From Moves 12 As a result of post publication playtesting, the following errata has been assembled to clarify and correct various errors or ambiguities in the original game components. This errata follows the sequence of the Dark Ages Rules folder. GAME INVENTORY (Omission): A complete game of Dark Ages should include the following components: one mapsheet one rules folder one sheet (Scenario Chart, Terrain Effects Chart, Combat Unit Capability Chart, Victory Points Scale, Summary of Units Chart and Combat Results Table) two sets of die cut counters one die If any of these parts are missing or damaged please write to: Simulations Publications Inc 44 East 23rd Street New York, N Y. 10010 THE UNITS (Correction): Two differently colored sets of die-cut counters (one green and one tan) should be provided. GENERAL MOVEMENT RULES (C) (Clarification): Each unit must be moved to the full extent desired before the movement of any other unit is begun. (F) (Clarification): No Enemy Movement is permitted during the Movement Phase of the Friendly Player-Turn. Note. The Exceptions listed in this case ( Withdrawal and the Manipular Legion Rule) are erroneously mentioned in several instances in the Dark Ages rules. These rules were accidentally transposed from another SPI game (Phalanx). Players should ignore all references to Withdrawal and Manipular Roman Legion rules. (l) (Superfluity): The exception listed in this case ( Tactical Concession) is not applicable to the Dark Ages game. Players should ignore any reference to this rule. (J) (Omission): No combat (Enemy or Friendly) is permitted during a Movement Phase. (K) (Omission): As units move into any one of the three hexes adjacent to the front of an Enemy missile unit (Class IV or Class V units only) they must immediately cease movement and may move no farther in that Movement Phase. In any following Friendly Movement Phase they may leave that hex, but must again cease movement immediately if they enter another hex adjacent to the front an Enemy missile unit. They may move directly from one such hex to another. STACKING (C) (Omission): Viking Fleet units have no inherent stacking points; however, no more than one Viking Fleet unit can be placed in a single hex. Viking Fleet units may pass through a hex containing another Viking Fleet unit but may not end any Movement Phase in a hex with another Viking Fleet unit. Each Viking Fleet unit has the capacity to transport a maximum of three Friendly Combat units (not including Command units) regardless of the Indivldual Stacking Point values of the transported units. FACING General Rule (Clarification): All combat units (including Command units) are subject to all Facing rules. Viking Fleet units are exempt from all Facing rules. A unit uses its Melee Defense Strength Flank when it is attacked in Melee combat from any hex not adjacent to its front. (I) (Omission): Units may only change their facing orientation during a Friendly Movement Phase. Any facing change requiring an expenditure of Movement Points is subject to the movement restrictions outlined in the Command unit rules. Units in "Contact" with Enemy units may change their facing (during the Friendly Movement Phase) up to 60 degrees while remaining in the same hex. COMBAT General Rule (Clarification)- All reference to ''dispersed'' units should be read as ''demoralized' units. Units with a Melee Attack Strength of ''0'' may never initiate a Melee combat but such units defend against Melee attacks with their appropriate Melee Defense Strength. Missile units may only employ defensive fire against Enemy units which have been allocated to attack the missile unit(s) itself. Defensive fire is always voluntary. (D) (Clarification): Missile units may only fire over a unit which is on lower terrain than the missile unit. A missile unit in a hilItop hex when firing downhill (into a slope or level terrain hex) has its range allowance increased by one. In addition, a missile unit on a hilltop hex may fire over any type of hex located on level terrain, and may fire over any unit in a slope or level terrain hex. Missile units on hilltop hexes may never fire over wooded slope hexes. A hilltop hex is defined as any non-slope hex from which a line of hexes being traced from the hex in question to any edge of the mapsheet must unavoidably pass through at least one slope hex. A slope hex is defined as a hex containing the combination ''slash and dots'' contour markings (the dots representing the base of the slope). (K) (Clarification): Units which engage in a Melee combat in which no participating unit is either eliminated or demoralized remain in Contact. Such units are not required to attack any Enemy unit, but are forbidden from leaving the hex in which the ''contact'' was established until one of the units involved is either eliminated or demoralized in a subsequent combat. Note: Units in contact may change facing by one hexside during each Friendly Movement Phase. (L) (Correction): No unit may participate in more than one missile and one melee attack per Player Turn (only Class I units have the option to both melee and fire offensively in a single Player Turn). CAVALRY General Rule (Correction): Medium cavalry must take a minimum straight charge of two hexes (not three as stated). Cavalry units may not change their facing in the last hex entered during a charge. Cavalry units may not be held in contact with solely non-cavalry Enemy units. The normal contact rule applies to