Scouting Rules
Information is vital in Ankathenemon, just as in any other good military campaign.
If you doubt that, read Sun Tzu's
Art of War sometime. The campaign setting here is no different. To get information
about neighboring territories and armies, the following scouting rules have been
developed.
As a part of its seasonal turn orders, and banner may send out a portion of
it's troops to scout one or more territories adjacent to the banner, for a
variety of information types.
The following troops types may be used for scouting operations:
- "Skirmished" Regiment Troops
- "Fast Cavalry" Troops
- "Flying Troops"
- "Scout" Troops
- Pseudoscouts*
* Pseudoscouts are bought like ordinary troops, but are not fielded in
battle. They cost 10 points each, and are neither elite nor non-elite troops.
They are always considered unfieldable baggage train. They may only be used
in scouting operations, and must always be rolled for as casualties in any
battle their banner participates in.
The amount, and quality, of information you get back (if any), is dependant on
the number of points you send, doubled. A percentile roll is made, with at
least a 5% chance of failure. (Example: Lord Zaphod, The Dark Elf General,
sends 2 harpies {44 points} on a scouting mission into a neighboring
territory. This gives Lord Zaphod an 88% chance of receiving good information
{44*2=88}. However, the GM botches Lord Zaphod's scouting roll, and the
harpies report back that there are many delicious looking rabbits in the
territory. Stupid harpies!)
You may send seperate scouting missions for the following tasks:
- What a territory provides
- What troops are currently in, or moving into the territory, or moving out
of the territory toward a province you own (Generally called Troop Movement
Scouting)
- Better Terrain for a battle to be fought in that terrain the next turn.
You must identify in the scouting report the specific type of terrain you want,
and where you want it. (Example: Lord Zaphod sends his scouts into a
territory he wants to attack the next turn. Knowing of his army's pair of
repeater bolt throwers, he would like a hill in his deployment zone, on which
to place them. Having learned his lesson with the harpies, he sends 3 dark
elf scouts (42 points) to find a suitable area in the neighboring territory to
stage the battle.) Must identify as such: I (want/don't want) to have (trees/
lake/hill/difficult ground) in (my Deployment zone/my Opponent's deployment
zone/midboard). Select one option from each section for each scouting
mission. Note that if you are willing to spend enough points on scouting,
you can effectively dictate the terrain of the battlefield.
- To eliminate "Fog of War"*
*Fog of War: Special circumstance that occurs in Spring. Due to the fact
that most armies have been sitting in the winter, there is a bit of
uncertainty regarding the enemies positions/forces/disposition. To reflect
this, any battles fought in Spring have a 3 in 6 chance of being affected by
"Fog of War", which means that both sides have to set up blindly. Place an
opaque block of some sort (curtain, piece of wood, whatever) in the middle of
the board, and have both armies set up their forces. Then remove the block.
If one side or the other moved in Winter, then this roll is skipped.
Note: All scouts are lost after each mission. Alternatively, you could roll
for them as casualties with no modifier as described in the battle section.
