Campaign Rules

Here are some ideas for a narrative map-based campaign I will start with Krüger and Sven this week. It's a first draft. Comments are welcome.

We will use different rulesets like HotT and Warhammer to play out battles, maybe even GURPS for special scenarios.

I play ancient Greeks who just landed on the island of Waltrop. They start on hexagon 32. Sven plays Greeks who start on hexagon 61. Krüger plays Orcs. He will choose 5 hexagons in secret to place his villages. Until the Greeks find the Orc villages hidden in the jungle, they fight random encounters which could look like this:

random encounters beach

1 orcs

2-3 goblins

4-6 nothing

random encounters jungle

1 green creatures

2 orcs

3 goblins

4 cannibals wearing scary masks

5 field of magical green crystals or old temple

6 nothing

If the Greeks win a random encounter, they occupy the hexagon they fought in, otherwise they retreat.

After the first orc village has been discovered in the jungle, the Orcs will start to move on the campaign map the same way as the Greeks. Random encounters for Orcs could include other tribes of savage Orcs and Greek warbands. If Orcs and Greeks meet in a hexagon, they fight for it. The looser has to retreat.

How an army fights and which hexagons it occupies should have a relation to the composition of the army.

In the 4th edition of 40K there were good rules for upgrading units or characters that fought especially well.

In our case, switching between different rulesets might present some difficulties. HotT is much more abstract than Warhammer, and GURPS would be best to play out special missions for characters.

At the beginning, armies could have some restrictions. Orcs might need to own hills to field trolls and giants, for example, and Greeks might need a temple to field priests. We could allow players to build havens, temples, even cities, but then we need some kind of monetary system. Will players receive gold if they sack a village or camp? I need talk to Sven and Krüger about this.

Oldhammer & Rogue Trader

Here are four Oldhammer and Rogue Trader blogs I discovered recently. Amazing stuff. Check it out!

Realm of Chaos 80s

Warhammer for Adults

Deathworld Adventures

Roebeast's Magical House of Sunshine

The Real Waltrop

Krüger and I are planning a campaign for HotT and Warhammer. It's going to take place on an island. The armies involved will probably be Hoplites and Orcs, maybe wild men wearing scary tribal masks instead of Orcs. (Hey Jörg, you can still join us! A pity you don't like Greek hoplites.) The island will be called Waltrop.

There is a place called Waltrop near Dortmund, the city Krüger and I are from. The real Waltrop is a little city in North Rhein-Westphalia. Our friend Jörg with whom we play 40K is from Waltrop.

To get some inspiration for our imaginary island Waltrop, a month ago Krüger and I visited the real Waltrop. We found out that they have panda bears, coffee, bananas, giant sea horses and an abandoned disco called "Pam Pam".

I just noticed I got kicked out of the blog network Tale of Painters, which is understandable because I haven't posted too much about GW products lately. Understandable, but it still hurts.

I hope I wont loose any of my 16 followers because of this blog post. Bear with me. Please.

Wargaming Weekend

Two weeks ago my cousin Sven came over to Berlin for my birthday. I'm 44 now which means I have been into tabletop and role-playing games for 30 years.

My original plan was to organise a HOTT mini-campaign for the weekend, but we played one game of Warhammer, 40K and HOTT instead.

The first game was Warhammer Fantasy on Friday night. Krüger came over and teamed up with Sven against me for a 1500 point battle. They played orcs & goblins, I played wood elves.

My list still is a bit fragile because I started to collect wood elves not so long ago. Their list included a giant, 4 trolls, a large unit of orcs, a unit of orc boar boys, 2 units of night goblins with fanatics and some goblins on spiders. A nice looking army.

The game felt a bit like the horrible German boardgame "Mensch ärger dich nicht". The dice and our lists determined what happened, strategic thinking didn't matter much. The worst moment was when I managed to cast "The call of the hunt" on my eternal guard, an augment spell, giving each model an extra attack, and still lost the unit in close combat that turn. The game played itself. It was a waste of time.

I'm not saying that this was anybody's fault. Actually balanced, exciting games are difficult to organise if one player brings a fragile list and the other players have a lot more models to choose from. The game was over after turn 3. (I guess I have to put some effort into making my list less fragile.)

Saturday afternoon, my cousin and I played 40K. We played the 5th edition, including some rules from the 6th edition like overwatch and rolling the charge range. Because of peer pressure half a year ago I thought I had to switch to the 6th edition, although I like the 5th edition much better. (It's a pity that Alessio Cavatore left Games Workshop.) After endless discussions my friends and I compromised on using the 5th edition as our main ruleset and including our favourite rules from other editions as house rules. This way everybody has to think what rules he really likes and why. Games are much more fun this way, I think.

So on Saturday we played a 1000 point battle. The scenario was capture + control and spearhead. Sven had brought his Tau from Munich, I played Plague Marines. Sven's Tau are one of the coolest armies I have played against. They are really well painted, with lots of stuff on the field. The game was quite exciting. It lasted for 7 turns and ended in a tie.

