by Duncan Jones and Justin Marx
The Principality of Antioch
Starting Locations: F Lattakieh, A Antioch, A Tarsus.
The Byzantine Empire
Starting Locations: F Constantinople, A Sinope, F Smyrna, A Nicaea.
The County of Edessa
Starting Locations: A Edessa, A Raban, A Turbessel.
The Fatimid Caliphate
Starting Locations: F Alexandria, F Damietta, A Cairo, A Minya.
The Kingdom of Jerusalem
Starting Locations: A Jerusalem, A Beirut, A Galilee, F Acre.
The Seldjuks of the East
Starting Locations: A Baghdad, A Basra, A Mosul.
The Seldjuks of Rum
Starting Locations: A Iconium, A Ancyra, A Sebastea, A Ceasarea.
Neutral Supply Centers (A stands for an occupying neutral army)
Phrygia (A), Attalia, Cyprus, Melitene (A), Trebizond, Tiflis (A), Armenia, Manzikert, Harran (A), Mardin (A), Jezireh, Aleppo (A), Ascalon (A), Aila, Hejaz (A), Shaizar (A), Tripoli (A), Homs, Damascus (A), Bosra (A), Tyre (FLEET)
0.0 All normal diplomacy rules apply except where amended below
1.0 Timeframe and Win Conditions
1.1 Opening Season
Spring 2201 AD
1.2 Winning
A power wins the game when it reaches a supply center count of 24. This does not include supply centers that have been bought from neutral powers with prestige – only supply centers that the power directly owns.
2.0 Prestige
2.1 Prestige points
Prestige cannot be spent during retreat phases or build phases. Prestige is recalculated during the winter build phase. If a player spends insufficient prestige to complete a specific task then the prestige is not wasted – only if the action succeeds or is a failed bid (see below) is it wasted.
2.2 Beginning Prestige
All nations begin the first year with 2 prestige points.
2.3 Earning Prestige
2.3.1 During the winter phase of each year, prestige is recalculated. Whether the previous year’s prestige was spent or retained is irrelevant, as any remaining prestige in the pool from the previous year is discarded. The prestige alloted for the next year depends upon the relative strength of the power, measured in supply centers owned, compared to the other powers. The prestige gained is equal to:
Largest Power (or Powers) – 3 prestige
Next three largest Powers – 2 prestige
Remaining Powers – 1 prestige
Example 1: Basic Prestige Earnings
In the winter turn of 1906, the SC count for a standard game are as follows:
Russia – 7 supply centers
France – 7 supply centers
Turkey – 5 supply centers
Germany – 4 supply centers
Austria – 4 supply centers
Italy – 3 supply centers
England – 2 supply centersAccording to the prestige rules the following amounts of prestige would be awarded for 1907:
Russia and France – 3 prestige
Turkey, Germany and Austria – 2 prestige
Italy and England – 1 prestige
2.3.2 In addition to this prestige, if a player’s armies perform poorly or exceptionally then the player gains or loses additional prestige. If a player, through his orders, forces an enemy unit to be dislodged with no valid retreats (i.e. is annihilated) then that player gains an additional point of prestige in the next year. If a player has a unit annihilated then he loses a point of prestige in the next year.
2.3.3 Note that prestige for annihilations is awarded only to the nation that orders the move, not any support that may have been given from allied powers.
2.3.4 As neutral armies have no prestige they cannot lose or gain prestige in this way. However a neutral army under the control of a player (see rule 2.4) that is annihilated or annihilates another unit confers the prestige loss or benefit to the player that has “bought” it.
2.3.5 A neutral army when annihilated still confers the prestige benefit to the player who annihilated it regardless if anyone is controlling the neutral or not.
2.3.6 The lowest possible prestige alloted at the beginning of a year is 0. If multiple annihilations would mean that a player begins at less than this, then they begin the year with 0 instead.
2.3.7 If a player orders to spend more prestige than he posesses, then the prestige actions will be carried out from top down until there is insufficient prestige to complete the next action. If a prestige action is ordered with more prestige than is possessed by the player, then any prestige for that action is NOT spent (even if the player possesses some of it), and the action does not occur.
