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Any nation can be run by a player, or as an NPN (non-player nation). NPNs do not usually initiate action. If there is a small number of players, only part of the map may be in play.

All nations have an allowance of certain basic troop types: see Warfare: Militia. These are the only troops that NPNs normally have.

The GameMaster will assign nations to players. Players can express a preference for a nation of a particular social type, and can, if they feel strongly, request a specific nation to play. If multiple players ask for the same nation, it will normally remain an NPN.

If Oraset is a player nation, the same player also controls Menias, and can have the two act in concert, as though they were one nation. The same applies to Selamen and Selna. Selamen also starts with Danaw as a liberated ally.

If Poeni is a player nation, on the first Budget Day only, Poeni’s best Ambassador has one attempt to make a trading partner of each nation marked with an asterisk on the Nations Chart. Success means that that nation starts the game as Poeni’s trading partner. There is no penalty for failure. The player will be told which nations they have as partners. If any of the potential partners are being played, the attempt to make them into a trading partner fails automatically.

Players will usually start not knowing how many nations are being played, or by whom. Some players may be allowed to play more than one nation, provided the nations are far enough apart to prevent them working together. Or players may be assigned two small nations instead of one large one, and can have them work together. In that case, the GameMaster will inform the player that the nations start with a treaty of friendship.

The normal Varna rule applies about rounding: that is, it is always downwards. So fractions (for instance of a population point, regiment, fleet or monetary unit) are ignored. Any exception will be noted when the rule is given. For instance, fractions of a population point are taken into account when the annual population increase is calculated, and troops’ Combat Factors are rounded down for the whole force, not each unit.

1. Primitive. Primitive nations consist of tribes of hunter-gatherers. They are limited to a maximum Tech Level of 4. The chief summoning his warriors raises the army. Each settlement or wandering group will be a separate tribe, although the nation can be played as a unit.
2. Barbarian. Barbarian nations have a minimum of Tech Level 5 and a maximum of Tech Level 15 (TL 12 in Bronze Age Varna). The army is raised by a war leader summoning warriors who owe him service. A barbarian nation may have a technology a high as that of a civilised nation, but it lacks specialists. Everyone is expected to be able to do most tasks competently, although there will be some specialisation in the most advanced barbarian nations. The people are still tribal, but the tribes are conglomerates, larger than primitive tribes.
3. Nomad. Nomad nations usually have poor land, so the population density is low. They keep herds of animals (usually cattle), which have to be moved regularly to new pastures. Some nomad nations are in fact semi-nomadic: they farm for part of the year, then drive their cattle to fresh pastures for the winter. Tech Levels are as for barbarians, above.
4. Civilised. Civilised nations have a minimum Tech Level of 8 (and in Bronze Age Varna have a maximum Tech Level of 15). The people are settled, have little or no tribal loyalty, and some people live in cities, where specialists abound.
5. Feudal. Not used in Bronze Age Varna. Tech Levels 10 to 20. The social structure will probably be like that of medieval Europe, with the King at the apex of a pyramid of social and religious obligations.

Pop Points can fluctuate as the game progresses. Pop Points cannot be reduced below one. There is no theoretical limit to how high they can rise. Pop for each nation is reset to its base figure at the start of each game.

Tech Level is a reflection of the nation’s civil and military advancement. Some military units can only be produced if a nation has the necessary Tech Level. Units’ Combat Factors are also altered by the raising nation’s Tech Level.

The Varna Wargame is run in turns. Three turns equal a year. No actions happen in the winter, which would have been the fourth quarter of the year. The first turn of each year is handed in after the base Budget for that year is received from the GameMaster, and must start with any budget actions the player wishes to take.

It is possible to ignore this time-scale, and run the wargame concurrently with a role playing campaign, to give player characters an active world to explore. In that case, a turn is simply however long the GameMaster wants it to be, with one turn generally (but not necessarily) equalling one playing session.

All nations gain their annual income each Budget Day. Treasuries of NPNs are reset to their base income.

A Budget must be created at the start of each year for each nation. A nation cannot deliberately spend money it has not got, and if it acquires a negative treasury, must wipe out the debt before spending any more MUs. If any player’s Budget does not balance, the GameMaster will balance it, without mercy. Unpaid troops desert, the militia not reappearing until next Budget Day.

