Description of BEARER.ZIP

	This scenario is based on an old role playing campaign world of 
mine. The area represented is called the Southlands or Civilized 
Lands (the latter by its inhabitants only).  The descendants of the 
original inhabitants of the area people Suhor and Malinor.  And the 
offspring of the barbarian tribes that displaced them in The Nan, 
Great Nhalor, Thure, Arnisea, and The City States.  Dwarves, elves, 
and Harpies (more bird-men than traditional harpies) also dwell in 
the Southlands. Orcs, goblins, giants and trolls can be found in the 
wilder areas.
	In creating the terrain I used 'marsh' to represent small rivers 
that would hinder movement but were not navigable.  Which I found 
to work pretty well.
	The army set is intended to represent these peoples and includes 
few powerful units.  It still needs some work.  Particularly on 
production and new purchase costs.  Magic in the Southlands is not 
strong and is best if used with subtlety and patience.  So wizards 
aren't dominant. Orcs are represented by the normal army units.  
Trolls, giants, dragons, and griffins all exist.  But are too rare, and 
usually too wild, to be much used in warfare.
	Here are a few brief comments on the units-
'Rabble' are mobs, goblins, and seamen.  This unit is great for 
building navies.  That's supposed to be a bottle is the guys 
left hand.
'Militia' are poorly trained soldiers.  Quick and cheap to build. 
'Scouts' represent both foot and horsed soldiers.  Very useful for 
for a large army.  But also tend to get whacked.
'Light Inf' units are regular soldiers.  They are typically armed 
with spears and wooden shields.  Armor is usually hardened 
leather.
'Heavy Inf' differ from 'Light Inf' in that they have better
			shields, armor, weapons and training.
'Smugglers' are just that.  Merchants and thieves who now all 
the secret paths and passes.  All but useless in combat.  
The computer likes to build them - I don't.
'Crossbowmen' are excellent are fine city troops.  Usually armed 
with a short sword, hand axe, or mace and well armored.
'Archers' are just that.  I gave them a woods movement bonus 
even though they probably shouldn't have it.  Lightly 
armored and possessed of little hand-to-hand combat skill.  
But these specialists can pour down a terrifying rain upon 
an enemy.
'Pikemen' represent trained regiments of soldiers equipped with 
pole arms.  I gave them the fortify bonus because I wanted 
some unit to have it.  If you wish to replace a unit in this 
army set this would be the one.
'Light Cav' are unarmored troops who use spears, javelins, and
			swords, They can be very effective in the open.
'Heavy Cav' wear chain mail.  And use lances, long swords, and 
maces.  Devastating shock troops when given room to 
maneuver.
'Sappers' units trained breaking into fortifications.  This unit 
also includes a small force of light infantry.
'Catapults' represent catapults, mangonels, ballistae and other 
engines used for city defense and assault.  But not heavy 
pieces like trebuchet and siege towers (see below).  They
			are protect by light infantry.
'Siege Towers' represent heavy siege engines.  Trebuchet, 
siege towers and the like.  Defended by heavy infantry or 
sometimes light cavalry.
'Physicians' are army medics, surgeons, and clerks.  These 
highly skilled guildsmen are accompanied by professional 
guards.
'Priests' represent religious leaders of all types.  The travel 
with a small troop of well armed guards.
'Spies' are informants, subversives, and traitors.  They can be 
just about anywhere.  Be careful or one might just open 
the
			sally port while your not looking.
'Rangers' represent the Rangers of Thure and other similar 
units. They are taught to fight with bow, sword, and 
spear.  All are excellent trackers.  And posses an esprit 
de corps that can inspire others.  Though fine horsemen 
they are not trained to fight in mounted formations.
'Raiders' represent the Nan light cavalry and elite light 
horsemen of the barbarians.  The Rhovanni in particular.  
They use spears, scimitars or sabres, and light bows.  They 
do not fight in formations but make up for that with their 
ferocity.
'Dwarven Eng', yep dwarves will work for anyone who pays them. 
Well, almost anyone.  They are peerless engineers and 
miners. And pretty fine heavy infantry.  Armored in fine 
mail and wielding axes and hammers.
'Harpies' are bird-men.  They are light and fragile.  Which makes 
them timid and cautious.  But they are also inquisitive and 
like the crafted metal items that other races make.  So 
they will work for jewels or light steel tools.  Their light 
missiles and cries from above can be very disconcerting.
		'Elves' represent the warrior-mages of Elvenkind.  They are
quite similar to Rangers but more skilled and fewer.  
They use magic to befuddle and mislead their foes.
'Seneschal' units represent a hero's right-hand man and the 
horse he rode in on.  Along with a troop of heavy cavalry.
'Wizards' units in this scheme represent one or more mages 
and their attendant lackeys and guards.  They have little 
direct 
affect on combat.  But can create smoke screens, breach walls, and 
generally mess with an opponents' mind.
'Paladins' are mighty knights with a troop of fanatical heavy
			cavalry.
'Elephants' are kind of a catch all unit.  Not many elephants 
exist in the Southlands.  Just in Suhor and a few in the Nan 
plains.  But they can be domesticated and trained for war. 
Elephant units in the employ of other nations could 
represent a company of trolls or giants.  Or even a dragon 
that for one reason or another decided to fight for that 
nation.
'Royalty' represent princes of the blood and their elite guards. 
They ability to hire boats, guides, and informants is modeled as the 
ability to fly.
