Building a Dynasty: Combat Resolution

Conflict Resolution: Combat occurs on land and sea in this game, each type of battle has different conditions though all battles are based on phases

Land:

Stances: brigades take a “stance” when engaging in combat and may change their stance on each phase depending on the situations these are:

Hold: Your men hold their ground and wait for the enemy to come to them.
Cautious: Your first attacks on the enemy are cautious skirmishing attacks. Reduces losses for the first round but also minimizes the amount of damage you can do to the opponent.
Balanced: Provides no buffs or drawbacks it is the most basic fighting stance your army can take.
Aggressive: You’re men are eager to close the gap and cut the enemy to pieces. This stance provides a bonus to melee attack but a minus to ranged fire (can’t risk hitting your own men).
Break Through: Your goal is not necessarily to defeat the enemy army entirely but to break it and scatter it enough for your forces to push past them and potentially break away to either plunder more enemy land or fall back to your home. This stance provides a bonus in offensive power and provides a chance of ending the combat on that turn if the die roll is good. However it severely costs in defense as you are giving your enemy a chance to envelope you should your attempt fail.
Fight in the shade: You’re army attempts to close within ranged distance and hold there against the enemy. Provides a bonus to archery but reduces melee.
Dig in: This stance may only be taken before combat begins; your men raise defensive stakes and dig trenches to deal with cavalry. Digging in provides a good offensive boost however players that are dug in have a drastically reduced chance of executing a successful withdrawal or catching a withdrawing enemy.

Forming Armies:

Regiments:
In building a dynasty the smallest independent unit and the basic building block of every army is the regiment; as described in the creating a unit section a regiment is trained as a single unit of one type of soldier. Each regiment has the following values:
Attack: Attack is determined by the type of weapons soldiers are carrying, their veteran status (representing skill) and if there is a hero on the battlefield.
Defense: Defense is determined by the level and type of armor soldiers are wearing, their veteran status (representing skill in defending themselves with their weapons) and if there zero the battlefield.
Morale: Is determined by veteran status, if there is a hero on the battlefield, and professional level of soldier. Morale determines the likelihood of a unit breaking in combat.
Armor: Armor represents the type and level of armor a regiment is equipped with.
Number of troops: Represents the number of soldiers in a given regiment.

(note: Regiments may be "attached" to a brigade without actually being part of a brigade. This means that a cavalry regiment may be attached to a foot brigade and can act as a cavalry screen for that brigade but does not gain the benefits of that brigades' formation.)

Brigades: While regiments are the building blocks for armies, brigades form the core of any large army. Brigades are made up of a minimum of two regiments and a maximum of four and must be of the same class for example foot with foot and cavalry with cavalry. In combat a brigade can form as many lines as it has regiments so that two regiments may form up to two lines, while four regiments may form up to four lines. You may select which regiments are in which brigades in any given Army you have in the field.

Lines: A single line may consist of between one and four regiments the players may want to consider their formations carefully as only two lines of melee troops may engage at a time.
First line: The first portion of a brigade to directly encounter the enemy in melee.
Second line: The second portion of a brigade to directly engage the enemy and melee, as well as the final rank capable of engaging in direct melee.
Third line: The third line is ideal for any ranged troops within a brigade or for forming the first of a reserve force. Note however that if the enemy brigade also has ranged units in their third line the to ranged forces may directly engage one another.
Fourth line: If a brigade has crossed Bowman the fourth line may consist of ranged units, however typically the fourth line is a reserve force used if regiments of the first three lines begin to break.

(Note: for the purposes of maneuver and combat brigades count as a single unit regardless of whether it contains 2 to 4 regiments.)

Characters in battle: Characters can be assigned to command everything from regiments to full armies however where they are assigned to command is important to the way they will affect the battle. For example a character with great leadership skills assigned to an individual regiment or brigade will only help that regiment or brigade in battle and not provide that buff to the entire Army, though having several characters assigned to different branches of the Army can be advantageous.

Battle: Land battle occurs when two or more rival armies come together in the same territory and choose to engage one another. Land battles come in five phases as described below.

Deployment: The deployment phase offers both players the opportunity to attempt to withdraw from the battlefield or form their armies into combat units. If either player attempts to withdraw a dice roll determines whether or not they actually succeed, if they have a successful withdrawal there is no battle, however if they fail the dice roll they can either be forced to deploy their army or may suffer an "ambush" penalty against the other player meaning for the first combat phase they cannot organize their units. If both players decide to withdraw during this phase there is no farther battle phase in the turn is ended.
During this phase it is highly recommended that any regiments not already in brigades be formed into brigades or attached to a brigade as individual regiments may suffer severe combat penalties against brigades during the combat phases.

Main phase 1: During the start of main phase one both players make a blind bid (p.m. the GM) with what stances each of the units are taking and which units they are attacking.

Combat phase 1: A dice roll is carried out to determine which player has initiative during this combat phase. The winner of the initiative roll is given priority for any actions carried out in their blind bid, meaning they warders are carried out first and the other player is put into a reaction stance. If there is more than one player on either side of combat the winning side has its players go first.
During this phase targeted units engage each other for the first time in direct combat, in the case of brigades the first two melee lines may engage each other while any ranged units trade fire with one another. In the case of single regiments they engage on their own or in support of a brigade.
At the end of this combat phase casualties are listed, as well as units have broken.

