Combat

Combat is principally based of a player’s Combat Score, and there are 3 types of attacks a player may use, each has a Battle Score determined by Combat Score and one other attribute, plus bonuses from troops and heroes. These types of attacks will be discussed later in this section, but are Raids (CI), House Raid (CD), and Seizures (CC).

Military Forces
Each Player begins with a number of Standard Legions, House Troops they control at the start of play, equal to twice their Combat Score (CC). They may also acquire upgrades for their Legions as well as Elite units or militia. Each Standard Legion grants a +1 to a player’s battle score when attacking, and a +2 when defending. All combat is resolved, at the end of rounds, by subtracting the Defender’s Battle Score from the Attacker’s and comparing it on the table. Each Legion has a unique name and must be assigned to a Location, by default they begin on the Homeworld.

Militia – Militia can not be moved from their Location or upgraded and grant a +1 to defense. Militia often come with an Asset, a planet may come with two units of militia for instance. They are always the first casualties of an attack, they do not count towards a Player’s Maximum Forces. Militia may be purchased for 800 MS, they can not be regenerated if destroyed and must simply be purchased again. A player can never buy more than 1 unit of militia per Location per round. They can not be liquidated.

Elite Troops: Sardaukar, Fedaykin and other elite units are treated as +2 to attack and +3 to defend instead of the normal +1/+2, they can not receive upgrades.

Troop Upkeep: Legions (Standard, Upgraded, or Elite) now cost 200 MS per round to support. Militia cost 40 MS per round.

Maximum Forces: No player may control more than 20 Legions. Militia do not count toward this limit, but no location can have more than 5 militia at it. Militia no longer are tracked as individual named units and will simply display next to the asset on auctions and reports. Militia may still not be placed on Homeworlds.

Recruit Legion: This is an Action, players send “Recruit Legion: #” to the moderator via NB, if they are recruiting other than standard legions this must be mentioned. Players can not recruit more legions per round than their Combat Score and new legions arrive on the Homeworld before Combat takes place that round. Legions cost 1000 MS to recruit, unless otherwise specified, they can be sold, and they have a Liquid value of 500 MS. Players may also purchase troops from other players, which does not count against their recruiting limit for a round, or mercenaries, which count against neither limit or movement limit and arrive on the players Homeworld just like recruited legions.

Combat occurs whenever forces loyal to one faction are at a location not owned by that faction when the Battle Phase commences, with the exception of Kaitain, the Imperial Capital, where combat can not take place. Players are not the only combatants, pirates and rogue houses can launch attacks randomly. If no one specified a type of attack, the default is a Seizure (CC) at a Location and a House Raid on a Homeworld. If you sell troops to someone, move them, or they will attack you.

Combat Actions - Max (CC+1) AP per round
1 AP – Upgrade Legion
0 AP – Recruit Legion
1 AP – Move Hero: Move a hero to a different Location
2 AP – Move Legion: Move a Legion to a different Location

A player can only move 1 legion per Combat Score per round, plus 1 hero, it doesn’t matter where they are moving them to, they may move more heroes of course but wouldn’t be able to move their maximum number of legions. Heroes do not cost any money to move, just AP, but they can not attack by themselves, though they may defend (rallying the local farmers basically). A hero, and only one hero, may be placed in command of a force for attacks, typically adding bonuses to the battle score, see the (link: Appendix Heroes) for details. To move troops also costs money, and the Spacing guild charges outrageous ‘Hazard Fees’ to transport troops

100 MS – Move a Legion from anywhere to your Homeworld
100 MS – Move a Legion from your Homeworld to any Location you control
200 MS – Move a Legion from a Location you control to another Location you control
200 MS – Move a Legion to or from Kaitain*
300 MS – Move a Legion from your Homeworld to a Location you do not control for a Raid or House Raid
400 MS – Move a Legion from a Location you control to a Location you do not control for a Raid or House Raid
400 MS – Move a Legion from your Homeworld to a Location you do not control for a Seizure
500 MS – Move a Legion from a Location you control to a Location you do not control for a Seizure

*Normally troops can only go one place per round, the lone exception to this is the Imperial Capital of Kaitain, a very busy space hub. Troops on Kaitain can be moved even if they were sent there this round. So a player may sell troops to another player and send them to Kaitain, who can move them somewhere else that same round.

