This is a very nice Warhammer Campaign by Christian Ellegaard, who was nice enough to let me put it up on my page. You can drop him a line at: Christian_Ellegaard@skolekom.dk  Or snail-mail him at:

Christian Bene Ellegaard
Pilegaardsparken 60
3460 Birkerød
Denmark

Warhammer Wars


Long, long time ago, when the White Dwarf magazine had only passed its
first 180 issues, the boys from the White Dwarf team were running a larger
Warhammer campaign lead by all-time Jervis Johnson. Mr. Johnson himself
introduced his readers to a kind of campaign called a narrative campaign
(WD 181) which was generally built up from a short story (you know Jervis
Johnson - he always plays Warhammer and Warhammer 40,000 with a movie or a
book in his mind!). The main idea of the campaigns was that both players
agreed to find a suitable place in the Old World where the campaign could
take place, decide a background for the campaign and so on. Depending on
the result of the previous battle the players should find out what their
armies would do afterwards - if the winners would pursue the losers and
attack them in a mountain pass or they should try to get some
reinforcements to prepare for the next battle.
During the next years the White Dwarf magazine frequently came up with
ideas for new campaigns, scenarios etc. Jervis Johnson's genious idea
seemed to have won the hearts of the Warhammer players all over the world,
and most recently they have started a production of campaign packs
including buildings, backgrounds, maps, rules and everything else needed
to form a special campaign between two rivaling races.
So far so good. But hardened Warhammer players as well as less
experienced commanders may have noticed some drawbacks to these narrative
campaigns. The main problem is that everything seems to be so out-thinked.
Everything has been carefully planned before the campaign. The army
commanders know what will happen if they lose the first battle, it has
been planned that the defeated army will flee across the River of Fog,
rally in the Mogusha Heights and gather a defense against the raging
Bretonnians.
To overcome this problem I sat down with my copy of the Cronicles of War
(an old book containing several nail-biting battle-reports and strategies
all taken from the White Dwarf) and began to write rules for another kind
of campaigns called map campaigns (yes, dear reader, I can hear you crying
"Oh my god! Map campaigns!", but wait a moment!). You have a map in front
of you, and you move your army divisions across it. If two enemy armies
confront eachother they will get into combat, and you must fight a normal
Warhammer battle to see who will win.
I know it, I know it. I am by no means the first one to talk about map
campaigns. But the ones who have tried it have usually dropped it very
quickly again. One of the thing that doesn't really work is the annoying
"I-charge-your-500pts-with-my-4000pts-legion" aspect appearing in many map
campaigns. But here I have tried to counter some of the problems which
might spoil your map campaigns.

Mapping and preparing

Before the campaign starts sit down with your opponent with a copy of
the standard hex map and draw the map. Each of the players decide where
they will have their home base, and then you draw mountains, bogs, swamps,
forests, rivers, bays, plains, villages and so on. There are no
restrictions of what to include in a map, only you must remember what is
normal ground, difficult terrain, very difficult terrain and impassable
terrain. Each hex should be associated with its own corour to remember
what kind of terrain it is. Keep in mind that for every player joining the
campaign you should have at around 25 x 25 squares to ensure, that players
do have enough space for using their tactical ideas.
Why not make some special rules for certain terrain - for example, if an
army division crosses a swamp with quicksands you must roll a dice for
each unit and character. On a 6 it has been taken by the swamp ... remove
the character or unit from the roster!
Decide how many points you will play with. It can be everything from
4,000 points to a mammoth 15,000 points campaign - even larger if you want
it! Set a turn limit, for example 36 turns, and after the war count your
War Points together and see who is the overall winner.
Divide your total army into smaller divisions of for example 500 to
3,000 point. For every army division you have I recommend you to make a
banner or pin mounted on a foot (Citadel Miniatures' "green stuff" is
excellent for this) so you can distinguish them from eachother. You must
have one army list for each army you have, and you cannot change them
after they has left their home base.
Map campaigns are very useful when players are writing a background for
their own, personal army. The war can be included in the army's history,
and if one player's army win the entire war he has won that area where the
war has been fought. Later the loser might come back in an attemp to
re-capture the land.

