Scaverous/MacBain 50 pt. fluff

If Lord Exhumator Scaverous had still possessed flesh, it would have been quivering in anticipation. He had recently learned about the final resting place of a Koldun Lord from a hundred years earlier, who had been renowned for the protection of his village from a huge undead plague. He had supposedly utilized powerful magic that no Greylord since had mastered, and now the Lord Exhumator planned on peeling open his mind like a ripe fruit and learning how to defend against such magic in the future.

The town had been the site of a battle earlier in the year between the the Khadoran and Ordic Militaries, and most of it was reduced to rubble. Ultimately the Khadorans had been pushed out, but the town was mostly lifeless now, with only a few stragglers to be found. His scouts had told him that the location of the crypt was still intact, and now it was his time to take it. He had even hired the unscrupulous Jarok Croe and his cutthroats to cover his forces while they made off with their bounty. The mercenaries were surprisingly acquiescent to keeping the company of the dead, and the Lord Exhumator was paying them amply for their services. With a subdued glee that only the sentient dead could really understand, he ordered his men into the ruins of the town.

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Drake MacBain swung his sword Undertaker in a high arc, and was intercepted by the Greylord's axe. Another swing broke through the man's defenses, and Undertaker connected at his collarbone and cut down to his sternum. MacBain kicked the man aside and looked around at the rest of the fight. His customized Nomad Brutus was in the process of finishing off a Juggernaut that had been marshalled by a Man-o-war Kovnik, who was now resting in several pieces nearby, courtesy of the other Nomad which was now moving to assist Brutus.

The fight had been remarkably brief, and a quick tally revealed that his men had not taken any casualties. There had been a small expedition of Khadorans investigating the town after the recent fighting with Ord, but as per his contract he was guarding the region against a return. They had achieved the element of surprise, as well as a significant numerical advantage; the handful of Winterguardsmen had been cut down by a halberdier charge, and the rest were being finished up now. MacBain had heard that there were still supply caches and military hardware scattered throughout the city, and he did not think it was a coincidence that the Khadorans were pushing back there. MacBain figured he owed himself a bit of a bonus, expending his coal and ammunition in such a manner, and since his contract specifically did not prohibit scavenging he thought it best if he try and take it. It would make the rest of his work that much easier.

That last clause stuck in his mind and looked with a feeling of unease at the girl standing by the dead Winterguard, the sword Witchfire in her hand. As she moved her hand in an arcane motion, the sword began to glow, and the bodies began to twitch. They stood up again, they eyes glowing in a macabre reflection of the Witchfire's color, and began to follow around her. Alexia turned, and for a moment her eyes caught MacBain's and what he saw looked almost less human than the Risen she had just summoned. He was uneasy about hiring her in the first place, but she charged relatively little for her services, and the ability to use a dead enemy against his former comrades was an advantage not easily ignored.

He rallied the men together, his halberdiers now sharing his uneasiness about the presence of the walking dead, but faithfully following orders. They headed toward the town, making their way through the ruins toward a large supply cache he'd heard about. As he did so, something felt strange about the situation. In a moment, he realized why. Forms moving through the ruins materialized out of solid walls, and he saw the green glow of necrotite furnaces moving through the rubble. He had no idea why Cryx was in his ruins, but his contract stated specifically to defend the town from all aggressors, and given the danger represented by Alexia and her own Risen, he could only imagine the threat from an army of the walking dead taking the town.

He ordered his men to take up positions, and mentally began pushing his 'jacks forward. They had to succeed.

Ending the Campaign

The campaign ends after the Showdown for the Autumn season of the second year (8 campaign rounds from now). At this time, whoever has the most Campaign Points will be the winner.

Campaign Points are gained through holding territory.

- Every territory held grants 1 Campaign Point

- Holding your Faction Headquarters Territory is worth an additional Campaign Point.

- Holding any of the 3 Town territories (The territories containing the Great Temple [GT], the Field Hospital [H], and the Repair Yard [Y]) is worth 1 additional Campaign Point for each territory.

- Holding ALL 3 Town territories is worth 1 additional Campaign Point, in addition to the bonuses for each territory. (This means that holding all 3 Town territories at the end of campaign is worth 7 points, 8 for the Protectorate Player).

