WM_Annual_044_050 11/22/02 2:32 AM Page 44

KISLEVITE
ARMY
By Rick Priestley and
Stephan Hess

THE ARMY OF KISLEV

The land of Kislev lies to the north and east
of the Empire. As one travels eastwards the horsemen and hunters rather than settled
dense forests give way to open steppes farmers or traders. If the Kislevites are
stretching to the foothills of the Worlds Edge savage and uncouth then this is hardly
Mountains. Beyond these formidable peaks surprising given the dangers that surround
lie barren wastes inhabited by tribes of them. Throughout its history Kislev has been
greenskins, of which the wolf-borne beset by terrible foes, Chaos to the north,
Hobgoblin hordes are the most numerous. Hobgoblins to the east, and Orcs & Goblins
To the north lies the desolate boulder- from the Worlds Edge Mountains. Even
strewn Troll Country and beyond regions
NEW RULES

when these foes are quiet, the nobles or

blighted by Chaos. It is said that in Kislev the Boyars of Kislev are inclined to fight each
winters are long and harsh, snow lies deep other. The nomad chieftains are a law unto
over the land and enemies are never far themselves and often come into conflict
away. with the Boyars and rival tribes.
Compared to the Empire and the lands to The townships of Kislev are built mainly of
the south, Kislev is often reckoned a huge timbers, for good building stone is rare
backward and barbarous country. Many of whilst tall pines are plentiful. Only the
the Tzar’s subjects are fierce nomadic largest cities have stone walls and imposing
civic buildings constructed from masonry.
Gilded domes distinguish the temples of the
strange Kislevite gods from those of the
Empire.
For many years the Tzars of Kislev have
enjoyed the friendship of the Emperor and
the goodwill of the Dwarfs. The present
ruler is Tzarina Katarina, a great
sorceress known far and wide as the
Ice Queen of Kislev. It is a long
tradition amongst the Kislevites
that their Queens are also potent
sorcerers and Tzarina Katarina is
said to be the most powerful of
her line. She does not always
lead her armies to battle – but
she is not afraid to do so when
demand calls. Like her ancestors
of old she is a great warrior and a
formidable commander.
In ancient times, the armies of the
Khan-queens that preceded the Tzars
were composed entirely of mounted
warriors drawn from the nomadic
tribes. Most were armed with bows.
Today, cavalry still forms the basis for the
Kislevite armies. Knights with their huge
feathered saddle-crests and outlandish gear

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The Kislevite Army

still look very barbaric to the eyes of defence points and serve to protect the
westerners. The army’s infantry are mostly armies in their encampments.
reduced to guard duties, but they are hardy
One of the most unusual units in the
and determined fighters, armed with long
Kislevite army are the bear troops. These
axes and tall bows.
comprise hand-reared and trained Bears
The Kislevite army contains some troops under the guidance of a bear-riding
which are unknown to the men of the beastmaster. These beastmasters are
Empire and Bretonnia. There are the war remarkable individuals who have the power
wagons with their steep wooden sides, like to direct and to some extent control these
mobile fortresses crammed with fighting ferocious creatures.
men. On the open steppes these form

THE LAND OF KISLEV

NEW RULES

The winters of Kislev are savage, merciless and cruelly long. When the land lies under the grip of
the ice, an ancient primeval force stirs in the heart of the nation. It is a strange magical power, the
power of frost and chill, of ice that holds the rivers in its thrall, and cold that snaps branches and
tumbles trees to the ground.
In ages past, the Khan-queens of the Gospodars learned how to draw upon the icy magic to weave
their spells of frozen destruction. It is a power that seeps out of the earth itself, a distillation of the
magical energy that flows over the world and settles into the soil and rocks from where it is driven
by the harsh cold of winter. When the spring returns to the north, the power of the Ice Mages of
Kislev wanes, and they are at their weakest at mid summer before it grows again with the coming
of winter.
Of all the Ice Mages, the greatest is the Ice Queen of Kislev, Tzarina Katarin, daughter of the Tzar
Bokha, and bearer of the ancient blade Fearfrost. She is so suffused with magic that even her flesh

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The Kislevite Army

KISLEV ARMY SELECTOR

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Siz
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Typ

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Sp
Po
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Troops
Knights Cavalry 3 3 4+ – 3 110 –/4 –
Horse Cavalry 3/1 3 6+ – 3 80 2/– *1
Archers
Bowmen Infantry 3/1 3 0 – 3 55 –/– –
Axemen Infantry 3 3 6+ – 3 45 2/– –
Bears Monsters 5 3 0 – 3 85 –/1 *2
War Wagon Artillery 3/3 4 4+ – 1 130 –/1 *3
General General +2 – – 9 1 125 1 –
Hero Hero +1 – – 8 1 80 –/2 –
NEW RULES

Shaman Wizard +0 – – 7 1 45 –/1 –

Bear Monstrous +1 – – – – +10 –/1 *4
Mount
Tzarina Special +0 – – – – +25 –/1 *5

Special Rules
1. Horse Archers. Kislevite Horse Archers Bear units – not to characters that ride
are armed with short compact bows and so Bears or Shaman that have transformed
only have a short range (15cm). Because into Monster Bears.
their weapons are so handy they can shoot
3 War Wagon. The war wagon consists of
behind, or to the side without turning
two stands: the armoured wagon stand and
stands to face their target. Just measure the
the horse team stand. In normal use, the
range from any stand edge, front, side or
horse team stand is placed in front of the
rear.
wagon, forming a column of two stands.
2. Bears. Although they are monsters,
For purposes of movement and shooting
Bears are mounted facing the long edge of
the player can measure from either stand,
the base like infantry. As creatures of the
but the unit is always arranged so that the
forests and mountains under the control of
team moves in front of the wagon and not
human Beastmasters, Bears are able to
the other way round. So, for example, if
move over or into any wooded or
you want to reverse direction, swap the
mountainous terrain features in the same
stands around.
way as infantry. This does not entitle them
to claim defended status. Due to their Although it consists of two stands, the War
irascible, ursine nature, Bears cannot be Wagon is treated as a single piece – the
brigaded with units of other troops, only stands are not removed individually except
with other Bears. Due to their ferocity, a to denote ‘stockaded’ status as noted later.
Bear unit which scores more hits in the first
The War Wagon cannot ‘charge’ an enemy.
round of a combat than the enemy will
It is not a chariot! It is more like a mobile
automatically strike one more Attack per
defence point or artillery platform. Its
stand before the combat result is worked
movement rate is 20cm at full pace and
out. Resolve these attacks as normal and
10cm half pace (same as infantry). In
then work out the results. Bears must
respect of terrain its movement restrictions
always pursue retreating enemy where
are the same as artillery.
possible and must advance if they are able
to do so. Note that these rules apply only to The War Wagon can shoot all round – from

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The Kislevite Army

the front, side or rear edge of either stand. he can elect to fall back as usual. If an
It has a range of 30cm. Due to the number enemy wins a round of combat and
of handguns and even the odd very small continues to fight further rounds then he
calibre cannon, the enemy’s Armour value must move stands which are not already
counts as one worse to shooting from the fighting frontally into contact with any
War Wagon. accessible edge of the War Wagon exactly as
in a normal pursuit (see p42). Because
For example, a stand with a normal
stockaded War Wagons do not retreat, the
armour value of 5+ will need to roll a 6 to
enemy will gain no bonus for pursuing in
avoid a hit from the War Wagon.
subsequent rounds of combat. Where
Because it is classified as artillery the War enemy are fighting both a War Wagon and
Wagon is permitted to shoot over friendly other Kislevite units as part of a multiple
units on lower ground (see p67 of the combat, it is possible that the War Wagon
rulebook). remains in place whilst accompanying units
retreat. In this case the usual pursuit rules
A War Wagon is able to form a stockade or
apply where possible (stands pursue
wagon laager. Once an order has been
enemy in contact to their front). If
received, a War Wagon can either move or
accompanying troops retreat so far that it is
form a stockade but not both. A War Wagon
impossible to pursue both the War Wagon
cannot use its Initiative to form a stockade
and accompanying troops then the pursuer
and if it uses Initiative to evade it cannot be
may choose which to pursue.

