An Empire in Flames - Tournament I: Concluded

[kronenblatt]

... At a time when the reins of government were held with so loose a hand, it is not surprising that a crowd of usurpers should start up in every province of the empire against the son of Valerian... The reign of Gallienus, distracted as it was, produced only nineteen pretenders to the throne; Cyriades, Macrianus, Balista, Odenathus, and Zenobia in the East; in Gaul, and the western provinces, Posthumus, Lollianus, Victorinus and his mother Victoria, Marius, and Tetricus. In Illyricum and the confines of the Danube, Ingenuus, Regillianus, and Aureolus; in Pontus, Saturninus; in Isauria, Trebellianus; Piso in Thessaly; Valens in Achaia; Aemilianus in Egypt; and Celsus in Africa...

(From The Decline And Fall Of The Roman Empire by Edward Gibbon)


An Empire in Flames - a Third Century Crisis tournament
Credits and thanks to pompeytheflatulent who originally came up with the idea!

An Empire in Flames covers the turbulent years of the Roman empire from 260 AD, when the defeat and capture of Valerian at Edessa threw the empire into chaos and civil wars, until 284 AD, when Diocletian's ascension to the purple stabilised the situation, reinvigorating the empire and ending 'the crisis of the third century'. The players represent Roman factions during this period, with each of the five players being a contender for the purple, each striving to become the next Augustus.

This campaign was concluded after eleven rounds, in 280 AD, with:

Aetius39

as Imperator Caesar Augustus Achilles Jovianus, the worthy victor, stabiliser and re-uniter of the Roman Empire after decades of crisis and turmoil.

Having expanded patiently (and ruthlessly) from his power base in the West, Aetius39 got rid of competitor after competitor, one by one, also guiding non-Romans in the raids and looting of Roman territory, and as such successfully conveyed the message of himself as the only one (there can be only one!) able to keep Rome safe from barbarians.

As his final act of supremacy, Aetius39 sought out kronenblatt on the bloody battlefield along the Danube river in Moesia, slaying the unfortunate usurper in an archaic duel of heroes (or rather hero versus villain), much like Achilles did to Hector at Troy.

Other (less fortunate and successful) participants were kronenblatt, Doyley50, TomoeGozen, MadMaxBot, and olin0111. Many thanks: hope you all enjoyed it!

After summer, An Empire in Flames II will take off, involving a new crew of hopeful contenders (and somewhat amended rules): Crossington, SnuggleBunnies, Stew101, Geffalrus... and kronenblatt. Stay tuned.

[kronenblatt]

Overview

• This tournament covers the turbulent years of the Roman empire from 260 AD, when the defeat and capture of Valerian at Edessa threw the empire into chaos and civil wars, until 284 AD, when Diocletian's ascension to the purple stabilised the situation, reinvigorating the empire and ending 'the crisis of the third century'.

• The players represent Roman factions during this period, with each of the five players being a contender for the purple, each striving to become the next Augustus.

• In addition, there are five non-Roman factions that the players can employ to make raids ever deeper into the Roman empire and the provinces of other players' Roman factions.

• The tournament lasts for 12 rounds, provided however that the tournament will end early as soon as only one Roman faction remains, controlling all thirty provinces and thus having stabilised the situation like Diocletian did and reunited the empire under one Augustus.
  • The winner of the tournament is then of course the player of that sole remaining Roman faction.

• If, after the full 12 rounds, there are still more than one Roman faction remaining, the Roman empire will remain permanently divided and split up in different parts, like Postumus in Gaul, in the West, and Odaenathus and Zenobia out of Palmyra, in the East.
  • The winner of the tournament is in that case the player whose Roman faction controls the largest number of provinces (with each looted province counting only as 0.5).
    • If a tie then the player whose Roman faction controls the largest number of non-looted provinces wins.
    • If still a tie then the player controlling Italia (or failing that, the non-looted province closest to Italia) wins.

• A player whose Roman faction controls only looted provinces at the end of a round has lost and is eliminated from the tournament, all his provinces taken over by the neighbouring Roman faction with the fewest controlled looted provinces (as calculated before any new such provinces are gained).

• A player whose Roman faction is eliminated from the tournament will continue playing and concluding all his other battles that round, whether as Roman or non-Roman factions, with the normal effects of battle outcome.

