PBeM Houserules: Winter

[Danip]

Also related to my PBeM work in progress, here is a set of houserules to cover winter. With the mouth of the Great Bay icing over during winter, I thought some serious stategic effects were in order.

Bay effect snow. Absolute deluges of snow coat the coast of the Great Bay in winter. Moist bay air rises up over the steeply rising mountainous coast, dropping deep blankets of snow. While less in absolute ferocity than the great frigid blizzards of Dracenward or Thaele, all nations on the Bay in our game can be considered to be affected during the winter season.

travel Travel rates on p 105 of the BRCS should to be considered highly optimistic during the winter. Nearly all provinces in our game are mountainous, and unless a community is located along ice free coast it is typically cut off. However, your regent characters are hardly typical. Overland travel among the mountains during winter is adventerous and not undertaken lightly.

strategic movement All provinces in Kvingmar, Danigau, Wierech, and Dauren are considered to suffer from 'Cold Inclement weather' during the winter season. Inclement weather is defined on page 124 of the BRCS. 'Cold' refers to the DC of 10 instead of 5 on movement.

Inclement weather: Fog and muddy roads caused by rain, sleet, and deep snow make travel difficult and slow. Units that travel in inclement weather must make a morale save against DC 5 (DC 10 in cold weather) or receive a subdual hit. Normal roads become next to useless in inclement weather – units traveling through provinces that do not have paved highways must move using the movement point cost appropriate for trackless terrain. Travel is difficult and visibility – units are only visible to the viewing regent if A) they are in a province claimed by the viewing regent and the regent has a military unit in the province, or B) a unit of scouts is in the province with the hostile units.

Note; Most provinces are Mts without highways. These provinces are impassible during winter (unless a unit can move freely in terrain such as a scout). True Highways are denoted on the realm pages as Rd. We loosely use the word 'road' to denote highway domain assests, but few provinces in our game have true highways. This means much of the area is snowbound during winter. Plan accordingly.

monster activity While temperatures alone are not extremely deadly, the deep snowfall and hindered patrolling tend to bring many dangers out of the mountains. Monsterous humanoids, hungry animals, and all manner of D&D beastie make winter their playground. In lightly settled Dauren this problem is particullarly strong. Many communities, be they up in the mountains or down along the coast, cram into their mines for security. While some mines are at high altitude and have extremely harsh winter conditions, lower settlements are mostly driven underground by monsters, as their climate isnt so different from the more northerly Danigau.


Inland conitions Inland areas, beyond the coastal mountain ranges, see less snowfall and colder temperatures. In our game area this includes Urga-Zai, the Gorgon's Crown, and points west. The temperature alone can kill a man, but tends to have less strategic impact. This is true in general, but deadly blizzards are also more likely than along the coast [i.e. unpredicatble bad weather such as 'storm,' or 'powerful storm' will be more likely and finely laid plans can quickly lead to massive casualties...not that the goblins or orogs ever seem to care about that].
stategic movement Very cold weather: Units cannot perform forced marches during very cold weather. Units that travel in very cold weather must make a morale save against DC 10 or receive a subdual hit.


Ice sheet The northern ocean and the top of the Great Bay are covered by an ice sheet during winter months. Usually the ice sheet manages to cut off sea travel from Starkhundt (in Danigau) on north. Icebergs plague further south, and the ice sheet isnt always consistent. Once every few centuries it can even reach down beyond the Zweilunds, it is then possible to walk between the islands and to the mainland!

Icebergs are a navigation hazard that extend from the ice sheet down to around Dauren's east coast. Danig Arm usually remains free of icebergs.

strategic movement With the mountains snowbound, moving troops by sea is a vital part of many realms defense plans. If a province is snowbound you can still off load troops into it. Where icebergs are a threat movement rates
are at 3/4 normal speed at sea. Naval units must make a morale save against DC 5 or receive a hit. Veteran Brecht units are not that troubled by icebergs, but winter storms remain a real threat.
travel Travel by sea remains practical in some areas during the winter. It is usually your best bet for regent travel, but a sudden winter storm can quickly make an unplanned nautical adventure.