Rules

To ensure that players remember to do what they have to do I have made a
turn sequense. This is the backbone of the campaign. Each turn in a map
campaign represents one hour in the Warhammer world.

Turn sequense

1st phase Command: All commandment subjects should be done here. I.e.
changing commands, rolling for Ld etc.

2nd phase Move: All troops move with their Movement rating with any
special rules caused by commands.

Commands

When the war starts and the army divisions are advancing, you can give
the forces different commands. When an army division is in your home base
you can give them commands without rolling for the general's Leadership.
This is because you, the supreme general, have such an influence on the
troops that they will automaticly obey.
Although you are not together with the army division (you are sitting in
your home palace guarded by hundreds of your most faithful elite warriors
and it should not ebb in brackets) you can tell your generals what to do.
Horse riders are constantly passing messages between you and the generals,
and in this way you control the entire force.
You can try to change a given command by rolling equal to or under the
divisional general's Ld value. If the command change is succesful, the
army must operate as the commander has told them to do. Otherwise the
division is not allowed to move at all.

Patrol: This is the most common command used in map campaigns. When you
have managed to give the army the patrol command you can at any time
cancel this command in favour of another command. The army, however, can
do nothing special but move and fight.

Scout: This command may only be given to army divisions of 1000 points or
lower. The army cannot fight and must always refuse to take part in a
battle no matter of the result. However, when your attention zone is
adjacent to an opponent's attention zone, roll a dice. On a 1-4 you have
been discovered, and you must flee from the enemy (see Fleeing and
pursuing). But on 5-6 you have managed to infiltrate the opponent, and he
must give you all the informations about his army including the army list
of that division!

Attack: An army with this command must always try to get into combat. If
an enemy appears within 5 squares of your division you must try to
challenge them. If he refuses to battle you, you are allowed to choose the
result of the Generals Discussing table!

Defend: This command may be given to an army which is inside a village,
inside the home base, within the walls of a city etc. or following another
friendly army division. In the last case the defending army must always be
beneath the defended army, and if it leaves any adjacent square to the
defended army the command is canceled. If any opponent tries to attack a
defended city or army, the opponent will be attacked by your army, and the
city or army can only be attacked if the enemy defeats the defending army.

Block: This command may only be given to an army of 1,000 points or more.
The army is supposed to block a passage, a bridge etc. If any opponents
try to get through the hex, they must defeat the blocking army. However,
blocking armies are not allowed to move at all. When playing against a
blocking army, the following scenario should be used:

Blocking army always sets up first. 5 turns. The penetrating army receives
one Victory Point for every unit having crossed the blocking army's table
edge. The blocking army receives one Victory Point for every two opposing
units left on the table after battle. If penetrating army wins it may pass
through the blocked passage. In any other case they have been stopped, and
the blocking army may choose to pursue. Blocking armies may never be
pursued and will never flee as the battle is not, in fact, a battle, but
an attemp to penetrate.

Movement

All army divisions start from the home base of the force. The Movement
value of a single army matters of what races are following the army.
Although their Movement values might be different in battles, here are the
standard Movement ratings for the different races:

Humans (including Brettonians, Arabians etc.): 4 squares. They are not
particulary fast, and they have to carry many cannons, heavy weapons and
armours and so on.

Horse armies (all units mounted): 6 squares. Armies entirely consisting of
mounted forces (Brettonians are likely to include such armies) will move 6
squares instead of their normal Movement values. Although horses might
ride very fast on the battlefield, they are more difficult to handle while
traveling. The horses must have a Movement of at least 7".

