On War

This article is an attempt at a rudimentary philosophy of war in its Battlemaster incarnation. It should be noted at the outset that this is a philosophy of war not a system of war. This is an observational account of Battlemaster warfare, as opposed to a strategy guide. Simple systems of war can be found in the Bulletins of most Generals. This is a work in progress.

Continuation of Politics?

Clausewitz famously said that war was 'the continuation of politics through other means', although this statement was a thesis in a dialectical process, and so should not be seen in isolation.

This is not the case in Battlemaster. As is clear from the game's very name, Battlemaster focuses on battle. The game would not be good fun if there were no wars. The history of Battlemaster is written in blood, as it were. Indeed, since most diplomacy and debate is directed towards the warmaking of each realm, one might say that the opposite of Clausewitz' famous statement is true; in Battlemaster, politics is 'the continuation of war through other means'.

Reasons for War

Why do wars occur in Battlemaster? For a war to occur, one realm must declare war on another. Therefore, at least one realm, and possibly both, must see war as in some way desirable. Wars may be fought for the sake and products of war, or to achieve other aims. Of course, usually a war's causes will be some combination of the factors listed below, not one in isolation.

War For War's Sake

In Battlemaster there are a number of products of war that are inherently desirable; since nobles will desire these things, they may be prepared to fight simply for the sake of fighting. These products are:

• Honour.
• Prestige.
• Family Fame.
• Wealth (Personal and Familial).
• The Increase or Maintainance of one's skills.
• Position - in war, nobles shine and may be promoted; war may also create new positions in a realm.

There is a further unquantifiable benefit:

• Excitement - battles are enjoyable and stimulating.

War to Achieve Other Aims

Wars may also be fought to achieve other aims besides the simple products of war: so-called 'teleological' war. These aims might include:

• The Acquisition of Resources - food, for example.
• Satisfaction - a war might be fought because a realm feels that its honour has been besmirched.
• The Redress of Previous Loss - a realm might go to war to recover lost land, lost wealth or lost status.
• Fear - a realm might go to war to prevent another realm from becoming too powerful.
• Obligation - a realm may go to war because it is Allied to, or in Federation with, another realm and feels obliged to help.

Practical War Aims

The practical aims of a general's strategy when war is declared will usually fall within these five aspirations, listed in increasing order of ambitiousness:

• Satisfaction - the enemy may be forced to admit that they were wrong.
• Favourable Treaty - the enemy may be brought to favourable terms, i.e. forced to cede territory.
• Threat Removal - the enemy may be weakened to the point where they no longer threaten the general's realm.
• Subjection - the enemy may be weakened to the point where they can be forced to become a satellite state and serve the general's realm with their armies.
• Destruction - the enemy realm may be removed from the game.

Decisiveness

Various factors positively or negatively affect the desire for a decisive battle.

Compulsion to Unity

Firstly, armies tend to gather in large, compact groups because a large dispersed force can be defeated contingent by contingent by a small compact force; this has been done numerous times throughout the history of warfare. When two such large groups meet a large battle is likely.

Economic Considerations

The shorter a concflict, the less strain there is on a realm's economy and the less damage to infrastructure. If a war can be decided in one short but climactic struggle, so much the better in economic terms.

Honour and Prestige

If only one battle is fought then there will only be one opportunity for nobles to gain honour and prestige. This means that it may be in the interests of the nobility to prolong conflicts.

The 'Pendulum of War'

Because troops can only be recruited in a realm's capital, a realm's military will be more effective close to its capital. Therefore an offensive is likely to initially succeed before halting in the teeth of stiffer resistance, since the defenders will take perhaps four turns to recruit new men while the attackers must make longer journeys. The defenders will drive the attackers back and go on the offensive themselves. Then they will suffer from the same problem of what is, effectively, an extended 'supply line'. The problem is only compounded if a realm's army must fight on an ally's borders, which will be further from its capital; or if a realm only has one city, because troop leaders will then have to return to their capital to do simpler things such as buying certain paraphernalia or carrying out financial transactions.

This so-called 'Pendulum of War' is constantly in effect, swinging back and forth, although less so in conflicts fought between realms whose capitals are in close proximity to one another.

Uncontrollable Factors

Various factors are beyond the control of the players.

Weather

Good weather produces bigger harvests; bad weather reduces harvests. On the battlefield, the weather conditions affect the power of ranged units.

Monsters and Undead

No-one likes monsters and the undead, and their arrival can affect hostilities between human realms directly; they also attack peasants.

Military Structure and Control

BattleMaster's armies do not have a modern military structure or military discipline in the modern sense. BattleMaster generals who fail to keep this in mind will lose battles, wars, and their Generalship in quick succession. A BattleMaster army is in essence a symbiotic coalition of entirely independent nobles. Generals have a number of tools to coerce their nobles into obeying them - they can request their realm's Judge to issue punishments - but usually it's not threats that keep an army functioning, but the trust of the nobles in their General and his or her ability to deliver victory. The charisma and leadership skills of any given General are always more important in offensive than in defensive warfare - when nobles are defending their own lands, they are more prepared to pay attention and follow orders.

The nobles rely on the General and his or her subordinates for the strategy and tactics that will enable them to win battles, as the General usually has the clearest synoptic view of the situation. But the General needs his nobles to turn up in the right place at the right time, commanding their units to do the right thing. Furthermore, the General's grasp of the military situation is only possible because of information gathered by individual nobles, in the form of Scout Reports.

Espionage

Espionage is a perfectly viable tool in Battlemaster. In categorising the various forms that espionage takes in Battlemaster, it may be useful to use Sun Tzu's types of spy; the categories used here are of course translated, and translations of Sun Tzu differ. Most commonly a spy will of course be an infiltrator.

Surviving Spies

By 'surviving spies', Sun Tzu means the simplest and commonest form of spy: a spy who enters enemy territory, causes damage, gathers information and returns. A lesser sort of surving spy would be the scouts regularly employed by all troop leaders.

Inward Spies

Sun Tzu defines inward spying as 'making use of the officials of the enemy'. Likely candidates would have an axe to grind against their government. Communication with inward spies is difficult to conduct while remaining within the common constraints of Battlemaster ethics. Using IRC to chat to an enemy marshal who is secretly in your pay, for example, would be rather unethical. In fact, that would be cheating. However, on the rare occasions when both parties are present in the same organisation (a guild or religion), such spying is perfectly within the game's rules (though not necessarily honourable).

Converted Spies

A converted spy is an enemy spy induced to secretly change sides by bribes, threats or some combination thereof: a 'double agent'.

The other two types of spy that Sun Tzu mentions are less commonly used. They are:

Doomed Spies

A doomed spy is fed misinformation by his ruler and then sent off in the hope that he will be captured and pass the misinformation on. To do this in Battlemaster would be difficult, though theoretically possible. The difficulties are that:

• Captives do not voluntarily divulge information; they involuntarily divulge it when tortured.
• If a doomed spy learns of the deception, he may seek revenge. Infiltrators are good at revenge.

Local Spies

Local spies are members of the local population, won over and used. Although you might induce Battlemaster peasantry to revolt, you cannot use them to gather information. The exception is if you are a new noble, so you can "chat with peasents", or if you "visit the temples".