Use half and half same as Battlelore 2.0, terrain costs points.

RPG version featuring tactical combat. Points limit?

Armour and Accuracy function like pos and neg modifiers to base 5 and down. No armour = -2, etc.
Individual Characters/Monsters.
Powers and Equipment that make a difference - each new item is a long wait/difficult to obtain but it is
a big upgrade once you get it.
HoMM, Westnoth, MC2, Dragoon, LoTR Tactics
Real time, quicktime, or animation?
Whichever character paths are used most in the HoMM game are used as main characters in a
Dragoon style game.
Items heal/deal a percentage.

Fantasy of the week - Interconnected website. Homepage has a description of the world/rules, send in
short stories, best will be edited. Pieces of artwork featuring a creature doing an activity unique to his
race.Website will include seed descriptions of the race, the land, and the obective. Music must be
lyricless and resonably producable by the race in question. No super-races.

Your unit can only dodge if they do not have shields, and are not riding mounts.The amount of Dodge
they can have also goes down as their armour goes up, unless it is rune armour. If the unit is mounted,
they can still use shields, but there are limits to how large the shield can be depending on the size of
the mount. The larger the mount, the more control the rider will be forced to maintain, thus reducing
the size of the shield he or she can wear.

Fiber - Base(+0)
Reinforced Wood +1
Metal-Plated +2
Shields and dodging remove dice, while armour decreases chances to hit (add to number needed on
dice).

It is 123 Post Suscitatio, and the world stands on the brink of the war to end all
wars. Seven great nations have finished preparing, and their armies are ready to
strike. Each of The Seven have their own path to victory, which must be carved on
the dead bodies of the others.

Pyromancers in The Roman Republic have discovered how to concoct black powder,
a highly volatile substance that explodes upon contact with fire. Now the shots of X
and the booming of Vox Incendii echoe across the fields of Italy and Spain.

The Northern Celts have reawakened ancient magics that can cause men to have
skin as tough as armour. The most powerful spells can even rouse the forest from
it's slumber.

Ptolemaic seers have discovered ancient constructs within the deep vaults and
hidden chambers of the Egyptian pyramids. There are even rumours that they have
also discovered schematics to weapons that harness the power of Ra.

Numidian shamans have rediscovered empathetic links between their peoples. They
even seem to have an effect on animals; hyenas, elephants, and even viscious
tigers heed their commands.

Larger territories can be consolidated to give the player the ability to macromanage
them through interface with one major city. The local populace of conquered
territories can produce only local troops at first, then halfway adaption troops fairly
quickly, then, over a long period of time, original troops. Adaption troops can be
kept if specified. Limit of one kind?

Troops of similar kind can be combined into one unit, with their stats averaged to
represent the whole. Units should have weight depending on the number of men
when average is conducted. There should be a preview of the result

Colour code stat changes to health track, list together on unit card. Individual units
have health tracks (on chip) but share unit cards.

Welcome to the world of Ars Militaris, the year 123 Post Suscitatio. It is a strange
time, a time when ancient magics clash with new technologies. It is a time of great

elephants armoured to the tusks trumpeting at contraptions that glide through the
air on wings of canvass. And, most of all, it is a time of war!

Table of Contents

Movement
ZoC
Facing
Flanking
Terrain
Formations
Stats
Attack
Power
Damage
Defense
Speed
Initiative
Movement Points
Range Attack
Health
Will
Range
Long Range
Short Range
Turn Order
Charging

Stand and Fire

Test of Will
Combat

Before we get started on the actual rules of Ars Militaris, I wish to clarify how this
rulebook is going to work. When some people write a rulebook, they seem to feel
that a simple list of rules is the only thing a rulebook is supposed to be. I disagree.
Reading a list of rules is boring. More than anything else, I would also like to know
what the author's motivation is in writing the rules that he did. I want to be taken on
a journey, and when I get to the end, I want to have a cohesive system that fits
neatly together. One rule should naturally lead to another. Nevertheless, there have
been many times when I was flipping through a rulebook, desperately searching for
a rule that I needed to continue the game. This frustration usually emerges from
three causes. Lack of proper refrencing, lack of a good table of contents, and finally,
lack of obvious highlighting. Thus, I have highlighted all refrences in blue, and all
straight up rule descriptions in red. Any who wish to just read a list of rules can
simply pay attention to those parts as we continue, and if you are desperately
looking for a rule, which you shouldn't be if you have your game screen in front of
you, then I hope the highlighting is helpful.

