- The Wars of David -

I. Introduction.

Nothing changes. The year is 1050 BC.

Israel is a small but prosperous kingdom led by David son of Jesse, her greatest king and a skillful warrior. Israel will need that skill, because her every border adjoins a hostile nation. Add up the armies of the Philistines, the Mesopotamians, the Midianites, the Amalekites, the Ammonites, the Edomites, the Moabites, and the Canaanites, and the odds don't look good for David and his subjects. But their central position gives them an advantage. The eight opposing kingdoms mistrust each other and cannot coordinate their attacks. And because Israel is the chosen people of God, divine intervention will sometimes occur. Regardless, it's going to be one heckuva battle.

The Wars of David is a two-player game set in ancient times. All you supply is a six-sided die.

II. The Units

• Spearmen are the basic military unit. They use their spears for one-handed thrusts, while their other hand holds a shield.
• Swordsmen are somewhat more powerful than spearmen, since a sword can parry a blow as well as strike one. In any battle with Swordsmen doing the attacking, reroll any combat roll of 1.
  The Philistines use iron swords, instead of the bronze weapons used by other nations, which makes them even more dangerous. When a Philistine Swordsmen unit attacks, add 1 to the combat die roll (instead of rerolling 1's). This is not cumulative -- you don't add 2 if two Swordsmen attack.
• Slingers use leather slings to hurl lead balls or stones at their foes. Because they fight from a distance, Slingers ignore any combat result of "attacker retreat" if they are the attackers. They defend normally.
• Archers can attack from a range of 2. They ignore any combat result of "attacker retreat" if they are the attackers and the range is 2, unless the defenders are also Archers.
• Chariots are the most feared units on the battlefield. They move at great speed, and can attack either normally or to cause panic. If they choose to cause panic, combat results of "defender retreat 1," "defender destroyed," and "no result" are all treated as "defender retreat 2." The panic attack works only on foot soldiers, not on other Chariots. A Chariot can carry an Archer, who can attack normally while riding, or a General or King, but not both.
  The Mesopotamians use iron chariots. When such a chariot attacks normally, add 1 to the combat roll.
• Generals normally ride in Chariots. They also give an advantage to friendly troops near them. Any unit within 2 hexes of a friendly General can subtract 1 from the distance it must retreat, whether it is an attacker or a defender. That is, a unit within 2 hexes of a General can ignore results of "retreat 1," and treat a "retreat 2" as a "retreat 1." But if the General retreats, all friendly units within 2 hexes must retreat the same distance, and if the General is killed, all friendly units must retreat 2.
• Kings are similar in effects to Generals, but their resistance to retreating extends 3 hexes instead of 2. If a King is killed, all units in that King's army must retreat at full speed to the nearest friendly city and remain there. If King David is killed, the game is over and the Israelites lose.
• Bodyguards are elite foot soldiers who have the job of guarding their King. They cannot move more than 2 hexes away from their King, and if the King is farther away than that, the Bodyguard must move toward him. Chariots cannot make Bodyguards panic.
• Baggage is the wagons that carry an army's food, water, tents, spare weapons, and so on. They are necessary for a travelling army, but they can also be a weakness to that army.

III. Setting Up the Game

• Top-left: the Canaanites (olive)
• Top-center: the Mesopotamians (green)
• Top-right: the Ammonites (magenta)
• Center-left: the Philistines (aqua)
• Center-right: the Moabites (pink)
• Bottom-left: the Amalekites (yellow)
• Bottom-center: the Edomites (orange)
• Bottom-right: the Midianites (gray)

The eight-kingdom player sets up first. He must set up each nation's units within the borders of its own nation. No unit can be adjacent to the units of another nation.

The Israelite player (white counters) can place his units anywhere within the borders of Israel (the center map). King David must start in Jerusalem (the white city).