opposing cavalry units which engage in a Melee combat in which no unit is either eliminated or demoralized. Cavalry units may ''back up'' to gain charging room, however, the cavalry unit is required to pay all the facing movement costs such maneuvering implies. Cavalry units may also have their Combat Strength reduced due to terrain effects and/or Combat Unit Capability. Such reductions may cause the Melee Attack Strength of Heavy Cavalry to falI below two, and the MAS of Medium Cavalry to fall below one. Byzantine Cataphracts must charge a minimum of three hexes in order to employ their full Melee Attack Strength. The MAS of a Byzantine Cataphract unit may never falI below two for making too short a charge. DEMORALIZATION AND PANIC General Rules (Change): A unit becomes demoralized as a result of a combat in which a demoralization combat result is achieved. Panic occurs when the cumulative losses an army suffers during a game reaches the Panic Level given for that army by the Scenario Chart for the scenario in play. All Combat and Command units may become demoralized as a result of receiving a demoralized combat result. Demoralized units are distinguished by placing a demoralization marker on top of the unit or stack of units. A demoralized unit has its Movement Allowance and its Melee Defense Strengths halved (losing any fractions). In addition, a demoralized unit may never initiate an attack (whether Melee or Fire, including Defensive Fire) while it is in a demoralized state. A demoralized Command unit may not apply its Combat Bonus during the time it is demoralized, but the Command unit retains its normal control over the movement of other Friendly units. Units which normally possess some control over hexes adjacent to their front (Missile units; also see Cross River Attack) forfeit that control while they are demoralized. The effects of demoralization last until the end of the same Phase (in which the unit was demoralized) in the following Game-Turn. Thus, a unit which is demoralized by Defensive Fire during the Friendly Player-Turn remains demoralized until the end of the Defensive Fire Phase of the next Friendly Player-Turn. PANIC When the cumulative losses an army suffers during a game reach that army's Panic Level (indicated on the Scenario Chart), all units of that army immediately panic except the following units: 1) Command units; 2) All combat units stacked with or adjacent to a Command unit 3) Any unit which is more than ten hexes distant from the nearest Enemy unit The effects of panic occur immediately in whatever Phase an army's Panic Level is reached. Immediately invert all panicked units and place a demoralization marker on them (by inverting the units, Players will be able to distinguish Panicked units from units which are only temporarily demoralized). Panic may occur only once per army per game. In addition, once an army panics, the opposing army can panic if their cumulative losses also reach their indicated Panic Level. Panicked units are considered demoralized in that their Movement Allowance and Defense Strength are halved and they may not initiate any type of attack. Panicked units, however, retain their full Movement Allowance. During each Friendly Movement Phase all panicked units must be rnoved thelr fulI Movement Allowance towards the mapsheet edge which they were nearest to at the instant they panicked. In moving toward the nearest mapsheet edge panicked units must attempt to move through as few hexes adjacent to Enemy units as possible. The panicked units must pay a normal terrain and facing movement costs, but they may be moved independent y of the Command unit movement restrictions. The panicked units are moved by the owning Player at the beginning of each Friendly Movement Phase before any other Friendly units are moved. They must continue to be moved toward the nearest mapsheet hex until they either leave the map (expending one Movement Point to move off the hex grid), are eliminated by Enemy attacks, or are rallied by other non-panicked Friendly units. A non panicked Friendly Command or combat unit may attempt to rally as many panicked units as it is adjacent to at the end of a Friendly Movement Phase by means of a separate die roll for each unit it attempts to rally. A command unit rallies a panicked unit with a die roll of any number except six. A non command unit rallies an adjacent panicked unit by rolling either a one, two, or three. The rally die-rolls are performed at the end of the Friendly Movement Phase after all Friendly units have completed their Movement. Ralled units may not rally other panicked units until the Friendly Player-Turn following the turn on which they were rallied. Note: remember, panicked units are considered demoralized in all ways except that they retain their fulI Movement Allow ance. Panicked units may not initiate any attacks nor may they use Defensive Fire. Neither Panic nor Demoralization, however, ever has any effect on units defending against Enemy missile fire attacks since the Fire Protection Strength is assigned according to the terrain of the target hex rather than according to the strength of the defending units. In Melee combat, both panicked and demoralized units have their appropriate Defense Strength(s) halved (even if this reduces thelr strength to less than ''1''). Panicked and/or demoralized units which receive a ''DD'' combat result are eliminated. COMMAND UNITS (A) (Correction): In this case the word "pinned" should be