ANCIENT GENERALS







INTRODUCTION
Two player card game.
Each player is a general fielding an ancient army represented by the 
player's decks.
100 card common deck.
40 Unit cards & 60 Tactics cards.

SETUP
Shuffle the deck. 
Randomly deal 50 cards to each player. 
Each player now has his own 50 card deck.
Each player draws a hand of 5 cards from their own deck.
The more aggressive player goes first.

OBJECT
Run your opponent out of cards. Destroy his army.
A player loses once he has no more cards left in his deck or reserve pile.

TURN SEQUENCE
Players take turns.
Each turn has 6 phases:
1. Scout Phase
2. Discard Phase
3. Draw Phase
4. Flank Phase
5. Artillery Phase
6. Attack Phase


SCOUT PHASE
Discard a unit card with the scout trait to your reserve pile to look at 
your opponents hand, or the next 5 cards in any deck.

DISCARD PHASE
Discard any number of cards from your hand to your reserve pile.

DRAW PHASE
Draw to fill your hand to 5 cards.
If your deck ever runs out, shuffle your Reserve pile and use it as your deck.
Cards sent to your Casualty pile stay there for the rest of the game.
If there are no cards left in your deck or reserve pile, you lose.

FLANK PHASE
You may discard unit cards with the flank trait to gain one flank point each.
Keep a running total of your flank points during the entire game.
The player with the most Flank points is called the Encircling army, the 
other player is the Encircled army.
If tied, neither army is the encircling army.

ARTILLERY PHASE
Discard a Siege Artillery card to your reserve pile to cause opponent to 
discard one card from their deck to their casualty pile.

ATTACK PHASE
Play one or more units from your hand to attack.
These are the attackers. Place them face up on the table in front of you.
The defending player may play up to one blocking unit per attacker.
The defender assigns specific blockers to specific attackers.
Unblocked attackers do damage to the main body of the opponents army.
The defender must discard a number of cards from his deck to his casualty 
pile equal to the damage rating of the attacking unit. 
The units of the Encircling army do +1 damage each.
If an attacker is blocked compare the force totals of the 2 units.
The unit with the lower total is killed and is sent to that players casualty pile.
The victorious unit is sent to his owners reserve pile.
A tie in Force values results in both units being killed.
If the blocker can evade the attacker, both units are discarded to their reserve piles.
Tactics cards can be played be either player to affect the outcome of 
the battle.

UNIT TYPES              ABBREVIATION
Light Infantry          LI (Skirmishers)
Medium Infantry         MI
Warband                 WB
Heavy Infantry          HI              
Light Cavalry           LC
Heavy Cavalry           HC      
Elephant                EL
War Wagon               WW


UNIT CARD LIST
Unit Name       Type    #       Force   Damage  Notes
Slingers        LI      2       1       1       Scout; +5 vs WB, HI, EL; Evade WW
Bowmen          LI      3       2       1       Scout; +5 vs WB, HI, EL; Evade WW
Javelineers     LI      2       3       1       Scout; +5 vs WB, HI, EL; Evade WW
Psiloi          LI      2       3       1       Scout; +5 vs WB, HI, EL; Evade WW
Auxilia         MI      2       1       2       Scout; +5 vs LI; Evade WB, HI, WW
Peltasts        MI      2       2       2       Scout; +5 vs LI; Evade WB, HI, WW
Barbarians      WB      2       1       3       +5 vs HI, HC, EL, WW
Horde           WB      1       2       3       +5 vs HI, HC, EL, WW
Warriors        WB      1       3       3       +5 vs HI, HC, EL, WW
Legionaires     HI      2       3       3       +5 vs WB, EL, WW
Hoplite Phalanx HI      2       4       3	+5 vs WB, EL, WW
Horse Archers   LC      3       1       1       Flank; Scout; +5 vs MI, WB, HI, EL; Evade LI, HI, WW
Nomads          LC      3       2       1       Flank; Scout; +5 vs MI, WB, HI, EL; Evade LI, HI, WW
Light Chariots  LC      3       3       1       Flank; +5 vs MI, WB, HI, EL; Evade LI, HI, WW
Medium Cavalry  HC      2       1       2       Flank; +5 vs LI, MI, LC; Evade HI, EL, WW
Cataphracts     HC      2       2       2       Flank; +5 vs LI, MI, LC; Evade HI, EL, WW
Heavy Chariots  HC      2       3       2       Flank; +5 vs LI, MI, LC; Evade HI, EL, WW
Elephants       EL      2       4       2       +5 vs WB, HI, LC, HC
War Wagon       WW      2       5       2       +5 vs WB, EL, Evade LI, LC
# = Number of that card in the deck

TACTICS CARD LIST
Card Name:              #       Effect:
Overrun                 6       Increase Damage of attacking unit +2

Bloodlust               5       Increase Force of unit +3

Outflank                6       Play in Flank Phase. Worth 2 flank points

Shields                 6       Blocking HI, MI, or WB get Evade combat result

Defensible Terrain      5       Blocking Light Infantry units are +3 and cannot be evaded

Difficult Terrain       5       Opponent cannot flank or attack this turn. 
                                Play in opponents Flank Phase 

Treacherous Terrain     5       Attacking HI, MI, or WB are +3 and cannot be evaded

Reserve                 6       Draw 3 extra cards in any Flank Phase

Rally                   6       In any Draw phase put 1 card from your Casualty 
                                pile into your hand 

Break Morale            5       Opponent cannot block this turn. 
                                Play in Artillery Phase

Onagers                 1       Siege Artillery

Scorpions               1       Siege Artillery

Catapults               1       Siege Artillery 

Ballista                1       Siege Artillery

Trebuchet               1       Siege Artillery


NOTES
Non-Artillery tactics cards when played, are sent to your Casualty pile.






Ancient Generals is now a Module for the Thoth card Engine!
(Thank you Zak & Walt O'Hara)
Click here for the Thoth card engine
Get the module here.


De Bellis Antiquitatis Resource Page

Warfare in the Ancient World








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