Scope
Aim of the Campaign
Outline of game procedure
The game will start in Summer turn AD 480.
Turn sequence
How to do your orders
The Directory lists each kingdom and the districts that make it up. It also tells you how large a Population each district has. Each Population Unit is 1000 men, women and children.
Population Units can be one of 2 types . They can be WORKERS or FIGHTERS.
WORKERS. These represent the resident population who farm the land , fish and make things. It is from these that a district's income comes .
FIGHTERS. These are armed fighters ready to do battle and available to march off to war. Out of the 1000 people that a Population unit contains only 50-100 will be fighting men. The others will be camp followers , armourers or involved in supplying the soldiers.
In any given move units can be one or the other - but not both . The ONLY exception is that if a district is attacked each WORKER may be available to produce a Militia Unit for its defence. This is immediately disbanded after any battle. Assuming the attack is repulsed there is no effect on income.
This is the section that details how much revenue can be raised each Summer turn from each district (expressed in units -Cows because that was how individual wealth was assessed ) . Each province has a tax base (TB). This is the amount of tax that can be raised from 1 WORKER (W)in a year. In order to be able to tax a Worker. the following criteria must be met:
Players need to decide at what level to tax a province. (The Level of Tax LOT)
To determine the Tax raised in each district simply
Follow this formula : W x TB x LOT = TAX
Always round up fractions.
Example 1. Arthur taxes Isca (3 WORKERS)(TB = 4) at severe (LOT 1.5)
Therefore his income is 3 x 4 x 1.5 = 18 Cows.
Example 2. Unuist of Caledonii taxes Braemer (3 WORKERS)(TB=2 at normal (LOT 1)
Therefore his income is 3 x 2 x 1 =6 Cows
One of the main reasons of raising taxes is to muster troops for battle and conquest. This section defines how this is done. The population units in a district can be either WORKERS or FIGHTERS in a given Move. At the beginning of the following move they may change their status. In other words WORKERS can be mustered and become troops and FIGHTERS can be disbanded and return to being WORKERS.
Historically the numbers of troops in standing armies were relatively small as quite often as many men as possible were needed during the Summer and Harvest to work the land. After this was done the men could be armed and mustered for war during the late Autumn and winter.
Therefore I have tried to reflect this practice in the rules by so designing the economics to perhaps make this behaviour more likely.
Muster and maintenance cost
The following chart gives the cost for mustering a unit from a WORKER and for maintaining an existing military unit:
Unit type Class Available to: Muster Maintain Cost cost Tribal warriors Infantry Picts,Irish,Scots 1 1 Attecoti Militia Spearman Infantry Saxons, Romano-British 4 2 Trained Spearman Infantry All 6 3 Tribal Veterans Infantry Irish Picts Saxons 6 3 Attecoti Elite* Infantry/ Infantry All 10 5 Tribal Bodyguard Archers Missile troops All 8 4 Slingthrowers Missile troops All 6 3 Scouts Cavalry All 8 4 Light Cavalry Cavalry All except Saxons 10 5 Heavy Cavalry Cavalry Romano-British 14 7 Light raiding ships Ships All 10 5 Transports Ships All 12 6 * These Elite troops can only be raised from previously existing Troops . You pay the muster cost to increase their training and convert them to Elite status. On occasion I may declare that one of yours units has become Elite.
Example 1 .At the start of summer 480 Arthur has 25 Cows in the treasury. His standing forces are 2 Heavy cavalry and 2 Elite Infantry . This costs 24 Cows to maintain. Thus he carries over 1 cow. Arthur taxes his land at the end of Summer. He gains a total of 96 Cows.
In the Winter Move he starts therefore with 97 Cows. It costs another 24 cows to maintain his forces as above leaving 73 Cows. Apart from the existing forces he has 36 Population units. He must leave some Cows in his treasury to suply his forces next Summer . He could muster 24 of his population Units as Militia Spearmen and march to war, but he prefers better trained troops so in stead goes for 8 units of Trained Spearmen . This gives him an army of 12 Units ( or about 720 Men). Of course he will have to send home most of these troops at the end of the winter Campaign in time for next years Farming.