NEW RULES
given an order to form a stockade that turn.
In reality, this involves removing the horse A stockaded War Wagon stand has no sides
teams and forming the wagons represented or rear in combat (it is assumed to
by the single model into a circle or wagon represent a circle of actual wagons) and so
laager. To represent this in the game, the does not suffer a Combat penalty for
horse team stand is removed and the fighting enemy to the side or rear.
wagon stand can be turned on the spot to
4. Bear. Generals, heroes and shamans can
face as the player prefers.
ride a Bear. The Bear adds +1 Attack bonus
A wagon that is stockaded at the start of the to that of its rider.
Command phase will automatically cease
5. Tzarina. The General may be the
to be stockaded if it uses its Initiative to
Tzarina Katarina riding a horse-drawn sled.
evade or if it receives an order to move.
Note that this is not a chariot! If the
The horse stand is placed touching the
General is the Tzarina then she has the
wagon stand and the piece moves as
power of a Wizard and can carry a Wizard’s
normal. If the War Wagon does not evade
magic item if desired. The Tzarina may add
and if no order is successfully given, the
+1 to the dice when casting a spell once
War Wagon remains stockaded.
during the battle. The player must
A stockaded wagon counts as a fortified announce he is using the power of the
target to shooting and to close combat Tzarina before rolling for the spell.
attack. A non-stockaded War Wagon counts
as a target in the open.
A stockaded War Wagon cannot be driven
back by enemy shooting. However, it is still
necessary to roll as if it were driven back to
establish if the War Wagon becomes
confused.
In combat, a non-stockaded War Wagon
cannot pursue and is destroyed if forced to
retreat. This is the standard rule for
artillery.
In combat, a stockaded War Wagon will
neither pursue nor retreat – it always holds
its ground even if defeated. An enemy unit
that wins a round of combat can still
continue to fight by remaining in contact or

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The Kislevite Army

KISLEVITE SPELLS The wizard must be able to see the target to

Kislevite magic reflects the cold and brutal use this spell and it cannot be directed at a
environment of Kislev itself – it is magic of unit engaged in combat. Roll a D6. If the
snow and ice, of fierce winds and freezing score is equal to or exceeds the number of
blasts. Kislevite magic is used by the Kislevite hits that troop type has then one stand is
Shamans and can also be used by the destroyed. If not, then the target survives the
Tzarina herself. attack unscathed. If destroyed, the stand is
removed and the unit is considered to have
ICY BLAST suffered the requisite number of shooting
5+ to cast.............................Range: 30cm hits required to destroy the stand. The unit
is driven back as for normal shooting.
An icy blast shoots from the wizard’s
outstretched arm and strikes his foe.
The Wizard must be able to see his target to
use this spell and it cannot be directed
against a unit engaged in combat.
The icy blast is treated as 3 ordinary
shooting attacks except that armour has no
effect (ie, all targets ignore armour). A unit
can be driven back by an Icy Blast as for
normal shooting.
NEW RULES

CHILL
4+ to cast..............................range: 30cm
A fierce chill envelopes the unit, freezing its
warriors and hindering its ability to fight.
The spell can be cast on an enemy unit that
is engaged in combat and within range,
whether the wizard can see it or not. Every
stand in the unit including character stands
deducts -1 from its Attacks during the DESIGNER’S NOTES
following combat phase. Remember, a unit What made us go for Kislevites as our first new
can only be affected by one Chill spell in a army for Warmaster? In fact that decision was
turn. made for us by the natural enthusiasm of
designer Colin Grayson who started making
MONSTER BEAR! Kislevites way before he’d even finished the
Empire models for our initial release. Not that
4+ to cast.................................range: n/a
we minded. The models looked great!
The wizard transforms himself into a Furthermore, with Colin’s steely determination
gigantic ferocious super-natural bear and behind the project we figured the work would
hurls himself into the enemy’s ranks with get done. And – hey – we like Kislevites too!
teeth and claws. Colin’s take on the Kislevites is close to eastern
European armies of the 16th and 17th Centuries
The Wizard can cast this spell on himself if – so they have a very Muscovite or Polish feel
he is with a unit that it engaged in combat. overall. That helped us to get a handle on the
The Wizard adds +2 Attack bonus to the unit character of the army and inspired us to take the
and, because of the spectral unearthly and range in certain directions, as you will see.
hideous appearance of the Monster Bear the One of the major considerations with all the
unit is considered to cause Terror. If the existing Warmaster armies was the number of
Tzarina uses this spell she adds a further +2 blister packs in the range. When we designed the
Attacks (+2 from General and +2 from game we had a finite number of different blisters
Monster Bear) making +4 in total. to work with based on the design time available
and the shelf space allocation in GW stores. That
FREEZE meant fixing the number of different things in
6+ to cast..............................Range 60cm each army to about ten blisters worth. Although
the Kislevites are intended to be sold via Mail
An ill wind turns the enemy so brittle that Order, the amount of variety in the existing
wood, flesh and even iron shatters and falls game determined many of the initial design
to the ground in splinters. parameters, and we didn’t want to mess too

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much with that. Also, Colin can only work so two ‘interesting’ units, the characters and the
fast! So, we decided to stick to the general Tzarina – eight things in total – well within our
format for Warmaster armies – about ten self imposed limit of ten and the same as the
different things, of which all the different Dwarf army in fact.
characters are taken as one.
The Rules
Working Out The Army The army was always going to be similar in some
Core to the army are the Knights – Kislevite respects to the Empire. Following the precedent
Winged Lancers – inspired directly by the Polish of the old version of the Empire Army book for
Winged Lancers of historical fame. Quite why Warhammer, some Warmaster players will
these riders chose to attach these large and, one undoubtedly want to add the odd unit of
imagines, cumbersome devices to their saddles Kislevites to their Empire armies to add visual
is something of a mystery. I’ve heard it suggested variety (just count them as the equivalent
that the ‘wing’ evolved as a lasso deflector – Empire type). The Knights were allocated
mobile steppe warfare involving a fair degree of standard Knight profiles the same as for the
cowboy style lassoing I guess. Another theory Empire Knights. This felt about right. We didn’t
revolves around the supposedly scary whistling want to create a super-knight army (that has to
noise made as air rushes through the feathers – be the Bretonnians doesn’t it!) so we put a limit
though quite why anyone would be more scared of four units per 1,000 points. Originally, we set
of whistly features than a hulking great Pole on a a minimum too, but at 110 points a unit this
warhorse waving a ten foot lance in your gobbled up so many points there just wasn’t
direction I couldn’t say! enough left for other troops, so this was
abandoned giving us a -/4 min/max.

NEW RULES
Equally core to the Kislevite concept are lightly
armed steppe cavalry – the rough equivalent to The Horse Archers really define the character of
huns and all those multitudinous mounted the army so we opted for two compulsory units
nomad tribes that were the principle export of with the standard rules for mounted units of this
the eastern steppes during ancient and medieval type – short range and the ability to shoot all
times. Colin designed some early concepts along round. This is the same rule as for Wolf Boyz and
these lines amongst his first Warmaster scale Pistoliers.
models – very similar to the Warhammer models
The foot Bowmen get standard Human stats
we produced some years ago. When he came to
with no armour as is usual for troops not
make the actual models he decided to dress
primarily destined for close combat. The
them up a little more in keeping with the rest of
Axemen cometh with the same stats plus a 6+
the range. Although the earlier models are a
save… no surprises here.
little small and lack the finesse of Colin’s later
work I rather like them, and they are quite
different in appearance, so with any luck you’ll
be able to get hold of both types.
Some infantry were going to be necessary – we
weren’t looking at an entirely mounted nomad
style army –and at least one unit had to have
The Bears provided us with more of a challenge!
missile capability to give the army some long
We weren’t sure how to do them – with handlers
range firepower. Going back to our eastern
or riders, or mounted as cavalry or infantry. In
European source, we decided to give the
the end we did the Bears with a Bearmaster
infantry heavy axes – rather like the later
riding one of the bears – which looks good, and
medieval bardische – and bows. Bows seemed a
mounted them as infantry but with monster
more natural choice than handguns, which sit
rules (an exception to the normal arrangement).
better with the Empire army in terms of the
The Bears gave us some trouble in play testing as
Warhammer world.
we originally classed them as to be compatible
With the basics sorted, it was time to introduce with the base style and movement rules. This
some fun elements –and obviously Colin had a threw up all sorts of questions about their ability
few ideas which he was keen on realising. In to support other infantry stands, climb ladders,
particular he wanted to create a unit of Bears and pursue which were difficult to answer
either with handlers or riders. We also wanted to without a great deal of messy explanation. The
create a large piece and came up with the War finished rules have Bears as Monsters and are a
Wagon, of which more later, and interesting little more complex than usual for Warmaster –
character mounts. An option to mount but we found them easy to remember in
characters on Bears seemed only right and practice. The extra first round strike if you score
proper, and we also decided to push the boat more hits than the enemy is a bit scary… but we
out and make a model of the Tzarina herself to are talking grizzly bears here and those things
serve as the army’s general. Taken as a whole are dangerous! We fixed a min/max of -/1 to give
that gave us two cavalry units, two infantry units, the Bears their rather special status.