I'll see about trying to come up with some sort of sweet victory prize for the winner if we want, but you guys will probably need to chip in 5 or 10 bucks depending on how sweet we want it to be.

Campaign Warchest Template

All right, so here is the Campaign Warchest Template for the King and Country Campaign. Feel free to download it, copy it, and use it. To preserve the integrity of the original, I don't want to give out editing rights, but let me know if you can't copy it for some reason and I'll amend that.

Campaign Rules Updates and fluff

NEW RULES:

Vae Victis!
- When a player destroys an enemy warcaster, his turn does NOT immediately end. He can continue activating all his models and try to score as many victory points as he can.
- NOTE: At the end of the battle, the winning player DOES NOT get d6 victory points, and the losing player DOES NOT get d3 victory points. This replaces that rule.

Showdown
- At the end of a campaign round, after all players have played their battles, there is a showdown between all 4 players.
- This battle is a 4-way scenario battle, fought in a territory chosen by the player LOWEST in the campaign initiative order.
- The winning player gains control of the territory.
- The winning player also benefits from Vae Victis (see above).
- A player MUST use a detachment that was not defeated earlier in the round, if possible.
- All attrition from the round applies to the showdown, and the players may not pay victory points to negate it or buy new models (since that can only be done between campaign rounds).
- The 3 losing players each receive d6 victory points.

Territories and initiative
- When fighting a campaign battle, add up how many adjacent territories each player has to the territory being contested, not counting the contested territory itself. That number is added to that player's initiative roll at the start of the battle.

Negating Attrition:
- When paying VPs to negate all attrition on a warjack or warbeast, the cost of the warjack is reduced by 1 VP

RULES CHANGES

Attrition
- All attrition is cumulative.
- A unit brought down to half strength starts the next game with 1 fewer grunts in the unit (unit attachments are counted as just part of the unit).
- A unit completely destroyed starts the next game with 2 fewer grunts in the unit.
- A warjack or warbeast that is destroyed starts the next battle with 1 box in EACH column marked.
- A non-warcaster, non-grunt warrior model with more than 1 box of health that is destroyed starts the next game with 1 damage point marked. (this includes solos, unit attachments, character units, etc)
- A warcaster or warlock that is destroyed cannot be used for the rest of the campaign round (and by extension, neither can the rest of their detachment).

New Detachments
- Buying a new 35 point detachment costs 50 VPs.
- There can be no duplicate characters with another detachment. If you include a character model or unit already present in another detachment, remove it from the the other detachment. (basically this allows you to move a character model/unit to a new detachment when you create it).

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Purple flames licked out from Fiona the Black's fingertips and consumed a man in Exemplar armor, tearing at his soul as he died and feeding her a portion of that power. She looked around her and ducked behind a low wall for protection as the Protectorate's ordinance pounded her position. Her army was in full retreat, harried by the Menites as they tried to escape back to friendly territory. They had accosted themselves well, but High Exemplar Kreoss had pushed her forces out of the forest and into the open. They needed to get back to friendly ground, and his army was clearly not trying to annihilate them as it was just making sure they retreated fully.

Fiona looked through the eyes of her Mariner and fired another shot into the wall of Exemplar Bastions, feeling satisfaction in seeing on of them finally crumple beneath the onslaught. It wasn't much, but any chance she had to inflict pain on the servants of the Lawgiver was a moment of pleasure for her.

As her forces broke through the trees into an open field, she saw the Menites turn back and retreat into the depths of the forest. Her forces were much reduced - Steelhead halberdiers and warjacks alike were limping, and she would have to return to the battlefield later to salvage her Mangler and get it up and running again. She herself was using all her sorcerous power to hold herself together after a Crusader had nearly crushed her with the now destroyed Mangler. She had barely rolled out of the way in time, and the arcane fire sent at her by the High Exemplar had informed her decision to flee.

Her forces marched for most of the rest of the day. Morale was low, and were it not for the lucrative contracts that had hired the men to her in the first place, she doubted many of them would stay. They reached Magnus' camp by nightfall, and she was surprised to not see MacBain's forces with him. She made her way to the command tent and found Magnus there, conversing with two men, one in Trencher armor, and another with his head wrapped in cloth, a rifle slung over his shoulder. Seeing Fiona, Magnus muttered something lowly to the men and they both walked out past her, eyeing her suspiciously as they did so.