Example 2: Annihilation of Armies
In the fall of 1906 a Russian A Prussia dislodges a German army in Berlin, with support from a Russian F Baltic and an Austrian A in Silesia. The German army is subsequently annihilated when it is unable to retreat anywhere. Using the SC counts from example 1, Russia would begin 1907 with 4 prestige (3+1) and Germany would begin 1907 with 1 prestige (2-1). Austria would begin 1907 on the normal 2 prestige because he only supported the action.
2.4 Oath of Vassaldom
2.4.1 Powerful potentates can force neutral supply centers to do their bidding and become their vassal. As a vassal of a player, the neutrals lands are secured for the neutral but the army or fleet that the neutral owns will take orders from a player until the end of the year. To submit an armed neutral to vassaldom, two prestige must be spent. The player makes an order using the word VASSAL and puts forward an appropriate BID, with a minimum prestige expenditure of two. The player must also submit an appropriate order for the army or fleet in the event that his oath of vassaldom is successful. See the example for the layout of the order.
Example 3: Buying Neutral Order
VASSAL A Norway BID 2
A Norway – Sweden
2.4.2 If another player also wants to control the same center then they must spend more prestige to gain the center – this is known as bidding. Both sides do not know how much the other has put forward, and whoever spends the most will gain the center. In the case of a tie neither power gains the center and the prestige is wasted (the equivalent of a standoff). Regardless of winning or losing, both players spend their prestige.
Example 4: Bidding for Neutral Fiefs
Russia begins spring 1907 with four prestige while France begins with only three. Both want to control the neutral army and supply center of Norway. The minimum bid is 2 prestige, but France suspects that Russia is up to something. Russia spends two prestige, while France spends all three. France, in this case, gains control of the Norweigan army until spring 1908, and both nations lose all the prestige that they committed.
Had Russia suspected that France wanted Norway as well and they both had bid three, then neither power would have obtained Norway, and both would have lost the prestige they committed.
2.4.3 If a nation is successful in bidding for the supply center, then the supply center (and more importantly the army that is based there) is under the bidding nations control until the next spring turn when it will return to the status an armed neutral center. The vassal neutral supply center does not count towards a players own supply center for prestige calculation purposes.
2.4.4 While the neutral army or fleet is in the control of a player, it can never be ordered to move beyond an adjacent province to its original center. If the unit is forced to retreat to a province that is not its home center or adjacent to it then the unit is disbanded.
2.4.5 While the neutral is in the control of a player, the SC cannot be occupied by that player. If a player ends a fall turn in the supply center of its vassal, then the supply center does not become a possession of that player. The neutral power still counts the SC as its own.
2.4.6 Any supply centers that the neutral occupies during a fall turn confer the capture to the player that controls the neutral as though the player had occupied it with one of his own units.
2.4.7 In the following spring, when the neutral unit is no longer under the control of a player (assuming that a player has not attempted or succeeded in forcing another oath of vassalsom on it again) then the unit will try to move back to its own home center, which other players can support. If it cannot enter its home center but is occupying another supply center, regardless of ownership, by the next winter, then it is not disbanded. If the unit cannot re-enter its home center and does not occupy another by the next fall turn it is disbanded.
Example 5: Norweigan Gambit
To continue with France’s possession of the Norweigan army from example 4, in the spring France orders A Norway – Sweden. The move is successful. In the fall France orders the Norweigan A Sweden – Denmark. The move is unsuccessful because a neutral army can never travel beyond one province away from its original center. If France had ordered, say, A Sweden SUPPORT F North Sea – Denmark, then the move would have been allowed.
In addition to the botched move on Denmark in the fall, France also moves his F North Sea to Norway. In the winter calculations Norway is not occupied by France as Norway is his vassal and the Norweigan holdings are secured. He does receive the captured supply center of Sweden, which counts towards his prestige earnings for the next year.
In the next year, France does not bother to pay the Norweigans, who shake off their oath and try to retake Norway. In both spring and fall they mundanely order A Sweden – Norway, both times bouncing off the French fleet there. However France does not bother to take Sweden either so while the French gain the center of Norway, they lose Sweden to the neutral Norweigan army who lives on for another year.
In the next year France decides to try to kick them out of Sweden but the Russians have other ideas. Without wasting prestige through buying the unit, they support A Sweden-Norway with their fleet in St Petersburg. The support is enough to eject the French F Norway and although France is successful in taking Sweden from Denmark, they lose control of Norway. When they try to eject A Norway in the fall Russia can continue to support the Norweigans to HOLD if they wish, and further deny Norway to France while not spending any prestige.