Unusually harsh winter conditions Winter storms, blizzards, ice storms, freakishly low temperatures, whiteout conditions are just the mundane problems of winter. Winter has its own goddess here, so wheter you placate her or curse her, winter is personified and unforgiving.

[Danip]

Directly related to winter and the mountainous terrain of the region:

The following new specialized training can be given to military units. When a unit receives this training its name changes to <training> <old unit name>, to make reading domain sheets simpler. These units can be mustered directly if you meet the muster requirements in a province (law equal to muster cost, etc.) or you can use the Train Units court action to upgrade an existing unit.

Mountain: Mountain units are seasoned in mountaineering, tactics in rugged terrain and small unit combat. They are the perfect solution for trackless mountains. Only unmounted units may take mountain training. Unit modifier: +1 GB muster cost. Special: +2 to melee and defense in mountains, move freely through mountain terrain.

Normal: By BRCS rules a Mnt. province (0)-(2) cannot be entered by most units. Only scouts and dwarves can ever go there. See page 123 BRCS.

Winter: Winter units are seasoned in cold weather and snow-bound combat. Equipment such as better tents, sleds, preserved food, warm furs, and a generally beefed up supply system when used by militaries honed by centuries of harsh northern winters negate some of the handicaps of winter. The unit is better equipped and experienced with winter conditions, but it isnt immune to a blizzard. It also wont gain any bonus against a cone of cold spell cast at it during the summer, because they wont have on their coats. Unit modifier: +1 GB muster cost. Special: +2 to melee and defense during winter in northern Cerelia (i.e. our game), ignore winter making provinces trackless, +4 morale bonus to resist winter weather effects.

Normal: See winter rules houserule for our game.

For example, if Dauren wanted some of its starting units to be able to go into its wild (1) provinces, then it would buy some Mountain Infantry, Mountain Archers, or something. These cost 1 GB more than normal, and the Mountain should be added to their name on Dauren's domain sheet. This would be a good idea for Dauren, because the Mountain units are also useful during winter, when all his provinces become trackless mountains due to the snow cover. Winter Infantry might also be a good idea, but they would still not be able to enter a (1) Mtn. Winter Mountain Elite Infantry would and would be considered a bunch of very impressive dudes. (The special forces of Brechtur.)

Strategy notes: Both of the above training types interact in new ways with the BRCS and our winter houserule, especially in mountains. Many mountains are impassible barriers to normal units. In winter, all mountains on the coast become impassible, unless the province has expensive highways. These two factors greatly affect any warplans in our very mountainous region.
I have created these two special training options to open up warfare a bit more. Attacking in summer thru the pass (hill province) is still prefered. But regents must be wary of attacks in the dead of winter and/or from 'impassible' mountains. The added cost of the special training has to be weighed against the tactical advantage of moving thru unusual places or times.

[The Jew]

The advantages seem a bit much. Normally it costs 1 GB to give either a +2 in attack or a +2 in defence. The mountain training gives it to both, along with being able to pass through mountains as if dwarves. Given how much of the terrain is mountains, this is huge for the cost of 1 GB. Possibly lower it to a bonus in attack or defence.

The winter training is more reasonable, as it only applies for 1/4 of the year.

[Danip]

Hmmm... I see your point. I based both off of the Marine training. Which gives "Unit modifier: +1 GB muster cost. Special: +2 to melee and defense at sea, move freely through swamp terrain." Swamps are relatively rare in Cerelia. But, almost all of my game region is Mnts, so the +2 melee and defense may be a bit much.

Perhaps merely negating the +2 bonuses that opponents get in Mnts would be in order. This is what dwarven units get. Although this is virtually the same as givng Mnt troops +2 bonuses. Dwarves also get this advantage in hills for free.

It makes sense to give something more than just 'move freely in mountains' for 1 GB. Not sure what though. Added combat capablity makes sense, but isnt balanced against the typical +2 from def+ or melee+ training.

Hmmm... perhaps something like a +2 bonus on Warcraft rolls to force a battle onto or off Mnt terrain. Better at manipulating rugged terrain.

Any suggestions?