Raising a Banner House The normal way to gain a Banner House in play is to convince another house to swear fealty and pay the Power cost detailed on p104. However, players may wish to create their own Banner Houses from the holdings they already possess, possibly to give to a favoured retainer or lesser child. This requires permission to do so from their lord (and the GM), plus the sacrifice of certain resources.

Permission Creating a new Banner House requires the permission of the Liege Lord in that territory. This is usually the great house who controls the area (such as Tully, Lannister or Stark). This permission may be obtained through roleplaying and adventure rewards, or through the intrigue system. In the case of intrigue, permission to create a new house will require 3 victory points from individuals capable of petitioning or influencing the regional lord. This may include members of his family, influential members of his court or the lords of other landed houses in the region.

Creation Creating a Banner House counts as the House Action for the month in which it occurs. Every new Banner House requires a name, a coat of arms, and optionally a motto. New Banner Houses do not roll for historical events. Their starting statistics are determined by the Parent House as follows :

Land and Defence The Banner House gains a Land and Defence score equal to the value of the domains and fortifications granted to it by the Parent House. These are removed from the invested Land and Defence scores of the Parent.

Law and Population The Banner House begins with a Law and Population equal to the scores held by the Parent House, +2d6-6. This has no effect on the scores of the Parent House

Influence Banner Houses begin life with 2d6 Influence generated from the circumstances surrounding their creation. This has no effect on the score of the Parent House.

Power The Parent House must invest Power to secure the Banner House as per the rules on page 104. New Banner Houses begin play with a Power score of 2d6. Additional troops may be transferred to the control of the Banner House if desired. These are removed from the invested Power score of the Parent House and added to the Banner House. Commonly Parent Houses will transfer or raise a unit of Garrison for the Banner House and provide additional protection while the Banner raises it's own troops.

Disposition The Banner House starts play with disposition scores equal to the Parent House. The starting disposition score between the Banner House and the Parent is determined by the players at the time of creation.

Activation

In the month following the creation action the Banner House is considered active and enters play with under normal rules for Banner Houses in the main rulebook.

Taxation Some slightly more advanced (i.e complicated) rules for taxation. A feudal system was always all about taxing the peasants, and one of the main reasons for gaining land and population was always the money that could be squeezed from the populace.

Tax collection Once per year after harvest time, your population will pay taxes to their Lord. For every 10 full points of invested Land that you have, your population will produce 1 Wealth in taxes. The more Land you develop, the more tax income you will receive. (This gives you a good reason to go out there and spread your borders, although note that uninvested Land doesn’t do you any good. Like anything else, resources need to be put to work).

Tax tithe Sadly all this new wealth doesn’t get to stay in your coffers. Your own Liege Lord will expect you to pay taxes, and the wealthier you are the more you have to pay. You must pay your Leige Lord 1/10 of your total Wealth in taxes at tax time. (This strengthens the whole feudal system of obligations, adds a healthy little touch of resentment towards your Lord, and opens up some roleplaying and adventure possibilities as you interact with them over the thorny issue of money.)

Banner Houses The good news is that your Banner Houses must do likewise. They have to pay you 1/10 of their Wealth in taxes in a similar fashion. This continues all the way up to the Wardens who pay their dues to the King himself. (Once again, this makes having Banner Houses more valuable, and gives more roleplaying options as you have a stronger connection with your Banners and more interest in their wealth and welfare.)

Largesse Should anyone forgo their right to collect taxes from their Banner House or from their own population, then they will gain an increase of 1 level in disposition, to a maximum of Friendly. (Some rules for overtaxing should probably go in here as well, although that’s trickier to balance. But this is a good way to help cement the trust of a new Banner House, and promising no taxes may even be an intrigue factor in causing someone else’s Banner to defect.)

Units and Casualties If a unit reduced one or more enemy units to disorganised during the battle, add +1 to the result of the roll on table 10.6 - Survivors. (Units that were successful in battle are more likely to gain experience, and the overall experience level of the unit should be higher to offset replacements.)

Units and Movement A units whose move speed is reduced to below 10 yards may move 10 yards as a move order, but it may not sprint. (There are way too many combinations of units and terrains where you end up with a unit that can't actually move. Especially if you upgrade their armour. Raiders, Mercs and Garrisons in Mountains. Personal Guards almost anywhere, or in Phalanx formation. I feel movement needs to have a minimum value.)

Units and Shields A unit adds the bulk rating of it's shield to both it's defence vs Marksmanship attacks and as a penalty to movement. (Just balancing off the bigger shields. Their main point in mass warfare was always as protection against dumb missile attacks like arrows, but they need a small drawback to make them a tactical choice and not just a no-brainer upgrade. I'm not using the Defence value because while the warfare system is similar to the personal combat one, there are no speciality dice in warfare so offense is already slightly penalised.)