• As rounds go by, more and more provinces will be at stake and potentially change hands from one Roman faction to another, with the potential of abruptly changing the power balance!

Roman factions

General

• The Roman factions fight each other through making conquest attacks with the aim of gaining each other's provinces and killing each other's Augustii (as represented by C-in-C's in the battles).

• They may also need to fight non-Roman factions that attack Roman provinces through raids and thus prevent these non-Roman factions from looting and making future raids, deeper and deeper into the Roman empire.

Armies

• The armies of all five Roman factions are based upon the Roman 197-284 AD army, albeit each being supplemented with regional units, representing recruited troops from the frontiers serving as irregular units of barbari foederati or as regular auxilia.

• Compulsory (i.e., minimum) number of added units corresponds to approximately 220 FP for each army, with optional number of added units above that to approximately 850 FP.

• The Roman faction starting in:
  
  I. Britannia and Gallia and at the Rhenus frontier uses the Romans I army, including some Scots-Irish and Germanic units.
  
  II. Italia and the borderlands of the Alpine region along the upper Danuvius river uses the Romans II army, including some Germanic units.
  
  III. Pannonia and the middle Danuvius frontier uses the Romans III army, including some Germanic and Sarmatian units.
  
  IV. Moesia and along the southern banks of the lower Danuvius river uses the Romans IV army, including some Germanic units and Dacian Falxmen.
  
  V. the East, along the Persian border uses the Romans V army, including some Armenian and Palmyran units.

• Roman factions can, under certain circumstances, choose between different Roman armies for their battles:
  • If the purple Roman faction is eliminated, the Roman faction controlling Belgica (III) at the beginning of the round is allowed to use the Romans I army.
  • If the green Roman faction is eliminated, the Roman faction controlling Raetia (VIII) at the beginning of the round is allowed to use the Romans II army.
  • If the red Roman faction is eliminated, the Roman faction controlling Moesia Superior (XV) at the beginning of the round is allowed to use the Romans III army.
  • If the blue Roman faction is eliminated, the Roman faction controlling Asia (XIX) at the beginning of the round is allowed to use the Romans IV army.
  • If the orange Roman faction is eliminated, the Roman faction controlling Mesopotamia (XXIV) at the beginning of the round is allowed to use the Romans V army.

• Roman factions may use non-Roman factions as allies under only one certain circumstance, namely that the non-Roman faction in its Raid attack lost against the Roman faction (see "Effects of battle outcome" below).

Units

• Only the Roman faction controlling Italia (XIII) is allowed to deploy the Praetorian Guard unit in battles.

• Apart from the above, all units in the armies of the Roman factions are freely available to deploy (other than the standard in-game limitations on numbers, etc.).

Non-Roman factions

General

• The aim of the non-Roman factions is to loot Roman provinces through successful raid attacks, using these looted provinces (if done through a normal raid and not a sea raid) as bases from which to raid and loot other Roman provinces.
  • From the perspective of the players, raiding and looting the provinces of the other players' Roman faction will reduce the number of non-looted provinces of these players to zero and thus eliminate them from the tournament.

• The non-Roman factions are therefore not permanently represented by any players, but players each round will declare raid attacks of different non-Roman factions and thus play with them in battles against other players' Roman factions.

• At the start of the tournament, the non-Roman factions can only make raid attacks upon the provinces connected to their homelands (with exception for the sea raids of the Goths).
  • However, as and when the non-Roman factions succeed in normal (not sea) raid attacks, they will loot these provinces and be able to raid from these looted provinces, getting access to more provinces to raid attack and potentially loot, in turn getting access to more provinces to raid and loot, further the weakening Roman factions, and so on.
  • Successful sea raid attacks will also loot provinces but not make it possible to raid from these looted provinces; that requires successful normal raid attacks.

• There are five non-Roman factions (Franks, Alamans, Iazyges, Goths, and Sassanids).

Franks

• The army of the Franks is based upon the Frankish 260-495 AD army (supplemented with a few Loose Order Warbands), with the option for each battle to bring Iazyges, Goths or Alamans as allies.

• The homelands of the Franks are connected by land to Germania Inferior (IV).

