Map

The game is played over a map of Italy divided into named provinces and sea areas, black squares represent fortified cities, black circles are unfortified cities. Major cities contain numbers that indicate the income generated by that city. Anchor symbols indicate that a city is a port.

Other points to note on the map:

Piombino - a fleet in Piombino controls the straits between the mainland and Elba, permission of it's owner is needed in order to move a fleet from the Eastern Tyrrhenian Sea to Pisa. (They must note this agreement in their orders for the turn).

Messina - a fleet in Messina controls the Straits of Messina and it is impossible to move between the Ionian Sea and the Gulf of Naples without the permission of the power controlling the fleet, as above.

Croatia and Provence - note that these have both a North and South coast, fleet movement to Provence must state which coast is the destination, the South coast of Croatia is accessible only via Dalmatia.

Dalmatia and Istria - due to the many islands there is effectively a 'land-bridge' between these provinces - army units may move from Dalmatia to Istria and vice versa.

Venice - the city of Venice is effectively an island in The Lagoon, it's size means that only one unit may be in Venice at a time. Therefore, if there is a garrison there, there cannot also be a fleet or army or vice versa. It is only possible to besiege a garrison in Venice with a fleet unit.

The Lagoon - Although small, The Lagoon is treated as an ordinary sea area.

Each game year is divided into three turns called campaign seasons - Spring, Summer and Autumn. Renaissance armies rarely invited the possible disasters of attempting a military campaign in Winter so, in the game Winter preparations for the coming Spring Campaign (collecting income, raising troops etc.) is represented by the additional phases found at the start of the Spring campaign season, Section A is therefore ignored in the Summer and Autumn Campaigns.

A (SPRING ONLY)
- Autonomous Garrisons appear in unoccupied/uncontrolled fortified cities.
- Collect Income (GM determines variable income).
* Build new units.
* Maintain or disband existing units.

B
Players Negotiation Phase.

C
* Players submit Expenditure and Military Orders.
- Adjust treasuries for transfer of ducats.
- Resolve Expenditure - Bribery, Rebellion, Famine Relief payments.
- Determine location of and resolve Plague(SUMMER ONLY).
- Resolve Movement Orders.
- Resolve Famine Effects(SPRING/SUMMER ONLY).
- Determine location of Famine for next Year(AUTUMN ONLY).
* Players receive results and Campaign Report.

Each Campaign Season players submit their Turn Sheet which will detail their Expenditure and Movement orders. Orders are submitted in a strict sequence to allow simultaneous resolution as outlined and explained below. You will need to become familiar with the sequence of events to make your orders more effective.

Phase A (SPRING ONLY)

1.Collect Income (GM determines Variable Income)

The Spring Turn Sheet will show the state of your Treasury at the beginning of the Year. For ease of play the unit of currency used is the ducat, each ducat representing several thousand historical florins, ecus, francs, doblas or ducats. Your income is calculated as follows:

Each Province controlled - 1 ducat
Each City controlled - 1 ducat (or value of major city as stated)
Each Sea Area controlled - 1 ducat

The last player to have a unit in a province controls it.

In addition, each power receives a random Variable Income rolled from the following table by the GM.

Florence and Venice both receive two rolls for Variable Income whilst the player controlling Genoa receives the roll for that state.

2. Build New Units

Order : Build (Unit Type) (Province) (Cost)
E.g. Build Citizen's Militia Rome - 6d

a) You may have a maximum of 12 Army, 8 Fleet and 6 Garrison Units.

b) Players may build new units in any controlled provinces containing cities in their Home Countries (both their initial Home Country and any subsequently conquered Home Country). The unit is placed in the province or within a fortified city. Fleets can only be placed in port cities, garrisons must be placed in fortified cities.

c) Only one new unit per province, if there is already a unit in the city the new unit must be placed in the province and vice versa.

Available Units - Army, Fleet or Garrison Unit:

1) Costs 3 ducats to build or maintain.
2) Has a strength of 1.

