CAMPAIGN FOR MIDDLE EARTH

Earlier this month a few friends and I gathered to start our world campaign set in Middle Earth. With eight of us in the room, we had enough to control most major factions set around the time of the War of the Ring, and above all, was a really fun day!

The game was divided into two seperate and distinct phases. The first was very much based on and around the campaign map, and played like a combination of Risk and the Total War games. The map, which was made from scratch using Photoshop, was printed out to full size. This was around a metre square. The second phase was made up of any battles that had to be fought to gain control of territories on the map.

Each faction was then given 3 territories, and colored pins to mark these and their armies. We managed to play through 4 turns in quick succession, as there was only one small skirmish between myself (Mordor) and Ryan (Gondor). Quite fitting I thought, though it seems the rest of the players are quite content in sitting around waiting for another to make a first move. The room went quiet on more than one occasion as people were plotting tricks and tactics. All in good fun.

Anyway, for anyone who wants to try this themselves, I'll post the rules and the campaign map up. We'll hopefully be continuing this campaign and meeting every couple of months as we all live quite far apart. And for the next post there will definitely be photos!

RULES

In the world campaign, each player chooses a faction, which starts with a capital city and two other regions. Each player is then given 500 points with which to build a starting force, split between their two armies. The campaign is carried through turns, divided into phases and played over the map of Middle Earth. Before the campaign starts, each player rolls a dice. The order of play starts with the highest-rolling player, and is set for the rest of the campaign. The first army of each faction is placed at their capital city, after which the second army may be placed in any other region controlled by that faction, in turn.

POINTS - Each turn you generate the amount of points determined by your controlled regions. These are split between your two armies and are used to buy troops and heroes. This is disregarded for the first turn. Separate army lists should be made for each, and kept secret from enemy players. Capital cities generate 90 points, strongholds generate 45 and other regions generate 15. Armies must remain legal with at least one hero per army. Points do not have to be spent during a turn, and may be carried over to the next.

TACTICAL POINTS - Each turn a faction may spend up to three tactical points. These are decided secretly and then revealed together. They can be spent on either:

1.       Militia can be bought, strengthening a region for the turn’s combat as a defending force. Locations remain secret until after movement. Each tactical point spent on militia allows you to buy un-named heroes and warriors equal to the value of the region. Up to two tactical points may be spent on militia in one region.

2.       Influence can be bought to place your faction at the top of the order of play for that turn. If one or more players do this, then the players who spent more points move first. If there are ties, factions move as they would naturally move in relation to eachother.

3.       Upgrades can be bought for regions. An upgrade will increase its point value by five each time. A region may never match or overtake the value of a higher-tiered region. For example, the highest value a standard region can reach is 40. Strongholds can reach 85 and capital cities may reach 125. No more than one upgrade may be spent on a region per turn.

4.       Boats may be bought by an army along a river or coastal region. This will allow them to move across the water in the following movement phase. If a faction controls both sides of the water, they may move across without penalty.

5.       Alliances may be discussed before the expenditure of tactical points. If agreed, both factions must spend a tactical point to solidify the alliance. This allows allied troops to be bought for your army, and for movement through the ally’s regions as if they were your own. An alliance can be broken at any time by spending a tactical point. No combat may be fought between factions the turn they break an alliance, unless two tactical points are spent. An army must still contain more of your own forces.

6.       Siege Equipment may be bought when an army is attacking a stronghold or capital city. This can include one battering ram, one ladder per 12 models or one siege tower per 24 models.

7.       Scouts may be used to acquire important information about any enemy’s army which is adjacent to one of yours. Information found is kept secret of course. This is done at the end of the tactical phase. Roll a D6 and consult the Scouting chart below. Further points spent on scouts add +1 to dice rolls.

1.       Total failure. Your scout was discovered. Roll a further D6. On the roll of a 1-2, you tell your enemy the point value for your closest army.

2.       Lost. Your scout is lost or slain.

3.       Lost. Your scout is lost or slain.

4.       Success. You know the point value of an enemy’s army as well as its General.

5.       Success. You know the point value of an enemy’s army as well as its General.

6.       Total Success. Your enemy shows you their army list.

MOVEMENT - Following order of play, the first faction moves their first army, the second faction moves theirs, etc. until all first armies are moved. This is repeated with the second armies. If an army is in combat, they cannot move. Armies may move through one region per turn, unless the entire move takes them through their own territory, in which case they may move through two regions. Armies cannot move between regions separated by mountain ranges. If an army moves into an unclaimed or ‘wild’ region, they may claim it, and it is added to their territory. Armies which move into a region controlled by another faction claim it if there is no defending army.

If there is a defending army in a region, a battle must be fought in the combat phase. Armies may only move through other faction’s regions if they are allied. Rivers can only be crossed at bridges, or if the army has built boats in the tactical phase. Seas can be crossed along sea routes only. Lakes cannot be crossed.