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The War Wagon rules were designed to emulate Every army has a basic missile type of spell and
the Hussite war wagons used in eastern europe in the case of Kislev it’s the Icy Blast. This is
in late medieval and early post-medieval times. much like a Death Bolt – but colder.
There was also a nod towards wild west wagon
Chill is cast on the enemy during combat and
trains and Boer wagon laagers. The idea was to
reduces the unit’s attacks. This is a useful spell
create a mobile fortress – something that would
and relatively easy to cast at 4+.
make a defendable fire point during a battle. You
can imagine too how these might be used to The Monster Bear spell converts the Shaman
make encampments for armies on the march into a fighting monster which not only adds +2
over broad open plains. Colin had already attack bonus but also causes Terror – a bit of a
worked out he was going to make the model in last turn of the battle affair and especially useful
two parts, and that dictated some of the rules in the hands of the Tzarina.
design features. He also tried hard to cram as
many models inside as he could to make it look Freeze is one of those hard to cast but nasty
like a little fortress, but with individual models spells that has the potential of taking out a big
the scope is always limited! Personally, I’m critter or powerful stand. It is also long ranged
looking forward to seeing a few conversions and therefore hard to hide from. If you were
with extra observation platforms, rigging, and thinking of not bothering with that Dispel Scroll
banners… are these not land ships? when playing against Kislevites here’s a reason
to think again!
The rules for the War Wagon turned out
somewhat longer than I would have preferred Game Play
but this was partly determined by the two piece Although the army’s troops are similar to those
NEW RULES

nature of the model. Of all the Kislevite models of the Empire, Kislevites lack the ranged hitting
it proved the toughest to work out rules for and power that characterises the Empire’s forces.
also the most difficult to fix a points cost. The That means they have to rely on their fighters
different status of stockaded and horsedrawn more and their Knights and Bears are top class
means the War Wagon can be very good or very units in this respect. The War Wagon is resilient
bad – so the points cost is something of a enough if stockaded to pin the end of a line –
compromise. With an allowance of only one per remember it counts as a fortified target and does
1,000 the War Wagon won’t come into its own not retreat – but its real strength is as mobile
except in large games – but at 130 points its still artillery. Although its range is short it
usable in a 1,000 point game. concentrates 3 attacks into one model.
The Kislevite characters are fairly standard for The Horse Archers are a mandatory element of
humans – comparable to the Empire – and we the game and at 80 points too valuable to waste
just had to have a Bear rider as the mount – they can be used to draw enemy onto the
option! The Tzarina was a late addition to the Knights – or to harass flanks/strike at artillery. In
plan – we liked the idea of putting the Ice Queen truth I have struggled to get the best out of these
into the sled. I would have liked to have seen troops (as I have my Gobbo Wolf Boyz) but some
reindeer myself – apparently the antlers are just players seem to have a natural empathy for these
too fiddly! fleet if fragile units.
With the general, the army has an obligatory 375 Kislevite infantry are comparable to Empire units
points in the first 1,000 and 250 thereafter – low but lack the support of the Empire skirmishers.
enough to tailor the army to an infantry or They are destined to fulfil a holding or covering
cavalry bias if you wish. role – but they are cheap enough. The army is
geared towards an open battlefield – but the
Magic infantry enable the army to operate even
Warmaster magic is supposed to be ancillary to amongst ruins and built up areas, though they
the action rather than a major feature. We didn’t will always be at a disadvantage in such
want to change that, so we stuck to the formula circumstances compared to a Dwarf, Chaos or
of four spells with one relatively easy supporting Orc army.
spell and one gambler. We also wanted to keep
the ice/cold/winter theme. Taken together that
gave us something to work with.

50
 WARMASTER CAMPAIGN
By David Simpson

THE TALE OF A LARGE MAP, SMALL Brent Cross store using the campaign rules
MODELS AND THE MEN THAT PLAY that were in the book but with the added
WITH THEM addition of a map to represent your actual
It’s not what you think, nothing to do with territories. Now being the rabid Warhammer
catwalks and supermodel abduction plots for Empire general that I was I jumped at the
nefarious purposes. This is in fact the story of chance to show the superior firepower of the
an ongoing Warmaster campaign that has been Empire’s artillery and took part with great
running at the Brent Cross GW store since, gusto and enthusiasm.
ooh, about a month or two after Warmaster Well anyway so as not to veer too far off the
itself was released (don’t ask me to remember subject I have always loved map based
specifics). campaigns and when I saw the first preview
Firstly I suppose I should introduce myself, I pictures of Warmaster in White Dwarf I started
am David Simpson and have been playing with going a bit loopy with visions of masses of
toy soldiers for about ten years which is almost troops stoically marching over the massacred
as long as some of the younger sprogs have bodies of their foes conquering all opposition.
been alive. Conversely there are even a few When I finally got my hands on a copy of
rare examples of regulars (or GW staff) that Warmaster I realised just how perfect a game it
have been playing with little painted men for was to be integrated into a campaign. So my
longer than I myself have graced this earth, a mate Dan and I started to pester Dean, the
scary thought indeed! store manager, for a Warmaster campaign. His
response went something like this: ‘sure guys,
If you want to look for the history of this if you come up with the rules for it I’ll make
campaign you must first travel back to almost the map’. So sure enough Dan and I sat down
two years ago. At this time there was a fairly around the painting table armed with paper
simple Warhammer campaign being run at the and a pen (Dan had the pen, my handwriting is
illegible even to myself) and we started
thrashing out the basic ideas and aims of the
campaign system.
Several years ago I tried to run several Mighty
Empires campaigns with a group of friends so
I had a fair idea about what that particular
system’s major weaknesses were. Chief among
them in my opinion is that in order for the
campaign to progress, a player must conclude
any combats before the next player can take
their turn, thus the system we devised would
be flexible in this aspect.
Another major problem in campaigns is when
people can’t turn up for a campaign night or
end up dropping out for one reason or
another. Since I knew that several of the
people that would be taking part would
definitely have these kind of problems I
decided to make it flexible in this aspect as
well.
However chief among the design aims of the
system was that it would be a no paperwork
The author enjoying a game...

28
 Warmaster Campaign

Campaign Map

system. What this means is that everything is After almost a month of some quite intensive
represented directly on the map, there are no writing on my behalf and testing by both me
army rosters, unit experience or anything like and Dan the rules were ready for use in the
that. After all this was meant to be a campaign actual campaign, however we still had no map!
on a grand scale, not a Mordheim tournament. Dean had promised us that he would produce
the map if we produced the rules. However I
So once these basic rough notes were written
doubt that he took into account the fact that
up by Dan, put on a floppy and then published
we would need the map at about the same
on the Internet by me, I started the process of
time as he needed to make stuff for Games Day.
fleshing out each individual section. Whilst I
was doing this Dan and I also started to carry So in the end I ended up making the main
out some play test experiments to see if what I body of the map myself. The map is a main
had already written seemed balanced, or for island surrounded by several smaller island,
that matter if it worked. These initial sessions most of which are player’s starting islands (see
were extremely useful as it brought up a major above). Each player had to produce their own
flaw in the system as it stood then. Everything starting islands and counters. This is a great tip
is carried out with action checks in a similar to anyone else considering setting up a
way to command checks in Warmaster. campaign as it means that people actually have
However in the first draft of the rules each race to invest some time and effort to even actually
start playing which should mean that they are
more likely to stick to it.
You can check out more stuff on the Internet at
my website:
http://www.stomm.com
The site is linked to from almost all the other
Warmaster sites that I know (and a few that I
only found out about a couple of days ago) so
had a separate command value equal to the finding it should not be too hard so long as you
general’s command value in Warmaster. The persevere. If you want to ask me any questions
weakness of this quickly became apparent about almost anything (including my campaign
when the High Elves were marching across the system and Warmaster in general) then feel
map at breakneck speed whilst the Ork and free to email me at:
Goblins were hardly moving at all. In the end
we decided to leave racial differences out of stommstommson@redhotant.com.
the system until a later date (I’m starting on
that phase of the project about now).

