During Downtime between events, the military forces of the mortal nations and cultist armies move and engage in battle, and the Veilwalkers’ decisions within Veilguard play out in consequences for their nations.
<aside> 🚧 PLEASE NOTE: This page and its subpages are still subject to change, both to enhance readability and to fix any problems we find with the Strategy Layer’s game mechanics. We will post any updates to the Development Log page as they happen. The National Force are still under construction, and will be added here and to their respective nations’ pages when they are completed.
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The Strategy Layer is presented as a map of the known world with each Nation divided into its Provinces and smaller Regions. Also represented on this map will be the military forces of players (Military Units), nations (Armies and Fleets), and hostile cultists (Cultist Cells and Dreadhordes). It can be helpful to think of the Strategy Layer as a board game with the map serving as the board and the various military forces being the playing pieces. This “game” is played over a series of Rounds. During each Round, players and other entities will issue orders to their respective pieces. The Actions specified in these orders will be resolved by the Wheelhouse Team and reported according to the Round Progression, Orders, and Action rules below. The results of a Round on the Strategy Layer can and likely will inform the next event, after which another Round will be resolved, and so on.
There are two general types of military forces on the Strategy Layer: small units, which are split into Military Units and Cultist Cells, and large armies, which are collectively labeled Forces. Any text referring to a Force (with a capital F) is talking about a large military force, whether a Fleet, Army, or Dreadhorde.
Within one month of the end of each event, the commanders of all military forces (whether Envoys or those PCs who own a Military Unit or who have earned the command of an Army or Fleet) must submit their written orders to the Wheelhouse Team. These orders must declare which Actions their Force or Military Unit are taking during that Round. These orders can include as much specificity as the commanders may wish and any contingencies they wish to elaborate on. During the resolution of the current Round, the Wheelhouse team will do their best to fulfill these orders as stated. The team may contact individual commanders for clarification after the game if their orders do not make sense or if the situation changes so dramatically that their orders no longer apply.
Until a PC gains enough renown to earn the title of acting commander/general/admiral/etc. of one of their nation’s military Forces, each national Force will follow the written orders of that nation’s NPC commander, usually following the counsel of that nation’s Envoy. The Envoy in turn will be strongly encouraged to take the advice of Veilwalkers under consideration, but is not required to adhere to those suggestions.
As previously mentioned, the written Orders delivered to Wheelhouse at the start of each Round must specify which Actions each of a commander’s military forces will take. There are many things that a military can do during a Round. These have been codified conceptually as Actions. Each type of military force has a list of Actions specific to it (Force, Cultist Cell, Military Unit). Some actions on each list are available to any military force of that type. Other Actions require a force to have one or more specific Traits for that military force to use them.
Each Action performed by a Force also has an initiative keyword (Quick, Standard, or Slow) associated with it that determines when during the relevant step/phase of a given Round it will take place. Actions with the same keywords are resolved simultaneously during their respective steps and phases in the Round.
Each Military Unit and Cultist Cell can perform one Action each Round. These actions are performed during the Insurgency Phase, with Military Units acting first and Cultist Cells acting immediately afterwards.
Each Force can perform two actions per Round. The first action is resolved completely in the Early Campaign Season Phase. The second action is then resolved completely in the Late Campaign Season Phase. The actions in each phase are resolved according to their initiative keyword.
Each period of Downtime between events is called a Round in the Strategy Layer. Each Round proceeds through the following phases in order, resolving each event within a phase in the order in which they’re listed. Forces whose actions occur on the same initiative step all take their actions simultaneously, rather than sequentially.
Each Military Unit and Cultist Cell can perform one Action during the Round.
Each Force can perform two Actions during the Round.