Bannockburn mini campaign   v1.1

In 1314, Edward II once again took his army across the Anglo - Scottish border. His forces were strong enough to bring much of Scotland back to his control, but his first task was to relieve Stirling Castle before the garrison surrendered to the Scots. Having practically reached the castle, he was attacked by the forces of  Robert the Bruce at Bannockburn and  substantially defeated. This mini campaign covers the years 1314 - 1316 inclusive. Victory is determined in the same way as used in the standard scenarios. This new scenario uses some special rules to reflect some of the historical aspects of this tight 3 year time frame.

Note that although the nobles Mentieth & Steward supported Bruce at Bannockburn, the major castles of Stirling and Bothwell were under English control, accordingly these nobles are aligned to Edward at the start of play - assume their contingents are already with King Robert.

Duration: The game begins in 1314 and ends when either player achieves a decisive victory or failing that, at the end of 1316.

English Deployment: Edward II (3 steps) and 7 levy start in England Dunbar Steward Mentieth with Cumbria Inf, Northumber Inf. Comyn

Scottish Deployment: King (Bruce) & Douglas in Fife Galloway Bruce in Annan Lennox Argyll Atholl Fraser in Lothian Angus with Lindsay Mar Buchan with Etterick Graham & Keith in Strathspey Moray with Campbell (see notes below) Ross

Special Rules: 1. All units begin play at full strength except Edward II, who starts the game with three steps rather than four. This rule is only in effect for the initial setup. 2. In the standard game, the Moray playing piece represents Andrew Moray (who dies during the first scenario). In this mini scenario, the Moray playing piece represents Thomas Randolph, Earl of Moray (who died in 1332). Hence, in this scenario, Moray is treated exactly like a normal noble (that is the special Moray rules that prevent him from changing sides do NOT apply here). 3. Wallace and the French Knights are not used in this game. 4. When playing the 'Herald' card, the English player can use it to automatically change the loyalty of ATHOLL or it can be used to change the loyalty of ANGUS on a roll of 1 - 5. 5. The optional 'Schitrom' rule (page 4 margin) is in play. 6. The player that starts the year controlling Stirling Castle (Mentieth), draws 6 cards instead of 5 at the start of play. Only 5 cards are played as usual but the player obviously gets an advantage of having a larger hand to choose from. The 6th card is simply discarded at the end of the turn. 7. (optional) the Norse unit represents the 'men of the isles', as such, if drawn it lands at Argyll if possible otherwise it goes to the nearest friendly coastline to Argyll that it can legally occupy. Once it lands, it behaves like an ordinary land fighting unit and cannot retreat or move by sea unless under the instruction of the 'Sea Movement' event card.