Magnus leaned on the wooden table in the center of the room with his mechanikal arm and looked at her, "What news Fiona? Tell me something good."

She shook her head slowly, gesturing at the scorch marks on her armor, "The High Exemplar was a stronger foe then I predicted. His Exemplars showed a resistance to my sorcery that I did not expect. We took...heavy losses."

Magnus glowered at her for a moment, then nodded slightly, "Very well. I am reassigning you to the northern front. We need to push to the town, and I need you there. I have already made arrangements to replace your...predicted losses, and need you to leave at dawn."

Fiona bristled a little at the implied insult, the prongs on her staff Viper twitching as it sensed her irritation, but knew that of all the men in Western Immoren that she should treat with a degree of fear and respect, Asheth Magnus was arguably at the top of the list. "Of course. The men will be relieved that they are allowed some rest. Was there anything else?"

"No. Winter is coming, and we will need to be ready for the brutal fights ahead of us." He turned his back on her and she glared at him for several seconds before turning and heading toward her forces.

The stars shone brightly overhead as she said a prayer to Thamar and her Scions to leave nothing but ashes and the lamentations of her enemies behind her. She felt the Dark Goddess smiling down at her and knew that her prayers would be answered.

New Campaign rules/notes

New Campaign Notes

New warcasters
- A player can add an epic (or non-epic) version of a warcaster to a detachment by paying 20-warjack points.
- This caster is now part of the roster, and either can be selected when playing a game.
- For obvious reasons, characters cannot be in more than one detachment, so you cannot buy a new detachment with an epic version of a warcaster you are already using.
- Tier list models can be included in the detachment even if only one warcaster can use them. They can only be PLAYED when that warcaster is the one used in the game.
----- FOR EXAMPLE: Epic Magnus can take many Cygnar models for his Bad Seeds tier list. They can be purchased and added to the detachment containing both Magnus and Epic Magnus, but can only be included in an army list in which Epic Magnus is leading.

And now a little fluff!

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Drake MacBain sat in his command tent nursing a wound on his head while Asheth Magnus looked over the maps. MacBain had been ambushed by a force of the elves that were apparently fighting over the region as well, and Magnus' own ambush on the Khadorans had fallen apart and he had been forced to flee. Fiona the Black was moving to intercept a force of Menite zealots, and they both hoped that she would fare better than they had.

Magnus shook his head and looked at Macbain, "We need to take this little settlement over here," He points to a region on the map, "There is a chapterhouse for the Steelheads there, and we can replenish our forces. They also have some better warjack repair facilities. If we stay here we will just keep getting pushed back."

MacBain nodded a little, and winced from the pain that caused, the leaned over and pointed to the objective circled in the center of the map, "What about this damn town? We're supposed to be securing it, and those repair facilities would go a lot further toward repairing some of our 'jacks, I think."

Magnus rolled his eyes a little and growled, "The Syndicate hired me, and I'm paying you, so I will make the strategic calls." MacBain glowered at him, but nodded. Magnus continued, "We take the Steelhead depot, then blaze a path through this Khadoran territory and take the town. Winter is falling and will provide good cover for our movements. We can get all the way to the hamlet without being detected, and once entrenched can hold it and use it resupply. That damn Thamarite has been fighting the Menites too much - I think she's developing a vendetta. I'm pulling her further north for the winter, and either you or I will strike that hamlet and take the outpost."

MacBain stood up, towering a fair bit taller then the other warcaster and nodded, "Whatever you say, boss. I'll get my lot fired up on your mark and ready to go. You know I'm a stickler for my paper, but Fiona's less predictable. Take some advice and be careful with her. She's not in this for the money." And with that he pushed the tent flap open and walked out, bellowing "Steinhammer! Get your pint-sized ass in gear and fire up that tin can of yours! We leave within the hour!"

Magnus watched him go and just shook his head. Winter would not be kind to him and his, and he wondered how badly things would go before his underlings decided that coin wasn't enough motivation to fight any more.