At War

When two or more opposing Armies meet each other in the same Region, they automatically engage in combat during the next Warfare phase. Armies are considered opposing when they invade a Realm without invitation or prior agreement, or when a declaration of war is made with the Send Message action. An Army entering a Realm uninvited or without prior agreement, is considered a declaration of war. Armies which are in a Region controlled by neither of their Realms, that have a prior declaration of war, will still engage in combat in this neutral Region. Armies not at war may traverse or remain in a Region together without initiating combat.

Warfare Phase

Combat is resolved at the start of each turn for all Realms. Review your map and see if there are any opposing Armies in the same Region. Begin with the conflict which has the Army with the highest Might or greatest number of Armies. and continue in descending order until all conflicts are resolved for all Realms.

Battles between mustered Armies are resolved before Sieges. If a Settlement is under Siege, all friendly Armies move to that location and add their Might to total rolled for the Siege combat roll. Armies will always prioritize combat against each other, before resolving Sieges.

Combat Rolls

Combat rolls automatically happen during the Warfare phase of each turn, if opposing forces are in the same Region as each other. A GM may call for a combat roll in other situations if they so wish.

There are two types of Combat rolls: Battles and Sieges.

Battles occur when Armies that are at war encounter one another in the same Realm. Sieges occur when an Army is given an order to attack a Settlement.

In all combat rolls, each side rolls a number of d6 equal to their Might. A roll of 5-6 is considered a success. The side with the most successes wins the combat roll. The total net success (successes that exceed the number of the opposition’s success) is then compared to the Battle or Siege table to see the resolution of the conflict. Sieges have different outcomes to Battles, even when the same number of net successes are rolled. In Sieges, Garrisons defending a Settlement cannot retreat. If an Army is aiding the defence of a Settlement from a Siege, it still follows the Siege Results table.

Combat rolls may have multiple rolls of the dice, until there are enough net successes to end the conflict. When either the Battle Results or Siege Results tables says “Combat/Battle/Siege Ends” then dice rolling stops for this conflict for the rest of the turn. If opposing forces remain in the same Region, they will continue to make combat rolls during the next Warfare phase.

Multiple Combatants

If Armies from more than two Realms are in the same Region, and those Realms are all at war with each other without being in an alliance or having an agreement of co-operation - i.e. a Free For All - then resolve the conflict between the two Armies with the highest Might first, before proceeding with the following combats in descending order. In the event of a tie for highest Might, roll d6 equal to the Influence production of each Realm as a tiebreaker, whoever has the most successes goes first.

Alternative Warfare

Rulers is designed to be played as a standalone TTRPG, but it is also strives to be a setting agonistic system that can be used as a template on top of other games. If the players and the GM are in agreement, you may use a different game of your choosing to resolve combat rolls. This might be a tabletop wargame or strategy video game. Continue to use Might according to the game rules, and agree upon how Might is represented in your alternative combat game. Perhaps Might represents a point buy system or a cap on the number of units available to the combatants. Once you have agreed upon what Might represents in the mechanics of the other game you are using for combat, keep it consistent and have fun!