Legion Identity – Each legion has its own unique name, such as Harkonnen Alpha Legion, typically this is abridged, ‘Hark Leg A’ for instance. Upgrades, militia, and Elite troops are kept track of with the legion, ‘Hark Leg B+’ would indicate a legion with an offensive upgrade, this is generally secret information between the player and mod, on special request a player may use their own identifiers, such as “Red Hawk Legion”

Upgrades – Any Legion may receive one Upgrade, typically from a Legion Upgrade Token generated by a Weapons Factory. Upgrades are permanent, and usually only apply to attack or defense, granting a +1 to that Legion. A Legion which receives an offensive upgrade would be +2 during attacks instead of +1, a Legion that receives defensive upgrade would be at +3 instead of +2 to attack. Legion identifiers use + and – to indicate offensive and defensive upgrades. Upgrading a unit costs 1 AP and a Legion Upgrade Token. Upgrading a unit is done by NB, sending a message “Upgrade: Legion Name – offensive/defensive” specifying which upgrade is being done.

Casualties – Casualties always take weakest units first, and weakness is determined by the battle, an offensive upgrade unit would die before a defensive one if you were being attacked, militia die first. When equal the first in order dies, so if a player is attached to a unit they should put it at the end of the roster they send for an attack. Generally heroes only die if all the other forces have died and forces either take no losses, 1 legion, or total casualties.

Launching an Attack – Players specify a Location (or Player), and the type of attack they are launching in the title, then include which legions and heroes they are sending in the body of the NB to the mod, unless they can get it in the title. Use this Format in the NB title:
Raid: Location
Seizure: Location
House Raid: Player

Once the NB is sent, the forces are committed - unless the player couldn’t afford the movement AP or cost at the time of the NB.

Types of Attack
Each Type of attack has a different measure of success, listed as “Success!!!” on the table, any score above that is also a success. Generally truly overwhelming victories and defeats can generate Court Gossip, generally vague but beneficial to the winner or harmful to the loser. “Bob just suffered a horrible raid” or “John just crushed a raiding force”, “John’s Palace was burnt to the ground”, “John’s forces are bragging about seizing a location”.

Raid (CI) – To execute a Raid, the attacker must designate a Location known to them and not under their control, other than a Homeworld. Raids rely on stealth and secrecy as much as fighting skill, so a Player’s Battle Score is based on their Combat and Intrigue Scores for raids. Raids never destroy defending forces, and a raid never reveals who attacked except if the attacker is strongly defeated. A successful Raid steals income from the defender, depending on the degree of success the defender might simply lose income from the damage or the attacker may get away with lots of money. You can't raid Electors. Raid Forces, if they survive, always return to their point of origin.

Raid Battle Score Result
-4 or lower: Attacker loses all forces and the Defender knows which player attacked them and where the attack originated from, typically “Player X’s Homeworld”, this can generate Court Gossip.
-3: Attacker loses 1 Legion, Defender knows who attacked them
-2: Attacker’s forces return home in defeat, Defender knows who attacked them
-1: Attacker’s forces return home in defeat, but Defender does not know who attacked them
0: Success!!! Attacker’s force’s escape with half of the income the Asset generates that round, the Defender suffers no casualties but doesn’t know who attacked.
+1: Attacker’s forces seize all the income, the Defender suffers no casualties but doesn’t know who attacked.
+2 or higher: Attacker’s forces seize all the income generated by the Asset that round, and damage the facility so badly it generates no income the next round either. The Defender suffers no casualties but doesn’t know who attacked, this can generate Court Gossip.

Seizure (CC) – To execute a Seizure, the attacker must designate a Location known to them and not under their control, other than a Homeworld. This type of attack is a direct and open attempt to annex a Location, and if the attacker defeats the player by even 1 on Battle Score the Location is transferred to them, the defender knows which player attacked them. Final score controls how many casualties each force takes, if the facility is damaged (generates no income that round), and whether the attacker or defender retains control. Electors are seized the same way, damaged just means they have not votes that round as they are wounded, seizing an Elector transfers control over them, they are ‘persuaded’ to join the player’s cause.