Base income (BI) is automatically collected each year, by taxing the population. Money can also be earned from other sources, such as slaves, trading partners and selling goods to other player nations.

1. Hire a leader or leaders (if the nation has any Leadership Points). It is not necessary to spend all Leadership Points on the first Budget Day, but leaders created during subsequent budgets have their quality randomly assigned.
2. Any leader can give the Hire Professional [troop type/s] order on Budget Day: the raise cost is paid immediately, and the troops begin the next turn under the command of the leader who raised them. As usual, maintenance until the next Budget is included in the raise cost. There is no limit to the number of troop types each leader can raise.
3. During the first Budget Day of a game only, the raise cost for professional troops is not paid, only their maintenance for the coming year.
4. The Disband order can be given by any nation about any or all of its troops. Militia vanishes until the next Budget Day.
5. Pay maintenance for all professional troops still employed. Pay maintenance for any militia troops that have been assigned to a leader. Militia without a leader does not pay maintenance.
6. Set the Diplomatic Budget.

On Budget Day each player nation can spend MUs on their diplomatic budget for the coming year. This budget represents the nation’s investment in its spy network, and gives a Diplomatic Bonus, which applies to every active, non-automatic, diplomatic order issued before next Budget Day. The higher the Diplomatic Bonus, the greater the cost in MUs.

The amount of money a nation has, measured in Monetary Units, or MUs. One MU is equivalent to 10 kilos of gold. (Or, in the role-playing game, 10,000 silvers.)

NPNs are assumed to spend income at a rate that means they do not normally have more than a year’s income in their treasuries. All NPN treasuries are reset each Budget Day. Their treasuries are only used to measure the amount that they can use in interactions with player nations. Player nations do not lose MUs left in their Treasury.

1. Independent. No diplomatic relations. This is how nations normally begin. The GameMaster may decide to assign a relationship to some NPNs, to simulate pre-existing alliances (for instance Poeni starts with some trading partners, Selamen with one controlled nation - Selna - and one liberated ally: Danaw).
2. Trading partner. Each NPN trading partner donates 25% of its treasury to its trading partner on Budget Day.
3. Ally. Counts as a controlled nation for its player nation ally. An allied NPN donates 50% of its treasury to its ally each Budget Day.
4. Liberated. A liberated nation is treated as an ally.
5. Conquered. Counts as a controlled nation for its conqueror, who receives its base annual income.

1. Any troops the conqueror allows can pass freely through the controlled nation. It will automatically grant passage to all troops led by its controller’s leaders.
2. Any leaders the conquered country may have had vanish.
3. The controlled nation's militia cannot be assigned to a leader (which means it cannot be moved out of its own country).
4. The controller can use their own leaders to raise troops as if they were being raised by the controlled nation, but only if the leader issuing the order is in the controlled nation. This includes special troop types, only available to the controlled nation.
5. If the nation has been conquered (rather than being an ally) conqueror controls the treasury. Any income goes straight into the conqueror's Treasury, all debts come out of the conqueror's Treasury.

All player nations begin as independent. They can have as many relationships as they can arrange.

They can issue the nation order Sign Treaty of Friendship to alter their relations with another player nation. This is mutual only if both players issue the order. The nation whose ID was given in the order can move through its friend’s territory as though it controlled that territory.

A nation controlled by a player nation has the same degree of friendship to all other nations that the controller has. So if troops would be allowed to pass through the controller’s nation, or the controller’s troops would be allowed to pass, the same applies to all their controlled nations.

Nations can use their fleets to trade. Any time a fleet enters an NPN with which the controlling player nation has a relationship, the controlling player gains MU equal to the total Carrying Capacity of the ships entering the NPN, except:

1. A fleet entering its owner’s nation gains no MUs.
2. A fleet returning to the nation it has just left gains no MUs.
3. A fleet that loses a sea battle has not entered the nation. NPN fleets will not attack fleets of a nation with which they have any relationship.
4. The maximum MUs a fleet can earn on any one visit is POP * PM of the country entered. All fleets entering a nation on the same turn will be treated as one visit. Unfriendly fleets trying to enter nation will trigger combat with each other, as usual. The winning fleet cannot gain more MUs than it has CC after the battle. The losing fleet (if not wiped out) will return to its starting nation, as usual.
5. Slaves and money can be sent anywhere in the world with the Nation Order send goods to.

