EIA:Nopat house rules

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These additional house rules are used in games played at Nopat club. Most of these rules have been traditionally used at Excalibur too but have never been written or have since been removed.

On this page the of use notation "rule 1.2.3" refers to the respective section of Empires in Arms game rules (with errata)

Political

Gaining control of a minor country

IF (all following conditions must be met):

• a major power (aggressor) declares a war on a minor country, and
• that minor country has corps markers, and
• a major power that has gained the control (controller) of said minor country, is already at war with the aggressor or decides to use a rule 4.6.5 to declare war against aggressor as an intervention.

THEN:

• controlled minor country becomes a free-state of it's controller
• the minor country will retain it's free-state status until it has been conquered by other major power or it's control has been changed due rule 4.6.1 and rule 10.5.2 (controller in instability/fiasco zone during a minor country control step).
• the minor country won't return to neutral if the war between aggressor and controller ends.

NOTE:

• a minor country that does not have corps, does not become a free-state or a conquered minor of it's controller, the war between the minor country and the aggressor will end in either aggressor conquering the minor country or in lapse of war.

Holy Roman Empire

In phase I and II scenarios where HRE rule is in place a controlled free-state, that belongs to HRE, reverts back to neutrality IF:

• the war between it's controller and aggressor comes to an end, and
• during the war the aggressor has never conquered the free-state in question

In such case the minor country in question can not be a target of a declaration of war by it's former aggressor for 12 months.

Poland

The situation where Poland revolts and declares independence from Russian protection in Revolution campaign contained a loophole for Russia.

According to the original scenario rules:

Poland revolts according the Revolution track. When this happens Poland becomes an independent minor country consisting of all territory marked with (P). All Russian depots in Poland are destroyed and Russian access is revoked. Forcible access cannot be used against Poland. Any attempt at forcible access is considered a DOW on Poland.

However this allowed an exploit where, just before the revolution track would declare Poland independent, Russia could march it's army to Warsaw or other Polish cities, wait for the event, and once Polish revolt occured, it could just move one new corps or cossack unit into Poland using forcible access rule, which would then be considered as an instant declaration of war. This would lead to a situation where Russia alone could conquer one or two Polish provinces in only two turns.

To prevent this exploit, following modifications were made to the original scenario rules:

Poland revolts according the Revolution track. When this happens Poland becomes an independent minor country consisting of all territory marked with (P). All Russian depots in Poland are destroyed and Russian access is revoked. Each Russian corps, cossack or garrison unit in Poland (if any) is to be moved, during the next army reinforcement step, to the nearest city that's located in a Russian home province. In case there are multiple cities that are in same distance, the one closest to Moscow is used. Forcible access cannot be used against Poland. Any attempt at forcible access is considered a DOW on Poland.

Minor Wars

Persian Invasion

The initial Persian supply source or Persian home province, i.e. the mountain tile on Georgia-Armenia border at the eastern edge of the map, is considered to be Persian territory separated from it's original province (Armenia or Georgia).

The implicit effects of this are:

• If there's a peace between Russia and Turkey, the defending power may move to Persian home province tile without taking forcible access from owner of Armenia or Georgia.
  • This assumes that Georgia belongs to Russia and Armenia belongs to Turkey
  • Entering to other tiles in Georgia/Armenia is still considered forcible access.
• In order to defeat Persia, the defending major power does not need to occupy cities in Armenia/Georgia, but they need to conquer the tile representing Persian home province.
  • Requirements for conquering are as stated in rule 7.7.

Land

Creating depots

This is not a house rule but a definition how to interpret the standard rules.

According to rules:

• 7.2.3 DEPOTS IN SUPPLY CHAINS: A new depot may be placed within two unblocked areas of an already existing (before this Turn) depot that is a supply source or which is part of a valid supply chain.
  • 7.2.3.1 SUPPLY SOURCE DEFINITION: A "supply source" is any unbesieged controlled city area in a major power s home nation or controlled minor country that is unoccuppied by enemy forces and that contains a depot.
  • 7.2.3.2 SUPPLY CHAIN DEFINITION: A "supply chain" is a series of one major power's depots that are placed no more than two areas apart and lead back to a supply source of that major power.
    • 7.2.3.2.3: Any portion of a supply chain that is not valid cannot be used for regular supply (see 7.4.2), although the invalid depots do not have to be removed.
  • 7.2.3.3 SUPPLY CHAIN RESTRICTIONS
    • 7.2.3.3.2: For a major power to place a new depot outside of its own territory, an unbesieged corps of that major power must be in that area.

As the definition "major power's territory" (or "own territory") is widely used in rules with context where it refers to all controlled areas of said major power (home provinces, conquered minors, controlled free-states), it must be interpreted same way here. Thus players are allowed to create new depots in empty non-city tiles in their controlled minor provinces as long as they are connected to a valid supply chain or source.