- When and how often can spies attempt to infiltrate? Once per week? Once per day? Before or after the recon rolls?
Once per month. Infiltrating is a Spying hijink.
- When do “once per month” checks need to be refreshed? If my spy slips into an enemy army on the last day of the month, does he need an immediate new check to remain infiltrated? (This question actually applies to all sorts of “do this once per day/week/month” rules throughout ACKS.)
The spy must make his roll to remain infiltrated before he conducts his hijink for the month against the army (if any). For example, if a spy infiltrates on the last day of the month, he doesn’t need to an immediate new check to remain infiltrated…UNLESS 24 hours later, on the 1st day of the new month, the player says “It’s a new month so now it’s time for my new hijink!”
In general, handle timing-related matters as convenience and common sense dictates. In most cases, the timing of the hijink within a time period should depend on in-world factors.
- How are understrength or rump units handled during combat? Do they just multiply their BR by their fraction of full size?
Yes.
Can a general voluntarily form understrength units in order to make an army “look bigger”,
Yes.
Voluntarily decline to merge understrength units that have taken losses for the same reason?
Yes.
It can sometimes be advantageous to have a larger number of smaller units. (Think of the Roman maniple versus the Greek phalanx). Just keep in mind the limitations on number of units imposed by leadership ability.
- What happens to commanders or lieutenants when their units rout during a losing battle? Do they escape, become prisoners, or is there some chance of each outcome? What about if the unit is destroyed, but some fraction of the unit survives as prisoners?
D@W: Battles - LOSS OF AN OFFICER
If an officer’s unit is destroyed or routed, the officer is lost. He is assumed to be killed if the unit was destroyed, and captured if the unit was routed. (If using the Heroic Character rules in Chapter 4, an officer might survive the destruction or rout of his unit).
- How much gold do mercenary commanders get from spoils? Do mercenary commanders get a share too? What about heroes who aren’t commanders? (The only example in the text has a single general who gets 50%, but doesn’t mention any other commanders or heroes.)
That’s up to the army general, his commanders, and the Judge.
- Does D@W combat resolution have an “autosuccess on 20” or an “autofail on 1” rule? The only explicit mention of one I could find is in the thief skills description.
Yes. D@W combat uses the same mechanisms as ACKS: “All attacks, both missile and melee, are resolved using the attack throw mechanics of Adventurer Conqueror King.” In ACKS, “An unmodified roll of 20 is always a hit, and an unmodified roll of 1 is always a miss.”
- Do modifiers for terrain apply throughout the entire battle, or just during the first round? Situation was an attack across a river, and I wasn’t sure if “crossing the river” was an action that applied a penalty only during the first round, or throughout the entire battle.
During the entire battle. I don’t understand your specific question regarding “crossing the river”. The terrain type in D@W is called a Stream, and the rules will vary based on the width of the stream.
- What modifiers apply to troop loyalty rolls after a calamity? Just Charisma? Command too? What about other reaction skills, like Diplomacy? Is this answer different for different types of loyalty roll, like the roll for liberating slave soldiers? (On page 11-12, it just says to use “morale scores and other adjustments”, without specifying what other adjustments those are.)
“Other adjustments” refers tot he preceding paragraph: “Mercenaries may have additional bonuses or penalties to morale based on working conditions. If the mercenaries are being killed frequently or subjected to other abuses, morale will be low. If the mercenaries are enjoying riches and excitement, it might be higher. All of these factors should be considered by the Judge.”
The key point to remember is that Charisma modifies three things:
- It modifies Reaction ROLLS for hiring offers and encounters
- It modifies Morale SCORES of henchmen and followers but NOT of mercenaries, conscripts, militia, or slave soldiers.
Key Rules:
ACKS: "After the offers are made, the Judge will make a reaction roll of 2d6 on the Reaction to Hiring Offer table to decide the potential hireling’s reactions, modified by the prospective employer’s Charisma bonus or penalty "
ACKS: “All henchmen have a morale score, which is generally 0 plus the employer’s Charisma bonus or penalty. This rating can be adjusted at the Judge’s discretion… Morale rolls are made each time the henchman suffers a calamity. A calamity includes suffering an energy drain, a curse, a magical disease, or being nearly killed (Judge’s discretion). In addition, the Judge should make a morale roll for each henchman at the end of each adventure whenever the henchman has leveled up, to determine if the henchman strikes off on his own or remains with the adventurer. The Judge will roll 2d6 on the Henchman Loyalty table, adding the henchman’s morale, to decide how the henchman responds to the recent events. The Judge may apply adjustments to this roll, probably no more than +/-2, if the henchman is particularly well or poorly paid.”
ACKS/D@W: “Mercenary morale is based on their training and equipment rather than the personal magnetism of their employers. The Base Morale by Mercenary Type table shows the morale of mercenaries by race and type.”
- How are losses assigned when the BR of the only unit available is greater than the loss required, say, if you need to kill 1 BR, but every unit available has BR 6? Can that unit take fractional losses, or does the whole thing need to die? (I assume the whole thing has to die, and that this is intentionally an encouragement to bring a balanced force of stronger and weaker units!)
The whole unit is destroyed. This would represent, for instance, a densely-packed formation cracking when part of its line is shattered. And you are correct about the intent, yes!