The Seven Years War: Frederick’s Gamble (7YW:FG) – Siege & Siege Assault Rule Book Extract (May 2016)
The Seven Years War: Frederick’s Gamble (7YW:FG) – Siege & Siege Assault Rule Book Extract (May 2016)
This is an extract from the latest draft of The Seven Years War: Frederick’s Gamble play-testing Rule Book. It has been enhanced with a copy of the Siege Assault Tables. Yellow color-highlighted text is meant to expedite play-testers quick reference to key rules.
From GMT’s site for 7YW:FG, it is recommended readers first review the game’s “Tutorial” and then have a copy of the latest 7YW:FG play-test map for reference in order to best appreciate this text and, it is hoped, be encouraged to place a P-500 order for the game.
12.0 Siege
Establishing a Siege: LandunitsinaFortress Duchymay beplacedundersiegeiftheywithdraw into a Fortress during enemy movement (Section9), or before or afterafieldbattle(Section11)andenemylandunitsinthat Duchyoutnumberthem by at least 1SP with a valid Line of Communication back to a friendly Home Key (e.g. one not occupied by any enemy SP outside the Fortress) or a friendly Mustering Center not solely Native. Any qualified Formation(s) may conduct a siege. Otherwise, it is possible for mutually hostile Formations to coexist in a single Fortress Duchy with one Camp’s forces “inside” and the other “outside” the Fortress.
The number of SP a Fortress can accommodate is contingent on its map-printed strength of one (1) to three (3) PLUS any one Leader For example, Wien could support three SP within it along with one Leader. Any units in excess of a Fortress’ capacity must remain outside of it. Indicate any SP and/or one Leader as inside a Fortress by flipping it to its “Inside Fortress” side.Theunitsundersiegemaynotmove,intercept,oravoidAssaultuntilthesiegeisbroken(e.g. enemy withdrawal, a successful sortie, friendly forces free the Duchy of enemy Formations via a Relief Field Battle).
Notethatit ispossibleforaFortresstobeundersiegebytwoPowersatonceifthose Powersareof the same Camp atwarwiththePower thatcontrolsthatFortressDuchy,andeachPower has a Formation, a single eligible playing piece, which is defined as a 1SP, 2SP, or Army, occupying the Fortress Duchy which possessesmore SPintheDuchythanthePowerinsidetheFortress.
Example: A British Army under Cumberland (0-4) with 2SP and a 2SP Prussian unit occupy Augsburg, a level two Fortress Duchy which is garrisoned by 1 French SP and 1 Austrian SP. The critical condition for establishing a siege is NOT fulfilled since neither the British nor Prussians have a siege qualified Formation which outnumbers the garrison by at least 1SP. Since the Imperial SP are “inside” the Fortress, these hostile Formations may coexist in the same Duchy without a siege being declared.
Remember: A Fortress may be besieged by a qualified Formation/Playing piece/Army of requisite strength. One may not combine different playing pieces unless they’re part of an Army. (Player Note: Remember, a 4SP piece may not be used to resolve a siege Assault. Without an Army, a Power can have more than the minimal eligible SP in the Fortress Duchy but only a 1SP or 2SP piece may make an Assault.
Lesson: You need an Army to have a good opportunity at capturing a Fortress with more than its internal garrison present.
Important Notes:
- The defender may not build new SP nor any Leader in a besieged Key Fortress through expenditure of Card CP’s.
- Card Events which bring SP onto the map could be placed within the Power’s friendly besieged Fortress and/or trigger an immediate Field Battle by being placed outside the Fortress.
- Pieces returning to play via HOW and/or Interphase Replacement CP could be placed within a Power’s friendly besieged Key Fortress and/or trigger an immediate Field Battle by being placed outside it.
- Movement Effects: RetreatorevasiontoanenemyFortressisnotallowedunlessitisbesiegedby a qualifying Formation (see “Establishing a Siege”).Allformsofmovement,interceptionandevasionfromanenemyFortressDuchymust be to anAdjacent Uncontrolled or Friendly Duchy.
Lesson: It can be difficult to capture a Key Fortress if the enemy is willing to keep replacing any eliminated SP by Card Event and/or during the annual Interphase.
12.1 Assault
At the beginning of any of its Impulses (including a “Pass” Impulse), a besiegingPowermayAssault the Fortress Duchyin an attempt to gain control of it.AFortressmayonlybesubjecttooneAssaultan impulse(thoughaPowermayinitiatemultipleAssaultsupondifferent besieged Fortress DuchiesduringthesameImpulse before any other Impulse action is taken).
