YAHQS For Battles

1. Introduction

1.1 Document History

6.11.96	Put YfB Version one on Net
5.1.97	Reformated layout, expanded example spell list, added retreat/rout rules
26.5.97	Added Missile troops, Aerial troops, basic movement rules and Siege rules.

1.2 Foreword

YAHQS for Battles (or YfB for short) is an addition to the RuneQuest game, although it could easily be adpated for use in any fantasy game world. It is intended to quickly emulate a mass battle without the need for figures, a twelve by six gaming table, hundred hours worth of painting figures or even dice.
This system uses a diceless approach, and even though it is a battle system, cunning players hould manage to turn the tide of any battle to their favour if they use their brains over their reliance on rolling lucky numbers.

RuneQuest and Glorantha are copyrighted/trademarked names to Avalon Hill and Chaosium respectively and are used without their consent, and is not meant to infringe and laws. YAHQS is a freely availble set of rules available by clicking here .

1.3 Statistics in YfB

2. Caculating Army Strength

Firstly, every army is described by three terms. They are Might, Magic and Morale. They are easily caculated, and are a numerical number. Might represents a combination of how many troops you have, and just how powerful those troops are. Magic is the mystical potential of the army, a very important factor in Gloranthan battles. Morale is self explanatory.

2.1 Might

Quality	Multiplier	Examples
Poor	0.5	Heartland farmers, Chalana Arroy Healers, trollkin, children
Average	1	Ravenous trollkin, Orlanthi farmers, Praxians, Lunar Nobles, Zombies
Good	1.5	Losklami soldiers, Humakti, Uroxi fighting anyone except chaos, Shargashi, the Marble Phalanx, Aldryami, Broo
Very Good	2	Rune Lords, Knights, Uroxi fighting chaos, Aldryami archers
Excellent	4	Full Moon Corps, Horali, Heroes, Iron Mostali, Luatha

Also, some small units, or sometimes even singular persons, have a Might in their own right. For instance, exceptional beings include Harrek the Berserk who counts as two points of Might, a true dragon would be seven points, the Crimson Bat would be four, the Red Emperor 1+ etc...

Example: The Carmanian army fields mainly members of it's Hazar, or warrior, caste. It supports this with peasants and a small number of Viziers (wizards). Consider the following army, a invasion force of Dara Happa from before the Lunar Empire. It has 50 Viziers who worship Ikadz, and 50 Viziers who worship gods like Subere, Lhankor Mhy and Dayzatar. The main attack force are 300 Hazar warriors, a hundred of which are on horse back. Milling around in front are four hundred or so peasants rounded up ready to be slaughter.... err, fight for their country.

The peasants are of poor quality, and so are worth 1.5 points of Might. The 50 Viziers who worship Ikadz are actually reasonable fighters, anyone who comes close enough gets a taste of pain magic, and so they are an average quality unit worth .5 Might. The other 50 Viziers are poor fighters, and are worth a measly, and almost neligible, quarter of a point. The 200 foot soldiers are Good units and are worth three points of Might, whereas the cavalry are Very Good and worth another two points of Might.

This gives a total of 7.25 Might, which rounds up to a Might of 7+. The Carmanians have fielded a large, and powerful fighting force.

2.2 Magic

Magic is caculated exactly the same as Support Points are in YAHQS.

Each 10 priests, rune lords or shamans and each 100 initiates yield 1 point which can be used to increase an ability or skill score once. The actual number of Magic points depends also on the "quality" of the supporters. Spiritually strong, dedicated and learned supporters are of course much more valuable than indifferent and exhausted ones. The following table provides some examples:

Quality	Multiplier	Examples
Poor	0.5	Trollkin, Teshnos Night caste, Veldang slaves in Fonrit.
Normal	1	Your average villagers or tribesmembers.
Good	1.5	Noble clan, large temple.
Excellent	2	Fanatic cult (Humakt, Storm Bull).
Superb	3	Lunar magic college, handpicked priests & lords, enlightened mandarins.

These points can be used in the Magic Phase of any battle (see below).

Example: The Carmanian force from above has 100 Viziers, who are there mainly to provide the Magical punch that the army needs. They are of Excellent Spiritual Quality and there are 100 of them, so they provide 2 points of Magic. The 300 Hazars are only of Good quality and so provide 4.5 points of Magic. The four hundred peasants are of poor spiritual quality and only provide 2 points of Magic. This adds up to be 8.5 points, which is rounded up to 8+.