The rules for basic movement in Ars Miltiaris are fairly simple. You are not allowed to
move backwards or to the side. You may, however, turn your unit at the cost of 1
Movement Point (henceforth MP) per square side as illustrated in the diagram below.
It also costs MP when you move your unit forward, but the cost may vary depending
on the terrain your unit is trying to cross(page ##), as well as any modifiers that
have been applied to your unit's Speed Stat. The number of MP your unit has is
determined by it's Speed Stat, which is covered on page ##. It will never cost your
unit MP to leave a square. As you will see under Terrain(page ##), the MP cost only
ever goes up when you move in to a Difficult or Very Difficult hex. You are never
punished for moving out of such Terrain.

Diagram of facing change

Facing can be important, because having a unit attacked from behind is a very bad
thing. When an enemy unit melee attacks your unit from behind, which is known as
Flanking, the unit being flanked maintains a -1 Armor Modifier for the remainder of

the turn. Also, the unit being Flanked can neither turn to face the enemy unit nor
retaliate in melee combat during that enemy unit's turn .

If a unit was Flanked by an enemy unit on a previous turn, it may turn to face that
unit on it's next turn, and it may make a melee attack once it is facing the enemy
unit if it is capable of performing such an attack.

Flanking Diagram

Furthermore, if two enemy units are melee attacking directly opposite sides of your
unit, which is known as a pincer attack, the unit being attacked retains a -3 Armour
Modifier and a -1 Will Modifier for the remainder of the time it is caught in the pincer
attack.

Pincer attack diagram

Surrounded!
If a unit has three or more enemy units attacking it, no matter what sides they are
on, it is considered surrounded. A surrounded unit suffers a -4 Armour Modifier, and
a -2 Will modifier. It is hard to concentrate on magic or maintain bravery in the face
of overwhelming odds.

Surrounded diagrams.

Keep in mind that flanking, pincer, and surrounded modifiers are not cumulative. A
unit is either flanked, pinched, or surrounded. It cannot be caught in a combination
of two, or even all three, at the same time.

Charging
To engage in melee combat, a unit may charge an enemy unit. A charging unit gains
double it's Power and Speed for the turn it is charging.

A retreat and a withdrawal can be seen as two sides of the same coin. A retreat
occurs when your force is routed. Their courage has been broken by the fear of the
battlefield, the losses they have taken, or the panic induced by a tree suddenly
coming to life and wrapping it's branches around them. In other words, they have
failed a Test of Will, which shall be covered later under Stats, on page ##. The
actual effects of a retreat are these:
1. The enemy unit gets a free attack against your unit with a +2 Accuracy Modifier.
2. Your unit automatically faces away from the enemy unit at no MP cost, and flees
the maximum distance allowed by it's MP towards the closest edge of the board.
Once the unit touches the edge of the board, it is permanently removed from the
current battle. If the unit is incapable of retreating, it is automatically annihilated.

Diagram of Retreat

A unit will continue to flee until it passes a Test of Will(page ##), at which point it
will stop and turn 180 degrees, so that it is facing the opposite direction from when
it was still retreating.

Diagram of reformation.

On the other hand, Withdrawal is an organized maeuver away from the enemy,
often to gain distance for a Ranged Attack, a Charge, or so a fresh unit can take the
withdrawing unit's place. Only Organized units are allowed to Withdraw, as
Disorganized units are incapable of utilizing such tactics because of their lack of
cohesion. When a unit Withdraws, it faces away from the enemy for no MP cost, and
moves at least one hex in that direction. The unit's remaining MP may be used to
move normally.

Diagram of Withdrawal

To exacerbate losses when a retreat happens, to prevent an enemy from

withdrawing, or just because the bloodlust has taken control, a unit ma pursue a
retreating enemy unit that it was engaged in melee combat with when the enemy
unit retreats or withdraws. First, the unit moves it's full movement allowance
towards the retreating enemy unit. Then, if the unit is within range, it may make an

attack against the retreating unit, which automatically annihilates the retreating
unit.

Diagram of Pursuit

Two more complex aspects of movement are Formations and Terrain. Formations are
the ways in which one or more units of men are arranged. Basic Formations have
more to do with the normal functioning of a unit, while Advanced Formations are
powerful tools that can be used to influence the course of a battle. Terrain can also
influence the course of a battle, but the effects it produces are neutral. Any unit
entering a piece of terrain must abide by the rules of that terrain, as related to the
unit in question.

