General Purpose Campaign Rules

I. Campaign Creation

A. Objectives

The first step will be to decide who are the main players and what their objectives are. Objectives can fall under four main classifications. If a player's objective is 'other', you must decide how the objective can be achieved in the scope of the rules. For example, if a player's main objective is 'purge chaos from this area', then you may want to create a rule such as, "when a town is captured, you must allocate 2000 points worth of troops for 5 turns to purge the town of chaos." There is no way to make rules for every concievable objective, but you can look in the 'objectives' section below for more examples.

If a player has no 'other' objectives, then his objectives are assumed to be get the 'most' land/money/stuff that he can. These resources can be predetermined by the players, or generated randomly using the rules below.

B. Scale

The second step in creating a campaign is to decide how many starting points each side will have. This can be anywhere from tiny (1000 points) to huge (100,000 points or more). The starting point value of each side will determine the scale of the campaign. Naturally, the larger the amount of points, the longer the campaign will take to play. A campaign may of course grow in scale over time, as more troops are added to armies.

Normally, each side will consist of members selected from one army list. However, under certain circumstances, a side may be selected from more than one army list. For example, an allied undead/skaven force or an allied empire/dwarf force. These are exceptional circumstances and must be agreed upon by all players in a campaign beforehand.

C. Primary army selection

Each player will decide the composition of his/her army according to the point value of the campaign. These points may be distributed according to the normal army rules with several exceptions (example numbers for a 50,000 point campaign are given in parenthesis):

  1. No more than 5% (eg 2000 points) of the total points spent may be spent on lords. No more than one quarter as many lords may be taken as per the rules in the army list. (<=12 lords)
  2. No more than one half as many heroes may be taken as per the rules in the army list. (<=50 heroes)
  3. No more than one half as many total characters may be taken. (<=50 total characters)
  4. No more than one half as many special units may be taken. (<=26 special units)
  5. No more than 5% of the total points spent may be spent on rare units. No more than one quarter as many rare units may be taken as per the rules. (<=12 rare units)
  6. The total point value of all core units must be greater than the total point value of all special units which must be greater than the total point value of all rare units.
  7. At most ONE special character per army may be taken.
  8. All characters must be given names.
  9. A character, once equipped with magic items, can never change unique items with someone else. (the same goes for a unit with a banner). Exceptions may be made under unusual circumstances.
  10. All distinguished (eg units with a magic banner, etc.) units must be named.

The whole army will probably never be fielded at once, but will be divided amongst all the tasks at hand (see below). Several portions of the army may never fight, as they will be relegated to logistical tasks.

D. Region

The next step is to decide where the campaign will be played. For this, you should draw up (or photocopy), a map of the region. You should decide on a scale for the map, a good estimate is 1 square mile per point per player. So for a 50,000 point campaign with 3 players, you should have approximately 150,000 square miles, or a square map around 400 miles per edge. This of course can vary according to how "crowded" you want the campaign to be. If the campaign goes on long enough, you may even want to increase the size of the playable area!

1. Landmark Composition
You should then determine the composition of the region. This describes the number and type of cities, towns, farms and other special landmarks that are in the area. The number and type of landmarks varies with the campaign setting but a good set of baseline rules are as follows. Determine the number of landmarks per player as follows:
Point value of Army Cities Towns Mana Sites Farms Special Sites
0-3000 d6-5 (min 0) d3 a 11-12 on 2d6 = 1 site, others=0 d6-2 (min 1) 2d6-11 (min 0)
3001-6000 d3-2 (min 0) d6-2 (min 1) d6-5 (min 0) 2d3 a 11-12 on 2d6 = 1 site, others=0
6001-10,000 1 2d3 d3-2 2d6 d6-5 (min 0)
10,001-15,000 d6-4 (min 1) 3d3 1 3d6 d3-2 (min 0)
15,001-20,000 d3-1 (min 1) 2d6 (min 3) d6-4 (min 1) 4d6 1
20,001-30,000 d3 (min 2) 3d6 (min 4) d3-1 (min 1) 6d6 d6-4 (min 1)
30,001-40,000 d6-2 (min 2) 4d6 d3 (min 2) 8d6 d3-1 (min 1)
40,001-50,000 2d3 5d6 d6-2 (min 2) 10d6 d3 (min 2)
50,001-75,000 3d3 6d6 2d3 12d6 d6-2 (min 2)
75,001-100,000 4d3 8d6 3d3 14d6 2d3
each +25,000 +d3 +d6 +d3 +2d6 +d3

These landmarks are under control by the player. In essence owned by the player.

