[Sept.15 - Oct. 26] There is only war: A Warhammer Fantasy PvP experiment

[DarK_RaideR]

It's been going around in my head for a while, there's been some public discussion about it, so I thought better to make the thread and fix it as we go on than make the perfect plan and post it all at once. So, without further ado, I present before thee..

 

(Yes, I know, it's trademark, I'm not affiliated in any way with Games Workshop, this isn't a commercial use, yadda yadda all the legal gibberish)

 

The main idea is as follows:

Part 1: You start by picking the army/race you'll be leading and adding yourself on this spreadsheet. Through a series of warmup non-competitive challenges, you get to pick your general's profession, specialization, unique abilities, whether he/she leads from the frontlines or a safe spot in the back etc.

Part 2: By doing specific exercises to be listed later on, you recruit troops for your army and add them to a spreadsheet that will be made available. The type of troops will be connected to the exercise for extra fun and strategy.

Part 3: Battles are fought every Sunday. A post will be made by yours truly, describing the action and results. According to a formula that is still in the making, troop losses will be calculated. That way, players can take some time off if something happens and not worry about falling back or logging in every day, knowing that they won't start back from square 1 again.

Special rule: At any point during the week, any general may come forth and issue a taunting challenge against one of his/her opponents. If it is accepted, the two of them fight it out in a duel, where their armies clash in a 1vs1 fight and are excluded from that Sunday's battle.

 

Roleplay/story posts are not mandatory, but are encouraged and greatly appreciated.

 

Thoughts and suggestions welcome. Let's see if there are people out there willing to try it out.

 

Picking your general’s race

Human (Choose one of the following kingdoms)

Brettonia: A kingdom based on real-world medieval France; Bretonnian armies rely on powerful charges from their many heavily armed and armored knights in order to achieve victory. Bretonnian armies can also contain cheap and expendable units of unskilled peasants to serve as fodder.

The Empire: Based upon the real-world Holy Roman Empire. The Empire benefits from a great diversity of units and magic. They also field an extensive variety of black-powder weapons

Norsca: Bordered to the North by the Chaos Wastes, raided by corsairs from Sea of Claws in the South and having the wasteland aptly named Troll Country to the East , Norsca is no place fore weaklings. The tribal and Viking like Norse worship a large pantheon of gods, sometimes including the Chaos Gods. Making a Norscan general assumes his army will not follow the gods of Chaos.

Kislev: Based on medieval Eastern Europe, Slavic and Russian kingdoms. Kislevites are renowned for their endurance and cavalary.

Amazon: Female warriors hailing from the tropical jungles of Lustria.

Albion: Celtic and Gaelic warriors from the mist-shrouded isle of Albion.

Pirates of Sartosa: Independent sea raiders based on the free island of Sartosa.

 

Elf

Torn asunder many thousands of years ago by a great civil war, there are three major nations of Elves. Choose one of the following:

Dark Elves (Druchii): Pale-skinned, relentless and bitter, the dark elves are sworn enemies of the high elves and try incessantly to invade Ulthuan. Dark elves enjoy nothing more than inflicting pain and suffering on others, they frequently launch raids throughout the Old World in order to capture more slaves to feed their hunger for cruelty.

High Elves (Asur):The Asur carry on the ancient traditions of the Elven people on the island continent of Ulthuan, a loose equivalent of Atlantis, as well as the burdens of many millennia of arrogance and warfare.

Wood Elves (Asrai): The ruthless Asrai abandoned their kin to both protect and restrain the strange sentient forest of Athel Loren in the Old World. They appear to be neither good nor bad, as likely to kill lost travelers as to aid them. They are mortal enemies to the Beastmen, and wage a silent guerilla war against them

 

Dwarf (Choose one of the following)

Dwarves: Need I explain more?

Chaos Dwarves: Tireless overseers of soulless industry. The Chaos Dwarfs worship their own Chaos God; Hashut, the Father of Darkness and they are inspired by Ancient Messopotamia

 

Lizardmen

An ancient and mystical race, based on Aztec and Incan empires.

