These are just my notes & collected thoughts on how I want to approach this. I have only run one "sucessfull" campaign & that took shit-loads of work on my behalf with very little to show for it in the end (except for very fond memories from the participants) Maybe because I am older & less likely to want to waste my (&anyone else's) time, I wanted a short cut.
I think I've found it....
Mapless Campaigns http://www.balagan.org.uk/war/campaigns/mapless.htm
This is based on the campaign system in the Warmaster Ancient Armies book by Rick Priestley.The premise is that complicated campaigns involving maps with detailed map movement, & where losing a couple of battles seriously impairs a player's chance of success, are doomed to peter out. There are no maps in this campaign but players get to collect territories, & collecting territories makes the player more powerful.
Playing the Campaign
Set Up
Players can be organised into teams. Each player selects a 24AP army from the relevant army list. The armies can in fact change between games; the only important thing is that each game is balanced. Each player will need figures for their 24AP army, plus for bonus troops they'll acquire during the campaign.Each player draws three territories from the pack. A player can have at most one rich territory, of any type - City, Port or Mines - at the beginning of the campaign. If you get more than one, then discard the excess & draw again.
Campaign Battles
Any player can fight any other player (if
using teams, any player can fight any player from an opposing team) any number
of times. If you win a battle you get
more territories.
Cards with the territory info on them are played at the beginning of each game.
Pre-battle phase
Territories
are used in battle to simulate pre-battle manoeuvres &/or advantage derived
from greater resources. Each player secretly selects three of his territories.
These are revealed simultaneously. Territories provide reinforcement AP (usually low value) or enhancements to other reinforcement cards to make it high value. Optionally, some deployment advantage in the form of a Flank March.
Fighting Battles
Each player gets their basic army at full
strength, plus any reinforcements.
Post-battle phase
If the battle is a draw then neither player
benefits, however, if one player wins the battle: - A new territory
is added to the campaign. The winner draws the new territory
from the deck.
- The winner can then either take the new territory
or any one of the territories
the loser used during the game.
- If the winner takes one of the loser's territories
the loser gets the new territory
to replace it.
Winning the Campaign
Before the campaign starts you should set out
the victory conditions. Options include: - The player who has the highest total territory
value at the end of a fixed time period (e.g. for a one day campaign).
- The player that reaches a target territory
value fastest.
- The player that acquires a certain number of territories
fastest.
Thought:
Count up the Territory Points (remembering to overlay any Rich Territory Target Territory
Territories
Territories are the campaign goal &
provide reinforcements in battle. The table below has example territories for an ancient or medieval campaign. The number is the number of that type of territory you might include in a typical campaign. Points are given for HotT AP
Number
|
Territory
|
Reinforcement
|
HotT
|
Other Benefit
|
||||
10
|
Mountains
|
Gods, Dragons, Airboats,
Flyers, Aerial Heroes or Horde, Lurker, Sneaker Beasts *
|
1
|
|||||
10
|
Forests
|
Shooters or Horde, Lurker,
Sneaker Beast *
|
1
|
|||||
10
|
Wastes
|
Horde, Blades, Spears,
Warband, Artillery, Cleric, Magician or
Camels *
|
2
|
|||||
5 (or 8)
|
Plains
|
Riders or Beasts **
|
1
|
|||||
8
|
Any Infantry or Aerial **
|
1
|
Flank march
|
|||||
9
|
River Crossing
|
Any Infantry or Cavalry *
|
1
|
Flank march
|
||||
8 (or 9)
|
Farmlands
|
Horde, Blades, Spears,
Warband, Artillery, Cleric, Magician
*
|
2
|
|||||
8
|
Town
|
Cheapest available from Horde, Blades, Spears, Warband, Artillery, Cleric,
Magician *
|
2
|
|||||
8 (or 10)
|
Pasture
|
Riders, Knights, Paladin,
Behemoth, Mounted Heroes **
|
2
|
|||||
5
|
City ***
|
Increases the point value
of a reinforcement provided by another territory. Can't be combined with any
territory providing the "cheapest" type.
|
4
|
|||||
4
|
Port ***
|
Increases the point value
of a reinforcement provided by another territory. Can't be combined with any
territory providing the "cheapest" type.
|
4
|
Flank march
|
||||
5
|
Mines ***
|
Increases the point value
of a reinforcement provided by another territory. Can't be combined with any
territory providing the "cheapest" type.
|
3
|
|||||
4
|
Fortress
|
Either: Aerial or Horde,
Lurker, Sneaker or Knights, Riders, Beasts ** or
On-table fort/strongpoint
|
2
|
** If you don't have such a type then take the cheapest/worst unit in your list instead.
*** City, Port and Mines are rich territories. A player can have at most one rich territory, of any type, at the beginning of the campaign. If you get more than one, then discard the excess and generate some more territories. When using a rich territory the higher point value of the rich territory replaces the point value of the other territory; for example, you'd get one element for a River Crossing but if combined with a Port you would get two elements (not three).
