As the game has started reaching the first backers as I am writing this book of the Chronicles, it is probably time to look in detail at what is an essential part of every wargame: waging war itself…
In the previous book, we have looked at what it means to engage in war and peace, now is time to see how war is concretely waged in Hubris – Twilight of the Hellenistic World.
Introduction
As you have already seen, in Hubris, everything happens when a Leader is appointed to undertake a certain Action. Here, war is waged through the undertaking of Military Actions, requiring Leaders possessed of the Military Capability icon.
Each of these Actions is a Campaign. There are three types of Campaigns in Hubris:
- Land Campaigns, which involve solely Land Units, and take place solely across Satrapies;
- Naval Campaigns, symmetrically, involve solely naval Units (Squadrons) and Sea Areas, though they may impact coastal Satrapies through raiding;
- Finally, Overseas Campaigns combine land and naval operations into a single Campaign, allowing to transport Land Units over Sea Areas to invade a coastal Satrapy.
In every Campaign, the Leader appointed as Strategos (commander) will Muster one or several combat-capable Units, pay the appropriate Logistics Costs, Battle opposing Forces (if any), besiege and/or attempt to subjugate enemy Cities and Tribes, and possibly Plunder enemy Satrapies.
Waging War by Land
Land Campaigns are the most common type of Military Campaigns in Hubris. They originate from a Satrapy Controlled by the Major Power (player Kingdom or Rome) undertaking the Campaign, or where it already has a Force, and targets either this same Origin Satrapy, or one Adjacent or linked by a Straits Crossing. If the Origin Satrapy is not Controlled by the Campaigning Power, the Campaign must target the Origin Satrapy itself. In other words, you can always campaign to reinforce your control of a disputed Satrapy, for instance as a continuation of an earlier Campaign, or to crush a Revolt, but you need to first have control of a Satrapy to invade and try to extend your dominion beyond your existing territory.
When designating the Target Satrapy, the Campaigning player must specify (if there is any room for doubt) which Powers, if any (it is allowed to target only unaligned Places or Revolts), are being targeted. This is essential to determine possible Reactions and whether the Campaign constitutes, or not, an Act of War.
Once the Origin and Target Satrapies have been designated, a Strategos must be appointed to lead the Campaign. To be eligible, a Leader must possess the Military icon, and his associated Battle and Siege ratings will be used as needed during the Campaign. The appointed Strategos must of course be Available (i.e. not already Spent). He may be At Court or already on the map if he undertook a Campaign during the current turn, provided there is a Land Path (see Book 3 of these Histories for a refresher on Paths if needed) between his current location and the Origin Satrapy. A Campaigning Strategos is placed on the map, with his location marked by his associated leader block.
As mentioned earlier, a Strategos must have at least one combat-capable Land Unit to undertake a Land Campaign. If he is already on the map, he may retain some or all the Units already with him (i.e. Mustered during his prior Campaign). To these he may add any Land Units available to his Power that, again, have a Land Path to the Origin Satrapy, and have not already been Mustered by another Leader. For a player Kingdom, that means primarily its permanent Units, the Royal Army and the Siege Train (note that the Siege Train is not considered a combat Unit), and any Military Colonists whose Home Satrapy it Controls. It can also include Allied Minor Units if the Target Satrapy is within their geographical Limitations (Minor Powers do not want to support military campaigns far from their own geographical interests), and Mercenaries Units yet unhired. For Rome, this means the redoubtable Legions, occasionally augmented by some Allied Minor Units.
