alright, lets see here.

I have tried to make campaign rules, but i can never get a good working system for a map based campaign so i was wondering if people could help me out.

i would like to make a campaign with the following elements:

- a map, representing a planets surface.
- something to do with space combat, like using BFG, that could affect the campaign.
- air support
- supply lines
- territories. and crossing over to other territories.
- unit making and some sort of force control, army building process.
- attacking opponents
- anything else that might add to the campaign

i would greatly apreciate any help.

This would probably do a lot better in the Campaign section. :) I'll move it that way for ya.

Katie D

That sort of thing is always fun. My suggestion would be to start small and build up: Figure out a good starting point - special rules for a particular territory, for example - and make sure it works. Then slowly expand outwards, perhaps playtesting with a coauthor and trying new things as you go. How do you capture adjacent territories? How many points for the attacker/defender? Only when you have a good grasp of the basics of how this thing will work should you start to incorporate things like space combat or manufacturing. My experience is that if you let yourself get distracted by all the awesome things you COULD do before you've actually gotten a good framework for the simpler stuff, you'll never be able to finish what you started.

I've been wanting to do something like this for a while, so I'll gladly contribute.

I have tons of ideas so I'll start off slow or else I'll go off the wall :D

Basic Game Beginnings

- there are 2 Turns: Strategic Turn [ST] (actions in this turn include: move units on the map, determine resupply, bring in reserves, reinforce a position, etc) and Tactical Turn [TT] (fight the battles)

- Have everyone draft 2 separate and unique 2000pt lists. One is the Primary Force list (detailed later), the other is the Reserve Force List

- The Primary Force List MUST follow FOC, the Reserve Force List DOES NOT (More on why later)

- Everyone starts with 1 territory on the map, with a 750pt "Recon" Army there (this Army should come from the "Primary Force List")

Army Groups/Combat Brigades
This section is not fully clear in my mind an is a random assortment of ideas so I'll try and make it as coherent as possible.

- an Army falls under one of the following headings with regards to being an "Army Group"
1). Infantry Army Group
2). Mechanize Army Group
3). Airborne/Airmobile Army Group
4). Recon Group

A Recon Army Group is a 750pt Army. On the battle map they can move up to 5 territories per ST.
- Abilities:
At the end of their movement they may opt to "Conduct Surveillance", in which case they may choose 2 adjacent territories and see what/who is in there. If the territory is occupied by the enemy, roll a d6. On a 4+ the Scouts remain undetected and may make a tactical withdraw of 1 territory.

An Infantry Army Group is comprised of a 750pt-2000pt Army, that is mainly comprised (i.e. 70% or more) of infantry models. It may move 1 territory per ST.
- Abilities:
- If they move, at the end of their turn they may opt to "Dig In", in which case if they are attacked in that territory on any following turn, all infantry models may Infiltrate
- If they don't move they may "Fortify a Position", in which case if they defend that territory on subsequent turns, they may place up to d3 + 1 bunkers.
- If they don't move they may "Reinforce", in which case they may bring in fresh units from their Reserve Forces List. More on reinforcements later.

A Mechanized Army Group is comprised of 750pt-2000pt Army, that is primarily Vehicle Based (70% or more vehicles. Any Mech Infantry List is considered a Mech Army). They may move 2 territories in the ST.

A Airborne/Airmobile Army Group is a 750pt-2000pt Army, that comprises mainly of drop troops/deep striking units (70% or more). They may move 3 territories per ST.
- Abilities:
- "Establish Landing Zone" - At the end of their movement, a Airborne Army Group can select to establish a Landing Zone. If they do, 750pts of reinforcements can start at the new Landing Zone per ST. Until an Airborne Group establishes a Landing Zone, only 1 Airborne Army group may occupy that territory at any given time.
- "Reinforce Landing Zone" - If an Airborne Group does not move in the ST and is on a Landing Zone, they may expand the reinforcement capacity by 750pts. Subsequent Airmobile Groups may continue to expand that ability.

Here's an example. ST 1 Airborne Group A moves 3 territories and then establishes a Landing Zone, capable of bringing in 750pts of reinforcements. ST2, that same Group decides to Reinforce said Landing Zone, bringing its capability up to 1500pts, and so on.

Combat Brigades
Army Groups Can be combined into Combat Brigades. These can vary in size from 1500pt "Recon" Brigades, to massive 4000pt+ Combat Action Brigades. When a Combat Brigade is formed, decide amongst the players who's armies comprise said Brigade to be Brigade Commander. He is the link between the Strategic Commander and the individual Army Group Commanders.

Combat Brigade Actions:
Every ST a Combat Brigade can perform certain actions. They have no particular effect on the game outside of making coordinated attacks easier.

- Concentrated Attack - The Brigade concentrates its assets and decides to launch a coordinated attack on a solitary objective, be it a territory, an enemy unit, a building/town/etc. The independent Army Groups move at their defined speed. This is a good tactic for sudden objective grabs and breakthroughs. For example, Airborne Units grab the objective and wait for the Mech and Infantry to move up.

- Diffused Attack - The Brigade allows the individual Army Groups to act semi-independently. Army Groups move at their defined speed.

During the ST, when an Army Group or Combat Brigade moves into a contested territory (a territory which is occupied by an enemy unit), it stops immediately and must fight the battle in the following TT.*

* With regard to Airborne Groups to the territory they end in. This means they can move over 2 territories with no penalty, even if one of those territories has an enemy unit in it.


Argh. More to come in a bit. I'll get into Reserves and Resupply Later. Then eventually I'll get into towns/cities/buildings.

Army Force Lists

I mentioned these earlier so I figured I'd go into go into some more detail.

Primary Force List
When creating this list, make it to 2000pts. Also follow the FOC. To make things easier for issues of reinforcements and varying list sizes, try and build the list in "sections", preferably 3 500pt sections and 2 250pt sections. This allows a wide variety of list builds for different point sizes. And here is why it's important to do so:

- Your Primary Force can be broken down into as many Army Groups as you'd like, though the minimum any Army Group can be points wise is 750pts. You can band and disband Army Groups as much as you'd like. More on that later.

- Your Primary Force is the main force you will be playing with, moving it around the strategic map and fighting battles.

Reserve Force List
This list is also built to 2000pts, but the main difference is it DOES NOT need to follow the FOC. What that hypothetically means is you could build a reserve list comprised entirely of Heavy Support choices. The downside of doing so though, is that Reserves can only replace like units on the FOC.

For example, my 1000pt Army Group lost a Heavy Support choice and 2 Elite choices in a battle. In the ST, I opt to reinforce them with units from my Reserve List. Downside is I only have 1 Elite choice in my Reserve list. Thus I can only reinforce them with the 1 Elite choice I have in the Reserve list, leaving the Army group short of an Elite choice and Heavy Support choice.

Thus it is wise to make your reserve list relatively balanced, unless you know that you can keep certain units alive longer than others, and thus it might be better to load up on certain units. Going back to the example above, had I believe that my Troops would last long, I would have loaded up on say HQ and Elite choices and then could have reinforced my Primary Force with 2 Elite choices instead of 1
More on Reserves Later...too tired to write now. feel free to PM if you'd want me to discuss this more over PM than rambling here on your post ;)