Experience and Power If a unit gains experience, raise the Power of the Noble House by the same amount (It says in the rules that xp gains for units don't cost Power, which is fine in principle. But if you don't tweak the House Power too, then your invested Power gets out of synch with your unit costs which is going to cause problems when your Power drops below the required level to sustain your troops. Without this rule, you could potentially have a Power 30 House with 45 Power worth of Veteran troops.)

Defences Moat - 2 points. Add a moat and drawbridge to a defensive structure, blocking movement on the battle map. Wall - 5 points. Surrounds a non-Defence terrain feature with a defensive wall. Acts per the entry in table 10.3 - Terrain. Large Town - Acts per the entry in table 10.3 - Terrain for Small Town. (I wanted to add something for players who put in a moat. It won't add defence, it just helps on the tactical map. Walls are in the Warfare section but missing from the House and Lands section for some reason, and Large Towns are likewise in House and Lands but missing from Warfare.)

Motte-and-bailey [Cost: 7, Requires: Any type of forest in at least one domain] Not sure what special ability it would confer, but I do like them motte-and-baileys.

Murder Holes [Cost: 1, Requires: Any size of castle] Archer units defending your castle get some sort of bonus

Dungeons [Cost: 3, Requires: Any size of castle] Some capture-effect?

optional enhanced rules for the Cadre quality :

Cadres A Cadre is a versatile and loyal squad of 10 veteran soldiers under your command, per the rules on p78.

Disposition You may decide the starting dispositions of your Cadre towards you, your Noble House and any other persons that are suitable for your background. Your personal disposition may not start higher than Affectionate, while other dispositions may not start higher than Friendly.

Skills Your Cadre start the game at Veteran skill level, per the quality on p78. Unlike standard military units, you may spend their experience points on any skill.

Equipment Your Cadre start the game equipped as Garrison troops shown on the table on P172. This is equivalent to Hard Leather armour and a Hand Weapon each. You may purchase additional equipment for your Cadre using the standard equipment rules available in the Equipment chapter. In Warfare your Cadre will have an Armour Rating, Penalty, Bulk and Damage representative of the equipment you have chosen to provide, as determined by the GM. You may purchase mounts or ranged weapons for your Cadre to allow them movement as per a Cavalry unit, and to give them a Marksmanship ranged attack.

Warfare Your Cadre is made up of strong and capable fighters with a knack for survival. They have a health in Warfare equal to 1 point per point of Endurance. This means they are quite resilient for such a small unit, but should take care when engaging larger units on their own. The Discipline rating for your Cadre is -6 when you are attached to your unit and -3 otherwise.

Experience Your Cadre gains experience per the normal unit rules for Warfare. At the discretion of the GamesMaster, you may spend 1 Glory to add 20xp to your unit.

New Quality : Cadre II Prerequisite : Cadre, Persuasion 5, Warfare 4 The men of your Cadre are the best of the best. They are hard-bitten and tested Warriors who have stood at your back through many fierce battles. You may raise the experience level of your Cadre to Elite.

New Quality : Troop Prerequisite : Cadre, Persuasion 6 Your Cadre has grown in size and stature, and you have between 20 and 100 men at your disposal. They now have the strength to qualify as a full unit of troops using the rules above. Their Health in Warfare is determined as per the normal rules for units (Endurance x 3).

If you find Table 6−4 unsatisfactory, you might consider replacing it with the following spread.

3 Doom 4 Defeat 5 Catastrophe 6 Madness 7 Invasion/Revolt 8 Scandal 9 Treachery 10 Decline 11 Infrastructure 12 Ascent 13 Favor 14 Victory 15 Villain 16 Glory 17 Conquest 18 Windfall

Weapons and Armour Daggers may be thrown in the same way as Knives. Maces gain the Shattering quality. Poor quality Armour is x0.5 price and gains -1 AR and +1 Bulk. Castle-Forged Armour is x2 price and gains +1 AR and -1 Bulk. Exceptional Armour is not purchasable. It gains +2 AR, -1 AP and -1 Bulk.

Military Units and Shields To cover the various warfare rules that require shields or shield ratings : Long Range units and Peasant Levies have no shield. Close Range units and Mounted units have bucklers. Other units have standard shields. Shields may be upgraded by one category for 1 Wealth per unit. Units may forgo shields and have 2-h Weapons for 1 Wealth per unit. They gain +1 melee damage and lose the ability to use manuevers and formations that require shields. (With all the rules that reference shields and shield bonus values, I needed something to cover who has shields, and what size they are. Splitting it by Range/Skirmish/Melee seemed the obvious choice, with exceptions for Cavalry and Peasants)