Lax State of Affairs part II: Map and Rules

It's been a while since I posted about Lax State of affairs, but I've finally fleshed out some rules and present them for your viewing pleasure. I've not play tested these at all, so if you have a spin with them, please let me know how it went and how I could improve.

England, circa 1135

Set Up

 Steven starts in London (and with it's support: place a coin tails-up on it's node), Matilda lands at a port (blue) of her choice (toss a coin to determine it's allegiance: heads for her, tails for Steven.)

Movement

Armies (use playing pieces) move from one node to another per turn. They don't have to move, and two opposing armies can occupy the same node at the same time. Movement is simultaneous, have a piece of paper with your destination written on it, then show it to each other simultaneously.

Combat

If, after movement, two armies are in the same node then both commanders must choose whether to offer battle or avoid battle. If both avoid, nothing happens. If both offer, play a battle, loser's leader is captured and army retreats away. If only one avoids, play a skirmish, if the offerer wins, fight, if not, don't.

Sieges

Sieges occur when your army occupies an enemy node and you choose to invest it. Sieges are won by accumulating 10 siege points, upon which the garrison surrender immediately. You start with 5 points

One siege point is scored for each turn spent investing the garrison after the declaration to invest.

Additional points can be won by "gambling" them on skirmish games, either to raid local countryside, whittle down defenders with probing attacks or fighting off relief forces etc. Gambling more than 5 points results in a storming attempt (play a siege game). Attacker gets 10% more forces for each siege point above 5 they own if the choose to storm. One gambling attempt/storm can be attempted per turn, including the one where the investing is declared. 

Capturing the enemy leader.

If your forces win a battle where the enemy leader is present, they capture them. If Stephen's unit (or he himself) is defeated/routed in combat and his army wins, he is still captured. To balance this, he's pretty hard, and should get a small combat bonus for free in whatever rules you use to fight battles/skirmishes. 

Each turn a leader is captured they can escape if they roll a 10 on a d10 (or 11 or 12 on 2d6). If BOTH leaders are held prisoner, they can be exchanged if both players agree.

If your leader is captured, your cause is obviously harmed. In ALL future engagements (battles and skirmishes) your forces suffer a 20% reduction in strength after modifiers for supporting bonuses are applied. Round down, so in a 24 pt. Lion Rampant game, you lose 2.4 -> 3 points of troops, being left with 21 in total.

Players may wish to represent Matilda as a 'Warrior Queen', in deference to gender equality etc. In this case, she can fight in battles, having the same combat bonus as Steven, and the same risk of capture.

Controlling Nodes.

If an army enters a node as yet undeclared, toss a coin and place it on the node as it falls: heads for Matilda, tails for Steven. If the node declares for your rival, you then have the option of settling down for a siege, or moving on next turn, or even staying in place, terrorising the local populous to little effect.

Control of nodes gives you access to extra forces in pitched battles. Each node controlled by you gives you 10% of your army's strength in extra troops, so if you control 3 nodes, you get 30% extra points for your battles.

Ending the Game

The only way to end the game is for one player to accept the other as monarch of England. The player accepted is the winner, the other the loser. Even in cases of illness, serious injury or death, the game cannot end until one side formally admits defeat.

Link to my map for this campaign is found here. The map is an open source image found on google image search.