Terrain is an important consideration for a unit that is trying to move through it or

seek cover within it. There are four types of Terrain; Normal Terrain, Difficult Terrain,
Very Difficult Terrain, and Impassable Terrain. Also, Terrain can have a difference in
Elevation, causing a number of other effects as well, which are described in the
Scenario Booklet.
Each type of Terrain has different effects on Cover, though generally, the harder it is
to move through, the greater the Defensive Modifier it provides. Terrain is described
more in detail in the scenario that it is a part of within the Scenario Booklet, and
Terrain effects can even be decided by the players themselves. However, the MP
Modifiers that apply to your units because of Terrain never change, and thus, are
covered in this book.

Normal Terrain - The type of terrain a unit considers normal can change depending
on the unit itself. For example, a ship considers open water to be Normal Terrain,
where as a unit of infantry would consider water to be Very Difficult, or even
Impassable Terrain if they were heavily armored. However, the MP cost for what a
unit considers Normal Terrain never changes. The MP cost to move into a hex of
Normal Terrain is always 1 MP.

Difficult Terrain - Difficult Terrain is outside of a unit's normal element, but not
enough so that they have major difficulty functioning within it. It may even be
advantageous, for example, if a Melee unit enters Difficult Terrain with a positive
Defense Modifier to get closer to a Ranged unit without being shot to pieces. The
disadvantage is that a unit must spend 2 MP to enter a hex of Difficult Terrain.

Pic of melee unit sneaking through forest.

Very Difficult Terrain - Very Difficult Terrain is much closer to being outside of the
unit in question's preferred element. This type of Terrain does often provide an even
higher Defensive Modifier than Difficult Terrain, but this comes at the price of barely
being able to move. There are some circumstances, such as if a piece of Very
Difficult Terrain were standing in an open field of Normal Terrain, where it would
make an excellent defensive position, but one should always be cautious of bogging
one's units down. Entering a hex of Very Difficult Terrain has an MP cost of 3.

Pic of hacking through jungle

Impassable Terrain - Impassable Terrain is fairly self-descriptive. This is terrain so far

out of a unit's element that the unit is rendered useless if placed in such terrain.
Quite often, it is something that is normally impossible for the unit to cross anyway,
such as a sheer cliff or a river of lava for infantry. As such, Impassable Terrain
cannot be entered, crossed, or even contemplated. (Ok, fine, you can contemplate
it, but it probably won't get you anywhere.)

Pic of Lava river.

Just to clarify, a piece of terrain only costs MP to enter, not to exit. If a normal
infantry unit is emerging from the forest onto a grassy plain or from the river onto
dry ground, there is no extra MP cost for finally getting out of that Difficult or Very
Difficult Terrain.

Diagram of movement.

There are four Basic Formations that a unit can be in. The Basic Formation of a unit
will never change, and it has a huge effect on how the unit functions. The Basic
Formations are:

Tight Organized - Units in this formation may Withdraw. Also, this formation is the
only formation in which a unit may use Rank Weapons and may use Advanced
Formations. Units in this formation may not Volley because they are too tightly
packed.

Tight Disorganized - Units in this formation can only attack using the first rank.
Soldiers in this formation may not use Rank Weapons because they are liable to hit
their flailing comrades in the forward ranks. Also, units in this formation may not
Volley because they are too tightly packed. Finally, units in this formation may not
Withdraw because of their overall lack of unity and cohesion.

Loose Organized - This formation allows the unit to treat Difficult terrain as Normal
terrain, and Very Difficult terrain as Difficult terrain. Impassable terrain is still
Impassable. Units in this formation may treat friendly Loose units as Difficult terrain,
not subject to the modifier above which allows units in this formation to treat
Difficult terrain as Normal terrain. This formation gives a +2 Defense modifier
against attacks using Ranged Weapons, but it also gives a -2 Defense modifier
against attacks using Melee Weapons. Units in this formation may Withdraw and
may Volley. Units in this formation may not use Rank Weapons because the
soldiers are spaced too far apart.

Loose Disorganized - Units in this formation may not use Rank Weapons because
the soldiers are spaced too far apart. Also, units in this formation may not
Withdraw because of their overall lack of unity and cohesion. Units in this formation
may not Volley because of their lack of cohesion.

Hey you, wake up! Now that we're done with Basic Formations, we can move on to
the fun stuff, and I can stop using my boring robot voice. The clever use of an
Advanced Formation is what has won many a battle. The Phalanx formation could be
considered a major part of what won Alexander the world! However, as I have
looked at formations used throughout the history of ancient warfare, I must say that
many of them share the same basic principles. Therefore, I have narrowed
Advanced Formations down to the five most essential ones.