These represent codottieri, the mercenary soldiers that made up most Italian armies.

SPECIAL UNITS

Special Units may be Armies, Fleets or Garrisons. Each player may only have one Special Unit in play at a time.

Citizen's Militia
Florence, Milan, The Papacy and Venice may raise Citizen's Militia.

1) Costs 6 ducats to build and maintain.
2) Has a strength of 1.
3) Costs twice the normal amount to bribe.

Some states set up their own militias as a reliable alternative to the mercenaries.

Elite Mercenaries
Every country except the Ottoman Turks may hire Elite Mercenaries.

1) Costs 6 ducats to build and maintain.
2) Has a strength of 2.
3) Costs the normal amount to bribe.

Some states began employing tough German landsknechte mercenaries.

Elite Professionals
Only Austria, the Ottoman Turks and whoever controls the Swiss province may raise Elite Professionals.

1) Costs 9 ducats to build and maintain.
2) Has a strength of 2.
3) Costs twice the normal amount to bribe.

These are Swiss mercenaries, elite landsknechte or Turkish Janissaries.

3. Maintain Units

Order : Maintain (Unit Type) (Province) (Cost)
E.g. Maintain Army Spoleto - 3d

Players may choose to maintain or disband existing units, the cost per unit as stated above.

Note - Any unit not maintained will be disbanded.

The Excommunication order can be used by the Papal player at this point (see Military Orders, below).

Phase B (All Seasons)

Remember, any agreements, alliances or offers made during Negotiation Phases are non-binding, you are under no obligation to follow through a conversation in your orders. Of course a well-timed stiletto in the back may prove amusing and critical to your success in equal measure, however, a reputation for untrustworthiness or double-dealing may not serve you well as the game progresses.

Phase C (All Seasons)

EXPENDITURE ORDERS

You may overspend in the expectation of loans, gifts etc, however, if these fail to be ordered your last expenditure(s) will fail to take place if your Treasury falls short.

1. Borrowing Phase

Players may borrow ducats from each other as non-binding loans or up to 25 ducats from The Bank. Loans from The Bank may be for 1 year at 20% interest or for 2 years at 50% interest to be paid in the Borrowing Phase of the indicated season of the particular year. You may take out another loan to pay off the first as long as the outstanding principle is never greater than 25 ducats. Loans may be repaid early, interest first, rounded up, during any Borrowing Phase.

A player in debt to The Bank may not loan money to another player before paying off the loan.

Defaulting to The Bankers results in the same effects as Assassination (see below) and you may no longer borrow from them.

The order sequence and protocols for the Borrowing Phase are:

a) Pay Bank (Amount)
b) Pay (Other Power) (Amount)
c) Borrow (Amount)
d) Bank collects any loans due (Assassinates defaulters)

2. Famine Relief (3 ducats)

Order : Famine Relief (Province) (Cost)

This order ends the effect of famine in a province.

3. Pacify Rebellion (12 ducats)

Order : Pacify (Province) (Cost)

This order will end the effects of a rebellion in a province.

4. Counter-Bribe (Multiples of 3 ducats)

Order : C-B (Unit) (Province) (Cost)

This order is used to nullify a suspected attempt to bribe a unit (see 5 - 10 below).

5. Bribe - Disband Autonomous Garrison (6 ducats)

Order : Disband AG (Province) (Cost)

This order removes the specified autonomous garrison from play.

6. Bribe - Buy Autonomous Garrison (9 ducats)

Order : Buy AG (Province) (Cost)

If successful, the specified autonomous garrison becomes one of your own garrisons.

7. Bribe - Committed Garrison to Autonomous (9 ducats)

Order : Bribe (Power) G (Province) - AG (Cost)

Another player's garrison becomes an autonomous garrison.

8. Bribe - Disband Committed Garrison (12 ducats)

Order : Disband (Power) G (Province) (Cost)

This order removes another player's garrison from play.

