by Moritz Eggert Version 1.1, March 15, 2006-03-15
The following rules should enable you to replace any nation on the board by an automated player that is acting through simple dice rolls using 6-sided dice.
Therefore it would be possible to play the game solitaire by playing one colour and have all the other nations/colours act after the following rules. It is also possible to play with two players and have the other two (or 1, if playing the 3 player scenario) act in an automated way. Any other combo of “auto-pilot” and real players is also possible.
The rules refer specifically to the Fantasy Flight Edition of Lew Pulsipher’s “Britannia”, but they could easily be adapted to any “Britannia”-style game. Some nations might need special rules, like the Romans in Britannia, but if you want to adapt these rules to games like “Maharaja” or “Hispania”, please do so and drop me a note.
General note: The system uses several “preference” mechanics to decide a specific action. If there is more than one action possible that fulfils the exact same criteria, decide randomly by assigning numbers to each possibility. Usually you should be ok with a 6-sided die, so for example if there are three areas where you could place a new army that all give equal VP’s in the next scoring round (see below), just assign number like 1-2, 3-4, 5-6 to each area and roll a die.
What you’ll need: several small dice to keep track of the various nations “tactics”, cubes in the colours of each player to track kills and determine “mortal enemies”.
Explanation of terms
Attractiveness (abbreviated AT):
The Attractiveness of a space is the PVPV (Potential Victory Point Value, see below) minus the DV (Defensive Value, see below). The higher the number, the higher (better) the AT
Deadpile:
Armies of a nation that are killed are placed on their nation’s sheet as a deadpile. This deadpile influences the change of tactics (see below). Armies are either in the deadpile or in “store”. If placing new armies on the board first take them from the “store” armies, only if there are no armies in store anymore, take from the deadpile armies.
Defensive Value (abbreviated DV) and Offensive Value (abbreviated OV):
The Defensive Value of a space or the offensive value of an attacking army is calculated as a sum as follows:
-
- each normal army: 1
- each Cavalry Army/Roman legion: 1.5
Modifiers:
-
- with leader +0.5 PER ARMY
- defending in mountain space/over straits: +5 PER ARMY (only applicable for DV)
Example: 3 cavalry armies defending in a mountain space equal 3×1.5 plus 3×0.5 = 6 DV
Minimum Offence (abbreviated MO):
The Minimum Offence depends on the TR (Tactical Rating, see below) of the active auto-nation and is equal to the DV plus a number between 0 and 3.5 (the OR, Offence Rating, see below)
Mortal Enemy:
If a currently acting nation (auto- or player-controlled) wins a battle that it started against another nation, a cube of the player colour of the successful attacking nation is placed on the nation that was attacked, to record an accumulation of hatred for that particular colour (just like in a face-to- face Britannia game there will always be a player colour that you will be particularly annoyed with). These cubes accumulate throughout the game and are only removed in the “Attack Cube removal phase”. The Mortal Enemy colour of any nation is determined by the currently highest number of cubes of that colour on the nation’s sheet. if there is a tie, always determine randomly who the current Mortal Enemy in any given situation will be.
Offence Rating (abbreviated OR):
This is determined by the TR (Tactical Rating, see below) of the active auto nation and is added to the DV of a certain space to determine the MO
Potential VP value (abbreviated PVPV):
Each space has a “potential” PVPV value depending on the action you are about to do. When you place a new army defensively the PVPV is simply the value of the space in the upcoming scoring round, if you would have to hold that space. If you attack a space the PVPV is the VP value for conquering the space plus the VP value of keeping the space in the next scoring round plus the VP value of all armies killed (if applicable) plus the VP value of a possible submission of the attacked people (if applicable at that very moment) plus the VP value of leaders that you could kill (if applicable). The PVPV is a decisive factor in the actions of the Auto-players, but often doesn’t have to be calculated exactly, especially when the most attractive space is clear.
Preference List (abbreviated PL):
A PL is a list of possible cases that one basically works downwards, applying the first applicable case. If there are two or more possible results or one reaches the last item of a PL and still hasn’t determined a result, a random result is used.
Tactics Rating (abbreviated TR):
A number from 1-6 (0-7) shown by a die placed on the various nations’ sheets.