2. Landmark Details
For each landmark, determine it's primary inhabitants (eg humans, skaven, dwarfs, undead, etc.). The player who places the landmark declares what the primary inhabitants are and rolls d66 and consults the following landmark details table:
d66 roll city town farm mana site special site
11 2d6x1000 random occupants, with a militia of 6d6x100 points worth of core and special units 2d6x100 random occupants, with a militia of 1d6x100 points worth of core units fickle cropland: roll a d6 each season: 1: 0 food points, 2-3: 1d6x100 food points/turn, 4-5: 2d6x100 food points/turn, 6: 1d6x1000 food points/turn! fickle mana site: roll a d6 each turn: 1: 0 mana points, 2-3: 1d6x100 mana points, 4-5: 2d6x100 mana points, 6: 1d6x1000 mana points! rare equipment stash!! 4d6x10 points worth of rare equipment from a random army list (use random occupant table to determine list). There is also an abandoned fortress at this location (TODO: what is "goodness" of fortress?)
TODO: fill this in
As you roll on this table for each landmark, you should note down all the details for the landmark in question. Random Occupant Table (old world)
2d6 roll value
2 lizardmen
3 high elves
4 dark elves
5 undead: vampire counts
6 orcs
7 empire
8 chaos
9 skaven
10 dwarfs
11 wood elves
12 undead: tomb kings

3. Landmark Placement
The region should then be divided amongst the participating sides. To do this, each side should roll a d6 (or 2d6 if there are too many ties, or more than 6 players). The player with the highest roll selects a point on the map where he wants to be his center of power. There must be a city at this location (or if the player has no cities, a town or other fortification).

The player to his left will then determine his center of power. This point must be outside of all other players starting sphere of influence. If this impossible for whatever reason, the center of power must be placed as far as possible away from all other centers of power. Placement of centers of power proceeds in this fashion until all players have placed their centers of power. Note that for a two person game, it is recommended that the first person place his center of power so that his starting sphere of influence is touching a map edge.

The starting player may then place a single landmark within his starting sphere of influence , centered on his center of power. To calculate a player's starting sphere of influence, take the square root of the point value. This is the diameter in miles that his starting sphere of influence extends. For example, if you are playing a 20,000 point campaign, the starting sphere of influence for each player would have a diameter of about 140 miles.

Each player proceeds to place a single landmark in turn, going in a clockwise motion around the table, until all landmarks have been placed.

You must follow certain landmark proximity rules when placing landmarks:

If it is for some reason impossible to fulfill one of these rules, you may deploy a landmark within the minimum distance, but it must be as far away from all other landmarks of the same type as possible.

Note that it is almost inevitable that the starting spheres of influence of the various players will overlap. This is ok, this is usually why wars are fought in the first place, disputes about territory! When placing landmarks, the only requirement other than the landmark proximity rules is that all the landmarks for each player must be in their own sphere of influence, they may very well be within someone else's sphere of influence as well!

4. Underground Landmarks
Certain armies like skaven, dwarfs and night goblins have underground regions as well. For all underground regions, you should use a second map, and draw the tunnels and the main underground cities on this map. For these armies, their landmarks may be placed above ground or below ground, and should be placed on the corresponding map. You do not have to follow the landmark proximity rules for landmarks that are above ground, and vice versa.
5. Neutral Landmarks
After all owned landmarks have been placed, each player should roll again on the region composition chart to determine the number of neutral landmarks he may place. Placement of these landmarks proceeds as per owned landmarks, except they must be placed OUTSIDE of the placing player's sphere of influence. They may be placed in an enemy player's sphere of influence. A player may stop placing neutral landmarks at any time, or he may pass his turn. When all players have passed, neutral landmark placement ends.

6. Tunnels
After placing all underground landmarks for all players, the location of tunnels must be determined. Each player places a number of tunnels based on the type and amount of underground landmarks as follows: All the players with underground landmarks roll a d6, the highest roll places the first tunnel, the next highest roll places the second tunnel, etc. Placement of tunnels continues in this round robin fashion until all tunnels have been placed. Every tunnel must connect two landmarks to each other, it doesn't matter if a landmark is above or below ground. A tunnel may connect to a landmark that is not owned by the player (either neutral or enemy controlled).

Optional Rule: non-proximity based regions
TODO

E. Resource Allocation

There are three main types of resources, food, equipment, and magic. Each resource is rated in terms of points.

