DBA Deep-Dive: 4. Built Up Areas & Camps

BUILT UP AREAS

If a Built-Up Area (BUA) is chosen, it must be a City, Fort, Hamlet, or Edifice and will belong to the defender.

These are placed like other area features except that all of a City or Fort must be within 6BW of 2 battlefield edges and can be on a hill.

At the start of the game, a City can, and a Fort must, be garrisoned by one (non-allied) foot element.

If the garrison is Artillery. Its shooting effect is reduced because the artillery is distributed around the perimeter.

Thereafter, any single foot element (except War Wagons) can move completely within an undefended City or Fort and then garrison it.

A garrison or other occupying element does not pursue defeated attackers as the result of an outcome move.

Occupiers of a BUA beside any but a paltry river counts as defending the bank against enemy elements assaulting it   who are still partly in the river.

A City or Fort on a hill includes the hill in its tactical factors and so occupiers do not count uphill, nor do assaulters count as being in BAD GOING.

CITIY

 A City has defensive walls, high economic and prestige value and denizens who will defend it if it has no garrison.

It must be modelled with 1 or 2 gates, through which all elements entering or leaving must pass unless they are enemy assaulting it.

A single friendly group or element can move through a City, even if it is garrisoned, by using 1 PIP per element to get from just outside the near gate to having the last element moving just outside the far gate (PIPs will be explained in a later post).

DENIZENS of a City are armed civilians initially loyal to the defender, and are NOT a garrison.

If a garrison vacates a City, the denizens continue to defend it.

If a garrison of the City is destroyed, the denizens do not defend it.

When a garrison or the denizens are destroyed in close combat, any one assaulting enemy element (except Elephant or a mobile tower) occupies the city and sacks it until its player has a PIP score of 5 or 6.

The sacking element can then garrison the City if eligible, or vacate it.

Prior to that, the sacking element does not get a garrison tactical factor in close combat and cannot shoot or be shot at.

Denizens may sally out to assist a relieving army if the City does not contain a troop element and there are both enemy and friendly troop elements within 2BW of the City.

The denizens cannot themselves go more than 3BW from their City.

A City is undefended in their absence.

If the denizens of a City sally out or are destroyed and it is left unoccupied, by the enemy or vacated, either side can move into or through it without combat.

If denizens defending inside the city are destroyed by artillery, the City surrenders and is not sacked.

An appropriate enemy element immediately becomes a garrison on moving into it.

If it is not occupied by the enemy, or it is vacated, a puppet administration has been put in power and its denizens will defend the City for the enemy.

Denizens of a surrendered City cannot sally.

If a City has surrendered during the game or was captured earlier in a campaign, and there is no enemy troop garrison or this has been destroyed by shooting, the player that originally owned the City can pay 5 PIPs at the start of any of his side’s bounds for its citizens to revolt against and overthrow the puppet administration, resume their original loyalty and defend the City.

  FORT

A Fort (or castle) has permanent defences and a gate and must start the game garrisoned by a foot element.

It has no economic value or denizens.

It is left undefended if its garrison vacates it or is destroyed and can then be moved into and garrisoned by any foot element (except War Wagons) of either side.

  HAMLET

A Hamlet (or township) is a small inhabited area of scattered or grouped houses among small enclosed fields, or a larger village or town with denser housing, but no permanent defences except fences to keep out animals.

It has insignificant economic or defensive value and its inhabitants flee when troops approach.

It functions only as ROUGH GOING.

  EDIFICE

An Edifice is an isolated large building.

It has no denizens, economic or defensive value.

It is treated as BAD GOING, except when it is used as a CAMP.

CAMPS

The Camp is the logistical component of the army.

It is optional if the army has a City or more than 2 War Wagons, compulsory if it does not.

It must be in GOOD GOING (but not Plough), on the rear edge of its side’s deployment area, or on a Waterway, or beach and should have only temporary structures, except that an Edifice so positioned can act as a Camp.

A Camp must be at least 1BW x ½ BW and fit into a rectangle the length plus width of which totals no more than 4BW.

At the start of the game, a Camp can be occupied either by:

a)       1 non-allied troop element (except Elephant or Scythed Chariot) which can subsequently vacate it and may be replaced by another such element

b)       By Camp Followers (represented either by a camp follower element that can move out of it, but without being able to return, or fixed figures that cannot move out of it, but not both)

If neither has been provided, it has been left undefended.

A Camp that has been captured by any enemy either as a tactical or outcome move is immediately sacked and ceases to have any defensive or other value.

Camp followers may sally but this leaves the Camp undefended.