Dwarfs and Chaos Dwarfs: 5 squares. Additionally, they will not suffer any
movement penalties while crossing mountains, stony areas etc. The Dwarfs
can march over a longer period than humans, and although they move only 3
inches in battles they are able to cover much more ground while marching.

Chaos: 5 squares. In addition, when moving on harsh lands (like woods,
forests etc. where the ground counts as difficult or very difficult) they
will receive a +1 bonus for moving because they are used to march through
difficult terrain in their native lands.

Wood Elves: 6 squares in forests and woods, 4 squares anywhere else.

All other Elves: 5 squares. The homelands of the Elves used to be very
much variated, and the Elven warriors are experienced travelers.

Greenskins: 4 squares, 5 squares under "Move ya!" special command. This
special command can only be given to greenskins, and it uses the normal
rules for commands. However, a fast moving greenskin army will need some
extra raw Waaagh! power, and therefore D6 Goblins of either tribe from
each regiment will be slaughtered in favour of their comrades. When they
get hungry they just eat some Goblins! Every turn after the command has
been given you must roll a D6. On a roll of 1 the greenskins have eaten
all the Goblins and must slaughter some more!

Skaven: 5 squares above ground, 6 squares in tunnels. Before the campaign
starts the Skaven player is allowed to dig out any number of tunnels. The
Skaven player has got 20 tunnel squares from which he can dig out the
tunnels, and at any time the player wishes he can either dive into a
tunnel or go above ground from a tunnel. Mark the tunnels on the map with
a fat, brown line. A Skaven army may continue to dig out the tunnels from
anywhere under the ground, and for every 1 hour the army can dig out one
square of tunnel. Any opposing troops crossing over a Skaven tunnel system
must roll a D6. On a roll of 1 they have been discovered by the rats, and
these may wish to attack the opponent.

Undead: 3 squares. The Necromancer may attemp to force the army into march
by rolling a D6. On 3+ the army obeys and they may move an extra square.
Otherwise it will move only 3 squares. However, Undead armies may cross
light swamps without penalties. Armies lead by Tomb Kings from Araby may
cross deserts without penalties.

Lizardmen: 4 squares. They may cross bogs, swamps, marches, small rivers,
jungles etc. without penalties.

All others: 4 squares. Unless you choose to add some special rules for
special armies, the standard Movement rating should be 4.

If moving on roads, armies will receive a +1 bonus.
Armies must follow the slowest moving troops. That means if a Chaos
Dwarf army contains any Goblins or Orcs they will move 4 squares every
turn unless they force the greenskins to move faster (see special rules
for greenskins). Skaven armies with Undead allies must follow "them
bones", and although the speedy rats will travel 5 miles every hour the
Undead troops slow them down.
Every army has its own attention zone. This is an area covered by
scouts, which is usually the fastest troops of the army. They are checking
the area around the army, and they ensure that no enemies are standing in
the way of the division. The attention zone is everything within two
squares of the advancing army.
You are very welcome to enter villages and cities with your armies. If
you at any time enters your home base, you are allowed to change the army
list in favour of some more powerful characters, regiments etc. This is
the only time where you may do so, and it is also the only time where you
can split an army division into two minor armies.

Attack!

If an army's attention zone enters an opposing army's attention zone the
two generals must meet. You must decide if you want to fight a battle
against the opponent, and he must do the same. If both generals agree to
fight, a battlefield must immidiately be assembled, and set up the two
armies exactly as they are shown on their army list. Remember that it is
strictly illegal to suddenly change the army if you see another
combination might fit better against the enemy.
If both generals agree to leave eachother without fightning, each
general must give his opponent a prisoner which must be a character,
monster, troop or whatever of at least 50 points. Note down this on the
army lists. Prisoners cannot fight in battles.
If the generals cannot agree if they shall fight or keep peace, they
must try to find out what to do. Talk to eachother, try to do some
business. Try to show your opponent what a cold-blooded general you are
and that he can't just do something that doesn't fit into your plans! A
solution might be that the refuser must pay the attacker 3 War Points and
leave, or you might find out to give some extra prisoners, hand over a
friendly village etc.
If no solution seems to be possible, you must roll on the Generals
Discussing table below.

