At my request, Gary J. Robinson gave me permission to submit this material to Web Grognards. I copied and pasted it into a single file, based on his postings at ConsimWorld. The original postings are nos. 1223-1228 and 1230 in the Era: Sci-Fi, Fantasy, Alt. History folder under Boardgaming. --Elliot Wilen, Sept. 28, 2000 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Gary J. Robinson's Notes on ALBION : Land of Faerie (ARES #11 - fantasy wargame of pre-Celtic Britain) Copyright 1991 by Gary J. Robinson 2.1 SEVERAL SEA ZONES LACK BORDERS BETWEEN THEM. Namely, there is no border between The Minches and Sea of the West, nor is there a border between Sea of the West and Sea of Nuada. The only importance of sea borders appears to be in relation to the Enchantment of Storm Calling, which affects one sea area. It seems a bit unreasonable that storms summoned at Rona's Bath should wreck ships anchored off the Scilly Islands, especially when they don't affect the Isle of Manannan. Therefore, we must supply these borders. Where the border falls between Sea of the West and Sea of Nuada doesn't matter, as long as it is in hex 0127, 0128, 0129, or 0130. It doesn't matter because the enchantment only affects all-sea hexes, and so wouldn't affect the aforementioned hexes in any event. So, we needn't address exactly where it falls, and in the tradition of judicial restraint, we therefore won't. Where the border falls between Sea of the West and The Minches is a more serious matter, not only because the two are linked by all-sea hexes, but also because The Minches is unique in costing 2 MP's per hex instead of 1 even in fair weather, regardless of whether the hex is all-sea or not. So where does The Minches end? The simplest border is to have hexes 1516 and 1517 be the easternmost hexes of Sea of the West, as that is the column where the sea is narrowest. Several other borders could be chosen as well, but I will just use that one. See note below regarding what is a "coastal" hex. 3.0 IT IS UNCLEAR HOW TO DETERMINE CURRENT MAGIC STRENGTH. According to the rules, a person with a Basic Magic Strength of "0" has a Current Magic Strength equal to whatever the Mana Level is. One suspects that this is a misprint, and that persons with a "0" should have no magic ability at all. In support of this suspicion is Rule 15.5, which states that only persons with a Basic Magic Strength of 1 may participate in a Duel Arcane. Why is this? Let us assume the Mana Level is 5 for all examples. If one adds the Mana Level to Basic Magic Strength, a person with a "0" fighting a person with a "1" would really be a "5" fighting a "6" - a fair fight. Why, then would a "0" be prohibited from fighting in a Duel Arcane - and more importantly, why, under Rule 16.1, would an army only be penalized for not accepting a Duel Arcane challenge if it had a person with it who had a Basic Magic Strength of at least 1? Consider that the army would be penalized if the only person it had with it had a Current Combat Strength of "1", and declined a Trial by Combat challenge from an opponent hero with an effective dueling strength of "12" - an unfair fight. Also supporting this suspicion is Rule 19.4, discussing the Enchantment of Mental Attack, which states in relevant part: It is resolved in all ways as a normal duel arcane except that ... the duel may never be declined (even persons not normally permitted to accept a duel arcane must do so as a result of this enchantment. Persons with a Basic Magic Strength of zero have a Basic Magic Strength of 1 for purposes of this enchantment, to which the current Mana Level is added normally.... This passage strongly implies that persons with a Basic Magic Strength of "0" normally do not get to add the current Mana Level to determine their Current Magic Strength, which would thus be zero (and which in turn would make calculating an odds ratio for a Duel Arcane impossible). Thus, it seems that one sentence was omitted from the rules by accident, which should have stated that "persons with a Basic Magic Strength of 0 always have a Current Magic Strength of 0." While seemingly reasonable, however, this extrapolation has tremendous consequences. First, it weakens the Fomorian forces enormously. In battles (though apparently not in naval engagements) each side can add the Current Magic Strengths of its persons to its combat strength total. The leaders of Faerie have a combined Basic Magic Strength total of 79 points; assuming a Mana Level of 5, we add 5 points for each person (none have "0"s), another 115 points, for a total of 194 combat strength points. The Fomorian leaders, on the other hand, have quite a few "0" rated persons. Their Basic Magic Strength total adds up to a mere 25; adding 5 points for each non-"0" leader adds another 45, for a total of 70. 