Phases that you go through for each “auto-nation”
PHASE 1: POPULATION INCREASE/REINFORCEMENTS
Subphase: Attack Cube Removal phase
Variant: Although the auto-players will act pretty competently, if not a little over-defensive, you might want to try giving them one extra population point for each area controlled by an auto- player nation. A normal space gives therefore 3 population points, a mountain space gives 2. This would not be necessary in a game with more than 1 human player.
First: remove ONE cube from each group of accumulated “mortal enemy” cubes (see above), if there are any. This simulates that no grudge is forever.
1.1. Where to place the new armies
New armies (reinforcements or population growth armies) are placed either where they appear after the rules or after the following preference list, but after a new army is placed in a region, don’t place another army there this turn, except in the rare case where you get more armies than you have spaces. This means that you only place a second army in a space if you have placed an army in ALL other spaces beforehand.
Preference List:
-
- the space that gives the most VP’s in the upcoming scoring round or the space that has a leader in it whose kill would give another nation VP’s in their next round (this only applies in the rare cases where a leader is NOT removed at the beginning of a turn, as the leader is placed AFTER placing armies) whichever is more, and has the least armies in it. (Note: if “leader kill” PVPV and “space” PVPV are absolutely equal, prefer to defend the space with the leader).
- The space with the next highest PVPV, etc. If in doubt first place armies in:
- a plain space
- a mountain space
If an army cannot be placed due to overpopulation (also see below) place it in the next eligible space.
Example: You have to place a new army. First you look for the space which gives the most VP’s in the next round. Owning space A gives you 6 VP next round, and owning space B gives you 6 VP as well. A has three armies; B has 2 armies in it. Normally you would place the new army in B because it has fewer armies, but as A also has a leader whose kill would give another nation 8 VP you would place the new army in A instead (because 8 VP is more than 6 VP). If the kill of the leader would only give 5 points or less you would place the new army in B instead.
Saxon exception: In Round 12 and 13 the Saxons will always attempt to build as many Burs as they are allowed, placing them under the above rules after they have built at least one normal ar my.
1.2. Placing leaders:
Leaders are placed last, simply in the space with the most units in it (resolve ties by looking at the space with the highest DV).
PHASE 2: DETERMINE CURRENT TACTICS
2.1. Initial Tactics
If this is the first turn of a nation in the game, roll a die, this will be the TR of this nation from now on. Place the die with the roll on that nation’s sheet for future reference. If the nation is “mega-passive” the die is removed for the time being, if it is “suicidal” place a cube of that nations colour on the die.
Exception: If rolling the die for a new nat ion that has a major invasion this turn, modify the die roll by plus 2, ignoring any result over 7.
The ratings are:
0 mega passive (can only be achieved with modifiers) 1 extremely careful 2 careful 3-4 moderate 5 aggressive 6 very aggressive 7 suicidal (can only be achieved with modifiers)
EXCEPTION: Romans get an additional +2 on this roll in turn I
2.2 Change of Tactics
If the TR was already determined check if it will change. Roll a die:
1-2: TR decreases one number 3-4: TR remains the same 5-6: TR increases one number
Modifiers:
-
- If the number of dead armies in the current deadpile is LOWER than the current TR die, the tactic change roll will be modified by +1.
- If the number of dead armies in the current deadpile is EQUAL to the current TR die, the tactic change roll will be modified by +0.
- If the number of dead armies in the current deadpile is HIGHER than the current TR die, the tactic change roll will be modified by -1
- If the checking auto-nation is having an invasion of any kind, the roll will be modified by +2 (like above)
- If the checking auto-nation is raiding this turn, modify the roll by +1
Automatic increase: (IMPORTANT) during each scoring round, all TR’s automatically increase by 1 BEFORE rolling the dice (the TR could still theoretically decrease afterwards).
