The Official VIKTORY Blog

The early playtesting version of the Battle Cards can be downloaded at:

www.viktorygame.com/viktoryiicards.zip

This addition to the game can be played with dice, so that only the special effect portion of the card is used, or may completely replace dice in combat.

Cards are either Attack, Counter, or Attack/Counter cards - 33% are Attack, 16% are Attack/Counter, and 50% are Counter.

Each card contains important information, such as the # of hits, # of misses, and text. The text describes an action the player can take during the battle.

Each card also has a terrain pictured on it.  If the battle is being fought in a hex whose terrain matches the terrain on the card, then all hits on the card become selective hits.

Turn Sequence:
Move/Attack; Build; Reinforcements of Units; Discard; Draw

Battle Sequence:
1. Play Attack card and begin moving units into enemy occupied hex.

You have to play an Attack card to move your units into a hex containing enemy units.

2. If Overwatch is triggered, resolve Overwatch, remove casualties.

Artillery can wait to do Overwatch until all attacking units have been declared, are positioned along the attacking hex sides and are moving in - before replenishment cards are drawn

3. If both sides have units surviving Overwatch & Bombard Attacks, then each draws replenishment cards.

The number of replenishment cards drawn is equal to 1 fewer than the number of dice the player would normally get in the battle.  If an attacker would normally get three dice in a battle, then he would draw two cards as replenishment before the attack commences.

4. Conduct combat using cards.  The attacker has already played an attack card.  All hits shown on the attack card are “live” against a defender, assuming that all the hits are qualified.  An attacker can qualify as many hits as he would normally have dice.  So if an attacker would normally get three dice to make an attack, then he can qualify up to three hits on the card.

The defender now gets to play a card.  Surprise Counter, Flank Counter, and Frontal Counter cards respond to Regular Attack cards; only Surprise Counter cards respond to Surprise Attack cards.  All misses listed on the Counter card are immediately applied and cancel out that many hits.  The defender then immediately takes as casualties any unblocked hits and now the defender’s card’s hits are live against the attacker.

The attacker now gets to play a card.  If the defender played a Flank Counter, then the attacker may only respond with a Flank Counter or Surprise Counter.  If the defender played a Frontal Counter, then the attacker may only respond with a Frontal Counter or Surprise Counter.  If the defender played a Surprise Counter, then the attacker may only respond with a Surprise Counter.  Similarly the misses are applied, and hits are now live back at the defender.

The defender now gets to play a card.  If the attacker played a Flank Counter, then the defender may only respond with a Flank Counter or Surprise Counter.  If the attacker played a Frontal Counter, then the defender may only respond with a Frontal Counter or Surprise Counter.  If the attacker played a Surprise Counter, then the defender may only respond with a Surprise Counter.  Similarly the misses are applied, and hits are now live back at the attacker.

At some point, a player will either be unable or unwilling to play another card.  That ends the card battle round.  However, if playing with the Battle Cards, then you can attack the same hex as many times as you want.  In general, once units make an attack, they can only do additional attacks in the same hex (exception: cavalry, certain cards’ special events).  These followup additional attacks on the same hex to not cost any additional movement.  The units reattacking must be via the same source hex and basically just stay on the hex side until they choose to either renew the attack or stand their ground.  The source hex can be a water hex containing a friendly frigate and the units may retreat back onto the frigate.

However, players do not get a second round of card replenishment for followup attacks on same hex, although you do still have to play another Attack card to make a second wave attack and may bring additional units, although any units that were in the first wave may ONLY reattack the same hex and can’t go attack somewhere else (exception: cavalry, certain cards’ special events). Note the card text on the followup attacks is still applicable, but doesn’t carry over. If you play Secrecy on first wave, you don’t get that benefit on the second wave.

Cards that are noted “Special Event” may be played either for their Special Event, ie the card text, or as a normal Attack/Counter card.  If you play a card just for its Special Event, the hits/misses on the card are meaningless

If you play a card that partially counteracts a previously played card, the new card’s effects take place, ie if Mud has been played on a hex, then you could counter by playing an Ignore Terrain card.

If a player plays an Attack/Counter card as an Attack card, any misses noted are meaningless.

If the defender plays a card that hits all remaining attacking units, the only way an attacker gets the right to play a card is if they have a surviving unit (qualifies if you have a card with enough shields to first block the hit(s) upon them and then respond).

