Tactical Scenario Campaign Rules
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5. Playing The Battle - Terrain
At this point you should know three things: the army lists involved in the battle, the terrain the battle will be fought over, and the scenario that determines the victory conditions. All you need to do now is set up the terrain and play the game.
Terrain
Since each group has different numbers and types of terrain pieces, there can be no hard and fast rules about how to set up terrain to match a particular terrain type. This is something that your group will need to decide based on what you have available.
If possible, this is something you should do before the battle, since the General of the all-Cavalry army is going to have a very different interpretation than his Dwarf opponent with his all-Infantry army as to exactly what a "Forest" battlefield looks like!
One option is to have each player in the campaign (or perhaps just somebody pseudo-impartial) make diagrams of a number of possible maps for each terrain type. Here are some possible guidelines for you to use or ignore as you see fit:
Badlands
Numerous
impassable obstacles (some impassable to infantry as well).
Rock spires or mesas, canyons, sinkholes, lava flows, or fields of tree
stumps all make good badlands.
Desert
This should be very
flat terrain, with the possible exception of an oasis or a few dunes.
Forest
Thick, thick forests of
the Old Worlde, untouched by loggers. If you can, aim to cover a
third or even half of the surface area of the battlefield with
trees. Make sure that the units which can't enter forests can still
cross the table, although the route can be circuitous. A couple
of hills are fine, as is a river or small body of water.
Hills
Use all of the hills you
can find. Spruce them up with a few trees if you like, and perhaps a
small body of water.
Islands
The idea of Islands is
a battlefield where water is a signficant obstacle. Numerous rivers,
large open bodies of water, or if you can manage it, peninsulas or actual
islands joined by narrow causeways.
Mountains
Like hills but more
severe. Throw in sheer cliffs that even infantry can't cross, and a
few copses of trees if you're not above the tree line.
Plains
Like desert, these
should be fairly flat, with only a couple of pieces of terrain if you're
on a normal-sized table.
Snow
Apart from being cold,
arctic terrain is pretty much anything, ranging from snowy mountains
peaks to windswept fields of ice - the significance of the terrain to
the tactical game is the difficulty armies have finding sustenance and
shelter from the bitter chill, rather than the lumpiness of the
terrain. If your normal playing surface is a lush forest green, just
cover it with your mother's best white linen (you heard it here
first).
Swamps
Low-lying, wet
terrain. Small bodies or water and rivers, surrounded by forests
and large muddy areas (accessible to Infantry, Cavalry, Flyers and
Monsters, but not Chariots or Artillery), possibly with a causeway running
from one side of the battlefield to the other.
Village
If you're playing on a village hex, set up
a village somewhere near the middle of the board.
Fortress
If you're playing on a fortress hex, set up a
fortress, or other heavily fortified area, at one end of
the table. In this case, the defender gets to position all of the
terrain, since fortresses are usually built in an advantageous position.
Once you have the terrain set up, have one side roll a die to determine which side it starts on - their attackers start opposite (for most scenarios). The specifics of placement are determined by the scenario you're playing.
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of this crap is Copyright © 2000-2006 Michael
Prescott except
the registered trademarks of Games Workshop.