29
Warmaster Campaign

THE RULES The table shown below is the table used for
establishing what a territory’s rating is when
1. Maps and Terrain you enter it. Needless to say you use 2d6 when
Terrain consists of three basic types. These are rolling on this table, and as you can see this
land tiles, coastal tiles and sea areas. All of means that there is a heavy slant towards
these types of terrain or territories are based finding a level one territory. These values can
on a hex grid system. Land Tiles and Coastal be altered by player actions such as pillaging
Tiles take up one hex each, whilst sea areas can and improving. These and the use of this table
take up anywhere from two to twenty hexes, are described in more detail in the movement
with the average being around ten. and actions sections of the rules.
When explored, each land and coastal tile has
Exploration Table
a value assigned to it which gives you a number
2D6 Result Territory Value
between 0 and 5. Each player’s starting tile is
an exception to this as it has a value of 10. 2 5
These values are an abstract grading of an 3 4
area’s worth. It does not specifically represent 4 3
towns and villages, merely a land’s potential. 5 2
6 1
It just so happens that the standard Citadel
7 0
Paint pots are hexagonal in form, so guess
8 1
what you can use as a template for your
9 2
campaign map? The old Mighty Empires map
10 3
tiles could also be used, but I think that the
11 4
major flaw with these is that they move about
12 5
too easily. What we have done for our
campaign is to use the paint pots as a template
for the tiles, then to create a three dimensional 2. Campaign Turn Sequence
map on foam card with textured water, hills, Each campaign is divided into years, seasons
deserts, forests and so on all moulded onto the and then campaign turns. There can obviously
actual map board itself. be pretty much any number of years in a single
campaign, indeed the passing of a set number
The type of terrain does not effect its value or of years may mark when a campaign ends.
rating in any way. The only effect the type of Apart from that, what year the campaign is in
terrain has is that it modifies the difficulty of does not really matter that much.
moving armies into that particular terrain. So
when making your campaign map bear this in There are four seasons to each campaign year
mind, try to equalise the types of territory in (spring, summer, autumn and winter). At
relation to players starting positions. It would present the only effect of a season is to mark
be unfair to have one player’s start position when each empire rearranges its forces to
behind a load of virtually impenetrable account for gains and losses as far as the total
mountains with another located in easy to terrain value and thus army size of an empire.
navigate plains. This is calculated at the end of each season

30
 Warmaster Campaign

before the next campaign season begins. Any relevant players have until then to fight the
player who does not do so will be unable to battle. When and how battles are fought are
benefit from any changes in his or her total covered in a later section, but basically a battle
territory value and if there is a negative change is fought if two opposing armies are in the
then they will lose whole armies to balance same terrain tile at the end of the turn.
out, starting with the furthest ones from their
respective capital tile moving in. I do intend to 3. Armies and Fleets
add some seasonal modifiers once the rest of Armies: The size of a player’s army is limited
the rules have been confirmed as working only by the size and number of his territories.
properly. Such modifiers would probably be in However, the size of individual armies has a
relation to moving and actions, they might minimum of 500 points and a maximum of
even be race specific. I mean the Undead won’t 2500 points, this is calculated in blocks of 500
be slowed down by cold weather, whilst during points. This allows you to have armies of 500,
the summer months most races should find it 1000, 1500, 2000 and 2500 points.
easier to improve a tile’s rating.
As explained earlier, each land map tile has an
assigned value to it. This value translates
directly to the total size of an empire’s armies.
This relationship is that for every point of
terrain value is worth 100 points of army value.
So for instance, when players start the
There are three campaign turns in every campaign they have one terrain piece which
campaign season. These roughly represent represents their capital with a value of 10. This
months, so if a campaign is running one turn translates directly to 1000 points as the starting
per week, then a whole campaign year should army size.
pass in roughly twelve weeks or three months As players search the map and discover and
of real time. This can be altered if necessary, claim more terrain, or increase the value of
i.e. you could have four or six, even one their existing territories their total empire
campaign turn per season rather than the value will go up, meaning that the total
standard three. This could be done to either amount of troops they can field will also rise.
speed up or slow down a campaign, I suppose Conversely, the actions of enemy empires may
the excuse you could use is that the campaign cause a player to either lose terrain or its value
is being fought over smaller or larger to be reduced through pillaging, thus their
territories. total empire value and army size would be
A campaign turn is when every player makes reduced accordingly.
his or her moves and actions, moving around You may form new armies and add to existing
the campaign map and doing any actions. Of ones on territories with a value of five, with the
course if they fail their Command checks they exception of your capital where you can add
may end up doing nothing, but that’s the way any number of points or create new armies
of things. Each player takes it in turn to do all within the limits that are imposed by your
their actions before moving onto the next empire size and the army size and composition
player. The order in which this is done should restrictions outlined earlier.
change every campaign turn, a method of
deciding the order might be to roll off with
dice, highest choosing to go first or last, but
any method which is acceptable to the players
is fine.
The reason that the order can be important is
that whoever goes first obviously will have
more freedom of movement and at the
beginning of the campaign may be able to go
for strategic territories before anyone else.
Whilst the players who do their turns after the
others will be better able to react to their If you have any points left over (you most likely
enemies’ movements and to force them to will) you make a note of these excess points
battle, possibly ambushing smaller forces with which forms your reserve forces. I find that a
their own larger ones. counter with the relevant number placed on
your capital tile is ideal for this purpose. The
Once everyone has done their campaign turns
way that these reserve forces work is that they
it should be established which battles need to
allow you to ignore up to the size of your
be fought before the next campaign turn. The
reserve forces from casualties in a campaign

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Warmaster Campaign

season. For instance if you had a reserve force Fleets are made by using a build action which
of 400 (the maximum) and you had a 500 point is explained later as are the transport rules.
army which fought a battle and suffered 300
points worth of casualties (which would 4. Movement and Actions
normally cause the army to disband) you could Land Movement: Everything in this particular
use 300 points of your reserves to replace campaign system is achieved through the use
these casualties. You would then have 100 of actions which are performed by the armies
points of reserves that you could use later on of a player. This section includes everything
in that campaign season. Obviously your from moving armies around the map to
reserve forces will most likely change from one claiming territories and building ships.
campaign season to another, sometimes you
might not have any reserves at all. There are two basic types of action. The first
and most commonly used is the movement
If for any reason you wish to reorganise the action, the second are special actions. Special
size composition of one or more armies, you actions are covered in more detail in later
may do so before the relevant armies have sections but they are further split into two
taken any actions at the beginning of their groups, territory actions and build actions.
move. This basically means that to reorganise
several smaller armies into one large army all Each different action is assigned a difficulty
the armies involved must already be in the rating. To successfully complete the action you
same territory at the beginning of that must roll equal to or under the difficulty rating
particular campaign turn. of that action on 2D6. The funny thing about
the difficulty level of the commands is that they
Once reorganised, all the armies involved may get easier the higher the difficulty rating (I
then act as normal. It is even possible to turn a haven’t been able to think of a better name for
500 point army and a 1500 point army into two it yet). You also have to apply all the relevant
1000 point armies if you so wish, so long as modifiers to the difficulty rating for each action
both armies started the campaign turn in the attempt that you make, this includes a
same territory. cumulative -1 modifier for each successive
A little tip on how to represent your armies. action. Also unless specifically noted all
Since they are organised in blocks of 500 modifiers are also cumulative.
points from 500 to 2500 points it gives you five For instance moving has a difficulty rating of 9
steps of army size. The old square Epic bases which means that to move an army you must
have five slots in them and are ideal for roll 9 or less on 2D6. However there are quite
representing your armies with a few modifiers to this basic roll including a -1
Fleets: Ships are used for only one thing in this per 500 points of army size and the +1 for
particular campaign system, transporting moving into unowned territory. Thus if you
armies. Fleets, like armies, are organised into tried to move a 500 point army and there were
blocks of 500 points, although in this case the no other modifiers you would need to roll a 9
500 points is 500 points of transport capacity or less on the first move, 8 or less on the
(500 points of transport capacity = 500 points second move and so on. In most instances
of army that can be transported). However, there would be other modifiers to this roll for
fleets of ships are different from armies in that terrain and so on. This is a rather complicated
they only come in 500 point blocks, you may way of going about things (taking a point then
never combine fleets into larger fleets or for adding a point), but it has been done this way
that matter split them up. to make moving larger armies more difficult.