Example 2.At the start of summer 480 Unuist of Caledonii has 22 Cows in the treasury. His standing forces are 2 Tribal Veterans and 1 unit of Tribal Bodyguard . This costs 22 Cows to maintain. Thus he carries over 0 cows. Unuist taxes his land at the end of Summer. He gains a total of 54 Cows.
In the Winter Move he starts therefore with 54 Cows. It costs another 22 cows to maintain his forces as above leaving 32 Cows. Apart from the existing forces he has 22 Population units. He must leave some Cows in his treasury to suply his forces next Summer . He musters 10 of his population Units as tribal warriors and marches to war(leaving 22 cows in his treasury . This gives him an army of 13 Units ( or about 780 Men). Of course he will have to send home most of these troops at the end of the winter Campaign in time for next years Farming.
Due to the restrictions on the population of each nation it's ruler may decide to employ mercenaries which will not remove men from the fields. Of course the problem will be that mercenaries are loyal only as often as they are payed. Each turn the mercenaries are used they must be payed at the full MUSTER cost of units above plus a BATTLE BONUS if used in battle of 2 Cows per unit. A maximum of 3 mercenaries is available to each nation per turn. I may announce from time to time that more or less are available due to random factors.
1.Tribal Warriors. This units represent the hordes of barbarian fighters to assaulted the boundaries of Britainia after the Romans had left. They fought in swarms - irregular masses . This type of fighting concentrated on individual prowess and fierceness rather than tactics and discipline. Sheer terror could put the enemy to flight. Whole tribes could take to arms and head off to war. Thus these units are cheap to muster. They tended to fight in a loose formation rather than a disciplined shield wall . They contain some men with crossbows , sling or bows.
2.Militia Spearman. These are the poorly trained drafts in the British cities called up to defend them against attack . They do not like leaving their homes and only muster after effort - hence they are more expensive than the Tribal warriors.
3.Trained Spearmen. These units train in disciplined shield walls and are used to campaigning away from home. They can claim the benefit of fighting in shield walls.
4.Tribal Veterans. Older more mature and with more experience than the tribal warriors- a real threat to the enemy.
5.Elite Infantry. Trained spearmen and tribal veterans can become Elite troops . The best troops in any army. Tribal veterans can become Tribal Body guards - men who have complete loyalty to their chieftan or king even to death.
6. Archers. The days of massed ranks of English Longbows is far in the future. In the Arthurian era a few archers were used to break up formations . Learning the art was time consuming and few did it.
7. Slingthrowers . The most basic missile weapon . Used to irritate and disrupt enemy units rather than win battles.
8.Scouts. A few men on horseback can spot and seek out the enemy and report back. Not battle cavalry. These units can see into all adjacent districts.
9. Light cavalry. Unarmoured horsemen. Lacked impact but could be useful pursuing a broken foe.
10. Heavy Cavalry. The Roman army in the 5th century had as half its numbers chain mail clad cavalry .This marked the beginning of the domination of cavalry on the battle field that would last until the 19th century. These horsemen may have been the origin of the Arthurian knights of legend. Very useful in hitting shield walls in the flank or rear.
11.Light Raiding ships. These would only carry a few troops but are fast. They can attack enemy ships and raid coastal districts .They may carry up to 1 company of troops.
12. Transports. Each of these ships can carry 4 companies of troops.
Only the missile troops and light cavalry can skirmish
- that is disperse into a scattered formation and engage the enemy with missile fire or brief hand to hand scraps. This is designed to disrupt the dense formations of the enemy and cause light casualties. Units in skirmish formation will always fall back if pressed by formed up troopsWhen an army invades an enemy district a battle may occur if the enemy has an army there or if that countries standing orders allow for calling out the Militia. Assuming the defenders loose the conquerors may do several things.