194 versus 70 - quite a mismatch. If the Fomorians could add 5 for each "0" person, they would get another 50 points, for a total of 120 - much better than 70. The Faeries would gain no points from this, since they have no "0"s. The Fomorian situation is aggravated by the fact that they have only 5 enchanters to the Faerie 11 (both sides, incidentally, have an equal number of Heroes), and not a single Fomorian enchanter is powerful enough to teleport from Moray or the Isle of Mona to Erin except on turns 6 and 7. Also, since Current Magic Strength is used for artifact searches, Fomorians have an especially difficult time finding artifacts - they usually find a curse instead. Stupid, ugly trolls! Lastly, the shitty quality of Fomorian magic makes teleportation particularly difficult for them; in playtesting a healthy Barguest got killed by getting attritioned for 2 wounds at Derwent's Watch and then failing twice in his frantic attempts to teleport away from the ghastly place. Nothing left of him but a little Moray Crystal.... What to do? Either you hand the Fomorians an extra fifty points, or you don't. (I suggest you resolve this question before players choose who plays what side!) Since the rules imply that leaders with a "0" have a Current Magic Strength of zero, and since the Faerie forces start scattered and inactive, the Fomorians can probably get by with their measly magic. But they had better kill off a bunch of Faerie leaders in the early battles, because if they don't the Faerie might will overwhelm them once all the Faerie leaders gather into one army. See note below on the Enchantment of Mind Control. 4.0 NO SET-UP POSITIONS ARE GIVEN FOR THE SHIPS OF ULSTER. In my copy of the game (which was unpunched), someone had penciled in that Seawolf starts in hex 1318, and that Seadarter and Sureswift start in hex 1922. These positions seem reasonable, except that the river in hex 2019 does not have a dotted outline. Effectively, this traps the latter ships in Lough Neagh by Caer Knockma until someone casts an Enchantment of Rainmaking, which would turn the minor river in hex 2019 into a major river, which ships can enter freely. It seems unlikely the Sidhe would anchor ships in a place from which they could not depart without the aid of a major enchantment. Several solutions are available: a) Leave 'em trapped, safe at least from the marauding fleets of the Fomorians. b) Treat the river in hex 2019 as a major river for ships, but a minor one for ground forces. c) Treat the river in hex 2019 as a major river. d) Let ships go into 2019 toward the sea, but not the other way (fast current) unless it's raining, i.e. one-way river hex. e) Start the ships elsewhere. Hex 2023 seems reasonable; there is, after all, a path to there from Caer Knockma. Or they could all start at Aranrock. I personally opt for option e), starting the ships at hex 2023. This way, no rules have to be contradicted and the mapsheet stays the same. Also, a clever player can protect a weakened fleet by using an Enchantment of Rainmaking and sailing the fleet up into Lough Neagh. 4.0.03 Note Gwynedd is pronounced GOO-IH-NETH (Welsh). 5.0.D.1.d WHAT MAKES A PERSON "ELIGIBLE TO HAVE WOUNDS HEALED"? I think "eligible to have wounds healed" is just a clumsy way of saying "persons with wounds." In short, any person anywhere on the map who is wounded gets to roll for wound healing as specified in Rule 5.0.D.1.e. This is totally distinct from automatic wound healing at Places of Power. 6.2 DO BAD SAILERS IN A COASTAL HEX GET MAULED? The rules here are contradictory. Rule 6.2.01, regarding rain, states that bad sailers that "begin an Attrition Segment at sea must undergo attrition...." What does "at sea" mean? The Enchantment of Storm Calling solves the problem neatly: the spell only affects ships in "all-sea hexes." But the Enchantment of Rainmaking affects all hexes. Furthermore, Rule 8.0.02 states that a ship must undergo attrition if it "is a bad sailer occupying a hex under the effect of rain...." No mention is made here of all-sea hexes. I don't think Rainmaking is simply meant to be a more powerful enchantment; the reason it affects all hexes is so that it can affect land hexes and rivers, not so it can maul ships in coastal hexes. I think that the language in the Enchantment of Storm Calling, coupled with the "at sea" language in Rule 6.2.01, means bad sailers are only affected by rain if they are in an all-sea hex, regardless of the enchantment used, or whether the rain is natural (on the Turn Track). Ships in a coastal hex are always safe from attrition unless a Vortex is present. Think about it: how can an undamaged ship not be "at sea" unless "at sea" means "in an all-sea hex"? (Damaged ones could be refitting, but it's ridiculous for undamaged ships to have no escape from poor weather.) Note, however, that uncommanded armies on board are not safe from attrition due to lack of command; in this case the strength of force is simply the total CSP strength of the armies. 