2.5 Bribing Neutral Powers
2.5.1 Instead of forcing an oath of vassaldom on a neutral power for an entire year, a power can instead “bribe” a neutral unit for a single season. In this case the player writes down the order the same as if he was trying to VASSAL it, except the order is ‘BRIBE’ and the minimum bid is only one prestige. See example 6 for the layout of the order.
2.5.2 Players may bid to bribe a neutral the same as though they were buying it, but the minimum bid is only one prestige. In the case of a tie (or standoff) neither power can control the unit and both lose the prestige they invested.
2.5.3 A bribed unit may not be ordered to move, it can only be ordered to hold, support or convoy.
2.5.4 Neutral units can only be bribed when they are in their home center.
2.5.5 If a neutral unit is already under the control of another power through the VASSAL order (rules 2.4) then the unit can still be bribed, but it is much more difficult. The unit is considered to be controlled by an enemy power and the rules are covered in the section for Bribing Enemy Units (2.8).
2.5.6 If a bribed unit ends a fall turn in a supply center it will not occupy it for anyone – the supply center stays in the control of whoever controlled it in the spring.
Example 6: Bribing Neutral Order
BRIBE A Rumania BID 1
A Rumania S A Budapest – Serbia
2.6 Seizing Fiefs
2.6.1 In Crusader diplomacy a nations home centers are thought of as the fiefdoms of the ruler. Conquests subsequent to the home fiefdoms are thought of as the fiefdoms of his vassals. However a powerful potentate can claim these as his own by expending prestige. In any spring or fall turn a player can spend two prestige to make a captured SC a home SC. See example 7 for layout of the order.
Example 7: Seizing Fief orders
SEIZE FIEF Greece
2.6.2 The starting home centers of another power cannot be converted from a captured SC to a home SC unless the original owner of the center has been eliminated from the game.
2.6.3 If a home center converted in this method is occupied by another player it loses its home center status for anyone. If the original owner repossesses the center then they must reinvest the two prestige if they want to make it a home center again. This does not apply for starting home centers.
Example 8: Capturing Seized Fiefs
Turkey has converted his territory of Greece into a home center in order to build fleets closer to the front. However Italy manages to occupy Greece in the fall of 1906. The supply center reverts to its original status of a captured SC and Italy cannot build in it. When Turkey retakes Greece in the next year it remains as a captured SC and Turkey will have to spend two prestige again to restore it to a building center.
Later in the game Italy occupies Constantinople in a fall move. Just like regular diplomacy it counts as a captured SC for Italy, but if Turkey retakes it is a home center again as it was one of his starting home SC’s. However if Italy keeps Constantinople and Turkey is eliminated from the game, Italy may then Seize Constantinople as a personal fief and build units in it.
2.7 Promote Rebellion
2.7.1 A very powerful potentate can try to prompt a non-home SC of another power into rebellion. If the rebellion is successful then the supply center and any unit within it (that belongs to the current owner of the supply center) counts as neutral from then on.
2.7.2 To promote rebellion a player (or players see 2.9.xxx) must bid for the supply center as though it were a neutral army (see rule 2.4.2). However the minimum bid is equal to two plus the prestige of the controlling power at the beginning of the year, before expenditures. See example 9 for the layout of the order.
Example 9: Promote Rebellion Order
If Italy controls Tunis and began the year with a prestige of 2:
REBEL Tunis BID 4
2.7.3 In any turn the controlling player can secure the loyalty of ALL of his units and supply centers by spending prestige which adds to the minimum bid for that turn only.
Example 10: Securing Loyalty Order
SECURE LOYALTY BID 2
In this case the minimum bid to bribe or rebel this players units and provinces rises by two prestige.
2.7.4 A player may not order to vassal or bribe a SC or unit (as per rules 2.4 and 2.5) in the same turn that it rebels. If he does so the prestige is wasted.