In the example illustrated above, the Macedonian King Philippos V wishes to regain control of Peloponnesos from the encroaching Ptolemies. To this end, he wants to Campaign from Boiotia-Euboia (Origin Satrapy) into Peloponnesos (Target Satrapy). Boiotia-Euboia is under Simple Control by Macedon (2 out of 3 Places Aligned), and so is eligible as an Origin Satrapy for Macedon. This is Philippos V’s first Campaign of the turn, so his (King) leader block is placed in Boiotia-Euboia. He does not yet have any Unit in his Force. Thanks to the Land Path through Macedonian-controlled Thessalia, Philippos Musters his Royal Army and Siege Train from Makedonia (1). However, he knows the Ptolemaic Strategos 2 present in Peloponnesos has one (standard quality) Mercenary Unit in his Force and can call on the Allied Spartans, so Philippos prefers to reinforce his Force before attacking. Thankfully, the Aitolians Mercenary Unit is still unhired, so thanks to his Alignment markers in Boiotia-Euboia (one of the two Home Satrapies of this mercenary unit), Philippos pays 2 Ts to hire them and places them on his Leader Card (2), which now hosts three units (Royal Army, Siege Train and Aitolians Mercenaries).
None of this has cost any money yet, except if Mercenaries were hired. So you may wonder why you would ever not retain all the Units already with a Strategos, or not Muster every available Unit every time? There are at least two reasons why you will not always do that if you can avoid it.
First, for every Unit in the Campaigning Strategos’s Force, you will have to pay as Logistics Costs the Supply Cost value of the Target Satrapy for each of the Campaigning Unit.
In the example of Philippos V’s Campaign above, this means three times three Talents (the Supply Cost of Peloponnesos being 3), less three Talents (him being King – note this is a standard discount of 3 Ts, not one Unit being “free”), i.e. a total of six Talents (which come in addition to the two already paid to hire the Aitolians).
These Logistics Costs represent the salaries and supplies for your force and must thus be paid even if the units have not moved or were Mustered priorly.
Second, once a Unit has been Mustered by a Leader (as shown by being placed on his Leader Card), it remains in his Force for the remainder of the turn, unless Dispersed (it is not possible to “drop off” units). In any case, this means that they become unavailable for any other Campaign, except inasmuch as their current Strategos is able to be Activated again this turn. Since Units are available only in limited numbers, this forces players to think hard where to allocate their typically insufficient forces to achieve their aims and protect their borders…
Now that your Campaign’s objectives have been laid out, your Strategos appointed, his forces Mustered and paid for, it is time to turn to fighting. But before that, the enemy can, to some extent, react…
Reacting to an Enemy Campaign
When a Satrapy where you have some interests is the Target of an enemy Campaign, you may be able to react in various ways.
First, if you have some of your own Units present without a Leader, you may appoint a Strategos (available from your Court) to command them. You may also emergency muster any (yet unmustered) Military Colonists or Allied Minor Units based there.
Continuing the example above, Tlepolemos, the Ptolemaic Strategos 2, emergency musters the Spartans Allied Minor Unit (thanks to the Ptolemaic Alliance on Sparte) and places them on his Leader Card. Note that neither Philippos nor Tlepolemos could Muster the Achaians Minor Unit since the two Heartland Places of the Achaian League are split between Macedonian and Ptolemaic alignment, giving neither access to the Minor Unit.
Second, you may withdraw units located in the Target Satrapy to an adjacent Satrapy under your Control. Very often, it makes sense to avoid fighting an uneven battle and preserve your precious units to fight another day.
Here, Tlepolemos has no such option since neither of the two adjacent Satrapies (Aitolia-Epeiros nor, obviously, Boiotia-Euboia) is controlled by the Ptolemies.
Third, you may spend money to strengthen the defenses of your Aligned Cities in the Target Satrapy, imposing a negative To Hit Modifier to enemy Siege rolls. Besides the expenditure, this requires one of your Military-capable to be present in the Satrapy (you can appoint one then if none is already present).
However, Tlepolemos can and does spend 3 Ts to place Strenghtened Defenses markers on the three Cities Aligned with the Ptolemies in the Peloponnesos: Messene, Megalopolis and Elis. He cannot do the same on Sparte since this is a Tribe, not a City. Note that you may Strenghten the Defenses of Aligned Cities whether you have a Garrison or an Alliance there.