Unlike in YAHQS there are certain factors which can increase the Magic skill of an army. This is based on circumstances unique to the battle. Some examples are:

Factor	Bonus/Penalty
On a Malkioni Crusade	add 2
Fighting against a city with a City God	minus 2
Fighting against a city with a powerful City God (such as Alkoth)	add 3
Lunar Army within the confines of the Glowline or under the Full Moon	add 2
Lunar army in Black/Dying Moon	minus 2
Fighting as part of a Sacred Time rite	add 1
Per accompanying wyter/Phalanx spirit etc...	add 1
Fighting shamans on home territory	add 1 per 10 shamans
Lunar Army that organises units composed entirely of magicians	+2

2.3 Morale

Quality	Morale	Examples
Poor	1	Trollkin in daylight, levy, slaves, serfs of the KoW
Average	2	New soldiers, basic fighters, a farmer fighting for his land
Good	3	Phalanx soldiers, Orlanthi fighters, a farmer fighting for his ancestral lands and lives of his family, broo
Very Good	4	Humakti, beserk Babeester Gori, Zorak Zorani, well paid mercenaries
Excellent	5	Rune Lords, fanatical maniacs driven by unbearable thirst and greed, Humakti affected by the Rune spell Morale

For Example: The Carmanian's largest force are the peasants, who have a Morale of 1, while the Hazars have a Morale of 4. The Might of the army is 8, which gives another 2 points. This yields a total of 1+4+2=7. Not a bad value, but the army still stands a chance to fall foul to fear.

2.4 Strategy Points

The amount of Strategy Points is determined by the level of skill a general has in Battle, a RuneQuest skill common among warrior cults and army leaders. Add the level of skill each commanding officer has in Battle together, and divide this by 25, rounding up. This is the amount of Strategy Points an army has at it's dispoal.

Example: The Carmanian commanding officers have Battle Skills of 85%, 60%, 35%, and 40%. This adds up to 220, which when divided by 25 turns out to be 9 points when rounded up.

However, as youi can imagine, an army full of generals, each trying to coordinate the battle in their own way, would be a farce at best, and a blood bath at worst. Therefore there is a maximum number of commanding officers who can add their battle skill to determine Strategy Points. This number of officers is equal to the Battle skill of the highest ranking officer (which is normally also the highest Battle skill) divided by twenty five. number of officers including himself who can effectively combine their efforts to combine the army. It is impossible to have more than this.

Example: The maximum number of officers that could combine their efforts in the Carmanian army above is equal to 85 (the battle skill of the general) divided by 25, which is 4 when rounded up. Since there are already four commanding officers, no more people could join the Carmanian army to help them command the battle.

3. How to Use YfB

YfB is split into "Phases", wherein each controller of the army use whatever they have at their disposal to increase their Might, attack each other and caculate the results. It is simple, quite and effective.

The phases are:

• Modifier Phase
• Magic Phase
• (Spotlight Phase) see below for a description of this optional phase
• Gambling Phase
• Combat Phase
• Morale Phase

3.1 Effective Might and Actual Might

Effective Might and actual Might are two different things.

Effective Might is your armies Might that has been increaed/decreased by a variety of factors including Magic, HeroQuest Spells, Modifiers such as terrain etc... Effective Might is only used for determining whether or not damage is inflicted to your opponent. It is not used to determine actual damage.

Actual Might is the unmodified Might of the army. This is used to determine the damage inflicted by an army, as well as how many troops are left in an army. If actual Might ever reaches 0 then there are not enough troops left to fight, and the opposition is declared the winner. Actual Might decreases often, from damage. However, Might may be increased by Magic that summons additional beings to aid the army.

