Caliphates! An idea for an Arab Conquest Era Campaign

[kronenblatt]

Could I try an idea with you guys?

Overall

• Campaign setting is Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East to India. Focus is the conquests of the Arabs and the first Caliphates, from 630 to 1135 AD potentially.
• A maximum of 10 rounds (will end earlier if/when all players' Initiatives reach zero or lower).
• The winner is the player having conquered the most regions upon end of the campaign.
• 2+ players, each with his own map, attempting to expand and conquer regions on the map: one attack per round.
• Players start with 7 Initiative, losses and draws reduce Initiative (see below), and once down to zero or below that player is not allowed to attack any more in the campaign.
• Players rotate defending regions, as opponents to attacking players.
• Armies used are the ones historically appropriate (or at least plausible) for the year span of the round in question for both attacker and defender, and for defender also the geographical region in question.
• Battle setup in FoG II: Large (40x32, 1600 FP). No allies. Always Agricultural, Steppe, or Desert map terrain.

Effects from battle outcomes

• Draw (only if defender's Initiative is 1 or higher): Both get -1 Initiative, with the player having the highest Initiative (if any) of the two an additional -1.
• Attacker wins: attacker gains 1 region if close victory (<25% diff) and 2 regions if decisive (>=25% diff), and defender gets -1 Initiative.
• Defender wins: attacker gets -1 Initiative (and an additional -1 if defender's Initiative is 0 or lower), and defender gains 1 region on his own map (only if defender's Initiative is 1 or higher).

Typical army lists

• Arab (Conquest) 629-637 AD
• Arab (Conquest) 638-684 AD
• Arab (Umayyad) 685-750 AD
• Arab (Abbasid) 747-793 AD
• Arab (North Africa) 789-999 AD
• Arab (Abbasid) 794-814 AD
• Arab (Abbasid) 815-835 AD
• Arab (Abbasid) 836-873 AD
• Arab (Abbasid) 874-946 AD
• Arab (Syria/Iraq) 890-1008 AD
• Arab (North Africa) 1000-1160 AD
• Arab (Syria/Iraq) 1009-1150 AD

 

[chiquichops]

Looks interesting. So it's a 'who gets the biggest expansion, wins ' ?

 

[kronenblatt]

Yes, more or less. But hopefully relaxed and for the fun of it.

 

[chiquichops]

Yes, more or less. But hopefully relaxed and for the fun of it.

Always!

 

[Rico]

Looks a very interesting idea - who are the defending armies?

Just a quick note - the early Arab conquest armies are quite a bit overpowered with a lot of veteran spearman units.

 

[kronenblatt]

The defending armies would be the ones that historically were present somewhere in the region to be defended sometimes during the year span of that that round. The defending player chooses the army and it doesn’t have to be strictly historical. It could be historically plausible. Sometimes, it could maybe even involve a civil war battle (if no “proper” historical army could be identified due to the region historically already having been conquered long ago by the Caliphate). The important aspect is to create a fun, yet somewhat historical matchup.

No problem that they are “overpowered” since this is campaign of Caliphate conquests and expansion! And all players will fight with them (on their own maps) and against them (on other players’ maps).

 

[kronenblatt]

So anybody interested in participating?

 

[chiquichops]

I would be but not right now. I have a campaign going and I'm going to be busy enough soon.
I'd be down later in the year...

 

[Nathangun]

I'm up for more punishment.

 

[kronenblatt]

I'm up for more punishment.

Sounds good! And you'll get your own map to play on, punishing and being punished there and on other players' maps.

We can always kick off with just a few players: 2 is enough actually. But for some opponent variety, 1-2 more would be fun.

 

[Rico]

Thanks, it's a great idea -- I'm just a little stretched with campaign using same/similar armies through out (also want to kickstart new FOG DLC tourney in a week or so) -- looking into concept of more pot luck random and variety of battles using FOG Medieval possibly...

Maybe later in the year?

 

[kronenblatt]

We'll see. I don't like to postpone my ideas for too long... But I may to have to. I've got an idea for a Swifter than Eagles tournament too. Moving from 1600 BC to 600 BC in (up to) 7 rounds, with four players representing the army lists of Egypt, Hatti, Assyria, and Babylonia, respectively, facing different opposition from that region as the years pass by and trying to get first to (and hold) a key region (no. 1).

 

[Rico]

That looks cool.

 

[kronenblatt]

I'm up for more punishment.

Aetius39 is in as well, @Nathangun. We'll go for an additional 0-2 players. 4-5 maximum in total.

 

[Badger73]

So anybody interested in participating?

Yes!

 

[Badger73]

We'll see. I don't like to postpone my ideas for too long... But I may to have to. I've got an idea for a Swifter than Eagles tournament too. Moving from 1600 BC to 600 BC in (up to) 7 rounds, with four players representing the army lists of Egypt, Hatti, Assyria, and Babylonia, respectively, facing different opposition from that region as the years pass by and trying to get first to (and hold) a key region (no. 1).

This too!