9. Bribe - Disband Army or Fleet (12 ducats)

Order : Disband (Power) (Unit) (Province/Sea Area) (Cost)

If successful, the specified unit is removed from play.

10. Bribe - Buy Army, Fleet or Garrison (18 ducats)

Order : Bribe (Unit) (Province) (Cost)

A specified unit changes alliegance to you, an army remains an army, a fleet remains a fleet and a garrison will remain a garrison. However, you can also issue orders to successfully subverted units for this Campaign (see 4f above) including the convert order (see below).

BRIBES

a) If a unit has a bribe and a counter-bribe, the counter-bribe is subtracted from the bribe. If the remaining bribe ducats are too few to carry out the bribe, it fails.

b) Counter-bribes are only effective against bribes (expenses 5-10) and cannot be used to counter Famine Relief, Rebellion or Assassination attempts.

c) Counter-bribes can be ordered for another player's units, autonomous garrisons or your own units.

d) If several bribes are directed at the same unit during the same Campaign Season, only the largest one succeeds and all smaller bribes fail and are wasted. If there is a tie for the largest bribe all bribes to the unit fail and are wasted.

e) Expenditures 5-10 are bribes directed at units and may be counter-bribed, bribes can be larger than the minimum cost in multiples of 3 ducats to offset the effects of counter-bribes.

f) A player who orders a bribe to buy another unit may also submit orders for the unit in that Campaign Season.

g)The minimum cost for bribes directed at garrisons in major cities are doubled. Yes, this means a Citizen's Militia garrison in Milan would cost 12x2x2 to Disband!

11. Rebellion - Conquered Province to Rebel (9 ducats)

Order : (Province) Rebel (Cost)

This order is given to start a rebellion in an enemy-controlled province that is not part of the enemy home country.

12. Rebellion - Home Province to Rebel (15 ducats)

Order : (Province) Rebel (Cost)

A rebellion can be started in an enemy-controlled home country province.

REBELLIONS

a) Rebellions are directed against a particular power. They remain in the province (and ungarrisoned city if present) until pacified, put down or liberated.

b) Income cannot be collected from a province or city in rebellion, garrisoned cities still produce income as rebellion will only effect the province.

c) A rebellion can be pacified with the Pacify Rebellion order (3 above).

d) The controlling power can put down a rebellion by issuing a Hold order to an Army or Fleet Unit in the province.

e) To put down a rebellion in a fortified city it must be Besieged (see below).

f) A rebellion may be liberated by a unit of another power entering the province or buying a unit in the rebellious province.

g) Rebels provide support to a unit Advancing into the province, if two or more power's units attempt to enter simultaneously none will get the support.

h) You cannot build new units in your rebelling cities or provinces.

i) Your units cannot Retreat into or Convert in your rebelling cities.

j)If a unit occupies Venice, no rebellion can be placed there.

13. Recruit Bodyguard (3 ducats)

Order : Bodyguard (Power') (Cost)

Bodyguards can be recruited in increments of 3 ducats (3, 6, 9 etc.) to protect against assassins. You can hire bodyguards for other leaders.

14. Assassination (30 ducats)

Order : Assassinate (Power) (Cost)

Each player has an agent in the court of every other power, these can be used to attempt an assassination.

An assassination attempt costs 30 ducats, it is possible to pay more in increments of 3 ducats. An assassination succeeds if the price paid for it is at least 30 ducats higher than the price paid for the bodyguard. The prices paid are in effect only for the current Campaign Season. If several attempts are made against the same player at the same time, only the highest-paid (or one of them) is carried out but every attempt is charged for.

A successful assassination kills a leader but the player is not eliminated and continues play as the successor to that state.

