Map Campaign: The secret of Groningen (building the campaign)

[Kramer]

Hi all,

A thread/blog of me developing, finetuning and playing the campaign. I have big plans and probably will have to kill some darlings. Also very open to any and all feedback and ideas. Nothing is yet set in stone. 

Situation: We have a semi regular playgroup with three young parents so are gaming days are far and few in between. But that makes the gaming extra special and fun to do. We all studied in Groningen,Netherlands and so the map will be based on that city. Because we tend to play quite slow we'll be playing as a skirmish campaign but hopefully we should be able to easy change the campaign up to full scale armies if players wish to. (Don't think so but still.) Most likely some players will switch up factions because of the Skirmish and two potential new players so I want to keep administration and listbuilding time to the minimum. We'll be playing in the same place at the same time and I expect between 4 and 6 players at every game day with a maximum of 10 players.

Current set up:

The Campaign turn

1. A player wins if after a gaming round they have X amount of Conquest Points. (not sure yet on the amount)
   1. If you win you get X points (What to do with major/minor victory and tied games?)
2. A player can also win, by winning a special Final scenario. The Finale is triggered by possession of 3 specific locations. 
3. Before every round the player (The Challenger) with the lowest amount of Conquest Points can decide who they'll play. Roll off ties. 
4. After the first round add battletraits as shown in the January White Dwarfs (Only if new players join)
5. After the second round add relics as shown in the January White Dwarfs (Only if new players join)

Before Battle

1. The Challenger decides the Renown Points for the battle. (Probably from 3 options)
2. List Building
   1. General gains the Hero keyword. Must be a Champion or Hero.
   2. Three models minimum
   3. One Champion/Hero minimum. 
   4. Heroes, Wizards and Elites will be limited
   5. Renown Points as shown in the January White Dwarf
3. Challenger decides to use the Location battleplan or rolls on the 6 standard scenario's.

After the Battle

1. The winner gains Conquest Points
2. The winner can claim a location.
   1. If the challenger wins they can choose either a free location or one of their opponents
   2. If the defender wins they can claim a free locations or if all locations are already claimed one of their opponents. 
3. Claiming a location is first come first serve. So if you finish a game first, you get first choice.

The map

1. The map will be based on the map of Groningen. Locations will include things like the market place to our student housing.
2. The locations will open up limitations in army selection. (more on this later
3. All locations have a optional special battleplan. 
4. If one player (or an alliance) has 3 specific locations, they can start up a final knock out game.

Extra stuff to do:

1. I will prepare roster as a kind of 'Draft' Document. So that every player can easily see the available options and build there lists
2. For the factions without Warscroll cards I will print some out. (still thinking if I could combine it into the draft document)
3. For the invite I want to do a GW style video. Just to get the hype up and practice that style of video making. 
4. I need a price/trophy. No ideas yet.
5. Maybe i'll print the rosters from the January white dwarf. 
6. Print the map and hang it up, so we can mark possession of locations

For clarity i'll post the Location list and things to decide in the next post  

[Kramer]

Locations and Scenarios

Scenarios

For the 6 standard scenarios I look for some standard scenarios with a little bit less randomness in it. 

1. Time voor Heroes (WD 01-2019)
2. Hold the Centre (WD 01-2019)
3. Sweeping assault (WD 01-2019)
4. Treasure hunt (WD 01-2019)
5. Starstrike (Generals Handbook)
6. Scorched Earth (Generals Handbook)

Locations and special missions (mostly for personal reference, sorry about this wall of text  )

1. Heresingel - Night attack (Firestorm)
2. Martini toren - The Monolith (Path to Glory Booklet)
3. St. Josef Kerk - Vortex of Power (Skirmish Booklet)
4. Universiteit - Cornered (Path to Glory Booklet)
5. Mobiele Wizard? - Relocation orb (Generals Handbook)
6. De Aa Kerk - Through the Gnawhole - add bidding, misschien 1 pad bij 150 = < (Skaven Battletome)
7. Noorder plantsoen - Clash at dawn (WD 01-2019)
8. Albertus - Clash at dawn (WD 01-2019)
9. Noorderhaven - Tunnel Wars (Core Rulebook)
10. Korenbeurs  - The Ambush (Firestorm )
11. Vismarkt - The Trap (Firestorm )”
12. Station Groningen - Shifting objectives (Generals Handbook)
13. Goudkantoor - Fragile Cargo (Skirmish Booklet)
14. Stadhuis - Assassinate (Skirmish Booklet)
15. Gasthuis - The Ritual (WD 01-2019)
16. Nieuwstad - Vendetta (Path to Glory Booklet)

I do have 4 scenarios I would love to switch in there but don't really know for what I would switch them:
Prospector down (Kharadron battletome)
Vandalisme (IronJawz battletome)
Into the Fiends Layer (Fireslayers Battletome)

A special scenario in which we place a cardboard wall in between. So secret set up, probably in combination with Border War.

Finale scenario:

Seize the relic. Depending on the amount of players add relic locations. (Skirmish Booklet)

 

[Kramer]

So now onto the undecided things.

1. What to do with missing players
   1. Do they start with their own points or do we raise them to the lowest scoring player?
   2. Great suggestion by someone her. Absent player ties their fate to another player beforehand. They gain the same amount of points that round. 
   3. What to do with territories of absent players? Fair game for every winner?
2. Should I share what every location does beforehand? Keeping it secret might speed things up in selecting what to fight for, but makes it more of a gamble and less tactical. 
   1. Or maybe a rough narrative hint. 
   2. And what about the three locations of power to start the finale? Do the players know beforehand what's going on?
3. A secret objective? Maybe limited to one a day. Some Ideas that should mostly help lower ranked players.
   1. Challenger: Play against the highest placed player that round.
   2. Assassin: Kill the opponents general in a game.
   3. Citybuilder/destroyer: Steal a location owned by another player.
   4. Add more
4. Do we set op start times? Seems overly controlling but does help get more games in a day. 

Again any help or suggestions and of course cool ideas are very much appreciated.

[Luke82]

Sounds really good mate, and i’d love to see the video invite if you can link it here!

[Kramer]

9 hours ago, Luke82 said:

Sounds really good mate, and i’d love to see the video invite if you can link it here!

Absolutely will! 

[Kramer]

So as the setting is an urban city plagued by earthquakes and sink-holes due to over mining the area... I need some board to match. But to fill 3 board at a time I’m going to need to be a bit creative and cheap about it. 

 Currently my idea is to have:

table one: park and green looking because I got that all. 

Table two: underground/caved in area. Because I’m close to having a table worth. 

Table three: it must be a ruined city. But That needs to be scratch build. This morning I took an hour to research and build a proof of concept. Not done yet, it will get another wall, some ‘crossbeams’ To add some depth and a second story floor and stairs in the back so it also adds some playing height to it.

any tips and thoughts are super helpful! 

10 minutes later, another wall and some debris on the floor. 

[Kramer]

Just an update on the scenery front. Been on a bit of a building high. Final details before painting to be done  so support beams, stairs and all fully cut out windows will be put back in as boarding that can be broken down in game.

broken road road project not a success yet , forgot to seal the foam 🤫

also bought and build nine thunderers which will be amazingly fun in Skirmish, also bought and build 5 vanguard hunters and Neave to have some extra options for the Stormcast player. And, again, hunters fit so well for Skirmish.