Each nation has 60 minus Pop Points in Leadership Points to spend on named leaders. At least one leader must be bought on the first Budget Day. The GameMaster can either assume all NPN leaders are Average, or roll 1d10 on the table below for each. Controlled nations do not have any leaders.

Leadership Points not spent on the first Budget Day can be spent on any subsequent Budget Day, but the GameMaster will roll the new leader’s quality on the table below. The number of Leadership Points is linked to each nation’s original Pop, and does not change even if its Pop does.

The "MOD" column below is the modifier the leader applies to any task performed by their order. The modifier for Oscillating leaders is rolled each time they give an order.

All leaders are able to act as any type of leader. If they are unskilled in the area in which they are giving an order, their modifier is -1.

Each category after the first, which is combined in one leader, gives -1 to the cost of that category. A leader cannot embody the same category of leadership more than once.

For example: Jon Long of Poeni is an Excellent Ambassador, a Good General and an Adequate Admiral. The total cost would normally be 23 (12 + 9 + 2), but because one person embodies three types of leadership, the total cost is at -2, so that Jon Long costs Poeni 21 points.

If a combined leader dies or retires, the player can ask for the points to be re-spent on a single or double classed leader, as they wish. The chances of successfully hiring a replacement double-classed leader are not good, unless the ex-leader freed a lot of points.

Generals and Admirals are not normally killed in battle: however, if their entire force is wiped out, they die as well. Diplomats can be killed by diplomatic actions. Any leader can be assassinated. (See the list of diplomatic orders in Appendix C.)

If a player nation is conquered, all its leaders who are at home flee to a random neutral nation. On the next turn, they can issue orders, as normal. Leaders of a conquered nation continue to be controlled by the original owner of the nation.

Only leaders hired on the first Budget Day can have their modifier chosen by the player. The GameMaster rolls other leaders on the leader table, above. If the nation attempting to create a leader does not have enough Leadership Points to pay for the leader rolled, the order fails. Otherwise, it succeeds automatically.

A new leader can appear anywhere in the world, wherever their employer wishes. A leader can issue an order the turn they are hired.

Retire is an order. Executing it costs a golden handshake, in MUs, of three times the retiring leader’s original cost in Leadership Points. If the retiring leader has multiple levels of skill, they are paid off for their highest level.

When a leader in charge of a military force dies, and there is no other leader accompanying the force, a Deputy takes charge. This Deputy is a temporary leader, with a skill of -1.

A Deputy cannot perform the full range of orders: they can only repeat the order the force executed the previous turn, or transfer troops. If the last order was to move, the Deputy can remain stationary.

A leader with a military force moves with that force. Leaders without a force can move to any nation in Varna in one turn, by issuing a Move order. They are not restricted by distance, nor by the relationships between their nation and the nations through which they move.

All units controlled by NPNs have leaders. The GameMaster will generate such leaders randomly, as they are required.

There are two types of order: active orders and nation orders. Only named leaders can issue active orders, and each leader can issue only one order per turn: diplomatic, naval and military orders are all active. Nation order can only be issued by nations.

Each player can issue, per turn, up to a maximum of five nation orders, plus five active orders, plus one extra active order per controlled nation. Orders not issued in the turn are lost; they cannot be saved up until a later turn.

Possible orders are listed in Appendix C: Orders. A player who wishes to create a new order must offer it as alternative to a standard order. If the GameMaster agrees it is valid, it will be executed, and added to the lists of orders. Otherwise the alternative order will be carried out.

If an order given is unclear or incorrectly given, the GameMaster will not execute it. For instance, if a player carelessly types da as an ID, instead of de, and this makes the order illegal, it will not be executed, even if the GameMaster knows what the player meant.

The GameMaster rolls 1d6 times each turn on the table in Appendix D, each turn. If only part of the map is in play, the GameMaster will roll six times, ignoring all events that would affect the unused part of the map.

The chance that a nation will be affected by a random event is roughly proportional to its Pop. Roll on the Nations Table to discover where each event happens.

Some events are limited to nations in a specific situation. In that case, when the nation rolled is not a valid target, the event is ignored (not re-rolled), unless it has a "Treat as a roll of..." clause.

An Ambassador cannot succeed in an order that affects a nation other than the one they work for, unless the target nation is their current location. This includes information searches (but not, of course, movement). If two nations are being affected (for instance, one nation is made to invade another), then the nation which is being made to act (e.g. the invader) must be the Ambassador’s current location.