3.2 Modifier Phase

All bonuses/penalties are applied to Might. A list of examples is given below:

Factor	Bonus/Penalty
Night (applies only to non-night vision species)	Minus 1
Dusk, Evening in Dark Season	Minus +
Fighting Underground (when unused to subterranean combat)	Minus 1
Fighting in confined spaces	Minus +
Fighting in confined spaces with weapons such as pikes	Minus 2
Fighting in difficult territory (deserts, thick forest)	Minus 1
Aldryami in an Elven Forest	Add 2+
Enemy spies in opposing army	Add 1
Enemy turncoats in opposing army	Add 2, plus opposition loses a certain amount of troops
Previous Recon of area	Add + or 1 depending upon quality
Attacked from ambush	Add 2 for first round of combat

Also this round, the player may spend their Strategy Points. This increases Might on a 1:1 basis. The amount of Strategy Points spent whould be kept concealed from the opposition until battle is resolved. The maximum amount of Strategy Points that can be spent is equal to the unmodified Might of an army, even the greatest general with 200% Battle skill couldn't have a band of peasants bring down the best of the Lunar Army.

3.3 Magic Phase

3.4 Gambling Phase

When an army Gambles, it gains a bonus to Might of a single + for every point of Might gambled. If the army fails to overcome the enemies Might at the end of the turn, then the Gambled points are lost!!! Since the Might of either side is unknown, and the amount of Magic, Strategy etc.. is equally uncertain, it is quite possible to lose a gamble. If the gamble suceeds then the points are not lost.

Example: An army has spent all of it's strategy points, and expended all it's Magic and in one final push it gambles all of it's 4 points of Might in a battle against an army with a Might of 5. This increases it's Might to 6. So, as long as the opposition does not manage to increase their Might, then the first army stands a chance. If, however, the opposition used even a single point of Magic, then the gamble would fail. The army would lose all of it's Might before damage was even inflicted.

3.5 Combat Phase

	Damage to Winner	Damage to Loser
Winner's Might less than twice that of the loser's	+ per 2 points of Might losing army has	+ per point of Might winning army has
Winner's Might twice loser's Might or more	No Damage	As above

All damage is caculated on actual Might, rather than the Might that has been adjusted by Magic, Gambling etc..... although adjustments due to damage are applicable, so the Might due to damage and not the original Might is what is important. However, an army may increase the damage inflicted by using more Magic. The maximum amount of Magic spent in this fashion is equal to the damage inflicted, therefore damage cannot be more than doubled using Magic alone. The side that loses cannot spend Magic to inflict the damage that it inflicts, only the winner.

Also at this point, Magic can also be expended to prevent the army from dying. For every point of Magic spent, one point of Might is saved. If the Magic is not spent this turn then the Might is forever lost, unless powerful HeroQuest spells are used.

For Example: Two armies have Mights of 6 and 7. They increase these, via Magic, to 11 and 9 respectively. This means that the first army wins.

It does not inflict damage according to the Might of 11, but instead inflicts Might according to it's original Might of 6. This equals 3 points of Damage. The army increases this to 4 using Magic, although it could have risen to 6.

The opposition use two points of Magic to save two points of Might, and so takes an overall of two damage. This keeps it's Might down to 5.

The winning army takes 1+ damage, and spends a point of magic, taking only + of damage. The opposition could not have increased this damage using magic as it lost that round. This reduces it's Might to 5+.

3.6 Morale Phase

Example: Kirligan's Warband has a Morale of 3+ and is hit for 5 damage. The difference is 1+, and so the Might decreases by 1+ as they charge off. Obviously Kirligan should pay them more....

Example: The Crimson Bat (Fear Value:7) meets an army with a Might of 4, and a Morale of 5. The Fear Factor is higher than the Morale so the army loses 7 points of Might to running away, which is the entire army and more. The army flees, but takes 3 damage as it does so, leaving only a Might of 1, a measly remanent of an otherwise mighty army.
If they had a Might of 6, then they would only suffer 1 damage. If they had a Morale of 7 or more, then none would have retreated.

4. Magic

Magic can be used in five different ways:

• It can increase Effective Might to increase the chances of an army inflicting damage.
• It can increase the amount of damage an army inflicts to the opposition
• It can save your army from dying due to damage loss
• You can cast HeroQuest spells that can affect the tide of battle
• You can dispel HeroQuest spells as they are cast

4.1.1. Increasing Effective Might

As stated in 3.2 Magic Phase, for every point of Magic used, you can increase your effective Might for the purposes of resolving whether or not damage was inflicted.

4.1.2. Increasing Damage

As stated in 3.4 Combat Phase, one point of Magic can be spent to inflict one point of Might extra to the foe.