Seizure Battle Score Result
-3 or lower: The Attack fails utterly, the Location and Defenders are undamaged and the attacker is wiped out, there Point of Origin is revealed, typically as “Player X’s Homeworld” this can generate Court Gossip.
-2: The Attack fails, the facility is undamaged and the attacking force is destroyed, the defender loses half their force, rounded down.
-1: The Attack fails, the facility is damaged but the attacking force is destroyed, the defender loses half their force, rounded down.
0: The Attack fails, the attacker damages the facility and loses half their force, rounded up, the defender loses half their force, rounded up. Surviving attackers return to their Homeworld.
+1: Success!!! The Location belongs to the attacker, but is damaged, the defender’s forces are destroyed and the attacker loses half their force rounded up.
+2: The Location is taken, but damaged, the defenders are destroyed but the attacker loses half their force rounded down
+3: The Location is taken but damaged, the attacker takes no casualties.
+4 or higher: The attacker captures the location intact, losing no forces and obliterating the defenders, this can generate Court Gossip

House Raid (DC) – As with a Raid, a House Raid is secret except for major defeats. Unlike the other two attacks the attacker directly attacks a player, not a Location. Attacking forces are going up against a player’s Homeworld garrisons so this is generally a suicide attack. The attacker is assaulting a player’s palace or embassy with the intent of causing as much physical and political damage as possible. The assault force will vandalize art work, shoot ministers and bureaucrats, blow up statues, destroy records and generally wreak as much bloodshed and damage as they can before dying. A successfully House Raid ends that players involvement in an Embargo if they were part of one. House Raid Forces, if they survive, always return to their point of origin.

House Raid Battle Score Result
-5 or Lower: Curb Stomp. The Attacker’s Forces are utterly destroyed and his identity is revealed. The Defender suffers no damage, this can generate Court Gossip.
-4: The Attacker’s forces are destroyed, no damage.
-3: The Attacker’s forces are destroyed but the Defender loses 20% of their Etheric Income
-2: Success!!! The Attacker’s forces are destroyed but the Defender loses 1 Legion and 20% of their Etheric Income.
-1: The Attacker’s forces are destroyed but the Defender loses half their legions, rounded down, and 40% of their Etheric Income, of which the attacker receives half
0: The Attacker loses half their legions, rounded down, and the defender loses half their legions, rounded up and 60% of their Etheric Income, the attacker receives half of that.
+1: The Attacker loses 1 legion and the Defender loses all garrison forces and 80% of their Etheric Income, of which the attacker receives half.
+2: The Attacker loses 1 Legion and the Defender is decimated, losing all their Etheric Income, half of which the attacker receives.
+3: The Attacker suffers no losses, the Defender is defeated utterly, losing all their Etheric Income and the attacker gains half their wealth at the time of the attack.
+4: or higher: As with +3, but the attacker gains all of the defender’s Wealth at the time of the Attack… this generates Court Gossip

Kanly
Sometimes a feud escalates beyond the normally limited scope of inter-House warfare and a vendetta exists, this is called Kanly, and a player may declare it on another player, this typically requires deep provocation but not for game purposes. If a player declared Kanly, by posting to the game board “Kanly: Player”, they may exceed the normal Troop Movement Limit, as legions sent to a location they control or their enemy controls now only cost 1 AP, and Heroes that are commanding an Attack force cost 0 AP. Kanly applies to both players, however a person can only have one state of Kanly at a time.

The forms must be obeyed: To declare Kanly, the player must state they are doing so publicly, and demand reparations, these can be anything, if the player doesn’t meet the reparation demand a State of Kanly exists between them. Players may not attack each other the round Kanly is declared, any Military Forces or Assassination Actions cease, forces return home and half their transport fee is returned. Starting the next round, both participants must each launch at least one of the following at the other player or lose half their income that round: House Raid, Seizure, Raid, Assassinate Hero, Assassinate Elector.

Ending Kanly: At any time both players agree, Kanly is over, and any assassins, heroes or troops aimed at the other player return home, refunding half their transport fee. Kanly can also be ended by a Player Majority Vote, see Voting section, with the same effect.

Who is the Attacker and who the Defender?
Whenever a Transfer of an asset takes place that asset and any militia present transfer to the owner, if the prior owner left other troops behind they will Attack as a Seizure. Otherwise whoever has troops present the longest is the Defender, so if you Seize a world and someone else arrives that same round with the same intent, your surviving forces will be fighting as the Defenders against the new attacker.

Who Attacks First?
Should multiple people attempt to Raid and/or Seize the same location in a round, they go in the following order:

Raids, in order of Highest Raid Battle Score to Lowest. In event of ties the Player with the Highest Combat Score goes first, if that is tied then highest Intrigue, then most legions, then coin flip.