8.4 WHAT IS THE STRENGTH OF FORCE FOR ATTRITION PURPOSES? Rule 8.4 not only does not describe how to calculate the strength of force for loss-taking purposes, it contains a misprint. First, the misprint: in the example of ships and persons together, the text states that both ships and persons take the indicated loss, which is 3 for the ships and 2 for the persons. This is nonsense. On the casualty table, the number on the right side of the slash indicates ship step losses AND wounds inflicted on persons - the same number is used for both. There is no way that the ships present would lose 3 steps and the persons would only take 2 wounds - either they both take 3, or they both take 2. (Such a thing could happen if the ships were in a seperate, larger force than the persons were - but that could only happen if the persons in question were unembarked, something the example doesn't indicate.) Now for the heart of the question. For all other uses of the Casualty Table, the rules describe meticulously how to calculate the Strength of Force; see Rules 16.1.09, 16.2.07, 16.3.06, 16.5.01. Yet for attrition, this calculation is omitted. I have created the following procedure to handle this glaring omission: A) First, do attrition for ships in the hex. Use the total CSP strength of the ships subject to attrition as the strength of force, as set forth in the section on naval engagements (i.e. don't add anything for persons). Roll the dice, and modify the roll as described in 8.2. Allow only embarked persons to affect the roll, i.e. a leader on the shore can't help the ships. Similarly, do not penalize the ships for things which should only affect ground units, such as being in a mundane/enchanted/wild magic hex, or Finn's Rade (which only affects ground units). In effect, apply rule 8.1 only to ground units as regards cumulative modifications. After determining the number of steps to be lost, remove that many ship steps and apply that many wounds to embarked persons only. B) Next, do attrition for unembarked ground pieces in the hex. Use the total CSP strength of armies/escorts subject to attrition, plus one CSP for each person subject to attrition in the hex. This will keep enchanters from piling up in wild magic hexes in order to avoid armies. Thus, seven persons (who were all subject to attrition) in a hex would be a strength of force of 7; seven persons, 3 of them with escorts, would be a strength of force of 10. Then use the number rolled in step A to determine the level of attrition, adding any appropriate modifications to the roll as per Rules 8.1 & 8.2, and index the strength of force on the Casualty Table as normal to determine losses, which are then applied only to unembarked ground units and persons which were subject to attrition. Embarked leaders, of course, cannot modify the roll as it applies to unembarked pieces. 10.4 ARE INACTIVE PIECES SUBJECT TO ATTRITION? Since all three of the Ancients (Misha, Gerflax and Dunatis) as well as the Worm of Mousa Stour, start inactive in Places of Power, must they roll for attrition on the turns in which they are inactive? I say no; inactive pieces do not suffer attrition, since their future owners can do nothing to move them from the wild magic hexes in which they start. Perhaps more to the point, they are all in "home hexes"; see discussion below on Places of Power and attrition. 12.7 HOW DOES ONE APPLY "CURSE" DAMAGE FROM THE DISCOVERY TABLE? The Trolls need to know. The note at the bottom of the table states only that the indicated number of "CSP's" must be lost from the "persons" involved in the search. On the one hand, "persons" seems to indicate leaders must take the damage; on the other hand, "CSP's" (rather than "wounds") indicates that escorts take the pounding (remember armies can't search, only escorts). My interpretation is that the owning player may score hits against escorts or persons as he sees fit; for example, if Balor and his escort searched and received a "C3" result, Balor could take three wounds, or he could take two wounds and eliminate his 1-CSP escort. 14.0 NOTE ENCHANTERS AND HEROES CANNOT COMMAND TROOPS. If a person is an enchanter or hero, but not a captain, marshall, or king (such as Barguest or Gerflax), that person can't command troops (and thus can't allow troops to move). Also note that the Command rating used in battles, attrition roll modification, and optional retreats (and everything else) MUST come from the highest ranking person in the stack, Rule 14.4, regardless of who commands the stack. So, be aware of that when you stack Elidor with Midinhir, or Arwan with Midinhir. Reaction movement seems to be the exception to this rule; see Rule 13.0. 