City of the Devil Control Handbook

City of the
Devil:
Handbook for
Control Team

England and France at war, from the Chroniques de Saint Denis

City of the Devil Control Handbook

Thank you for ‘agreeing’ to be Control for City of the Devil!

This gives a few thoughts on how I hope the game will go and some other
bits and pieces not in the main game rules.

REGIONAL CONTROLS
Bruce quite rightly laughed scornfully at me when I suggested that
players would be able to operate the rules with minimal Control
supervision. I know that this is always the hope and never quite the
reality. Nevertheless, as the day goes on, please do encourage them to
sort things out themselves as they get more familiar with the rules, to ease
your own workloads. The campaigning game is not that difficult and
there will be ‘ready reference’ sheets at the tables.

Every map area will start with any religious minorities and any player
control at game start marked by stickers. Any changes to this can be
marked with counters that cover the sticker (or remove the sticker).

Turn 1 – income is already calculated and will be in players’ starting

envelopes. Notionally I have allocated 5 extra minutes each to the
Loyalty, Muster and Campaign phases on Turn 1, but don’t feel slavishly
bound to that if you’ve completed one bit and you are able to move on.

Turn sequence
1. Income
This should be fairly straightforward – they have an income number
printed on their brief – I’ll give you each a sheet with a summary of this
on the day – and they get that much each turn, plus money from relics
they have displayed, provinces lost/gained, and ravaged/devastated lands
– all of these are cards that should be in their control box next to the map,
and should make getting the right figure fairly straightforward. Taxation,
tithes etc are up to the players to sort out. Royal taxation is only really
relevant for the English lords. The other states are either too unified for it
to be an issue (eg Spanish Kingdoms) or too disparate (France, Holy
Roman Empire) for the ruler to be able to collect. I am sure the Pope will
make sure that the Church players pay their tithes(!)

2. Loyalty
This is intended to be a factor mainly on the French, British Isles and
Holy Roman Empire/Italian maps. There aren’t many spare lords and
powers on the Byzantine and Iberian maps and they are quite hard to ally.
I’m hoping I’ve got the numbers right on those so that they change hands

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rarely – if they’re ping ponging around and it’s starting to look a bit odd
give me a shout.
If someone from another map wants to ally people on a different Regional
map (the King of Aragon trying to sway minor lords in France etc), let
them try at a -2 (for being an outsider). If they’re also Muslims – the
Caliph or Sultan – it ought to be essentially impossible, make that -4 or 5.
Remember that if minor allies who control Provinces change hands, the
relevant players need Province Lost/Gained cards, as the minor lords play
into income calculations.

3. Muster
Details of forces that can be raised are in player briefs and I will try to
make sure you have a summary. I have some small plastic trays that the
players can use to put forces and preparation counters in so that the army
can be represented on the map by a Small Army counter if it is 10 units or
less, or a Large Army counter if it is 11+, just to save clutter on the map.
The player then puts a control marker on the army counter.
There are three additional things that Regional controls need to deal with:

Mercenaries
Mercenary forces available on that table will be in your Regional control
box. They are limited – once they are all hired, players will have to either
try and hire them from another Region, or hire out other Players’ forces
as mercenaries. If a player hires out their forces as mercenaries, obviously
they are no longer available to them until the forces are lost or returned
(‘lost’ forces are usually deserters and eventually find their way home,
especially among knights/men at arms – losses among knights were quite
small as they had a ransom value. Militia may die but are fairly easily
replaceable). If two players want the same mercenary unit, they can bid
for its services.

Defensive musters
If a non-played state that is not currently controlled by a player is
invaded, you will need to produce a defensive muster for them. Details of
larger states are provided in the Regional sections below. For nobles who
just own 1 or 2 counties or provinces, assume they can muster 1 Knight
(total) and 2 Militia per province plus 1 Men at arms per city or major
fortress.

Recovery of Ravaged or Devastated areas

Ravaged areas return to normal on a 3-6 on a D6, Devastated areas
recover to Ravaged on a 4-6. You can let the owners roll if you want, or
just do it yourself to save time.

