These rules allow one player to play the role of Thain invaders. Thain does not have an empire with regions and cities in this game - the Thain armies only invade the Empires on the map, plunder and destroy and then retreat to their native islands to recover.
A suggested list of Thain units and unit statistics appears in my Empires Excel list.
Before the game, set aside two areas on the gaming table that symbolize the Thain home islands and the Thain fleet (you can use sheets of paper, pieces of cardboard or simply mark two areas in front of the Thain player).
Thain does not receive a capital, and never builds buildings, sites etc.
Thain units on campaign live off the land they are plundering, so the Thain player only has to pay upkeep for units that are located on the home islands or the Thain fleet. Units that are on the game map do not cost upkeep.
The Thain player starts the game with an empty treasury. He gets an automatic income of 250 GP per recruitment phase. He cannot control buildings or regions, so this 250 GP is never increased. Instead, the Thain player gains money from pillaging and destroying buildings (see Movement Phase below) or through bribery.
Newly recruited Thain units come into play in the Thain home islands (put them on the respective holding area on your table).
Some Thain heroes and shamans do not have the 'Only 1x' limitation of most personalities in other armies. However, to prevent armies that consist only of heroes, in every recruitment phase you must recruit at least as many units as personalities. E.g. you may only recruit a hero and a shaman in the same phase if you recruit at least two units as well.
Bribery
The Thain player can freely strike deals with other players. They can cover any actions of any players. For example the Thain player can collect money for not destroying a town, or for attacking one player instead of the other, or for not attacking at all. However, the following limitations apply:
The Thain player may agree to cooperate with other players, but he may never be a formal ally of anyone in the sense described in the rules (e.g. no exchange of Thain and other elements in the movement phase).
During these phases, the same rules apply to the Thain player as for anyone else. Exception: Although he may agree to cooperate with other players, he may not behave as a formal ally of anyone (e.g. by exchanging elements during movement).
On the map, Thain units move as all others. In addition, Thain units can move from a hex on the map edge to the Thain fleet or from the fleet to any full hex on the map edge (half hexes are prohibited to the Thain player as to anyone else). Moving from the map to the fleet ends a unit's move (like moving into mountains).
Thain units can also use all their movement points to move from the home islands to the fleet or from the fleet to the home islands.
Pillaging
If a Thain unit moves into a building, it can choose to destroy and pillage it. If it does so, the Thain player gains an amount of GP equal to the original building cost of the building, including cost for all upgrades. For example, he gets 100 GP fr destroying a village, 320 GP for destroying a town with a city wall (that cost 100 for the village, 120 for the town and 100 for the city wall) or 300 GP for a Monastery of the Order.
Thain units, like all others, may destroy sites, too, but do not gain any money for it (so it may be better to let the site's owner bribe you into not destroying it...)
Making Slaves
Another source of money for the Thain player is making slaves. Because Thain invaders are used to doing this, for the Thain player this optional rule is always in play, and attempting to make slaves only reduces the attack dice of a Thain unit by one, not two dice.
Obligatory Retreat
Thain units that only have one hit point left must use all their available movement to move as far and as fast as possible towards the nearst map edge and, if possible, from the map to the fleet. Such units in the fleet must move to the home islands.
Rest and Recovery
A Thain unit that has lost hit points and spends a whole movement phase doing nothing in the home islands can remove one hit, until it has all hit points back.
If you play the basic scenario from the rulebook, Thain wins if it destroys any capital on the map.
In the Settlers of Emessa scenario Thain gains the same victory points as all other players, but for destroying buildings and sites instead of controlling them. Thain can get the VPs for biggest army, but not for biggest empire (as they do not control regions) or navy (their fleet is handled abstractly, without ship models).
In the Make Money Fast scenario, the same victory conditions apply to Thain as to anyone else.
V. 0.1 published untested 28 Nov 01.
V. 0.2 (still untested) 17. Dec 01: recruitment limit for personalities