Tuesday, June 28, 2011

Weather Conditions

Weather Conditions


Winter


2D6

Result

2

Blizzard: All models gain stealth.

3 to 4

Cold Snap: Warrior models without Immunity: Cold that did not move and are not engaged in melee suffer a POW 6 damage roll at the end of their controlling player's turn. Warjacks without Immunity: Cold that did not move and are not engaged in melee suffer -1 DEF.

5 to 9

Clear Skies: No Special Weather effects

10 to 11

Ice Storm: Any models that are hit by a successful Slam or Throw power attack are moved +2. A knocked down model must roll a d6 anytime it tries to stands up during its activation. On a roll of 1 or 2, the model slips and falls down and remains knocked down.

12

Deep Snow: Models without Immunity: Cold and Pathfinder suffer -2 movement, but can still charge and slam.


Spring


2D6

Result

2

Flash Flood: Roll a d6 each round before the first player's turn. On a roll of 1 or 2, the battlefield is flash flooded. All non-elevated terrain becomes Shallow Water for the round.

3 to 4

Heavy Rain: All models suffer -2 RAT. Additionally, living models suffer -1 CMD.

5 to 9

Clear Skies: No Special Weather effects

10 to 11

Powerful Winds: All AOE ranged attacks that miss their targets deviate one extra inch and have no minimum deviation range. All cloud effects leave play at the end of each turn.

12

Thunderstorm: Models with Immunity: Electricity gain +1 CMD. Attacks with the Electricity damage type have +1 POW.

Summer


2D6

Result

2

Cyclone: Place a 5” Cloud effect in the center of the table to represent the cyclone. At the beginning of each player's maintenance phase, the cyclone moves 1d6” in a random direction determined by the deviation template. Any model touched by the cyclone is thrown 1d6 inches in a random direction with the same effect as a Throw power attack, suffering a POW 12 damage roll. The cyclone leaves play if any part of its template moves off the table.

3 to 4

Flash Fire: A flash fire begins on a randomly determined table edge to the right or left of the deployment zones. At the beginning of each player's maintenance phase, the flash fire moves 1d6 inches toward the opposite table edge in a line running the length of the table. Any model crossing or crossed by the flash fire suffers a POW 12 Fire damage roll and the Fire continuous effect.

5 to 9

Clear Skies: No Special Weather effects

10 to 11

Dust Storm: Roll a d6 each round before the first player's first turn. On a roll of 1-2, a dust storm hits the battlefield. All models suffer -1 on ranged attack rolls and cannot give or receive orders. The dust storm lasts for 1 round.

12

Any models without Immunity: Fire that run must forfeit their movement during their next activation and suffer -1 DEF


Fall


2D6

Result

2

Corpse Candles: Divide the table into 4 separate quadrants, assigning each a number of 1-4. Roll a d6 each round before the first players turn. On a roll of 1-4, corpse candles appear in the quadrant with the corresponding die roll. On a roll of 5 or 6, nothing happens. Models in a quadrant with corpse candles must pass a CMD check or flee. Corpse candles remain in play for 1 round.

3 to 4

Creeping Mist: All models gain concealment.

5 to 9

Clear Skies: No Special Weather effects

10 to 11

Stygian Wind: All living models suffer -1 STR and ARM

12

Baleful Moon: All warrior models that are boxed must roll a d6. On a roll of 1-2 the model is removed from play. On a roll of 5-6 it can make a full advance, followed by a melee attack.


King and Country Update

All right, so I made some quick updates to the Campaign rules, mainly to add Strategic objectives as points of interest on the map to fight over. I'll get to those in a second.

I also wanted to clarify something that I feel is unclear. You can have more then 35 points in a detachment, but you can only use 35 points in each battle (unless both players agree otherwise). Example: I have a minimum unit of Steelhead halberdiers in my detachment. Between campaign rounds I purchase them up to their full unit size(costing 2 more points), and also pick up a 2 point solo. I now have 39 points in my detachment, but when I fight a battle I can choose 35 points of that. You can add warjacks, units, solos, whatever you want, so long as when you make your list for battle, it only includes models from that detachment.

I also wanted to say that it's possible to "transfer" character models and units between detachments (with the exception of warcasters). Basically, just pay the cost to buy it for the new detachment, and erase it off the old detachment sheet and add it to the new. It's expensive to do with any degree of frequency, but it allows for some options if you want to make a tier list later down the road and maybe put a character solo in a different detachment.

So here are the strategic objective rules as they stand now. Basically there's something for everybody, and the Faction-specific ones are conveniently not in their Faction's controlled territory right now. Gotta have goals, right?

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Strategic Objectives


There are various areas of the battlefield that have strategic importance to one or more factions. If the site is in a faction’s controlled territory, they gain the benefit. Site bonuses are cumulative, unless noted otherwise. Strategic Objectives are marked on the map with a single letter or abbreviation.

NOTE: The term “recruit” includes both purchasing new models or units for a detachment and repaying the cost of a model or unit because of attrition.