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4. Campaigning
I don’t think there’s much to add to what’s in the Game Handbook.
Remember that armies leave a Ravaged marker in any province they stop
in (or drop a Ravaged area to Devastated) unless they are spending
Preparation chips to feed themselves. If an army consists of only 1 or 2
units, you can skip this. Also remember that stopping in a Devastated area
means you lost 25% of your troops unless you spend Preparation chips to
feed them. This is especially relevant for long sieges.
Also don’t forget each ‘empty’ area is assumed to have a Level 1 fortress
with a notional 1 Man at Arms garrison which must be captured before
the area is considered conquered.
Conquering an area does not give legal title – only the ruler of the area
can do that (or maybe the Pope). If it is conquered by an army of another
religion, a rebellion may break out once the army moves on, if no
garrison is left – 50% chance of half a dozen Militia appearing.

Missionary activity happens only once during the Campaign phase – there
are not three turns of activity.

End of campaigning - all units go home unless paid half their normal pay
to stay on.

5. Specifics for different regions:

British Isles
As noted in the British Isles brief, the Irish Kings are fickle and feckless
and can only be allied for one Turn, after which they go back to being
neutral. They will not act collectively unless there is a large-scale
invasion of Ireland, in which case several (but probably not all) of them
will band together. Each King can raise a warband of 5 Militia in defence.
Left to their own devices they may occasionally raid neighbouring
provinces if you want to give Marshal and co something to do.
England is largely peaceful unless the players do otherwise, Scotland
ditto.
Independent Welsh Princes and the Earldoms of the Kingdom of the Isles
likewise each has a warband of 5 Militia. Unlike the Irish they can be
allied for longer periods. Left to their own devices, they will not act
collectively, but any attack against the Kingdom of the Isles will be met
by a Norwegian reprisal force the next year – two ships and six Men at
Arms plus a couple of Preparation counters, who will strike at the
territory of anyone who attacked their allies. This will continue annually
until some kind of accommodation is reached.

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France
The main concern is the Albigensian Crusade. This begins at Lyon on
Turn 1 – the Simon de Montfort player has the initial Crusaders in his
starting pack, but all except the mercenaries (provided they are paid over
winter) will go home at the end of the year – he relies upon a steady
stream of Crusaders generated by preaching, or money from the Pope
plus mercenaries, and whatever support the lords of France are prepared
to give (in reality enthusiasm for the Crusade petered out quite quickly
until the King of France got involved).
The Cathar player gets to Control any areas where there is a Cathar
Majority, and any minor Lords whose areas those are. At game start this
is Esclarmonde’s relatives Raymond Roger of Foix and Raymond Roger
de Trencavel.
Foix and Carcasonne are part of the County of Toulouse, but technically
part of the Kingdom of Aragon, not the Kingdom of France.
The unmarked areas owned by the Church are independent Bishoprics.
They cannot be allied. If invaded they will generate a defensive force of 1
Man at Arms and 2 Militia each, and (presumably) bring down the wrath
of the Pope – make sure he is aware.

Holy Roman Empire

The Imperial Diet is sure to be a factor weighing in Imperial minds. Take
bids for any minor or uncommitted lords whose support the players want.

Minor states:
Italy:
Pisa and Genoa can each supply 10 ships to any allied power. If invaded,
Genoa and Pisa can generate 2 Men at Arms and 6 Militia in defence.
Any other non-played states in Northern Italy can raise 1 Man at Arms
and 3 Militia each if attacked. They are also likely to appeal to the
Lombard League to assist them (unless the Lombard league is attacking,
in which case they will appeal to whichever Imperial faction looks best
positioned to help them).
The Tuscan League (Siena, Florence, Arezzo, Piombino) has a standing
mercenary army of 4 Men at arms and can raise another 8 Militia if
attacked. It is otherwise studiously neutral unless allied.

Germany:
Allying Bohemia gains its votes in the Imperial Diet but nothing else.
Poland, Silesia and Denmark (the latter of which also owns Rugen) are
neutral for the purposes of the game, just to reduce complications!
The independent Bishoprics are treated as the ones in France – aside from
Metz (Trier) and Mainz, they cannot be allied. If invaded they will

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generate a defensive force of 1 Man at Arms and 2 Militia each, and bring
down the wrath of the Pope.
Brabant and Holland are the property of the Count of Holland, who is
actually on the French map. Likewise Hainault belongs to the Count of
Flanders.
Austria, Pomerania, Lorraine, Brandenburg and the County of Burgundy
can each generate 2 Knights (make it 3 for Brandenburg) and 8 Militia
(12 militia for Brandenburg) in self defence. They are neutral unless
allied. They will not supply troops to allies, but will count as allied
provinces for the purposes generating more income – ie they give the ally
4 Province Gained cards (7 for Brandenburg, 3 for Burgundy). Note that
the County of Burgundy no longer has any relation to the Duchy of
Burgundy in France.