 

Greenskins

An all-around term used for Orks, Goblins, Trolls and the like. Choose to either be an Ork general (more focused on combat) or Goblin general (focus on magic and sneaky tricks)

 

Chaos:

Their armies are led by humans who are favored by the Four Great Gods of chaos and include Chaos warriors, Norscan Marauders, the satyr-like Beastmen and even Daemons of Chaos.

 

Skaven

Sneaky, inventive and endless in their numbers, the Ratmen bring assassins, mutant monstrosities and warp energy weapons to the fight.

 

Undead

Choose one of the following:

Vampires: Their armies consist mainly of human thralls and classic undead, such as zombies, skeletons, lesser vampires, bats, and ghosts. For those willing to add more flavor, they can pick one of the five families: Von Carsteins (similar to the Transylvanian stereotype), Necrarchs (Sages, researchers and in an advanced state of bodily decay), Blood Dragons (Knightly, militaristic and extremely skilled in melee combat), Lahmians (mostly female, utilizing an expanded network of seduction and espionage)  and Strigoi (Monstrous, animalistic beasts)

Khemri: Awakend after the fall of the Necromancer Nagash (some say they actually rose from the grave to fight against him). Their skeletal armies consist mainly of Egyptian-style units, such as bowmen, light infantry and several chariots.

Recruiting

During the week, track any activity you do, then cross-reference it with your army's page on the spreadsheet. When you meet the requirements, you may recruit the appropriate unit. Recruiting is not mandatory, you may also choose to save the points to get something better later on. Also, if you did something that is not on the list but sees appropriate, let me know and it may count towards something.

Reading a unit’s stats

• • Army point value per unit (Type): You may deploy as many squads as you like, but there are certain limits depending on the cost and rarity of units. Keep that in mind for now

  • Minimum size to field: A squad must have at least this number of units in it in order to be eligible for deployment. Some squads also have maximum size limits, while powerful units may count as a squad on their own.

  • Attack: The squad’s attack bonus. If there is a slash and more numbers, the unit has more than one attacks per round

  • Defense: The unit’s defense

  • Morale: Under certain circumstances, morale is tested. Two 6-sided dice are rolled and if the total result is greater than this number, the squad’s morale shatters.

  • Special abilities: If any. Sometimes mutually exclusive options are available. In that case, you must pick one for each of these squads when deploying

Deployment

1. Swordsmen Squad

   Size: X units

   Deployment Zone: Front/Rear/Flank

   Abilities: (Only if you had to choose between more than one, post your choice here)

   1. Group same units into squads. Any remaining units are reserves and will not participate in the battle.

   2. Calculate the Army Point Value (APV) of each squad. To find it, multiply each unit’s APV by the number of units in that squad. Add them all up to find your army’s total APV. Check if you are within the following criteria and if not, modify the composition of your army as needed

      1. At least 25% of your total APV must come from Core units

      2. Up to 50% of your total APV may come from Special units

      3. Up to 25% of your total APV may come from Rare units

   3. If your general is a Spellcaster, pick a number of spells from the Spell List corresponding to your army. Those are the spells that (s)he will have available for the battle.

   4. After finalizing your army for the upcoming battle, choose which squads will be in the frontlines, which in the rear (can never be more than those in the front) and (optional) up to two squads for your army’s flanks

   5. Post your army starting info , using the following blueprint for each squad

Orders

Every squad can be sent to battle with three basic orders

• Attack (declare target and method): The squad shoots its designated target or marches to meet it in melee, depending on its options of attack and issued orders. If a unit has both ranged and melee attacks available, it can be ordered to stand and shoot or shoot while it marches towards the enemy before it goes into melee. Of course, you can order a squad to forego shooting and go straight into melee, by why on earth would you do that?

• Flank: If a unit is deployed in a flank and the corresponding side of the enemy’s flank is clear, it can be ordered to flank a squad in the front or back rows. Flanking offers a +1 Attack bonus and automatically causes the flanked unit to check for Morale.

• Defend: The squad holds its ground and prepares to receive the enemy, gaining a +1 bonus to its defence. If the units are equipped with shields, they also gain a +1 defense bonus against ranged attacks, except if they were made by artillery.

