Things to know that are not in the rule book

[davekuyk]

I have encountered several items that don't appear in the rule book or kingdom setups. All of these examples came from Warlords games.

I'll list them here as I find them:

The dragons cannot have a capital in the water.

I thought I was clever moving the RD capital to the water. As the only dragon player, I thought it seemed like a good idea. The order entry program didn't complain, but when I got the turn, I saw the order failed to execute. Thankfully, my capital was not under duress, but it could have been. It is unclear if the capital will move to a water PC if it is forced there by hostile action.

It appears you may only issue one trade-type order with a kingdom per turn. 

The order entry program will flag this sometimes. I encountered it when I bought an artifact from a kingdom and then attempted to send food via a gift order (which strikes me as "not a trade order"). The gift order failed with the message that only a single trade order with a kingdom was allowed per turn. The order entry program did not catch this attempt; it did when I attempted to buy two artifacts from the same kingdom.

This one got me pretty bad. I failed to send the gift, which cascaded down to several orders not being executed. If I was a paying customer and this happened, I would be pretty upset. I don't understand the rationale behind this mechanic. Perhaps it's to make it more difficult for a dropping player to dump their stuff? 

Movement Point totals for groups appear to have no upper limit.

I am talking about items such as the Champion Stallions and speed spell, where movement points increase. All the effects appear to stack, so a patrol with Champion Stallions with a p-2 speed spell with the movement totem would have 39 movement points. The order entry program seems to have a bug where, at times, it recognizes the increased total and times where it does not. I ignored the warning, and my patrol moved as I had expected. It is very nice to explore mountain squares. Note I have not tested this extensively, so it is possible some effects stack and some do not. Use with caution.

Mithril miners stick together.

When miners are hired they are added to the total miner count and appear at wherever the other miners are at. So if you have 50 miners working at a distance camp and you hire more, the new ones join the ones at the camp. The location your provide when issuing the order does not seem to matter.

Anyone have others?

[Pine Needle]

Nailed it on mithril. Interesting new factor in the game.

Mithril deposits are either fruitful or exhausted, so it doesn't matter if you put 500 or 500000000 mithril minors on a load. They will give you the full amount of mithril- you wont get a partial load.

Does that make sense?

[davekuyk]

Good point about the miners - I have never gotten less mithril than the number of miners I have (typically 50).

Another item:

The player aid can show green for all figures, but they can still die.

In a warlords game I have lost a p-3, a p-2 and a marshal vs FINE encounters when the player aid showed all green for survivability. Clearly, there is some minimum risk.

[uncledarkseid]

Good point about the miners - I have never gotten less mithril than the number of miners I have (typically 50).

Another item:

The player aid can show green for all figures, but they can still die.

In a warlords game I have lost a p-3, a p-2 and a marshal vs FINE encounters when the player aid showed all green for survivability. Clearly, there is some minimum risk.

Cast mirror image it helps in encounters. It is important to remember that unusual encounters are considerably more dangerous than a standard army versus army battle.  You are putting your figures directly in harms way against the enemy, instead of hiding your wizards behind the lines. Yes, there are always inherent risks.

[davekuyk]

Good point about the miners - I have never gotten less mithril than the number of miners I have (typically 50).

Another item:

The player aid can show green for all figures, but they can still die.

In a warlords game I have lost a p-3, a p-2 and a marshal vs FINE encounters when the player aid showed all green for survivability. Clearly, there is some minimum risk.

Cast mirror image it helps in encounters. It is important to remember that unusual encounters are considerably more dangerous than a standard army versus army battle.  You are putting your figures directly in harms way against the enemy, instead of hiding your wizards behind the lines. Yes, there are always inherent risks.

I don't disagree with that at all. That is how it should be. My point in mentioning it is the player aid tool would suggest the figure is safe (going so far as to use the word "Safe" with a green background) when that is not the case. It would be good to have your exact line above about inherent risks somewhere in the rules and/or player aid page.

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Another item:

Customization Artifacts do not count towards ESO

I found this out the hard way when my ESO did not count my scrying device, which resulted in not getting the leader and brigades I was expecting, which resulted in a much more difficult spot the next turn.

I can understand the argument - the artifact is free - why should you be rewarded?

However, a prince from the customization option counts towards the princes ESO objective. The point of influence also counts.

[Strongwill]

It should count, your spending points on it… imo

[davekuyk]

Update: You cannot sell/purchase a high council seat while doing any 200 trade orders with the same kingdom, including a 215 (gift).

I do not understand this and would like to know the possible motivation for this restriction.

[davekuyk]

Found another:

Summon demon spell has a range of 10. Found out the hard way. No range mentioned in the spell text.

[davekuyk]

This one was to my benefit:

The Summon Demon spell does not work vs DE princes. I take that to mean it doesn't work vs any immortal figure but I can't confirm.

Unclear if this applies to the Summon High Demon spell as well.

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This one was to my benefit:

The Summon Demon spell does not work vs DE princes. I take that to mean it doesn't work vs any immortal figure but I can't confirm.

Unclear if this applies to the Summon High Demon spell as well.

I take that back. These spells count as Death magic, which the DE is immune to.

[davekuyk]

Rescue Hostage

Putting aside the use of the word "hostage" where "prisoner" is used elsewhere in the rules...

This is more accurately a "steal hostage" order.

The order text:

This dangerous mission orders an agent to attempt to free a hostage and return him to
the agent's capital.

This use of the word "free" which would seem to indicate the figure is, well, freed. Instead, the result is the figure goes from being a hostage (prisoner) of the original kingdom to a hostage of the kingdom of the "rescuing" agent.

A better implementation might be one order to Free Prisoner, which simply sets the figure free, and a separate order to Kidnap Prisoner, which does what the current order does.