Crazy Marauder Horseman
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So this could be an article in all honesty, and if anyone plows their way through this and gives any feedback, I greatly appreciate it, but I wrote up these rules for a campaign between myself and three others. The four armies are WoC, High Elves, Dwarves, and Skaven, and I have a good story figured out for why all four would be fighting, but I won't go into that here, however that was a determining factor in the rules that I wrote. As such I think this setting would work for other campaigns and races with a little tweaking, but I thought I'd try to get some feedback from the dakka community to get some ideas might be for how to improve this. I copied from some other game systems (namely Mordheim), but the overall idea is to create a series of battles that influence each other and can be used to tell a story, and also to create some rather bizarre armies. Let me know what you guys think.
Rules of the Campaign
Narrative battles
Narrative battles are meant to build the story of a campaign that is going on between all of the battles. As such each battle will have at least some effect on the following battles, meaning that your battles will determine what troops you use and how effective they are. Heroes and generals may fall and not be able to fight in the next battle, thus giving you a distinct disadvantage. Units who are overworked may become tired and fatigued. Winning a battle may bring you closer to your overall goal, losses will obviously carry you further away. With that in mind, here are the rules that will govern the overall campaign:
Your Army
To start of the campaign you will make an army list of 6,000 points using the standard rules for army creation using the End Times campaign rules (up to 50% Lords and Heroes, minimum 25% core, up to 50% special, and up to 25% rare). You should probably create this as an Excel spreadsheet or something of that nature as you will use this 6,000 point army to pull from for all of your battles.
Before each battle starts you will pick your troops from this list however you see fit for each battle, there is no restriction saying that you must take any core, special, or rare in any given battle, you just need to fill the points value for that battle using the units you purchased using your overall army list. The only exception to this is that each army must have a general, so you must take at least one Lord or Hero choice that is not the BSB for each battle.
For Example: I have been given a battle allotment of 2,000 points for my next battle where I know that I am going to be raiding a village. Knowing this, I forego selecting all of my slower foot soldiers that are listed on my 6,000 point list and which make up the bulk of my core and use almost exclusively my mounted choices, which are all specials and rares. If I have them on my 6,000 point list, then I can take them in any given battle. However, for each consecutive battle any unit is involved in, they must role on the fatigue chart to represent their growing weariness at having been involved in prolonged combat. This fatigue may be remedied by allowing your troops to rest for a battle and taking other soldiers in their place. This will hopefully make for some very interesting lists and battles that may be more than a little lopsided. Units may not be changed or altered once they are submitted as part of the 6,000 point list. This means you cannot by a unit of 50 marauders as one unit and then split them up into two 25 man units, nor can you by two 25 man units and then combine them to make one 50 man unit. How they are presented as part of the 6,000 point list is how they must be taken, no splitting them up. Be cautious in your list building.
Fatigue
Fatigue has often times been the downfall for many an army throughout history. This is no less the case here in this campaign. Fatigue occurs whenever a unit participates in two or more battles in a row. At the beginning of each consecutive battle following the first, you must roll on the fatigue table to determine what effect the fatigue is having on the said unit. These effects stack for each consecutive battle. Also note that with cavalry units the same effect applies to both rider and mount.
2D6 roll
Result
Effect
2
Weary Arms
Your unit is exhausted and can barely stand, under a stern command they will still march to war, but the force behind their blows is significantly lessened
-1 Str
3-4
Red Eyes
Your unit has gone without water in the blistering heat for so long that distances are getting hard to measure and tunnel vision is setting in.
-1 BS
5-6
Forced March
Your unit has been charging the enemy or moving across the land for so long that half of them are stumbling on blistered or lame feet, or are simply exhausted.
-1 Move
7
Delirium
Your troops have been fighting for so long and so hard that they are growing delirious from all the minor injuries and thus struggle to ward off blows and make well-timed strikes
-1 WS
8-9
Low Morale
Your men are tired and grouchy, they are beginning to lose hope in their situation, or are simply too tired to care at the present time.
-1 LD
10-11
Slowed Reflexes
Fatigue has slowed your troops senses and made them less able to move at their regular speed, their blows are slower than usual it seems.