16.0 A PERSON MAY ONLY PARTICIPATE IN ONE CHALLENGE COMBAT PER PLAYER-TURN. This new rule is only reasonable; an army shouldn't be forced to have its only person fight in two challenge combats. An army is not penalized for declining one type of challenge combat if its only leader is fighting the other type of challenge combat. If an army has two persons, however, only one of which has a Basic Magic Rating of 1, and that person accepts a Trial by Combat, the army IS penalized for declining a Duel Arcane, because it could have had the first person accept the Duel Arcane, and let its other leader accept the Trial by Combat. This assumes, of course, that both types of challenge combat have been announced by the other player, and also that the first person survives the Trial by Combat; if he dies, then there would be no person with a Basic Magic Rating of 1 "participating in the battle" (Rule 16.1.06), and thus no penalty. This rule also avoids the confusion that would result if one person announced (either as challenger or acceptor) his intent to fight in both challenge combats, and then got killed while fighting the first one. We can assume that both challenge combats take place simultaneously. Also, note that magic items may be transferred between persons before the challenge combats, but NOT between challenge combats. If someone is using the Mailcoat of Gofannon in a Trial by Combat, then it cannot be used by someone else in a Duel Arcane that same player-turn. Challenge combats are simultaneous. 17.1 PIECES IN A FRIENDLY FORTRESS HEX MUST DEFEND IT. Note that if a broch is in a mountain hex, Trolls would be better off defending in the mountain terrain (where they are tripled) rather than inside the broch (where they are doubled), but nonetheless under this rule they MUST defend in the fortress! It's a hard life for Trolls. 19.4.05 WHAT IS A "COASTAL HEX"? The Enchantment of Storm Calling can only be cast from a "coastal hex." Usually it is clear whether a hex is coastal or not, but in some cases it is not. For example, the map key says to treat major rivers as sea. Under this definition, Fir Chilis (hex 3337) could be considered a "coastal hex" since it is connected to a sea by an unbroken line of major river ("treat as sea") hexes. Stretching this line of reasoning further, The Denby Plinth (hex 2838) would be a coastal hex if the weather was rain, because the minor river that it abuts would be a major river ("treat as sea") running into a sea. In my opinion, such reasoning is balderdash and should be ignored. In my opinion only the following Places of Power are coastal hexes: 0725, 2128, 2604, 2608, 2611, 2609, 2825, 3705. 19.4.10 THE ENCHANTMENT OF MIND CONTROL IS OBSCENE. Under the interpretation used above regarding Current Magic Strength for persons with a Basic Magic Strength of "0", any Faerie enchanter can automatically take over any Fomorian person with a Basic Magic Strength of "0", as long as they make their Cast Enchantment die roll. And, according to the spell, they can automatically kill the hapless Fomorian as well, just by leaving him stacked with one of the Faerie pieces at the end of the turn. This is brutal. It means any two Faerie enchanters anywhere on the board can totally disrupt Fomorian operations in Erin by casting this spell and using it to take over (and kill) Balor and Connan, who both have Basic Magic Strengths of "0". Such a move leaves the Fomorian troops in Connaught and Munster leaderless and immobile. The only defense is for Connan and Balor to huddle in their brochs or skulk in Places of Power while getting fried by the wild magic. Similarly, any leader of Mundania except Sean can be zombied this way, and the Worm can be eliminated with no risk by either Gerflax or Dunatis from leagues away. Even worse, if there are no Faerie units nearby to execute the brainwashed leader, he and his escort can be made to attack any Fomorian force nearby, with a challenge combat thrown in; in the trial by combat either the brainwashed leader or his opponent will die, either way a boon for the Faerie player. I am not sure what to do about this. Several things spring to mind at once: first, the spell should have a range equal to the caster's Current Magic Strength, like almost every other "target" spell. Second, instead of "the piece may not enter an undestroyed fortress hex," the rule should read "the piece may not enter or remain in an undestroyed fortress hex, or enter a Place of Power." That way, if the Faeries take over Balor while he is besieging Brugh Tara, they cannot dodge the spirit of the rule by simply leaving him there, where the besieged Sidhe inside the fortress will gleefully