4.1.3. Heal Your Army

As stated in 3.4 Combat Phase, one point of Magic saves one point of Might from being killed by your enemy. If it is not spent now, it cannot be later spent. Once Might is lost, it is lost.

4.1.4 Spells

Normally most spells are insignifcant to the course of battle. However, certain spells -- huge, destructive spells, not normally available to players as Rune Magic -- can be cast. These are often referred to as HeroQuest spells because of their magnitude.

These spells require points of Magic to be cast. This is not merely a small number of mages casting a few simple sorcery spells, but a huge number of magicians pooling their magic together to create a vast whirlpool of magical energy to cast against their foes. The spell is cast in the Magic Phase. Click here for a list of example spells.

4.1.5 Dispelling Magic Spells

One common use of magic is to dispel spells that have been cast. This, however, is not as effective as using another spell to dispel them. For instance, the best way to dispel Summon Shargash is to use another spell to summon a creature to banish him, or the best way to stop Skyburn is to use a spell to put the fires out.

Dispelling magic can only be used when the spell has been cast, it cannot be used later than this even if the spell effects remain in action. A creature, once summoned, cannot be banished, but if the spell is dispelled then the creature never appears. It costs two points of Magic per point of Magic spent in casting the spell to dispel it. Therefore, a three point Spell costs 6 point to dispel. As you can see, this is not cost effective.

5. Optional Rules

Herein are contained some optional rules that the gamesmaster may choose to use to help utilize YfB. They are far from neccessary, and need only be used when required. For instance, using Missile troop rules as well as naval troop rules may sreiously slow down your game.

5.1 Spotlight Phase

In the case of important battles the Gamesmaster should allow the characters chances to change the tide of battle. In the case of low power level player characters this is a futile past of the battle, no matter what a peasant does, they won't stand a chance against Morg-Thaknork, Lord of all Death and Blood, Superhero of Zorak Zoran. In this case, skip this phase. Anyhow, what are low-level characters doing in the middle of battlefields? What are they, insane!

However, in the case of more developed characters you might give them the chance to change things. Ignore minor footsoldiers etc... the idea is not to get bogged down in meaningless detail like that. Instead, characters should have the chance to march off and attack individuals they spot over the battlefield ("Look, there's my arch nemesis..") and whilst you might run one or two combats trying to reach their quarry you can otherwise ignore it. As a thumbnail sketch, one spotlight phase equals 15 minutes, the length of time that spells last when cast. This means that spells must be renewed once every YfB Combat Round. However, dramatic interludes are best, and stopping at a tense point (such as just before that *really* important healing spell is cast) is absolutely essential. Also, other people may involve themselves in combat as time goes by, such as bodyguards stepping up to aid their leader.

Depending upon the result of the characters actions, the combat should be modified by a + either as a bonus or penalty (if they failed), a whole point or (in the case of really important people such as the actual general) a bonus of 1+!!!

Additional note to Spotlight phase: If the Army that the players are with lost last round then play out a few rounds of combat against the individual foot soldiers, and larger more important individuals. In this way the players have no chance of dying solely due to the fact that the army lost last round, and also have a chance of dying so that PC's aren't always the last individuals standing. The worse the lose of the army, the more dangerous the foe.

5.2 Retreating/Routing

An army may have no wish to fight it out to the bloody finish. An army has two choices if it is loosing, a tactical retreat which is less dangerous but can take a while, and a rout which is an out and out charge away from battle.

If an army retreats, then they must spend the next two rounds still engaged, escaping on the third round. In both of these rounds they suffer a minus 1 to effective Might. They score only half damage.

If an army routs, then they escape in a single round, but suffer a penalty of 2 points to effective Might and cannot cause any damage whatsoever, no matter the circumstances.

5.3 Missile Troops

A gamesmaster may wish to diffiferntiate between missile troops and bog standard warriors. While warriors may well have shor range weaponary, such as an Orlanthi carrying his bow slung across his shoulder, or a dark troll unit carrying slings, a missile unit is composed entirely of missile troops dedicated to long range combat. This makes them excellent at long range, but only means that when engaged in melee their efficiency is greatly reduced.

