This is the second of two articles that describe the rules of a campaign system for Warmachine and Hordes. The first part described how to compose an army and deal with attrition as it sustained losses over a series of battles. This part describes how to sequence a series of battles and determine who is the winner.

WAGING WAR

Armies do not have infinite resources with which to wage a war. The loss of every trooper weakens the ability to fight effectively not only in the current battle, but in the following battles. The example campaign used in ANNIHILATION is designed for two players and comprises four games escalating from 15 to 25 to 35 and finally to 50 points in size. The complete pool of points available to construct the army that will fight in these games was 80% of their total sum, i.e. 100 points. This is just an example and you can choose to have a campaign last for as many games as you want and those games can be as large as you want. You could also adjust the percentage to represent a greater or lesser penalty for sustaining losses.

The basic campaign for ANNIHILATION has the following structure –

This is a very simple campaign structure where each game follows on directly from the previous one. All of the scenarios are described on pages 90-93 of Warmachine Prime MkII. The winner of each game receives a number of Game Points that are 10% of the points size of the game. There are some additional bonuses and penalties for winning and losing –

  • Game 2: The winner of Game 1 automatically wins the starting roll for this game. This represents the tactical advantage the army gained from winning the initial engagement.
  • Game 3: The winner of Game 2 can choose any one unit (excluding their warcaster) to benefit from Advance Deployment for this game. This represents the eagerness of the army to dominate their enemy.
  • Game 4: The player with the most Game Points so far (if there is one) gains a -1 modifier when making CMD checks for this game. This represents the confidence the army has to vanquish their foe.

Remember to keep track of the losses sustained by each army after each game. Don’t forget to award any bonds that may apply.

THE WINNER

Total up the Game Points accrued by each player over the course of the four games. The player with the most points is the winner, but there are different degrees of victory. Subtract the Game Points of the losing player from those of the winning player and compare them on the table below –

Difference Victory Margin Description
11-12.5 Annihilation You completely massacred your opponent. You have not only one the day, but have also dealt a blow to your enemy they will not soon forget.
4.5 – 1.5 Victory Your enemy put up a good fight, but ultimately you vanquished him. It has been a bloody day, but victory is yours.
0.5 Minor Victory Your victory is tenuous and right now the enemy may be planning their counter attack. Do not rest on your laurels.

Okay, that’s it. The game structure is quite straight forward as are the victory conditions. The rules for army composition and attrition on the other hand are more complex, but a player who does not heed early losses may find himself unable to field a viable force in the later battles. With the game points weighted towards the later games this could prove disastrous.

Owen