Land Movement, Difficulty Rating and Modifiers

Criteria Base Difficulty rating – 9
Territory moving to is not owned +1
Territory moving to is owned by same player +2
Size of army being moved -1 per 500 points
Territory moving from contains enemy army -1
Territory moving to contains moderate terrain -1
Territory moving to contains difficult terrain -2 (+ may only move 500pt armies)
Territory moving to contains extreme terrain -3 (+ may only move 500pt armies)
Territory moving to contains impassable terrain cannot enter

32
 Warmaster Campaign

As you can see there are a lot of different

modifiers with regards to terrain types for the
territory that the army is moving into. Exactly
what terrain on your map corresponds to
which grade of terrain is something that
should really be decided before the campaign
starts. A basic guideline would be that forests,
small rivers, light marshes, hills and so on are
moderate terrain. Larger rivers, rapids,
mountains, dense forest, moorland, cliffs,
desserts, stretches of water and so on are
difficult terrain. Extreme terrain would include
dune seas, glaciers, ice sheets, volcanoes and
all that sort of stuff. Whilst impassable terrain
would ideally only be impassable from a
certain direction, such terrain might include
lava flows, canyons and all sorts of really nasty,
possibly magical, terrain.
Terrain modifiers are always applied for
movement into the particular territory that
contains them. For instance if you were
moving an army from a plain tile into one
which contained a normal forest (moderate
terrain) then you would apply a -1 to the
difficulty rating. However if that army was to
move from that territory with a forest back into
the plain territory then there would be no
terrain modifier added (remember to add or
subtract other modifiers though).
Terrain modifiers are only taken into account if
at least half of the area of the territory is Water Movement: As well as moving armies
covered in the appropriate terrain type. The over land it is also possible (and sometimes
only exception is rivers and cliffs. Rivers are more desirable) to move armies over bodies of
always taken into account unless there is only water. Whether these are the sea, a large river
the most insignificant length of river involved, or lake does not really matter that much. As has
whilst cliffs are only considered if the entire been explained in the maps and terrain section
coastline of that particular territory is cliffed. there are effectively three types of water. The
Any beach area means that you ignore the cliffs first are rivers which are part of a land tile and
(the relevance of this is explained a bit later). crossing them is covered by various modifiers
in the land movement section. The second
Another thing to take into account is that you
type are coastal waters. These are the water
only ever apply the worst terrain modifier, they
sections of the land tiles that are strangely
are not cumulative. For instance a territory that
enough coastal. The third and largest type are
is entirely forested and has a river running
sea territories, these are already covered in the
through it would only apply a -1 penalty, not a
maps and terrain section, but suffice to say that
cumulative -2. Whilst a Mountainous territory
they can be very large indeed. The one thing to
with a river running through it would have a -
remember is that moving through any sea tile
2 modifier rather than -3. Remember however
is exactly the same, but the large sea territories
that all the other modifiers including the
cannot be owned by anyone.
subsequent action modifier are still applied on
top of terrain modifiers. Before you can move your armies by sea you
must first of all get them onto ships. Fleets only

Water Movement, Difficulty Rating and Modifiers

Criteria Base Difficulty rating – 9
Territory moving to is owned by enemy player -1
Territory moving from contains enemy fleet -1
Territory moving to is owned by same player +1

33
Warmaster Campaign

ever come in 500 point transport capacity an automatic action, it still counts as an action
blocks, thus if you want to transport a 1000 as far as consideration for subsequent action
point army by sea you would have to have two check modifiers.
fleets to be able to do so and you would also
When it comes to actually moving a fleet it is
have to split your army into two 500 point
effectively treated as an army that cannot go on
armies before even trying to board the ships.
land. The base difficulty rating for water
For an army to board a fleet requires two movement is exactly the same as for land
things. Firstly both the army and fleet must be movement, that being 9. However as you might
in the same territory at the beginning of that expect there is a completely different set of
campaign turn (obviously the fleet in the water modifiers for water movement which are given
part and the army in the land part). Secondly it in the table below.
requires a successful movement action check
The one main thing that you must remember
on a difficulty of 9 with no added modifiers.
when calculating the action check required for
Once the army is successfully boarded the fleet
water movement is that the large sea tiles can
may move as normal.
never be owned by anyone. The only sea
If you want the army to disembark the fleet territory that can ever be owned by a particular
must obviously be in a coastal territory. Pretty empire is the water section of a coastal tile.
much the same procedure is used as for
If players really wish to do so then it is possible
embarking, except that modifiers for
to add further modifiers to this table to include
subsequent actions and terrain modifiers such
things such as ice flows, treacherous rocks,
as cliffs and forests must be taken into account.
coral reefs or sand banks. However I think that
Basically embarking and disembarking count
adding this amount of detail to sea movement
as a land movement action. Remember that
in a normal campaign is a bit excessive.
embarking counts as an action when
calculating the roll needed for subsequent
movement by the fleet. Also once a fleet has 5. Special Actions
had its transported army disembark, the fleet Special actions are just that, special. There are
may no longer move and neither can the army. two types of special actions, territory actions
It is assumed that the off loading of supplies, and build actions. Special actions are used to
establishing a temporary harbour and so on achieve all the other things in a campaign other
takes quite a while, besides your soldiers will than moving troops, such as claiming new
most likely be feeling more than a little sea sick territory, building new ships and so on.
so won’t be too happy with being ordered to Like all actions they are carried out by
march as soon as they get off the ships. individual armies, however there are two
There is one slight exception to the things that makes them most different from
embarkation and disembarkation rules. When movement actions. Firstly only one special
attempting to do so in your capital tile the action may be attempted by an army each
action is always an automatic success. This is campaign turn. Secondly an army may not
because it is assumed that your capital territory attempt any further actions after attempting a
has a well equipped dock facility to help build action, obviously if the attempt was a
facilitate the loading of troops and cargo failure then it would not be able to carry on
aboard ships. However, although this makes it anyway.

Claim Action, Difficulty Rating and Modifiers

Criteria Base Difficulty rating – 6
Enemy territory - 1 per level
For each adjacent enemy territory- 1 per territory
For each adjacent friendly territory +1 per territory
Size of claiming army +1 per 500 points

Pillage, Difficulty Rating and Modifiers

Criteria Base Difficulty rating – 6
For each adjacent friendly territory +1 per territory
Size of pillaging action +1 per 500 point

33
 Warmaster Campaign

Territory Actions: Territory actions include all make the claim has not done any other terrain
the actions that involve a land territory tile, actions in the same campaign turn.
from claiming the territory, through pillaging
If a claim action is successful then the territory
an enemies’ territory to raising the rating of
is added to your empire with the differing
one of your own territories. Like every action
results shown for whether it was owned or not
the success or failure of the action is
outlined above. However if the action fails it
dependent on a successful action check taken
has no effect if the territory did not previously
against the difficulty rating of the action (in this
belong to any empire, the actions for that army
case it’s 6) after all modifiers have been taken
end, just like with any other action. However if
into consideration. The other thing to
the territory belongs to another empire then a
remember with terrain actions is that unlike
battle must be fought against the garrison
movement, each army is limited to only a
forces present there, if the attacker loses then
single terrain action per campaign turn and
their army is bounced back to the territory they
that once an army has tried to perform a
previously occupied, if they win then they may
territory action it cannot attempt any further
add the territory to their empire but the
action that campaign turn. Also only one
territory value will be reduced by -2 rather than
territory action may be attempted in a territory
-1. This is more fully covered in the battles
in one turn. Thus you could not have one army
section. The difficulty rating and modifiers to a
claim a territory and use another to improve it.
claim action are given below.
The first type of territory action and at the
The other two types of terrain action are in
beginning of a campaign probably the most
effect the opposites of each other. These are
common, is the claim action. As its name
the pillage and terrain improvement actions.
suggests this action is used to claim territory
The pillage action uses exactly the same
for your empire, whether that territory is
modifiers as a claim action with the exception
previously unowned or is part of another
of the negative modifiers for enemy territory.
empire does not have any bearing other than
The effects of an unsuccessful pillage action is
in the difficulty of the check and the end result.
the same as for an unsuccessful claim action, a
A previously unclaimed piece of territory battle is fought. However the effect of a
suffers no detrimental effects when you claim successful pillage action are quite different to
it, whilst a piece of territory which previously that of a claim action.
belonged to another empire will have a
If the pillage action is successful then the
permanent -1 to its territory value. Thus a level
territory value is reduced by three points to a
4 territory which is previously unowned will
minimum of zero. If this would otherwise
stay a level 4 territory once you claim it, whilst
bring the value below zero the tile becomes
if it belonged to another empire it will become
unowned. In addition to this, a successful
a level 3 territory. This degradation is caused by
pillage action will automatically upgrade the
the battling and scorched earth policy of the
nearest territory of the same empire as the
defenders. This damage can of course be
pillaging army by one point. If there are several
repaired with successful actions later on.
territories equally distant from the pillaged
The requirements for being able to do a claim territory then the pillaging player may choose
action are that there are no enemy armies which territory is upgraded.
present in the same territory, the tile is either
The only restrictions as to what territories you
directly linked to an existing territory owned
can pillage is that they are owned by someone.
by your empire or through a maximum of two
If you wish to pillage your own territory and
sea tiles. And of course that the army trying to