ASSASSINATIONS

a) All unit orders are converted to Hold orders though units may still be supported by other players' units. The Hold orders cannot be used to put down rebellions and all sieges that the player is attempting are broken.

b) Any of the victim's besieged garrisons are immediately eliminated, except if the besieger's leader is also assassinated in which case the garrison remains.

c) Some of the victim's provinces may rebel, each is rolled for based on 1d6:
Home Province with friendly unit rebels on 1.
Home Province with no unit rebels on 1-2
Conquered Province with friendly unit rebels on 1-3
Conquered Province with no unit rebels on 1-5

MILITARY ORDERS

These are orders that may be given to Army, Fleet or Garrison Units. There are six different orders: Advance, Besiege, Convert, Hold, Support and Transport

a) Each order is directed at a certain area - province or sea area - but this target area must be identified only in Advance and Support orders.

b) Each unit may be given one order.

c) A Fleet may carry out all types of order, an Army can carry out all except Transport but a Garrison may only Convert, Hold or Support.

d) Orders can be given to units you are attempting to bribe in your Expenditure Orders, if your bribe was successful they will carry out their new orders in the current Campaign Season.

1. Advance

Order : (Unit) (Province/Sea Area)-> (Province/Sea Area)
E.g. Army Modena -> Bologna or F LA -> IS
Or if using transportation
A Savoy ->EGOL->WTS-> Palermo

This order can be given to Army or Fleet Units and tells it to advance into an adjacent province or sea area. In it's advance an Army may be transported between it's starting and target locations over consecutive areas - sea areas and/or coastal provinces - if there is a fleet in each of these areas and the fleet could legally try to advance from those areas into the next one in order.

Both the starting and target locations must be noted and the unit identified and, if being transported, each area through which transportation takes place.

An Advance succeeds if:

a) The target area is not occupied by a military unit of equal or greater strength.

b) Or, the other military unit is successfully advancing out of it or converting to a garrison. Note, units cannot advance past each other.

c) No other unit of equal or greater strength is advancing or coverting into the area.

d) If being transported, no transporting fleet is forced to retreat.

If an Advance fails the advancing unit executes a Hold.

2. Besiege

Order : (Unit) B (Province)

This order tells an army or fleet to besiege a fortified city occupied by an enemy or autonomous garrison in the province occupied by the army or fleet. A fleet may only besiege a port city. If the siege succeeds the garrison is destroyed and the city is now controlled by the besieger. A successful siege also puts down a rebellious city.

To succeed, the besieger must successfully execute the Besiege order during two consecutive Campaign Seasons otherwise it must be started all over again. A besieged garrison cannot be bribed.

3. Convert

Order : (Unit) (Province) C-> (Unit)
E.g. F Ancona C-> G

This order tells an army or fleet to convert into a garrison or vice versa. The conversion must take place in a province with a fortified city which must be a port city if the conversion is between a garrison and fleet unit.

So, over three Campaign Seasons it is possible for an army unit to enter a province, convert to a garrison then convert to a fleet in the last season. A military unit may advance into a province where another unit is converting into a garrison and a garrison may convert into a province if a military unit is successfully advancing out of a province.

4. Hold

Order : (Unit) (Province) H (or no order given)

This tells a unit to stay in place. This is the default order if none is given or if the given order is impossible to carry out. A deliberate Hold order will also put down a rebellion in a Province.

5. Support

Order : (Unit) (Province) S (Province) or
E.g. A Capua S Spoleto (supporting self in to Spoleto)
Order : (Unit) (Province) S (Power) (Province)
E.g. A Capua S Naples Spoleto (supporting Naples player in to Spoleto)

This order tells the unit to give it's support to another unit into a particular area. It is assumed that you will be supporting one of your own units in it's operation, e.g. you can support a unit's Advance into an area that the supporting unit could also advance into, or support a garrison to Convert into a province, or support a unit to Hold it's position, or support a Transport, or support another player's unit in a province to do any of these.

a) You cannot support another support order.

b) You can give support to another player's unit but this must be noted, an operation may be supported by several different units and several different players.

c) Your support is directed into a province that the supporting unit could legally advance into (without transportation) or convert into.

d) It is not always necessary that the supporting unit could execute the supported operation, e.g. a fleet may support a Besiege of a non-port coastal city.

