Tactical Scenario Campaign Rules

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1. Setting Up the Campaign

The only record-keeping that you need to do to run the TSC is to update the roster after each game.  Initially the roster simply consists of a list of players, and the type of army they're playing.  It also lists the type of terrain type of the territory each is basing its operations from (more on this later), the accumulated points handicap, the date of the last game played, and the magical items and battle honours that each has accumulated.

Here's a sample roster from the beginning of a game.

Territories

A Territory is an abstract representation of the base of operations of an army, and is important during tactical scenario generation (see below).  There are nine types of territory to choose from:

• Badlands (Medium Brown)
• Desert (Light Brown)
• Forest  (Green)
• Hills (Greyish Green)
• Islands (Blue)
• Mountains (Dark Grey)
• Plains (Pale Green)
• Snow (White)
• Swamps (Dark Brown)

At the start of the campaign, each player should select one of the nine terrain types for his or her home territory. A player has one territory type at all times, and at the end of each battle has the opportunity to switch to a different type of territory if he or she chooses.

The harsher types of terrain (anything but plains and hills) impose penalties on armies trying to move through them during tactical scenario generation, although the various races and nations have handle some of them better than others.  These strengths and weaknesses should be considered when you select your territory.

Magical Items

In the TSC, battles are played for control of rare and precious magical items.  Each of the 18 magical items in the Warmaster rulebook are considered unique - only one player may use each in his or her army list.  That player retains control of the item until control of it is wrested from him or her in battle.

When a player controls a magical item, it can be added to any army list that he or she makes up for a TSC game.  A player doesn't have to field a magical item, it can be left at home.  If it is fielded, points must be paid for it normally - controlling a magical item means that you have the right to field it.

At the start of the campaign, each player should be allocated one to three magical items, depending on the maximum size of the group you're anticipating.  Our group will have at most five or six players, so the four starting players were allocated three each.  If you're expecting more than six, start with two each.  If you're expecting more than nine, start with just one.  (If you have managed to get more than eighteen people into your Warmaster campaign, you're probably eligible for some sort of community award; check with your municipal government office.)

All of the players should be present for the allocation of magical items, which is done randomly.  Roll dice to see who goes first.  Players can either order themselves according to their dice-rolling talents, or by going counter-clockwise around a table, starting with whoever rolls highest, which ever is easiest to organize.

Once the order has been determined, go around the table rolling one die twice, consulting the following chart to see which magical item the player receives.  Re-roll any results that have already been allocated to another player.

If each player is getting more than one item, once each player has received his or her first item, go around the table again until each has the correct number.

If you find yourself in our situation, where your campaign suddenly has more participants than you had originally expected, you might find that you haven't got enough magical items to go around.  If this happens, allow new entrants to the campaign to receive items that other players have already been allocated.

No army, however, can ever hold more than one of the same item.

Running the Campaign

Running the TSC is very simple. Whenever two players in the campagn get together, they can play a campaign battle.  Using the tactical scenario generation rules described below, they generate a scenario to play.

When the battle is over, they send the results and the date they played to the campaign's organizer, who updates each player's wins, losses and ties, records any new battle honours that have been awarded, and any magical items that have changed hands.

Battle Setup - Make the Map >
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