How fleets transport land armies across sea zones, establish maritime bridges, and execute surprise amphibious assaults.
In the struggle for mastery over Europe, landmasses are often divided by formidable bodies of water: the English Channel, the North Sea, the Baltic Sea, and the sweeping expanses of the Mediterranean. While armies are bound to terra firma, naval fleets possess the unique capability to establish amphibious bridges. Through the Convoy order, fleets carry land armies across water barriers to strike deep behind enemy frontlines.
A convoy allows an army in a coastal province to move across one or more adjacent sea zones and land in another coastal province during a single movement phase. To execute a legal convoy, specific conditions must be met:
A successful convoy requires harmonious orders between the army and every escorting fleet. Consider the classic maritime landing from Great Britain onto the continent:
When the phase resolves, the fleet acts as a stepping stone. The army departs London, crosses the waters of the English Channel, and lands on the shores of Brest in a single unified leap.
Convoys are not restricted to a single body of water. A chain of interconnected fleets occupying contiguous sea zones can transport an army across immense oceanic distances in a single phase. For example, an English army in London can sail all the way to North Africa (NAF) or Tunis (TUN) in one season if a continuous chain of fleets coordinates the passage:
The game checks that an unbroken chain of convoying fleets links the two coasts.
Transporting an army across the seas is an audacious maneuver that carries distinct operational risks. However, the rule regarding convoy disruption in Hegemony’s adjudicator is precise:
A convoy is disrupted only if an escorting fleet is actually DISLODGED.
This is a critical distinction that often surprises new players. Simply attacking a convoying fleet does not disrupt the convoy, even if the enemy attack comes with full force. As long as the defending fleet stands its ground—either through its own base defense or with the aid of defensive support that repels the assault—the convoy remains completely intact, and the army successfully reaches its landing zone.
However, if hostile forces assemble overwhelming supported combat strength against an escorting fleet and successfully dislodge it, the fleet is forced to retreat. The naval chain snaps instantly. The convoyed army never arrives at its destination; its attack evaporates, and it remains safely stranded on its original home coast.
An army arriving via convoy attacks its landing province with a base combat strength of one. Just like any overland move, a convoyed attack can receive support from other adjacent friendly or allied fleets or armies. For instance, an English fleet in the Mid-Atlantic Ocean (MAO) can support an army convoying from London to Brest: F MAO S A LON → BRE. With that support, the landing force hits Brest with strength two, capable of dislodging an isolated defender.
Setting up naval convoys by hand can be confusing, but Hegemony’s modern interface streamlines the process. When you select an army in a coastal province, the app automatically calculates available naval paths and highlights all reachable landing zones across the sea. You can also utilize the Analysis Sandbox to test multi-step fleet chains and verify how enemy fleet counter-attacks affect your amphibious landings before committing your moves.