The Porcupine's Spines - Units may treat all sides as their front.

Picture of troops in Spines

The Snake's Scales - Units gain a +2 Defense modifier against charges.

Picture of troops in Scales

The Tortise's Shell - Units gain a +2 Defense modifier against Ranged Weapons.

Picture of troops in Shell

The Eagle's Wings - Any unit in this formation may respond as soon as a friendly
unit in the same formation either charges an enemy unit or is charged by an enemy
unit. The rules for charging are covered on page ##.

Diagram of Wings

The Rhinoceros' Horn - Any unit in this formation has double the frontage, and gains
a +2 modifier to Power when it is charging (page ##).

Picture of Wedge

Stats

By now, some of you may be wondering what a Stat is and what it has to do with a
game about "Romans with guns!". Stat is short for statistic. Thus, the Stats of a unit
are it's Statistics. I did not bother to mention this earlier like other shortened terms
(MP, ) because I feel it has become so common in the gaming community that it
would not need explaination for 95% of the people reading this book. Nevertheless,
for the other 5%, there it is.

There are 6 Primary Stats in Ars Militaris, 1 of which is divided into 2 Secondary
Stats. This makes for a total of 8 Stats. This may seem complicated at first, but you
will only ever be dealing with three of these Stats at the same time at the most, and
quite often, you will only be dealing with one. The Stats you will encounter in Ars
Militaris are:

(symbol)Attack - Attack is the Stat that determines how much destruction a unit is
capable of causing. On the battlefields of Ars Militaris, this is the number of d10s
you roll to determine how much damage you do. This process is explained more in
depth in the Combat section on page ##.

(symbol)Ranged Attack - This is the same as the Attack Stat, only this Stat is used
during Ranged Combat, which will be described in detail on page ##.

(symbol)Range - Range is the distance a unit is capable of reaching with their

chosen weapon(s). All Melee Weapons can only reach hexes that are right beside
their users, and therefore have a Range of 1. Thus, this stat is only used when the
unit in question has a Ranged Weapon. Range is also what determines a unit's
Attack Arc. The Attack Arc is described on page ## of this rulebook. Range is part of
Ranged Combat which is described on page ##.

(Symbol)Speed - A unit's Speed is equal to it's Movement Points, which indicate

how far that unit can move on level terrain. Certain terrain types, such as Difficult,
Very Difficult, or Impassable Terrain may restrict this value. Another thing that can
change a unit's movement is terrain of varying height. These concepts are
described in further detail in the Movement and Terrain section on page ##. Also, a
unit's speed determine the order in which it engages in combat. The rules for Turn
Order are on page ##

(Symbol)Health - This Stat indicates how much Damage a unit can sustain before
being eliminated. The number of troops and their ability to survive wounds are the
things that compose the Health Stat. This Stat is shown as a row of different
couloured boxes on your unit marker, the use of which will be explained in the
Combat section on page ##.

(symbol)Will - Will is some what of an oddball Stat. It is something that one would
normally not think of in battle, but it has shaped the course of warfare in every
century. This is the Stat the keeps your unit from fleeing when they face a fearsome
foe. Will also determines how talented your magic users are at manipulating
magical energy. Will is subdivided into Courage and Magic, not because they are
two different parts of the main Stat, but because they are two different ways to use
the same Stat.

Courage - Courage is used to determine wether a unit will break and run or stand
it's ground in the face of fear. Courage is discussed more deeply in the Test of
Courage section on page ##.

Magic - Magic is the stat that determines how powerful the spells cast by the unit
will be. This stat will be expanded upon in the Magic Combat section on page ##.

Turn Order
Turn order is simply the order in which your units may act. During each round of
battle, the units with higher speed act before units with lower speed. Each unit has
a speed number, which is also used to determine their MP. The unit with the highest
Speed acts first, followed by the unit with the second highest speed, and so forth
until the slowest unit in the round has finished it's turn. If two units have the same
speed, as will often be the case, either of two solutions will occur. If the compeating
uniits are from the same side, then the owning player simply chooses which unit to
use first. If the compeating units are from different players, then the side with
Momentum wins. Momentum is covered on page ##.

Stand and Fire

Test of Will
Combat
Ranged Combat
Magic Combat
Weapons
Abilities

Attack Arc