considered to be synonymous with the word "Contact" as explained In Combat (K). Also, demoralized units may move up to half their normal Movement Allowance and this movement is subject to the Command unit movement restriction, ie, the moving unit must have begun the Friendly Movement Phase stacked with, or adjacent to, a Friendly Command unit. (B) (Clarification): In order to initiate any type of attack (Missile or Melee) the attacking unit must be stacked with or adjacent to a Friendly Command unit (not demoralized) during the Attack Allocation Phase of the Friendly Player Turn. Exceptions to this rule are as follows: Units In Contact with Enemy units may attack adjacent Enemy units regardless of the proximity of a Friendly Command unit. Units defending against Enemy attacks (including the use of Defensive Fire) may do so regardless of the proximity of Friendly Command units. (C) (Correction): The influence of Command units which causes additions or subtractions to be made to combat die rolls is applicable only in Melee combat. Command units never inf'luence the die roll for any type of missile combat. Important Note: I n Melee attacks made by units adjacent to, or stacked with a Friendly Command unit, subtract the appropriate number from the die roll. Conversely, the appropriate number s added to a die roll made by Enemy units attacking units which are stacked with, or adjacent to a Friendly Command unit. Command units lose their ability to influence combat n this manner while they are demoralized. Command units never panic VICTORY CONDITIONS General Rule (Superfluity): Players should ignore the reference to the "Darius rule " This rule is not applicable to the Dark Ages game. Player should ignore the procedure given for computing Victory Points and use instead the Summary of Units Chart which assigns the correct number of Victory Points for each unit type. Command units are worth ten Victory Points apiece. FEROCITY (B) (Correction): In all subsequent Melee attacks, ''one'' is subtracted from the die roll in all attacks made by the ''ferocious Player, i e, a die roll of ''5 ' would become a "4 '.' (C) (Correction): In all Melee attacks launched against units of the ' ferocious'' Player, ''one'' is added to the die roll, i.e, a die roll of "5'' becomes "6". ROMAN (BYZANTINE) VITALITY (A) (Correction): In all Melee attacks by the Byzantine Player, subtract ''one" from the die rolI. (B) (Correction): In all Melee attacks by the opposing Player, add ''one'' to the die roll. VIKING FLEETS (A) (Correction): V iking Fleet counters have special stacking limitations. A fleet counter may carry a maximum of three combat units ( in addition any number of Command units). Viking Fleet counters may never end a Movement Phase in the same hex as another fleet counter. (C) (Omission): Viking Fleet counters are exempt from all facing rules. (E) (Omission): Troops may only be disembarked from moored fleets during a Friendly Movement Phase. DISMOUNTED CAVALRY General Rule (Clarification): Cavalry units may only remount or dismount during a Friendly Movement Phase. If the dismounted unit (only) is eliminated, the Victory Points for that unit only are scored. If the riderless mount unit (only) is eliminated, the Victory Points for the original cavalry unit minus the Victory Points for the dismounted unit are scored. If both the dismounted unit and the riderless mount unit are eliminated, the Victory Points for the original cavalry unit are scored. TERRAIN EFFECTS CHART (Clarification): The Dark Ages Terrain Effects Chart requires substantial clarification. Many of the problems concerning terrain effects stem from the art work for the Dark Ages mapsheet which has waterways flowing through the hexes rather than along the hexsides. The latter has become the standard practice with SPI mapsheets since the publication of Dark Ages. In a future printing of Dark Ages we hope to revise the mapsheet to conform to the newer, more playable, system. In the meantime, the following errata should be noted on the game's Terrain Effects Chart. The Defense Strength section of the Terrain Effects Chart specifies the effect of terrain on a unit's Melee Defense Strength(s). Similarly, the Attack Strength section details the effects of terrain on the Melee and Fire Combat strength(s) of attacking units. The Defense strength of a unit defending on higher terrain than it is being attacked from, and/or, the Attack Strength of a unit attacking a unit on lower terrain is computed on the Downhill Terrain effects column. The Defense Strength of a unit defending on lower terrain than it is being attacked from, and/or, the Attack strength of a unit attacking a unit on higher terrain is computed on the Uphlll terrain effects column. When a unit on a slope hex is attacking an Enemy unit on an adjacent slope hex, both the Attack and Defense Strength should be computed on the Uphill terrain effects column. The greatest Fire Protection strength that a hex can have (other than the Keep hex) is ''4" i e., the FPS of a wooded stream hex is "4'' not "6'.' The Movement Point cost to enter a hex containing two differing terraln types (i e, a wooded slope hex) is computed solely on the Movement Point entry cost of the more difficult terrain type. Thus, it costs four Movement Points to enter a wooded slope hex, not six. Under the Notes'' heading on the Terraln Effects Chart Players should add the following .Cost to enter a road hex through a road hexside is 1/2 of a