1. The district may be pillaged . If this is a Summer turn this means the victor can in effect tax it at severe level and add that income to his treasury ( and the looser does not add any income to his treasury for that district this summer). If it is winter the pickings will be poorer. Only a number of cows equal to a poor taxation will be gained. If this is a RAID you do not have to remain in the district.
2. Slaves may be taken from the district. 1 Population unit may be taken away as slaves to work your land. It then becomes a WORKER to all intents or purposes. If this is a RAID you do not have to remain in the district.
3. You may absorb the district into your kingdom. To do this at least one of your FIGHTERS must remain in the district either as a unit or as a WORKER. (which of course means that one of your existing districts population will go down. The native population of that district now become your workers.
You may establish trade routes from your capital to other capitals. You must of course agree to this with the other nation. To establish trade routes you spend a number of cows equal to the distance in districts between your capitals. Each turn thereafter the traderoute generates a number of cows equal to the distance in districts between the capitals . This may be divided between the participating nations as they might agree . In order for trade routes to function each of the nations must be at peace and a route must be able to be traced through each particpating nation. If it passes through a third party state the other nation must be in agreement and can demand a cut. If the trade route passes over sea one of the nations must allocate a transport to the route. Enemy raiders can cut the route by attacking the transport. See naval movement for details of calculating the number of districts across sea.
At the begining of each turn if allowing for existing FIGHTERS and WORKERS the total poulation of your nation is less than starting population you may spend 1 cow per population unit to bring the population back up to the starting poulation. (Thus you can replenish losses due to war and raids). You may also attempt to expand your population. Each 2 cows you spend gives you a 1 in 6 chance to gain a population unit (rolled by me).
During these times their were great population movements in Europe. The Germanic peoples were pushed west by peoples from Asia. This brought more and more Saxons, Angles and Jutes onto British shores in the 5th and 6th centuries and beyound. Irish raids into what became Wales and in particular what became Scotland lead to settlement by large populations their. To reflect this there is a rule on imigration.This applies to:
The Confederation of Saxons
Kent
Angle-Land
Deira
Bernicia
Lleyn
Demetia
Dal-Riada
All of these nations gain 1 population unit as trained spearmen or Tribal Veterans dependant on racial type free of muster cost arriving on their coast without the need for transport and available for movement at the beginning of each Winter turn. It is then treated as any other Population unit - i.e. can move , fight or be disbanded to farm the land. The only proviso is that the nations must have a coast. Otherwise that unit will settle in the nearest neighbour.
This is the nitty-gritty of the campaign. Players can experiment in administration , they can negotiate and establish alliances, they can use spiritual powers to awe the enemy - but it is WAR that determines victory. Only by the sword can leaders show their strength.
It is my intention to resolve small scale raids and battles myself. Larger battles will I hope be played out at the October Wargames Association using 25mm miniatures and the rules Warhammer Ancient Battles (with a few amendments ). Players who are in the club will of course play for themselves. Players from elsewhere will be represented by club members or me . Occasionally a battle might be played at my house where I hope to have a good sized wargames table in a spare room. I am happy for players to paint up units for them selves and play with them. Wargames Foundary and Gripping Beast both produce very good figures in Saxons , Irish and other Celts. WF do a Romano-British range. However it is not necessary to provide any figures at all .
Each company of soldiers (about 50-100 men) is represented by a unit of 12 figures on the table . These are based each on a 20mm square base. After battle Units will be classified as intact (9-12 figs left), having moderate casualties (4-8 figs left), having heavy casualties (1-3 figs left) or destroyed . See rules of recovery from battle later for details on how this would effect ability to fight in future battles.
Leaders/Heroes
Every nation has one or more leader at game start . He is given a leadership bonus detailed in the directory. This runs +1 to +4. At game start only one nation has a +4 leader . This is Drumnonia's Arthur . This can effect the recovery of units from battle. It also reflects how they will effect actual battle. (The higher the better)
After game start you may appoint new leaders/heroes to marshall your forces and rally the troops. These are rated +1 , +2, or +3.
