A i med) Tae OFC) TCCOS“Cercios Ruleset for large scale battles with miniatures set in the Thirty Years’ War A game by Abian Suarez Herndndez and Rayco Suarez Hernandez Graphic Arts: Pedro Suarez Jiménez A creation by: El Kraken Released Publised by: Designs & Edits WxW Co. ‘Translation: Javier Moncholi Checa English Edition and Proofreading: Michael Koznarsky, MD. Special thanks to Antonio V. Quevedo Franco, Yaiza Quevedo Guzmén, Jacomar Gonzalez Surez, ‘José Oliveros Segura and Joaquin Ruiz Fernandez for making this work possible. ‘Testers: Pedro Artiles Artiles, Yarovit Caballero Hernandez, Manuel Diaz Diepa, Rubén Fernéndez Gonzalez, ‘José Fleitas Bueno, lon Gracia Suarez, Emilio Guerra, Pablo Herndndez Hellin, Rafael Hoyos Janina, ‘Juan Luis Moreno Tapia, Adridn Navarro Garcia, Vietor Rodriguez Mesa, Nawzet Martin Herrera, Luca Occhi, Francisco del Pino Santos, Alvaro Santana Santana and Angel Suarez Marrero, Copyright 2015. Liber Militum: Tercios is a creation of Abidn Suérez Hernéndez and Rayeo Sudrez Hernandez, published by Design & Edits WxW Co; Proyecto Cruz $.L. Calle Andalucia N°30, 29009 MALAGA - C.l . B 91263178. ISBN: 978-84-943949-0-4 Depésito Legal: MA-519-2015 Allrghts reserved. No pat ofthis publication may be reproivcd,distibute, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including Dhotocopring,reconting, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the pror witen permission of tie publisher eset inthe case of bret quotations embodied in erica eviews and certain other non commercial uses pertited by copyright ne Enquiries should be addressed to the PublishersIntroduction Game Elements Procedure Movement Shooting Melee Troops Commanders The Army. The Battle page 07 page 13 page 18 page 21 page 24 page 29 page 37 page 44 page 64Welcome to Liber Militum Tercios, the miniatures tabletop wargame set in the Thirty Years' War (1608-1648). ZZ The Game As game developers, we believe it is our tesponsibility to design rules that encourage the player to have a pleasant experience and enjoy recreating what is intended: epic battles, historical or fictional, that leave the unmistakable flavour of the era. The game table must be visually appealing, reminding those of old paintings that recall famous battles. To achieve this we don’t believe that adding too complex rules is necessary as we consider, of utmost importance, game flow over exaggerated Tealism. However, Tercios provides enough complexity to always make victory a challenge. Tercios is a large-scale battles wargame, as every unit in the game represents the huge formations that often comprised more than a thousand men. Therefore it provides a greater abstraction than other games, as at this scale of war the individual actions of soldiers are irrelevant, as it is the action of the entire unit that matters. Players could start their first games without applying all the rules described here, in {Qe order to get used with them, though we encourage them to include them as soon as possible to enjoy Tercios at its fullest. A Little Bit of History The Thirty Years’ War was a devastating conflict that plunged Europe into a maelstrom of clashes as it wouldnt happen again for a long time. Its main origin lay in the religious challenge that emerged with the rise of Protestantism, although at a political level the different nations involved had their own agendas according to their interests. In this conflict most of the major European powers were involved, forming two main blocks: the Imperial Catholics and the Anti Imperial Protestants, Europe was largely laid to waste, as many nations were bankrupted and depopulated with the escalation of the war. The states of the Holy Roman Empire suffered the greatest impact and wear. Many of its regions were devastated, not only by war, but by famine and disease too. The conflict is divided into four phases: 4 Palatinate Phase The Protestant states of the Holy Roman Empire, with the Habsburg Emperor Ferdinand II, staged various disturbances, Plo LAek vy > DI Caywith the main epicentre in Bohemia. An alliance between Palatinate, Bohemia and other supporting states defied the Empire. Others, like the Protestant Prince of Transylvania (Gabriel Bethlen) saw this situation as ideal to throw off the yoke of the Habsburgs, and started a vigorous campaign in Hungary. Part of Austria also rebelled. The Emperor hastened to raise an army able to stop the allies' conspiracy against him; a crusade to defend the "one true faith", Under the command of Ambrosio Spinola, Spain sent a large contingent to support the Emperor, and Saxony, although