Generals Discussing table

D6 roll Result Effect
1 Then I'll take ya! Both generals will be drawn into a bitter fight
between eachother. Use the characteristics shown on the army lists,
and start the fight in hand-to-hand combat. No spells or monsters
are used although magic items are perfectly allowed. No break
tests, terror tests etc. are taken, and only close combat are
fought. If the refusing general wins the combat he may leave
without fighting a battle. If the attacker wins, the refusing
general's army will flee. The attacker may pursue as normal.
Generals who are killed are removed from the roster, and another
character must take his job. It is allowed to surrender.

2 Let's see... Refuser must choose one unit of at least 500 points. If
this is not possible, take more until at least 500 points have
been spent. Attacker must take an equal number of units of no
more cost that the refuser has spent. Place the attacking
unit(s) adjacent to the table edge of a 36" long table, and the
refusing unit(s) must be placed 1" in front of the attacker. The
refuser go first. Roll to see how many inches the unit(s) will
flee, and then the attacker must try to pursue them. If the
refuser disappears off the opposing side of the table without
being caught the army can leave. Otherwise the unit is
slaughtered and must be crossed off the army list.

3 Prisoner The refusing army must give the attacking army a prisoner of
at least 150 points. This must be a character, a monster, a
wizard etc, but not a normal troop. If this is not possible,
then more characters or wizards or monsters must be handed over.

4 Fair battle The two armies must fight an equal battle of equal points.
Set a limit (for example 500 or 1000 points) and pick out troops
from the existing army list. Remember to follow the army
selection limits to ensure that a Giant will not accompany a 500
point skirmishing group! The entire losing army will flee, and
the winner may choose to pursue them.

5 All right, but... The refuser is left with a caution. If he refuses to
fight a battle once more, he will be ignored, and the entire
army will be pursued no matter which enemy army they run into.

6 You silly! The refuser is allowed to pass through, but the attacking
general will receive 3 War Point for having won a moral victory!

Battles are always fought in four turns. A battle lasts for an entire
hour, so this turn any other army divisions may move. Count any Victory
Points, or if the battle has been fought a special place (for example in a
deep forest or in a mountain pass) and you have argued to use a special
scenario, find out who is the winner, and the loser must flee. The winner
may decide if he wants to pursuit the fleeing opponent.
After a battle the armies will go back to the square where they stayed
while the two opposing generals negotiated. The ones who are fighting are
not the only ones who join the armies - without the other comrades the
army would never have a silly chance of navigating through the landscape!
From this hex the armies will flee and pursuit.
Although it might be possible to rally an army division, it has still
lost several warriors, and many have been wounded. Therefore armies may
not be involved in battles until they reach their home base (or any other
friendly village, if you play a larger campaign). If passing an opposing
army, the army division must refuse to fight regardless of what might
happen. When the army has entered the home base, any dead soldiers or
wounded warriors are either cured or replaced, and the army is ready to
fight again.

Fleeing and pursuing

When an army division looses a battle it will normally flee. Roll 2D6
and move the division that number of squares directly away from the foe
and, if possible, towards its home base. The winner may choose either to
continue to move as normal under the same commands as before the battle,
or the division may try to pursue the fleeing opponent. Roll 2D6, and if
the pursuing army manages to catch the fleeing troops the loser is totally
hacked into pieces! Yes, the life is brutal in the Warhammer world, but we
can't change on that!
Any troops fleeing or purtuing from battle will lose any stationary war
machines. Chariots, Doomwheels etc. are not treated like stationary, but
cannons, bolt throwers and so on are. War machines can be captured
afterwards by either player although the specific race may not be able to
use that machine.
A fleeing army may in its command phase try to rally by rolling equal to
or under the general's Ld value. If the army is rallied, it may do nothing
during its Movement phase, but in the opponent's next turn the pursuers
must stop pursuing because they will only get slaughtered themselves if
they run into the enemy! If a fleeing army manages to get within the walls
of a friendly city or the home base, it will automaticly be rallied. Any
wounds caused to the warriors will be restored as soon as the army enters
the home base. Otherwise the losers of the battle must continue to flee,
and the pursuers may continue to try to pursue them if the still think
they can. If a pursuer thinks that he is out of range, he may gather his
troops again which takes one turn.