Alamans

• The army of the Alamans is based upon the Germanic Foot Tribes 260-599 AD army (supplemented with a few Loose Order Warbands), with the option for each battle to bring Franks, Iazyges or Goths as allies.

• The homelands of the Alamans are connected by land to Agri Decumates (VI).

Iazyges

• The army of the Iazyges is based upon the Sarmatian 25-375 AD army, with the option for each battle to bring Franks, Alamans or Goths as allies.

• The homelands of the Iazyges are connected by land to Noricum (IX) and Pannonia (X).

Goths

• The army of the Goths is based upon the Germanic Foot Tribes 260-599 AD army but adjusted with fewer Warbands (however a few Loose Order Warbands) and more Noble Lancers and Noble Cavalry, with the option for each battle to bring Franks, Alamans or Iazyges as allies.

• The homelands of the Goths are connected by land to Dacia (XI) and Moesia Inferior (XII).

• In addition, the Goths can make sea raid attacks upon Thracia (XVI), Bithynia et Pontus (XVIII), Cappadocia (XXI), Macedonia (XVII), and Asia (XIX).
  • Provinces looted only from sea raids can not be used as the base to make normal raids on connected provinces; that requires the province to also have been looted in a Gothic normal raid.
  • Goths can not deploy any cavalry units in battles arising out of sea raids. Only infantry units are allowed.

Sassanids

• The army of the Sassanids is based upon the Sassanid Persian 224-349 AD army, with the option for each battle to bring Armenians (Armenian 253-476 AD) as allies or to use the Armenians as main army with Sassanids as allies.

• The homelands of the Sassanids are connected by land to Cappadocia (XXI), Syria (XXIII), Mesopotamia (XXIV), Phoenicia (XXV), and Arabia (XXVI).

Download

• The An Empire in Flames v3 module is needed to set up and play battles with the An Empire in Flames armies.

• Download the module through the following usual steps:
  1. Click on the Download community scenarios button at the top of the main screen of the game.
  2. Select An Empire in Flames MP Custom Battles v3.
  3. Click on Download the Selected Campaign.

• The mod will then be automatically saved into the the My Games\FieldOfGlory2\MULTIPLAYER\ folder, within the MP_EMPIRE_IN_FLAMES_V3 subfolder.

• (The single-player (SP) version is available for download in the same way, allowing the use of An Empire in Flames armies in battles against the AI.)

Map

• The five colors shows provinces controlled by the different Roman factions.
  • Provinces in dark shades are not looted, where those in light shades are (whether by normal or sea raids).

• The five different symbols show which non-Roman factions that have looted the provinces in question.
  • Only provinces looted through normal raids are marked with symbols (Goths' sea raids are not).

Provinces

General

• There are in total thirty provinces on the map.

• Provinces can only be controlled by Roman factions.

• Control of provinces is changed between Roman factions through conquest attacks or through a Roman faction becoming eliminated for various reasons (for example, controlling only looted provinces) with another Roman faction taking over the provinces of the eliminated Roman faction.

• Non-Roman factions can only raid and loot provinces, never control them.

