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Title states it.

Do you feel compelled to use the matched play rules verbatim?

I have run an annual campaign for fantasy (now AOS) since 1999. I am designing a map campaign for this summer. One of the things I really don't like is how summoning works and I do not want to be beholden to the matched play rules for my campaigns. I will use points, but I don't want the summoning rules. Instead... I will be replacing the summoning restrictions (this is for summoning spells only) with the following:

* You do not pay points for summoned units summoned in via spells
* You pay points for any other way of creating new units (this is because I have not yet had a chance to explore letting you bring in new units for free without spam-monkeys breaking the game again)
* Summoning spells - any spell that summons replaces their target roll with the following values:
--> Battleline units (considered battleline without needing a special general to unlock battleline) - summoned on an 8+
--> Non battleline units, and any hero/monsters up to 9 wounds - summoned on a 9+
--> Heroes/monsters 10 wounds or more - summoned on a 10+
* Additionally, bringing back the concept of miscasts for this campaign. If you roll a double one, you have miscast the spell. Roll a D6. On a 1 you take D6 mortal wounds and lose the spell you were trying to cast. On a 2-3 you take D3 mortal wounds and lose the spell you were trying to cast. On a 4-5 you take a mortal wound. On a 6 you take no wounds.

This lets summoners exist without paying points for their summoned units, but is not both easy to summon double your army (one of the problems right now) and there is some risk (you can miscast).

I've been experimenting with this alteration for a bit and I have liked the results. It makes summoning useful without it being the overbearing waac-fest that it was prior to GHB.

Anyhow - if you are a campaign player - are you beholden to the matched play rules and/or scenarios?

 auticus wrote:

Anyhow - if you are a campaign player - are you beholden to the matched play rules and/or scenarios?

Not in the slightest

Sometimes. If it's a BIG campaign, yes. But most of the campaigns I've been in, affairs of 8-12. it's an easy affair to sort out balance without a hassle.

We tend to have about 20-28 people in our campaigns.

I wouldn't be, but I fear if I didn't add at least some base of Matched Play I'd get no responses, and I'm leery of changing too much with house rules. So... I don't know?

I think summoning is nerfed too hard, but leaving it how it is in Open makes it vastly open for abuse.

Yeah. I'm keeping points for structure. I'm fiddling with max stuff like 4 artillery, 6 leaders, etc and turning those into resources.

Other then that I'm leaving it alone (besides the summoning changes above). Using it as a base is fine.

I just dont like at all trying to play in map campaigns or any type of campaigns like its a tournament. I think at that point I'd just as well sell my stuff off and play total warhammer and call it a day otherwise.

I'm working on DM-ing a campaign due to the godly gift of two new players I managed to woo. I haven't bought the GHB yet and do not plan to - the book offers me nothing new that I can't come up with by myself or use someone else's work(points for exapmle The answer to the main question should be obvious.
Auticus, I've seen you post similar "polls" for the past year - is it from a general interest in the matter at hand or is it to show the results it so your buddies in the context of some argument?

Its to get an idea of what the general community overall finds acceptable as a point of discussion.

There are people locally that would be pro and very con to this idea regardless of the overall community's feelings.

I'm working on a Path 2 glory campaign with some tweaks.
1. Everyone starts at 300 points, including their Warlord.
2. Each round is 2 weeks long, everyone posts in 3 games.
3. 1 point for draw/loss, 2 points for a win, 3 for a major win.
4. At the end of a round roll a d3 for each point. On a 1, roll on the path 2 glory henchmen trait table, on a 2 you roll on the Warlord table, on a 3 you can add 50 points to your army.
5. Army list restrictions: can't start with behemoths or artillery, but they can be purchased latter. You can also upgrade your Warlord to a mounted version with points. Normal matched play restrictions are in effect after 500 points.
6. First to 30 points wins.

Main issue is figuring out tables for armies the generals handbook doesn't cover.

Interesting... I like this idea. Since I'm just learning the rules, the small scale and building up appeals to me.

If we are doing "historical" like we did for silver pinnacle, then no not at all, if its a homebrew then maybe.

 auticus wrote:
Title states it.

Do you feel compelled to use the matched play rules verbatim?

No way. AoS is the cool campaign game with wacky rules.

If we wanted points, balance and a general competitive vibe, warmahordes/infinity/9th age deliver better results.

Anyhow - if you are a campaign player - are you beholden to the matched play rules and/or scenarios?

Just finished a campaign I hosted,
we used matched play but every faction (Group of players) had 1 General that could get better (extra pts, extra artifacts on the model) that could join one battle each campaign turn.
We also introduced some homebrew battleplans.

As for the summoning rules you are thinking of, do know that this will be broken for the lord of change/kairos combo, which are gonna have new models soon, so people will be wanting to play them I guess. as they have multiple spells,with familiars get a +2 on their spells and then change their lowest casting dice in their highest. so basically a 10+ is thrown on 1 4 on 2 dice, they cast multiple spells and you can easily have 2 models on the field doing that.

Maybe you should introduce a version of crumble also where summoned models start dying if there summoner is dead?

The summoning version we have will not be able to be modified at all.

We had a guy pre GHB that showed how busted the game was by doing exactly what you said with Kairos. He would double his army every turn.

If they're useful or the campaign is more like a tournament played over an extended time than a narrative. Points are always handy though.