COMBAT - Most combats will result in one army defending its region from an attacking army. These battles are played using the respective army lists. If the attacking army wins, they claim that region. If they lose, they are pushed back to an adjacent friendly region. Once the force has been reduced to 50%, they must start testing for courage. Once the force has been reduced to 25%, they are fully broken and the remaining models flee automatically. Models that have fled rally to a friendly region. After the turn finishes, these models return to the army. If the army cannot flee into a friendly region, it is eliminated from the game. At this point, a new army may be built at the capital city. Battles are fought as a standard pitched battle, unless both players agree to play a specific scenario. Siege battles may be fought when contesting a stronghold or capital.

If another faction’s army moves into a region where there is already a battle taking place, they act normally as a third fighting force. If the defending army wins, the other two must still retreat. Otherwise, it is the attacking army who causes the most damage before the enemy is reduced to 25% that wins. If, however, the third army is allied to one of the armies already fighting, roll a D6. On the roll of a 4+ they enter the battle as normal; on the roll of a 1-3 they follow the normal rules for reinforcements.

When defending a capital city or stronghold, an army does not need to test for courage when reduced to 50% and may fight to the last man. If an allied army is defending one of these regions with an army owning the region, they will have to test as normal. If a capital city is lost, a stronghold at the beginning of the next turn may be promoted to become the new capital. If no strongholds are under control of the player, the most expensive region becomes the new capital. Captured enemy capitals will generate half the normal amount. If a situation arises where a faction’s armies are all destroyed, and all regions are lost, then that faction is eliminated from the campaign.

Warriors and Heroes lost in battle are lost completely, but may of course be replaced. If named heroes are lost in battle, they are gone forever and cannot be bought again. Moreover, if any mount is lost, they are also lost completely. Similarly, if a hero gains an item during battle, it can be kept free of charge. Keep record of these. The only exceptions to this rule are the Nazgul and Gandalf the Grey, who may be bought again as Gandalf the White. A tactical point must be spent in order to do this. Named heroes are generally bought from their respective faction lists, with the general exception to ‘wonderers of the wild’. Keep in mind that this campaign is set around the time of The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings, and no warriors and heroes from other timelines should be included. Special troops can only be bought if their ‘home region’ is controlled. For example, Isengard can only buy Dunlandings if the Dunland region is controlled, Gondor can only buy Knights of Dol Amroth if Dol Amroth is controlled, etc.

An army’s point total may never exceed 4x the faction point value. For example, if Mordor is worth 200 points, then a single Mordor army may not exceed 800 points in value. If the faction point value is lowered, making the armies illegal, models must be discarded until they are legal again. This is done in the points phase.

OSGILIATH, PART 3

When I last showed the board, it had just been covered with sand, the buildings had been glued into place, everything was ready to paint. Unfortunately, in the excitement, I forgot to take many photos of the painting stage. Know the entire board, sand included was painted the same way I showed you in the second stage post, where I had painted a building to see how the finished effect would look. The entire board took around 6 days to paint. The flat coat of brown took 4 alone. The river took no more than 10 minutes to paint, and was done using a mix of blues, greens black and bone. Here are some photographs of the various stages leading up to the board being finished, starting by showing the different stages of paint.

The board after the brown, leather and bone coats. Starting to look like a ruined city at last...

My first attempt at the river. Hated it, looked plastic, so I had to repaint it using more greens and less lightening around the shoreline.

River complete, as well as the white drybrushing finished for the ruins.

It was at this stage I taped the edges of the boards with black duct tape to give a professional finish.

 

The atmosphere of a ruined, half deserted city is captured from these angles...

Smaller details like reeds, dead grass and ladders were added after everything else was finished.It was around this stage I varnished the river to give it that glossy, reflective look. Took around 4 coats of wood varnish to get this effect. As they layers build up, it tends to clump a little around things like rocks and grass, which looks all the better. May add more coats as time goes on...

The all important orc bridge was made using the leftover scraps of balse wood layered over kebab skewers for rigidity. Painted up different colors to emphasize it's shambolic construction.

The main square, complete with statues, temple to the left and the four-storey city hall in the background.

Dead trees were scattered around the board where they might have been found to add another level of foliage to the scenery.

The final board in all its glory.

Just to show some detailing, and the fact that the GW ruins were used to some extent, though I personally prefer the home-made buildings better. More character.

Total time to complete:
4 months. 1 month over schedule.

Price rundown of third stage:

Scenic grasses           £8
Scenic trees               £4
Wood varnish            £6

Total                          £18

GRAND TOTAL      £203... Not fot the faint-hearted!

OSGILIATH, PART 2

Let me start by saying this stage has taken me at least three times as long as I intended it to, but, I have neared completion of the build process and though I’d share what I’ve done so far. 

