A strategic map campaign
Chronicling the realms fighting for the control of this long
overlooked piece of land during the years 2523 to 2530 I.C.
by Tarjei Aasen
Table of contents
Author’s notes
Credits, inspiration and thank yous
The story of Hex Island
The Map
Types of territories
The Realms
Distrustful allies
Eliminating realms
Connection
Contracts with other realms
The year
Year 0 - The beach head
Years 1 and 2 – Initial gains
Years 3 to 7 – Conquer the land
Time plan for the campaign
Winning the campaign
Phase 1 – Declarations of War
1.1 Invasions are declared
1.2 Travel expenses are paid
1.3 Extra troops are called in
Invading neutral territories
Invading enemy territories
Combined invasions
Relief force
Diverting attacks
Phase 2 - Battles
Forces
Terrain
Consequences of battles
Claiming territories
Phase 3 – Construction
3.1 Realms collect income
3.2 Upgrades take effect
3.3 Prisoner exchange
3.4 Trade
3.5 Sacrifices
3.6 Rebuilding
3.7 Upgrades and construction
3.8 Exports
Features
Limitations on features
Assets
Resources
Territories
Slaves
Generals’ development
Generals’ injuries
Glory
Skills
Armies
Author’s notes
This map campaign centres on two things, the development of a realm controlled by more than one player, and the development of the army General. It does not revolve around the army as a thing in itself, and it is assumed that a realm may have many more troops at arms than those who fight in the battles. Instead the make up of a realm dictates what an army may consist of. Initially the restrictions will be very limiting for most armies, though the realms will have several turns where they can build features granting them acess to more uncommon units before they start fighting each other.
This document is written in English to make it accessible to foreign readers. Feel free to copy as much of it as you like and adapt it as you see fit, as long as I get some form of credit.
Credits, inspiration and thank yous
Dylan Owen – The Bloodlands campaign
Anthony Reynolds – Path to Glory
Che Webster – Warhammer Border Patrol
The story of HexIsland
In the year 2523 (Imperial Calendar) a Bretonnian expeditionary force on its way to the island of Albion was blown off course by a storm and landed on an island not marked on any of their maps. The island, named HexIsland because of the large number of wizard’s towers dotting the landscape, seemed to have been settled by norse raiders some centuries before. Though not as rich in ancient treasures as their original destination of Albion, the climate was much more pleasant and once the rumours started spreading HexIsland became a target for adventurers from many races.
The island itself contained only six landing sites large enough to harbour ocean going vessels: AshBeach, BloodBeach, CobaltBeach, DragonBeach, EndlessBeach and FuryBeach and this created several more or less reluctant alliances, most not lasting more than a few years.
The Map
The map of HexIsland is made up of 60-ish hexagonal tiles making up a larger roughly hexagonal shape with a diameter of 9 tiles. Each tile represents a separate territory and can be conquered by the players. The master map will be available to the players during the War Meetings and each realm will have its own copy. The tiles being used can be downloaded from the Warmaster website at
At the start of the game, before the initial year 0, all territories on the map are neutral, though all territories may be conquered by the player realms during the game. None of the neutral territories have armies, though some territories are controlled by territorial wizards that must either be bargained with or subjugated.
Types of territories
A territory may be one of several types, for example Coastal, Lowlands or Highlands. When a territory is first conquered by a realm the invading realm rolls the indicated combination of dice to see how bountiful it is. This only done once for each territory during the entire game, you do not roll again if the territory is later captured by another realm. How many resources a territory produces should be noted on the map in some way.
Coastal territories
The coast of Hex Island is rugged and there are few places where it is safe for ships to land. Controlling one of the few landing sites on the island is therefore vitally important.
Resources: The landing sites yield no natural resources. For the other coastal territories roll two D6, select the highest and subtract one to see how many resources the territory produces per year.
Lakes
HexIsland has few large lakes and even the largest, DeepwaterLake is hardly impressive by most standards. A lake always counts as a RiverValley.
Resources: Roll a D6 to see how many resources the territory produces per year.
Lowland territories
Lowlands are ideal for growing crops and often yield plenty of resources. A Lowland territory may contain a river, in which case it is also a RiverValley territory.
Resources: Roll two D6 and select the highest to see how many resources the territory produces per year.
Highland territories
Highlands are difficult territories to suppress, as the natives flee into the hills and only emerge once the invaders have tired of looking for them. A Highland territory may contain a river, in which case it is also a RiverValley territory.
Resources: Roll a D6 to see how many resources the territory produces per year.
Special: If an army attacks from a Highland territory and is defeated then the defeat is shifted one level in favour of the attacker (i.e. Massacres become Solid Victories, and so on). Draws are not affected.