Byzantium
Everywhere on the map is considered to have an Orthodox Majority
unless specified elsewhere.
Remember that they get to take Relic cards during the Loyalty Phase.

Minor powers;
Serbia can be allied but will not supply troops, only money (£4/year). It
cannot be invaded within the scope of the game.
The Empire of Trebizond can supply 2 ships to an ally. If invaded it can
fight with 1 man at arms, 5 Militia and 5 Horsemen (remember there is
more of it off-map), but if it lost its two provinces on the map it would
sue for peace and take no further part in proceedings.
The two Bulgar powers are relatives of - but also enemies of - the
Bulgarian Tsar – they are part of a succession struggle that broke out
when the previous Tsar (Kalojan) died. If not controlled, each can muster
an army of 10 Light Horse and 10 Militia to defend themselves.

Iberia
Each Almohad Governor defends themselves separately. Each can
summon a defensive force of 1 Knight, 4 Horsemen and 10 Militia. The
main Almohad tactic is to fight defensively and await the arrival of the
Caliph’s army from Morocco.
The Balearic Islands are controlled by a Muslim petty king. The minor
islands can muster a couple of Militia each, Majorca 2 Horsemen, 1 Man
at Arms and 4 Militia. If allied, it can supply a ship unit in addition to £2
per year.
The Marinids of Tunisia are run by another King, notionally allied to the
Almohads but essentially independent. They have 1 Knight, 10 Horsemen
and 10 Militia in defence. In alliance only the three named provinces

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count as ‘controlled’ (the rest is desert) and each is worth one Province
Gained.
Navarre has 1 Knight, 1 Man at arms and 4 Militia in defence.

CHURCH CONTROL
As the Papacy is mainly a talking shop, this ought to be a fairly light day.
Mainly the role is about ensuring that decisions on Excommunication or
other sanctions are promulgated, and the relevant player gets their
Excommunication or Interdict etc badge, and that the Church is aware of
things that might affect it,. Also keep track of Church Influence cards if
players achieve objectives (you can also award it for good roleplaying
and any other things that seems sensible) and what decisions the Lateran
Council has come to.
If King John comes to a deal with the Pope, and accepts Stephen Langton
as the Archbishop of Canterbury, the current Archbishop player will get a
new brief (speak to me).

CRUSADES CONTROL
I’ll be honest that this is mainly a contingency against there being a
Crusade to the Holy Land – I didn’t want to allocate a full time Holy
Land Regional Control when they might have nothing to do all day. In the
absence of a Crusade to the Holy Land, the main things to do are:
- Make sure that any crusades that are preached by the Papacy have a
designated leader and objective, and preferably a Papal Envoy to steer it –
any Churchman can be given this job, including the ones from national
teams. There may also need to be a discussion about who will control any
lands captured.
- You can resolve the work of Missionaries who are preaching the
Crusade. This basically involves touring the Regional maps during the
Campaign phase and rolling for the missionaries there (Game Handbook,
p20). Crusaders generated go to the ‘next turn’ box on the map. Every
turn that a Crusade is preached in a region reduces die rolls by -1 as
‘Crusade fatigue’ sets in – put a sticker on the Preaching the Crusade box.

If you are finding yourself very under-employed, feel free to help out any
Regional Control who is looking stressed, take over running non-
played/controlled states etc.

If there *is* a Crusade (I suspect there will be, but possibly only
involving minor lords, as happened historically - the major powers were
too busy), then you will become Regional Control for the Holy Land