Leader with a bonus of 1 =5 cows
Leader with a bonus of 2 =10 Cows
Leader with a bonus of 3 =15 Cows
Leader with a bonus of 4 =20 Cows (Only 1 can exist - at game start it is Arthur, to become this leader a +3 leader must defeat and slay Arthur in battle and then pay the fee to relect buying off minor enemies to get them to accept your dominance) After game start new Leaders cost 1 Cow per leadership bonus per turn to maintain.(But you do not have to pay for starting SL)
Please name your leaders so I can mention them in chronicles and keep track of him.
Units are given orders. If no order is given the unit stays put and defends but will not take any action in response to enemy activity unless a Leader personally is available to order them.
Orders are as follows:
HOLD: Units on hold orders prepare the area for defence and always try and locate a good defensive location e.g. on a hill , in a town. The units will not move from that location that turn as they have not organised wagons/ supplies etc , preferring instead to dig ditches / barricades etc. Units on HOLD orders may heal up.
RESERVE: These units are mustered with suply wagons etc for marching. They await orders. If enemy troops move into adjacent districts then the army can move to attack / intercept. The army must have a SCOUT unit attached to be able to see into those districts.
RAID: These units will move to the designated district and attack. They can then follow the options under pillage. They do not remain in the district afterwards - returning to a home district.
ATTACK: The army will follow the route specified in the orders . They will attack their objective - which you will also have to specify. They will then convert to HOLD orders at the location unless you order them elsewhere. If SCOUTS are attached the army may divert to attack other enemies seen along the way.
MOVE: Units just moving around within your country or within allied nations.
You may elaborate as much as you wish to the orders - and give as many conditions as you wish. However remember I may misinterpret the orders if they are complex - so if in doubt call me /e-mail me. In particular it might be good to specify at what odds you would attack or retreat.
Units can move a given distance in a turn .
The following chart lists how many movement points units have per turn.
Unit Name Movement Points Notes Tribal troops 10 Other Infantry 8 Missile Troops 8 Scouts 16 Light Cavalry 14 Not in mountains Heavy Cavalry 12 Not in mountains Light Raiding Ship 15 Only on sea ! Transports 10 Only on sea !
Sea Movement: You move along coasts. It costs 1 pt to move along the coast 1 district. Thus transports can move along the coasts of 10 districts. Crossing the Seven Sea (Bristol Channel) costs 2 pts. Lands End- Isles of Scilly = 2 pts. Skye - Isle of Lewis = 1 pt. Caithness - Orkneys = 2 pts.
The following chart shows how many points it costs to move through a district on a given type.
Terrain Cost Along Roman Road 1 Clear plain 1 Hills 2 Light woods/wooded hills 3 Marsh/ Fens 3 Broken 3 Dense Forest 4 Mountains 4 Crossing river 2 Embark/disembark 1 Sea 1
To count as moving along a Roman road the unit must enter on the road into the district.
When you move an army into another country - unless it is a friend a battle is likely to occur. The defender must decide wether to
1. Engage the attacking force with any units in the district plus the local militia
2.Fall back into the town/city and prepare for siege
3.Abandon the district and evacuate .
As already mentioned in the ecconomic section all WORKER units in the district may be called up free to defend it. They become Militia Spearmen and join the existing forces. Unless I get instructions otherwise every time an enemy invades one of your districts I will call out the militia and attempt to destroy attackers with it.
Deployment: Unless I recieve instructions or a player is fighting the battle armies will deploy with the elite infantry in the centre , and lesser infantry to the flanks. Missile troops will deploy infront on the main body to fire on the enemy and will fall back behind/ or to the flanks if pressed. Any cavalry will deploy on the extreme flanks and attampt to charge flanks or rear of enemy units.
Defeat or victory: I will decide who has won a battle if it is not obvious. In general one side will be left in possesion of the field of battle. Defeated units may be destroyed, captured or have fled to an adjacent district. They do not retreat into the town in the district the battle took place in.