Province specifics
I. Britannia: North European Agricultural. North European Hilly. Sea connection to Lugdunensis (II) and Belgica (III).
II. Lugdunensis: Mediterranean Agricultural. Mediterranean Hilly. Sea connection to Britannia (I).
III. Belgica: North European Hilly. North European Agricultural. Sea connection to Britannia (I).
IV. Germania Inferior: North European Hilly. North European Wooded.
V. Germania Superior: North European Agricultural. North European Wooded.
VI. Agri Decumates: North European Wooded. North European Hilly.
VII. Narbonensis: Mediterranean Agricultural. Mediterranean Mountains.
VIII. Raetia: North European Wooded. North European Hilly.
IX. Noricum: North European Wooded. North European Hilly.
X. Pannonia: North European Agricultural. Steppe.
XI. Dacia: North European Wooded. North European Hilly.
XII. Moesia Inferior: North European Hilly. North European Agricultural.
XIII. Italia: Mediterranean Agricultural. Mediterranean Hilly. Sea connection to Africa (XXIX).
XIV. Dalmatia: Mediterranean Mountains. Mediterranean Hilly.
XV. Moesia Superior: North European Hilly. North European Agricultural.
XVI. Thracia: Mediterranean Wooded. Mediterranean Hilly. Can be sea raided by Goths.
XVII. Macedonia: Mediterranean Agricultural. Mediterranean Hilly. Can be sea raided by Goths.
XVIII. Bithynia et Pontus: Middle-Eastern Agricultural. Middle-Eastern Hilly. Can be sea raided by Goths.
XIX. Asia: Mediterranean Agricultural. Mediterranean Hilly. Can be sea raided by Goths.
XX. Galatia: Middle-Eastern Mountain. Middle-Eastern Hilly.
XXI. Cappadocia: Middle-Eastern Agricultural. Middle-Eastern Hilly. Can be sea raided by Goths.
XXII. Lycia et Cilicia: Middle-Eastern Agricultural. Middle-Eastern Hilly.
XXIII. Syria: Middle-Eastern Agricultural. Desert.
XXIV. Mesopotamia: Middle-Eastern Agricultural. Middle-Eastern Hilly.
XXV. Phoenicia: Middle-Eastern Agricultural. Middle-Eastern Hilly.
XXVI. Arabia: Middle-Eastern Hilly. Desert.
XXVII. Hispania: Mediterranean Agricultural. Mediterranean Hilly.
XXVIII. Mauretania: Middle-Eastern Hilly. Desert.
XXIX. Africa: Middle-Eastern Agricultural. Desert. Sea connection to Italia (XIII).
XXX. Aegyptus: Middle-Eastern Agricultural. Desert.


Rounds

• A round represents two years.

• Each round consists of the following three phases:
  1. Attack declarations: All players announce, one by one in the order as specified below, which two attacks (one conquest, one raid) that they intend to make.
  • Attacks in a round are announced in decreasing order of each player's FP adjustment in the previous round (i.e., the player with the highest FP adjustment announcing first, and so on).
  2. Battle resolutions: All battles will be simultaneously played and completed in FoG2 during a period of four weeks.
  3. Administration: changes of province control and status (to looted), FP adjustment calculations, sorting of attack declaration order for next round, et al.

Attacks

General

• There are two types of attacks (conquest and raid).

• Players are required (if possible) to declare one attack of each type (i.e., one conquest and one raid) per round.

• The attack declaration will be made in a post in the tournament's thread on the forum.

• • Example on how to express an attack declaration:
    • Conquest: kronenblatt attacks rs2excelsior's Italia (XIII) from Raetia (VII).
    • Raid: Franks attack Germania Inferior (IV) from homelands.
    • Raid: Franks attack from Germania Inferior (IV). (this normal raid attack requires Germania Inferior (IV) to have already been successfully raided and thus looted by the Franks.)
    • Sea Raid: Goths attack Macedonia (XVII) from homelands. (sea raid attacks are always made from Goths' homelands.)

Conquest

• The conquest involves the player's Roman faction (the "attacker") making an attack from one of his provinces upon a province of another player's Roman faction (the "defender").
  • These two provinces (attacker's province and defender's province) are considered "provinces-at-stake" for that conquest attack.
  • The provinces-at-stake must be connected by land or sea (as indicated on the map, with sea connections also specified in Province specifics above).
  • None of the two provinces must be already included as a province-at-stake in the conquest attack of another player's Roman faction this round.
  • Conquest attacks can however be made upon or from provinces already involved in raid attacks this round.

Raid

• The raid involves the player as a non-Roman faction (the "attacker") making an attack upon a province of another player's Roman faction (the "defender").

• Raid attacks can be made upon provinces already involved in other attacks this round, whether conquests or other raids, and whether attacked from or attacked upon.

• A non-Roman faction can make several raids (then through attacks declarations of different players) in the same round, but only once per round against a specific Roman faction as defender.

• There are two types of raids (normal and sea).

• Normal raids
  • A non-Roman faction can raid any province that is connected by land or sea either to:
    • a province looted by the attacking non-Roman faction in a normal raid, or
    • the homelands of the non-Roman faction in question.
  • A non-Roman faction can raid provinces already looted by other non-Roman factions for the purpose of using them as bridgeheads in their own normal raids further into Roman lands.
    • This means that a province can be looted by several non-Roman factions.