If artillery gets drawn into battle during a card battle round, they can’t make a Pre-Battle Attack along the way. After that card battle round ends, they could conduct a Pre-Battle Attack in the process of launching a 2nd attack wave. Similarly a defending artillery that gets drawn into battle during a card battle round doesn’t get to do Overwatch immediately, but may against a second attack wave.

When needing to make a special defense roll, Overwatch, Bombard Attack, Pre-Battle Fire, etc, the player making the attack flips over from the top of the deck as many cards as he normally would get dice.  All Attack & Attack/Counter cards that show up are “hits” for special defense rolls, overwatch, bombards, pre-battle fire. The # of hits on the card doesn’t matter, just that it IS an Attack or Attack/Counter card. If it IS an Attack or Attack/Counter card, then the opponent loses one unit.  If it is not, then the opponent does not lose anything.  If the terrain matches, it is a selective hit.

After card battle round, attacking units must pull back to source hex and must play another attack card to renew the battle with another card battle round. 

Source hex is not the origination hex, but rather the hex immediately adjacent to the attacked battle hex from which the attacking unit entered.

Replenishment cards are only drawn if the defender has units surviving for a battle. An Attacker would not get them for taking an empty town whose defenders had died from Pre-Battle Fire.

A player that takes a town/city gains a card, a player losing a town/city must lose a card.

Can only “land” as many hits as “dice” you qualify for as either attacker or defender. If an infantry horde attacks on 1 hexside, then only one hit on any cards the attacker plays actually counts, and the defender only has to block one hit with a “miss” to be protected from that card play, even if there are other hits on the card.

Attacker always must have a “miss” or surviving unit to play another card. Defender always gets to respond, ie play same # of cards as attacker. Example: Defender can be losing 1 of 2 infantry and play a 2 hit Counter card, where both hits are “live” because the defender always gets to match play. If the Attacker was losing 1 of 2 attacking infantry, only 1 hit would count on a 2 hit Counter card played by the Attacker, because the surviving infantry could inflict a maximum of 1 hit.

At the end of every player’s turn, every player must discard down to their max hand size, which is the lesser of 10 cards, or the number of town/cities controlled by the player. Both towns and cities each add 1 to a player’s max hand size.

Once a Reversal of Fortune card cancels another card, that other card is canceled. A second Reversal of Fortune card cannot cancel the Reversal of Fortune card’s cancellation of the original card. All the second Reversal of Fortune card would do is cancel the hits on the first Reversal of Fortune card. The effects of cancellation happen immediately and are irreversible.

Whenever a player builds a town, he gains another card to his hand.

At the end of a player’s turn, he may draw additional new cards up to his max hand size, with the restriction that he may only draw as many new cards as he has cities.  Cities are the draw limit at the end of turn, in case a player wants to discard and draw new cards or in case a player is just below his max hand size and is just drawing more cards.

You get to keep the cards you don’t use, but must discard at the end of any player’s turn to get back down to max hand size.

Don’t have to play an attack card to move into an empty town/city, because you wouldn’t normally roll dice as the attacker.  The defender would just flip over the top card(s) to see if they got any hits (which are represented by Attack & Attack/Counter cards).  However, you may WANT to play an Attack card to move into an empty town/city to take advantage of the card text, which might allow additional movement.  In that case, the hits/misses on the card would not matter, only the card text.

Special Events allow you to interfere with other players, but you may not intervene and cancel out someone’s hits for them.  You can’t cancel out the card text on battle cards.

Reversal of Fortune cards need to be revised. They a.) block all hits and b.) can cancel Special Events.  They do not cancel battle card text.

Even though you don’t have to play an attack card to move into an empty town/city, you can if you want in order to take advantage of the card text, eg +1MP. The hits/misses on the card would of course not matter, only the card text.

Note: When reviewing the Word .doc files that contain the cards, the cards that have partially deleted name information along the side are to be ignored.  Only playtest using the cards that have completed information.

Attacker rolls Artillery Pre-Battle Fire as before.  In the Attacker’s Fire Round, the attacker rolls…

One die for each hex side he’s attacking from.

Frigates cannot add a hex side, because they are not in the battle.  They may bombard before the battle, and may drop off land units that ARE in the battle. The dropped-off land units MAY add a hex side.

Thus the attacker can throw a maximum of SIX DICE in a Land Battle.

