Siege and Conquest is different to the other supplements that have been released for Warhammer Ancient Battles, and the reason for that is simple, its not just a supplement, it's also a rules expansion. This is a very important difference, and here Rob Broom, Warhammer Historical Manager, outlines what you can find with in the pages of this awesome new release!

Siege and Conquest came into being for a number of reasons, but simply the most important reason was that a segment of the gaming community had been demanding rules for siege warfare, and who were we to ignore those demands! So after talking with a number of people, Guy Bowers was invited (and accepted!) to take on this project.

However, as a gamer myself, I recognised from other siege rules that it can be quite tedious to work through a lengthy set of siege procedures, and for most gamers with just a few hours to spare, they want to crack on and complete a game in an evening. Therefore, as we prepared a brief for the contents of Siege and Conquest, we had some very clear expectations, there had to be a mechanic to play a game in an evening, and ideally, as you both have taken the time to transport and set up your walls and armies, it would be good if there was sufficient time for both players to play as attacker and defender.

And that really is a key point to these rules, as attacker you can spend points on damaging (or even completely breaching) the walls of the city before you deploy, saving the need to spend a number of game turns waiting for a breach to appear some where along the wall. Of course, for some players with more time and space on their hands, there will be a need to play out the 9 related siege scenarios (such as Sortie, or Traitor) leading up to that final assault, or even play a complete siege campaign and you will find all that within these pages. Guy has done a tremendous job of bringing a siege altogether into one glorious piece.

Also included is an historical over view of siege through the ages, as the book covers a huge period of siege warfare through the Biblical, Classical and Medieval eras, and of course rules for using all the siege equipment you will ever need (such as siege towers, battering rams, and that ever useful ladder!) as well as the aforementioned scenarios including the all important "cut to the chase" of the Final Assault.



Backing all that up, there is a scenario for the Siege of Constantinople, written by John Bianchi (and included in this book as promised in his Vlad the Impaler supplement) Although based around the final assault scenario, it also offers some new challenges as Constantinople has an outer and inner wall, and in this scenario, although both sets of walls are breached or damaged at the start, it is still tough to complete the objective. The scenario can be easily used for other armies instead of the Ottoman and Byzantine Empires.

Still, the book is not all about siege, as the clue can be found in the title its Siege and Conquest. Here we were also quite clear, we wanted players to be able to make use of all those lovely buildings people take time and effort to buy, or make and paint, and then place them on the table so that they become an important game feature, rather than something that's just in the way, as we often find within the standard rules for Warhammer Ancient Battles.

After all, raids on villages and towns make excellent scenarios and offer plenty of narrative, and it was time to ensure we had some rules that could bring those opportunities to life!

So in the section on settlements and sub units, you will now be able to define areas on the table top as a settlement (or even better, make the whole table a settlement!), and as a unit enters this area, it can then break into sub units should it wish, to give more tactical choices.

As an example, if a unit of 20 Roman legionnaires enters a settlement, they can detach 5 of their number off and send them down a side street, or into a building, to protect their flank. In close street fighting, this is very important, and choosing the right moment when to break off a sub unit can make the difference between victory or defeat.

However, all these rules are very straight forward, as we wanted to ensure that these rules can be used in ANY game of Warhammer Ancient Battles. This then allows tournament and campaign organisers the option of using the rules in their events as scenarios in particular games, and players don't need to worry about devising a specific army roster for fighting in a settlement, your standard one should do.

We took advantage of some excellent models we had available to photograph to show a Viking raid on a Saxon village so that you can see some of the sub unit rules in action over a series of photographs explaining what was happening.



There are also some proposed changes to defended and improvised obstacles, which we hope players will embrace and use, as it makes it a little easier to attack across these and so, again, more might turn up on the battlefield!

We also have a second set of broader campaign rules, ideas for multi player games and 10 scenarios for you try out in your bid for Conquest, some with historical variations such as Thermopylae, and Agincourt.

And, if all that is not enough, there are some optional rules for making use of the weather in your games, these have been written by Alex Buchel and can certainly liven things up, so try them out and let us know what you think.

Accompanying all this material are diagrams explaining the siege rules and a huge array of photographs of fantastic castles, fortifications and siege equipment, with handy tips on how to get the best from them when you are attempting to assault those formidable walls of your opponent.



It goes without saying that this project would not have come together with out the help and support of the community, many of them play tested the rules over a period of months, and our thanks to them, especially Martin Gibbins and Alex Buchel. Our thanks also go to all those who loaned models from their collections, there really is some truly inspirational photographs of huge armies deployed for battle in front of some formidable looking fortifications.

Ultimately, perhaps Siege and Conquest is not just a rules expansion, it's the start of another whole setting for your games of Warhammer Ancient Battles.

We hope you enjoy gaming with Siege and Conquest as much as we enjoyed putting it altogether, and may your walls hold out!

Ro Broom
Warhammer Historical Manager
September 2007

Coming next- practise what you preach.

Battle reports showing the rules in action for siege and the settlements and sub units and Rob Broom and Rick Priestley clash across the table in an epic siege battle report as the hordes of Assyria try to quell another uprising!