Explanation of terms:
-
- Mega-Passive A nation with this TR will attack if it can achieve an OR of 3.5 (best) to 2.0 (worst)
- Extremely Careful A nation with this TR will attack if it can achieve an OR of 3.0 (best) to 2.5 (worst)
- Careful A nation with this TR will attack if it can achieve an OR of 2.5 (best) to 2.0 (worst)
- Moderate A nation with this TR will attack if it can achieve an OR of 2.0 (best) to 1.5 (worst)
- Aggressive A nation with this TR will attack if it can achieve an OR of 1.5 (best) to 1.0 (worst)
- Very Aggressive A nation with this TR will attack if it can achieve an OR of 1.0 (best) to 0.5 (worst)
- Suicidal A nation with this TR will attack if it can achieve an OR of 0.5 (best) to 0 (worst)
Explanation of Odds:
Calculate the DV of the armies present in the space to be attacked and then use the OR range of the active auto-nation to determine the minimum (worst odds) OV or maximum (best odds) of armies that have to be moved into a space.
Example: A nation wants to attack a space defended by two armies in plains, with a TR of 3 (moderate). As the minimum OR is 1.5, it has to move at least 1.5 more OV into the space, but a maximum of 2, which means it could either attack with for example 2 armies and a cavalry army (2×1 plus 1×1.5=3.5, which is 1.5 more than the DV of 2) or, if no cavalry army is available to achieve +1.5, with 4 armies (4×1=4, which is two more than the DV of 2).
An auto-nation will never go above or below the necessary OV, with one exception: If the armies come from a sea space where no defensive movement (see below) makes sense, they will always add the maximum to the last attempted attack, therefore going above the maximum OV.
Empty Spaces Exception: If an empty space gives points solely for conquering, not for occupying, the auto-nation will simply move through it without leaving any armies.
PHASE 3: MOVEMENT
3.1. Each nation will have a number of “movement actions” that depend on the TR, the number of armies present, and the spaces it can reach. First offensive movement actions are checked and resolved until the current TR of that nation doesn’t allow an attack anymore (meaning it can not move armies into a space anymore to achieve the minimum OR necessary to attack that space). If there are still unmoved armies there will be a number of defensive movement actions until either all armies have moved or defensive movement is not possible anymore.
3.2. Offensive Movement Actions
Before each offensive movement action check all spaces that are reachable by a nation either by normal movement or boat movement or raiding movement for the AT (Attractiveness). The space that has the highest AT will be the one that the next offensive movement action will have as a target.
Special Rule: If the nation has a Mortal Enemy, each checked space that contains units by the
Mortal Enemy colour gets plus 1 AT.
If there is a tie, use the following PL:
–Â Â Â empty space*) –Â Â Â space occupied by a Mortal Enemy nation –Â Â Â plain space –Â Â Â mountain space –Â Â Â attacking through straits
As explained above the AT is the PVPV minus the DV.
*) Empty spaces: If an auto nation moves into an empty space, disregard the MO, as no fighting will take place. The auto-nation will always fulfil this offensive action by moving only one single eligible army into the space. The space can only end up having more armies in it through Defensive Movement (see below).
Special Rule A: In Round 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13 and 14 each English Area gets +2 AT (because of Bretwalda and King), but only if the checking nation owns at least one other English area (otherwise it doesn’t make sense to strive for kingship).
Special Rule B: -2 is subtracted from all spaces which contain armies of the same colour as the auto-nation (which means that usually these will be attacked only if there is no other possibility or if the VP benefits outweigh the effort)
Norman Exception: +3 is added to the AT of Essex, Wessex, Hwicce and South Mercia for a
Norman auto-nation in Round 15. +4 AT Â is added to the space containing Harold (the Saxon).
Saxon exception: Each English area gains +2 AT for a Saxon auto-nation in round 15. In addition Harold will never enter any non-English area (only if the Saxons occupy only 1 area in England, and can’t gain any more this round)
Some examples:
–Â Â Â 3 normal armies defending in a space with mountain worth 6 VP when the active auto nation would own it during the next scoring.
AT = 1.5 (6 PVPV minus 3×1 plus 3×0.5 = 4.5)
–Â Â Â 2 cavalry armies plus leader that would give 8 VP when killed, in a space that would give
2 VP when occupied by the auto nation this turn
AT = 6 (10 PVPV minus 2×1.5 plus 2×0.5 = 4)
Note: Although it sounds complicated to calculate the AT for each reachable space it will very often be obvious which space is the most attractive, for example when an enemy leader whose kill would give 8 VP sits next to the auto nation defended by one single army in a plain space.