2.7.5 Whether a rebellion attempt succeeds or fails, or a counterbid succeeds or fails, the prestige is spent.
Example 11: Tunisian gambit
It is spring 1907. Russia (for his ally Turkey) wishes to stir Tunis into rebellion. He would like to force Naples into rebellion, but he can’t because it is a home center for Italy. Tunis at the time is owned by Italy, who has a fleet within it and has two prestige that he hasn’t spent yet. Tunis is not one of Italy’s home centers, either starting or seized. Russia bids 4 prestige and beats the Italian beginning prestige by two, and the supply center and the fleet become neutral. Turkey, who knew about the rebellion, also spends two prestige to buy the neutral into his own power in the same turn, but the action is disallowed by rule 2.7.4 and his prestige is wasted. Had he waited for the next turn his action would have been allowed.
Had Italy been tipped off that someone may have been after this units, or he had no other use for his prestige that season, he could have spent his prestige to stop this. In this case, Italy could spend one prestige to secure the loyalty of his troops and countries, raising the minimum bid for rebellion to 5 (and bribing to 4 – see 2.8) and Russia’s rebellion attempt would have failed.
2.8 Bribing enemy units
2.8.1 Units that belong to another player can be bribed just as neutral armies can be bribed. To do this the player must use the ‘BRIBE’ order and submit an order that he would like the army to do. The minimum bid is one plus the prestige the controlling nation began the year with, ignoring expenditures. The unit is under the players control for that season only.
2.8.2 Bribed units cannot be ordered to move, only support, hold and convoy.
Example 12: Bribing Enemy Unit Order
England controls a fleet in the English Channel, and began the year with one prestige.
BRIBE English F English Channel BID 2 F English Channel S F North Sea – London
2.8.3 A bribed unit can dislodge units of its original owner (or more accurately, support another unit to do so as a bribed unit cannot move).
2.8.4 A unit controlled by another player can not be bribed if it begins the turn in a SC that its original controller has as a home supply center.
2.8.5 If a bribed unit ends a fall turn in a supply center it will not occupy it for anyone – the supply center stays in the control of whoever controlled it in the spring.
2.8.6 Securing loyalty (see rule 2.7.3) operates both for rebellion and bribing.
Example 13: Channel Gambit
It is spring 1906. England (prestige 1) has a fleet in the English Channel. France wants to make sure it won’t interfere with his invasion of London, so he spends two prestige (England is very weak at this point in time) to make sure it does what he wants it to do – support him into London. He cannot order it to move, only hold, support or convoy.
England however suspects that France is going to invade, and having nothing else to spend his prestige on secures the loyalty of his meagre nation with an additional one prestige. France, expecting an easy victory, is surprised when the Channel fleet stops him from landing in London.
2.9 Lending and Pooling Prestige
2.9.1 A player may give another player any amount of his available prestige. This prestige lasts until the end of the year (unless used) although the recieving player may spend it in the turn he recieved it.
Example 14: Lending Prestige Order
LEND England 3 prestigeExample 15: Lending Prestige Example
During the negotiation phase before spring 1905, Russia agrees to give England two prestige as they both suspect that France will attempt to force one of Englands units into rebellion. In the spring orders Russia lends England 3 prestige while England secures the loyalty of his units with an additional two prestige.
England, having one additional prestige on top of his own prestige left after the securing loyalty order (in this example one, making a total of two) can use this any way he likes for the rest of the year. In the fall turn for example, England uses his two prestige to buy the armed neutral in Rumania to seize Sevastopol off Russia. Once a nation has committed its reputation behind another, the reciever can do anything it wants with it.
2.9.2 Players may pool their prestige for a common action. In this case each player may spend prestige for the same action and all the prestige is accumulated. Only bribing actions (both player and neutral) and rebellion actions can be pooled in this way (rules 2.5, 2.7 and 2.8).
Example 16: Pooling Prestige Example
Austria and Germany decide to pool their prestige in order to force their nemesis, Russia, to have his province of Ankara rebel (allowed because it is not a home center of its controller). Russia has a prestige of 4, meaning that the minimum bid to make the province rebel is 6. To succeed (assuming the Russian doesn’t try to secure the loyalty of his nation – but he’s a cocky player) they order:
Germany: REBEL Ankara BID 3
Austria: REBEL Ankara BID 3
3.0 Neutral Powers
3.1 Armed Neutral powers begin the game with an army (or fleet in the case of Tyre) in that province. This army does not move, but holds on every turn unless bribed or ordered otherwise with prestige actions (see above). If the neutral guarding unit is dislodged, it is not disbanded. Rather it will try to move back into its home center. If the dislodged unit does not succeed in re-entering its home center then it is disbanded in the winter unless it occupies another SC in the winter. In the latter case the supply center ‘belongs’ to the neutral power, and not the power that ordered in into the center. See rule 2.4 above.