Fourth, in order to further impede enemy assaults against your positions, you may, if you have Squadrons positioned in or adjacent to a Sea Area bordering the Target Satrapy, declare that they will provide Sea Support to your Port Cities. This is usually very impactful, as it makes it necessary for the enemy Force to score two Siege successes (instead of one) to capture a Port City, but it can prompt an enemy Reaction of their own with their own Squadrons to force a Naval Battle and try to deny this support by sea to your Port Cities. Still, this makes the capture of Port Cities backed by a powerful navy quite daunting…
While the Ptolemies do have a Squadron in the area (in the Aigaion Pelagos), this is irrelevant here since none of the Ptolemaic-Aligned Cities is a Port City. Note that if Philippos had instead decided to Campaign in Boiotia-Euboia to try to capture Athenai, then the Ptolemaic Squadron could have tried to Support the City, though the Macedonian Squadron in Propontis could have intervened and forced a Naval Battle.
Last but not least, if the enemy Force has to cross Straits to attack the Target Satrapy (for instance between Thrake and Mysia), Squadrons of yours, if adequately positioned, may Interdict the Crossing, shutting down entirely the enemy Campaign! However, similarly to Sea Support, enemy Squadrons may intervene to wrest control of the crossing and let their troops cross.
Since Philippos is invading from Boiotia-Euboia rather than Aitolia-Epeiros (not that this was not an option for him, since he does not control that Satrapy), he is not crossing any Straits.
Fighting it Out
Once all possible Reactions have been resolved, the Campaigning Force must fight a Battle against every enemy Force remaining in the Target Satrapy. If Forces from different Powers are present, they are fought in different Battles, but all Forces from the same Power fight together.
In a Land Battle, each combat unit (i.e. not Siege Trains) in the opposing Forces Checks under the Battle Rating of their commander (Battle Rating +1 if an Elite Unit), i.e. rolls a d6 against that Battle Rating: every roll below or equal to the Battle Rating inflicts a Hit on the enemy Force, though a natural 1 inflicts 2 Hits instead of 1. The fearsome Roman Legions always inflict double Hits when they successfully strike.
Then, each commander allocates the Hits received from the enemy to his own Force: every Hit Routs a regular Unit, while two Hits are required to Rout an Elite Unit. Hits are inflicted and applied simultaneously unless the Target Satrapy has Rough Terrain and the Campaigning Force was not already present in the Satrapy, in which case the defending Force strikes and its Hits are applied first, then the non-Routed campaigning Units strike.
The Force which sees the most of its Units Routing (or the most Elite Units if a draw) is defeated, unless one of the Forces was entirely Routed, in which case it is defeated. If both Forces had the same number of Units Routed (including none), the Battle is undecisive, putting an immediate end to the Campaign.
Coming back to our example, both commanders have two combat units on their Leader Cards (Philippos’s Siege Train is not a combat unit): Philippos has his Elite Royal Army and the Aitolians Mercenaries, Tlepolemos the Cretans Mercenaries and the Spartans Allied Minor Unit.
Philippos has an excellent Battle Rating of 4, which means that the Royal Army hits on a roll of 5 or less, and the Aitolians on a roll of 4 or less. He rolls a 2 for the Royal Army and a 3 for the Aitolians, resulting in two Hits being inflicted on the Ptolemaic Force. Tlepolemos has a much more pedestrian Battle Rating of 2, and none of his units is Elite, so he needs to roll 1s or 2s to Hit. Like Philippos, he rolls a 2 and a 3, which for him result in only one Hit being inflicted. This means that both Ptolemaic units are Routed, while only Philippos’s Aitolian mercenaries are: Tlepolemos’s Force is entirely Routed (and anyway had more Units Routing than Philippos), so he is defeated.
