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Siege Relief A WAB Scenario for the Punic Wars by Anthony Edwards Basic gist: Defender has twice the sized army as the attacker. A third the defender's army is off the table on the left, a third is off on the right. They arrived on a modified 40k reserve roll. The attacker needs to get a sizeable enough portion of his army through the enemy's siege line to give some relief to the defenders. Deployment: Aside from the off board deployment the deployment zones are normal for a pitched battle - 12" from the sides and a 24" space between opposing zones. A moderate amount of defensive fortifications, such as walls or ditches, would be appropriate and help enhance the mood. Any such defences must be placed on the interior edge of the defender's deployment zone, as the area behind it should be considered the 'neutral zone' around the fortress. The attacking player moves first. At the start of the defender's turn roll d6 for each off board defending unit. It arrives when the result is equal to or greater than what is listed in the below table. Turn Die Roll to Arrive One 6+ Two 5+ Three 4+ Four 3+ Five and beyond 2+ Victory Conditions: The attacker must break through the center, getting at least half of his army that is not fleeing either off the opposite table edge or within 12" of the opposite edge with no enemy units between him and the table edge. Game length: Seven turns. Variants: Put the defending fortress wall on the table edge, along the defender's side, the wall either contains a major gate or a few sally ports. The attacker gets an extra 10% points in troops to put in the fort, the defender gets an extra foot of deployment zone. (This might leave the attacker's deployment 'zone' just his table edge, which is fine.) Troops on the wall have no effect (marching, panic, etc) on troops on the ground and vice versa. Instead of the 'table edge' the attacker now must get his troops through/close enough to the sally ports and gate. Multiplayer - this scenario also makes for a phenominal multiplayer game. One player plays the attacker, the other three play the defender. The overall defending player in charge deploys on the table, his subordinates begin off board. In fact it is quite useful to put players new to the system because it gives them a few turns to watch and learn while gradually adding troops to their control. Hannibal's attempt to relieve the Siege of Capua in 212 BC gave me the inspiration, but there there are many other examples both during the Punic Wars and elsewhere.