Assaultsareconductedbyasingle eligible Formation in the same Duchy as the Fortress.RequirementsforanAssaultactionareasfollows:
12.11 Assault Requirements:
•TheactivepowermusthaveplacedtheDuchyundersiegeduringa previousImpulse.Fortress Duchiesthatareempty, due to their intrinsic strength/garrisons,also havetobeputundersiegebeforetheycanbe assaulted (Design Note: Each Fortress has a small intrinsic garrison not depicted by actual playing pieces.)
•TheassaultingpowerhasanLOCtotheDuchy. That is, a line of friendlyunbeseiged Duchiesand/or Duchies occupied by at least one friendly SP (or through a besieged enemy FortressDuchy),of any length,backto a friendlyHomeKey or friendlyMustering Center not solely Native (e.g. Montreal, London [British only with Naval Track Marker at five or more]).
Example: Prussia besieges Wien tracing a LOC back to the unbesieged friendly Home Key of Magdeburg. During a preceding enemy impulse, a 1CP KleinerKreig Event removes the Prussian Flag from Kolin while all other adjacent to Wien Duchies remain Austrian Flagged. Unless Kolin is occupied by at least one Prussian or friendly Power SP, a Siege Assault upon Wien may not be conducted at the beginning of a Prussian impulse.
Historic/Players Note: Therefore, it behooves a besieger to leave at least a friendly 1SP piece behind in any non-Fortress Duchy needed to ensure a valid line of communications back to a friendly Home Key for siege resolution lest a Kleiner Krieg Event disrupt the line and render siege resolution impossible.
This reflects a feature of 18th Century siege warfare: the need of a supply line, a chain of depots back to a friendly home base, for the besieger to effect an assault on an enemy Fortress.
•The Assaulting Power must have more SPs committed to the Assault than the Power in the Fortress Duchy. The intrinsic defense, Fortress Level, of the Fortress is ignored for this purpose.
•If these conditions apply, a “Besieging” Marker is placed atop the subject SP/Army if not already done at the moment siege was declared during a preceding Impulse.
12.12 AssaultProcedure
1.declare formation: If an Army Group occupies the Duchy, the active player declares which one Army of that Army GroupwillbemakingtheAssault.All requirements previously listedmustbemetatthistime. Player Note: Remember: an individual Fortress may only be Assaulted one time at the beginning of a Power’s Impulse (if that Assault fails, another Assault may be attempted at the next opportunity). Plan accordingly… particularly if you’re resolving a sequence of several Siege Assaults.
2.play Battle Event Cards: The active player may play any Battle Cards followed by the Fortress owner. Other powers may play the Response cardstodisrupt or aidthisAssaultaction in Impulse Track order from that of the Active Power. The card declaration process is reiterated below in “step by step” terms.
3.playing response Cards: In general, any power may play a Response card during the steps used to resolve a siegeto give the attacker or defender an attempt to score additionalhits or otherwise affect the siege Assault. Response card play is done in sequence, as with Field Battle resolution, in Impulse Track order starting with the Power after the one playing a Response.
4.IMPORTANT: A Fortress Duchy’s internal garrison is considered a Formation (See Rule Book Glossary, Rules Section 3, Pg. 5): e.g. a Formation may not intercept into an enemy Fortress since it is a Duchy considered occupied by an enemy Formation.
SIEGE RESOLUTION PROCEDURE:
STEP ONE: add up attacker’s dice: The active player is always considered the attacker in an assault. The attacker adds up thenumber ofdicehewillrollasfollows:
IfagainstaFortress Duchywithnodefendingenemy SPunit(s):
•1dieforeachSPintheassaultingformation.
•1dieforeachBattleRatingpointof an Assaulting Army’sleader.
•1die if the leader is French or there is French SP involved. (Design Note: During this historical period the French excelled in the art of Siege Engineering).
Ifagainst aFortress Duchywith 1 or more defendingSP:
•1dieforevery2 SP in theassaultingformation(roundfractionsup)
•1dieforeachBattleRatingpointfromone leader in the assaultingforce (if an Army is making the Assault)
•1die if the leader is French or there is French SPs involved
STEP TWO: add up defender’s dice: The player with a Flag in the Duchy is alwaysconsideredthedefenderinanAssault.Thedefenderadds upthenumberofdicehewillrollasfollows:
•1dieforeachdefendingSPintheFortress
•1dieforeachBattleRatingpointfromone leader in the defendingforce
•1die if the leader is French or there is French SP involved
•1dieforbeingthedefender of a Level One or Two Fortress Duchy.