If defenders elect to fall back onto the city/town they will of course be difficult to attack as they will have the benefit of the towns defenses. Attackers can elect to attack the town or to lay siege. In any event the attackers will be able to tax that district next Summer turn or pillage it. In a siege situation each unit looses strength each turn as if they had taken wounds in battle(no recovery roll whilst siege continues). Thus in 3 turns maximun they will surrender unless relieved.
All military units may be ordered to flee the district. Militia and WORKERS have to roll. They need a 5 or 6 to leave in time. Otherwise they either elect not to leave or fail to "get it together".
It must be remembered that all units represent not just 100 fighting men but 900 camp folowers. For simplicy I assume that if the fighting unit is injured the Population unit as a whole is effected - not just because the women folk and children may be widdowed and the elderely not be able to look after them selves but also because their may be casualties amongst the camp followers as well. Only FIGHTERS that are intact may be disbanded and immediateley are available to work the land next season. All other units can not become WORKERS until healed. If units fight when they are not intact they start with a reduced number of figures and impaired morale. Therefore after the battle both sides must take stock of casualties and attempt to regroup.
1. The Victor
All units that have suffered up to 3 casualties are considered intact and available for action. Losses are made good from recovering wounded and from the camp followers. Intact units can fight and march or can be disbanded and return to their original district (this occurs before the next move i.e. at the end of the move the battle was in) or may be added to the conquered district.
All units that have taken moderate casualties roll a d6. On a 5,6 they are immediately Intact . Otherwise they must rest 1 turn before becoming intact. If so they do nothing (IE no Taxation available)apart from defend if attacked . They can be moved back to their home district however to recover.
All units that took Heavy casualties roll a d6 . On a 5,6 they become Moderate casualties. They can then roll again another d6 as above. I.e. It is possible for heavy casualty units to recover completely .If they fail either roll they must rest a turn as per rule above. They then become Moderate Casualty or intact respectively.
Destroyed units roll a d6 . On a 6 they become Heavy Casualties unit.
2.The loser
All units that fought a battle including the militia , intact units and wounded units roll a dice.
Intact units and Leaders escape on4,5,6 .
Wounded units escape on a 5 or 6. Otherwise they are captured intact. Leaders can add their Leadership Bonus Elite Units add +1. Militia -1.
Destroyed units are lost forever including the whole population unit.(I.e. The camp followers are killed along with their men)
Any units that escape can then roll as per victors recovery rules.
Note that the Spiritual Leaders can effect this healing and recovery as indicated in section 3.
1. Assasination . You may try to assasinate enemy leaders . You pay to hire assasins. Assasins are rated poor, average, good or elite. These cost 10, 15, 20 or 30 cows respectively. I have made these expensive to avoid hordes of assasins rampaging round the place. I will decide the chance of the assasin being succesful. The higher the leadership bonus of the leader the more difficult. I.E. You can't just bump off Arthur Paul!
2.Build fortifications.
At game start each capital city is taken to be a Heavy fortress. Other cities are not fortresses . The years since the Romans have left have lead to the crumbling of the old walled cities and the British and Saxons have lost the art of stonemasonry.The only other fortifications are the Antonine Wall which marks the northern border of Strathclyde and Hadrian's Wall . The former is a light fortification the later a Heavy fortification.
After game start you may build new fortresses i.e. fortify your towns or place new forts on specific locations.
To build a Light fortification around a city costs 20 Cows and takes a turn.
To build a Heavy fortification around a Lightly fortified city costs 20 Cows and takes a turn.
To build Light fortification along 20 miles of frontier costs 30 cows and takes a turn .
To build Heavy fortification along 20 miles of lighly fortified frontier costs 30 cows and takes a turn .
Light fortications means that units under siege can ignore the first full turn of siege before starting to suffer losses - reflecting stockpiled suplies.
Heavy fortications means that units under siege can ignore the first two full turns of siege before starting to suffer losses - reflecting stockpiled suplies.