Let’s say now, for the sake of the discussion, that Tlepolemos’s second roll was not a 3 but another 2, resulting in 2 Hits, like Philippos. He would still be defeated as he needs three Hits to Rout both the Elite Royal Army and the mercenaries. However, should his second roll be a 1, this would give him the three Hits he needs, and he would then win the Battle, as both Forces would have two Units Routed and be entirely Routed, but with an Elite Unit being Routed on the Macedonian side, breaking the tie.
In a Land Battle, when a Force is defeated, all its Routed Units are Dispersed, i.e. become unavailable until the end of the turn, unlike Routed units of a victorious Force, or of both if the Battle is undecisive, which return to their commander’s Leader Card after the Battle. This represents that it was when an army was defeated and pursued that significant casualties were inflicted, and combat worthiness lost for a significant time.
Furthermore, the defeated Force must retreat and withdraw from the Target Satrapy into an adjacent Controlled Satrapy, or be fully Dispersed if unable to do so.
Finally, the victorious Leader (if there is one) gains 1 Renown point (2 if the defeated Leader is a King), and the defeated Leader loses 1 (2 if a King).
With his victory over Tlepolemos, a mere general, Philippos is awarded 1 Renown, and Tlepolemos loses 1.
After the Battle
If the Campaigning Leader manages to clear the Target Satrapy of enemy Forces, he can then proceed to try to reap tangible benefits from his Campaign. To that end, he can undertake up to four Campaign Options among besieging enemy-Aligned Cities, subjugating enemy-Aligned Tribes, and plundering the Target Satrapy (that only once per Campaign, and only if the Satrapy is not already Ravaged). The Campaigning Leader must announce how his four Options are allocated, and roll one die for each (no die roll needed for Plundering). Rolls of the same nature are rolled together and freely allocated by the rolling Leader.
A Siege roll is a Check against the Leader’s Siege Rating, with possible To Hit Modifiers due to the presence of a Siege Train in his Force (+1) or some Special Leader Abilities, as well as enemy Cities being Strongholds (-1 to -2) or with a Strengthened Defenses marker (-1). Every Siege Success (every two Successes against a Port City supported by sea) captures that City, allowing the Campaigning Leader to place either a Garrison or Alliance on the City (his choice).
A Subjugation roll is a Check against the Leader’s Battle Rating, again with possible To Hit Modifiers due to some Special Leader Abilities and Strongholds (-1 to -2). Every Subjugation Success places an Alliance on the Tribe.
Finally, Plundering a (non-Ravaged) Satrapy places a Ravaged marker and increases the Treasury of the Campaigning Kingdom by up to 3 Ts per Unit in the Campaigning Force, capped by the Full Tax Value of the Satrapy.
With Philippos victorious against Tlepolemos, he may now turn to his goal of reasserting Macedonian domination over Peloponnesos. If he elects to sacrifice one of his four options to Plunder (something that is often tempting, not to say downright necessary for the typically cash-strapped kingdom of Macedon), he would collect 6 Ts (three Units in his Force, but capped to the Full Tax Value of Peloponnesos), thus recouping most of his Campaign expenses. But let us assume that his priority is to reassert control and that he rather allocates all his four options to Sieges and Subjugation.
He is facing three Ptolemaic-aligned Cities, all with Strenghtened Defenses (effectively negating his Siege Train), with one of them (Messene) being a (-1) Stronghold. With his Siege Rating of 3, he needs a 1 or a 2 to capture Messene, and 1s, 2s or 3s to capture Elis or Megalopolis. There is also one Ptolemaic-aligned Tribe, Sparte, which is also a (-1) Stronghold, meaning, with his Battle Rating of 4, that he needs to roll a 3 or less to subjugate it.With four options to allocate, Philippos tries for all, allocating three rolls to Sieges, and one to Subjugation. For his Sieges, he rolls a 2, a 3 and a 5, which nets him Messene (with the 2) and Megalopolis (with the 3), but not Elis. Note that he could have taken any two of the three, but he prefers to secure the Stronghold and the second Achaian Heartland in priority. Because he desires to regain access to the Achaian League’s Minor Unit and wants to conserve his exciting Alliance in the Achaia Place, he elects to place Alliances rather than Garrisons in both captured Cities. The Strengthened Defenses markers in both are sent to the Dispersed Box. Now he rolls for the Subjugation of Sparte, which is a Success with a roll of 1. He places an Alliance on Sparte.