Improvement, Difficulty Rating and Modifiers

Criteria Base Difficulty rating – 6
Territory level trying to achieve -1 per level (-5 for trying to reach level 5 territory)
Size of improving army +1 per 500 point

Build, Difficulty Rating and Modifiers

Criteria Base Difficulty rating -1
Level of territory +1 per level
Forests in same territory +1
Size of building army +1 per 500 points

34
Warmaster Campaign

fail, you will have to fight a battle against the differences. Whereas territory actions affect a
defending militia. This represents a peasant territory directly such as claiming it, pillaging
uprising or some such, basically your subjects and so on. Building actions are quite literally
trying to resist your actions with force (they what their name implies, it is an action used to
obviously don’t like their crops being burned allow your armies to build things such as
and livestock slaughtered). One of your bridges, temples, forts, ships and so on.
opponents or a neutral person should
As with territory actions each army is limited to
command the opposing forces, not an ally
only one building action per Campaign Turn,
(don’t get someone to lose for you). This is a
that is one territory action or one building
perfectly viable tactic for quickly fortifying one
action, not both. Also only one building action
of your territories at the expense of the
can be attempted in the same territory each
surrounding territories, in fact it is the only
campaign turn in the same way with territory
way that you can upgrade a territory other than
actions. Although you can do both a territory
your capital beyond level 5.
and build actions in the same territory with
The territory improvement action basically different armies during the same campaign
represents your army spending time to build turn. Build actions may also only be attempted
roads, bridges, forts and maybe even temples, in friendly territories.
At present the only thing
that can be built with a
building action are ships,
these are built in sets of 500
points of transport capacity.
If the action is successful a
fleet counter is placed in the
water section of the territory
the action was carried out in.
This fleet may not be used
until the next turn.
As usual there is still the -1
cumulative command
modifier for all actions when
trying a build action. The
difficulty rating and
A battle underway... modifiers for which are
given earlier.
pretty much in the same way that the Romans
often did. This obviously improves the 6. Battles
potential of the territory opening it up to When battles are fought, how they are fought
further trade, mineral exploitation, farming and what effect the result of a battle has on an
and so on. The restrictions on this action are army and the campaign as a whole is covered
that it can only be tried on a territory once per in this section. In addition there is a section on
campaign turn (you cannot have several armies garrison and scouting armies.
upgrade a territory multiple times in a single
turn) and obviously that the territory is owned When to Fight a Battle: For most (if not all)
by your empire. people the whole reason for taking part in a
campaign of any description is to fight battles.
The effects of a successful improvement action The main thing that a campaign has over just
are that the territorie’s value increases by one fighting a load of one off battles is that you can
point to a maximum of 5 (with the exception of often find yourself fighting much more
capital tiles). This is an extremely powerful interesting battles than you would normally.
action and can be used to fortify areas of For instance a 500 versus 1000 point battle
strategic importance to your empire such as would be very challenging indeed for the
mountain passes and islands that border on person with 500 points.
several sea territories.
As far as this particular campaign system goes,
The difficulty rating and modifiers for taking there are several different circumstances when
this action is shown in the table below, a battle must be fought. In all cases the criteria
remember the cumulative -1 for successive for whether a battle must be fought is
command checks. established once everyone has finished their
Build Actions: Build actions are quite similar campaign turns (not after each person).
to territory actions with a few fundamental

35
 Warmaster Campaign

The two basic rules of thumb when defending army is the army that was in the
establishing whether a battle must be fought or territory before any enemy armies showed up
not is if there is an army in enemy territory in the same territory, the most common would
which can sustain a garrison at the end of the be a garrison force. An attacker is an army that
campaign turn. If so, a battle must be fought moved into a tile with an opposing army in it
between the army and the garrison forces. Also (this also includes moving into a tile with a
if there are two opposing armies in the same garrison force). A reinforcement is an army that
territory then a battle must also be fought. moves into a tile that already contains an
Obviously you can get a combination of these attacking enemy army as well as a defending
two circumstances if there is an enemy army in army from the same (or allied) empire as the
a territory which can sustain a garrison and reinforcement.
also contains an army.
Garrisons: Each territory
owned by an empire has
garrison forces, neutral
territories do not. The size of
these garrison forces is equal
to the territory level
multiplied by 100 points.
Thus a level three territory
would have a garrison force
of 300 points.
Garrison forces only fight on
their own if they are 200
points or more in size. Thus
an enemy army will never
have to fight a battle against
the garrison forces of a level
zero or level one territory
unless there is also an A close-up on the action
enemy army present as well.
When two or more attacking armies enter a
As you may have figured out, strictly speaking, territory from the same or adjacent territories
a level zero territory does not have a garrison (the ones they came from were next to each
whilst a level one territory’s garrison only ever other), then those forces can be automatically
comes into play if there is an army from the combined into a larger force using the army list
same empire in that territory. This is not relevant for that force. An example would be
because there are no troops there, just that at two 500 point armies attacking the same
such a small size they just don’t have the territory combining into a force of 1000 points.
organisation and leadership to be able to The main advantage of combining in this case
muster any substantial forces on their own is it allows you to access a full army list instead
(plus a 100 point army just isn’t practical). of two scouting lists. However keeping it as
two 500 point forces allows you to field two
Thus whenever in these campaign rules talks
generals, meaning that command checks
about a territory capable of sustaining a
should be easier to pass.
garrison, it refers to level two territories owned
by a player. If attackers do not come from adjacent tiles,
then they may only combine with a successful
The Battle Itself: When it has been
action check taken at the end of that player’s
established that a battle must be fought the
campaign turn. This is taken against a difficulty
next stage is to figure out the forces that will be
of 9 modified by -1 for each territory (halved,
involved in the battle and possibly also the
rounding up) that the forces had to travel to
scenario that will be fought. The simplest way
get to the territory the battle is being fought in,
is to add up the armies and garrison forces on
ignoring the move from the adjacent territory
each side and to fight a straight battle using
to the one being attacked. Thus if two armies
these forces from the standard army lists from
attacked but they were both in a territory next
the races involved. However this almost never
to the one being attacked and had not moved,
gives an accurate depiction of what is
otherwise it would be a straight roll. whilst if
happening on the campaign map so you may
the same two armies attacked and one had to
wish to use the rules I have written bellow.
move once to get adjacent and the other had to
Armies are grouped into three general types: move twice, it would be a -2 modifier.
Defenders, attackers and reinforcements. A