•2diceforbeingthedefender of a Level Three Fortress
(Player Note: A Fortress without at least 1SP will only have its intrinsic garrison in defense: regardless if it is level 1, 2, or 3. Therefore, any serious attempt to retain a Fortress requires an SP garrison.)
STEP THREE: attackerdeclaresBattleCards:Theattackerdeclaresany Battlecardshewantstoplayaseventstoaffecttheassault.
STEP FOUR: defenderdeclaresBattleCards:Thedefenderdeclaresany Battle cards he wants to play as events to affect the assault.If morethanonemajorpoweriscontrollingdefendingunitsinthis Duchy,eachofthesepowersmayplayCombatcards.
STEP FIVE: roll dice: Both players roll their dice and add up the number ofhitstheyhavescored.Eachrollofa“1”isconsidered to be ahit.
PLAYNOTE:Atanystep of above sequence (1-5),suchasbeforeor after siege assaultdice rolls,playersmay play Response events (6.1.4). When a Power plays a Response, reaction to that play is done in Impulse Track order beginning with thePower after the one playing the Response.
STEP SIX: TakeCasualties:Eachsideeliminatesone SP fromtheir stackofunitsintheDuchyforeachhitscoredbytheopposingside. Remember: Any Leader besieging or within the besieged Fortress is always the last unit eliminated.Only after all units are eliminated may the Fortress’ intrinsic garrison absorb a final casualty.
STEP SEVEN Successful Assault?
successful assault: If the attacker scored at least 1 hit andno defendingSP, Leader or the Fortress intrinsic garrisonremainsintheDuchy,theassaultissuccessful.Theattackergains politicalcontroloftheDuchy by placing its Flag upon it or restores control to his Camp Ally by removing the enemy Flag (if the Fortress was a Home Duchy of that Ally).An undefended by SP Fortress will fall with a single hit. The Formation which successfully assaults and captures a Fortress is free to move during that Impulse (e.g. do not place a “Battle/Failed Intercept” Marker upon it).
unsuccessfulassault:Iftheattackerdidnotscoreatleastone hitoranybesiegedSP/Leader and/or Fortress intrinsic garrisonremains,theassaultisunsuccessful. Ifthenumberofbesieginglandunitsstillexceedsthenumberof defending SP and all other Siege Establishment conditions apply, the Duchy remains under siege. If not, the attackingforcemayretreatasdescribedin the retreat from field battle rules (11.4) or remain in the still enemy held Fortress Duchy.However, ifallassaulting SP units are eliminated, any surviving attacking Army Leader must be placed in the nearest friendly Duchy via the retreat rules.
12.2. Besieging Army Reinforcement: If, other SPs joined a stack ofthat Power’s Army already besieging a Fortress Duchy, those newly-arrivedunits,mayparticipateintheAssaultandcanbe includedinthecalculationinStep1(providedthatthefullcomplementofattackingforcesusedcanfitwithinthebesieging Army Leader’s Command Rating). Player’s Note: It’s good having an extra SP or more in the same Duchy as a besieging Army to replace any SP losses that Army takes so the siege can be maintained.
12.3Reliefforces
Declaring any Fortress garrison unit “outside” is a sortie which will trigger an immediate Field Battle against enemy forces outside the Fortress, whether or not those enemy forces qualify to establish a siege.
Additionally, a FormationfriendlytotheunitsintheFortressmayentera Fortress Duchyundersiegeandinitiateafieldbattleinanattempt tobreakthesiege.Inthis“reliefforce”situation,SPand leaders inside the Fortress that are controlled by the same Campasthereliefforcemay possiblyparticipateinthefieldbattle. Unless commanded by Frederick (4-8) or a 3-8 Leader (e.g. Ferdinand), there is no assurance of coordination with an outside relief force. To combine any or all of a Fortress garrison with a relief, a single die roll result of 5 or 6 is needed which is modified if the garrison has a Leader by:
0 Battle Rating Leader +1
1 Battle Rating Leader +2
2 Battle Rating Leader +3
3 Battle Rating Leader +4 and therefore automatic.
The 4-8 Frederick Leader: Automatic Coordination with outside Force.
The decision of how much of an internal garrison to sortie must be made before rolling the “coordination die”. Only one sortie die roll may be made per Field Battle.
If successful coordinating with an outside relief Formation, these forces inside the Fortress may participate even ifthe totalnumberofunitsnowexceedstheallowableArmysize(basedontheleader(s)presentinthatDuchyand only a single Leader of the attacker’s choice may be Command).Theplayermaychoose to withhold units that started the impulse within the Fortress from the field battle if he does not want to risk losing them. There are three possible results in this relief force situation:
12.31 If the active player wins the resulting battle, the besieging forces retreat and any siege is broken with theFortress returned to friendly control.