Note that while this theoretically gives him usage of the Spartans Minor Unit, this unit was Dispersed as part of the Battle with Tlepolemos, since it was part of the defeated Ptolemaic Leader’s Force, and will not be available again until the following turn (barring some events).
Philippos’s Campaign is now complete, and has been a clear success, even though the City of Elis still clings to the Ptolemies’ alliance, denying Macedon Full Control of Peloponnesos. Nonetheless, Macedon gains 2 Territorial VPs for Simple Control of the Satrapy (and the Ptolemies lose 1), as well as its rich tax revenues (though reduced by partial Control, and the fact it is achieved through a majority of Alliances, not Garrisons). Let’s not forget also the Renown point gained by Philippos through his victory over Tlepolemos, yielding another VP for Macedon…
Waging War by Sea
Where Land Campaigns involve Land Units in Satrapies only, Naval Campaigns involve Squadrons in Sea Areas. They can however impact coastal Satrapies along their path.
Similarly to Land Campaigns, Naval Campaigns have an Origin Sea Area and a Target Sea Area. However, unlike Land Campaigns, the Origin Sea Area does not need to be a Friendly Sea Area, but the Target Sea Area must. Also, the Target Sea Area does not need to be Adjacent or identical to the Origin Sea Area, but can be at any remote, provided there is a Path of Friendly Sea Areas between the two. Bear in mind that there is no such thing as controlling a Sea Area, and that a Friendly Sea Area is simply a Sea Area bordering at least one Aligned Port City.
This represents the limitations of the time to long range naval operations and the necessity of having naval bases to operate in an area. In game terms, this means that you will have to gain control of the necessary Port Cities, either through Land or Overseas Campaigns, diplomacy (Envoy Actions) or through some events to be able to push your fleets into new Sea Areas…
Again like Land Campaigns, an available Leader with the Military Capability must be appointed as Strategos to lead a Naval Campaign. Unlike Land Campaigns, if he was already on the map with Land Units, he must Disperse them to lead the Naval Campaign. And he cannot Muster Squadrons from various Sea Areas to the Origin Sea Area, even if Friendly, but collect Squadrons along his path to the Target Sea Area as he progresses. There must be at least one Squadron already in the Origin Sea Area. The reason for the difference with Land Mustering is that the latter is executed through controlled territories, where naval operations take place at sea, where other powers may possibly interfere before the Campaigning Force is fully gathered.
Mustered Squadrons are placed on the Strategos’s Leader Card as they are added to his Force. A Logistics Cost of 3 Ts must be paid for every Mustered Squadron, no matter at what point they are added to the Campaigning Force, with the same one-time discount of 3 Ts if the Strategos is the King.
Following Philippos’s Land Campaign in the Peloponnesos, the Ptolemies decide to strike back at Macedon, using their primary strength: their navy. To this end, they declare a Naval Campaign with its Origin in the Pamphylion Pelagos Sea Area, where they have a Squadron, through the Aigaion Pelagos Sea Area, which is Friendly to them through multiple Aligned Port Cities (Kyklades, Athenai, Miletos and Ephesos), where they have another Squadron, and finally as Target the Propontis Sea Area, which is Friendly to them through Lysimacheia and Perinthos. They appoint Theodotos as Strategos 3 to lead the Campaign, and place the associated Leader Block in Pamphylion Pelagos. For his initial Force, they take the Ptolemaic Squadron located in the Pamphylion Pelagos and place it on Theodotos’s Leader Card, paying 3 Ts.