On Sunday morning, which was my birthday, I played HOTT against my cousin. I think HOTT is my favourite game at the moment.

I played wood elves: hero (general), 4 spears, 3 shooters, 1 behemoth, 1 flyer.

Sven played goblins: warband (general), 3 warbands, 2 riders, 2 beasts, 1 behemoth, 1 hero.

I was the defender. I put a temple in the centre which led to both of us dividing our armies into two parts. The 4 warbands on Sven's right side, including his general, stayed in the woods and didn't make it into close combat.

At the start of the game, his hero killed my flyer.Then my hero general killed one of his beasts.

His hero killed two of my shooters.

My remaining shooter killed his hero. (Wow!)

Two of my spears killed his other beast.

My hero general killed his behemoth.

I won the game and we went to a Greek restaurant in Kreuzberg to get drunk. Thanks to everybody involved this was a great gaming weekend.

2013

Last year I played 24 tabletop games, 9 games of 40K, 5 games of Warhammer Fantasy and 10 games of HOTT. Eight of these games were team games.

I played 22 times with Krüger, 8 times with Jörg, twice with Patrick and once with Sven and Andi.

I won 16 games and lost 8 games.

I played Gurps once.

This year we want to start a combined Warhammer / HOTT / Gurps campaign. The theme will be tropical islands. Maybe Jörg and Krüger will paint some Amazon Indians, man-eating plants or at least a tapir?

We also want to start playing the 6th edition of 40K.

And I want to play Gurps with my kids. 

Happy new year!

Wood Elves vs. Orcs & Goblins

I just finished reading the Warhammer rulebook for the third time. The core rules of the current edition have 180 pages. Do people play wargames because they enjoy to read big rulebooks and  memorise complex rules?

Saturday afternoon Krüger came over to play Warhammer. Krüger certainly enjoys learning rules. Sometimes I think his mind works like a chess computer.

Krüger played Orcs & Goblins. I played Wood Elves.

I changed my army list a bit to include a fast unit. I have a Wood Elf Noble on a Great Stag which the very talented Simon Bradley painted for me as a commission. My hero always got shot off his mount in turn 2 or 3 when I played against Krüger's High Elves. So I stopped using it. Krüger's Orcs & Goblins don't have many shooters. Against this army, a lone hero on a great stag is a very good choice for a fast unit.

This is my new 1500 point army list:

Wood Elf Highborn (lord / 226 points) 
great weapon, armour of silvered steel, hail of doom arrow

Wood Elf Noble (hero / 200 points) 
wild rider, glittering scales, great stag

Spellsinger (hero / 150 points)
level 2 wizard
dispel scroll

20 Eternal Guards (core unit / 295 points)
champion, standard bearer, musician
war banner

10 Glade Guards (core unit / 126 points)
champion

8 Dryads (core unit / 108 points)
champion

8 Dryads (core unit / 108 points)
champion

Treeman (rare unit / 285 points)

As I tend to loose Warhammer Fantasy battles against Krüger, he allowed me to place the terrain. I put a Slann temple in one third of the table and covered the rest of the battlefield with woods, just leaving a corridor of open ground for my longbows.

We played "battleline", the first scenario from the book.

I put the treeman, the eternal guards and the glade guards in the centre and the two units of dryads on the left and right next to them. I placed my mounted hero in a wood all the way on the right flank.

Krüger deployed his giant and all of his infantry in the centre and put a unit of orc boar boys and a unit of goblin wolf riders in front. On his left side, opposite to my mounted hero, he placed a goblin chariot and a unit of goblin wolf riders.

A large unit of night goblins squabbled twice and didn't make it into the battle. Otherwise Krüger's troops weren't affected by animosity.

I was able to weaken Krüger's centre using magic and shooting attacks. ("Strangle roots" and "hail of doom arrow" are quite effective.) What was left was destroyed in close combat.

On my right flank the mounted wood elf noble destroyed the goblin chariot and the wolf riders. (No wonder goblins fear elves.) After that my hero was able to attack a unit of orc boys in the rear which was already engaged in combat. My hero was destroyed, but he was the only unit I lost in this game.

In turn 4 the orc general fled and Krüger gave up.

I feel much more comfortable playing Warhammer now. Reading the rules again helped, my new army list is much more fun and I enjoy playing against Krüger's Orcs & Goblins a lot.

Take a look at Krüger's blog where he posted some pictures of the game!

2012

If you have been reading this blog you already know that I like numbers. So here we go:

This year I played 26 tabletop games, 9 games of 40K, 9 games of Warhammer Fantasy and 8 games of HOTT. Three of these games were team games.

I played 25 times with Krüger, twice with my cousin Sven and twice with Patrick.

I won 11 games, lost 11 games and 4 games were tied.