Objectives

Optional Rules

Corruption

II. Initial Army Deployment

III. The Campaign Turn

A. Resource Distribution

B. Movement

IV. Resource Collection and Distribution

Depending on the type of army, certain things are needed in order for the army to operate. Most mortals require food to survive, and all armies require equipment. The initial equipment an army has will eventually get old and broken, and must be replaced. Magicians require a place to restore their powers (a temple, etc.) Foodstores, convoys, temples are all items of strategic value. On the map will be listed these sites. Armies are advised to protect them once they control a site of strategic value.

A. Resources

Resources requirements are divided into two categories, on-going and transient. Maintenence resource requirements are those that are required simply to maintain the current state (of an army, of a fortress, etc.). Transient resource requirements are those that are required because of specific event. For example, building a fortress, re-equipping an army after a battle, etc.
1. Living Creatures
Food Maintenence - Living creatures (core, special and rare units) require 1 unit of food per point per week. So if a model costs 8 points, then it requires 8 units of food per week. This is the food cost of the model. Note that this is a general rule, and if there are specific cases where it does not make sense, then make exceptions.

Characters also require 1 unit of food per point per week. This is not because the character eats a lot! This is because his support staff must eat and be supported, as well as all his couriers, and other random elements that make up his command. Post battle resupply costs - For each casuality inflicted, if the model has not been taken permanently out of action, an equipment cost equal to its point cost must be spent before the model can be fielded again. This represents the cost to repair or replace the equipment damaged and spent in the battle. This is of course a simplification, but I believe it is a fair one. If the model has been taken permanently out of action, it cannot be replaced unless a special circumstance has allowed the army to recruit more troops into or reinforce its army. (see the chart below for more specifics on when this cost is paid).

Food is generated and stored. It is generated during the growing season in farms and stored during the winter in silos. A farm is rated per food point per week. This only matters during the growing season. As such it is usually easier to wage war during the summer when resources are more plentiful. A portion of this food must be saved away in silos for usage in the winter months. Different farm sites are rated according to how much food they generate per week, this is usually an amount from 100 to 10,000 units of food! Silos are also rated in terms of how many food points they can store. These are rated from several thousand to tens or even hundreds of thousands of points!

2. War Machines
Food Maintenence - For war machines, consider the food cost to be the total point cost of the living models only, not the cost of the war machine itself. To determine the cost of each model of the war machine crew, consider the per-model cost of the closest (in terms of equipment and stats) core or special unit.
3. Magic and Wizards
In general, wizards autmatically generate 500 magic points per magic level per week spent resting and performing rituals. Under normal circumstances, a wizard can store 1000 points per magic level. This means that to perform at peak efficiency, a wizard can only fight in a battle once every two weeks.

When a battle starts, each full 100 points is converted to one magic die, though a wizard cannot use more than one die per turn per magic level (as per the normal warhammer rules). So if a 4th level wizard is for some reason forced to fight a battle if he has only 1000 magic points, he will only have 10 magic dice for the entire battle!!. Needless to say, it is important that the wizard get enough rest so that his energies can be replenished. If a wizard fights a battle in a week, he does not generate his magic points for that week. Wizards can have priests. See the description of priests in the undead section. For a normal wizard they are not quite as useful as they are for necromancers, but they may still be taken.

4. Undead
Undead do not consume food like living troops. They only depend on the magical link with their dark master, the necromancer to stay animated. The necromancer is constantly burning magical energy to keep his army running. He must ensure that he never runs out of energy, if he does, his army will begin to crumble. An undead army burns 1 magic point per week per point of model cost to stay animated. So, a 2000 point army consisting of totally undead models will require 2000 magic points of magic energy to stay animated. This is the limit of a fourth level necromancer to maintain by himself. A necromancer can regain magical energy in several ways.

A necromancer automatically generates 500 magic points per week per magic level. To get this, he must have time to perform his elaborate rituals required to regain his strength. If a necromancer fights in a battle, he does not get his magic point allocation for that week. He may also have a cadre of priests which can perform rituals on his behalf. These priests generate different amounts of magic depending on the type and number of the priests and location of the priest site. Priests are simply necromancers which are acting in a supporting role. In this role, they may not fight in any battles, but they do not count towards the characters total of the army, though they do count towards the point total. A priest generates magic for a necromancer in several ways:

  1. A priest can perform rituals which generate 500 magic points per week per magic level for a target necromancer.
  2. He may also generate more magic by preparing a target site. For every 100 magic points per week spent preparing a target site, 1 extra magic point is generated when a priest performs rituals at that site. For example, a 4th level priest spends 4 weeks preparing a magic site, investing:

    4th magic level x 500 magic points x 4 weeks = 8000 magic points.