-1 Init
12
Sickness
Your men have become sick from the extended exertion, their bodies have become frailer as a result.
-1 Tough
For example; if I take my unit of Chaos Knights into battle and decide that I liked them so much that I need to take them in the next battle that I fight, before the second battle begins I need to roll on the fatigue chart and apply the stat decrease that will last at least that battle for them. If I decide to take my Chaos Knights into a third battle, or if this second battle was part of a “linked” battle which requires me to take them in the third battle (linked battles will be described later) then before the third battle begins I will roll a second time and apply this result to my knights on top of the previous modifiers from fatigue. So if I roll in the second battle that they get a -1 strength from fatigue and then roll in the third battle that they get a -1 initiative in the third, that means in the third battle they have both the -1 str and the -1 init. The fatigue rolls stack on the same stat as well, meaning that if I roll a -1 to str for both the second and third battles it would mean in the third battle my unit would fight with a -2 str.
This will continue until you allow the unit to rest for at least one battle. Doing this will remove all the negative effects that have been applied to the unit or character. Note that each unit rolls separately that is used in each consecutive battle as fatigue affects everybody differently.
If a unit was destroyed in the previous battle (either from running off the board or being run down/killed to the last man) and are used in the next battle, they must roll twice on the fatigue chart just as if they were about to participate in their third battle, rather than simply their second.
With the exception of Initiative (which can only be reduced to a 1, if someone’s initiative is already a 1, if they receive a “Slowed Reflexes” result on the fatigue chart then they must re-roll until they get a different result), if any unit’s stat is lowered to the point where it would be a score of 0 they are required to be removed from the next battle.
Please note that a character rolls separately from any unit he may regularly accompany, if I have a hero who usually rides with his knights and both he and his knights are involved in a second battle I would roll twice on the chart: once for the knights and once for the character. This function is here to encourage a more tactical choosing of units and to give different characters a chance to lead the army and forge their own stories.
Linked Battles
While most generals will try to avoid tiring their men out and will try to rest them as often as possible, sometimes circumstances will not allow this, whether it be a fighting retreat from an outpost, or a pressed advantage that leads to a prolonged battle. This is represented in the campaign in the form of Linked Battles. Linked Battles are when you will have the exact same army list for a minimum of two battles, meaning that everyone will have at least one roll on the fatigue charts. This is to test generalship with a few measured disadvantages. Sometimes you will be fighting a linked battle where each battle will be against a fresh opponent, such things did happen on the battlefield and are often the topics of great legendary feats.
A player will be informed that he is going to be part of a series of Linked battles (but not told how many battles will be linked) before he chooses his list for the first battle. Fatigue rolls for previous battles will still be in effect throughout all the linked battles, meaning that if I start my first battle in a linked series with a fatigued unit that already has a -1 to a stat, that -1 will carry through the other fatigue rolls caused by the prolonged combat. In linked battles, if a unit becomes too fatigued to fight (by having one of their stats reduced to a 0 score), then they are simply left as a hole in the army, no replacements can be made from the overall army list or anywhere else, you must fight on without them.
Death on the field
Death is an inevitability on the battlefield and something that is difficult to represent on the tabletop between battles without requiring a degree in mathematics. In order to simplify things here is how a fallen character or unit may be represented in the battlefield
For rank-and-file units, these men are easily replaced and so there should be little to no drama for them, as there are few stories that show characters mourning over each and every individual soldier who dies in war, general remorse for the collective death on his shoulders yes, but never do the stories recount how each and every person was gravely remembered by the hero. As such, whenever a unit is completely destroyed, either by being overrun, killed to the last model, or fled off the battlefield, then they are treated as fatigued in the next battle that that unit is used in. This means that if they are then used in the very next battle they will have to roll on the fatigue chart twice. This is to represent the unit’s replacement being hurried from the reserves across the way or their heroic fight to recover and how their wounds are still plaguing them. Either way there is a penalty for having units die completely.If a unit becomes too fatigued to fight this way, then they are fine when they come back the next battle.