IV. Map Terrain

• Farmland (speckled green) gives no modifiers for movement or combat.
• Desert (speckled yellow) is like Farmland, but a unit in Desert must be no more than 2 hexes away from a friendly Baggage or city, not 3 hexes as usual.
• Rough terrain (speckled orange) is a hazard to Chariots. Each time a Chariot (or a General or a King) enters a Rough-terrain hex, roll a die. If it comes up 1, the chariot hit a rock and overturned, destroying the Chariot. This roll is not needed if the Chariot moves only one hex per turn. Rough terrain has no effect on other units.
• Hills (beige with black contour lines) reduce all units' movement by 1, but never less than 1. If you attack a unit on a hill, you must reduce the combat roll by 1 under the following circumstances:
  1. none of the attackers is on a hill, and the defender is on a hill
  2. the attackers are on a hillside (the contour lines don't meet each other within the hex), and the defender is on a hilltop (the contour lines form complete loops within the hex)
  3. Attackers and defender are both on hillsides, and the attacker just moved into the hex it is occupying
• Cities (gray with colored boxes) allow unlimited stacking of units within them. They give you points toward reinforcements for your army, and Israel's cities are the object of the game.

V. Playing the Game

1. Israelite Movement Phase: the Israelite player moves his units.
2. Israelite Combat Phase: resolve any combat resulting from Israelite movement.
3. 8-Kingdom Movement Phase: the 8-Kingdom player moves his units.
4. 8-Kingdom Combat Phase: resolve any combat resulting from 8-Kingdom movement.
5. Replacement Phase: armies that can gain replacement units, get them.
6. Resolution Phase: see if any player has won the game. Advance the turn counter.

VI. Movement

VI-a. Basic movement

A unit cannot leave its nation unless it is within 2 hexes of a friendly General or 3 hexes of a friendly King at the time it crosses the border. Once it has entered another nation, the General or King need not stay within 3 hexes. For the 8-Kingdom player, "friendly" means "from the same nation."

VI-b. Stacking

1. One Archer, General, or King can stack and move with each Chariot.
2. Unlimited units can stack within a friendly city hex.

VI-c. Zones of Control

VI-d. Limits on 8-Kingdom Movement

Units retreating to a friendly city because their king was killed, and units moving toward a friendly city or Baggage counter because their closest Baggage was destroyed, must keep moving even if their nation isn't the one the 8-Kingdom player is moving this turn.

The eight kingdoms are united only by their hatred of Israel, and one enemy will do as well as another. If a unit from one 8-Kingdom nation moves adjacent to units of another 8-Kingdom nation, and if a die roll comes up 1-2, the unit that just moved must attack a unit in the other 8-Kingdom nation and cannot attack an Israelite unit in the Combat Phase this turn. You must make this die-roll check for each unit that moves next to one of its "allies." If a unit moves next to two or more "allies," you must roll to see if it will attack both, but if it attacks one, it will not attack others in the same turn.

VI-e. Supplies

VI-f. Friendly Cities

VI-g. Baggage

VII. Combat

VII-a. Basic Rules

1. "Combat unit" means a unit with a non-zero Attack rating.
2. Any unit with enemy units in range can take part in combat, but is not required to do so.
3. Multiple units can attack a single foe.
4. A strong unit can spread its attack among several defenders, as long as the defender(s) are adjacent to each other and in range of the attacker.

VII-b. Resolving Combat

Now modify the combat odds, if any modification is required for terrain or other situations. Roll one die, modify that roll if needed, and find the number you rolled in the appropriate column of the Combat Results Table. This tells you how the combat occurred, as follows:

• A X means the attacking units are destroyed.
• A R2 means the attackers must retreat 2 hexes away from the defender. If they cannot do this because every possible retreat leaves the attacker off the map, in an occupied hex, or in a hex the attacker can't enter, the attacker is destroyed.
• A R1 means the attackers must retreat 1 hex. Follow the same rules as for "A R2."
• n/r means no result. The battle rages, but nothing has changed on the map.
• D R1 means the defender must retreat 1 hex. Follow the same rules as for "A R2."
• D R2 means the defender must retreat 2 hexes. Follow the same rules as for "A R2."
• D X means the defender is destroyed.

VII-c. Attacking Units in Cities

VII-d. Divine Intervention

VII-E. Attacking Units Stacked in Chariots

VIII. Replacements

Replacement Points can buy any combat unit that has been lost. Such units must be placed in friendly cities; if the nation has more than one friendly city in its borders, the replacement units must be equally divided among all those cities. Only one Replacement Point can be saved from one turn to the next; use a "Saved Repl Pt" marker in one of your cities for this. Thus, if a nation loses its only General, it is possible to replace him. Kings cannot be replaced.

IX. Victory

The 8-Kingdom player wins immediately if King David is killed. The Israelite player wins immediately if the 8-Kingdom player has no Generals or Kings left.

X. Game Tables

XI. Designer's Notes