The Eternal Skirmish Campaign

Campaign Extensions

Epic Warlords

Brother Grim walks from his necromantic lab onto the balcony high atop his wizard’s tower. His eyes can see for miles. “Is this all there is?” he said. “Have I reached the peak of my potential? All the battles, all the death and undeath; there must be more. I must have more power! I must have it NOW!” - jjbeezer

An epic warlord is any warlord who has gained a total of 10 or more levels in the Warlord Prestige Classes. There is little difference between epic and normal warlords except for raw power... and this section details the progression of epic warlords into divinity.

The Epic Trial: The epic portion of the Eternal Campaign is currently in trial mode. If you plan to play an epic warlord, please understand that many inequities may become apparent as you play. We hope to take the feedback and results of players playing epic warlords and adjust epic campaign play in order to make it as fair as possible.

Epic Warlord Levels: Epic warlords continue to gain benefits in the same pattern as lower level warlords.

Epic Warlord Level	Experience	HP	Feats	Commander Rating
11	23000	+55	5	+5
12	26000	+60	5	+5
13	30000	+65	6	+5
14	34000	+70	6	+5
15	38000	+75	7	+5
16	42000	+80	7	+5
17	46000	+85	8	+5
18	50000	+90	8	+5
19	55000	+95	9	+5
20	60000	+100	9	+5

The Epic Martial Warlord: When a warlord earns a total of +12 and +18 attack bonus from all Warlord Levels gained, they earn an extra melee and ranged attack (if any). This attack is gained exactly like the extra attack at M6.

Class Level	Attack Bonus	HP	Special
M11	+11	+55
M12	+12	+60	Extra Attack²
M13	+13	+65
M14	+14	+70
M15	+15	+75
M16	+16	+80
M17	+17	+85
M18	+18	+90	Extra Attack²
M19	+19	+95
M20	+20	+100
2 The extra attack may occur at a lower Martial Class level if the warlord has taken levels in the Stealth Class

The Epic Stealth Warlord:

Class Level	Attack Bonus	HP	Stealth Abilities	Special Attack Damage¹
S11	+6	+20	4	+20
S12	+6	+25	4	+20
S13	+7	+25	5	+20
S14	+7	+25	5	+25
S15	+8	+30	5	+25
S16	+8	+30	6	+25
S17	+9	+30	6	+30
S18	+9	+35	6	+30
S19	+10	+35	7	+30
S20	+10	+35	7	+35
1 If a warlord has more than one Special Attack, then they must choose which special attack gains the extra damage. The warlord may choose a different special attack each level.

The Epic Caster Warlord:

Class Level	Spell Progression
Class Level	No Spells	1st Level Casters	2nd Level Casters	3rd Level Casters and above
C11	+1st	+2nd	+4th	+2nd
C12	+2nd	+3rd	+5th	+3rd
C13	+3rd	+4th	+1st	+4th
C14	+4th	+5th	+2nd	+5th
C15	+5th	+1st	+3rd	+1st
C16	+1st	+2nd	+4th	+2nd
C17	+2nd	+3rd	+5th	+3rd
C18	+3rd	+4th	+1st	+4th
C19	+4th	+5th	+2nd	+5th
C20	+5th	+1st	+3rd	+1st

Epic Battles: The major difference between epic and lower level battles is that no support creature may be more than 70% of the total number of support points.

Highest Warlord Level	Warband Size	Support Troops Per Level Difference
11	350	35
12	400	40
13	450	45
14	500	50
15	550	55
16	600	60
17	750	75
18	800	80
19	900	90
20	1000	100

The Auction House

Pike sat in his hideout and surveyed the loot from his past several battles. "Crap, its all crap!" he screamed slamming his glass of rotgut on the table. "You skirmisher get over here. Grab two strong arms and haul this stuff to the auction house. Bring me something worth while its your necks." Knowing that the threat would be kept, the skirmisher grabbed two strong Bladebearers to take the goods to the house, he figured he could use their combat prowess on the road there, but once they got to the auction house it was safe ground. A few hours journey and they arrived at the auction house. Their weapons were checked at the door, all warlords were safe here, to fight here was to die. Turning in the collection of minor items and collars to the bid collector, the skirmisher looked over the goods currently for auction. Seeing a pair of boots of dexterity, he knew that would make Master Pike happy. "Auction Master!" he exclaimed, "I bid all I brought on those boots." Rubbing his hands together, he knew that now it was simply a waiting game. - AesophDarkfable

Scenarios

Each round of the campaign should use a new scenario or one that hasn't been use within the last few rounds. A good source of scenarios is The Miniatures Handbook starting on page 102. Also, players are encouraged to create new scenarios keeping the following guidelines in mind.

Try not to increase the length of games;
Avoid rules that could highly randomize the final result of the match;
Effects should be scaled to warband sizes by either using percentages or using a table with increasing strength effects for larger warbands;
Scenarios do not change the benefits gained by the victorious and defeated warlord;
No faction should have a large advantage over another faction;
Don't forget to consider how minions, summoned creatures, and especially Support Troops will effect the scenario; and
Scenarios should include the following information:
- Name
- Narrative (a short optional description)
- Setup (terrain tile or battle map rules)
- Warbands (warband building rules if different)
- Special Rule - Rule Name (as many as required, if any)
- Victory (the conditions for victory)
- Tie-breaker (how to determine the results of a stalemated match)

The Standard Campaign Assault Scenario (the Standard Scenario)

This is the Standard Scenario as it applies to the Campaign. It contains a number of changes to the assault scenario as laid out in the current DDM Rulebook to account for the uniqueness of the campaign. Scenarios presented here that do not contain rules for a specific heading by default use the rules of the this standard scenario.