• Sea raids
  • Goths can also raid Thracia (XVI), Macedonia (XVII), Bithynia et Pontus (XVIII), Asia (XIX), and Cappadocia (XXI), (but only these five provinces) from the sea.
  • This does not require any connected provinces, as the sea raid is assumed to be made directly out of the Goths' homelands.
  • However, provinces looted only from sea raids can not be used to make normal raids on connected provinces; that requires the province to also have been looted in a Gothic normal raid.
  • Goths can make normal raids on provinces they have already looted in sea raids for the purpose of using them as bridgeheads in normal raids further into Roman lands.

Battles

• The defender (in Conquests) and the non-Roman attacker (in Raids) creates the challenge in the FoG2 Multiplayer Lobby, always with himself as Side B (in order for the other player to immediately be able to deploy and make first round when accepting the challenge).

• In order to create a challenge with An Empire in Flames armies, after having launched New Challenge and Create Skirmish, press Select Another Module and therein An Empire in Flames v3, which will make the An Empire in Flames armies available.

• All battles (whether conquests or raids) take the form of a Custom Battle as Remove the Head with Large (1600 FP) force size (adjusted for Roman factions by their players' current FP adjustments), and Wide map size.

• The defender (in Conquests) and the Non-Roman attacker (in Raids) decides the map type from among the alternatives for the defender province.

• No map re-rolls will be made.

• The faction routing the enemy or killing the enemy's C-in-C is considered the victor. If neither faction routs the enemy or kills the enemy's C-in-C, it is considered a draw.

• Battle outcome, once resolved, is posted by the defender in a post of the tournament thread.

• Please note that in sea raid battles, Goths can not deploy any cavalry units. Only infantry units are allowed.

Effects of battle outcome

Conquest

• The victor (if any) of the battle takes control over the loser's province-at-stake (if a draw, both players retain their provinces-at-stake).
  
  Additional provinces

• For each round following the first round, an additional province is taken control of by the victor, e.g., 1 additional province in round 2, 2 additional provinces in round 3, etc.

• If any of the Augustii (as represented by the C-in-C's of the two Roman factions) falls in battle, the battle ends immediately (and automatically since played as Remove the Head scenario) with the killed Augustus as the loser and, in addition to his lost province-at-stake and any additional provinces in the previous bullet point, will lose a number of additional provinces (equal to the total number of times the loser's C-in-C has fallen in battle; 1 additional province first time, 2 additional province second time, etc.) to be taken over by the victor of the battle at the end of the round.

• These additional provinces:
  • are determined at the end of the round, when all battles have been concluded and after control of all provinces-at-stake have been changed, and are then selected by the victor (in the order that the battle results was reported in the forum, if applicable upon more than one battle and victor).
  • must (to the largest extent possible) be connected to the victor's provinces, directly or through other additional provinces, whether by land or by sea.

Raid

• If the non-Roman faction is the victor, the raided province will be considered "looted" for the remainder of the tournament.
  • A looted province:
    • stays looted throughout the tournament, independent of which Roman faction that controls the province.
    • can be looted by several different non-Roman factions.
    • allows (if looted from a normal raid, not only a sea raid) the non-Roman factions that looted it to make normal raids upon provinces connected to that looted province.
    • only counts as half (0.5) a province when calculating how many provinces each Roman faction controls (e.g., 3 looted provinces count as 1.5 province).

• If the Roman faction is the victor, the following applies:
  • it will get the highest casualty difference of its Raid victories to its FP adjustment next round.
  • it will have the option to use the losing non-Roman faction as allies to its Roman main army in all its battles as Roman faction (whether Conquest or Raid), starting next round and lasting until the losing non-Roman faction has made another Raid attack upon that Roman faction and not lost that battle (i.e., the Roman faction needs to win that Raid battle in order to retain the ally option).
  • the losing non-Roman faction is not allowed to make raid attacks on any of that Roman faction's provinces the next round.

• No changes to province control is made in raid attacks.

• If the Augustus (as represented by the C-in-C of the Roman faction) falls in battle, the battle ends immediately (and automatically since played as Remove the Head scenario) with the killed Augustus as the loser, much like if the C-in-C of the non-Roman faction falls in battle, with the only additional effect being to increase the total number of times the losing Roman faction's C-in-C has fallen in battle by 1.