For characters, this is where more drama comes in, and ironically there is a possibility that falling on the field can be a good thing! However, there is a possibility that it can be a very, very bad thing. When a character dies, roll a D6 twice, the first roll is your tens score and your second is your single’s number (So my first D6 rolls a 3, and my second D6 then rolls a 4, my score would be a 34), then consult the following chart:
Score
Result
Score
Result
11-15
Dead The character’s corpse lies dead and mangled on the field, he can no longer be taken for the remainder of the campaign.
34
Hand Wound -1 WS permanently
16-21
Multiple Injuries The character has suffered multiple injuries from various locations. Roll D6 times on this table again. Re-roll any “Dead”, “Captured”, or additional “Multiple injuries rolls
35
Deep Wound: The character must miss the next D3 battles
22
Leg Wound: The Warrior’s leg is broken, add a permanent -1 to his Movement
36
Robbed: The character makes a full recovery but loses his least valuable magic item, (BSB cannot lose his BSB)
23
Arm Wound:Roll again. A score of 1 means that the character’s arm must be amputated and the character can now only use a single hand weapon, no 2H weapons or shields. A 2-6 means it is a minor wound but the character is now too fatigued to fight
41-55
Full Recovery The character recovers fully with no ill effect
24
Madness: Roll again, on a 1-3 the character has the stupidity special rule, on a 4-6 the character has the frenzy special rule, either result is permanent.
56
Bitter Emnity The character now has Hatred towards the army that cast him down
25
Leg Wound Roll again, 1= the warrior can no longer make forced marches, but can still make charges. 2-6= the character is too fatigued to fight
61
Captured: The character is captured by the enemy army. They can decide to sell him back for points in the next battle, or kill him.
26
Chest Wound The character has had a serious wound to his chest, he has a permanent -1 to his Toughness
62-63
Hardened The character is now immune to fear or terror (but does not confer to any unit he is with)
31
Blinded in One Eye The character has lost sight in one eye, he receives a permanent -1 BS, if he receives this result again, he must retire from the campaign.
64
Horrible Scars The character now causes fear
32
Old Battle Wound The wound is deep, it will not heal properly, from now on, whenever a character is selected to go to battle roll a D6, on a 1, he is too fatigued to fight, anything else and he is just fine.
65
Daring Escape The character must fight to survive, the opposing player may choose a number of core troops from his army (the only time a unit can be split up) equal to the points value of the character, they must then fight a battle in a 12”x12” battlefield, using a pitched battle scenario and any terrain that both players can agree upon. If the character wins the battle they may roll on the character advancement table and earns an extra D3x50 points for the next battle.If the character loses, re-roll on this table.
33
Nervous Condition -1 Init permanently
66
Survive against the odds The character is blessed to make a full recovery and can roll once on the character advancement table.
Character Advancement
Characters should be allowed to grow and develop as the campaign progresses. As such, whenever a character has been in 3 Major Victories, or 4 of any combination of victories (2 Major 2 Minor, or 2 Minor victories, followed by a loss, followed by 2 more minor victories, etc.) They may roll once on this chart to gain a permanent stat increase (to a maximum of 10, if it reaches 10 then re-roll until you get another stat to increase).
2D6 score
Result
2
+1 Strength
3
+1 Attack
4-5
+1 BS
6
+1 Movement
7
+1 WS
8-9
+1 LD
10
+1 Initiative
11
+1 Toughness
12
+1 Wound
Racial Bonuses
Each of the four races of this campaign has some specific bonuses:
Dwarfs: Due to their hardy nature, Dwarf models may never have fatigue drain their Initiative score below a 1 or their Movement below a 2, if the dice roll these stats on the fatigue chart and the scores are already at their minimum then the player must re-roll the dice until they get a different result.
Elves: Elves are an undying race, and as such fatigue affects them differently. Elves may re-roll the results of the fatigue chart once per unit per battle, but they are bound by the second roll, even if it is worse.
Skaven: Skaven tend to exaggerate their stories. As such all Skaven minor victories are counted as Major Victories.
Warriors of Chaos: Whenever a character rolls a Spawndom or Demonic change result on the Eye of the Gods table, that change is permanent for the duration of the campaign, it doesn’t change their points cost or anything, and the Demon Prince still has the same gear.
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