Fortifications obviously will bolster defense.
3.Espionage. You will get some information from merchants, bards or refugees. However you can enroll the help of second oldest profession -spies. I have no rules regarding the oldest profession! Spies are rated poor, average, good or elite. These cost 10, 15, 20 or 30 cows respectively. The higher the rating the greater the information available. This cost reflects the cost of bribes or the cost of setting up a network. Once bought spies report each turn until found .
These were superstitious times. The weather, life , death , fortune and failure were all considered to be dictated and influenced by God or The Gods. The people in this land will react to these factors and thus this will impinge on our game.
Before the Romans came the Britons worshiped the Gods of Briton and believed in Druidism. The Romans supressed the ancient religion and introduced their own Gods. Later the early christian missionaries established a foot hold in thes Islands. When the Romans left the old religion reemerged to an extent. The result is that Druidism , Christianity and the worship of the Roman Gods do battle for the souls of the Britons. The Irish have had contact with Christianity through St Patrick . The Saxons have their own pagan gods that give their names to among other things some of our days. It will be several centuries before Christianity brought over by St Augustine from Rome finally replaces the old religions.
To all intents and purposes it does not matter which of these religions a particular nation follows in game terms as all of them create a degree of mysticism and belief which have a strong effect on the believer. In addition Celtic Druid , Saxon Wizard or Christian Monk all have a greater knowledge and understanding of the working of the universe , weather , crops , basic medicine and human psychology than the common man. It is this knowledge along with the believers trust and conviction that give the religious figure power. Thus the greater the percieved wisdom of an individual the greater his apparent magic (or spiritual ) powers are.
Each nation has a Spiritual Leader (E.G. Drumnonia's Merlin)who is given a spiritual rating (SR) listed in the gazetter. The SR defines the effect that the Spiritual Leader has in certain endeavors.The SR is a dm to the chance of sucess of a task and also is the number of tasks a SL can undertake in a turn.SL can move at Scout speed. After the start of the game players can hire more Spiritual Leaders i.e become benefactors and suporters of the faith. The cost to hire a SL is given below. After game start new SL cost 1 Cow per SR per turn to maintain.(But you do not have to pay for starting SL)
Spiritual Leader with SR of 1 =5 cows
Spiritual leader with SR of 2 =10 Cows
Spiritual leader with SR of 3 =15 Cows
Spiritual leader with SR of 4 =20 Cows (Only 1 can exist - at game start it is Merlin)
The following tasks can be undertaken by the Spiritual Leaders.
Combat effects
1.Oratory . Before each battle the SL can give a great speech . If it is succesfull all freindly companies gain +1 Morale. Futher if the enemy SL fail to give a great speech and yours is succesful each of their companies sufer -1 to Morale. Basic chance of sucess is 6 on a d6.
2.Bless/curse arms. The SL can bless one companies arms per SR and this gives a +1 to their attacking factors. Alternatively he can Curse arms and give a -1 to an enemy company. This reflects the psychological effect that a druid/ priest praying over a soldiers weapons can have( or huring curses).The chance of sucess is 6 on d6.
3.Bless/ curse armour . The SL can bless one companies armour per SR and this gives a +1 to their defending factors. Alternatively he can Curse armour and give a -1 to an enemy company. This reflects the psychological effect that a druid/ priest praying over a soldiers armour can have( or huring curses).The chance of sucess is 6 on d6.
4.Heal Injury. The knowledge of medicine and herbalism together with the strong psychological effect of the belief of the soldier can enhance healing. The SL can add his SR to the chance of recovery of one unit per SR( see rules on recovery from battle).
5. Urge on. The SL can by force of will and inspiration encourage companies to march faster, further between breaks , march through the night etc and in many ways oblige a force of up to 5 compnaies per SR he is with to move upto 25% further in a turn. The chance of sucess is 6 on d6.