To simulate this, a gamesmaster must discern how much of an army's Might is composed of Missile troops. This should then be noted down. At the start of the battle, the missile troops count as having an effective might of one + higher than their actual might per point of might i.e. an army with four Might of missile troops will gain an additional four +'s, in other words an extra two points so count as being an effective might of 6 instead of just 4. However, to simulate the fact that when the armies clash the missile troops are less effective, as soon as the army takes damage (whether they heal it with Magic or not) then they loose this bonus and only count as half of their effective might, i.e. in the above case the archers would now only count as having two Might when it comes to caculating if damage is inflicted. Remember that the actual might, the amount needed to destroy the army, is never reduced.

5.4 Aerial Combat

Factor	Bonus/penalty
Every 5 STR, or part thereof, the wind has above 15	minus +
Cloud Cover above 50%	Minus +
Cloud Cover above 80%	Minus 1
Fighting an enemy on open plains	Add 1
Fighting an enemy in a forest or other covered area	Minus 1
Fighting an enemy in heavy forest or heavily covered area (i.e. an elf forest)	Minus 2
Fighting an army with missile troops	Minus + per two point of missile Might opposition army have
Facing an army with sylphs or powerful Storm Magic	Minus +
Aerial troops are sylphs	Add 1

5.5 Army Movement Rules

Given here are a set of simple army movement rules. They are designed to allow simple war campaigns to be carried out -- or not so simple if you think you can manage it!!! If you wished to manage anything other than simple troop movements then I'd advise investing sometime in getting a decent map laid out on hex paper of the area the troops are moving in, using either counters or chess pieces to represent troops. These figures are not historically accurate to the limit of my knowledge!!!! If you are possessed of more accurate knowledge concerning the speed of troops then please feel free to e-mail me.

Troops are split into three basic categories; fast troops deisgned for speedy movement, carrying little equipment such as mounted troops with little armour or the Thunder Delta Slingers, then there are average troops such as most footsoldiers and most mounted cavalry and lastly slow troops such as the heavily armoured phalanxes of Sun County or the Lunar empire. An army can only move as fast as it's slowest troops, otherwise the one half of the army will advance faster than the other and they effectively become two separate armies. You may wish to adjust the speed of the army by their training and constitution, even a phalanx will move faster than a bunch of peasants who spend too much time in the pub.Also note that certain troops are totally separate i.e. a fleet of dragons moves far faster than anything else, and Dragonewt's are able to skip huge distances.

The distance an army moves is given below, the number in brackets refers to an army mounted on horse-like creatures.

Fast troops can move about 55(100)km in one day, or 65(120)km with a forced march.
Average troops move about 45(90)km in one day and 55(110)km with a forced march.
Slow troops move only 35(60)km in one day or 40(85)km in a forced march.

A forced march means that the army arrives tired and lethargic suffering a penalty of + on their Might for every three days of forced match travel. A day of rest negates the negatives suffered via forced march. For example, an army does two days of forced march followed by five days of normal marching meeting an army on the eight day. They suffer a penalty of one + to their Might as they have not rested.

Terrain alters this speed. It is decreased by a certain percentage depending upon terrain type:

Terrain Level	Penalty to movement
Light foliage	-10%
Heavy foliage/light forest	-15%
Heavy forest	-25%
Mountains	-25%
Swamps	-50%
Harsh, unaccustomed conditions (Prax, desert)	-20%
Must ford a river	-10km

Armies using magic roads (or Dragonewt roads) must expend one point of Magic for every 4 points of Might travelling along the magic road per day travelled. The army must rest for one day to recover this magic loss. Magic roads can only be used by armies that have the requisite HeroQuest style spells and priests to make use of them i.e. a chaos army cannot make use of the Earthshaker magic road without first battling through the Maran Gori. This may require a separate scenarios HeroQuest-style with YAHQS. Magic roads only stretch between set points, normally allowing 150-250km of travel per day.

If an army can manage to get all of it's troops onboard a ship and make use of rivers and seas, then they can travel that way. A sailing ship can be considered to travel 96km in one day under a light wind (STR 13-18), 120km per day in a moderate wind (STR 19-24) and 148km in a strong wind (STR 25-30). A ship cannot sail if the wind is outside of these limits. If a ship has someway of sailing 24 hours solid, by having enough crewmen, then they can sail twice this distance. If the ship is going upstream then the actual distance travelled is 3/4 what is given here. Rowing boats travel 96km going downstream and 48km going upstream, and, of course, require a crew. All of these numbers assume that the boats are seaworthy, built for war and not overloaded.