Movement Point. Cost to enter a road hex when not moving through a road hexside is computed according to the entry cost dictated by the other terrain in the road hex. The Terrain Effects Chart failed to differentiate between river and stream hexes. A stream hex is defined as a hex in which there is land to either side of the blue (water) marking. It costs units two Movement Points to enter a stream hex. Streams may be crossed at any point at a cost of two additional Movement Points in addition to the normal entry cost of the next hex moved into. There is no additional Movement Point cost to cross a stream through a bridge or ford hex. A river hex is defined as any hex which is completely covered by the blue (water) marking (or any hex containing no land whatsoever). Units (except Viking Fleet units) may never enter a river hex unless it is also a bridge hex. Movement across river hexes is permissable only through bridge hexes. It costs alI units one half of a Movement Point to enter a bridge hex if entered from a road hex (if entered from a non road hex it costs one Movement Point to enter a bridge hex). Any non-stream hex containing both land and water is considered a land hex. The Movement Point cost to enter such a hex is dictated by the terrain in the hex. A non-stream clear terrain hex containing both land and water may be entered at a cost of one Movement Point, however, to move from one such hex to another hex across a hexside covered by water costs two additional Movement Points (in addition to the normal cost for the next hex entered). Units in adjacent hexes may melee through a water hexside in which case both the Attack and Defense Strengths are computed as if the units were occupying stream hexes. A ford hex is treated as clear terrain for Movement purposes, but it is treated as a stream hex for combat purposes. The Cross River Attack rule is applicable to either stream or river hexes adjacent to a unit "front''. For swamp hexes, Players should ignore the reference to ''L'' units in the "Notes" section of the Terrain Effects Chart. There are no Light Cavalry units in the Dark Ages game. Also in the "Notes'' section, the asterisk at the end of the stream hex notes refers to swamp and woods hexes rather than stream hexes and is explained in the lower right hand corner of the Terrain Effects Chart. Units permitted to enter certain types of terrain only on road hexes always have their Melee Defense Strength(s) halved when attacked while on such a road hex. Units are only prohibited from attacking when in hexes which cause a terrain effect of ''P" to appear in the Attack Strength section of the Terrain Effects Chart under their unit class. Units may otherwise attack, even in terrain in which they are restricted to road hexes. In such cases the road has no effect; the Attack Strength is computed according to the other terrain in the hex. Melee attacks may be made against adjacent hexes into which the attacking unit is prohibited from entering. Class V units should have a ''P" designation for their Attack Strength when occupying a woods or swamp hex. Class V units in a woods/road hex, or a swamp/road hex have their Attack Strength halved. HOW TO SET-UP THE GAME AND HOW TO USE THE SCENARIOS (Clarification): In each scenario, the first Player listed deploys first. In all scenarios, the second Player listed always moves first. The unit counter sheets are identical so the first Player may select either color for his army. As a reminder, the current Game-Turn is kept track of by advancing the Game-Turn marker on the Victory Points Scale (along the perimeter of the separate Dark Ages Charts Sheet ). COMBAT UNIT CAPABILITY CHART (Explanation) (Correction): The Combat Unit Capability Chart specifies the effect on a unit's Defense Strength (for Melee Combat only) when attacked by a given unit class. In the example given (an SD unit and an MS unit being attacked on their front by an MC unit) the MS unit would defend with a Melee Defense Strength of "2" (one doubled), not with a Strength of "6." Important Note.- In adjusting Combat Strengths for Terrain effects, Combat Unit Capability, and the effects of Demoralization or Panic, each unit's Combat Strength is individually adjusted. Whenever any Combat Strength is halved, any remaining fraction is lost. Defending units may have their Combat Strength(s) reduced to less than "1 ". Combat odds are computed on the basis of the totally adjusted Strength, i.e., an Attack Strength of ''4" vs. a Defense Strength of "1/2'' is treated as an eight to one attack. EXPLANATION OF COMBAT RESULTS (Clarification): Command units are eliminated in a "1E" or "2E" combat result only if sufficient combat units are not available to meet the required loss. Command units, when stacked with other units, may never be affected by Enemy missile fire. SCENARIO CHART (Correction): In several scenarios the "PV" and "PL" levels should be changed as follows: Tours Franks -- PV 55; PL 22 Arabs -- PV 80, PL 24 Constantinople Byzantines -- PV 150; PL 60 Balathusta Byzantines -- PV 160; PL 64 Stanford Bridge Anglo-Saxons -- PV 115; PL 34 Manzikert Seljug Turks -- PV 145; PL 72 Note. In the Dorylaeum Scenario, the Crusaders must deploy one half of their Point Value within 15 hexes of the East edge of the mapsheet (consider the edge with the "Simulations Publications Inc." on it to be the East edge). The remainder of the Crusader's forces enter on the road leading from the East map edge on Game-Turn #5.