12.32 If the active player loses the battle but the SP lossesscored by both sides is equal, the active player may choose to retreat any SP or leader that participated in the battle into the Fortress (including units that were part of the relief force that entered the Duchy). The total number of SPs inside the Fortress may never exceed the Fortress’s Max level after such a retreat. All other attacking units retreat.
12.33 If the active player loses the battle and the number of SP losses he scored was less than or equal to his opponent, only units that started the impulse inside the fortification may retreat back inside. The relieving Formation may not reinforce the Fortress garrison. All other attacking units retreat.
12.34 Consequently, players should take care to keep any units from within the Fortress flipped to their “Inside Fortress” side to avoid possible confusion with units of the relief Formation. IMPORTANT: If the Active Player suffers any SP losses, his opponent may choose to fulfill them from either SP from within the Fortress Garrison which sortied or from the Formation seeking to break the siege.
12.4. Breaking a Siege
A siege is broken immediately if the besieging Formation no longer contains more SP than are in the Fortress.
Remember: a siege assault cannot be resolved if the assaulting Formation can no longer trace a line of permitted Duchies back to a friendly Home Key or non-solely Native Mustering Center (12.11, second bullet point).
12.41 This may occur if part of the besieging force leaves the Duchy as part of a Move action, a successful interception, or a successful avoid battle attempt. It may also occur if the besieging Formation takes sufficiently severe losses during an assault or battle against a relief force, or due to an Event card play (e.g. through Attrition).
12.42 When the siege is broken by Field Battle, the formerly besieging units must retreat to any adjacent Duchy that meets the Field Battle retreat rules. This retreat does not cost any CP. If no such legal Duchy exists, all units in that stack are eliminated with any leaders present. All are placed in the HOW Box. Remember to roll for “Loot” for each eliminated enemy leader as well as take any Loot for resolution of the Field Battle itself.
12.43 Restrictions: Units may not retreat into a Non-Friendly Fortress Duchy or a Duchy containing enemy units.
Examples of a Siege Resolution and Siege Relief:
Siege Resolution: Frederick (4-8) is a full strength Army with 8SP. It is the start of an Impulse. Before conducting any other Impulse activity (including the play of an Event solely for the Event), the Prussian player declares he wishes to resolve a siege of Prag, since Frederick’s Army began the Impulse on that Fortress Duchy and can trace a line of friendly Duchies back to a friendly Home Key.
Prague is garrisoned by two Austrian SP’s and the Austrian Leader Daun (3-8). Before play of any possible Events, the Prussians have 8 dice (4 for SP and 4 for Frederick’s Battle Rating) and the Austrians 6 dice (2 for SP, 3 for Daun’s Battle Rating, and 1 for the two level Fortress itself, e.g. the “intrinsic garrison”.).
The Prussians decline play of a Battle Card, but the Austrian plays Card #15, “Artillery/Siege Train” for +2 dice and a total of 8 dice.
The dice rolling results in Prussia obtaining a remarkable three 1 results to but one 1 result for the Austrians. A single Prussian SP is eliminated from Frederick’s besieging Army and both Austrian SPs are eliminated from Prag’s garrison along with Daun. Prag is now left only with its intrinsic garrison. The siege continues.
All eliminated SP’s and Daun are placed in the HOW Box. The Prussian Player rolls a single die to learn if Daun’s elimination results in capture of a Loot Resource.
Siege Relief: Three French SPs, one 1SP and a 2SP unit, are besieging the Prussian one level Fortress Duchy of Wesel which is garrisoned by a single Prussian SP.
A British Army of 4SP under Cumberland (0-4) enters Wesel from Munster triggering a Field Battle when the French player chooses not to evade with either of his units.
Before resolving the Battle, the Prussian player rolls one die to learn if his 1SP can join the imminent Field Battle. He rolls a 5 and is successful!
The players resolve the resulting Medium Sized Field Battle per the Field Battle Rules and it results in an Imperial victory with the French losing 1SP and the Coalition losing 2SP. Per Rule 11.32, losses must be divided equally between Nationality so the Prussian SP and one British SP are eliminated and placed in the Honors of War Box along with the one eliminated French SP.
Because the Coalition lost the Field Battle with more SP’s eliminated than the French, Cumberland’s Army with its three remaining SP must retreat back to Munster. A British SP could not be detached to replace the lost Prussian SP as Wesel’s garrison (if both sides had lost the same number of SP in the Coalition defeat… a British SP could become the new garrison).
The French 2SP unit continues its siege of a now ungarrisoned Wesel. It may attempt an Assault during any upcoming French Impulse.
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