being Protestant, would join its forces against the rebels. ‘The Catholic League reaped early victories in the first battles against the Protestant Union, with General Tilly, known as "The Monk in Armor", standing out. But the revolts showed weaknesses that others would take advantage of without delay. ** Danish Phase ‘The Lutheran king Christian IV of Denmark decided to join the war invading the bordering German regions with an army of 20,000 men, consisting almost entirely of mercenaries. The Danish claims were stopped by the armies of Count Tilly and Wallenstein, who obtained decisive victories against the Danish forces. Defeated, the Danish king withdrew its support to the German Protestant cause. #) Swedish Phase Gustav II Adolf of Sweden decided to intervene in defence of its allies. He got some significant victories against Catholics that alarmed Ferdinand IL. After the death in battle of General Tilly, he would put his troops under the experienced Wallenstein to face Gustav ata critical battle of the war. The Empire was currently on the defensive as the Swedes recovered much occupied territory. However, at the Battle of Lutzen, despite getting the victory, the Swedish king was killed, and with him part of the momentum of his campaign. Hostilities continued until the Swedish defeat at the First Battle of Nordlingen, which forced the signing of the Peace of Prague. Bi French Phase France, despite being a Catholic country, harboured a great rivalry with Spain and the Holy Roman Empire. Louis XIII, advised by Cardinal Richelieu, allied with Sweden and the United Provinces to take advantage of the situation. The Imperial forces were initially successful, even threatening Paris, although the French reconquered territory as more battles raged on. Destiny was looking grim for the Empire, as the dramatic Catalan and Portuguese uprisings in the Spanish peninsula added to the painful Spanish defeat at Rocroi. Soon after that, the Swedes were victorious at Jankov, while Louis of Bourbon defeated the Bavarians at Nordlingen. ‘The last battles, Zusmarshausen and Lens, ended a bloody war that had left the involved nations exhausted. The Peace of Westphalia was signed, satisfying no one, but allowed all the nations to close this dramatic chapter of history. During these times Tercios, those fearsome Spanish formations, steadfastly defended the old values against the menacing military reform. These were the last days of a military dominance that had held for more than a century. Still, they would enjoy quite a few victories, perhaps more by professionalism and stubbornness rather than by outstanding tactics, allowing Tercios to seal a beautiful end to the use of that formation, evoking nostalgia of old glories, 06Liber Militum: Tercios is a miniatures tabletop wargame and, as such, miniatures are the main protagonists. Having a painted amny on the table is a superlative experience compared to using cardboard counters or common chips. We don't intend to limit the collector to use miniatures of a particular manufacturer. The game is well suited to any scale, with 1gmm and 28mm as the most popular ones, although there are other interesting options such as 6mm. We intend basing to be of as. little importance as possible in order to allow the use of figures already based to other games or rules systems. It would be advisable, though, that the contenders coincide in scale, for purely aesthetic reasons and, ideally, for a more balanced game, for players to use the same basing system for their armies. The elements that fight on the battlefield are referred to as units. These represent squadrons, battalions or small groups of soldiers, plus commanders and supplementary units such as artillery. We distinguish two types of units: and Commanders. Commanders are a special type of unit that has its own chapter, where its own rules are covered in detail. The most common type of unit is the Troop. These are soldiers willing to die (in varying degrees) for our cause. These, in turn, are divided into Foot, Horse and Artillery. All troops, except for artillery, should be based on square or rectangular bases. A group of miniatures upon it represents the unit. This game recommends a set of standard base dimensions, depending on the type of unit, but it has to be clear that it is not mandatory. Two centimeters, even three, above or below the recommended size should not cause problems. Measures are given in centimetres: Pe NPS | With Depth | | Field Square ioe a i) Other Foot Formations| 12 | 6 Horse | 8 | 4 Large Horse | 8 8 Company | a | 4 Artillery 4 a |