Apart from the little accident we had two weeks ago, it was a good gaming year. Let's see what happens in 2013!

Krüger's Orks & Goblins

Yesterday night, Krüger and I had a game of Warhammer Fantasy. I played my Wood Elf army, he brought 1500 points of Orks & Goblins. This is his army list:

Orc Warboss (lord / 171 points)
great weapon, armour of destiny

Orc Big Boss (hero / 73 points)
boar, light armour

Night Goblin Big Boss (hero / 36 points)
great weapon, light armour

Night Goblin Shaman (hero / 85 points)
level 2 wizard
magic mushrooms

20 Orc Big 'Uns (core unit / 215 points)
champion, standard bearer, musician
shields

20 Orc Boys (core unit / 175 points)
champion, standard bearer, musician
additional hand weapon, shields

30 Night Goblins (core unit / 215 points)
champion, standard bearer, musician
nets, shields
2 fanatics

5 Goblin Wolf Riders (core unit / 50 points)

5 Goblin Wolf Riders (core unit / 50 points)

Goblin Wolf Chariot (special unit / 50 points)

8 Orc Boar Boys (special unit / 179 points)
champion, standard bearer, musician

Giant (rare unit / 200 points)

The game was quite entertaining as it was tied until the last turn, when the dice turned against me and I finally lost. My two main mistakes: to accept a challenge with my general and not to use the treeman's Strangle-roots attack as a stand and shoot charge reaction against Krüger's giant.

You can find a complete battle report with pictures on Krüger's blog Spielosophie.

Army List Wood Elves

My 1500 point Wood Elf army:

Wood Elf Highborn (lord / 226 points)

great weapon, armour of silvered steel, hail of doom arrow

Spellsinger (hero / 150 points)

level 2 wizard

dispel scroll

23 Eternal Guards (core unit / 331 points)

champion, standard bearer, musician

war banner

20 Glade Guards (core unit / 264 points)

champion, standard bearer, musician

9 Dryads (core unit / 120 points)

champion

9 Dryads (core unit / 120 points)

champion

Treeman (rare unit / 285 points)

The picture shows the general, a Wood Elf Highborn that was painted by Simon Bradley as a commission. I'm going to play against Krüger's High Elves or Orks on Tuesday night. I hope it will be fun.

Wood Golem

This treeman currently causes a lot of distress in our games of Warhammer Fantasy. It's actually a Wood Golem by Ral Partha which Patrick gave to me a couple of years ago. It was painted by Andrew Taylor as a commission.

Krüger is really scared of it. He says my Treeman dominates the game and that he has to field strong units against it as an antidote. Thus the poor thing hardly ever survives the first turn.

Like yesterday night, when it was blasted away by some wicked high elf mage using the spell "searing doom" on it. We played 1500 points, High Elves against Wood Elves. It was a hard fight that lasted 3 hours. On my side only two elements survived: a unit of dryads and my general, a Wood Elf Highborn on foot. The survivors on Krüger's side were a chariot, a great eagle and his general, a Prince on an elven steed loaded with all kinds of twinkling magic objects, which High Elves seem to enjoy. The game ended in a tie.

The Last 3 Years

Three years ago I started to collect data about the tabletop games I play - with whom I played, when, which game, with how many points, who won, who lost, etc. I did this mainly because my cousin Sven often complained about balance problems he experienced while playing games like Warhammer and Warmachine. I think in a good game both sides should have a fair chance. Why should you start playing when it's clear from the beginning that one side will most probably end up winning?

All in all, I have played 57 times since October 13th 2009. Thirty-two of these games were team games involving 3 or more people. I have played Warhammer 40K 39 times, Warhammer Fantasy 11 times and Hordes of the Things 7 times. There are 3 people I mostly play with: Krüger (53 times), Patrick (31 times) and Sven (12 times). Since Sven doesn't live in Berlin anymore, so 4 games a year aren't too bad.

I won 24 times, lost 22 times, the other 11 games were tied. In our gaming group, the games are relatively balanced. That said, at the moment we have some difficulties with Warhammer Fantasy. I only recently started collecting Wood Elves, whereas Krüger, against whom I usally play the game, already has a well organized, strong 2000 point High Elf army. (Why on earth do they "always strike first"?)

Here is the ranking for all 3 games I play. The number in brackets shows how often a player won. I only counted games I was involved in.

40K: Krüger (58%) / Herr Zinnling (55%) / Sven (50%) / Patrick (41%)

Warhammer Fantasy: Patrick (100%) / Krüger (65%) / Herr Zinnling (41%) / Sven (33%)

HOTT: Herr Zinnling (57%) / Krüger (43%)

All of the above games: Krüger (58%) / Herr Zinnling (52%) / Sven (46%) / Patrick (45%) 

Krüger is the best player in our group. And Patrick should finally accept the challenge to fight my Wood Elves!