    This results in a prepared target site worth 80 magic points. Note this amount is added PER priest which is performing rituals at the prepared site. So if our 4th level priest and another 2nd level priest then perform rituals at this site for one week, they would generate:

    4th level x 500 magic points x 1 week + 80 site points = 2080 points
    2nd level x 500 magic points x 1 week + 80 site points = 1080 points
    -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    total: 3160 points

    Not much, but that is why necromancers rely heavily on sites that have been around for a long time. A necromancer can generate at most twice his normal magic point output at a particular site. For example, if there were a site that had a value of 2000 points, a level 1 necromancer would only be able to extract 1000 points per week from it: 1st level x 500 magic points x 1 week + 500 site points(max=2000) = 1000 points

    Priests can also sacrifice living creatures to generate magic points. If a creature is sacrificed, its corpse cannot be reanimated, as its soul has been banished and converted into pure magical energy. Each creature generates one magic point for every point it costs. A regular human civilian will generate four magic points if sacrificed.

Undead must still pay equipment resupply costs as normal.

IV. Strategic Spells

V. Special Army Rules

VI. Campaign Effects in Battles

With the knowledge that a battle is just one small part of a larger campaign, the general of an army may take additional actions in a battle. As such, a general may order a strategic withdrawal. After this has been ordered, all units who leave the table edge on the same edge that the general leaves will live to fight another day and can fight immediately in the next battle. The battle is lost, and any strategic objectives will not be achieved, but all models that fled successfully can fight immediately. Any models that flee off of another table edge other than the one the general fled off of will be counted as casualties, and must roll on the post battle model effects chart.

If a general has suddenly realized that a battle is lost, and a strategic withdrawal is infeasible, then the general may issue a general retreat. When this is issued, any unit or model which makes it to ANY table edge, may live to fight another day. For models who flee off of a table edge which the general has NOT fled off of, they must roll on the post battle model effects chart, adding 1 to their roll. Models which fled off the same table edge as the general must also roll on the post battle model effects chart, adding 2 to their roll.

After a battle is over, you must determine what happens to soldiers and equipment registered as casualties. For each non-war machine model that has been taken as a casualty, roll a d6, and consult the following chart:

Post battle model effects chart

If a model is determined to be out of action, roll a further d6. On a roll of 1-3 the model is dead, on a roll of 4-6 the model is seriously injured but still alive. Dead models may be resurrected by necromancers and such. For each war machine that has been taken as a casualty, roll a d6, and consult the following chart:

Post battle war machine effects chart

Note that because war machines are slow and cumbersome, they are more susceptible to damage and loss than troops.

Undead

Because undead models are not like other troops, they are affected differently and do not roll on the post-battle model effects chart. They still do roll on the post-battle war machine effects chart. Any undead casualties are simply lost, they must be replaced by summoning, see above. After a battle, if a necromancer is still alive, he may return to the field of battle and attempt to re-raise the fallen. He requires a certain amount of magic points to do so (see the resources section under undead). If he has sufficient magic points to return to the battle field, make a roll on the post battle undead model effects chart, for each lost model AND for each killed model on the enemy side!

Post battle undead model effects chart

Scouts and Advance Armies

In searching for the warpstone meteors, armies have constructed small, highly trained armies capable of acting independently for long periods of time. As such, there are certain limitations on the composition of these armies. When an area is to be searched for warpstone, an Advance Army moves into the general area and sets up a base camp. From this base camp, the operations are managed. Smaller scouting parties are sent out in search of the warpstone (or to recon for enemy units).

Advance Armies

An advance army must be more flexible and maneuverable than a regular army, especially in the harsh mountain passes. As such, no war machines are allowed in an advance army unless a justifiable reason can be found to have them. Rare and special units in advance armies are strongly discouraged, as the rare and valuable units are often busy with tasks more suited to their more specialized nature. Unique items (except magic items held by characters) and special characters are also strongly discouraged.

Of course, if an advance army discovers that a large opposing force is in the area, a regular army may be dispatched to take care of it, and this regular army can be armed with any normal combination of units. Advance armies are usually 1500 points or less.

Misc Notes

Magic items that are "one use only" are automatically replenished after a battle.