Mischka North and South

Map and starting setup

• 26 regions, connected by railway lines. Armies only move along these connections – one region per turn.
• Forts sit only in the four corners of the map: two in the North, two in the South. New armies are only raised there.
• At the start, the North holds 10 regions and the South 11; five border states are neutral.
• Starting armies per side: 2 to 4, adjustable in the lobby (default 3). Starting gold: North 10, South 12 – the South gets more because the North moves first.
• Each battlefield's terrain is fixed: open field, river with a bridge and a ford, or ravine with a single bridge.

Turn order

1. The North moves first, then both sides take turns.
2. Each army may enter one neighbouring region per turn: an empty enemy region is occupied, one of your own armies merges with it, an enemy army means battle, and an enemy fort with no army means a fort assault.
3. If you want, buy a new army, then end your turn.
4. After every round there's income: 1 gold per region, 2 gold per fort.

Units and armies

• A maximum of 6 armies per side.
• Merging works as long as there's room in the target army – whatever doesn't fit stays behind as a smaller army.
• A new army (6 infantry, 3 cavalry, 1 artillery) costs 20 gold and is raised in whichever of your free forts lies closest to the front. So reinforcements have to march to the front first.

Battles

• As soon as a human is involved, the battle plays out in real time (this can be switched to dice rolls in the lobby). AI versus AI is always resolved by dice roll.
• Each side controls only one group at a time and switches between infantry, cavalry and artillery with a key press.
• Cavalry versus cavalry: the faster rider wins; at equal speed, both go down.
• Bullets and shells fly across rivers and ravines. A bridge withstands two shell hits – then it collapses, taking everyone on it down with it.
• Anyone who reaches an abandoned cannon takes it over.
• Retreat: hold the retreat key for 1.5 seconds; cannons are left behind. The attacker turns back, while the defender falls back to one of their own neighbouring regions with no army – if there isn't one, they must surrender.
• Time limit of 3:30 minutes: if there's no decision, the attack is considered repelled. Defenders inside one of their own forts fight with a bonus.

Fort assault

If you enter an enemy fort with no army, a side-scrolling action sequence begins: 75 seconds on the clock, 3 lives, 6 throwing knives, plus your fists for close combat. In your way are 5 guards, crates to jump over, and exploding powder kegs. The defender controls whichever guard is closest to the attacker. If the assault isn't played out, it succeeds with a 60 percent chance.

Victory and ranked matches

• A campaign is lost once a side has no armies left. If both sides hit zero at the same time, the side with the higher income wins.
• Free play: a single campaign, including against the AI – this is never scored.
• Ranked match (human versus human only): a home and away leg with sides swapped, so each player commands the North once and the South once. 1 point per campaign won – 2:0 is a win, 1:1 is a draw.
• Anyone who leaves a ranked match in progress loses 0:2.

Controls

All keys can be remapped in the main menu under “Controls.” In hotseat mode, player 1 uses key set 1 and controller 1, while player 2 uses key set 2 and controller 2. M mutes the sound.

Ranking and ELO scoring

• Both players log into the lobby with their Clanwirtschaft account; the password is never stored. The lobby shows whether the ranked match counts towards ELO.
• Only completed ranked matches between two logged-in accounts are scored. A surrender counts as completed.
• Everyone starts with 1200 ELO; a win counts in full, a draw counts half. Your peak value and history are tracked.
• Without an internet connection, the result is saved and reported the next time the game starts.
• You appear on the ranking after 3 ranked matches. Your profile shows campaigns, battles, units defeated, forts stormed and your record broken down by North and South.