6. Transport

Order : F (Sea Area or Coastal Province) T or
Order : F (Sea Area or Coastal Province) T (Unit)
E.g. F GON T Papal A

A fleet may transport an army unit (as noted under Advance above). The order is directed at the location of the fleet unit and only needs to note the unit being transported if it belongs to another power.

a) A fleet's Transport order does not note the starting or target area of the transported unit (Yes, it could be possible to transport an army that's targetting one of your own provinces!).

b) You can Transport only to areas that the fleet could legally advance into.

c) If the Transport cannot be carried out, the army unit Holds it's starting location.

CONFLICTS

Conflicts occur when any two or more units attempt to occupy the same province or sea area (a city acts like another area within a province so it's possible, for example, to have a garrison in the city and an army in the province).

Most units other than the previously mentioned Special Units - Citizen's Militia, Elite Mercenaries and Elite Professionals - have a strength of one. To successfully Advance into a province or sea area where there is already a unit or to which another unit is also attempting to Advance will require greater strength than the opponent. This might come from Supporting units.

E.g. A French army in Savoy attempts to Advance into Genoa but because there is a Florentine army there it 'bounces' back.

If a French fleet in the Eastern Gulf of Lyons gave a Support order into Genoa the army unit would successfully Advance and the Florentine army would be retreated out. If, however, there was another Florentine army, say in Modena, Supporting into Genoa we would be back to the stand-off position.

One way round this is to attack supporting units to break the Support. Back to the above example, the French player hasn't got another unit that can break the deadlock by giving more Support into Genoa but an army in Parma could attempt to Advance into Modena, it won't succeed in it's Advance but it will have cut the

Support from Modena to Genoa.

a) If two or more equally strong forces attack into the same place it's a stand-off and no units may retreat into that place.

b) If two equal forces try to swap their locations, the attacks fail, unless made by different routes.

c) If an equal force is ordered to Advance into an area occupied by a unit with orders to Hold, Besiege or Transport, the attack fails and the occupying force may carry out it's orders.

d) If an equal force is attacking a place occupied by a unit with Support orders then the support is broken unless the attack came from the area to which the support was directed.

e) If a force is ordered to Advance into an area which another force is leaving, either by Advancing elsewhere or Converting into a garrison in a city, the attack succeeds.

RETREATS

A unit attacked by superior force must retreat unless at the same time it is Advancing or Converting.

a) Retreats are made into an unoccupied place into which no force tried to attack during the Campaign Season.

b) A unit may not retreat into the area from which the attack came.

c) If a unit can Convert into a garrison and there is no other place available to retreat to it will convert.

d) If no place of retreat is available the unit is eliminated.

e) The GM will carry out the retreats trying to avoid unit eliminations. If some retreating units would unavoidably clash, if not converted into garrisons, they are converted wherever possible. If some units clash unavoidably they are eliminated.

EXCOMMUNICATION

Once per game the Papal player can issue an Excommunication (or Crusade in the case of the Turks) Order against another player. This order can be issued during the Maintain units phase or this one.

The effects of the Excommunication are that the player may not receive ducats from other players nor give ducats to them - payments, loans, donations etc. until the next complete Phases B-C is over or the next Phase A is over, whichever comes first.

If the Papal player is eliminated from the game, the validity of a given Excommunication Order expires.

FAMINE

Famines were common across Europe and could be particularly devastating in more urbanized regions such as Italy.

Each Autumn the GM will roll randomly to determine if there is any famine and, if so, it's extent. Then the the provinces affected are determined on the Famine Table.

The Spring Campaign Turn Sheet will indicate the affected provinces.

PLAGUE

Epidemics of various sorts often afflicted Italy, particularly in the Summer months.