To give ourselves something to occupy our games while we’re waiting for Warmachine and Hordes Mark III to arrive in mid-June, discussion of a narrative-based and/or map-based campaign surfaced. Currently a number of players in the Drawbridge Games community area starting Legion of Everblight armies (Andy, Ryan, Enrico, Kevin, and Brandon). And those who are not starting Legion mostly have Khador or Trollbloods as their forces of choice (Tony, Colton, Dan, and Me). So the thought was: why not start a campaign built around a Legion of Everblight assault that forces Khador and Trollbloods to team up against them?
Okay, so given the map from the IK Roleplaying book (above), the overlap of Trollbloods and Khador seems to be particularly present in those northwestern forest areas. It looked like the best spot to me was the spot where two rivers tributaries seemed to pose opposite each other (the Irkel and the Tapping rivers). It makes for a nice little area where Khadorite field troops and Kriels of Trollbloods would have to band together to protect themselves (and each other) against an onrushing menace from the Legion of Everblight’s advances.
As for campaign rules, the goal is to encourage and support all the players building new Legion of Everblight armies. So the central component will be that when a player completes a certain amount of painting, they can choose one of the Legion of Everblight Mystery Boxes–all of which contain something to add to their forces. I’m thinking that completing the Battle Group, or a Battle Group equivalent (fifteen points of Legion including a Warlock) should earn a chance at one of the mystery boxes.
As for the rules of the Campaign, the story will be that a new secret base for the Legion of Everblight has been established at the confluence of the Tapping river. Their machinations have allowed them to establish a major incursion, and the Khador army is recalled to deal with the threat. Given that a number of Trollblood Kriels are also in the path of destruction, a number of Warlocks have been recalled and set up a temporary truce with the Khador military to work together in opposing this set of foes.
That’s the initial map without the starting placements of various Warlocks and Warcasters. The idea would be that we’ll poll the players about which Warnouns they are most likely and least likely to use in the campaign. Those would then get split into various combined forces. So for instance, one group could be the Butcher (all three versions) and Hoarluck Doomshaper (all three versions). Another could be Jarl, Strakov (both), Borka (both), and Karchev. A win by one of their warnouns would mean that their area would expand. If adjacent to foe tiles, then a loss would mean they shrink. And if adjacent to a foe who was played in that fight, the winner would spread into the foe’s space that is lost. The starting Khador/Trolls blocks will obviously form a line in the south, while the Legion form a line in the North. To accommodate a couple of players who are not fielding Legion, Trollbloods, or Khador, there can be rules for a river-borne contingents of Cryx (and maybe Cygnar) raider seeking to weaken Khador and the Trollblood Kriels, as well as find information about the Legion base of operations.
This gives players flexibility to control the destiny of the fight–whichever warlocks and warcasters won most would find their armies spreading over the lands. There will be a reason to be ahead on individual battles won, as well as the faction lead as a whole. That means that players don’t have to play every week to still get a meaningful campaign, but they’re encouraged to play frequently as benefits accrue for more participation. Games can be any points value, and we’d love for players to rise to the 50 point level. But to accommodate starting players, 15 point games are also permitted, and the expectation is that 25 point and 35 point games will be common early in the campaign.
There will also be special missions (using the IKRPG rules) for commando raids, run by Ryan.
The campaign will end with a big mega-battle between the two sides with multiple players playing at once. If Legion has amassed more wins and controls more territory, there will be a raid on the Troll/Khador settlements as the final battle–and prizes for Legion players who successfully carry the most “plunder” away. If Trollbloods/Kador have instead accomplished more wins and control more territory, then it will be a last-ditch effort of the Legion forces to evacuate their hidden base, and Trollbloods/Khador folk securing intel. Individual success records will determine placement for the final battle, with more central spots given better odds of accomplishing the win elements (but certainly not guaranteed).We will also be tracking number of times each player fielded each Warcaster/Warlock–the player who played the most of that caster gets to field them in the final game (effectively gets right of first refusal). This will reward players who stick with the same caster for the campaign, and also make showing up for continued games important.
The Dark Muse 