When a squad sends its enemy fleeing, it may either offer chase to finish them off, or execute a secondary order, such as attack a new squad. Since a squad’s instinctive reaction is to chase the enemy, it needs to succeed in a Morale check in order to execute any other order. For simplicity’s sake, units are split into Fast (Cavalry, Warhounds etc) and Slow (Infantry, Slow animals etc) and Fast units can never be chased by Slow ones.

 

Considering the above, once all generals involved in the same battlefield have posted their armies, they should send me a private message with the basic and secondary orders for each squad (i.e. “My cavalry will start from the flank, try to beat the enemy’s flank cavalry and if successful, will attack his archers in the back row” or “My elite infantry will attack this target and then move to assist my most badly hit squad”)

Battle order and mechanics (6 simultaneous turns)

1. • Regroup: Any fleeing squads check for Morale. If successful, they regroup and return to their original task. Any unit failing 3 Morale checks in a row is automatically eliminated.

   • Spellcasting: Any spellcasting generals may choose to cast spells. Each spell caster rolls a number of dice up to his Level. If the result is equal or greater than that spell's Casting Number, it is cast successfuly.

   • Ranged: Shooting units roll a 6-sided dice (1d6), add their Ranged Attack bonus and subtract the target’s Defence. The result is casualties sustained by the target in units. Indirect fire units can target any enemy. Direct fire units can target any enemy if they are deployed on the flank, otherwise they can only pick targets from the enemy’s front line, until an enemy unit retreats from the front line or is destroyed.

   • Melee: Both squads roll 1d6, add their Melee Attack bonus and subtract the target’s Defence. If a unit has more than one Attack, they are resolved simultaneously using different dice rolls. The result is casualties sustained by the target in units. If for any reason (ability, spell etc) a squad is said to strike first or last, attacks are not simultaneous, instead the first squad attacks, the target rolls for Morale if applicable and if it doesn’t flee, it may then make its attack.

   • Morale: Any squad that has been reduced to 75% or less of its initial units checks for Morale. If it fails the test, it flees and may be pursued by any enemy in melee with it. Pursuing enemies immediately get a free melee Attack

 

Introducing the Old World Domination Map

(Clicking on the image will allow you to download a higher resolution version, in order to clearly see the names of each place)

 

Legend

Purple – Chaos (Slaanesh)

Light Blue – Norse

Dark Green – Albion

Orange – Dwarfs

Red – Vampires

Black – Pirates

Fuchsia – Chaos Dwarfs

Bright Green – Greenskins

Dark Blue – High Elves

Yellow – Amazons

 

Every week you may deploy any number of your squads in a country you control in order to defend it or send them to a neighboring country to take it over. If more than one players move troops into the same country, battle commences. If a player is the only one to move into an unoccupied land, he will just have to battle whatever meager resistance the locals manage to muster. Every round, a general may be in one country, so be careful which troops you personally lead and where.

 

Q: What if we lose all lands we control?

A: The general is slain and his army scatters. The player will have to create a new general, perhaps from a different nation and start over again

 

Q: How do I create a new general? And what about new players who want to join?

A: The creation process is the same, pick a nation and a starting ability for your general. New generals always start in the terrain responding to their nation. If it is held by a foreign power, they must battle against it. For freedom!

 

Q: Some nations have more than one generals/players

A: Unless they call out each other, these players are on the same side. Their nation is stronger but will also have more enemies

 

Q: So how do I face a nation with several generals or huge armies?

A: Contact other players and propose a common strike or even a lasting alliance. Combine your forces for a powerful blow against whoever threatens to take over the world!  For simplicity's sake (at the cost of "realism") at least one of the "allied" players has to be able to attack the target player. He invites the rest over at his place and they all invade from the same path.