	Interestingly enough I noticed that many of the same ideas I used 
to create this army set were used in the Europa set that came with 
the scenario builder.  I wish I'd checked it out first; it would have 
saved a	few hours of play-testing.
	I changed the 'Elves' unit to an ally so that this entire army set 
would be usable in other scenarios.  As a non-ally it would be beyond 
the last unit that shows up in the unit purchase screen and would not 
be available in the scenario (though such units might be if you allow 
cities to produce allies - I don't know).
	If you have the scenario builder I would suggest that you turn off 
their ally status.  As elves would not be found allied to such nations 
as Suhor, Great Nhalor, or The Nan.  They should retain all of their 
other abilities.
	Unfortunately I'm not much at drawing so I didn't include a new 
city set.  If someone has a city set that includes ca. 1000-1200 AD 
style cities and castles (only, no weird stuff) I would be very 
interested in using it in this and several other scenarios.  With 
proper accreditation, of course.
	I did not have a suitable picture to import for the "cover".
	The sides are-
'Dwarves' represents the Dwarven King.  The dwarves are 
clannish and the king has little control over those outside 
of his own clan.  In reality not expansionistic.  For the 
proper "feel" from the computer player set the AI to the 
'Knight" level
				and choose 'Morgan' as the character.
'City States' is a league of several wealthy towns of freemen. 
They vary considerably.  Beck is a very militant city that 
guards the western approach to the Southland against 
barbarian raiders.  Eldingel is the nominal capitol and food 
production center of the northern area.
'Great Nhalor' is a kingdom in the west.  The cities of Nhalor 
and Nhartok are two of the most important in the 
Southlands. The Nhalorians are a martial people who 
believe in the
		code of chivalry.  They tend to be loud and inflexible. 
'Thure' is young and active kingdom.  A love of liberty and 
adventure characterizes these people.  The Principality 
of Arnisea to the south is a weathercock swinging 
from Thure to the Nan to Malinor to the Elven Princes.
'Elven Princes'.  The Elven Princes don't mix with the human 
or dwarven kingdoms.  And probably shouldn't be 
considered a side.  They start with a very difficult 
position.  The best race to play if you want a challenge.
'Malinor' is an ancient kingdom that predates its neighbors.  
Magic has kept these people free.  The Malinoreans are 
learned and urbane.  They foster Arnisean independence and 
unity.
'The Nan' are a union of tribes.  Many of the people of the Nan 
still lead a nomadic existence.  But 3 powerful tribes (Taq, 
Masai, and Kher) have established thriving cities.  The 
Demonpriests of Nan wield considerable influence with the 
tribes. The Nan are vicious, superstitious, and self-
important.
'Suhor' is a jungle nation hidden behind the Demonmist 
Mountains in the southernmost reaches of the Southlands.  
Su are clever, subtle, and somewhat decadent.  Spying is a 
national pastime. And slavery a way of life.
To best simulate the feel and flow of the campaign you should 
set
each races as follows-
	Dwarves	Knight-Morgan OR Not Used
	City States	Lord-Rebecca
	Great Nhalor	Warlord-Hand
	Thure		Warlord-
Steven
	Elven Princes	Not Used OR 
Knight-Robin
	Malinor	Knight-Simon 
OR Not Used
	The Nan	Warlord-Attila
	Suhor		Lord-Raymond
Of course you probably don't care if a side acts out of character.
So this is just for fun.
	For one human player I recommend-
		Beginner	City States, Nhalor, The Nan, or Suhor 
with
			the Elven Princes, Dwarves, and 
Malinor off Veteran	City States or Thure with all sides on
		Shark	Elven Princes with all others as 
Warlord
For more than one human player use the settings described above 
and
choose sides as follows-
			2 players	Great Nhalor vs. The Nan
			3 players	add Thure
			4 players	add Suhor or the City States
			5 players	add the other of those above
			6 players	add Malinor
			7 players	add the Dwarves
			8 players	add the Elven Princes
	Options-
		Razing	'On Capture', though 'Not Allowed' would 
also
be appropriate.  Strongholds are too 
valuable to raze.  Though the Nan might 
destroy a small keep if they felt they 
couldn't hold it.
		Hidden Map	It should be 'Off' but doesn't make much
difference.  The feeling of discovery you 
get with the hidden map makes up for the 
lack of realism.
		Quests	I designed the scenario with the idea that 
this
option would be 'On' because I like quests.  
but it really doesn't fit the campaign.
		Others	Whatever.
In conclusion I'd have to say this scenario works best with at least
2	human players.  The computer plays the Nan poorly.  Ignoring the
cities to the west and going right after Malinor.  Leaving Nan-Kher for 
Suhor and Nan-Masai for Nhalor.  Though Nhalor often ignores the twin 
jewels of Nhartok and Nan-Masai as well.  Both the Nan and Great 
Nhalor suffer to some extent from the fact that most of their cities 
are well defended.  The AI does well with Suhor and the City States. 
Though sometimes leaves Beck (the only port city in the north) for 
Nhalor or the Dwarves.
The computer AI doesn't recognize the value of reacting to invaders
before they reach your main cities.  And so does not look to take 
frontier castles.  Or to establish armies in those it does have. Secure 
borders are one of the keys to victory in this campaign.  As movement 
is severely curtailed.  A strong navy with a strategic base can also be 
quite useful.  Tira could be very important to Thure or the Elven 
Princes.
Cory Ridgway