  • GT: Great Temple: Whenever a Protectorate player recruits living Faction models/units, reduce their point cost by 1.

  • SC: Supply Cache: Whenever a Retribution player recruits living Faction models/units, reduce their point cost by 1.

  • MC: Mercenary Camp: Whenever a Mercenary player recruits living Faction models/units, reduce their point cost by 1.

  • KP: Kommand Post: Whenever a Khador player recruits living Faction models/units, reduce their point cost by 1.

  • H: Field Hospital: Between campaign rounds, a player controlling a Field Hospital chooses one detachment. That detachment negates 1 point of attrition on each living model/unit in it. (Example: heal 1 point of damage from a solo, return 1 model to a unit, etc)

  • Y: Repair Yard: Between campaign rounds, a player controlling a Repair Yard chooses one detachment. That detachment negates 1 point of attrition on each warjack in it. (Example: one point of damage from each column, as caused by attrition)

  • F: Farmland: Whenever any faction recruits living models/units between campaign rounds, it gains a free army point, which must be spent on a living model/unit.

  • S: Scrapyard: Whenever any faction recruits warjacks between campaign rounds, it gains a free army point, which must be spent on a warjack.

Thursday, June 23, 2011

Impossible Dream

Yeah...so basically my whole "gonna have all my mercs painted in June!" thing hasn't materialized. Turns out I've been way more depressed about losing my job at the end of the month then I predicted, and it's been really hard to get motivated to do much of anything. I'm extending my deadline through July, figuring that I should have more days available to work on it next month (which is in and of itself a depressing thought), but basically I don't think I'll get much done by the end of the month.

I got Epic Magnus painted, and he looks really good. I started a unit of Halberdiers, and I think I'll try to finish them up and throw some pics of both completions by the end of the month. Maybe a couple solos to boot. We'll see.

Man, I really need a job.

Monday, June 6, 2011

Campaign Round 1

So I got most of the campaign worked out and we wrapped up Round 1 and started Round 2 this past Saturday. After an exhausting day I played 4 games, 2 in Round 1 and 2 in Round 2. Unfortunately, I lost the ones in round 2, and what's worse, I rolled last for initiative, so I was defending each time. This means that I lost 2 territories right off the bat, and I have another game to play where I have a chance to defend, but not chance to gain anything. Rough round.

That's all right though. Mercs are scrappy and I'm sure I'll bounce back. I have no warjack bonds yet, but I haven't rolled for round 2 yet, so there's still a chance for that. I'll be adding a couple more balancing rules:
- The number of territories lost by a player in the previous round will add to their initiative roll for the following round. This represents tactical retreats and preparation to strike back while the enemy is overextended. Functionally, it gives an advantage to the underdog and gives them more of a chance to push back.
- After determining initiative order, the second player will get to place 1 linear obstacle-type of terrain within 20" of any game they are defending, the third player will get to place 2, and the fourth player will get to place 3.

Wednesday, June 1, 2011

Campaign Map

So I finished up the campaign map. I'll be doing some writing on it by hand, but this is the idea at least. A place to wage epic wars!

King and Country Campaign

So I recently got involved with a warmachine campaign with a few friends, and so far I'm really excited. We had our first session last week, and despite not getting very many games in, it was pretty cool. For the time being I thought I'd write up little bits of fluff for my Merc armies as they fight battles (and as the mood strikes me).

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Asheth Magnus tightened the nuts on the underside of the Mangler's arm one last time and took a step back to admire his work. He had reconstructed most of the working parts after the last battle, but there were going to be some critical compromises in his armor that he would not be able to deal with until he could get into a real repair shop. The makeshift setup he had running would only go so far - but such was a mercenary's life.

He had been contracted by one of the High Captains of Five Fingers to engage in a protracted campaign for some seemingly worthless little patch of land in Eastern Ord. He had no vested interest in the area whatsoever, but the money they had offered him would pay for a lot of his own schemes when this was all over. They had also hired the gregarious mercenary Drake MacBain, as well as the enigmatic Fiona the Black, and though they did not work terribly closely together they coordinated their actions to try and maximize their gains.

Magnus was not used to working with other warcasters, but he had hired Stannis Brocker to come with him from Ternon Crag to manage his continent of Steelheads. He had worked with many of these men before, and after their latest engagement he knew that he would have to figure out a way to replenish their ranks - they had taken many casualties. He had spotted a force of what turned out to be Iosan elves moving toward a small hamlet on the outskirts of the main town. He had hidden the smoke of his warjacks within the hamlet and ambushed the elves before they could call for reinforcements. He had no idea what Iosans were doing this far away from their homeland, but he was not being paid to take such things into consideration. His attack had decimated their ranks, even as their rifle fire had cut down his halberdiers and one of their strange warjack-like machines had reduced his Mangler to scrap.

In the end his casualties had been relatively light compared with how badly he had inflicted losses on the elves, but he knew that he had just encountered a vanguard force. He had already spotted Khadoran formations, Protectorate zealots, and some Cygnaran dogs in the area as well, and knew that whatever this patch of land was worth, there were many who were willing to fight and die for it.