The buildings were mapped out on paper before I got stuck in, to try and give the impression of a realistic placement by the architects. Each block has been divided into a rough grid pattern, with alleyways between the buildings and so on. The embankment is covered with semi-flooded arched buildings no more than 2 floors high. After that the towers get higher to provide the defenders from the river attack with some height from which to fire arrows down from, and at the far end of the board lies the main square, complete with statue.

The way I created the walls for the buildings was to take the thicker blue foam, 10mm thick, and score brickwork onto the pieces of wall. Always use a sharp scalpel blade for this, otherwise the edges become scuffed and untidy (too untidy even for ruins). After this, I rolled a granite rock over the walls to give them a battered look, after which I hit them with the corner of a piece of wood to give the impression they were carved from rock.

The streets look a little bare still, but after all of the buildings are actually glued into place, piles of rubble and collapsed walls will fill any open areas, so the city will become very busy indeed. Anyway, here are the pictures of the ruins so far, keeping in mind a few are left to go in. Some are painted already as the buildings needed to be made in sections, otherwise trying to paint certain areas would become too fiddly. 

Here is a picture of the first tower building which I've painted up as a mock up. I'm pretty happy with the results, which came from using a base coat of bestial brown, drybrush of snakebite leather, then bleached bone, then white. All of the paints are from Dulux, mixed to match.

These images show the ruins after the sand, grit and stones were glued on. This will take at least a day, depending on the weather to dry. Filler plaster was used to cover any gaps and to make raised bits for rubble to sit. It was also used to create waves in the river, which were covered with sand and will be painted white when the river is done. I think the road tiles blend nicely with the sand, and shouldn't look to false. Next stage - painting. Completion is so close I can almost smell it!

Price rundown of second stage:

Dulux paints             £25
Extra filler                £5
Extra PVA                £2.50
GW Ruins x 4          £72
Balsa wood              £2.50

Total                         £107

OSGILIATH, PART 1

For the past month I’ve been busy building my Osgiliath board, which is beginning to take shape. I thought I’d post what I’ve been doing up to now. To start a new scenery board, the first thing you need is a design. I tried to base the board roughly on the scenes around the last attack on Osgiliath featured in the ROTK film. It had to include a river wide enough to stage an assault, an embankment complete with arches, main roads, alleyways, crumbled towers and a main square as a final objective. Once I had this in mind, I went out and bought some 2’ x 4’ MDF boards from a local builder’s supplier, 4 to be exact. These were more expensive than I remembered them being a few years ago, so I went for the thinnest boards I could find with the knowledge they would be strengthened later. After this, I set them up in pairs to make 4’ squares, attaching them together with wood.

The next step was to place on top a sheet of insulation foam, which I bought from the same supplier. At an inch think, it was perfect for creating the rise along the embankment, and with the left over 18”, I could make some ruins, rubble, whatever. Foam is a lot easier to model with as opposed to polystyrene, it’s less brittle, and easier to imprint detail.

After that was stuck down with PVA, the bridge was the next step. Once the bridge was out of the way, the road could be laid, followed by the positioning of the buildings. So, on with the bridge. It was created from 4” squares of the foam stuck back to back to create a solid object which could then be modelled into. The arches were made before hand out of smaller pieces of foam, 4x2” and 1x2”, cut at angles. Once these were stuck together, the whole object needed to be coated with a filler plaster. This stuff is gold when it comes to making scenery, as all gaps, joins and other unsightly blemishes can be smoothed over and covered up. As well as this, it’s easy to draw onto and score, so brickwork can easily be pencilled on. Thinner modelling foam was used then as side panels, to create the brickwork. I tend to use 5mm as for this scale it has a realistic thickness to it, and is durable enough for these games. They were simply cut into sheets with a very sharp scalpel, and etched with a pencil. I can't stress the importance of a sharp blade enough really. After gluing them to the sides of the bridge, the bridge itself was stuck onto the board. The bridge had to have a gap in it, to make the game more interesting as there would come a point in the battle where the Mordor reinforcements would have to lower their custom made draw bridge to allow their access. This was simply cut away from the bridge and filled where needed.

Finally for this stage, the road was laid. There might be easier ways to do this, but the way I did it was to hand cut hundreds of little tiles out of thick card and stick them down individually. This whole process took around 2 hours, excluding drying time. To me they look realistic enough, especially with the textured card I used. 

Price rundown of first stage:

MDF boards             £30

Insulation foam        £30

Modelling foam       £10

Filler                        £5

Card                         £3

Total                         £78

The second stage will consist of building the city itself, with ruins bought from GW as well as home-made ruins. After that the board will have to have sand glued to it, and the river will have to be textured. The third stage will probably consist mainly on painting the board, as well as the little details like grass and moss. You gotta love the little details.