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map. Your material on the day will have force mixes for the non-played
states of the Holy Land (i.e. I’m still deciding how big it should be…).
They should be played with the following political situation in mind:
(a) Al Adil, Saladin’s brother who is now the Sultan of Egypt and Syria,
is 65 years old and very cautious. He is also fighting a war in Iraq against
the Armenians (Greater Armenia, i.e. the area that we think of today as
Armenia, not the Lesser Armenian Kingdom that is on the Holy Land
map). His policy in Palestine has long been one of ‘live and let live’. He
is happy to do commercial deals, especially with e.g. Venice. He is quite
open and tolerant of Christians, and the pilgrim route to Jerusalem is
open. He has a truce with the Kingdom of Acre. If attacked he will bring
his lumbering royal army into action (start it in Alexandria), but he will
be happy to trade any territory lost for Jerusalem, just to get Crusaders
out of his hair.
(b) While Syria is part of Al Adil’s domain, the northern region of
Aleppo is under the control of an Emir who is notionally the vassal of Al
Adil, but who is a scion of the rival Zengid dynasty who were ousted
from Egypt. If Aleppo is attacked, Al Adil will not help him, and vice
versa.
(c) The Kingdom of Acre and the Knights Templar and Hospitaller
likewise have a very defensive stance and the same live and let live
attitude with Al Adil. They will supply some forces to help any Crusade
that arrives just to show solidarity, but their participation will be
unenthusiastic – something that always puzzled and annoyed crusaders
from Europe who didn’t have to live with the mess that they create long
after the Crusade has been and gone.

ASSASSINATION
I really don’t want there to be much assassination during the game. It
wasn’t much of a factor outside of the Holy Land (where the Assassins
were available for hire). Most of the people at the level of the played
characters only travelled with significant armed entourages, and their own
cooks, food tasters etc. People took precautions and assassinations were
difficult. Ambushing people on the road or seizing someone at e.g. a
wedding or peace conference is not straightforward if both sides have
troops present – a battle ought to settle it. Even if a player has no troops
present, they can be assumed to have bodyguards and there is always a
chance of things going wrong. Murdering other Christian rulers and
especially women or clergymen is also something almost guaranteed to
get the Church on your case – Excommunication ought to be almost a
minimum sanction, or you can give them a badge that says ‘Murderer’
that gives them -1 to all loyalty rolls.

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Of course, if it’s on a Crusade and sanctioned by God, that’s another
story – that’s not murder, that’s just being the vessel of the Church’s
righteous wrath.

ERRATA
In one point in the rules it says it takes 3 moves to cross an Alpine pass.
This is incorrect – it is 4 moves.

In the battle example in the rulebook the strength of the Knight units is
given as 3 each. This is a holdover from a previous version of the rules –
the correct version is 4 strength points per unit, as will be shown on the
unit cards.

In the Gazetteer, Constance of Aragon is wrongly said to be the daughter

of the King of Aragon. She was, but not the current King of Aragon – she
is actually King Peter II’s sister. Everything else about her (previous
Queen of Hungary etc) is all still true, though.

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DEFENSIVE ARMIES OF MINOR POWERS (IF ATTACKED)

BRITISH ISLES
Welsh Princedoms 5 Militia each
Irish Kingdoms 5 Militia per area
Earldoms of the Isles 5 Militia per area – reprisal raid next year by
Norway – 2 Ships, 6 Men at arms
Minor Lords (Eng/Scot) 1 Knight, plus 2 Militia/County, 1 Man at arms
per city/fortress

FRANCE
Minor lords 1 Knight, plus 2 Militia/County, 1 Man at arms
per city/fortress
Church lands 1 Man at arms, 2 Militia per county

HOLY ROMAN EMPIRE

Genoa 2 Men at Arms, 6 Militia – can supply 10 ships
to ally
Pisa 2 Men at Arms, 6 Militia – 10 ships as Genoa
Tuscan League 4 Men at Arms, 8 Militia
Independent Bishoprics 1 Man at arms, 2 Militia
Minor lords 1 Knight, plus 2 Militia/County, 1 Man at arms
per city/fortress
Austria 2 Knights, 8 Militia
Pomerania 2 Knights, 8 Militia
Lorriane 2 Knights, 8 Militia
Brandenburg 3 Knights, 12 Militia
Burgundy 2 Knights, 8 Militia

BYZANTIUM
Empire of Trebizond 1 Man at arms, 5 Militia, 5 Horsemen (2 ships)
Alexius Slav 10 Horsemen, 10 Militia
Strez 10 Horsemen, 10 Militia

IBERIA
Each Almohad Governor 1 Knight, 4 Horsemen, 10 Militia.
Majorca 2 Horsemen, 1 Man at Arms, 4 Militia (1 ship)
Menorca, Ibiza 2 Militia each
Marinids of Tunisia 1 Knight, 10 Horsemen, 10 Militia
Navarre 1 Knight, 1 Man at arms, 4 Militia

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