Sea Raiding
When a Naval Campaign enters a Sea Area, it may declare that it is Plundering one or several of the Coastal Satrapies bordering it, up to a maximum of four Satrapies in total for the whole Naval Campaign. A Satrapy must not have any Troop (combat Land Unit) located in it to be eligible for Plundering. A Plundering Force can be Intercepted by eligible Squadrons (see below) upon declaration, with the resulting Naval Battle being resolved before the Plundering can take place. If a Campaigning Naval Force is Defeated, it ends its Campaign immediately and can no longer Plunder.
Naval Plunder works very much like Land Plunder, with the Campaigning Force collecting up to 3 Ts per participating Squadron, capped by the Full Tax Value of the Plundered Satrapy. Like with Land Plunder, a Ravaged marker is placed in the Plundered Satrapy. Plundering a Controlled Satrapy is an Act of War.
For this Naval Campaign, there is no Macedonian-Controlled Satrapy bordering Pamphylion Pelagos, but there are three (Peloponnesos, Boiotia-Euboia and Thessalia) bordering Aigaion Pelagos, and one more (Makedonia itself) bordering Propontis. Peloponnesos cannot be Plundered since Philippos’s Force is located there, but all the others are denuded of Troops and hence open to sea raiders…
Naval Interception
Unlike Land Campaigns, meeting an enemy Force in a Sea Area does not necessarily result in a Naval Battle. For instance, in our example, Theodotos’s Force entering Propontis, where there is a Macedonian Squadron, would not imply a Naval Battle between the Ptolemaic and Macedonian Squadrons. There is no sweeping of the seas in Hubris: squadrons can always remain safely in their bases if they wish to, at least as long as these remain safe… Only if a non-Friendly Squadron, or group of Squadrons, declares that it is Intercepting the moving Force does a Naval Battle take place. Interceptions can be declared against any non-Friendly Force beginning a Campaign, entering, Plundering, providing Sea Support or Interdicting a Straits Crossing in a Squadron’s own or adjacent (Friendly) Sea Area. An Interception is an Act of War.
When an Interception takes place, a Naval Battle must take place between the Intercepted and Intercepting Forces. All Squadrons of a given Power located in the Sea Area where the Battle takes place must participate and fight together. In addition, both sides may add to the Battle any Squadron(s) they have in adjacent Sea Areas. Should two different Interceptions by two different Powers take place simultaneously, the Naval Battles are resolved in sequence.
In our example, Macedon decides to try to stop Theodotos’s Force from Plundering its Satrapies bordering the Aigaion and elects not to wait for it to arrive in Propontis since it cannot expect more reinforcements. As soon as Theodotos enters the Aigaion Pelagos, declares that he is adding the Ptolemaic Squadron there to his Force (paying 3 Ts and placing it on his Leader Card) and declares his intention to Plunder Boiotia-Euboia and Thessalia, the Macedonian player declares an Interception by his Propontis Squadron, something he is allowed to do since the Aigaion Pelagos is a Friendly Sea to Macedon thanks to its Aligned Port Cities in Chalkis and Demetrias. A Naval Battle thus takes place in the Aigaion between Theodotos’s two Squadrons and the lone Macedonian Squadron, before any Plundering may take place.
Naval Battles
Naval Battles are resolved exactly like Land Battles, except that all naval units Check against a standard Battle Rating of 2, rather than the Battle Rating of an eventual commander (the period having very few leaders notably talented at fighting sea battles), and Squadrons that are Hit are not Routed, but Sunk, i.e. directly returned to their Power’s pool, and can only return to play if rebuilt through the expensive Build Naval Squadron Action. The only Elite naval unit in the game is the Rhodian Squadron (Rhodos’s Minor Unit), which will lead to much diplomatic activity to secure, or deny, the use of this fearsome unit…
Back to our example, Theodotos rolls two dice against Macedon’s one, all needing 1s or 2s to Hit. Theodotos rolls a 1 and 4, inflicting two Hits (the roll of 4 is a miss, but the natural 1 inflict double Hits), which is more than enough to Sink the lone Macedonian Squadron. At the same time, Macedon rolls a 2, resulting in one Hit, which Sinks one of Theodotos’s Squadron. Both sides have lost 1 Squadron but the Macedonian Force has been entirely Sunk, resulting in a victory for Theodotos, who gains 1 Renown and may continue his Campaign.