See the Diplomatic Orders tables for the MOD of the orders. MOD is a reflection of the difficulty of the order, so it is subtracted from the chance to succeed.

The GameMaster then rolls 1d20: if the number rolled is equal to or less than the total given above, the order succeeds, otherwise it fails. However, a roll of one always succeeds, even if the modified chance to succeed is negative, and a twenty always fails, even if the modified chance is 20+.

The newspaper will be produced when there is interesting news to publish, probably each turn. Military and naval battles will be reported, as well as some diplomatic events, and the deaths of leaders.

Players can contribute to the VARNA TIMES by issuing the nation order Start Rumour. The rumour should be written up like a news article, complete with headline, so that it can be pasted into the VARNA TIMES.

1. An army can consist of any number of regiments.
1. A regiment is 500 men, including officers.
1. There are 25 elephants in an Elephant Regiment.
1. Troop types are fully described in Appendix B.

Each nation has a militia: this is the force that will defend if the nation is invaded. Militia troop types are the same as professional troops, but are distinguished from them by having -m appended to their ID.

Militia does not have to be raised. They do have to be assigned to a leader before they can take any action other than defending their home nation. On Budget Day, all militia armies regain up to 50% of their maximum, but not beyond their maximum.

If a nation is in the process of being conquered, the amount of militia it regains is a percentage of its maximum, equal to half the territory it still controls (provided that would not take it over its maximum). So a nation 30% conquered, instead of regaining the usual 50% of its militia, would regain up to 70% of 50% (0.5 * 0.7 = 0.35) or 35% of its maximum militia. It would end up with no more than 70% of its normal militia.

The fresh troops always appear in their home nation, without a leader. If there is no home nation (because its Treasury is controlled by another nation), the militia army reappears, under the control of the conqueror.

The militia of a conquered nation cannot be assigned to a leader: it will only defend its home nation from attack.

Like other troops, militia can normally take no action unless assigned to a leader, but they do automatically defend their home nation, even without a leader. They can only be commanded by a leader of the nation where the militia was raised, or a leader of the nation in control of the nation where they were raised. Militia from controlled nations cannot be taken abroad.

All NPN militia is assumed to be assigned to leader at all times. NPNs do not pay maintenance.

Giving an order, and paying the raise cost raises professional units (ships or troops). Professional units raised on the first Budget Day do not have a raise cost. See the Hire [unit types/s] military order.

Once a professional unit has been raised it must be maintained. The maintenance cost (if any) must be paid in advance, each Budget Day. The GameMaster will disband unpaid units.

The CFs of all units are modified by the PM of the nation which raised them (not necessarily the nation which currently controls them). If the PM of that nation changes, so do their CFs, because maintenance costs include new equipment.

Every nation has a level of defence. These are always land defences, except:

1. Promethia and the Silk Isles. The defence applies to the surrounding sea, instead.
2. Selamen. The defence applies both to sea and land.

Forces containing troops and insufficient carrying capacity (CC) cannot move by sea. An order for them to do so will fail automatically. Each Foot or Flying Carpet regiment requires CC 1 for its transport; other regiments require CC 4 per regiment. Necromancers are treated as Foot, even if their undead are mounted.

A force containing ships can never move by land. If it ends a turn in Khem, it can start the next turn by entering either the Shallow Sea or the Inner Sea (Khem has a canal connecting them).

Troops commanded by the Admiral in charge of a fleet will automatically embark when a fleet leaves port. If another leader commands the troops (as will usually be the case) their leader should issue a "Move with" military order to be transported by the fleet.

Troops always disembark when the fleet carrying them enters a nation. Land combat then ensues, if appropriate. The leader in charge of the troops applies their leadership bonus, as usual. A fleet must end its movement in a nation, which has a coast on the last sea the fleet entered. Each sea has a movement cost to enter:

If a navy enters a nation that is neither friendly nor controlled, and that has its own navy, combat will ensue between the two navies. If the invader loses the battle, the remnants of their fleet are returned to the last nation they left.

If a damaged fleet no longer has enough CC for the troops it is carrying, troops are reduced to its CC, before disembarking.

Individual battles are not rolled for. Instead, the success of the campaign is assessed. At the end of each turn of campaigning, the GameMaster rolls 1d20 for each side, adding to each roll the total bonuses for that side.