[DarK_RaideR]

Results

• Wood Elves (Ybel) conquered Bretonnia
• Pirates of Sartosa(Chris-Tien Jinn) failed to capture Estalia
• Lizarmen (erwohs) liberated Hexoatl
• Greenskins (Red1263) conquered Tlaqua but failed to also capture the Deadlands
• Chaos (cn3wton) captured Cathay
• High Elves conquered Mahhabah
• Dwarfs (CommanderKidd) claim the Border Kingdoms from the Chaos Dwarfs (DarK_RaideR)
• Chaos Dwarfs (DarK_RaideR) failed to capture the Badlands
• Albion (ItsDaniel, bassman 123) control the easternmost part of the Chaos Wastes

 

(Clicking the map will take you to the actual file, which you can zoom and/or download for beter analysis)

[lishvicious]

This sounds like fun - can anyone join?

[DarK_RaideR]

This sounds like fun - can anyone join?

Of course. Previous knowledge of the Warhammer setting is not necessary to play, but it will be really helpful in understanding what's going on. Also, once the fights begin, any newcomers wishing to join will have to be willing to individually go through their warmup/character creation phase before they can jump into the battlefield

[lishvicious]

Well my knowledge is sadly limited so I think I won't take up the spot of someone that is more knowledgeable - unless you have extra room for a newbie. 

[Balthazar]

So glad you got round to starting this sorted.

 

Seeing as no one has picked yet I will pick my favourite and largest warhammer army, the mighty and noble Bretonnia!

[Balthazar]

And I'll use the name of my Bretonnian General from the tabletop game who always leads my army with the same set up no matter who I face, he is only known as The Gaul, a giant of a man whose barbaric tendencies have earned him few friends at court but who tirelessly patrols the border between Bretonnia and The Grey Mountains

[DarK_RaideR]

Well my knowledge is sadly limited so I think I won't take up the spot of someone that is more knowledgeable - unless you have extra room for a newbie. 

Everyone's welcome. Unless people start flooding this PvP, there's no issue with taking anyone's spot. Worst case scenario, you'll just follow along and limit your rp/story in posts until you get the hang of it from the others around.

 

So glad you got round to starting this sorted.

 

Seeing as no one has picked yet I will pick my favourite and largest warhammer army, the mighty and noble Bretonnia!

Glad I did, glad to have people supporting it. I'm still not sure whether Bretonnia/Empire/Estalia/Tilea will be different races/armies or you'll just pick "Human" and sort out the kingdom at a later stage. I'm leaning towards the second version

[lishvicious]

Well if you'll have me - I would love to learn more about Warhammer. I was just looking around on wikipedia - and thought that the Warriors of Chaos sounded pretty in line with my general attitude - would that be an acceptable army to choose?

[DarK_RaideR]

And I'll use the name of my Bretonnian General from the tabletop game who always leads my army with the same set up no matter who I face, he is only known as The Gaul, a giant of a man whose barbaric tendencies have earned him few friends at court but who tirelessly patrols the border between Bretonnia and The Grey Mountains

Let me guess... his real name is Charles?

 

Well if you'll have me - I would love to learn more about Warhammer. I was just looking around on wikipedia - and thought that the Warriors of Chaos sounded pretty in line with my general attitude - would that be an acceptable army to choose?

Of course

 

I've edited the initial post to add the options and some general info for selecting your army/race. Also added Daniel's character on the spreadsheet as a guideline

[lishvicious]

Of course

 

I've edited the initial post to add the options and some general info for selecting your army/race. Also added Daniel's character on the spreadsheet as a guideline

 

Okay I'm going to be annoying and ask - if I'm going for Chaos - do I choose between Chaos warriors, Norscan Marauders, Beastmen and Daemons of Chaos. Or is it just Chaos?

[DarK_RaideR]

Okay I'm going to be annoying and ask - if I'm going for Chaos - do I choose between Chaos warriors, Norscan Marauders, Beastmen and Daemons of Chaos. Or is it just Chaos?

Don't be afraid to ask. No one knows everything and this PvP is still being hammered out. To answer your question. you only choose what kind of army you'll be leading, so just Chaos. The rest is just units you'll be able to recruit by doing specific exercises, I put them there just for flavor.

 

Also, forgot to made the spreadsheet editable. Fixed it, feel free to add yourselves

[Chris-Tien Jinn]

OMG - this is brilliant!!