Accordingly, he Plunders Boiotia-Euboia and Thessalia, adding 3 Ts to the Ptolemies’ Treasury each time, then completes his Campaign by entering his Target Sea Area, Propontis where he Plunders 3 additional Ts in Makedonia (not the Full Tax Value of 6 since he has only one Squadron left). Ravaged markers are placed in the three Satrapies.
The Campaign has proved profitable for the Ptolemies who are left with a profit of 3 Ts (9 Ts Plundered vs. 6 Ts paid in Logistics costs) while most of Macedon’s territories have been laid waste, which will hamper its Tax Revenues, and hence its capacity to wage war or undertake other Actions next turn.
Invading by Sea
Naval invasions were rare during the period covered by Hubris, but they can be an option when you need to surprise your opponents or get out of a deadlocked situation. Overseas Campaigns combine the features of Land and Naval Campaigns: essentially, such a Campaign is a Land Campaign where, instead of invading an adjacent Satrapy, you are landing in a Coastal Satrapy across one or several Sea Areas. The transit between the Origin and Target Satrapies is handled as a Naval Campaign, with some minor adjustments.
Both the Origin and Target Satrapies must be Coastal Satrapies, and the Origin Satrapy must be Controlled. You need a Path of Friendly Seas between the two Satrapies, so you must already have at least one Aligned Port City in the vicinity of the target Satrapy, i.e. you cannot bet that you will capture such a City as part of your Campaign. Now is the time to carefully study the map layout and see which Sea Areas border which Satrapies…
You do not actually need Squadrons to undertake an Overseas Campaign: if your sea transit is not intercepted, or if an intercepting fleet fails to inflict Hits during the resulting Naval Battle, the ships transporting your troops will make it safely across. However, if you are intercepted and lose the resulting Naval Battle, all your transported Land Units will go directly to the Dispersed Box… Note that transported troops do not fight in Naval Battles: like Siege Trains in Land Battles, they just bear the results of the battle.
Land units are not transported by your warships, but by transport ships. As a result, every land unit participating in the Campaign must pay an extra 5 Ts, representing the extra logistics costs of assembling and operating the many transport vessels required. This makes Overseas Campaigns very costly, and typically limited to small armies involving one or two land units. Unless you have at your disposal the near bottomless wealth of Egypt maybe…
If and once your troops land, the Campaign is resolved exactly like a Land Campaign, battling any enemy present, and undertaking Siege and/or Subjugation attempts, and/or Plunder, if successful. Escorting Squadrons can participate in Plunder. They can also Plunder one single Coastal Satrapy during the transit (not up to four, as their priority is escorting the transport ships).
While Macedon and the Ptolemies are going at it in Greece and the Aegean, the young Seleucid King Antiochos, who recently acceded to the throne following the untimely passing of his father Antiochos III, and so is not bound by the peace sworn by him with Ptolemaios IV, sees an opportunity to seize the strategic island of Kypros while most of the Ptolemaic sea power is busy in the northern seas…
For his Activation, he declares that he will undertake an Overseas Campaign from Seleukis into Kypros, through the Pamphylion Pelagos Sea Area, which is a Friendly Sea for the Seleucids through Tarsos and Seleukeia Pieria. He needs at least one Troop for his Campaign, and for this he Musters the Katoikoi Lower Satrapies, a Military Colonists unit whose Home Satrapy, Mesopotamia, is Controlled by the Seleucids. He does not elect to bring his Royal Army as Kypros is devoid of enemy Troops and he is not expecting a Ptolemaic counterattack. He also Musters his Siege Train (which is already in Seleukis), as his Siege Rating is only average (2). He pays 13 Ts ((Supply Cost of Kypros 3 + 5 for naval transport) x 2 land units – 3 as he is King). This Campaign of course constitutes an Act of War against the Ptolemies, and the appropriate War markers are placed on his and Ptolemaios IV’s Leader Cards.