In general the rule of thumb is that the auto-nation will always try to attack the equally most profitable and least defended space, just like in real life.
3.2.1. The offensive movement action will only take place if the Minimum Offence (MO) for attacking the space can be created by moving armies into it. The “worst” rating (DV plus “worst” OR) is always the minimum, the “best” rating (DV plus “best” OR) the maximum.
The active nation always tries for the MO (“worst”), and will only exceed it if there is no other way to attack the space. The maximum can be topped if a leader is used, see below, but the minimum is always the threshold for a possible attack. If not even a “worst” rating can be reached in any space to be attacked, the auto-nation will try to attack the next best space (using AT as a guide).
If no attack/action is possible anymore, the nation will go to the Defensive Movement Phase.
3.2.2.1. Moving armies: When attacking a space, the auto-nation will first move armies from any currently overstacked spaces, then the furthest armies from the space to be attacked that can move there under the rules, then the 2nd furthest etc., . If there is a tie about which army should move first, decide randomly
A nation will not leave a space empty (so the last army in a space should normally never be moved), unless these two conditions apply:
-
- a) the space will not give any VP’s in the next scoring round
- b) leaving the space empty will not endanger “integrity” of the active nation (i.e. there won’t be “two halves” of a nation after leaving a space empty in such a manner)
- c) the space can immediately be re-entered by an adjacent or close army that is free to move, but too far to reach the “main offence” space
Case c) is called “swapping movement”, and is often used with nations that are divided by mountain ranges, like the Welsh or the Caledonians. Always check if the auto-nations can apply such movement to create successful attacks, sometimes using common sense (the rules to exactly pin down this kind of movement would be extremely complex).
3.2.2.2. Leaders will not move until one of these conditions applies:
-
- a) the space to be attacked can only reach MO if a leader is moved with the armies attacking and not in any other way (note that sometimes armies can only move into a certain space when a leader accompanies them, for want of range or hindrance of mountains).
- b) No Offensive Action is possible anymore
If b) is the case, the leader will move into the space with the highest OV present (of his own armies).
If b) is the case, but there was no space attacked this round, the leader will move defensively (see Defensive Movement).
3.2.3.: Overrun check: After the first Offensive Action has been declared, now check the spaces that are adjacent to the attacked space as well as the spaces you already checked when looking for the next space with the highest AT. If the new space to be attacked is now adjacent only to the space you just moved armies in, check if there are enough present there to create an overrun. If not enough armies are there move eligible armies into there, until an overrun is created, THEN conduct the next Offensive Action. If by moving the armies into the overrun space you don’t have enough armies left to do the planned Offensive Action, they are NOT moved to create an overrun. Instead check the next eligible spaces, or go to the Defensive Movement Phase.
3.2.4. Overpopulation: If after checking for all Offensive Movement a nation has not conquered enough spaces to avoid overpopulation at the end of the turn , it will try to attack as many spaces as possible to have enough spaces to prevent this from happening. In this case (only) the AT of a space does not count, instead the space with the lowest DV is preferred in all cases. The nation will attack with the best possible odds, but if several spaces have to be attacked to achieve non- Overpopulation status, it will divide these odds as evenly as possible. Decide randomly which spaces are attacked with more or less armies, if applicable. Otherwise all PL rules from above count also here.
Note: Each auto-nation always acts with the theoretical possibility that ALL its attacking armies survive any given combats, and will always avoid overpopulation and overstacking at any point of its turn.
3.2.5. Overstacking: If any offensive movement action creates an overstacked space (see note above), the auto nation checks if at that moment it still has the one allowed overstacked space option for this round. If this option is already currently in use (in another attack), it will not attack this space but instead check for the next eligible space until either running out of options or entering defensive movement.
Important: of course it’s possible that moving armies into an attack can remove an overstacking in one space, therefore allowing an attack. If this is the case, the offensive action is still done.
Note: It is important to track which armies have moved and which not. This is easy in the old versions of the game, where you could simply flip the counters, but in the Fantasy Flight version it is necessary to use another system. This only becomes necessary when moving large forces, like the Saxons or the Romans.