Assumes 24AP per army. The points in the table are the max AP to be spent on that type of troops, unless directed otherwise by *s
Limit armies to Human.
Maybe allow some fantastic
elements? Just no non-humans except animals & things which can be summoned
by magic.
Each army has its 24AP listed
but there are no compulsory/optional troop types, any of the Alternatives can
be used to replace AP as long as the army does not exceed 24AP & the number
of 3+AP elements does not exceed 12AP (reinforcement elements do not count
towards this total)
If a reinforcement troop type
is not available to you, see *s above for alternative.
Western Medieval Stronghold: Castle
1 x Hero +1
1 x Knight General*
5 x Knights +3
2 x Spears +3
2 x Shooters +3
Alt:
1 x Magician (court wizard)+1 (groups of subordinate wizards)
1 x Cleric (bishop) +1
1 x Sneakers (disguised as
musicians or gypsies) +1
1 x Lurkers (robbers, dressed
in green) +3
1 x Paladin
Military Order Medieval Stronghold Castle
1 x Hero General
(Hochmeister)**
3 x Knights (Brethren in Gothic
plate) +3
2 x Spears (Foot Sergeants) +2
2 x Shooters (Crossbowmen) +2
1 x Artillery +1
3 x Hordes (Opressed native
foot) +3
Alt:
1 x Hero (Landmeister)*
1 x Magician (Doktor Faustus)
1 x Cleric (bishop)
1 x Riders (Turcopolen) +1
1 x Blades (Dismounted Knights)? +1
1 x Flyers (Brethren on
flying mounts) +1
Eastern Medieval Stronghold: Oriental
City
1 x Cleric (imam or mullah) +1
1 x Sneakers (assassins) +1
1 x Flyers (magic carpets, flying
horse or winged serpent) +3
1 x Blade General (the Caliph
& his giant negro bodyguards)
4 x Riders (mailed Saracen
horsemen) +3
2 x Shooters (Arab, Saracen
or Nubian archers) +3
2 x Hordes (Arabs with spear
& shield) +3
Alt:
1 x Magician General (the
wicked Vizier)*
1 x Behemoths (djinni or
afrit) +1
1 x Paladin
an afrit is an enormous
winged creature of fire
Barbarian Stronghold: Hill fort or palisaded hall
1 x Hero General (King)*
1 x Magician (shaman) +1
1 x Riders +3
6 x Warband +3
1 x Shooters +1
Alt:
1 x Cleric (druid) +1
1 x Knights (charioteers) +3
1 x Lurkers (ambush party)+3
1 x Beh (Wooly Mammoth) +1
Nomad Stronghold: Wagon laager or yurts & herds
1 x Hero General (Khan)*
1 x Magician (shaman) +1
8 x Riders +3
Alt:
1 x Knights (Nobles) +3
1 x Lurkers (ambush party)+3
Sky Raiders Stronghold: Stockade or grounded ship
1 x Blade General (Captain)*
2 x Shooters +3
6 x Warband +3
2 x Artillery +1
Alt:
1 x Hero General(dashing
Captain)**
2 x Airboat (flying ship)2 +1
1 x Hordes +3
Sea Raiders Stronghold: Stockade or anchored ship
1 x Blade General (Captain)*
2 x Shooters +3
6 x Warband +3
2 x Artillery +1
Alt:
1 x Hero General(dashing
Captain)**
1 x Hordes +3
(Water) Lurkers (crocodiles
or sharks) +3
Dark Powers Stronghold: Black tower or gateway of
ruined city
1 x Magician General (evil sorcerer)**
1 x God (neglected evil god favouring mass human sacrifice) +1
1 x Sneakers (wraiths etc) +1
1 x Riders (mercenary or
fanatic light cavalry) +3
1 x Hordes (enslaved or
deluded inhabitants of conquered
territories) x11 +6?
Alt:
1 x Aerial Hero (powerful
winged demon) +1
1 x Hero General*
1 x Magicians (groups of
subordinate wizards) +1
1 x Flyers (flock of winged
demons) +3
1 x Knights (mercenary heavy
cavalry) +3
1 x Spears. +3
(Water)Lurkers +3
neglected troop types?
Paladin Medievals
Dragon Dark Powers
Beasts Dark Powers giant wolves or Barbarian Wardogs
Also:
Behemoths (Hydra, Chimera
etc) for Dark Powers?
Behemoths (wooly mammoths)
for Barbarians?
Behemoths (Elephants) &
Camel Riders for (South) Eastern Medieval?
Artillery for Medievals?
Hordes (the old, young &
womenfolk) for Nomads?
Naval transport for Raiders?
(probably not)
Hero for Saracens?
