8th Ed. 1.5K campaign

[hado75]

Hello all and welcome !!

Now this is a pretty long-winded intro but necessary in order to give a full picture of our enjoyment in the warhammer hobby.

Before we start off on this great adventure that we are in the middle of having, I’ll first explain a bit more about us and where we are headed towards.

I'm a Dutch player that only plays within his own house. I have a great group of friends whom I know for a very long time. We have played a lot of different games together but only at the start of this year I personally started again with a passion. I wanted to play a game of warhammer with fully painted army's on a beautifully filled table with lots of finished scenery and simply play the game. Now in all my past of playing warhammer (I started at the end of fourth beginning of fifth edition I believe and I was a horribly painter back then. Anyway in all that time I don't think I ever played a proper game of warhammer with every model, scenery and detail on the table painted. Combine this with my ancient old book of the General's Compendium and from the moment I bought it I always wanted to start and play a campaign but never got around to do this.
So at the start of this year I decided to change both those issues and I started creating rules to start a campaign.

Because our lives are busy with Wife’s, children and other social obligations I knew setting up a physical map would be impossible (not even mentioning the space it will take!). So I’ve started getting familiar with Gimp (free Photoshop) in order to create a digital map that I could email to the participants and they could then mail me the things they wanted to do within the rules I gave them. This campaign was with 2 other friends and they don't enjoy painting at all. So in order to make sure there would be progress in painting in between battles in the campaign I’ve suggested to them both to paint their army's as long as they would supply me with the supplies needed for painting and modeling. I really enjoy painting I find it a great part of the hobby and I had a chance to improve my painting skills by painting models I would never be able to paint otherwise. Next to that I would face their beautiful painted army's (my opinion ) across the table and get to enjoy the models I painted even more !

As we all three got more and more enthusiastic about the campaign and progress we we're making (even though that half of the rules I wrote were useless), more friends wanted to be part of it. So even before we ended the first campaign (currently still running but only for two more campaign turns) we began talk about campaign II. It resulted in a total of 6 players joining in with Tomb Kings, Lizardmen, Ogre Kingdoms, Warriors of Chaos, Daemons of Chaos and High Elves. A superb mix of 8th edition army's. So I came up with a new basic rule set for this campaign based on our experience with Campaign II and understanding better which adjustments to make.

Then we planned one evening with the 6 of us to make sure we were all on one page and discuss any rules that needed to change. After a great evening of really good rule discussion and debating we settled on a great basic set of rules together. This was very important for me because the campaign is not mine but rather from all 6.

So the reason I am posting all this in the Battle reports section is because we have the drive to make a battle report of each and every game played in this Campaign. To go even further than that we are going to add anything evolving around this campaign within this thread. So in it you can find the rules we setup, the Map-based movements of every campaign turn and every battle report of every battle played in this campaign. It will be a joint effort of the 6 of us to make it a success and I hope some will enjoy the read and maybe even start the campaign themselves. (If so I can send a copy of the mapfile, with a free download of gimp it's quite easy to process map movements etc.)

So stay tuned for the rules in my next post

@Mods I hope it's ok that I went ahead and started this thread without actually putting in a battle report just yet. The first battle report should be somewhere within 2 weeks.

 

[hado75]

1. Length of the Campaign / How to win

The campaign will end in 1 out of 3 possible ways.
The first is when a single player owns roughly 115 map sections. This number is a result of all available sections divided by the number of half the participants. In this case (almost) one third of the total map.

The second way is after an X amount of turns are passed we will then start rolling for every turn thereafter to see if the campaign ends. For example we decide to do this after 20 Campaign turns so at the start of turn 20 we roll a D6. On a 6 the campaign ends. Then

on Turn 21 we roll again but this time on a 5+ the campaign ends until the campaign automatically ends. We decided on this so that you don't get weird plays or alliances for joint victory in the last turns. We have yet to determine what the right number for X needs to be to have a satisfying campaign.

The third way is when the real-time date is passed of exactly 12 months.
So if the campaign is not ended due to way 1 and 2 then it will go on till 31-08-2014. (We started on 01-09-2013)
Might be we will finish that turn or simply look back to the last finished one. Haven't decided on that yet.

2. The Map



As shown above this is the map that the campaign will revolve around.
It's 19 spaces horizontal (A t/m S) and column A is 19 sections(1t/m19), while column B has 18 sections Column C has 19 sections and so on and on.
This results in a total of 352 sections.
The 6 areas in color are the starting kingdoms of each Army.
The center section of each colored area is each kingdoms HQ (or whatever you would like to call it).
In the center of the map there is an area of 7 sections with the middle section again a HQ.
These sections and the HQ all count as "Razed" (see point 6) and is unoccupied. It's is an incentive for players to actually go towards the center of the map so that kingdoms across the map will actually meet each other.