If one nation has more than one leader with troops in the combat zone, the leader with the highest bonus will be assumed to be the General in Chief, and their bonus will be used for all troops of that nation. An Oscillating leader’s rank depends on their current quality.

1. The two armies are amalgamated. This happens if the players have asked for the combat to be resolved simultaneously.
2. The CFs of the armies are added together to calculate the odds, but each army rolls 1d20 and applies its own bonuses. The rolls are averaged for purposes of calculating the other side’s losses, but the individual rolls are used for each army’s losses and gains.

Amalgamated armies defending a nation will get the full benefit of the defending nation’s land defences, separate armies will not. A combined force shares its casualties in proportion to each contingent’s CF.

Add up the total Combat Factors (CFs) on each side. Divide the larger army by the smaller (in the case of a tie, the result will be 1). Look up the result of the division on the table below to find the odds bonus given to the army with the largest CF: round down.

Casualties are applied by multiplying the number of regiments or ships in each troop type by the casualty figure. Units are eliminated until only a fraction is left. This fraction * 100 is the chance (rolled on percentage dice) of an extra unit being destroyed.

A campaign won by an invader usually results in some of the invaded nation being taken over, as given in the Land Gained column. The percentage is of the original size of the nation.

A win for the defender means that captured territory can be won back that turn: again the percentage applies to the original size of the nation. If the invader has conquered less than the percentage regained, the defender gains only what they had conquered.

For instance: Nalvi invades Poeni, and (after all modifiers) wins by 15. There is no 15 on the table, so it rounds down to 12, and the Land Gained column reads 30%, so Nalvi gains 30% of Poeni. Next turn an ally arrives to help Poeni, and Nalvi is defeated by 16, losing up to 40% of Poeni’s original size: but Poeni has lost only 30% of its territory, so that is what it regains.

If a defending force is disbanded or destroyed, the invader automatically takes control of the whole nation.

If Budget Day falls during the conquest of a nation, the owner gains income proportional to the amount of the nation they still control. The invader gains no income until they become the owner.

A nation with no defending army left is conquered. A nation that has lost 100% of its territory is conquered.

Starting on the next Budget Day, the conqueror controls the conquered nation’s budget and militia. Income is generated normally, but goes to the conqueror. Militia is generated under the control of the conqueror.

If a player nation is conquered, the player can request a new nation to play. The GameMaster will assign one, if possible.

It is possible for several armies to be in the same nation simultaneously. All armies controlled by the same nation will be treated as one force, with the highest leadership bonus being applied if there is a battle.

Troops will not fight an army with whom their controlling nation has signed a Treaty of Friendship. Otherwise combat happens automatically. Any army moving into an uncontrolled nation will fight the troops of that nation, even if they are troops who have only just conquered the nation.

Turns are normally resolved in an order decided by the GameMaster, but players can request that their turns be resolved simultaneously. If they do, their forces will be treated as one when the battle is resolved. Only one leadership bonus will be applied: the highest.

The status of a nation does not change to "Conquered" until there is one undisputed conqueror. If the armies in a newly conquered nation are controlled by more than one player, they will fight, unless they have a Treaty of Friendship. If the players have a Treaty of Friendship, the nation retains its previous status, and will (for instance) start regaining its militia on Budget Day.

Only a conquered nation can be looted, and only by its current conqueror. This has the following effects:

1. The looter gains twice the annual income of the looted nation (in addition to the contents of the Treasury, which they gained when they conquered the nation). This money reflects the destruction being wrought, and does not affect the looted nation’s Treasury.
2. The Tech Level of the looted nation is reduced to zero.
3. The looter can choose one of:
1. Slaves can be raised, up to one unit of slaves per regiment of looting troops, to a maximum of Pop * 10 of the looted nation. Pop is lowered by 0.1 for each slave unit raised. These slaves immediately appear in the looting nation, unless another destination is specified in the Loot [ID] order.
2. The population can be slaughtered instead of being enslaved, with identical results except that the looter gains no slave units.

If there are any slave units in a nation, their number increases by +5% per year. Fractions of a unit are ignored except during this calculation. A slave unit contains 500 slaves.

Some nations begin the game with slave units; most do not. Nations which have NA in the Slave column of the NATIONS chart never take, keep or trade in slaves: they are anti-slavery, even in its mildest forms.