3.2.6 No Offensive Movement possible anymore, but armies are left on a sea space:
As defensive movement makes little sense on a sea space, any nation which has armies left on a sea space while having no more new spaces to move offensively into, will move additional armies into already existing combats (as an exception to the rules above) after the following PL:
-
- spaces with the least attacking armies in them
- mountain spaces/through straits
- spaces with the highest PVPV
3.3. Defensive Movement Actions
If no Offensive Movement action is possible, an auto-nation immediately starts defensive movement.
When moving defensively, it is important in which order the armies move. Consult the following PL:
-
- –Â Â Â cavalry/elite armies in an overstacked space
- –Â Â Â cavalry/elite armies
- –Â Â Â normal armies in an overstacked space
- –Â Â Â armies on a sea space
- –Â Â Â armies in a space with the highest number of yet unmoved armies in it
- –Â Â Â armies in a mountain space
- –Â Â Â armies in a plain space
- –Â Â Â Leaders
ALL unmoved armies have to move defensively, and they always go to the highest (owned) PVPV space that
-
- a) they can reach by normal movement
- b) that has not had another army moved defensively in it
If b) applies but all owned spaces have been moved defensively into, start again with the highest
PVPV space and work downwards, as if no defensive movement has yet taken place.
Important: An army may well find that the highest PVPV space available is the space it starts it’s defensive movement in. If this is the case, this particular army does NOT move, but if other armies in the space move defensively they will treat the space as “already moved defensively into”, like explained above.
When in doubt where to move defensively, use the following PL:
-
- –Â Â Â the space with the least amount of armies in it
- –Â Â Â mountain spaces
3.3.1. Leaders in Defensive Movement: If a leader has not moved in the offensive movement phase (very rare), he will move last in the defensive movement phase. Simply move the leader into the space that has the most armies present (count the actual number of armies, not the DV). This could in some cases even be a sea space. If there is a tie, use the following PL:
-
- – Space with the highest PVPV
- – Mountain Space
- – Plain Space
Phase IV: Combat Resolution
The auto nation resolves combats after the following PL:
-
- –   Spaces that would – if conquered – block retreat of other armies of an attacked nation
- –Â Â Â Spaces that have been used as overrun spaces
- –Â Â Â Spaces of nations that could be submitted this turn
- –Â Â Â spaces with the most units present (add defender and attacker)
- –Â Â Â spaces with the highest PVPV
Combat is resolved via the normal combat rules. When deciding which unit is eliminated, the auto-nation – if an opposing player – will always use 6’s to kill cavalry/elite armies. If the PVPV of destroying a fort or a normal army is higher, it will prefer destroying that instead, but only then.
4.1. Retreats
After each round of combat, each auto-nation involved will check for retreat in the usual order, by rolling a single die.
4.1.1. Important: The attacker will only start  checking for retreat after  losing at  least  one attacking army, otherwise no check is necessary. The defender will always check from round 1 on.
4.1.2. If there is no eligible space to retreat (blocked retreat, etc.) no check is necessary for the nation that is so affected.
4.2. Checking for retreat
Retreat is checked by rolling a die.
1-3 the auto nation stays to fight another round of combat,
4-6 the auto-nation retreats (see below)
The following cumulative modifiers apply:
-1 Â fighting in a space with a PVPV (any)
-1  for each point of OV or DV that is less to checking nation’s DV or OV (respective).
ROUND UP!
-1  killing armies/leaders of opponent (if present in battle space) gives auto-nation any VP’s
In favour of fleeing:
+1 fighting in a space with NO PVPV
+1 for each point of opponent’s OV or DV that is higher than checking nation’s DV or
OV ROUND UP
+1 killing armies/leader of opponent (if present in battle space) gives auto-nation NO VP’s whatsoever
Where to retreat (attacker or defender)
A retreating force will always retreat after the following PL:
-
- – The space with the largest number of friendly or empty adjacent spaces
- – The space with the highest PVPV
- – The space with the highest number of friendly DV
If attacking from a sea space, the sea space to retreat to will of course be mandatory.