In naval battles, hex side bonuses don’t count toward the total attacker roll, so the attacker can throw a maximum of ONE DIE in a Naval Battle.
In the Defender’s Fire Round, the defender rolls…

• one die if he has at least one unit in the battle, plus
• one die if he has two or more units in the battle (friendly adjacent frigates count as a unit present in land battles), plus
• one or two ‘Defensive Terrain’ dice for the Battle hex: two dice if it is a Mountain hex or has a City; if neither of those apply, then one die if it is a Forest hex or has a Town. These are not cumulative; use only the single best for a maximum of two dice.

On the second round of battle the defender loses one of his Defensive Terrain dice. On the third round of battle, the defender loses all of his Defensive Terrain dice.

Thus the defender can throw a maximum of FOUR DICE in the first round of a Land Battle.  THREE DICE in the second round of a Land Battle, and TWO DICE in the third round of a Land Battle

If a defending Infantry in a mountain hex that does not contain a town/city is killed by prebattle fire, the defender does not get to roll the Defensive Terrain Dice.  If a defending Infantry is in a mountain town and is killed by Pre-Battle Fire, the TOWN bonus still is in effect, but not the greater mountain bonus.

Artillery get to roll 2 dice for each artillery unit when making Bombard Attacks and Pre-Battle Fire, and have guaranteed Tactical Victory selective hits if successful.

Artillery have a special ability of Overwatch, which allows each artillery unit while defending to choose to make one Bombard Attack (per enemy player’s turn) at a unit that moves into an adjacent or same hex. Overwatch takes place immediately upon a unit triggering it by movement, so if an enemy artillery is moving up to make a Bombard Attack, the Overwatch gets triggered first. If units are already in an adjacent hex and move into the same hex to Battle Attack, Overwatch occurs before the Battle Attack is resolved.

Overwatch allows defending artillery to each roll 2 dice if an enemy unit moves into an adjacent hex with a friendly unit/town/city or into the same hex, and to each roll 1 die if an enemy unit moves into an adjacent hex that does not contain a friendly unit.  All Overwatch hits are Tactical Victory selective hits.

Artillery can wait to do Overwatch until all attacking units have been declared, are positioned along the attacking hex sides and are moving in for the Attack.

For example, player A has an artillery strategically located in a mountain hex, which overlooks a water passageway and an adjacent friendly town.  Player B attacks the friendly town, moving in an artillery and 2 infantry.  Before the attacking artillery even gets to roll its Pre-Battle Fire, Player A’s artillery gets to roll two dice against it.  The roll is successful and a hit is scored.  Since all Overwatch hits are automatically Tactical Victory selective hits, Player A chooses to kill Player B’s artillery.  Player B’s attack on the town fails. On Player C’s turn, Player C attacks the same town with an infantry.  Player A could use his artillery to fire Overwatch against Player C’s infantry, but decides Player C has a low chance of success and is looking for a more profitable use of his Overwatch ability.  After a failed attack on the town, Player C moves a frigate loaded with two infantry into a water hex adjacent to Player A’s artillery.  Player A now chooses to use his Overwatch ability and fires on the frigate.  The successful hit on the frigate sinks it and eliminates the frigate and the two transported infantry.

Although the artillery owner does not have to fire at the first unit that presents itself as an Overwatch target, a decision must immediately be made about taking the first available opportunity or waiting for a potentially more valuable unit to move nearby.

Overwatch is triggered by the enemy unit’s move into an adjacent or same hex.  Overwatch is not triggered if the unit is moving OUT of an adjacent hex to a more distant hex.

Artillery overwatch takes place even if unit is moving along a nearby road.

Overwatch is not triggered during the Reserve Placement Phase if a unit is placed into a town/city with an adjacent enemy artillery.

Overwatch is triggered if an enemy unit gets loaded onto an enemy frigate in an adjacent hex.  The Bombard Attack is against the unit loading, not the frigate; if the artillery owner suspects that the frigate will be moved from an adjacent hex to another adjacent hex (which triggers Overwatch), then it would be wise to wait and potentially sink the frigate and its transported units.

Cavalry have the following special abilities:

• Ignore the Slow Terrain effect of all mountain and forest hexes
• Ignore the presence of enemy units/Town/City while moving, unless an enemy cavalry is present
• Immune to Artillery Overwatch
• Does not have to stop after making an attack
• May Battle or Pillage Attacks up to 4 hexes per turn
• May immediately retreat if Battle or Bombard Attacked without fighting
• 4 MPs
• Cause all hits to be selective if present in a Battle, unless an enemy cavalry is present

If a Battle Attack is initiated by enemy units moving into a hex with a cavalry unit, the cavalry unit may immediately retreat (before any dice are rolled) to any adjacent hex that does not contain any enemy units/towns/cities if one is available. Since a Battle Attack was initiated, the enemy unit(s) must stop and cannot pursue the cavalry unit (exception enemy cavalry, which can move after attacking and make four attacks per turn).  Any units other than cavalry which remain in the hex, must undergo the Battle Attack.