5.6 What I Hope To Add

• Rules for conversions with Dragon Pass
• A more standardised system to deal with "Spotlight" phases
• More detail on combining HeroQuesting and mass combat!!
• Details on Elric!
• Naval details

6. Siege Rules

Sieges are a fact of all warfare throughout the ages, from the siege of Kartolin Pass by Arkat or the more recent siege of Whitewall. These rules expand the basic YfB rules set to cover this more varied form of warfare. The important points of siege combat are that the occupants are behind a wall and therefore simple melee combat cannot take place. You will need to make use of the missile combat rules to use this section. Note that simple fortifications, such as tower or cities without walls do not require these rules. Instead, give a terrain advantage to one side of the army i.e. a battle taking place in the city of Boldhome such give good advantages to the Boldhome troops for having the chance to make preparations (booby traps etc..) aswell as having a home advantage. More importantly, aerial and missle troops would be rendered virtually ineffective in such a battle.

In sieges all turns are split into days. One day is one siege turn. When combat finally breaks out, obviously return to the normal combat turn. The term castle refers to any fortification used in a siege, but may well be a city, underground stronghold or flying cloud city.

6.1 The Strategic Turn

As a reference for later, this is the order of the strategic turn (lasts one day at a time).

• Lose Food Points
• Calculate penalties to food points
• Foraging and food production take place
• Breaching Walls
• Actual Combat Phase
• Passive Combat takes place
• (Spotlight Phase) see below for a description of this optional phase
• Magic Recovery Phase

6.2 Making your Castle

6.2.1 Caculating a Castle's Passive Defence (CPD)

Each castle has a CPD, a value which indicates how difficult the castle is to attack in a full frontal charge. A small wooden tower has a low CPD whereas a Mostali Walking Fort has a huge CPD. All CPD's start at five, any less would indicate a small fortification too small and useless to indicate a siege. CPD's range from five to twenty.

CPD	Example Fortification
5	Small tower. Not built for military purposes, no murder holes or windows for archers.
7	A large house converted via jury-rig to military purposes (adding planks of wood to windows etc...
10	Hazard Fort
13	A Malkioni castle for a noble. Little magical additions.
15	A well built castle for military purposes.
16	A well built castle with murder holes, hoardings, catapults, boiling oil at the ready etc....
20	A Mostali fort, an Aldryami Forest.

6.3 Food Expenditure

Food, which also covers water in these rules, are an important factor in any and all sieges. They are the deciding factor in most cases. When the food runs out your army cannot just then decide to fight, for it will be weakened greatly already and face little hope.

6.3.1 How it works

Every army has a number of food points. They must expend one food point per point of actual Might per day for their troops to remain healthy and able to fight without problem. The commander of either side may well decide to ration food in an attempt to make it last longer, but at a lower efficiency for as soon as the food runs out an army has no more than a week to live.

For every food point less than the required minimum given above an armies effective Might in battle is reduced by one + per point lower than the required minimum. This effect is cumulative, so if an army is three food points below the stipulated minimum for two days they loose a total of 3 points of effective Might!! To cancel this penalty, an army must receive it's minimum food amount for two days running, at which point they recover all lost penalties and the deteriation of the armies effective Might can start all over again. Secondly, the problems faced from food loss are two fold, desertion becomes a problem. While not all troops within a castle may manage to escape via desertion, many will try and die in the attempt or, if captured and forced to fight, will be so ineffectual in the battle to be as good as dead. When the effective Might of the army is reduced by an amount greater than the armies Morale then forces begin to desert. One point of Might deserts for every point that the effective Might penalty is above the Morale of the army.

For Example: An army is being sieged. They haven't eaten properly for three days, loosing two points of effective Might every day, meaning the penalty is now six points!! They have a Morale of six and so, for these days, are safe. If they were to eat properly the next day they would be alright, but unfortunately the food shortage becomes worse. They loose another three points of effective Might, giving a final penalty of nine points, three points greater than the armies Morale. Therefore, when the general wakes up next morning he discovers, to his horror, that three hundred men (three points of Might) have surrended and now stand outside the castle, arms tied behind their backs. Unfortunately for those who surrender, they are facing brutal Lunar oppresors and now half of them are being made ready for crucifixion...