Slaves can be taken with a Loot order, and transported with a Send Goods order. They are then added to the total of the receiving nation’s slave units. Slaves transported to an anti-slavery nation, vanish, but do add +0.05 of a Pop Point for each slave unit liberated.

No nation can have more slave units than its Pop * 5. If the number is higher than that on Budget Day, the number of slaves is reduced to Pop * 5.

Slaves in Vailand are in fact Undead (if not when they arrive, then soon after), but are treated in all respects as normal slaves. A "slave revolt" means one or more of the controlling necromancers has died, and the undead are rampaging out of control.

Slaves can be sent anywhere in the world using a Send Goods nation order. This will normally be after the nations involved have agreed a price, and a method of payment. NPNs will only trade slaves if they receive payment before the slaves are sent. They will demand what seems to be an average price among player nations.

A liberated nation regains all its militia immediately. It will gratefully give its liberator a tribute of 50% of its annual income, each Budget Day. This tribute only ceases if the nation is re-conquered.

A nation can move its army through the territory of liberated nations as if it were moving through its own nation. If the liberator’s army defends a liberated nation, it gains the benefit of any defences.

Regiments can normally only raid adjacent nations. Ships can raid (pirate) only nations in the same sea. Airborne units can raid any nation with reach of half their movement points (rounded down).

A raid has 100% chance of being successful, -10% per regiment or ship unit sent. If the raid fails, there is no effect, except that the raided nation is informed of the identity of the raider.

Domestic elephants are only available in Vindrus. Elephant Units can only be raised there.

Airborne units can pass over any territory, and only enter combat if they land in uncontrolled territory. They can move over land or sea. The nations or seas they pass over must still be specified.

Churnor Nock cannot raise Rukh units if Tuskamet is controlled by a player nation, unless that nation agrees to continue to send wild Rukhs to Churnor Nock. (Tuskamet cannot raise Rukh units, it only breeds the wild Rukhs.)

A Necromancer unit controls each undead unit. Each unit of Necromancers can control up to 50 units of undead (any combination of zombies and skeletons). Each cavalry unit counts as two undead units. For instance, a Necromancer unit might control 5 zombie cavalry, 10 zombie infantry, 10 skeleton cavalry and 10 skeleton infantry.

If the Necromancers are eliminated then so are all their Undead. No Undead unit can be given an order: it obeys the order given to its Necromancer unit.

1. Necromancers:
1. Tech level restrictions apply to troop types they can raise, and base CF is modified by PM, as usual.
2. Each Necromancer unit can only raise one troop type, chosen when it is created.
3. The ID of each Necromancer unit is the ID of the troop-type that Necromancer unit can raise appended with ‘-n’, e.g. LF-n indicates a Necromancer unit that can raise Light Foot, MF-mn means the Necromancer unit is militia, and can raise Medium Foot.
4. Maintenance for Necromancers is 10 times that of the unit type they can raise.
5. Necromancers try to avoid combat, but do occasionally take casualties:
1. After a battle the number of skeleton and zombie units killed is counted:
1. The number of Necromancer units killed is then equal to (Undead killed) / 50, with each cavalry unit counting as two undead units.
2. Treat any fractional part as a percentage chance of a unit being eliminated.
3. Necromancers are particularly careful, so subtract 25% before rolling the percentage chance for elimination.
2. If there are more undead left than the maximum that the surviving Necromancer units can control, the undead are reduced to that level.
2. Zombies:
1. CFs are 30% of normal (* 0.3). All Zombie unit abbreviations are the same as the normal ones but appended with a ‘-z’, e.g. MF-z. Maintenance is 0. Raise cost is * 0.1 of the unit they mimic.
3. Skeletons:
1. CFs are 25% of normal (* 0.25). All Skeleton unit abbreviations are the same as the normal ones but appended with a ‘-s’, e.g. LF-s. Maintenance is 0. Raise cost is * 0.1 of the unit they mimic.
2. Skeletons are particularly easy to replace, so take only 50% casualties.
4. Professional Skeleton and Zombie armies can be raised even on campaign.
1. A Necromancer unit can raise 10 units of skeleton infantry, or 5 units of skeleton cavalry per turn, up to their maximum.
2. Each Necromancer unit can, after a battle, raise up to 30 units of zombie infantry on the next turn, or 15 units of zombie cavalry, but not above their maximum.
1. They cannot raise cavalry if there were no cavalry units on the losing side.
2. Otherwise professional zombies can only be raised if the GameMaster agrees that a supply of bodies is available.

