The Hellenistic period was undoubtedly one marked by much war: the prominent historian John D. Grainger for instance identified no less than nine “Syrian Wars”, i.e. wars pitting the Seleucids against the Ptolemies, in a span of 170 years… This should not surprise us with dynasties descended from Alexander’s generals, who had built their patrimonies on 45 years of fratricide conflict, and kings raised on the warrior ethos of the Iliad. Nevertheless, the historians have found that these same kings took very seriously the solemn oaths they swore with their royal peers when making peace, to the extent that there is not a single known instance of such a peace having been broken! These oaths however engaged individuals, not states or nations, and became void as soon as one of the parties died, opening a new round of potential violent confrontation. Let us now examine how war and peace are represented in Hubris – Twilight of the Hellenistic World.
Introduction
In Hubris, War and Peace are precise game concepts, defining what kings, i.e. players, can undertake – or not – against each other at a given moment. By default, two kings are neither at war nor at peace with each other. At the instant one of them undertakes an Act of War against the other however, they are both considered immediately to be At War with the other, a status that is marked by placing the appropriate marker on its “War” side on each of their Leader Cards.
For illustration, in the ‘New Hopes’ scenario (historical scenario starting in 220 BCE), the Seleucid king Antiochos III and the Ptolemaic king Ptolemaios IV start At War with each other:
An Act of War is constituted by either:
- Engaging in Battle with a military unit of a Kingdom (not a Minor Ally Unit)
- Attempting a Siege against a Garrison of a Kingdom
- Plundering a Satrapy Controlled (not through a majority of Alliances) by a Kingdom
- Undertaking a Naval Interception of a Kingdom’s Squadron
- Interdicting a Straits Crossing by a Force of a Kingdom
As long as two kings are At War, they can freely undertake military Campaigns targeting the other’s Garrisons and Satrapies, give Battle to their land and naval Units, Plunder their Satrapies, and any sort of (game) violence they may wish – or are able – to deliver to their enemy.
However, as soon as the war comes to an end, either through a negotiated agreement or a game mechanism, the markers on both Kings are flipped to their “Peace” side, and both Kingdoms are prohibited from undertaking any Act of War against the other as long as these markers remain on their Kings’ cards, which is as long as both Kings remain in play…
On the other hand, the death of one of the Kings during the course of the War does not bring it necessarily to an end: the War marker is transferred to the card of his successor, or reserved in the case of a regency (no successor currently in play). When the War eventually comes to an end, the marker is flipped to Peace as per normal, and the new King will be bound by the resulting enforced Peace as long as he is in play. Note that it is not allowed for a Kingdom under a regency situation to initiate a new War…
Making Peace, or Not
Two Kings At War may make Peace at any time during the Action Phase, either on a status quo basis, or by agreeing to transfer any number of Talents, Garrisons and/or Squadrons between themselves, and/or removing any number of their own Alliances (one cannot transfer an Alliance to another Power).
Barring such a negotiated settlement, any war will by default come to an end at the conclusion of the current game turn, during the Peace Segment of the Winter Quarters Phase. Bear in mind that Hubris’s game turns are 5-years-long, and that few wars in this time and age lasted more than two or three years.
Now, if one of the Kings wishes the war to continue, he can try to keep it going, by having himself or one of his Friends pass a Diplomacy Check, which can be made harder if any Battle was fought between the two Kingdoms during the turn, or by the other kingdom promising to give up specified amounts of Talents, Garrisons or Squadrons, under some conditions, if Peace is made. Should both Kings desire to pursue the war, it continues without the need for any Check.
You may be wondering why anyone, knowing the strong limitations that will be brought by Peace, and with good prospects if the war were to continue, would not try to extend it? Because war carries many heavy costs, and even more so if it extends into more than a single turn…
The Costs of War
Waging war is typically hugely expensive, with the costs of a single land campaign or building of a Squadron of warships costing easily 3 or 4 times the tax revenue of most Satrapies. The bigger the armies you need to supply, the more Mercenaries you need to complement your own troops, but also the more you need to strengthen the defenses of your cities or, conversely, to drag a Siege Train around, the higher the bill climbs.
Kingdoms do have the option of raising additional taxes, but the results are not guaranteed, and such attempts can easily impoverish the target Satrapies, or push them to revolt. To some extent, war can pay for itself by Plundering enemy territory. But this diverts precious opportunities from capturing enemy Places while soldiers are ravaging the countryside, and a Ravaged Satrapy cannot be Plundered again in the same turn. A Ravaged Satrapy only yields half its Tax Revenue the next turn, which can hurt your enemy should you withdraw, but will hurt you if you are successful in seizing control of the Satrapy.