Victory

At the end of the war each side should count together all the War Points
he has collected. Use the table below.

1 War Point Each enemy prisoner held at the end of the war.

1 War Point Each friendly prisoner taken back and held at the end of the
war.

2 War Points Every enemy war machine captured and held during the battle

5 War Points Each enemy army division defeated.

5 War Points For each friendly army division of at least 1000 points
remaining at the end of the war.

War Points War Points equal to the total points value of a slaughtered
enemy army divided with 100 rounding up to nearest 100 (i.e. 2367
points are worth 24 War Points and so on).

Multiple player campaigns

As with Warhammer, map campaigns can be much more fun if multiple
players join the war. However, you will run into some obstacles that will
not happen if you play only two. The biggest problem is that you are
pretty sure to have at least one battle every turn when the war has
started. But not every player will get into struggle every turn, so that
means that some players will be left over to watch. They feel that they
don't really join the campaign, and the only thing they spend two or three
hours on moving their army divisions and watch a battle or two before they
may move again.
So I highly recommend you to play only two-player campaigns. If
otherwise, you should better gather the players every weekend and play
several turns on the map until the first army gets into struggle. The
battle or the battles are played during the week, and the next weekend you
can continue the campaign. This, however, might result in only one turn
being played every weekend.
If you really want to play it in this way you better meet in a holiday
and hold a massive Warhammer week. This is great fun, and the players will
be concentrated 100 % on the game. If you can do so, then any players left
over during a turn can, while other battles are being played, play against
another player who has been left over too and try out their tactics so
they will not waste their time.
Another way to handle multiple player campaigns is to split the players
into two major allies. If one player gets into two battles one turn and
one of his allied players are not, then one of these battles are handed
over to the player who originally would not have to play any battles. The
player will still feel that he fights for his own side, and hopefully he
will do his best to win the battle.
Set a limit of how many battles to be played every turn. If you are four
players, then say maximum two battles every hour. This represents that
while some armies are fighting for the sake of their race, then other
armies will have to provide food, drinking etc. By setting a battle limit
you are fairly sure that every player will fight every turn, and you avoid
multible battles that have to be played during one turn.
So, generally two-player campaigns work best, but with a little bit of
cleverness you should could convert your campaigns into multi-player wars.

Conclusion

Map campaigns are, of course, extremely challenging. Tactics are playing
a very important role in the game. It is impossible to cover every small
situation that could appear, and these rules are after all just a
foundation for more advanced rules. Adding things like ruined cities,
temples, graveyards etc. to the map and giving them special rules will
raise the game a lot as well as rules for mining and tunnelling will do
it. If I should describe all possible rules for map campaigns, this
article would rather take up several books. However, I recommend you to
play a single campaign with these rules before you begin to add more stuff
- you must learn to crawl before you can walk.
Try to write down a background story for the war. This makes it all more
exciting, and why not write special scenarios and objectives for special
occations. For example, if one army took over a city in the previous war,
the loser might have gathered some reinforcements and are now returning
with new recruits. If he can burn down the city he has won the war, but if
the army controling the city manages to hold back the attackers, they will
win.
Yes, the possibilities are endless. By combining the narrative campaigns
with map campaigns you will hopefully reach a very satisfying result, and
the random aspect of the game which is missing in the narrative campaigns
will appear again.