4.3. Checking for submission
Auto nations that are eligible for submission will check for possible submission by rolling a die after the end of EACH combat round in which they may theoretically submit.
If the modified die roll is a “6” or more, the auto-nation immediately submits to the attacker. The following cumulative modifiers apply:
+1 for each currently owned area less than the maximum amount of allowed areas for submission (for example: The Welsh own 3 areas when checking for submission. As they must have 5 areas or less to be able to submit, they get a modifier of +2 to the die roll)
+1 for each space on the board in which the checking nation has another battle to fight (but has not yet fought)
+1 if the current TR is 0-3
+0 if the TR has not yet been created
-1 Â if the current TR is 4-7
+5 if the battle is fought in the last space owned by the auto-nation (i.e. there are no other spaces anymore)
A nation that has to retreat because of a submitting nation uses the retreat rule under 4.2..
Note that after a submission the areas adjacent to the submitted nation’s areas are now reachable by their Conqueror (as the conquering nation can move through the submitted nation’s areas).
4.3.1. Population Increase or not?
If checking for possibly allowing normal population increase for an auto nation, roll a die. On a 1-3 it will allow normal population increase, on a 4-6 not.
Important  Exception: If the checking  nation has no  mortal enemy,  it  will never grant  full population increase.
If it does allow population increase, the following rules apply for an auto-nation:
–Â Â Â Mortal Enemy/ies of conqueror become/s Mortal Enemy/ies of submitted nation for this round only (voiding their own mortal enemies).
–Â Â Â The first space (only) to be attacked MUST be a space occupied by a Mortal Enemy of the conquering nation. If the conquering nation does not have a Mortal Enemy, the nation which is closest in VP to the conquering nation becomes the ME for this round.
For a player controlled nation:
–Â Â Â you are not allowed to attack any other nations with the same colour as the conquering nation
–Â Â Â you have to attack at least one Mortal Enemy of the conquering nation, if there is none, see rule above
Non Auto-players have to abide by these rules, or face the wrath of Khan.
Phase 5: Raider Withdrawal
After all battles have taken place, check the auto-nation for possible raider withdrawal. Raiders will always return to the sea area they came from, as per the rules, IF they return.
First check spaces with the highest OV in them, the moving progressively downwards. Roll a die for each space so checked.
If you roll a modified 6 or more the forces in that space will NOT retreat and stay. If you roll less than 6, these forces AND all the forces not yet checked WILL retreat to sea (or land, in the case of the Pict raiders). So if some go, all the rest goes as well.
These are the cumulative modifiers (each counts as +1 on the die roll)
-
- –   checked space has any PVPV (NOT counting the VP’s that you got for occupying it, this is already
- –Â Â Â – checked space is a mountain space and contains 1 or more armies
- –Â Â Â checked space is a plain space and contains 2 or more armies
- –Â Â Â checked space is an English area (only in rounds 8-14)
Important exception: In a scoring round Raiders never withdraw fro m spaces that have any PVPV for this round, these spaces are never checked.
Further special rules:
Bretwalda election:
Auto-players will always vote for the nation with the most areas in Britain with the same colour.
King election:
In the rounds where a king can be elected (11, 12, 13, 14) an auto nation’s TR rises in conjunction with the number of English areas they control at the start of it’s turn (if one is close to kingship with a nation one might just be that tad little more aggressive).
1-4 areas: TR rises +1 5-8 areas TR rises +2 9 or more areas: TR rises +3
The rules creating higher AT for English spaces in this round also apply, of course.
Romano-Brits appear:
When exchanging Roman forts for Romano-British armies (Roman withdrawal phase) use the PL listed under “Population Increase” to determine the first space to have Roman armies exchanged. If in doubt, don’t prefer plain over mountain spaces, but mountain over plain spaces instead.
Once you have determined the first space where a fort is exchanged, nation coherence takes precedence; this means that the next forts exchanged are the ones that are adjacent to the first space where a fort was exchanged. If no valid ones (no present Roman armies) are adjacent anymore and there are still forts to exchange check again to see which space will be exchanged, again using the modified PL.
Of  course  the  rules  of  placement  are  in  effect,  so  don’t  exchange armies until  you  have exchanged all forts.