Now, assuming you started the war with a sizeable Treasury, you can sustain the costs of waging war for the turn. But should the war be extended into the next turn, two additional effects may cripple your war effort, or even your kingdom.
First, when a War is not ended before or during the above-mentioned Peace Segment, both involved Kingdoms must test for War Exhaustion: this is done through an Admin Check which must be taken by the Chief Minister, with a positive modifier if the King has a high Renown, and a negative one if the Kingdom is simultaneously involved in more than one war. Only a substantial Success will let the Kingdom safe from War Exhaustion, with marginal Successes or Failures resulting in an escalating number of Revolts in the Kingdom, or even possibly the loss of Dynastic VPs, as cities and nobles grow angry with the dynasty for extending this sorry state of affairs. As the War Exhaustion Segment takes place before the Victory Segment, the loss of Territorial (due to Revolts) or Dynastic VPs may directly hurt the victory positioning of a player when it counts…
Second, during the upcoming Revenue Phase of the next turn, the total Tax Revenues of each Kingdom still At War will be halved (on top of any reduction due to the Ravaging of Satrapies), representing the disruption to economic activities and trade brought by the mustering of soldiers and war in general. Since the costs of undertaking military operations will not decrease, it will soon become extremely difficult for even the richest Kingdoms to pursue war very long…
Conversely, there can be circumstances where a Kingdom is so much stronger financially and in the Renown of its King that forcing the extension of a war is an acceptable and efficient way to cripple an enemy Kingdom being in a much more fragile situation.
Enforced Peace
Once two Kingdoms find themselves At Peace, they can no longer, as explained above, engage in direct Acts of War against the other Kingdom. This can prove very frustrating, especially if the war was not the hoped for success, or if the rival Kingdom is way ahead in VPs, and both Kings are expected to remain in play for a number of turns. Still, that does not mean that such an enforced peace is preventing other forms of hostility, or not providing interesting upsides.
First, you may have noticed that attacks on Allies, be they Places with Alliance markers or Allied Minors, are not considered Acts of War… This means that a Peace marker does not prevent a Kingdom from besieging or subjugating Cities and Tribes Allied to their former enemy, or to Battle its Allied Minor Units, as long as they are not supported by Units of that Kingdom.
Then, diplomacy is definitely not considered an Act of War, which means that you are free to target eligible Places of your rival’s Alignment, even Garrisons! Of course, Garrisons are very difficult to get rid of through Envoy, but it is not impossible and can offer some interesting options, especially to Kingdoms endowed with superior diplomats and extensive revenues. Beware the gold of Alexandria! Another way may be through some Pending Events that you can Trigger to impact your rival’s Satrapies or Places.
Last but not least, an enforced Peace essentially freezes a front with one dangerous rival, allowing you potentially to focus your efforts on the other major Kingdom, or on defending from Rome, or on reducing rebellions or conquering neighboring Satrapies. For instance, Antiochos III made the most of the enforced peace with Ptolemaios IV after his heartbreaking defeat at Raphia in 217 to eliminate the rebellion of his cousin Achaios in Asia Minor, and then undertake, in emulation of Alexander himself, an extended campaign in Upper Asia, bringing back Armenia, Parthia and Bactria under Seleucid overlordship (at least for the duration of his reign), and much glory to him personally.
War against Rome
While Hubris does not apply the concept of War, with all its associated restrictions, to Minor Powers, the three player Kingdoms are not the only Major Powers in the game: there is a fourth, the non-player republic of Rome.
Player Kingdoms may initiate War against Rome in the same way they would against another Kingdom, by undertaking an Act of War against it. However, wars between Rome and a player Kingdom are more commonly started by the republic itself, through the game mechanisms of Casus Belli and Roman Belligerence. These elements will be addressed in detail in a later Book of these Histories.
Within the scope of this present Book, the key aspect to understand is that, unlike wars between player Kingdoms, wars with Rome do not end automatically at the end of a turn. Rather, they continue until either:
- the warring Kingdom surrenders voluntarily, or is compelled to do so by a major military defeat or the loss of its capital, resulting in its defeat (there is no negotiating with Rome), or
- Roman Belligerence is driven to its lowest possible level (“War Weariness”, which is equivalent to an RB level of -3), resulting in the Kingdom’s victory in the war.
Again, without delving into the details of the consequences of defeat or victory against Rome here, this means that wars with Rome tend to extend over several turns, which can become quickly unsustainable for the Kingdoms finding themselves at war with the republic, particularly if another player Kingdom seizes this occasion to attack them…With the general framework of war and peace now introduced, I will turn in the next installment of these Histories to the particulars of waging war by land and sea in Hubris…
Previous Articles:
The Hubris Histories – Book 1: Historical Overview
The Hubris Histories – Book 2: The Kings and their Courts
The Hubris Histories – Book 3: The Lay of the Land