Faced with this unexpected crisis, the Ptolemaic player is left with few options to counter the invasion. Fortunately, they still have a Squadron in Aigyption Pelagos, which is adjacent to Pamphylion Pelagos through which the sea transit is taking place, and which is a Friendly Sea for the Ptolemies thanks to Lykia and Paphos. Accordingly, they declare an Interception of the transit in Pamphylion Pelagos. They would have liked to Strengthen the Defenses of the island’s Cities, but their only Available Military-capable Leader is Theodotos, who is already elsewhere on the map following his Naval Campaign, and so is not eligible to undertake Strengthen Defenses. Note that the Ptolemies must declare all their Reactions at the moment their Satrapy is Targeted by a Campaign, without waiting for the results of the Interception.
Speaking of which, Antiochos did not Muster any Squadron in his Campaign, but he is not left helpless as he has a Squadron of his own already positioned in Pamphylion Pelagos, which automatically fights with his Force in the Naval Battle. Note that this doesn’t cost any T since the Seleucid Squadron does not join the Campaign as such. The opposing Squadrons each roll a d6, needing a 1 or a 2 to Hit. The Ptolemaic Squadron rolls a 3, and the Seleucid a 5, so none hits, and the Naval Battle is undecisive. Since the Ptolemies have failed to defeat him during transit, Antiochos lands on Kypros.
As his war aims are to capture the island, he elects not to allocate any of his campaign options to Plundering, preferring instead to keep his four rolls for Siege attempts. In reaction, the Ptolemaic player declares that his Squadron, now located in Pamphylion Pelagos, will Support by Sea the City of Paphos (he could have shifted it back to the adjacent Aigyption Pelagos to Support Salamis instead, but he cannot Support both Cities with one single Squadron). Sea Support can be Intercepted, and this is what the Seleucid Squadron does. A new Naval Battle takes place, which again proves undecisive as neither Squadron manages to roll a 1 or a 2. This means that the Ptolemaic Squadron can effectively Support Paphos by Sea.
Antiochos now proceeds with his four Siege rolls. With a Siege Rating of 2 and his Siege Train, he needs to roll 3 or under to score a Success (none of Kypros’s Cities being Strongholds). He rolls a 1, a 3, a 4 and a 5. If there were no Sea Support involved, this would be enough to capture both Cities and gain Control of Kypros. However, because Paphos is Supported by Sea, Antiochos needs two Siege Successes to capture it. With only two Successes, he can only capture one, and he chooses Paphos, reducing the Ptolemies to the single Allied City of Lykia making Pamphylion Pelagos a Friendly Sea to them. With only one of the two Cities on the island, the Seleucids do not gain Control of Kypros, but they do make the Ptolemies lose it. Kypros is uncontrolled as a result of this Campaign, though Antiochos might be able to complete the conquest during a subsequent Activation with a simple Land Campaign, as he is now present in the Satrapy.
What is next in the Hubris Histories? Now that we have covered quite extensively the particulars of open war in Hubris, we will next see how to undertake, to paraphrase a much more modern thinker, war by other means, i.e. diplomacy and administration…
Previous Articles:
The Hubris Histories – Book 1: Historical Overview
The Hubris Histories – Book 2: The Kings and their Courts
The Hubris Histories – Book 3: The Lay of the Land
The Hubris Histories – Book 4: Of War and Peace
Author: Morgane Gouyon-Rety