cut off his head at the end of the turn. If they want to get him, someone is going to have to leave the fortress and meet him in an adjacent hex, where the executioner will be left sitting next turn, open to counterattack. Also, I would make this spell subject to the same restrictions as the Enchantment of Mental Attack, i.e. the caster takes a point of damage, and must be in his home hex. Frankly, even with those adjustments, I think the spell is too powerful: compare it to the Enchantment of Mental Attack, which seems tame by comparison, and which can only be cast by a very few persons, and even then only from their home hex, and even then the target might win the Duel Arcane, especially since the caster takes a point of damage right away. As written, the Enchantment of Mind Control has none of these restrictions or risks. I am at a loss to understand this; I suspect the spell was a last-minute addition, and not playtested. After all, the rules mention what to do if both players try to control the same person, but what are the chances of that, when all spells and targets must be secretly preplotted? In light of all of the above, I would add another provision: that the target gets a saving throw. In sum: a) The caster must be in his home hex; (Rule 19.4.08) b) Range equals Current Magic Strength; c) Caster takes a point of damage (but only if spell succeeds and target misses his saving throw); d) Target gets a saving throw: if he rolls his Command Rating or under on one die, he avoids the effects of the enchantment; e) Target cannot enter a fortress hex or Place of Power, or remain in a fortress hex; and f) The Worm is immune to this enchantment. Sound reasonable? Or, IN THE ALTERNATIVE: a) Same as above b) Same as above, but double range c) Target is not automatically killed at the end of the turn if stacked with opposing pieces. d) The Worm is immune to this enchantment. Note the "Home Hex" requirement rules out the Fomorians from using this spell, since only Dobie and Barguest have home hexes, and they are not powerful enough to control a single one of the Faerie leaders. But that is a small sacrifice for the Fomorians, for Callach is too lame to control any Faerie leaders also, and Magog could only control Colloran and Dorwen. Only Sean, of all the Fomorians, could really use this enchantment against a variety of targets, and his targets would likely be inside fortresses anyway, immune to attack from this enchantment. Without the above restrictions, the Faeries will run off with the game every time. It might be better to just get rid of this spell altogether. Alternately, it could be replaced by an enchantment that lets the casting player, in one battle or engagement of his choice that turn, select losses/allocate wounds which are normally selected/allocated by the opposing player. In other words, you get to choose which of his guys take the wounds you inflict in battle, or which of his ships sink in the big naval engagement of the turn, or whether those lost CSP's come from Elvish or Gnomish troops. Call it the Enchantment of Murphy's Law, maybe... a nice Irish name...or maybe the Enchantment of Obnoxious Outcomes. To balance things, you would have to do it blind; if you allocated more wounds to a person than they had left, the excess wounds are lost, not allocated to somebody else. And you wouldn't know whether you had overshot, or by how far. A battle of wits! 19.5 ATTRITION IN PLACES OF POWER IS VERY CONFUSING. Two issues confront us here: "automatic" wounds in conjunction with wild magic hex attrition, and "home hexes." Let us first turn to automatic wounds. Several Places of Power automatically inflict one or two wounds on each person present during the Attrition Segment; for example, see Rule 19.5.12, Povis Heath. This is different from normal attrition, in which a) the number of wounds inflicted depends on the strength of force present and the die roll, and CSP's can be lost as well; and b) the wounds inflicted are not inflicted on each person, but rather on the group, to be divided as the owning player sees fit. The question is, are these automatic wounds inflicted in addition to normal wild magic attrition, or in place of it? If both are inflicted on the occupants of one of these deadly hexes, few would be bold enough to venture there. If the automatic wounds are inflicted instead of normal wild magic attrition, then large numbers of CSP's could be present with no fear of taking any loss from wild magic attrition, since the automatic losses are only in terms of wounds, not CSP's. My solution to these "automatic wound" hexes is to roll for attrition as normal, counting all persons present as part of the strength of force (see discussion above re: strength of force for attrition purposes). Remove the appropriate