EMPIRES OF THE MEDITERRANEAN (160 BC) By Julian Donohoe > Campaigns > Resources > Fanaticus

Empires of the Mediterranean is a five to eight player DBA campaign commencing in 160BC. Some knowledge of the Avalon Hill game "Diplomacy" is necessary.

The Protagonists

1. Polybian Roman
2. Laer Carthaginian
3. Later Macedonian
4. Seleucid
5. Ptolemaic
6. Spanish (confederation)
7. Gallic (confederation)
8. Attalid Pergamene

Non-player armies include Early Armenian and Gordyene, Hellenistic Greek, Syracusan, Macabean Jewish, Kyrenean Greek, Parthian, Thracian, Illyrian, Gauls and Galations. If fewer than eight players are involved in the campaign, the unused protagonists are also treated as non-player armies.

Sequence of Play

Supply Centres

Players receive one army or fleet for each supply centre they control. If in any spring turn they have fewer supply centres than armies and fleets, the excess are removed from the board. All new armies and fleets must be placed in an empty home supply centre.

Orders and Movement

Writing orders, and moving armies is the same as for the Diplomacy rules.

Fleets may never force armies from a province, although they may provide transport for an army and support an army. Fleets defending provinces against armies are always forced to retreat. When providing support to a field battle, fleets for all players provide 3 elements of Auxilia.

When two armies meet, a player must have noted down if he intends to fight a battle, if both do not, the outcome is assumed to be decided by weight of numbers. If one player elects to fight a battle while the other player does not, it is up to the player who elected battle to decide if it goes ahead.

In the event of armies or fleets providing support, the DBA campaign rules governing allied contingents are used. Elephants may never be part of an allied contingent.

Neutral States and Barbarians

At the beginning of the game certain supply centres are independent of the major powers. Players may capture these provinces only through field battles. They are incorporated into the conquerors empire if at the beginning of the next Spring Turn, there is an army occupying that province.

Once per game each player may attempt to create a revolt in another playerıs conquered province. Instead of giving any orders to one of his fleets or armies he notes down that there is to be a revolt in a conquered supply centre. On a roll of 3+ the revolt is successful and a rebel army is placed in that province.

Battle Field Selection and Terrain

There are three basic types of terrain available for the field battles. Where the terrain is of two or more possible types, the player who is defending may choose between the two. Even though steep hills, sand dunes, woods and oasis are options for Littoral battlefields, a degree of common sense is required in deciding if they are appropriate. Any province that includes any amount of "dry" area will be used as dry or hilly rather than as woods. Hilly terrain that includes dry areas may not include woods. A river may only be used in a battle if it is running through a province or an invading army crosses a border river.

Battle Field Victory and Defeat

If two armies move into a province simultaneously, the players dice to see who is attacking and who is defending. No more than 10 minutes is allowed for set-up and deployment. Movement bounds are to be completed within 3 minutes, at the completion of this period shooting and close combat is resolved regardless of unused PIPs or extra movement that the phasing player would like to have done. Any army defeated in a field battle is considered "hors de combat" and is removed from play until the next Spring turn.

Starting Positions

Provinces are indicated on the campaign map: [528Kb image] [5.9Mb A3 PDF]

Victory and Defeat

Play continues until one player controls nine or more supply areas or until a date agreed upon before the start of play is reached.

Optional Rules

If either of the Spanish and Gallic Confederations are not represented by players, all three of their supply centres must be captured by a single player in order to provide a single supply resource.

If the players have the models, fleet on fleet actions could be played using the standard DBM naval rules and list. Ensure that the Army Point value of both fleets are the same, but donıt bother including the disembarking elements into the cost.

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Last Updated: 26 June 2005

Thanks to Julian Donohoe for the campaign.
Questions, comments, and feedback are welcome. Sent to brant@erols.com.