E.G. Merlin has a SR of 4. In Winter of 480 he Urges On Arthur's army of 12 Companies (He could have done up to 20) and so they force march into Wessex. When Arthur attacks an enemy army he conducts Oratory and inspires his army. The enemy become dismayed. He then blesses 4 of his own companies arms and curses 4 of the enemy companies. Merlin is a powerful figure.
Other effects
1.Enhance Harvest. Due to knowledge of seasons , crops etc the SL can improve the harvest and hence the income from a province if he is present in a province for the entire Summer turn. The province yields 2 extra Cow per rank of the SL.
2.Create Health. The SL knowledge of medicine etc can increase the chance of a population increase in a province he is present in for a turn by his SR. This reflects reduction in the mortality rate of infants and increase in general health of the population.
3.Sooth rebellion. The influence of the SL can reduce the chance of rebellion in a province and increase the chance of the rebellious submiting to the rule of law.
Their are several locations in Briton which have great spiritual significance to the people. Ant nation that held one of these sites would believe that it power would aid its cause. Hence the SR of the SL is enhanced is these locations are held by your nation by +1. In addition any spells or abilities attempted at these sites would also enhance the SR by +1. These sites are as follows:
1.Avalon (Glastobury) in Drumnonia. Merlins tower.
2.The Stones (Stonehenge).
3.Ynys Mon (Anglesey/ The Blessed Isle) in Lleyn.
4.Yeavering in Bernicia.
5.Callanish in Isle of Lewis Iardomnan
6.The Ring of Brodgar in the Orkneys Kingdom of Caithness
7.Men-an-tol Landsend in Kernow.
8.Nine Maidens in Meslach Elmet
Populations at this time mainly wanted to just be left to farm and get on with life. Tax them to high , muster their men folk for an unpopular war, lose a battle or fail to protect them from raiders and rebellion was likely.
If any of these situations arise I will roll a d10 . I will take off the LR of the leader of the nation, and the LR of any leader actually in that district. I will take off 1 for each unit other than militia in the district. I will take 1 off if at low taxation. I will add one for every bad thing that has occured. If the score is 7+ the people become rebellious and the people rise up to over throw the tyrant i.e. you!. A roll of 0 always causes a rebellion.
In a rebellion every pop unit become a militia unit and tries to hold the district against the ruler. You can not gain any income from a district in revolt. Each turn you can try to pacify the revolt either by war , or negotiation. To negotiate you roll a d10 and add on you LR , plus the LR of any leader actually in the district. SL can try to influence the rebellion too. If you roll a 7+ the rebellion is ended. However any leader or SL that used their SR cannot do any other thing that turn.
I am happy for players to phone each other up, talk at any occasion they meet or e-mail each other. Contact details are in the rules . I would like to know what is being discussed and put players on their honour to do so. I am also happy to pass on letters, proposals etc to other players with their results.
In many ways it is your skill in negotiations and diplomacy that can determine success in your battles. Players are at complete liberty to come to what ever arrangement they wish. It might be that you wish to exchange information or send each other troops or revinue. You may agree to cede territory. One thing I do point out is that players can breech agreements at will - so do not trust any one. Especially Paul. The only restriction I make is that I might decide that a particular alliance would be unpopular with your people - or so popular that breaking it might lead to revolt . So be wise and cautious in your dealings. Also remember that players may not trust you if you let them down.
At game start their are no preset alliances . However the following is a summary of general feelings of the people:
Anglo-Saxons want to expand . They wish to push out the British. They will ally with other Saxons against the British and will be happy doing so but are just as happy to fight each other. They would not favout an alliance with the British - especially against fellow Saxons.
The Romano-British will ally with other Romano-British against the Saxons in order to regain lost land and protect what is left and will be happy doing so but are just as happy to fight each other. They would not favour an alliance with the saxons unless it lead to great benefits.
The Irish , Dal-Riada Scots , Picts and Attecoti will happily ally or fight against any one for loot and land. However once they have been betrayed or attacked by another tribe they will treat them as blood enemies. This would mean an alliance with them would be very hard to accept.