3. Campaign Turns

The campaign is turn based. So each turn every player sends in his orders (See point 4) for each banner that he has to the person managing the campaign map (in this case me, because of this I perform my moves immediately after sending the start turn map. This to prevent adjustment in my movement based on the orders of others which is basically cheating).
Every banner in a Turn technically moves at the same time. In order to prevent timing issues of the position of banners (and not resulting in a dice roll before a battle to see on which section the battle needs to be played) we set an order of players that turns clockwise every campaign turn. So the first turn player Red moves first, then Teal etc. etc. Second Turn teal moves first and then green with Red as last. And so on and so on. We use this sequence only for determining who moved into a section first when multiple players move to the same section. The order is known to all so each can take advantage of that by blocking enemy banners and such.

4. Banners



Each banner represents an army of 1500 points tied to a kingdom by color.
Each banner has either a number (1,2,3, etc. etc.) or a Letter (A,B,C, etc.)
Each banner gets a total of 2 "movement" points to spend each Turn. These points you can spend on the following orders:
1 point : Move the banner one section
1 point : Capture a section
1 point : Raze a section
1 point : Repair a section
1 point : Move to a Razed section (extra cost on top of normal movement)
2 points: Defend with the banner
4 points: Create a Fort on a captured section. (spend over multiple turns)

Capturing sections
You can only capture a section if it is next to a section already owned by you or an ally.

Razing sections
Any section may be Razed.

Repairing sections
To repair a razed section you need to be standing on the razed section first.
When it is repaired it is not captured. (it belongs to no-one then)

Creating a Fort
A banner needs to spend 4 points to finish a Fort. These 4 points need to be spend without other orders in between. The banner

creating the Fort does count as defending.
When you first order a banner to defend and the next turn to build a Fort then you still need to spend 4 points.
You could move 1, then start building the Fort 1/4 that turn. Next turn it will be 3/4 and next turn you pay 1 point to finish it and can still spend 1 movement point (most likely or move one section).

Each player gets two banners for each HQ he possess. (He starts out with A and B for his HQ). For each 7 map sections a player controls they will get an extra banner. (He starts with 7 sections so he also has a "1" banner to start with). This combined gives each player a total of 3 Banners to start play with.
Newly formed banners will always start from the HQ. (easier to administrate). If you during the campaign you need to remove a banner because you're empire dropped below a multitude of 7 then the highest number banner will always be removed first. If you're home HQ is captured then you're A & B banner are dropped and the player that captured your HQ will get a C & D banner (or E & F if he also owns the center or another HQ).

If at the beginning of a new Campaign turn a Banner starts in a section that contains a HQ or Fort it will gain +1 movement for that turn. (note: newly formed banners get this bonus as they are always formed at the start of the next turn.)

5. Battles

If two enemy banners meet each other in a map section a real warhammer battle will be played to determine the winner. The winner gets to stay in the section where the battle is played (note: it will not automatically capture the section). We use the victory points from
the book meaning 100 vp more is a win, double the vp then opponent means a massacre. The loser (not massacre) must move his banner to an unoccupied section that is not in control by an opponent. A massacred banner (or one that cannot move to an unoccupied section for whatever reason) is removed from the map and reformed on the nearest HQ/Fort at the start of the next turn.

6. Razed area's

Any banner may Raze any section on the map. Even enemy controlled map sections.
The Razed section does not have to be next to one of your own controlled sections, it may be anywhere on the map that the banner is on. Moving to a razed section will cost an extra movement point. Repairing a razed section does not mean that you capture it.

When a section containing a Fort is razed, the Fort is lost.
HQ's will always remain on the map even razed (see center section of the map). It will simply count as razed and not in control of anyplayer.

7. HQ's

Each player starts out with 1 HQ.
Each HQ will give 2 free banners with a letter to define them. (A & B) for the first one.
Players can gain new HQ's by capturing the uncontrolled center one or capturing a HQ owned by another player.
This will result in 2 free banners per HQ.
When you lose a HQ, you will lose the banners tied to that HQ.

HQ are automatically defending (See point 9) and the area of effect is marked on the map.

8. Forts

Forts are created by Banners by spending movement points.
A Fort Wil generate all benefits a HQ does with the exception of providing free banners.
When building a fort, the banner will count as defending (See point 9) also long as its busy building the Fort.
Massacred banners may reform on a Fort (But newly formed banners due to a multitude of 7 sections will always be formed on your starting HQ).