What about gaining foreign
technology/troop types by conquest?
eg when new territories are
taken
if your army has a Cleric it
could summon a God? No, clerics are the representatives of monotheistic
deities…..
if a Magician a Dragon/Aerial
Hero (Demon) /Flyer etc? maybe even a God
Local people as
Hordes/Lurkers?
This needs more thought.
NPAs
Non-Player Armies: Maybe have
Raiders (Nomad/Barbarian/Sky/Sea Raiders) as random happenings.
If one of these armies is
being used as a Player Army, it cannot be a NPA
Either dice each time their
“turn” comes around or, better, have Raid Cards in the pack.
If a Raid Card is drawn, all
players dice to see who gets it. There can only be one winner.
The victor of the previous
battle must then re-draw for his new territory.
The owner of the Raid Card
then dices for/chooses which Raiding Army to use & which Army it is to Raid.
Obviously, as the instigating
player cannot gain (or lose) any territories by this, the object would be to
weaken an enemy.
It is possible for a Player
to attack a NPA in his normal turn.
A good campaign should have:
Few players Fewer players
is good. 2 is really good. 6 is ok.
Short Short is
good. People quickly lose motivation. One day campaigns/games are great. If
you're planning a longer more free form campaign then a couple of months is
probably doable. But you'll need a mechanism for people to join/drop out.
Clear victory People
like winning so you need clear victory conditions.
Clear finish A clear
finish is essential to maintain momentum. My experience is that open ended
campaigns peter out when people lose interest. A clear finish could be provided
by:
- Specific victory conditions like "First player to capture the
ancient capital wins"
- Number of turns, e.g. campaign ends after 12 campaign turns.
- Elapsed real time, e.g. end of the day or end of 2 months.
Little paper work Less paper work means less mistakes and more gaming. Some people enjoy
the logistical element of campaigns but most don’t. No paper work is best.
Minimal is ok. Loads is no fun.
- HotT campaigns have no paperwork. Dead troops are transferred to a
reserve and these are the only troops you can recruit. Dead simple.
- But if you run a HotT campaign over time, i.e. more than one day,
then suddenly you have to record what is in each field army and in each
reserve. Not a lot but it takes effort.
- Written orders, flexible orders of battle, secret orders all add
paperwork. I tend to avoid them.
No umpire An umpire
is useful but it means somebody doesn't get to play and most people like
playing.
Low Maintenance Campaign Rule This is based on Peers, C. (2002,
Sept). The East is Ablaze: 1919-1926: Some ideas and army lists for a Central
Asian Campaign The Army Lists Part 2. Wargames Illustrated, 180, 42-47.
In this article Chris Peers outlines a simple
but effective method for running a campaign without a map, and ignoring all
those pesky things that can bog a campaign down (politics, diplomacy, economics
and logistics). Here are a couple of variations on his system.
Free-For-All Campaign Chris's
article describes a free for all campaign where all players compete to reach a
goal (in his case a significant city). You win if you reach the goal first. All
players start 12 stages from the goal. You can advance a stage in one of two
ways:
1.
By winning a
battle against another player.
2.
By making a
"forced march" along dangerous short cuts, assumed to be across
deserts or mountain passes where water, food, and/or shelter is in short
supply.
Turns represent about a month (not that it
really matters). Each turn starts with the Umpire assigning the initiative to one player. The obvious way is randomly amongst the players who turn up.
In their turn a player can choose do one of three things:
1.
Attack any other
player. You can pick anybody as the area of activity is assumed to be
sufficiently small that it doesn't matter who is where. The winner advances one
stage nearer the goal and the loser retreats one stage further away. Anybody
who is driven more than 15 stages from the goal is out of the game.
2.
Forced march.
Throw 1d6: on 1-3 you get lost and turn up back where you started; on 4-6 you
advance a stage. Either way if you are attacked before your next turn then some
of your army may still be lost in the wilderness and either won't be available
at all for the battle or will straggle in late. For each unit throw 1d6: 1-2
not available at all; 3 straggle in late; 4+ available from start. Fast moving
troops (e.g. cavalry, vehicles) get a +1 on this roll, i.e. are more likely to
be available.
3.
Do nothing
Use any rules you want for the battles. The
players armies should be as evenly matched as possible and if you are using a
points system then agree the points before the campaign starts. The
"attacker" in the tactical battle is the player who elected to attack
using their campaign initiative. All losses are recovered between battles.
Them-And-Us Campaign I really
liked Chris's ideas, but often war wasn't a free for all, but involved multiple
force teams. I think you only have to make a couple of changes to the basic
system to achieve this:
- Each side has different goals (e.g. different enemy capitals to
capture); not that it makes a difference to how the game is played.
- You can only attack somebody from the other team.
- You personally win if you reach the enemy capital before your team mates and before any enemy player reaches your capital; and your side wins the team competition at the same time.
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