American-Mexican War Online

Rule Book

Last modified June 19, 2017

This document provides the rules of the American-Mexican War OnLine (AMWOL) game. AMWOL is divided into four game modules. The first module, Gathered In Their Masses (GITM), is the land warfare component of AMWOL. The second module, Placed Alongside The Enemy (PATE), is the naval warfare component of AMWOL. The third module, Revolution and Reaction (RAR), is the diplomatic component of AMWOL, governing relations between the various factions in Mexican politics. The fourth module, Sinews of War (SOW), is the financial and economic component of AMWOL. Each module has its own rules, which are linked from this document. This document contains the rules that apply to all four modules and establish the framework in which each module is played.

1. Nations and States

1.1.  AMWOL contains two nations, the United States and Mexico.
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.2.  AMWOL also contains states. The United States contains one state, also called the United States; but Mexico contains multiple states. One of these states is the Yucatan rebel state. Another is the state of "Mexico" which controls Mexico City. The leader of the Mexico state is also the President of the nation of Mexico, and is selected by the leaders of the various Mexican frags, except Yucatan. The President of Mexico must be the leader of one of the regular Mexican frag states. Within AMWOL there are six regular Mexican fragmented states, of which the leader of the mission towns frag ("Ciudades Mision" on the political map) does not have a vote. The President of Mexico is selected by the vote of three of the five leaders, and can be removed by the vote of three of the five leaders. If the President is removed, the President's office (and the leader of the Mexico state) is unassigned until a new President is selected. The state of Mexico has high income but little manpower; its income may be given to the other Mexican states as the President of Mexico chooses, enabling the states that receive additional funds in this way to field larger armies than would otherwise be the case.
1.3.  Each player of AMWOL is a citizen of one state; either the United States, or one of the Mexican states. It may be possible for a limited number of players to change states during the course of the game; frequent changes of state will not be possible. Players changing states are required to keep confidential all confidential information learned in the service of the former state while playing for the new one.
1.4.  A player is not limited to serving with the armies and fleets of the state of which he is a citizen, but may serve in the armies or fleets of others states of his nation. American players cannot command units/ships for Mexican states and vice-versa. On a player's position reports, units and ships will show red, blue, or gray depending whether they are allied with, hostile to, or neutral to the player's home state. A player who is commanding units for another state may request that his position reports instead show units as red, blue, or gray depending whether they are allied with, hostile to, or neutral to the state for which he is commanding. If so, he will show on the census as a citizen of his home state but playing for the other state. Contact the GAs with such requests. A player may also choose to command units and ships for another state and continue to see the colors determined by his home state.
1.5.  Each city and port in AMWOL is permanently owned by one state. In the United States, the permanent owner is the state of that nation, and does not change throughout the game. In Mexico, a city's permanent owner initially is the state that originally controlled the city at the start of the game. In Mexico only, if a different state in the same nation takes control of the city and keeps control for 5 consecutive turns, then that state may take over permanent ownership of that city. Requests for permanent control should be made to the GAs.

2. Government of States

2.1.  Each NWOL state has a government. The government has six positions: Leader, Deputy Leader, Secretary of War, Secretary of the Navy, Secretary of State,  and Secretary of the Treasury.
2.2.  The leader of each state is initially selected by the AMWOL game administrator. If a leader resigns his position he may designate his heir, subject to the approval of the game administrator; if the leader designates no heir, or the heir is not approved by the game administrator, the game administrator will select a new leader. The leader will normally be a citizen of the state but in extremely unusual cases may not be. The leader's primary power is to appoint the state's ministers.The leader may appoint any AMWOL player to any ministry, including the deputy leader, including citizens of other states, and a player may serve as a cabinet member for more than one state. A player may serve in more than one cabinet post, and the leader may appoint himself or herself to any of the cabinet posts he or she wishes to occupy. However, the leader has the power to carry out any action that any of the cabinet members can carry out, even if the leader is not assigned to that cabinet post.
2.3.  The deputy leader of each state is a backup for the leader, and may take any action that any of the four cabinet members may take. In Mexican states with one or two players, only the positions of leader and deputy leader will be filled (since they can take any action any cabinet member can take).
2.4.  The Secretary of War is in charge of the state's activities in GITM, the AMWOL land warfare module. The Secretary of War makes assignments of commanders and deputy commanders for units. The Secretary of War also forms the units into divisions and armies, and appoints commanders of these formations. The Secretary of War may appoint a commanding general, or the Secretary of War may command the armies himself or herself. Last, the Secretary of War manages the supplies of the armies, getting them from the home country to the forward depots in the field. Some of these powers can be delegated to commanders of army headquarters units; see the GITM rules for further information.
2.5.  The Secretary of the Navy is in charge of the state's activities in PATE, the AMWOL naval warfare module. The Secretary of the Navy makes assignments of commanders and deputy commanders for ships. The Secretary of the Navy forms the ships into squadrons and fleets, appoints commanders to those formations, appoints a commanding admiral or serves in that capacity himself or herself, and manages the naval stores of the nation.
2.6.  The Secretary of State is in charge of the state's activities in RAR, the AMWOL diplomatic module. This position is meaningful only in the regular Mexican states and may be left unfilled in the United States. The Secretary of State negotiates and activates alliances, and declares war. He may also appoint ambassadors to other nations at his discretion and may designate some of his powers to those ambassadors.
2.7.  The Secretary of the Treasury is in charge of the state's activities in SOW, the AMWOL finance module. The Secretary of the Treasury controls the state's finances and spends it on armies, navies, and monetary portions of diplomatic agreements.