CSP losses from any armies/escorts present. Then, inflict the automatic wounds on persons present instead of the wounds called for on the Casualty Table. In effect, the automatic wounds are used instead of normal attrition for persons, but normal attrition losses are inflicted on armies/escorts present. The second question about Places of Power has to do with the significance of the phrase "home hex." At first, it appears that this refers only to the Enchantment of Mental Attack, which can only be cast from a home hex. The spell description lists all the home hexes, stating that "no other persons have a 'home hex.'" But then, under the description of The Mousa Stour, the rules state that "the Worm treats Mousa Stour as its home hex, and its Current Magic Strength and Current Combat Strength are doubled when it occupies the hex." Home hex? The Worm is not even an enchanter, and certainly can't cast an Enchantment of Mental Attack. So why does it have a "home hex"? One wonders whether all the persons listed in Rule 19.4.08 have their strengths doubled when in their home hexes. It seems unlikely. "Home hex" clearly has a meaning outside the Enchantment of Mental Attack, and if it does not mean a doubling of magic and combat strengths, what does it mean? I believe it means that a person in his home hex does not have to undergo attrition as a result of wild magic. Supporting this meaning of home hex is Rule 19.5.08, which states that "Gerflax treats Fir Darrig as his home hex and does not suffer any wound for occupying the hex." Similar language is found in Rule 19.5.07, which states that Dobie does not suffer a wound for occupying Fir Chilis, which happens to be his "home hex" also. Clearly, persons with a home hex which inflicts automatic wounds do not suffer those automatic wounds when they occupy that hex. Also, the Worm is mentioned as having a home hex, despite the fact that it is not an enchanter, nor does its hex inflict automatic wounds. Extrapolation leads to the conclusion that a piece in its home hex does not suffer from either automatic wounds or its counterpart, wild magic attrition. This interpretation also means that inactive pieces do not have to undergo attrition while sitting in their home wild magic hexes. NOTE: If a piece is not subject to attrition, it cannot use its Basic Magic Strength or Command Rating to modify the attrition roll for other pieces present that are subject to attrition. Rule 8.2. So, Gerflax may be immune to wild magic while in his home hex, but as a result he can't help protect others present in that hex - they're on their own. At least he doesn't count toward the strength of force.... 20.5 ON A 9-12 IN A BATTLE OR MELEE, THE MAGIC ITEM IN QUESTION IS CAPTURED BY THE ENEMY. This result rounds out the table of possibilities for battles and melees, and was mysteriously omitted from rule paragraph 20.5. It is uncertain what happens to magic items of killed persons in naval engagements; presumably they end up with another person or army/escort on board the same ship, or just plain carried by the ship. If the ship is sunk, then the item is lost in the deeps, as per rule 7.5, whether or not a person on board escapes. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- New Counters and Rules by Gary J. Robinson for ALBION: Land of Faerie Copyright Gary J. Robinson 3/20/93 FIR BOLG: These are a race kindred to the Tuatha De Danaan (the Faeries), both having descended from Neimheadh, and are treated as Elves for movement purposes and attrition purposes. They are allies of the Fomorians, however, because the Faeries drove them from Eire many years ago in a fierce war. They name their ships in accordance with their plans for re-taking their homeland. Currently they reside in the Hebrides and the Isle of Skye. They will enter the war on the Fomorian side (become activated) following the turn when Fomorian forces have entered Leinster or Ulster and attacked Faerie forces there. They will not become activated, however, if during the Activation Phase there are no Fomorian leaders left in Eire; in this case, they will become activated the first Activation Phase that a Fomorian leader is present in Eire (assuming the Fomorian player has attacked Faerie units in Leinster or Ulster at some point). Of course, they will be activated if Faerie forces attack a Fir Bolg unit other than Eochu Bres. Eochaidh, King of the Fir Bolg: If Eochaidh is present in a Battle, he must leave after three rounds to get a drink of water (owning player places him in any adjacent hex he could normally move to). He may return to the hex he came from at the beginning of the fifth round, or when the battle is over, as he chooses, but he must return. If he ends up (drinking or returning) alone with enemy units, normal evasion rules