Force Point (FP) Adjustment

• Each player's FP adjustment is calculated as follows:
  • 20,
    • minus the maximum incurred casualties of his Roman faction this round,
    • plus the highest casualty difference of its Raid victories, if his Roman faction has won any Raid battle this round.
  • If the player's Roman faction has fought more than one battle in a round, the maximum (i.e., worst) value is applied.
  • The incurred casualties of non-Roman factions that the player may have played as are not taken into consideration in any way.
  • FP adjustments are not in any way calculated for or applied upon non-Roman factions.
  • The FP adjustment is used in the next round to determine the number of force points (FP) available to the player's Roman faction in battles as well as the order in which players' attack declarations are made.

[kronenblatt]

Round I (260 AD)

Order* of attack declarations:
1. olin0111 (NR) Jan. 25
2. MadMaxBot (0.67) Jan. 26
3. kronenblatt (2.00) Jan. 27
4. TomoeGozen (2.83) Jan. 28
5. Aetius39 (4.81) Jan. 29

Each player shall make two attack declarations upon other players' Roman factions (see Attacks in rules):
I. One conquest attack by his Roman faction.
II. One raid attack by any non-Roman faction.

Once attack declarations have been made, battles are resolved simultaneously during a three-week period of Feb. 1 - Feb. 21 (see Battles in the rules), or earlier if attack declarations are concluded before Jan. 29. (If all battles have been resolved before that, round II may commence earlier, but plan for first order of round II's attack declarations on Feb. 24).

Please note that:

• Attack declaration shall be made in posts in this thread.

• Rules are found in second post of this thread.

• Date (midnight CET (Rome) time) above indicates deadline, after which opportunity to declare attacks is forfeited and the player next in line may declare attacks.

• If a player above has announced his attacks, then the player next in line is free and is encouraged to announce attacks too, up to his deadline, i.e., if the players before you have announced attacks, don't wait for your deadline to announce your own attacks but instead do so speedily so battles can start as soon as possible.

• Make sure you have the An Empire in Flames v1 multiplayer (MP) module downloaded and installed (available in-game**) since this will be used to set up and play the battles.

* The first round uses DL ratings to rank players, thereafter FP adjustments are used.
** To download, click on the "Download community scenarios" button in the top left corner of the Main Menu, then scroll down to the bottom and you should then see of An Empire in Flames version 1 (v1) for both single-player and multi-player. Click and select them both (one at a time) and they will be automatically downloaded for you to use when setting up battles in the Multi-Player Lobby as well as single-player Custom Battles.

Announced attack declarations
1. Conquest: olin0111 attacks TomoeGozen's Syria XXIII from Lycia et Cilicia XXII.
1. Raid: Sassanids with Armenian allies raid TomoeGozen's Arabia XXVI.
2. Conquest: MadMaxBot attacks kronenblatt's Italia XIII from Noricum IX.
2. Sea Raid: Goths raid TomoeGozen's Cappadocia XXI.
3. Conquest: kronenblatt attacks Aetius39's Germania Superior VI from Agri Decumates V.
3. Raid: Goths raid MadMaxBot's Dacia XI.
4. Conquest : TomoeGozen attacks kronenblatt's Africa XXIX from Aegyptus XXX.
4. Raid : Goths raid olin0111's Moesia Inferior XII.
5. Conquest: Aetius attacks kronenblatt's Mauritania XXVIII from Hispania XXVII.
5. Raid: Iazyges raid Madmaxbot's Pannonia X.

[olin0111]

Ok, let's go East.

Conquest: olin0111 attacks TomoeGozen's Syria XXIII from Lycia et Cilicia XXII

Raid: Sassanids with Armenian allies raid TomoeGozen's Arabia XXVI

[MadMaxBot]

Conquest: (MadMaxBot III) attacks (kronenblatt II) IX Noricum to XIII Italia

Sea Raid: (MadMaxBot Goths) raid (TomoeGozen V) XXI Cappadocia

[kronenblatt]

Excellent, guys!

Announced attack declarations so far
1. Conquest: olin0111 attacks TomoeGozen's Syria XXIII from Lycia et Cilicia XXII.
1. Raid: Sassanids with Armenian allies raid TomoeGozen's Arabia XXVI.
2. Conquest: MadMaxBot attacks kronenblatt's Italia XIII from Noricum IX.
2. Sea Raid: Goths raid TomoeGozen's Cappadocia XXI.