36
Warmaster Campaign

Defending armies can also combine their that is why I am not sure about deployment).
forces in exactly the same way. In the case of The victory conditions for this game are
combining a garrison force with a scouting simple, the attacker must get his army off the
army (500 points), use the normal list for that other side of the table before he is forced to
particular race with the restrictions for a 1000 withdraw. If he is successful in moving half or
point force. more of his units off the opposite table edge or
forces the ambusher to withdraw then he wins,
if he doesn’t then the ambusher wins. If the
ambusher wins, the enemy army is totally
wiped out, not even reserves will help.
However if the ambushed force wins then the
army moves into the territory they were
Reinforcements follow exactly the same rules attempting to get to.
as attackers as far as combining with
themselves is concerned, however they may Reinforcements are actually eligible for both
never combine with defending armies for sides, thus you might find a situation where an
obvious reasons. They are not deployed at the ambush is effectively counter ambushed and
beginning of the battle but instead turn up in a that reinforcement is then flanked again by
later turn on a table edge or corner forces from the original ambusher. I hope I get
determined by the relation of the attackers. For to fight a battle like this as it would be very
instance, if the reinforcements arrived from the interesting.
hex immediately to the left of the attackers Just one point, if one side withdraws before
then they should arrive on the left corner on any reinforcements arrive then the battle ends.
the attackers deployment zone. Reinforcements from the winning side end up
The time they arrive will always be the second in the same territory as where they were
turn of the battle or most likely a bit later. This originally moving to (the one where the battle
is determined by rolling a D6 from the second was fought obviously), whilst reinforcements
turn, on a score of that turn number or less from the losing side end up back in the
that particular attacking force turns up and can territory they were in immediately prior to
be deployed 10cm into its deployment area, moving into the battle territory, or a random
they may not charge and Command is at -1 but adjacent friendly or neutral tile if that was an
may carry out all other functions such as enemy territory. The reason for this is that it is
moving and shooting as normal. This D6 roll is assumed that the beaten army collides with the
modified by the total number of territories that intended reinforcements and causes them to
the attacking force has travelled to reach the panic, withdraw or whatever. This means that
territory that the battle is taking place in (use there is a definite advantage to winning a battle
the highest number in the case of a force that as soon as possible if you know that enemy
has managed to combine), giving a +1 to the reinforcements are sure to arrive.
roll for each territory in excess of the adjacent The Effects of a Battle: There are three
territory. Thus if it moved three tiles, including possible outcomes for a battle. The attacker
the move from the adjacent territory, to the wins, the attacker loses or it’s a draw.
battle it would give a +2 to the dice roll, Depending on where the battle was fought will
making it impossible for them to turn up on determine exactly what happens as far as the
the second turn but turning up on turn three campaign map is concerned, however the issue
on the roll of a one. of resolving casualties remains the same
In addition to this basic regardless of where the battle is fought.
attacker/defender/reinforcement I have also The way you calculate the casualties for each
thought a little about ambushes. Now it is side is that you take the victory points scored
possible in the rules for an army to try to move against you by your opponent and if you won
out of an enemy tile. If they fail to do so (by round down to the nearest 100 vps, or round
failing the Command check obviously), then up to the nearest 100 vps if you lost. If the
they count as being ambushed by whatever battle was a draw then whichever side
enemy forces are present in that tile at that withdrew is counted as the loser for calculating
time and remain there to ambush the army. casualties (but only for calculating casualties).
The way this is set up it that the enemy sets up If none of these criteria are met (a scenario for
in a column stretching down the centre of the instance) then both sides round up vps.
table 40cm in by maybe 20cm (obviously
adjusting for table and force size) with the Once you have established the amount of
ambusher’s setting up down one or both sides casualties that you have suffered in vps then
of the table, possibly in the standard set up you just convert that figure into army points to
areas, or maybe closer (I have not tested this, figure out how much damage you have actually

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 Warmaster Campaign

sustained. You then remove these points firstly defender equipment. Equally the attackers may
from any garrison forces that you were using also purchase siege attacker equipment (again
(they are more expendable) and then from any I’d suggest a maximum of 15% of total points).
of your armies involved. Once you have
Defending reinforcements may buy no siege
established how much damage your armies
equipment and neither can attacking
have sustained you may decide to use some of
reinforcements (although they are still
your reserves to negate that damage (reserves
assumed to be carrying ropes and ladders).
are explained in the armies section) if you wish
The reason for this is because it is assumed that
to do so. You are under no obligation to use
they are rushing to help their respective
your reserves at all, especially since in some
friendly forces and don’t have time to either
situations it would be utterly pointless. For
construct or transport any siege equipment.
instance, using a 100 point reserve to negate
100 points of a 300 point damage or if you A territory counts as fortified if it is of level five
know that an army will get destroyed because or above. This will include all level five
of a lack of anywhere to retreat to. territories as well as each player’s level ten
capital. A level five fortification has a capacity of
Which brings me to the next bit, what happens
1500 points, whilst a level ten territory has a
on the map. Basically the victorious armies
capacity of 3000 points. That equates to 300
always stay in that territory whilst losing armies
points per territory level (for if you have a level
retreat to the territory from which they came
six or seven territory for some reason). The
from previously or an adjacent friendly
way that the fortification capacity works is that
territory. If there are no friendly territories to
this figure is the number of troops that can be
retreat to then the armies involved are
set up inside the fortification at the beginning
destroyed. This includes an army that entered
of a siege battle, any excess defenders must be
an enemy territory by landing from the water
set up outside the walls of the fortifications.
with no friendly territories adjacent to the
attacked territories. For instance, say you had a level five territory
with a 1500 point army in it that is attacked
In addition to this if the battle is a draw then
by enemy forces. This gives you a total of 2000
both sides retreat to the territories they came
points of defending troops including the
from just as if they had lost with the same
garrison forces. 1500 points of those troops
results if there is nowhere to retreat to. This is
may be set up within the fortress wall whilst
assuming that the battle takes place in neutral
500 points must be set up outside the walls. Of
territory, however if the battle takes place in
course there is nothing stopping you from
one player’s territory then that player counts as
deploying some of your forces outside the
winning as far as retreats are concerned.
walls anyway even if you can deploy them all
If as a result of casualties (after modification inside.
for reserves) an army no longer conforms to
the army size restrictions then it must be
reduced in size so that it does conform to these
restrictions. This might result in the total
destruction of a small army but that’s the risk
you take with fielding these smaller forces,
they are easier to move, but are not designed
for waging a full scale war.
As a side point an enemy army that enters a
Garrisons are immediately restored to the fortified territory must fight a battle, there is no
appropriate level for the territory as it stands option to try to claim or pillage a siege battle
after the battle (the level might have changed). must be fought. This makes level 5 territories
In addition if the attacker wins a battle in quite important to an empire’s defence as they
enemy territory (not neutral) then the territory can be guaranteed to halt an enemies advance,
immediately becomes his, if slightly damaged for how long is an entirely different matter.
(usually a -2 to territory level).
Scouting Armies and Garrison Forces:
Fortifications and Siege Battles: The rules There are two types of army that will most
for fighting a siege battle are relatively likely fight battles at some point in a campaign
straightforward. You use exactly the same that are below 1000 points in size. These two
scenario restrictions as with a normal battle types of army are scouting armies and garrison
including defenders, attacker and forces. Because these two types of army fall
reinforcements. However any defending bellow the 1000 point level the normal army
troops can be set up in fortifications and may lists don’t really work for them since the army
use some of their points (I would suggest a list restrictions are for every full 1000 points.
maximum of 15% of total points) on siege Since there are no full 1000 points in a 500 or

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Warmaster Campaign

200 point army then some special Garrison armies are tricky. If its a 1000 point
considerations must be made. garrison (your capital territory) then use the
standard army lists. In addition if it is a
The simplest would be to just take the
garrison combined with any army use the
restrictions for a 1000 point army, however this
normal army lists (if it’s below 1000 points just
won’t work for most races for smaller garrison
use the 1000 point restrictions). However it’s
sizes (200 and 300 points) as the minimum
when you get garrisons fighting on their own
requirements usually exceed these points.
that it gets tricky.
I will hopefully be producing a set of specific
Basically follow the standard army lists as
army lists for garrison forces and scouting
closely as possible. If there is insufficient
armies, but until then use the following
points to purchase a General then a Hero may
restrictions when fighting armies with these
be used instead (although he still has the
forces.
relevant Command rating and Command
For scouting armies use the restrictions for a radius of 60cm), in the case of Undead then
1000 point army with these alterations. You obviously a Liche Priest may be used. The only
may only have one character in addition to the real restrictions are basically exactly the same
general (Orc armies may have two), you are as scouting armies in what you cannot take (no
restricted to a maximum of 20 points of magic heavy cavalry, monsters, Slayers and so on).
items (can be more than one item adding up to However artillery may be taken as normal and
20 points). Minimum troops are halved only one unit of light cavalry may be taken (this
rounding down. Empire, for instance, must includes Chaos Hounds). The basic thing is
take one Halberdier and one Crossbow that garrison armies are usually made up of
regiment, whilst High Elves must take one militia forces or whatever happens to be there
Spearmen. However, Chaos has a minimum of at the time. I think this covers most things,
one Marauder unit (rather than nothing). In however, as I stated earlier I am hoping to
addition you must also take at least one unit of write some specific lists for scouting armies
light cavalry. This is Reavers for High Elves, and garrison forces.
Pistoliers for Empire, Skeleton Cavalry for
Undead, Wolf Riders for Orcs, Marauder EPILOGUE
Horsemen for Chaos (not Hounds, these are Well, that’s about all I can squeeze into this
also restricted to one unit) and Rangers for issue but never fear for I shall return in the
Dwarfs (I know its not cavalry, but it seems next issue and outline further our campaign
appropriate). In addition to this no war that has been running in the Brent Cross store.
machines, chariots, heavy cavalry or monsters I shall introduce each of the players, their
may be taken, this includes Ogres and Trolls empires and their armies, cover some of the
even though they are classed as infantry. This more important battles and wax lyrical about
also applies to character mounts. Also Orcs making terrain and other stuff for your
may not take Black Orcs, Empire may not take campaign. Til then, cheerio...
Flagellants or Handgunners and Dwarfs may
not take Slayers.