The Gamesmaster, to prevent a commander accurately caculating (as opposed to guessing) the exact amount of food to give his army, should give his own modifiers to the Morale of the army. For instance, if the army is greatly outnumbered, or the opposition are offering incentives to surrender, then peanlties should be made to morale. In the above example, for instance, when the besieged see what happened to deserters they will not likely make the same mistake, and the Gamesmaster may give a bonus of 5 to Morale!! Obviously troops may still try to desert, in the hope of evading Lunar capture.

When the penalty due to Food Points is greater than the Might of the army, they are unable to fight to start with. They also start to die of starvation. One point of Might dies per day for every point the penalty is above the Might of the army. Of course, as people die, less food points are needed. The Gamesmaster will have to come up with his own rules on the effects of canibalism on morale and food points....

6.3.2 Besieged Food Points

One food point is equal to about 400 pennies worth of supplies per day. You will have to use your own judgement to caculate how much food a castle has, based on it's military background (obviously a military castle will have more food in store than a humble mansion) and it's wealth.

The besieged have ways of getting more food. The best is agriculture, fields, livestock, wells etc... that the city has within it's confines to produce more food points. A city can produce between zero and ten food points per day. Zero would be a tower, two or three may be a castle with some chickens and goats to produce milk and food, five or six would be full internal fields with healthy livestock while ten may well be what an Ernalda temple could produce when sieged, using their magic and charms to create the fertility needed to keep the forces healthy, or trolls within an underground comples where the very walls are a viable food source. Obviously, external factors not covered by this simple set of rules will alter this. If the sieging army poisons the well, casts Malian diseases on the animals, uses aerial fire bombing to destroy the fields etc... then the produce will go down. Be inventive, be creative, use as many fiendish methods as possible to destroy the opposition.

6.3.3 Sieging Army Food Points

A sieging army has access to agriculture as well, but it is very unlikely. Very few sieges leave wells outside city walls. The best way for a sieging army to generate it's own food points is to forage. the area the army is in should be assigned, secretly by the GM, a difficulty to forage. The amount of Might that the sieging army dedicates to foraging is matched in a contest (where gambling may be used) against the difficulty. For every point of Might above the difficulty, three food points are found. A difficulty of 1 may be a fertile forest, teeming with life, a value of 3 may be more civilized areas while seven may be Prax. Other factors may affect this, for instance the trolls and Aldryami match their might against a value three points less than the difficulty due to their ability to find food.

6.4 Passive Combat

Every day, each side gets a chance to fire at the opposition. This is done unlike the normal combat turn. First, match the Might of the Missile forces of the besieging army against the missile Might of the defenders plus five to represent the difficulty of shooting at people inside a castle. For every point of Might above this adjusted value of the opposition then the opponent takes one point of damage. If no damage, or negative damage, is indicated then no damage is inflicted. Then do the same for the defenders versus the attackers, matching the defenders missile might against the attackers missile might plus five. Magic and gambling can be used, but not strategy points.

6.5 Actual Combat

The second method is breaching the walls. However, the castle means that it is more difficult for the attacker than it is for the defender. The attackers suffer a penalty of five points to any damage they may inflict in that first turn on the first round of combat. Other than this it is handled as normal, under the YfB system. The bonus only lasts one turn.

Of course, an army might not even wait for the walls to be breached. They may well decide to scale the walls, avoiding the enemies missile fire, boiling oil etc... In such a case the defenders receive a bonus equal to the CPD of the castle to their effective Might. This bonus lasts beyond the girst round, lasting until the attackers have inflicted damage to the defenders (indicating the attackers have managed to overcome the battlement defenders and enter the compound at which point the defenders will have no more bonuses unless they force the attackers to retreat back outside the castle. Note that this makes a frontal assault exceedingly dangerous.

6.6 Breaching the Walls

However, as forces attack, the defenders get the chance to hurl boiling oil, livestock, rotten vegetables, inanimate objects, honey to coat the attackers followed by jars of insects, firing huge wooden rabbits (aka The Holy Grail; never attack a Boggle Castle) etc... at them. Match half of the Might of the defending force against the Might attacking them. For every point above they exceed the attackers Might then one point of Might dies.