(Also to communicate the desired format... To make my administration easier. Thanks!)

[kronenblatt]

Conquest: kronenblatt attacks Aetius39's Germania Superior VI from Agri Decumates V.
Raid: Goths raid MadMaxBot's Dacia XI.

[TomoeGozen]

Oi! what's with the 3 attack declarations on me...

ok here goes..

Conquest : TomoeGozen attacks Kronenblatt's Africa XXIX from Aegyptus XXX.
Raid : Goths (!) raid olin0111's Moesia Inferior XII.

Could be an early end to any lasting Goth threat to the Empire...

[olin0111]

Oi! what's with the 3 attack declarations on me...

Consider yourself popular

[Aetius39]

1. Conquest: Aetius' Hispania XXVII legions will attack Kronenblott's Mauritania XXVIII legions.

2. Raid: Lazyges attack into Madmaxbot's Pannonia X.

[kronenblatt]

Battle resolution, round I (260 AD)

Announced attack declarations

1. Conquest: olin0111 attacks TomoeGozen's Syria XXIII from Lycia et Cilicia XXII.
1. Raid: Sassanids with Armenian allies raid TomoeGozen's Arabia XXVI.
2. Conquest: MadMaxBot attacks kronenblatt's Italia XIII from Noricum IX.
2. Sea Raid: Goths raid TomoeGozen's Cappadocia XXI.
3. Conquest: kronenblatt attacks Aetius39's Germania Superior VI from Agri Decumates V.
3. Raid: Goths raid MadMaxBot's Dacia XI.
4. Conquest : TomoeGozen attacks kronenblatt's Africa XXIX from Aegyptus XXX.
4. Raid : Goths raid olin0111's Moesia Inferior XII.
5. Conquest: Aetius attacks kronenblatt's Mauretania XXVIII from Hispania XXVII.
5. Raid: Iazyges raid Madmaxbot's Pannonia X.

Corresponding battles

1A. olin0111 (Romans IV) versus TomoeGozen (Romans V) in Syria XXIII. => olin0111 (40% incurred) beat TomoeGozen (61%).
1B. olin0111 (Sassanids with Armenian allies) versus TomoeGozen (Romans V) in Arabia XXVI. => olin0111 (24% incurred) beat TomoeGozen (53%).
2A. MadMaxBot (Romans III) versus kronenblatt (Romans II) in Italia XIII. => MadMaxBot (56% incurred) drew with kronenblatt (50%).
2B. MadMaxBot (Goths without cavalry) versus TomoeGozen (Romans V) in Cappadocia XXI. => MadMaxBot (6% incurred) beat TomoeGozen (21%), due to C-in-C falling in battle (1st time).
3A. kronenblatt (Romans II) versus Aetius39 (Romans I) in Germania Superior VI. => Aetius39 (14% incurred) beat kronenblatt (54%).
3B. kronenblatt (Goths) versus MadMaxBot (Romans III) in Dacia XI. => kronenblatt (16% incurred) beat MadMaxBot (41%).
4A. TomoeGozen (Romans V) versus kronenblatt (Romans II) in Africa XXIX. => TomoeGozen (10% incurred) beat kronenblatt (10%), due to C-in-C falling in battle (1st time).
4B. TomoeGozen (Goths) versus olin0111 (Romans IV) in Moesia Inferior XII. => TomoeGozen (14% incurred) beat olin0111 (41%).
5A. Aetius39 (Romans I) versus kronenblatt (Romans II) in Mauretania XXVIII. => Aetius39 (36% incurred) beat kronenblatt (60%).
5B. Aetius39 (Iazyges) versus MadMaxBot (Romans III) in Pannonia X.

Please note the following

• Battles are resolved simultaneously during a four-week period of Feb. 1 - Feb. 28.

• The defender (in bold above) creates the challenge, also deciding the map terrain for the province in question.

• All battles are 24 turns, 40 x 32 and use Remove the Head (i.e., the battle will end also when one side’s C-in-C falls in battle with that side becoming the loser).

• No map re-rolls are allowed.

• Make sure you have An Empire in Flames v3 module downloaded and installed (manual download as advised in PM).

