Lord of the Rings Campaign Start

Well,

It looks like we will be getting our LotR War of the Ring campaign going this weekend. So I have posted the rules that we will be using here. I have been busy getting my Rohan force ready and look forward to seeing how the other side (good) feels in a game. I usually play Mordor Orcs, so this will be a learning experience for me. Any how here are the rules for the Campaign:

Lord of the Rings Campaign Third Age

The main purpose of this campaign is to have fun! We are also playing more of a narrative game as opposed to a competitive game. We will be using a map, but this is to keep track of where armies are on in Middle Earth.

Each person playing will have up to 2000 points for armies under their command and will be broken down as follows:
3 - 500 point armies2 - 250 point armies
You will also have a capital nominated on the board that generates reinforcements, see below.

Each army must be chosen following the rules found in the LoME book. You may include heroes but only one here may exist in the campaign (there can not be two Gandalfs or two Aragorns).

Also you will only be fielding up to 500 points at one time unless your playing a game with allies, see below.
Models do not need to be painted, but it’s highly recommended. Also we will be playing WYSIWYG, so models must be armed appropriately so as no confusion occurs during games. Also if a Hero is taken (such as Gandalf the Grey or Gandalf the White) then the correct model must be used so as not to cause confusion.Map Set Up
The initial set up of the board will be as follows. Each player will have a token for each army and the players will take place placing them on the board. The Good team will go first by placing all there armies on the board. The Evil team will then place their tokens on the board and will be making the first moves.


Campaign Map & Turns

Each person will populate the map with their armies and these will be moved during the campaign turn. Before the start of the campaign, armies will be placed by each person. Each territory section of the board may only have 500 points total in it, but there may be up to a 1000 points as mentioned below. A word of warning, if you place a 1000 points in a territory and you do not have the models, than you will battle with whatever points you have. So please make sure you have enough models to fill the points. Each army will be represented by either a token or a marker but it will be up to each player to know what army it represents.

The Campaign is divided in to a series of Campaign Turns. Each campaign turn will consist of the following phases:

1. Priority
Phase Both sides roll a die to see which has priority this campaign turn. In the case of a tie, priority passes to the side which lost priority last campaign turn. Evil has Priority on the first campaign turn. Basically each team will nominate a player to roll for Priority and it will be up to the team as to who moves first.

2. Move Phase
Each side take turns to move 1 army, starting with the side that has priority. The side with priority moves an army; then the other side moves an army; and so on until all armies are moved. An army may move into any adjacent territory. If an army moves into a territory containing an enemy army, the forces engage and will fight one another in the Battle Phase. The army that was present in the territory may not move on the campaign map that turn if it has not already done so. It has been engaged by the enemy and must fight.

3. Battle Phase
Resolve any battles generated as a result of the Move Phase. Players field the armies recorded in the rosters they prepared earlier. Setup the battlefield using the rules in the SCENARIO Section, then roll for a scenario, and play the battle. Record whether the scenario resulted in a Victory, Draw, Minor or Major Defeat for an Army. This will be used in the End Phase to determine retreats.

The players must keep track of casualties. Roll a D6 for each Captain removed as a casualty. On a 1 – 3 the model is slain or so badly injured it is removed from the army permanently. On a 4 – 6 it recovers and is returned to duty in the army with all its original Might, Will & Fate points as well as wounds. Hero’s must also roll but on a 1 they are slain or so badly injured it is removed from the army permanently and may never be recruited for another army. On a roll of 2-6 the hero returns as above.

4. End Phase
Campaign Turn is over. Conduct the following operations (in order)Victorious Armies gain control of disputed territories. Any defeated Armies must now retreat: If the scenario resulted in a Draw roll a D6: on a 1 – 3 the Evil Army must retreat, on a 4 – 6 the Good army must retreat. If an Army suffered a Major Defeat, it must retreat to an adjacent region of the opposing player’s choice. If an Army is retreating as the result of a Minor Defeat or a lost Draw roll, the Army retreats to an adjacent territory of the controlling player’s choice. If a defeated Army is unable to retreat without entering a territory containing an enemy army or impassible terrain, that army is considered trapped. The victorious army may choose to engage that army automatically next turn, and force it to fight another battle in the territory. If the victorious player chooses not to automatically engage the trapped army, the defeated army must either engage the victorious army in the territory or move out of the territory at the first opportunity in the next turn.

The outcome of a battle will determine what happens to the army. If a army is reduced to less than 100% but more than 50% of its original point cost, than the army starts the next campaign turn at full strength. (this represents reinforcements being added) If the army suffers more than 50%, than the army is permanently reduced to half its original point cost. (example, a 250 point army looses 130 points out of the total, than the army strength is now 125 instead of 250) If the army suffers more than 75% of its cost, than the army is destroyed or disbanded. Armies that are reduced due to defeats may combine with other armies, see below. Heroes that survive the battle but have had their armies destroyed or disbanded may join another army.

Report results to the campaign moderator so that the map may be updated as well as the army info recorded.

Begin the next Campaign Turn at Phase 1 – Priority.


Additional Rules

Merging armies may be done when you have two armies that have been reduced due to defeats. An example would be combing two 125 pt armies together to form one 250 point army. To do this the two armies must move into the same territory as each other and may do nothing else the rest of the turn except defend it self. On the next campaign turn, the army may move and battle as normal under the new organized army.

Armies may be combined in a territory for a battle; however an army may never be larger than 1000 pts. After the battle is fought the armies must be separated again. This is only allowed for attacking a territory or defending it while there is an opposing army is present and there is a guaranteed battle. If there was a threat of battle which has never materialized (because the opposing army never challenged this territory), in the end of the movement phase one of these two allied armies (chosen by the controlling player) must withdrawn to their original territory.
The above rule means the maximum force allowed for a side in a battle scenario is 1000 pts. If moving two or more friendly armies into a territory would violate the 1000 pt limit, only a portion of the troops may move into the territory.
Reinforcements

You start the campaign with only five armies as noted above and here,

3 – 500 point armies
2 – 250 point armies

You may only ever have three 500 point armies at your command during the campaign, but you may have any number of smaller armies at your disposal due to an army being reduced to half strength. Every time you drop below having three 500 point armies, you may generate another 250 point army from your capital with the intent of reinforcing an army up to 500 points. As long as your capital is still under your control than you may reinforce your armies as normal. If you should loose control of your capital, than you may not be able to generate any reinforcements until you take control back again.

Campaign Victory Conditions

The main purpose of this campaign is to control the opposition’s capitals. Meaning that the Evil side is trying to control the Good capitals and the Good is trying to control the Evil capitals. The campaign will end as soon as one side controls more than 1 of the opposition’s capitals than the other side.

Scenarios

Scenarios will be played from the Legions of Middle Earth book with a few special ones from time to time determined by the Campaign moderator.

Terrain will be set up using the terrain tables found in the LoME book for the area being fought over.

Scenarios will follow all special rules found in them as well as victory conditions.