Swamps
Swamps and marshlands are largely unproductive and are the homes of the miserable savages who are particularly difficult to suppress.
Resources: Roll two D6 and select the lowest to see how many resources the territory produces per year.
RiverValleys
The soil of river valleys is often far more nutritious than in other places and the river itself makes transportation of goods easier. A Highland or Lowland territory may also be a RiverValley and a Lake always is one. Note that the mouth of a river is not a RiverValley territory, merely a Coastal one.
Resources: When income is collected in the Construction phase a River Valley territory yields an additional D6 resources (roll separately for each territory in each Construction phase) if the owning realm controls all the other territories along the river downstream all the way to and including the mouth of the river. When a river splits into two it is only necessarily to control one of the two paths. When a RiverValley is pillaged the pillagers do not gain the variable income, though if the RiverValley is Pillaged or suffers from a Failed Harvest the owning realm doesn’t get the income either.
Dense Forests
A forest provides extra resources in the form of lumber, but it is harder to suppress as it is often wild and trackless. A Lowland territory may contain Dense Forests.
Resources: A territory containing Dense Forests yields an additional +1 Resource per year.
The Realms
The game is intended to be played by six realms, each controlled by two players. Each player has a separate army led by his or her General. The Generals are important, they are the ones that order the armies and if a General is slain it will be costly to replace him. The players controlling a realm together may lead armies from different races, see the table below to see which armies can be combined.
B = Battle brothers – same race so no problems
X = Disallowed – may not ally
T = Trusted allies – no special rules, alliance is permitted
D = Distrustful allies
Distrustful allies
An army may ally with another army it distrusts, though there are penalties.
- If two distrustful allies fight in a combined invasion all units and characters within 6” of each other suffer a –1 Leadership penalty (after other modifiers).
- After a realm has collected it’s income in the Construction phase a realm with two distrustful armies lose D3 resources as the armies cheat each other. If 2 or more resources was lost in a year roll a D6 for each General in the realm. On a 6 that General gains 1 point of Glory.
Bretonnia / Chaos / Dark Elves / Dogs of War / Dwarfs / Empire / High Elves / Lizardmen / Orcs & Goblins / Skaven / Tomb Kings / Vampire Counts / Wood Elves
Bretonnia / B / X / X / D / T / T / T / T / X / X / X / X / T
Chaos (all types) / X / B / D / T / X / X / X / X / T / D / D / D / X
Dark Elves / X / D / B / T / X / X / X / X / D / D / D / D / X
Dogs of War / D / T / T / B / T / T / T / T / T / T / T / T / T
Dwarfs / T / X / X / T / B / T / D / T / X / X / D / X / D
Empire / T / X / X / T / T / B / T / T / X / X / D / X / D
High Elves / T / X / X / T / D / T / B / T / X / X / D / X / T
Lizardmen / T / X / X / T / T / T / T / B / X / X / D / X / T
Orcs & Goblins / X / T / D / T / X / X / X / X / B / T / X / D / X
Skaven / X / D / D / T / X / X / X / X / T / B / D / X / X
Tomb Kings / X / D / D / T / D / D / D / D / X / D / B / X / D
Vampire Counts / X / D / D / T / X / X / X / X / D / X / X / B / X
Wood Elves / T / X / X / T / D / D / T / T / X / X / D / X / B
Eliminating realms
A realm is eliminated from the campaign if one of the following happens:
- It has no territories at the start of a Construction phase.
- It has no Generals at the start of a Declarations of War phase.
- Both players fail to show up for a War Meeting.
When a realm is eliminated all territories revert to being neutral, though they keep any features.
Connection
Usually the territories in a realm will work better together if they are connected. Two territories A and B are connected if you can draw a line (not necessarily straight) from A to B that does not pass through an enemy or neutral territory. A feature A is connected to a territory B if A is in B or in a territory connected to B. Two features A and B are connected if they are in the same territory or if their territories are connected.
Contracts with other realms
A realm is allowed (and encouraged) to make contracts, pacts, trade and temporary alliances with the other realms. Examples of this may be:
- One realm bribing another realm to attack a common enemy.
- Two realms agreeing not to attack each other.
- One realm selling a territory to another realm.
- A realm setting a bounty on the head of an enemy General
Any of these and others may be made and they may be made in public or in secret. The one limitation is that any contracts regarding the transferral of assets (resources, territories and slaves) must be told to the organizer when they are made (e.g. “Realm A has agreed to give Realm C 5 resources if Realm C does not attack territory H7”). These contracts may not be broken, as it is assumed that the realms make sufficient preparations to avoid treachery.
Of course, any other contracts (“Realms D and F have agreed not to attack each other this year.”) may be broken as the realms wish.
The year
A campaign turn will typically lasts for two or three weeks in real time and represents a year in game time and is therefore usually called a year. Each year is divided into the following phases
- Phase 1 - Declarations of War
Each realm in turn declares one or two invasions of other territories - Phase 2 – Battles
Players fight battles declared in phase 1 - Phase 3 – Construction
Realms harvest resources, export and construct fortifications.
The Construction phase at the end of one year and the Declarations of War phase at the start of the next will be done at the start of each turn with the Battle phase taking up the rest of the turn. Initial set-up and the first two years involve no battles and will therefore be done on the first day, together with the Declarations of War phase for year 3.
Year 0 - The beach head
Initially each realm rolls a dice, the one rolling the highest selects one of the six landing sites marked on the map as its starting position. From there their realm may expand to cover large parts of the island. After the first realm has selected a landing site the second highest roller selects one of the other landing sites, and so on. Holding your landing site is important as without it an army will be unable to bring in reinforcements and unable to export goods.
After all the realms have selected a landing site each the realms take it in turn to select two of the territories adjacent to their landing site to make up their original beach head. One territory is selected in turn, in the same order as the realms selected landing sites.
At the end of Year 0 each realm generates Resources from its territories and can build in the Construction phase (see below).
Years 1 and 2 – Initial gains
In the first and second year on the island the realms may expand from their original beach heads. This is mainly done by suppressing the natives that inhabit the island. In the first two years the realms may only attack neutral territories, they may not attack territories held by other realms.
Years 3 to 7 – Conquer the land
In the third to seventh year the realms may continue to attack neutral territories as they wish and they may also begin to invade enemy realms.
Time plan for the campaign
War meeting year 0 – 3 / February 2.War meeting year 4 / February 16.
War meeting year 5 / March 1.
War meeting year 6 / March 15.
War meeting year 7 / April 5.
Campaign ends / April 26.
Winning the campaign
At the end of the campaign each territory held and which is not razed is worth 1 Victory Point. In addition to this Victory Points are earned from exporting resources (see Phase 3 below) as well as in some other circumstances. The realm with the highest number of Victory Points is the winning realm. In the case of a tie the realm that controls the largest number of territories is the winner. If this is also a tie the realm where the Generals have earned the largest number of points of Glory in total (including points that have been spent) is the winner. Should this also be a tie the result is a draw.
Phase 1 – Declarations of War
- Invasions are declared
- Travel expenses are paid
- Extra troops are called in
1.1 Invasions are declared
At the start of each year each General may declare that his army is invading a neighbouring territory. Each General may only declare ONE invasion, so if one of a realm’s two Generals is slain that will limit how fast a realm can expand. During each year one or both of a realm’s Generals must declare an invasion, unless the realm has no surviving Generals, in which case it fragments and is destroyed.
To decide the order in which invasions are declared one complete suit of cards is divided amongst the realms with two cards to all realms, except one realm which gets three cards. In year 1 the realm that got to select their beach last (i.e. the one who didn’t get a choice) gets the extra card, in later years the realm with the lowest high card last year gets the extra card. The realms may keep their cards secret if they wish.
The declarations start with the Ace being called. The realm that has the Ace may then show the card and declare an invasion. An invasion is always declared from a territory held at the start of the year into a territory that was neutral or enemy held at the start of the year. A realm must also declare which General is leading the invading army. Only one General may attack from each territory per year, they can’t both attack from the same territory. In addition you cannot declare an invasion from a territory that is already being invaded, unless it is being attacked by the other General of your realm or it is a friendly territory being attacked by a two enemy Generals (see Combined Invasions and Relief Force below) and you cannot invade a territory that has already launched an invasion this turn.
A realm does not have to declare an invasion when one of their cards is called, or even admit that they have the card, though a realm must declare between one and two invasions per year, with a maximum of one invasion per General.
After the Ace has been called and any invasion declared the King is called and the procedure repeated. This continues until all the cards have been called.
1.2 Travel expenses are paid
Mounting invasions can be very costly. In some circumstances invasions cost extra resources. All expenses are cumulative.
- Invading across mountains (i.e. the enemy territory has mountains on the border with the territory you invade from) costs 2 resources.
- Invading through woods (i.e. the enemy territory has dense woods on the border with the territory you invade from) costs 1 resource.
- Invading swamps costs D3 resources.
- Invading an adjacent territory where you have no connection across land costs 3 resources.
- Invading from a territory not connected to a city or landing site costs 1 resource.
- Invading from a territory not connected to other territories at all costs 2 resources.
Should a realm be unable to pay for an invasion they must pay all resources they have and the invasion is cancelled. Note that this happens after all invasions have been declared, so the General ordering a cancelled invasion may not declare another.