Note that attackers may wish to increase their chances of success using better siege engines. Explosives are also very useful, if you can get them off the Mostali (or you are the Mostali). HeroQuest spells are also useful, calling a huge Earth elemental is going to be of great advantage.

6.7 Magic Recovery

6.8 Spotlight Phase Notes

General Author's Notes: This is all very numerically challenging, bringing in many new terms such as CPD, Food Points, passive combat, actual combat etc.... Be very careful, it can be easily overwhelming as you get confused between your effective might, aerial might and missile might etc.... All hints at making this section more comprehensive and succinct will be greatly appreciated.

7. A Complete Example Battle

The forces of Ralzakark have, at long last, come to a heated clash with the Bilini in the midst of Dorastor Basin. The cries of the Castrati Heartguard are mingled with the myriad whoopings of some, not altogether substantial, beasts. The Bilini force, fearing not only for their lives, but for the very existence of their souls, harden their resolve behind their sturdy leader, Oddi the Keen. As Yelm dawns, a thin veil of mist rises from the ground in the morning sun. Ralzakark issues one last chance for the Bilini to retreat, his voice echoing with dominance across the vale they stand within. The Bilini deny the request without hesitation. The two armies surge forwards....

Ralzakark's Chaos Menagerie has Might 9, Magic 14, Morale 7 and a Fear Factor of 4. Ralzakark and his Heartguard command the army between them, and have 19 Strategy Points. The Bilini have Might 6, Magic 12, Morale 10 and no Fear Factor. Oddi and the accompanying Wind Lords and Elmali muster 21 Strategy Points. The armies are closely matched. Since the Bilini have such a high Morale, they are unaffected by the Fear Factor.

The two armies clashed, metal on metal, tooth on claw, tentacle on hand. The battle was fast and furious, but the mist hampered the fighters on both sides until the heat of battle dispersed it. Many lay dead, the first carnage had begun.

The first phase is the Modifiers Phase. The mist hampers each side, reducing their Might by a single +. Both sides are wary of spending too much too soon, and so only spend 3 Strategy Points each. Ralzakark, saving his Magic, delays this round, but the Bilini surge four points of Magic into their battle. Neither side gambles. The Bilni, with a Might of 12+, defeat the foe's Might of 11+. Ralzakark takes a devastating 6 points of damage. This reduces his Might to 6!!!! The Bilni, however, take 2 points themselves, reducing them to Might 4. It becomes more evenly matched. Since the damage inflicted upon Ralzakark was less than that of his Morale, his forces remain steady.

With bodies of infantry lying dead, and the cannon fodder wiped out, Ralzakark summons forth his Castrati to battle the Orlanthi. Channeling the power of Humakt against the foolish barbarians, and sweeping in from both flanks, the Bilini soon discover how dangerous the game has become....

With the mist dispersed, there is no modifier. Ralzakark spends 3 points of Strategy alloted to him, and the Bilini correspondingly spend 4, the full amount possible. The forces of Ralzakark spends 2 points of Magic, and the Bilni only spend another 4. This means their current Might are Ralzakark: 11 and Bilini: 12. The Bilini win again. They inflict 2 points, taking the Big R. down to Might 4. While Ralzakark only inflicts 1 point, taking the Bilini down to three.

Ralzakark sneered, he sent his spiriling horros, the gorp and walktapus units herded by the insane broo who tended to them, onwards into the force. While Ralzakark was winning, it wasn't looking good for him. He intended to win...

Ralzakark spends the full 4 Strategy Points he can, and boosts it with 5 points of Magic. The Bilini spend three Strategy Points and spend their remaining Magic. They also choose to Gamble 2 points of Might. This makes Ralzakark's Might 13, and the Bilini's Might 12. Tough shit on the Orlanthi. Because their gamble failed, they loose 2 points of Might, leaving them with one. Then they suffer another two points of Might from Ralzakark winning the round. This not only kills them, but grinds their bones into the ground. Ralzakark takes no damage that round, they need a Might of 4 merely to inflict a + of damage to his army.

Ralzakark smilied a toothy unicorn smile, turned from battle and walked away....