[DarK_RaideR]

OMG - this is brilliant!!

Glad you like it

 

Submissions are open. Depending on the number of participants, either Wedensday or Friday, there will be a post including a mini-challenge to determine the rest of your general's info. Results should be out by the end of the week, so come Monday we can start recruiting. If you miss either, do not worry. There will be updates to catch up or it might be sorted via PM. We're kinda making it up as we go along here

[lishvicious]

Okay I added myself in to the spreadsheet...

 

I am Rakun! Leader of the Chaos army - fear me!

[Balthazar]

Let me guess... his real name is Charles?

 

 

cough - I couldn't possibly comment 

[DarK_RaideR]

Army options that may or may not be added (no promises made)

 

• Estalia (Based on conquistaror-era Spain)
• Araby
• Albion (Basically Celtic warriors)
• Ulric Cultists (A sub-division of the Empire, dedicated to the Teutonic frostwolf god Ulric)
• Ind (War Elephants!)
• Amazons
• Cathay (Based on Imperial China)
• Nippon (For all you samurai fans)
• Halflings (Who you calling squishy?)
• Pirates of Sartosa (I'm looking at you, ShadowLion and Chris-Tien Jinn)

[Chris-Tien Jinn]

Pirates AND Amazons?!?!?!?  Heaven.

[Balthazar]

Ogre Kingdoms?

[Swinging_Jarnbjorn]

Well my knowledge is sadly limited so I think I won't take up the spot of someone that is more knowledgeable - unless you have extra room for a newbie. 

Well, we're in the same boat in terms of limitations. That said, I"m joining too. Add Halftor the Norscan general to the lists!

[cn3wton]

Chaos duh. And of course I gotta call out either daniel or you, because you know, chaos. More on what exactly my general does in a bit. I'm assuming this is fantasy of course. Will post a lot more tonight.

[DarK_RaideR]

Pirates AND Amazons?!?!?!?  Heaven.

Did you know the main image of the CutLasses, the pirate lady firing her pistol, is actually taken from the Pirates of Sartosa armybook?

 

Ogre Kingdoms?

Maybe, maybe not. Interested in switching to an Ogre Chieftain?

 

Well, we're in the same boat in terms of limitations. That said, I"m joining too. Add Halftor the Norsca general to the lists!

All hail his frozen vikingness! Welcome aboard

 

Okay I added myself in to the spreadsheet...

 

I am Rakun! Leader of the Chaos army - fear me!

Humanity shall tremble!

 

Chaos duh. And of course I gotta call out either daniel or you, because you know, chaos. More on what exactly my general does in a bit. I'm assuming this is fantasy of course. Will post a lot more tonight.

No need to call out anyone, although it's bound to be fun when that happens. And yes, since it's PvP I can participate as well. Of course this is fantasy, take a closer look at the race/army options

 

 

Currently adding every army's units and the cost to recruit one of each to the spreadsheet. Everything is subject to change, I'm trying to keep the recruiting workout costs related to the unit types and I'm open to ideas. Once that is done, even if it's just written down and not finalized, we can go on with details on everyone's character.

[ShadowLion]

Oh man! I don't know much about War hammer, but this sounds absolutely awesome. I am evaluating my time commitments, however. I am swamped and am thinking I will have to lurk this time... It's going to be at the top of the list next time, though! I'm with Chris-Tien on it being heaven... Amazons, pirates- Amazon pirates?

[DarK_RaideR]

Oh man! I don't know much about War hammer, but this sounds absolutely awesome. I am evaluating my time commitments, however. I am swamped and am thinking I will have to lurk this time... It's going to be at the top of the list next time, though! I'm with Chris-Tien on it being heaven... Amazons, pirates- Amazon pirates?

Ask and ye shall receive

 

No need to worry, RP is optional Since we're all working out anyway, you might want to join and start logging exercises to pile up any points, then next challenge spend the time to convert them into troops

[cn3wton]

Spent the last 30 mins to an hour sketching out ideas for my general. Once I picky one I think I'll do a full blown painting.