• When setting up the challenge in-game, in Multiplayer Lobby under My Challenges, through pressing New Challenge and then Create Skirmish, choose Select Another Module, mark An Empire in Flames v3 and click LAUNCH. The factions can now be chosen for the battle when creating the challenge.

• The defender reports the battle result once concluded: who's victor and loser (if any), always specifying the incurred casualties and whether any faction's C-in-C fell in battle.

Enjoy! Any questions? Please post them here.

[kronenblatt]

Empty post.

[kronenblatt]

Have set up the following battles:

2A. MadMaxBot (Romans III) versus kronenblatt (Romans II) in Italia XIII.
4A. TomoeGozen (Romans V) versus kronenblatt (Romans II) in Africa XXIX.
5A. Aetius39 (Romans I) versus kronenblatt (Romans II) in Mauretania XXVIII.

Password: Empire

Enjoy!

[TomoeGozen]

All my round 1 games are now under way

[Aetius39]

Accepted Kronenblatt's battle, and set up one for him!^^ PW is Empire.

[kronenblatt]

Disaster! The dice were truly thrown... Despite a valiant effort of his bodyguard Treacherous Betrayus to protect his master (which: previous, current, future?), the proud and rightful (can a usurper be rightful?) usurper kronenblatt (9% incurred) was mysteriously killed in battle against TomoeGozen (10% incurred) in turn 8 of their battle in Africa XXIX, leading to kronenblatt and his green Roman faction being eliminated and all his provinces taken over by TomoeGozen.

If any of the Augustii (as represented by the C-in-C's of the two Roman factions) falls in battle, the battle ends immediately (and automatically since played as Remove the Head scenario) with the killed Augustus as the loser and all his provinces being conquered and taken over by the victor of the battle.

EDIT: My battles as a Roman faction against MadMaxBot and 2 x Aetius39 should in fact still continue and be concluded with the potential for the players to gain my provinces-at-stake for the respective battles, and I've reissued challenges for these players and these battles. Sorry about that.

[TomoeGozen]

It was outrageous bad fortune in a game that was nicely balanced...!
Florius' unit was attacking a fragmented enemy unit , whilst outnumbering that enemy unit by two units to one! It's crazy stuff like that I find a bit annoying about this game sometimes
Hard luck Andreas.
I guess the gods felt you had no right to the purple

[kronenblatt]

It was outrageous bad fortune in a game that was nicely balanced...!
Florius' unit was attacking a fragmented enemy unit , whilst outnumbering that enemy unit by two units to one! It's crazy stuff like that I find a bit annoying about this game sometimes
Hard luck Andreas.
I guess the gods felt you had no right to the purple

Your gods... My gods are still convinced!

[kronenblatt]

Two thoughts:

1. Is Remove the Head perhaps too harsh to use in a tournament like this? (Applies also to The Year of Many Emperors.)
2. Rules need to be clarified regarding what happens to other provinces-at-stake of a killed Augustus in ongoing battles against other Roman factions: maybe all these battles should be played out too, and only the provinces retained by the killed Augustus (plus those not being provinces-at-stake) be taken over by the Roman faction killing the Augustus?

Conquest
...

• If any of the Augustii (as represented by the C-in-C's of the two Roman factions) falls in battle, the battle ends immediately (and automatically since played as Remove the Head scenario) with the killed Augustus as the loser and all his provinces (not lost in other conquest battles that round) being conquered and taken over by the victor of the battle at the end of the round.

...
Raid
...

• If the Augustus (as represented by the C-in-C of the Roman faction) falls in battle, the battle ends immediately (and automatically since played as Remove the Head scenario) with the killed Augustus as the loser and all his provinces (not lost in conquest battles that round) being conquered and taken over by the neighbouring Roman faction with the fewest controlled provinces (as calculated before any new such provinces as gained) at the end of the round.

...

[TomoeGozen]

I am a little unsure about the 'take the head rule' , it is a bit harsh but at the same time seems really appropriate for what the campaign is trying to represent.
Maybe the CinC's eldest son takes over , but with some sort of restrictions on the next attack (less points as the army is not so sure about the new guy) and maybe missing one turn whilst things are reorganised (whilst people are promoted/removed from office/disappeared..)?

If we stick with 'take the head' then the new rule 2 sounds good to me.(after all it would take a while for news to reach the other armies)