ORGANIZING THE ARMY

The organization of your army takes place in the barracks, at your castle. This is the time to create your army, to select the troops that enter into its composition and to divide them into regiments.

You must have gold in order to buy and produce your units. When you gain access to this option for the first time, at the end of the introduction scenario you will have enough gold to form your first army. Make sure you always have a little gold put away for building up your regiments, otherwise you will not be able to recruit soldiers.

The types of units you can recruit are displayed. The units to which you have access depend on how far you have got with the construction of the buildings in your castle. The bigger your castle, the more numerous and varied the units you will be able to recruit. Certain events and certain actions you will have gone through on the region map will give you access to new units.

You may choose the experience level of the units you recruit. Are you going to recruit unexperienced soldiers at low cost or are you willing to pay more to have war-hardened soldiers who are better prepared for combat ?

The composition of your regiments is " custom " designed by you, section by section. You may in fact choose which units you want to put in your regiments. Are your regiments going to be exclusively composed of soldiers, or will you include a few enchanters as well? You view the variation in the performances of the regiment as you create it.

You disband the ineffective units or those which have become useless to you. When you " sell " a unit, this brings you a certain sum in gold which grows with your castle.

 

 

THE REGION MAP

You move about on the region map with your army subdivided into regiments. Each one of your regiments is an autonomous unit with its own movement characteristics and capacities. The capacities of a regiment on the region map are highly dependent on the sections which compose it. An army that is effective on the region map will have been judiciously composed in your barracks.

This phase of the game takes place in turn. You plan the moves of your regiments for the entire turn and then your moves, as well as those of your opponent, are settled simultaneously.

Your regiments will move, fight, go on forced marches, lie in ambushes and will erect fortifications fortresses. Should any of your regiments be attacked, it can be reinforced by other regiments nearby the battle field.

There are goals for you to achieve on the region map. Some of them are main goals which you must reach in order to claim domination of the region. Others are minor goals which can bring you gains if you fulfill them. While the main missions must be fulfilled, the minor ones may be neglected.

You will also have to respond to orders from your superiors, who may ask you to go to places where major battles are being fought, or to accomplish tricky missions successfully and quickly. You have to obey no matter what, otherwise you run the risk of having your side lose.

 

THE BATTLE MAP

When one of your regiments meets an enemy regiment on the region map, there is immediate fighting. You pass over a battle map where your regiment is subdivided into sections. The battle takes place in real time and limited time. You must position your sections on the map to meet the enemy regiment. Regiments from both sides can intervene in the battle provided they received orders to do so before combat commences.

One of the keys to victory lies in your regiment's cohesion. Sections which retain their combat formations for the longest possible time during the battle have an advantage over a disunited enemy.

The other key resides in the compositon of your regiment. A regiment which lines up sections capable of fighting under all situations is formidable to an enemy that is limited in its battle possibilities. The use of magic may bring victory to one side rather than the other.

 

THE CASTLE (RESOURCES)

When the main goals for a given region map are achieved, you may consider this region as conquered.

You receive the resources from the regions you control. Thanks to these resources you proceed with the construction of new buildings in your castle, conduct more research and produce new regiments.

Once this phase is over, set out to conquer the next region after visiting your embassy.

 

 

DIPLOMACY
Most alliances are struck during encounters on the region map. Diplomacy allows you to negotiate help from your allies to conduct campaigns on the region maps. With diplomacy, you can obtain resources or regiments from your allies.