Conquest

Twenty families and a village. Set up the country and the enemy, then raise a settlement, an army, and take their village.

The country

Map style

Map size

Seed

The same seed, style and size give the same country again.

Hamlets

Independent villages between you; each pays whoever holds it and watches the country round about.

Population cap

The most people either side may have — villagers, soldiers and recruits together — however much housing they raise. A lower cap means smaller armies and a faster game on a modest machine.

Bridges

Stone bridges over each river. Leftmost leaves it to the map style; none at all makes the river a wall with only the fords through it.

Fords

Shallows a column can wade, slowly and without cover. Every river keeps at least one crossing: a river with no bridge always has a ford.

Your colours

The enemy's colours

The enemy

Starting stores

Season at the start

How it plays

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1. Feed and house
Farms on the rich green lowland, a lumber camp by a wood. Everyone eats; the village grows while it is fed and has room — cottages, villas and estates give room.
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2. Into the hills
Iron outcrops and coal seams lie on the hillsides. Iron makes muskets and guns; coal is powder — every volley and every round burns it.
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3. Gold and the tax
Gold is the tax you set at the village, and a market that sells surplus food. Hoard too much for the people to spend and every price climbs.
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4. Raise the army
Barracks, stables and the foundry enlist villagers one at a time into the company standing in the yard. Split, merge, march — and take their village.

Resources

Buildings

Farms need fertile land; lumber camps a wood; mines and the foundry a seam in the hills. Resource works may stand any distance from the village.

The field manual has the Conquest keys and the finer rules.