The Warmaster campaign group – what a picture!

39
 MULTI-PLAYER GAMES

By Andy Meechan

Rick’s right you know, multi-player games sub-commanders, be this through inter-
are a great way to play Warmaster. In fact it’s tribal disagreements, personal ambition, or
dangerously close to being the best way to incompetence (perceived or proven) of
play Warmaster (which would be a multi- either party. These factors can be toyed with
player game on a large table with great to add a bit of spin to any game.
terrain and loads of well-painted armies).
Furthermore, I am so enamoured by the There can be only one
idea that I’ve started thinking up various Given enough players, each side can choose
ways to execute multi-player games. So if a player to act as Overall Commander, who
you’re at a loss some weekend and have a spends the game issuing orders from his
few mates round, or if your Club is looking camp and expecting them to be interpreted
for a reason to stick a couple of 6x4’s as closely as possible. The other players
together, then read on. aren’t allowed to talk to each other unless
their respective Generals are within 30cm of
There are certain factors that remain
each other on the battlefield. The Overall
unchanged throughout multi-player games
Commander should also be represented by
(having more than two players for a start!).
a (suitably impressive) token on the
Employing an umpire is recommended as
tabletop, allowing direct exchange with
they can keep the action flowing by
individual Generals within range. At all
resolving disputes and round up any
other times, orders are given in written note
wandering players when it’s their turn.
form only and should be kept simple.
Other factors are less stable, such as how
Command of each side is resolved, the The Overall Commander issues all of his
arrival of reserves in particularly large orders before his sub-commanders. The
games, and who is charged with supplying Umpire should collate all of the notes to be
the biscuits (usually me, but I try to passed around the field of battle and assess
encourage the others to stock my them for brevity. Edits should be made
cupboards). where necessary and a Command roll for
each note made in private to see if it is
delivered whole, in part, or not at all. Use
the highest Command value for the race
nominated as Overall Commander on the
allied side. (The Overall Commander should
be of a Race represented by at least one of
the allied armies.)
COMMAND A variation would be verbal commands
Although some Races in the Warhammer issued to sub-commanders; again via the
universe lend themselves to infighting and Umpire. In this case, the Army Commander
general insubordination in the lower ranks, issues the order to the Umpire, who carries
you’ll find that there is usually a strong it to the intended player, or not as the case
leader at the top of the pile (he’s the one may be. Use of command rolls can again be
wielding the biggest stick). In some cases applied to misplace or even misdirect
the leader is not always best respected by his orders! (My favourite blunder is giving one

41
Multi-Player Games

General another’s orders as well as their This twist is advised for use in simple
own!) If a Command roll is unsuccessful scenarios, as the Umpire is going to have to
then refer to the Overall Commander do a lot of work mixing up and
Blunder table for the effect: misinterpreting messages. After all, if the
Dwarfs start writing to the Elves in their
OVERALL COMMANDER BLUNDER own, heavy rune-script, the Elven
TABLE: commanders either try to translate, or go all
out to provide a more elegant (i.e. Elven)
Roll Where are they going? solution (it doesn’t matter what the solution
1-2 The sub-commander receives no is, it’s bound to be more elegant than the
direct orders from the Overall Dwarfs idea anyway!).
Commander this turn and may ad-
lib as they wish, or continue to Death by Committee
execute their orders from a
If you want to achieve nothing, but spend an
previous turn.
awful lot of time achieving it, form a
3-4 The orders are delayed and will committee! This option for command is
arrive next turn. Just inform the particularly suited for Empire armies
player that no orders were composed from different areas of the
received as with the result above. If Empire, or Chaos Warbands representing
the sub-commander is issued more different powers.
next turn, they may receive both
In this command, there is no overall
sets!
commander and players are free to decide
5-6 The orders are misdirected to what the forces should do… together. This
another of the allied players (who should end in tears as the inevitable ‘suits
hopefully receive their own set of all’ solution is usually the least imaginative
orders at the same time!). (and safest) bet! The Umpire is best used
here to keep discussion times suitably
Once all orders have been issued, the hectic, so that only quick thinking will save
individual players may begin their own the day.
orders phase. As usual, a General failing a
command roll will prevent him from issuing
more orders but will not affect an allied RESERVES
army. Normal battles take place on a 6’x4’, or 8’x4’
table which can comfortably pack in 3,000-
You don’t want to do it that way 4,000 points of allied armies. Throw in
Another method of antagonising an allied another ally to either side and you could be
force is to pitch together sides with differing looking at 6,000 points per side; this means
views on life. High Elves and Dwarfs make your dining room table is getting too
for a great spectacle, as neither side would cramped to swing a Goblin Fanatic (but it
defer to a commander from the other, would won’t stop him from trying!). At 4’ across,
treat any third party Commander (say an the average gaming table is going to allow
Empire Commander) with disdain and only 20cm to deploy in. To avoid an
would ultimately do their own thing. unrealistic and unpleasant lining-up of the
(Competing Orc Warbosses, or army, reserves should be used to form waves
Necromancers tussling to show off also of attack, each bolstering the one in front (or
make great playmates.) preventing your opponent from routing it!).

42
 Multi-Player Games

Unless the scenario

specifies otherwise, it is
usual that the opposing
forces will deploy on one
edge of the table. When
deploying, a minimum of
25% of the army should
be placed onto the table,
with the remainder
arriving from reserve on
future turns. Each turn
has up to 25% of the army
allocated to arrive as
reserve. Units are
allocated in advance to a
specific reserve pool and
are placed into battalions
of 2-4 units.
Example: a 5,000 point
Empire army elects to
deploy 3,000 points, with
7 battalions totalling
1,120 points arriving on
turn 2 and a further 3
battalions totalling 440
points on each of turns 3
and 4.
As it is easier to judge
where and when forces
should enter the tabletop
at the planning stage,
reserves allocated to
earlier turns are more
likely to turn up in the
right place at the right
time. When reserves are
due to arrive, roll a D6
and deduct the score
from the current turn number; the result gets a 1, which means that two of their
gives you the number of battalions that have battalions have gone astray ([Turn] 3 – 1 =
gone astray. Roll a D6 for each battalion 2). Rolling a further D6 for each battalion,
affected, on a 1-4 the battalion arrives at a the player gets a 2 and a 6: one of the
random point along the deployment edge, battalions appears at a random spot along
on a 5+ the battalion is placed into the their board edge and the other is placed
reserve pool for the following turn. Note with the reserves earmarked for arrival on
that a minimum of one battalion from the Turn 4. The third battalion is placed
reserve pool must appear on-table on the anywhere on the player’s edge.
turn allocated (be it randomly placed or
As you may have guessed, reserve battalions
not). If all battalions have gone astray, then
allocated to turns 4 or above will almost
the overall commander may choose one
always arrive in the wrong place or at the
battalion that will appear from the allocated
wrong time – such is the hazard of co-
reserve pool; this appears at a random point
ordinating a battle!
on the side’s deployment edge.
So, there you are, get out there make some
Example: given the Empire army above,
alliances (the shakier the better!) and go to
during turn three there are 3 battalions
war with your neighbours (well, not
totalling 440 points scheduled to arrive.
literally!)
Rolling a D6, the player is unfortunate and

43