending Champions and Garrison Units. Your strength must at least be equal to that of the defender's strength for the Siege to begin. The city also must not be besieged by a third faction.


 * Place your colored control marker under your Champion to signify that your Siege is in progress.


 * On your next Warfare Turn, the city will automatically fall so long as your Champions’ strength is still at least equal to that of the city. If at any time your Champions' strength falls below the defender's strength, the siege is cancelled.

Annexation

 * Annexation is an attack where Champions automatically conquer a city--immediately and without rolling dice. To do this, the following conditions must be met:


 * 1) The city is part of the attacker's homeland, painted in his faction's color on the map
 * 2) The attacking Champions have equal or greater strength than the defending city
 * 3) The city must not contain any Garrison Units or rival Champions


 * If all of the above conditions are met, the city is immedately conquered. The defender's control marker (if any) is removed. Place the attacker's control marker at the city with the 'Restored' side up.