If a Bombard Attack is declared against a hex with a cavalry unit, the cavalry unit may immediately retreat (before any dice are rolled) to any adjacent hex that does not contain any enemy units/towns/cities if one is available.  Since a Bombard Attack was declared, the enemy unit(s) must stop (exception enemy frigates, which can move after attacking, but may not make another attack).  Any units other than cavalry which remain in the hex, must undergo the Bombard Attack.

Retreating cavalry units may reveal unexplored hexes.

Cavalry do not have to stop after making an attack.  If they have additional movement left, they can keep going and make other attacks.

Cavalry can only remove one pillage marker per turn, though they could inflict four in four adjacent hexes.

If a player has a cavalry unit still in a battle, all hits against the enemy are selective, unless enemy cavalry is present.

Frigates have 8 MP.  A special ability of the frigate is that it can expend 1 MP to load or unload a unit, with a maximum capacity of three units loaded at a time.

Land units may move before or after being transported. Embarking and Disembarking does NOT consume the transported land units’ entire Movement Allowance for that Player Turn.

Example: An infantry unit that begins its turn on the frigate may move off a frigate and STILL move another MP.  Also, a unit may move 1 MP before loading, then another 1 MP to load.

Frigates can’t bridge 4 units straight into battle, since they have a load limit of 3 at a time.  They can only bridge 3 units straight into battle at a cost of 6 MPs.

Frigates do not have to stop after making an attack.  If they have additional movement left, they can keep going, but may NOT make other attacks.

Bombard Attacks targeting a land hex cannot kill an adjacent frigate.  Bombard Attacks can only kill frigates if the Bombard Attack is targeted against a hex containing a frigate.

Under no circumstances may a player use another player’s frigates to transport his units.

Frigates may only carry infantry.

1. Place map hexes randomly placed face-down, then turn them all face-up, so there is a random, but fully-revealed, map.

2. Each player, in turn, places his Capital.  Then, each player takes turns placing a town or upgrading a town to a city (in accordance with the normal placement rules).

3. When no more towns/cities can be placed, each player places the units he has supported by his towns/cities in the town/cities that support the unit or in his capital, ie in accordance with normal Reserve Placement Phase rules.

4. Determine who goes first by rolling a die and begin.

If you take a hex, any and all attacking units that you want may pull back to their source hex, ie they are not stuck in the battle hex.

The source hex is not the origination hex, but rather the hex immediately adjacent to the attacked battle hex from which the attacking unit entered.  Attacking cavalry whose source hex contains enemy units must retreat to the closest hex to their source hex that doesn’t have enemy units in it. The retreat doesn’t count against used movement.

After rolling the appropriate number of dice, the sum is calculated, and divided by 5.  The result, rounded down, is the number of hits.  Tactical Victory selective hits are on a “6″.

Example: A player gets to roll four dice, and rolls a 1, 3, 4, 6.  That adds up to 14. 14/5 = 2.8, which rounds down to 2 hits.  Since a six was rolled, one of those two hits is a Tactical Victory selective hit.

This reduces the bloodiness of smaller battles, increases the bloodiness of bigger battles, and reduces the variability of outcomes.  If you roll five dice, you’re guaranteed at least one hit by summing the dice.

This also reduces the number of Tactical Victory selective hits in the game. Hits were previously made on a 1, 2, or 3, and selective hits were on a 1, which meant that selective hits represented 1/3 of all hits or 33%.  Now only approximately 24% or so of all hits are selective hits.  Since fewer cities in the game has reduced the number of elite units, it’s appropriate that the kill ratio of elite units would be reduced as well.

When different types of rolls are made (bombard attacks, battle attacks), they may be made collectively.  If two Frigates are bombarding the same hex, the player may choose to roll both bombard dice at the same time.

Bombard Attacks must be against enemy units in an adjacent hex.

I’d welcome feedback on this question:

Should Plains cities provide 3 infantry to players, instead of the current 2 infantry?

It’s an idea that has been around longer than most VIKTORY II rules, originally proposed years ago.  It has surfaced in recommendations since then, and I’m somewhat ambivalent about it.  In the expansion format with fewer cities in the game, I can see where the idea has even more merit than before.

Please let me know what you would prefer.