Table of government actions and ministers who may act

3. Game Sequence

3.1.  AMWOL is played as a series of two campaigns of 15 turns each.
3.2.  Normally campaign turns will be run twice a week, and peace or truce turns once a week. There will be a week's pause in the game at the end of each campaign, and pauses for holidays as necessary during the game. [More details on turn schedules]
3.3.  At the start of each game there two special turns, an assignment turn and a deployment turn. Each state begins with a starting army and navy. On the assignment turn, players can be assigned to command the starting units and ships. On the deployment turn, units can be moved according to the peacetime move rules, using the peacetime unit and ship orders forms. Also, units can be reassigned and players can change their passwords. After the deployment turn, the first game turn is scheduled one week after the deployment turn.

Turn sequence
Timing of orders

4. Scoring and Campaign Victory

4.1.  Each state receives victory points for winning battles and controlling territory. Each state loses victory points for casualties taken. States can also purchase victory points using funds from their treasuries.
4.2.  States receive victory points for winning battles; 1 point for each 40 enemy casualties inflicted in GITM or PATE in victorious battles (including losses from units that shatter or surrender), and 50/40/20 points for sinking or capturing enemy flagships/ships of the line/frigates in victorious battles. They received 10 victory points for damaging shore batteries or 20 for destroying them (10 if already damaged).
4.3.  States receive victory points each time they take control of a city or offmap port in battle and lose points each time they lose control of a city or offmap port in battle; 60 points times the city level for a city in the state's home nation, and 30 points times the city level for a city in any other nation. When units from multiple states jointly attack and capture a city, one unit present in the city tactical square at the end of the battle is randomly selected and its side takes control of the city (and receives the VPs for doing so). If a state transfers control of a city or off map port to another state in diplomacy, then the state receiving the city gains 40 points time the city level for a city in the state's home nation and 20 points times the city level for a city in any other nation, and the state giving up the city loses 40 points time the city level for a city in the state's home nation and 20 points times the city level for a city in any other nation.
4.4.  States lose 1 victory point for every 100 battle casualties suffered in GITM or PATE (regardless of whether they win or lose the battle), and 20/16/8 points for losing (to sinking or capture) a flagship/ship of the line/ frigate (regardless of whether they win or lose the battle, or if the ship is lost in storms). When a transport is lost, the losing state loses 1 point for every 1000 capacity of the transport (rounded up). They lose 10 points for having a shore battery damaged and 20 for having one destroyed (10 if already damaged).
4.5.  States can transfer victory points from one state to another (see RAR rules 3.3 and 3.4 for details).
4.6.  The score of Mexico is the sum of the scores of all the Mexican states except the Yucatan rebels. Scores are tracked and reported both separately and collectively (or at any rate will be eventually).
4.7.  Each state's campaign score is measured as a percentage increase or decrease from its score at the start of the campaign.

5. Game End and Game Victory

5.1. The game ends at the conclusion of the second campaign.
5.2. At the end of the game, all crowns remaining in a nation's treasury are automatically exchanged for VPs at the rate of 1 VP per 50 Cr.
5.3. Each state's game score is measured as a percentage increase or decrease from its score at the start of the game.
5.4.  Additional victory conditions also determine victory in the game: see the Table of Victory Conditions.

6. Player Behavior

6.1.  Each player is expected to respond to email from the government officials of his state and states in whose armies and fleets he or she serves, and to officers whom those officials may appoint to command over him, in a timely and responsive manner. Players who fail to do so may not receive command of units or ships. Players are strongly encouraged to notify their government and commanders if they must be temporarily absent from the game, and should expect to be temporarily replaced if they do not communicate with their government for several days or longer.
6.2.  Each player is expected to conduct themselves in a manner which does not disrupt the game or reduce the ability of other players to participate in the game. Disruptive and obnoxious behavior will not be tolerated and will result in removal from the game. Forging emails, or altering the content of forwarded emails without acknowledgement of the alterations, will normally result in removal from the game.
6.3.  Each player is expected to serve his home state loyally, and if he accepts a command or a ministry in another state, is expected to serve the state giving him the command loyally in that capacity as well. When conflicts of interest arise (for example, a state which has offered a player from another state command of its units or one of its ministries declares war on his home state) the conflict should be resolved by giving up the foreign command or ministry. Players unwilling or unable to loyally serve their home state should request transfer to a new state under rule 1.5. It is against the rules of AMWOL to purposefully act against the interests of one's home state, or to accept command of a unit or ship with the intention of acting in the interests of any state other than the one to which the unit or ship belongs. Violation of this rule will result in loss of the privilege of commanding units for states other than the state of the player's citizenship, or in the case of disloyalty to the home state, removal from the game.

Rules for the four AMWOL modules: