Revised "Campaign System" for WAB

by Jeff Hudelson

Greetings,

As I mentioned in an earlier post, our group feels that the "Campaign System" in the rule book, while good, wasn't quite what we wanted. We were frustrated by the fact that many armies that used lots of cavalry only got one unit of 10 unless they were lucky enough to get a plains -- so now we start with 12 horses and no unit limit so you could run two small units if you wanted to. In addition, my revised system allows players to select one of their territories, so someone could add more horses if they so chose.

Also, many of us felt that there were aspects of the rules we'd like to try but we were hampered by the book's system. For example, you get victory points for capturing unit standards, but none of us were allowed to have unit standards. And, since banners and standards add to the "look" of the army, I've allowed each army to start with 2 unit standards, 1 unit leader and 1 musician -- other musicians now are only available with territories.

I've tried to "even out" the benefits of territories. Before, if you were lucky (as I was -- this isn't a "sour grapes" thing) you could get a lot more points than your opponent got; or, if unlucky, you could be like our Viking who kept rolling plains which were useless to him. Now, for our group, we have a system that keeps armies reasonably close and still allows us to develop armies that are quite different from each other.

Note too that I've toned down the "point growing" territories (roads, bridges, passes, mines), due it part to how successful I was when I rolled up my by-the-book territories (my base army size was 1510 in a 1200 pt campaign and I only had 5 territories). We wanted to keep things on a more even keel -- and I looked to create a "Campaign System" that was more in line with our group than a modified WFB campaign.

Anyway, here (for your perusal) is an alternative system to that in the WAB rulebook:

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Each player will start with three territories -- Their "Capitol", one of their choice, and one randomly determined.

Your Capitol gives you -- 1500 points of troops, including one General (this is the only "character"), up to 12 "horses" (equal to 12 cav, 6 two-horse, 4 three-horse or 3 four-horse chariots), 2 unit standards, 1 unit leader and 1 musician. You do NOT get any elephants, Army Standards, Heroes, War Machines or Skirmishers. (note: "horses" are generic for horses, asses, onagers, camels, etc.).

Your territory of choice allows you to select something that you feel your army needs. (Note: your campaign might limit some choices -- for example, no "Lost Valley" may be selected).

Your randomly determined territory is selected in the normal manner (roll 2d6, one of which is the "tens" digit and look on the following chart):

*** Citadel -- only available as a pre-choice to "Biblical" Chariot armies, it allows 24 chariot horses (equal to 12 2-horse or 8 3-horse or 6 4-horse chariots) and cannot be risked.

*** Steppe -- only available as a pre-choice to Nomadic "Horse" armies, it allows unlimited cavalry and cannot be risked.

• 11-12 Shrine -- each shrine allows 1d3 unit standards.
  
• 13-14 Village -- each village allows 1d3 unit leaders.
  
• 15-16 Town -- each town allows you 1d3 musicians.
  
• 21-22 City -- each city allows one "Hero" character; OR may be changed to one of: Town, Village or Shrine if you do not have "Heroes" on your list.
  (note: Cannot be used for an Army Standard Bearer).
  
• 23-24 Temple -- allows 1 Army Standard Bearer. Only one Temple allowed per empire, subsequent Temples are changed to Cities.
  
• 25-26 Fortress -- each fortress allows 12 chariot or cavalry horses.
  
• 31-32 Plains -- each plain allows you 3d6 more horses in your army; if you roll less than a total of 6, the number is raised to 6.
  
• 33 Veldt -- each veldt allows you to have one elephant if your list allows it; OR up to 3 units of skirmishers.
  
• 34 Desert -- allows you to have 3d6 camels if your list allows them; if you roll less than 5, the number is raised to 5.
  (Note that Deserts may be re-rolled if neither you nor your opponent have camels on your list.)
  
• 35-36 Forest -- each forest allows you to have one war machine in your army AND to use up to 2 units of "skirmishers" (if allowed in your list).
  (Note: multiple forests allow you to use more war machines and more skirmishers)
  
• 41-42 Mountains -- each mountain allows you to have up to 2 units of "skirmishers" in your army. Plus a chance to gain a mine after battles (if you roll a 6 on a d6).
  (Note that this is NOT an additional territory, but your Mountain is changed into a Rich Mountain -- essentially a Mountain and Mine combined.)
  
• 43-44 Mine -- gives a chance point bonus for one battle -- roll 1d6: on 1-4, nothing; on a 5 you get 1d6x5 pts; on a 6 you get 1d6x20 pts!
  
  (Note: if your next battle is one that limits points (raid, skirmish, last stand, etc.) this bonus is delayed for one battle).
  
• 45-51 Road -- each road allows 25 more points in your army.
  (Note that if you risk a road and win, its value is increased to 50 points).
  
• 52-53 Bridge -- each bridge allows you 1d6x10 more points in your army.
  
• 54 Pass -- each pass allows you 50 + 1d6x10 more points in your army.
  (Note: this territory may not be pre-selected)
  
• 55 Port -- each port allows you to have a "Hero" character OR doubles the value of your roads.
  
• 56 Trade Route -- allows one re-roll when rolling territories after a victory.
  
• 61 Casino -- before each battle, roll 2d6 in front of your opponent for your casino; if you roll 8 or higher, your troops consider you lucky and you have a 14" command radius; if you roll a 7, it remains at 12"; and if you roll a 6 or lower, troops consider you unlucky and your command radius drops to 10" for that battle. Multiple Casinos do nothing further for you.
  
• 62 Oracle -- before each battle, you MAY (not required) roll 2d6 to test the auguries; if you roll an 8 or higher, then your troops consider you "favored" and your Leadership is raised up one point (to a maximum of 10); if you roll a 7, there is no change; and if you roll a 6 or less, it isn't a good day and your Leadership falls by one for that battle. Multiple Oracles do nothing further for you. (Note: the "oracle" feature of Greek armies is renamed to "omens" to avoid confusion).
  
• 63 Lost Valley -- counts as only one territory, but re-roll twice for its bonuses (note, may not be pre-selected or contain another Lost Valley).
  
• 64-65 Spy -- you get a spy and re-roll to gain a new territory as well.
  
• 66 Event -- re-roll initially -- but after a battle, this generates some interesting results.

(General Note -- a number of territories which used to give you a Hero AND something else no longer do so -- although sometimes they give you a choice of alternatives; but otherwise, unless a change is noted, territories are like those in the WAB book).

Scenario Generation System

For our local WAB campaign, I've come up with the following simple scenario generator, which I'm happy to share with all of you:

At the start of a game, each player rolls 1d6 for the type of scenario. These are added together with the following result. (note that the person who rolls the "high dice" often determines the "attacker"):

This would (on average) result in the following number of times each scenario would be played in 35 games (the 36th being a player's choice):

6 Pitched Battles
5 Meeting Engagements
5 Surprise Attacks
5 Flank Attacks
4 Breakthroughs
4 Ambushes
3 Last Stands
3 Skirmishes at 1000 points

So, about half of the time (16 out of 35) it would be a "normal" game (Pitched Battle, Meeting Engagement and Surprise Attack being fairly similar) and about half of the time (19 out of 35) it would be a more "interesting" scanario.

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