Oathmark - Building a kingdom

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What are Kingdoms in Oathmark?

One of the things that immediately attracted me to Oathmark was the Kingdom system. Rather than simply selecting units from an army list, players first build a kingdom and then recruit troops from the regions under their control.

This approach gives Oathmark a very different feel from many other fantasy battle games. It also allows players to create interesting combinations of forces that would normally be unavailable to a traditional army list.

In this article, I take a look at how the Kingdom system works and explain how I built my own Goblin Kingdom.

August 2026 Update: Oathmark Second Edition is due for release later this month. The Kingdom system remains one of the defining features of the game and is one of the reasons Oathmark stands out from other fantasy battle systems. I will be revisiting the Kingdom system once I have had the opportunity to explore the new edition.

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For more Oathmark Articles→.

The Kingdom

Building an Oathmark Kingdom
  1. Choose a capital city.
  2. Select terrain for Regions 2-4.
  3. Unlock troop types from those regions.
  4. Build an army using the units available in your kingdom.

To create a kingdom, you need to use the kingdom chart, a circular diagram divided into 15 regions. These regions are arranged into 5 concentric circles. I have colour-coded the regions on the kingdom chart.


The colours represent:

  • Region 1 made up of 1 section - Red
  • Region 2 made up of 2 sections - Yellow
  • Region 3 made up of 3 sections - Green
  • Region 4 made up of 4 sections - Blue
  • Region 5 made up of 5 sections - Purple

The first choice that is made is the city, that occupies Region 1 (the red region). This is the capital city for your race. The options are a: Dwarf City, Elf City, Human City, Orc City, Goblin City, Curse Burial Ground or Necropolis. By choosing one of these 'cities' you determine the race of the ruling royal family for your kingdom and the race terrain list from which you will build your kingdom. It is worth noting here that you can still take terrain items, including cities, for other races in your kingdom. 

When building the remainder of your kingdom, you will need to use the numbers in parenthesis of each terrain type. Region 2 of your kingdom, (the yellow region), can hold two terrain types. Any terrain type with number 2 or lower can be selected from your race's terrain list. Alternatively, a terrain type from a different races list with a value 1 less than the region number may be selected.

Example.

A human city is selected as the capital for a kingdom. Then an Iron Mine is selected from the human terrain list is selected for region 2. As the kingdom chart allows for a second terrain type in region 2, the player could choose another region 2 terrain from the human terrain list or a region 1 terrain type from a different race's terrain list. For example, the dwarf city could be selected. By taking a dwarf city, the human player can then include dwarf soldiers, spearmen, and archers, along with a few dwarf heroes for example in the human army.

For one-off games or the start of a campaign, the first four regions are used providing a player with a total of ten terrain types. The ten terrain types will provide the troop types and number of each troop that can be included in an army.

My Goblin Kingdom

*My capital city, which determines my general's race. So, my army was going to be a goblin army.

** I took two rivers to give me access to 12 rather than 6 trolls

*** The dark forest is from the elf terrain list, but allows me to access giant spiders.

This kingdom will give allow me access to the following troop types:

  • 1 goblin king or goblin advisor
  • 1 goblin general and 2 goblin captains or 4 goblin captains
  • 2 goblin champions and 1 goblin champion or 1 orc champion
  • 2 goblin spellcasters level 1-2 and 1 goblin spellcaster level 1-5
  • Goblin archers, spearman, and soldiers (Goblin Infantry miniature review)
  • Goblin slaves and goblin slave slingers
  • Wolves, goblin wolf riders and wolf rider scouts
  • Orc warriors and linebreakers
  • 12 trolls
  • 6 Giant spiders or 6 Wulvers
  • 2 light goblin catapults or 2 heavy orc catapults

I really wanted to take some giant spiders in my goblin army. Ever since I read the Hobbit, I have always associated giant spiders with goblins. So, I selected the Dark Forest (3) from the elf terrain list. As this a level 3 terrain type on the elf list, I could only include it in the fourth region.

Building my goblin army.

Oathmark into Middle Earth

Having mentioned the Hobbit, I began to think how I could use the Kingdom chart to build some of the armies from the Lord of the Rings.

I could have Saruman (a level 5 human wizard) with an army of orc linebreakers and warriors alongside some humans (the wild men of Dunland).

Or I could have a human army from Gondor backed up with undead revenants (the dead of Dunharrow) and the king of the dead.

Or I could build the last alliance of men and elves.

Or you could even build the Fellowship of the Ring, with a selection of heroes from the elf, human, dwarf and halfling terrain types.

The kingdom chart allows you to build these forces as this army build process is quite flexible.

In Summary

When building an Oathmark kingdom, you choose ten pieces of terrain from the various terrain lists. The list you choose your capitol city from becomes your main terrain type list. The kingdom is made up of four regions. Any item of terrain from your terrain list can be placed into the regions if its number (in parenthesis) is equal to or lower than the region number. Then if you wish to include a terrain item from another race's terrain list, the number (in parenthesis) must be lower than the region number.

Related Articles

Discussions

I hope you enjoy building your kingdom lists, and then the army to accompany it. This system takes me back to my youth when I loved to build army lists.

If you have any questions, drop them in the comments below.

Happy hobbying.

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