After Raids the Seizures go, in order from Lowest Battle Score to Highest, in event of ties the player with the least legions goes first. Each Subsequent Seizure on a location in a round reduce the Defender's Battle Score by 2, they are softened up from the prior attack or weak and not yet dug in from just taking it themselves. A player can only launch 1 attack force of any type at a single location, so 1 raid or seizure, not a raid and a seizure, or 2 raids, or 2 seizures, 1 and only 1 per location per player per round.

Essentially the better raider gets there sooner, the bigger Seizure force takes longer to mobilize. Once somethings income has been seized for a round its gone, whoever got it first got it. No Asset can be damaged worse than the maximum result for a single battle. So five or six massively successful raids on a place in one round don't cripple it for five or six rounds. For Seizures, the player who gets there first will tend suffer casualties and not have a chance to dig in completely before then next player attacks, they will tend to lose unless they really smeared the previous defender (+2 or higher seizure result) in which case they strolled in and fortified the place. As an example, against an originally defender of BS 7, Bob launches a BS 8 attack with 2 legions on a CC of 6 and John Launches a BS 10 attack with three legions and a hero, CC 6. Bob Seizes the place and loses a legion (+1 Seizure result). His remaining legion is now a defender (+2) and he's at minus 2 as second defender, his BS is only a 6 now, John eats him alive though the place is still damaged. Alternatively, if Bob had launched with 3 legions, BS 9, he'd have taken no casualties and would have defended with CC of 6 +6 for defenders, -2 for 2nd defense, or 10, a tie, John and Bob both lose a legion and John's forces retreat. So a first attacker can gain a very small edge. Were another attack to follow that round, say Jane, with a BS of 11, poor Bob would be down to a BS of only 6 (2 legions but a -4 for third defense), she'll obliterate his poor wounded and reeling force. The general effect of which is that multiple seizures can be a bit unpredictable but generally favor the highest battle score and most troops.

Random Attacks
NPC Houses and pirates can attack locations, and are much more likely to attack locations which are ungarrisoned. These are usually raids, but occasionally seizures (or House Raids). When a NPC faction successfully attacks a location they often generate Court Gossip revealing that location. "We just raided a Gem Mine on Deneb, and it was unguarded" being the norm, basically bragging about it, whereas they won't brag about an attack which failed. So while moving troops somewhere to guard a location increases the odds another player will discover the location, an unguarded facility is very likely to be attacked and in addition to the lost income (or outright annexation - they will typically put it up for Auction within a couple rounds too) there is a very high chance everyone in the game will suddenly find out what and where the asset is and that its owner wasn't guarding it strongly. That said, players shouldn't over-garrison, legions cost money and you can only own so many of them. Players with high diplomacy scores are less likely to be attacked, players with more Locations are more likely to be attacked.

Table Modifiers
Table Modifiers
+1: Every 5 Locations (Including Homeworld and Electors) Round down
-1: Every point in Diplomacy
+1: Currently Round 1 or 2

Take Modifiers and add 1d6
0-: No attacks
1-2: 1 attack
3-4: 2 attacks
5-6: 3 attacks
7-8: 4 attacks
9-10: 5 attacks
11+: 6 Attacks

Attack Type: 1d6
1-4: Raid Attack on a Random Location
5: Seizure Attack on a Random Location
6: House Raid
The Battle Score of an attack is 1d6+2 for Raids
The Battle Score of an attack is 1d6+4 for Seizures
The Battle Score of an attack is 1d6+5 for House Raids

Quick Note on Locations: Generally I'm not worried about misspells or obvious abbreviations, I know if you know a place and the game functions on 'clear intent', that said, most items have locations chosen from Dune, real astronomy, etc and tend to have specific names, not "Sirius" but "Sirius IV Central Continent". You can play guessing games in hope of landing on some pre-generated asset but you will probably not succeed, and the Guild will still charge you for passage, they'll just return home if the thing is not in play, you can't designate a homeworld (that's what house Raids are for) regardless of whether the faction is in play or not, lots of locations are on Homeworlds, like all the spice, semuta, and sappho juice being on Dune and Ecaz, you can attack those locations, every place is unique and equidistant, and a Agri Fief on Caladan is no more likely to belong to House Atreides than anyone else. Its not really on Caladan, its on 'Caladan Southern Peninsula' effectively a unique world.