...In addition to the following, I am in full agreement with Bob Sacks' Tournament Rules for Empires, particularly the Hard Luck points. These go a long way towards evening out the chance element.
24.71 The Moorish Magnates
The reconquest of Spain and the expulsion of the Moslems was not accomplished until the end of the 15th century. The delay was not due to the presence of large Moslem forces in Spain, bur to the presence of strong Moorish armies across the straights of Gibraltar in North Africa. To simulate this sitution in the game, the following procedure is used:
When the die is rolled on the Magnate Appearance Table, outcomes 5 and 6 have the same effet as 3 and 4, except that they produce a Moorish Magnate. The outcomes of the die-roll have the following effect;
Roll the die again; a roll of 1 produces a 'defensive' magnate with a stature of 9. This fellow defends the following areas, if still independent: Portugal, Castile, Valencia, Cordova, Granada. If any of these areas is not independent, the magnate will attack (if possible) until they are reconquered. A roll of 2-3 produces a 'defensive' magnate with a stature of 5. A roll of 4 produces a '9' magnate who attacks, first captured moslem provinces, and then anything else. A roll of 5-6 produces a '5' magnate who attacks.
When this rule is used, the Spanish player should have an added bonus of 25 [handicap] points in addition to any other bonus allocated by the scenario.
24.XX The Night of the Living Magnate
Empires tended to expand and contract more slowly that the game represents in practice. A modification which would address this problem would make magnates last longer. Indeed, most magnates did last longer than the game allows. This can be done by not having magnates disappear when the "normally" die. Indeed, by giving the magnates event cards they can be subject to "Leader Dies Heirless" cards. All other cards, except for the "Weapons Improvement" one should be recycled and ignored for the magnate.... This rule should not produce more magnates, simply longer lived ones.... One further modification would be to allow a player who has been reduced to one area by a magnate (or any other conditions) to merge with an adjacent magnate, thus making the magnate legitimate. This could be quite common for the Spanish, British, and Polish players, where a local magnate has no one else to pay attention to.
9.36 Subsidies and Incentives for Independent Areas
Another technique for creating historical friction is to allow players to pass subsidies to independent areas under attack by another player. These would be in the form of gold, to support the defending area's defense....
...Therefore, the follwing rules rewrites might be used:
[24.] All magnates, with the exception of the Mongols, draw an event card each round. Only following are used. The "Leader Dies Heirless" card destroys the empire.
[24.55] All magnates, with the exception of the Mongols, disappear only when they draw a "leader dies heirless" card or all of their areas are conquered. A leader check for the leader causes the magnate to roll the die for a new combat stature. The Mongol magnate disappears when it receives a "9" leader check. When a magnate dies, empire is destroyed due to death, all magnate-controlled areas immediately return to normal independent status....
