📖 Kings of War v4

1. Creating a campaign

Campaigns → Start new → choose the game and rules → “Let’s begin”. The wizard covers: name, story, image, number of players, the map with its places, and campaign settings (starting gold, fixed income, points-to-gold rate, selling loss, most sides in one battle).

Places on the map have a name, description and income per round; some are marked as starting points. The game master invites players by nickname – they join once they accept (home page, “Campaign list”, e-mail). Invitations are only possible at the start: in the draft and in the Campaign preparation phase; after that the roster is closed. Then, in the Choosing starting positions phase everyone takes a free starting point (first come, first served) – their home position.

2. A round step by step

1. Preparation – the game master adds events (also at specific places), players buy units and artefacts and form armies.
2. Orders – players secretly send armies to chosen places (with a PDF army list).
3. Battles – orders are revealed, the system announces battles and road encounters; players fight them at the table.
4. Resolution – players enter results and destroyed units, the game master approves them and grants rewards.
5. Dusk – casualty rolls, the battle report in the chronicle, end-of-round events. “End round” pays income and starts the next round.

The game master switches phases. You can step back within a round (e.g. from Battles to Orders), but not from Dusk – dice rolls can’t be undone.

3. Gold, units and artefacts

• At the end of every round each playing member gets the fixed income plus income from places they control.
• Units and artefacts are bought with gold in the Preparation and Orders phases. Price = base cost in points (from Mantic Companion) × the campaign rate. Options and upgrades are chosen in Companion.
• The campaign ignores Companion list limits ([U], [2]) – you may buy ten catapults and split them across several armies. Players check their own lists against the battle rules.
• Selling refunds the price minus the loss set for the campaign (10% by default). Items won as rewards can’t be sold, nor can units that marched on an order – until the round ends.
• Artefacts marked [hero] are for heroes only.

4. Armies and orders

• Bought units are grouped into named armies (Armies tab). Units outside armies stay at the home position.
• Artefacts and items are assigned to armies just like units – they march with the army. Who exactly carries them is set in your Companion list.
• In the Orders phase click a place on the map → “Send an army here”, choose the army and attach the PDF list from Companion – exactly what you will field. Without the PDF the army won’t march.
• Orders are secret until the Battles phase (only the owner and the game master see them). A sent army is locked; the game master can undo a mistake.
• You can’t go to a place blocked by an event, to your own home position, or with an army bigger than the place’s points limit.
• Attacks on other players’ home positions are policed by the game master.

5. Battles and road encounters

• A side is all armies of one player at the same place.
• If as many sides meet at a place as the campaign limit allows (or fewer) – it’s a main battle; with 3+ sides alliances are free.
• If there are more sides – random pairs first have a road encounter. You may withdraw (no losses) or fight; the loser goes home with losses, the winner recovers and marches on. Example: limit 2 and eight sides → 4 encounters → 2 encounters → final.
• An army that reached its destination unopposed simply moved there.
• The Battles tab shows your battles separately from the others; army lists are visible to the battle’s participants and the game master.

6. Resolution and losses

• Road encounter: only the loser reports – ticking the fully destroyed units.
• Main battle: each side enters won, lost or draw, the match score and its destroyed units.
• The game master can correct a report and approves every battle.
• Taking places – at the start of Dusk the winner of a main battle takes the place together with its income from the map. After a draw the place stays with its current owner, and with several winners (an alliance) the game master decides. An army that arrived without a battle only takes an unowned place. Starting points are never taken automatically – the game master decides. The capture shows next to the battle as a “Territory” reward and in the battle report; the game master can undo it, and if they already granted that place during Resolution, the site keeps their decision.
• At the start of Dusk the system rolls a d6 for every destroyed unit: on 1–2 the unit is lost (it flees and leaves the army), a hero only on 1. Results are shown with the battles and in the chronicle report.
• Surrender (flee without a fight) – you may flee a main battle without playing (in the Battles or Resolution phase, until approval). The fleeing side loses and reports no losses, but at Dusk rolls 2d6 for every unit it fielded: a double one (snake eyes) – the unit is caught and slaughtered. When all opponents surrender, the last side wins by walkover.

7. Events, rewards and the chronicle

• The chronicle is a stack of entries: the campaign story at the bottom, events above it with date, round, place and photo.
• An event at a place (one per round) can: block sending armies, offer capturing the place as a reward, set an army points limit and describe a special reward.
• The game master grants rewards: territory with income per round, gold, a unit, an artefact (from the catalogue or custom). Every reward is shown with the battle and in the report.