apply. If he is cut off from all adjacent hexes by major river hexsides, sea, mountain hexsides etc. then he may not leave and suffers two wounds instead. If his army is retreated while he is away, he returns to his army, not the original hex. Sreang, Champion of the Fir Bolg: This mighty warrior possesses Sreang's Sword, and may not part with it until he is killed. Eochu Bres: This mage is part Faerie, part Fomorian. He is controlled by the Fomorian player. Eochu Bres may move as if active even while the Fir Bolg are inactive, and the Faerie player may not attack him until a) the Fir Bolg become active or b) Eochu Bres participates in an attack upon a Faerie piece or c) Eochu Bres stacks with Fomorian pieces in Faerie territory. Eochu Bres may enter Faerie kingdoms, and search for Artifacts, without violating his immunity, as long as he does not engage in hostilities. Hostilities by, or against, Eochu Bres will not activate the Fir Bolg. He possesses Breas' Ring. He may not use it to activate the Worm/the Fir Bolg unless he is himself active (i.e. has attacked a Faerie piece/dwelling or the Fir Bolg are active). Sreang's Sword: The edge of this massive blade is enchanted with spells of severing, and it was this sword that Sreang used to cut off Nuada's arm at the First Battle of Moytirra, disqualifying Nuada to continue as king of the Tuatha De Danaan. Any wounds inflicted by this sword in Trial by Combat are permanent, and may not be healed by any means. Optional Rule: A character may recover 1d6 wounds inflicted by this weapon if the character is present at Rona's Bath during the Recovery Phase of Gobis I or Gobis II. Breas' Ring: This enchanted ring gives its bearer great powers of persuasion. An active person wearing this ring may enter friendly inactive kingdoms, and if the owner ends his move in a hex containing an inactive friendly king/unaligned person, that nation/unaligned person is instantly activated. Also, if the owner of the ring is captured (by failing to evade) he is not automatically killed, but may roll a d6 for persuasion of his captors: on a 1 or 2 he is killed anyway, on a 3 or 4 he escapes (treat as a successful evasion) and on a 5 or 6 he remains a prisoner: he is removed from the game but does not count for victory point purposes, AND he takes the ring with him. Eochu Bres may not part with this ring until he is killed. Setup: CSP's have hex numbers on back. Persons and ships may be distributed between the three CSP units as desired, but at least one person per unit (i.e. per island). While the Fir Bolg are inactive, their ships may not move. New FAERIE Unaligned Person: Manann‡n Mac Lir: This mighty sorceror inhabits the Isle of Manann‡n. He is activated by a dice roll of 5 or less. If any coastal Knowe of Ulster, Leinster, or Gwynedd is sacked, however, subtract 5 from his Activation Roll from then on. (The kelpies of the sea tell him the news.) He (and his ship) may start on any hex of the Island. Whenever he is present on the Island, no piece may disembark there unless he wishes it (he can hide the island in mists). He possesses the Horn of Manann‡n. He also owns the ship Whitecap. This ship always pays 1 MP per sea hex, regardless of weather, Minches etc. if Manann‡n is on board. Manann‡n is always successful when attempting to cast the Enchantment of Storm Calling. Horn of Manann‡n: The possessor of this item always gets two odds shifts in his favor when participating in a naval engagement, and also gets to modify the engagement dice rolls by one in his favor. If the ship he is on sinks, he and all other persons on that ship may move to any one friendly or unoccupied coastal hex within 6 hexes rather than die, and they do not lose the items they are carrying. (They may utilize 7.5 instead, losing their items, if they wish to remain in the engagement.) They are moved immediately but are treated (for purposes of whatever is in the new hex) as if they appeared after all combat was over for that player turn. New rules for FOMORIAN Magic Items: Scrying Glass: This item is cumbersome. Instead, allow an Enchantment of Scrying to be as follows: It forces the Faerie player to roll his Activations during the Fomorian Activation Phase, so the Fomorians can see what's coming before they move. The rolls don't actually take effect until the Faerie Activation Phase, of course. Herla's Ring: Change this item to an Auto-Evade, al la Gerflax Wand. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Here are the variant counters needed for the variant above, plus some "wiggler" counters I made as a joke. My pet lizards were always part of the gaming scene back then at my house so I made counters for them as a Wiggler Nation on the Isle of Scilly (silly). One of my cats, the infamous Chuft, makes an appearance as well.