A set of house rules for Age of Empires II

--The Gentleman's War--

-The game is played on regicide map mode.

-The game begins as free-for-all.

-Players may not forge alliances or make deals with other players.

-Players may gain allies by forcing other players to become their vassals.

-When a player is attacked and once in a position where defeat is certain, the player may surrender to the attacker. Once the defending player has surrendered both the attacker and defender set each other to ally status.

-Once a player has surrendered he becomes the vassal of the attacker, and must send their King as a hostage to the attacking player. The attacking player must allocate a safe place within their territory to keep their new subject King as a hostage.

-All players are "Kings", a player with one or more vassal is considered an "Emperor"

-If an Emperor is attacked and forced to surrender the attacker must allow the Emperor's hostages safe passage back to their own territory, these players then regain their independence. The former Emperor becomes a hostage and vassal of the victorious attacker.

-If a single Emperor vassalises 50% of the players. The other remaining Kings and Emperor's may call for a Coalition.

-When a Coalition is called for, each player not associated with the dominant Empire gets to cast a vote for a Coalition Leader; in the event of a tie the player with the most votes and highest current score becomes Coalition Leader.

-When a Coalition Leader has been chosen all players not of the dominant Empire set each other to Ally status, they do not exchange hostages.

-If a Coalition is successful in defeating the dominant Empire, all of the vassals of the dominant Empire are released and regain their independence. The former Emperor becomes a hostage and vassal of the Coalition Leader. The members of the Coalition who were independent when joining now return to Enemy status.

-Killing King units is frowned upon.

-An Emperor may kill a King unit they have hostage, if the vassalised player frequently disobeys orders.

-The game ends when a single player unites all other players under their rule, or people get tired =P.

-Some of these actions may take time that may not be present in the heat of an Age of Empires games actions like forming a Coalition can be done while paused.


The Gentleman's War works on the honor system and people found deliberately breaking the rule will be placed on the banlist.