Main phase 2: During this phase players may again attempt to withdraw from combat and roll a dice roll to see if they succeeded. If the combat continues players make their second and final blind bid with whatever last maneuvers, attempt to reform broken units and final attack actions which they wish to carry out.

Final phase: During the final phase another initiative die is rolled to determine which player or players go first. Final maneuvers and combat actions are carried out during this phase and the winner is determined.
After the final phase has been completed final casualties are tallied and any units listed as broken during the final phase are withdrawn from the area leaving one player “holding the field” while the loser is withdrawn to the next hex toward their own territory. Determining the true winner of the battle however is largely left up to the players as a player might lose the field but achieve the objectives they were tempting to carry out. This may lead to both sides actually declaring victory in their own minds.

Siege battles: Siege battles are much like open field battles with only a few special rules listed below.
Defenders: During a siege battle a player in the defensive role may not attempt to withdraw from the battle. They do however have the option to “ Sally forth” which gives them the opportunity to either break the siege or at least attempt to break through and save their units.
Attackers: The besieging player has several options during the siege, they may hold the siege which has an attrition effect upon the defender securing one defensive point per turn of siege. They may raid the defender which has a chance of destroying one of the defensive points hastening the fall of the defender if successful or they may attempt to assault the defender and end the siege by taking the settlement in a single stroke.
How to lift a siege: a siege is lifted when the besieging army either withdraws their troops from a settlement or a rival Army drives off the besieging army. If a siege is lifted any new sieges more than one turn out from the original siege have to start from scratch.

Amphibious battles: similar to siege battles amphibious battles differ little from open field battles save for a few special rules as listed below:
Attackers: Unlike open field battles attackers may choose waves to send into battle during each phase rather than declaring all of their units movements at once. If attackers have any ships with ranged troops aboard them they may also contribute to the initial combat phases.
Defenders: Unlike open field battles where each side roles a die, defenders automatically have the initiative against landing ground forces. Also unlike open field battles defenders that choose to withdraw their forces automatically succeed out withdrawal.
Broken units: Amphibious assaults are risky to the attacking player because any units that break during a combat phase must successfully reach their landing ships or are considered lost. A die is rolled to determine if the players withdrawn unit successfully reach their ships.

Naval Combat: When two fleets close in on one another players have a choice to engage or disengage just like land battle. If both players disengage the fleets withdraw without fighting if one player attempts a disengage and fails the engaging players gains a boost to attack power.

Arranging Your Fleet:
Unlike armies fleets are not formed into “lines” during battle the way land armies are but are rather formed into squadrons before the opening phase of combat. Another difference is these squadrons are not formed in a blind bid the way the land armies are but rather both players stating squadron composition.

Stances: Like on land players can choose a stance prior to a phase commencing; unlike land battles however these can be applied to specific squadrons.
Defensive: A fleet in a defensive posture tries to hang back from its opponents and trade ranged fire with them. This stance gives fleets a ranged boost but decreases their melee and ramming power as the close quarters ships try and hang in close to the ranged ships.
Balanced: The most basic combat stance provides no boosts or drawbacks as close quarters ships attempt to grapple or ram as needed and ranged ships attempt to provide fire support.
Board them!: This stance is best if you want the best odds of taking enemy ships intact instead of sinking them. This provides a boost to the marines aboard your close quarters ships but provides drawbacks to both archery and ramming (don’t want to break the ships do you?).
Ram them!: This is perhaps the most pragmatic stance though it dramatically reduces your chances of taking enemy ships intact. In this stance your close quarter ships attempt to ram their enemy at maximum speed rather than securing grapplers to board them. Drawbacks here are that you are less likely to take prizes, as well your marines on the assault ships get knocked around so if they are boarded it reduces their effectiveness.
Burn Them: This is one of the riskiest stances though with much risk comes much chance of reward. Your archers use brimstone (or if there’s a fire mage present he can provide the flames for archers and himself) in an attempt to burn enemy warships. Fire is the most deadly weapon at sea but it is a merciless creature and if a bad die roll occurs and the wind shifts you may light your own ships aflame instead of your enemy! Also dramatically reduces the effectiveness of ramming and boarding as it’s not a good idea to bring your ship aside a vessel ablaze.

Phases:
Opening: With the squadrons already formed both players make a blind bid as to which squadrons will be attacking which enemy squadrons. This phase consists of the two fleets maneuvering into position to strike.

First Combat: As the name suggests both fleets engage one another. Maneuver: This phase provides the opportunity for one or both sides to attempt a withdrawal and roll to see the outcome. It also allows both sides to do a blind bid on maneuvers and new orders to the fleet.

Second Combat: The final showdown! If neither fleet successfully breaks away during the maneuver phase this is the all in, both sides commit whatever forces they choose to make a final strike at the enemy fleet.

Resolution: Losses are tallied and a victor is determined, this can be less clear than on land because it depends largely on the goals of the players involved and may lead to both sides claiming victory among their own people.