3.2 Unarmed Neutral powers operate identically as they do in standard diplomacy.
3.3 Neutral armies that have been vassalled to enter another supply center in the fall move do not retain the supply center for themselves. Rather the power that ordered the neutral army into the supply center counts the supply center as one of his own as if one of his own units had occupied it during a fall turn. At the same time so long as a player is controlling a neutral unit (through the vassal order) he cannot occupy the neutral unit’s supply center – if he moves into it in a fall turn it remains a neutral SC.
3.4 If a neutral army is forced to retreat, and it has multiple possible provinces to retreat to, the retreat will be made randomly by the GM.
4.0 Map Notes
4.1 The Red Sea, Dead Sea, Persian Gulf, Caspian Sea and the Sea of Galilee cannot be traversed with fleets. Supply centers that border on these provinces cannot build fleets.
4.2 Constantinople and Nicaea are directly linked. Both fleets and armies can cross between these two provinces without having to go through the Black or Aegean seas, and armies do not require a convoy. Travel between these two provinces does not affect movement between the Black and Aegean seas.
Province Names and Abbreviation
Province Name | Abbreviation | SC? |
Acre | Acr | yes |
Aegean Sea | Aeg | no |
Aila | Ail | yes |
Alal | Ala | no |
Aleppo | Ale | yes |
Alexandretta | Ata | no |
Alexandria | Alx | yes |
Anarzabus | Ana | no |
Ancyra | Anc | yes |
Antioch | Ant | yes |
Anti-Taurus Mountains | ATM | no |
Arabian Desert | Ara | no |
Armenia | Arm | yes |
Ascalon | Asc | yes |
Attalia | Att | yes |
Baalbek | Baa | no |
Baghdad | Bag | yes |
Baku | Bak | no |
Basra | Bas | yes |
Batumi | Bat | no |
Beirut | Bei | yes |
Black Sea | EBl | no |
Bosra | Bos | yes |
Caesarea | Cae | yes |
Cairo | Cai | yes |
Cappadocia | Cap | no |
Central Mediterranean Sea | CMS | no |
Constantinople | Con | yes |
Cyprus | Cyp | yes |
Damascus | Dms | yes |
Damietta | Dmt | yes |
Diarbekir | Dia | no |
Eastern Mediterranean Sea | EMS | no |
Edessa | Ede | yes |
Egyptian Desert | EgD | no |
Erzerum | Erz | no |
Galilee | Gal | yes |
Gulf of Alexandretta | GAl | no |
Gulf of Attalia | GAt | no |
Harran | Har | yes |
Hebron | Heb | no |
Hejaz | Hej | yes |
Homs | Hom | yes |
Iconium | Ico | yes |
Jaffa | Jaf | no |
Jerusalem | Jer | yes |
Jezireh | Jez | yes |
Kerak | Ker | no |
Lake Tatta | LTa | no |
Lake Van | LVa | no |
Lattakieh | Lat | yes |
Lydia | Lyd | no |
Manzikert | Man | yes |
Mardin | Mar | no |
Melitene | Mel | yes |
Middle Euphrates | MEu | no |
Minya | Min | yes |
Mosul | Mos | yes |
Mount Sinai | MSi | no |
Myra | Myr | yes |
Neocaesarea | Neo | no |
Nicaea | Nic | yes |
North Levantine Coast | NLC | no |
Nafud Desert | Naf | no |
Oultrejordain | Oul | no |
Paphlagonia | Pap | no |
Phrygia | Phr | yes |
Raban | Rab | yes |
Ravendel | Rav | no |
Sebastea | Seb | yes |
Seleucia | Sel | no |
Shaizar | Sha | yes |
Sinai Desert | SiD | no |
Sinope | Sin | yes |
Smyrna | Smy | yes |
South Levantine Coast | SLC | no |
Syrian Desert | SyD | no |
Tabriz | Tab | no |
Tarsus | Tar | yes |
Taurus Mountains | TaM | no |
Tiflis | Tif | yes |
Tortosa | Tor | no |
Trebizond | Tre | yes |
Tripoli | Tri | yes |
Turbessel | Tur | yes |
Tyre | Tyr | yes |
Zagros Mountains | ZaM | no |