ID is the nation’s unique identifier, TL is its Tech Level, PM its Production Multiplier, Def its Defences, SV the number of slave units with which it starts the game, MV the Movement cost for an army to enter it, Pop its Pop Points, and Type its social type. IDs in bold italics are not the first two letters of the nation’s name.

Diplomatic events are covert unless otherwise stated. All unsuccessful actions are covert unless the Diplomatic Failure Table indicates otherwise. Exceptions are noted in the NEWS column:

1. ART stands for "Action reported to target nation": only the action, not the identity of the acting nation, is reported.
1. TNI means "Target nation informed of acting nation’s ID". For instance, if an NPN trading ally becomes independent, notification will be sent to their player nation partner, including the disrupting nation’s ID.
1. RVT means "Reported in VARNA TIMES", the acting nation is not identified, unless otherwise stated under the order.

If an action affects another nation, the target nation must be the leader’s current location, unless the order states otherwise. This includes information searches. Orders are sorted by the type of effect they have.

Changes to the world are calculated every turn. They occur in the following order:

1. Budget Day, if it is the start of the year.
2. After players have received the GameMaster’s budget sheet for their nation, they perform their Budget Day actions.
1. Random rolls.
1. Each nation’s orders are executed, in the order given by the player. Players can stipulate that specific orders are to be executed simultaneously with those of another player (for instance to co-ordinate a battle), otherwise the GameMaster will decide the order in which player nations’ turns are resolved. Unless both players issue the resolve simultaneously request in a note, it will be ignored.
1. The VARNA TIMES is produced and circulated.

1. Each nation’s current Pop is multiplied by 1.05 (a 5% increase in population), then rounded down to two decimal places. Fractional Pop Points have no game effect except during this calculation. If any nation has a Pop below one, it is reset to one.
1. Each nation’s current slave units is multiplied by 1.05. If there are more than Pop * 5 slaves, the extra slaves are eliminated.
2. Any liberated nation that has a Tech Level lower than its original Tech Level, regains its original Tech Level.
1. Each treasury gains its current annual income. When this takes the treasury of an uncontrolled NPN over its normal annual income, that treasury is reset to its annual income.
1. NPNs pay their tribute to the player nation that has a relationship with them.
1. Player nations who have debts pay them.
1. Militia regenerate up to 50% of their maximum, in their home nation. The new militia has no leader. See Militia.
2. The GameMaster distributes the budget sheets to players, who are responsible for calculating the maintenance costs of their units, and setting a diplomatic budget.

Units hired on the first Budget Day only have no raise cost: instead their maintenance for the coming year is paid. These units represent each nation’s military preparedness when play begins.

Clarification will not always be needed. Nation orders are:

Turns should be numbered as Budget-Turn, so Turn 3 of Budget 6 would be Turn 6-3. Each turn must begin with the name of the acting nation, and the year number hyphened with the turn number for that year. It should look something like:

KHEM Turn 2-1

kh hires Ambassador Ptemos in pr

kh issues rumour

Ptemos (?) in kh moves to hs

Chakhra (+2) in kh attacks dj (LF-m 20, MF-m 32, MC 8 & LC 10)

Tufo (+2) in tu pirates Sea of Kamos

Prince Korbin (+6, dip bonus +10) in ac negotiates alliance (ac is already a trading partner)

Ambassador Bes (+2) in kh discovers any leader

SHEEP IN, HARLOTS OUT

In an unprecedented move last month, Ackaria’s Primate Drewan emptied his harem of all but one of his concubines. Your correspondent has heard that there is now a flock of sheep in the enclosed garden where the women used to recline. The primate has issued a statement that he intends to adopt a regime of complete celibacy, and wear only wool. The remaining concubine is said to have had some experience as a shepherdess, before becoming a slave.

NOTES

Please resolve battle in dj simultaneously with Chay’s battle in dj.

The assassination of Ambassador Hebrem (1d8-2) last turn freed 5 Leadership Points.

It is not strictly necessary to list the troop types, but it is recommended, to enhance clarity. If the person running Chay failed to get troops into Djaktu that turn, or did not also issue a Resolve With order, the first note would be ignored, otherwise the two invading armies would be treated as one force.

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