Forts are automatically defending (See point 9) and the area of effect is marked on the map.

9. Defending

The area of defense a HQ, Fort or a defending banner generates is a circle of 1 section around it.

Banner
A banner defends when it is ordered to.
When an enemy banner wants to move into a defended section, the owner of the defending banner may choose to defend that section.

The defending banner is moved to the section in question and counts as moved first regardless of the turn sequence, the enemy banner loses any remaining points it had left and a battle is played with the following adjustments:

Determine the scenario to be played (BRB) randomly.
The defending player chooses sides, deploys his entire army (without any form of randomization) and gets first turn (always). He counts as defending for watchtower.

HQ/Fort
HQ's and Forts automatically defend a circle of 1 section wide. Obviously there is no banner so the battle is fought where the enemy banner moved to against a 1500 points force that is not tied to any banner. The battle will be a normal 1500 vs. 1500 battle.

10. Allies
When players form an alliance it must be announced at the start of a campaign turn that an alliance is formed between two players.
An alliance can only be broken by a hostile move against your ally. The following actions counts as hostile moves towards an ally.
a. You start capturing your allied sections.
b. You betray your ally in a battle that your supporting.
c. You attack an allied banner.

An ally will give you the following benefits:
You can capture section that are next to an allied section (and not next to your own).
You get supported in battle because an allied banner is standing next to the section you have a battle in. (Mandatory See 11)
Friendly HQ's and Forts will provide the +1 movement bonus at the start of a turn.
When you win the campaign any ally will win as well.


11. Supporting banners
When a battle is played and there is another battle off the same kingdom next to the section where is the battle is played then it will count as a supporting banner. Instead of giving bonus points we have decided that for each supporting banner you get to nominate 1 unit in your list. This unit is held in reserve and the location where the unit can come onto the board from Turn 1 is randomized.

When you want the unit to come on the table you roll a D6. On a 1 and 2 the unit comes on the table on the left flank. On a 3 or 4 the units comes on the table on the right flank. On a 5 and 6 the unit comes on the table on the opponent's deployment side. You also have the choice to have the unit in reserve come on the table in your own deployment zone. For each supporting banner you get to choose 1 unit, so you can have multiple units come on the table this way.

Allied supporting banners get to choose 250 points of core troops (without characters) to help their ally. This unit will come on the table the same way as explained above as reserve. So allied supporting banners are the only way to bring extra troops into a battle.

We decided on this way to prevent the battles being too uneven and because there are 2 players just gathering their army's we wanted to make sure that 1500 points is all they need to buy and not an extra 250-500 just for an occasional supporting banner.

 

[hado75]

Armies per color:
Daemons of Chaos
Lizardmen
High Elves
Tomb Kings
Warriors of Chaos
Ogre Kingdoms

Turn 1:


Turn 2:


Turn 3:


Turn 4:


Turn 5:


Turn 6:


First battle of the Campaign in area I8.
Daemons of Chaos vs Ogre Kingdoms.

 

[A Steaming Kroak]

That looks like it will be a lot of fun. I would love to start something like that with my group. Just a question, do you have restrictions on how the army lists are chosen? Does each banner represent a specific list that is already known? Or, do you select the 1500 pts before each battle? (sorry if I missed the answer in your explanation of the rules)

Is this campaign what the 1500 pts list in the Lizardmen Army List section you posted was for? (I'm assuming so)

Keep us posted on the results.

 

[hado75]

@ A Steaming Kroak: We debated about your question a lot....
within the current campaign (1K) we've decided that the winning player cannot change his list untill he loses...
(Fluffwise: The winning army has no need to alter his army. "Why change a winning team"....)

Reality proved this to be "more fluff then fun".....But this campaign saw the addition of three new players so maybe it would be more fluffy and fair...... Not to tailer your list every freaking battle versus every other player. (a.k.a. built an "all-comers-list").

After a while we decided it's more "game on" to let people tailer vs each other. When both players do this it will be a fair game! (And make us think harder and play better to win....)
AND sometimes you win a match that is campaignwise not "so important" and you have to play with the same list, just to meet a tailored opponont at a crucial point within the campaign.....

The list i've build (with good help!) within the armylist section was indeed for this campaign. The final list will be my starting list (against most of my opponents)

My intention is to post every match and game (turn) within the campaign and with a battlereport of at least every game my Lizzies play. (And most likely a battlereport of most of the other games..... )

Everybody within our group is fired up about his campaign. The first turns (just strategic movement) only added more fun and enthousiasm......