Setup: A pre-determined battle map is chosen.

Warbands: Warband sizes are as shown on the schedule, with the indicated number of support troops.

Victory: Victory goes to the first player to either eliminate all of their enemy's creatures or to score victory points equal to the match's warband size. There are two ways to score victory points.

Eliminating enemy creatures. You score victory points equal to the cost of each eliminated enemy creature except support troops. Eliminating a creature can mean destroying it or causing it to rout off the battle map.
Occupying at least one of your warband's victory areas. Your victory areas are usually (but not always) located on the opponent's side of the battle map. At the end of each round, if you have one or more creatures on one or more of your victory areas, you receive victory points. The award is 10% of the match's warband size rounded down (for example a 75 point match would give a 7 point award). Each player can earn victory points in this way, but never more than the listed award in each round. A creature that occupies multiple squares is considered to be on a victory area if any part of its space is in a square within that area.

Tie-breaker: If no creature has damaged an enemy creature, made an attack roll, or forced an enemy creature to make a save for 10 consecutive rounds, the winner is the player with the most victory points. If players are still tied, the winner is the player who has a creature closest to the center of the battle map. If players are still tied, the player with the highest-cost creature nearest the center is the winner.

The Old Standard Campaign Scenario

This is the campaign's version of the old standard scenario before battle maps were introduced. This scenario is referenced as the Old Standard Scenario in other scenarios below.

Setup: As described under Setup on page 7 of the old DDM Rulebook v2, with the addition that no area of the battle grid may be cut off by any tile

Warbands: Warband sizes are as shown on the schedule, with the indicated number of support troops.

Victory: Victory goes to the first player to either eliminate all of their enemy's creatures or to score victory points equal to the match's warband size. You score victory points equal to the cost of each eliminated enemy creature except support troops. Eliminating a creature can mean destroying it or causing it to rout off the battle map.

Terror Not Forgotten

Throughout the ages there have been many evil warlord, but few were as reviled and feared as Ihn. He was a harsh and vindictive ruler, but nobody dared to challenge Ihn, for his prowess in both martial and magical pursuits was as legendary as his creulty. At the head of his Undead Hordes, Ihn spread panic and terror throughout much of the known world until one day a valorious prince mortally wounded him in single combat. He dragged himself back to his nearby fortress, whereupon Ihn died.

The villiagers, fearing that Ihn might arise from his "sleep" more monstrous then before, buried him with his possessions in his dungeon and sealed the enterence. Even today, despite the passage of time, Ihn's very name strikes fear into even the hardest of hearts. Now, two warbands have accidentally uncovered his resting place, and who knows what waits in the shadows and the dark corners of imaginations...

Setup: As per the Old Standard Scenario with the following exceptions - All Assembly Tiles are legal, but terrain choices are limited to the following: Abattior, Aftermath, Audience Chamber, Blood Rock Cave, Burial Chamber, Shrine of Slaughter, Mummy's Crypt, and Torture Chamber.

Warbands: As per the Old Standard Scenario

Special Rule - Terror Not Forgotten: On terrain tiles, roll a d20 before attempting any moral save, rally check, or save against a fear effect: on a roll of 10 or less the check automatically fails (since fearless creatures still attempt but normally automatically succeed such checks, this rule applies to them too!)

Victory: As per the Old Standard Scenario

Creator: ???

King Of The Hill

Two warbands fight for control of an unknown ruin atop a steep hill.

Setup: ...

Warbands: ...

Special Rule - ...: ...

Victory: ...

Creator: oldcoast

Astral Battle

You meet your opponent for battle in the inter-planar space of the Astral plane.

Setup: As per the Old Standard Scenario

Warbands: Githyanki Fighters are available as mercenaries to any faction for a cost of 25 points per creature (as opposed to their normal 35 points). The Githyanki Fighters take on the faction of the warband who hired them, and gain the Requires Commander ability.

Special Rule - Enhanced Magic: All spells are cast as swift actions (still limited to one swift action per turn). A free action such as "empower" or "blink out" can still be performed in the same round.

Victory: As per the Old Standard Scenario

Creator: galneweinhaw

Storm Fury

A battle in the heart of a thunderstorm

Setup: As per the Old Standard Scenario

Special Rule - Gusting Wind: -2 penalty to ranged attacks and flyers move at half speed rounded up.

Special Rule - Variable Storm Effects: At the start of each round before initiative is rolled, the player with the most VP (d20 roll off if tied) rolls d20 to determine the storm's effect for the duration of the round

1-12 = distant strike (no effect)
13-15 = driving rain (-4 instead of -2 penalty to ranged attacks and each spell fails unless caster succeeds on DC13 save)
16-18 = close strike (thunder clap immediately affects all creatures - stun, DC13*)
19-20 = direct strike! (lightning immediately affects all creatures. 10 electric and stun, DC13 save for 5 elec and no stun*)
* players alternate making saves for 2 creatures at a time, starting with the player who rolled for this round's effect

Victory: As per the Old Standard Scenario. Creatures eliminated by scenario effects count for Victory Points as if the enemy warlord had eliminated them.

Creator: Craw

The Moon

A past magic battle has left residual arcane force in this cave

Setup: As per the Old Standard Scenario but only tiles with at least one square of difficult terrain may be used (includes spike stones).

Special Rule - Low Gravity: The gravity here is lower than normal and creatures can easily leap long distances. All creatures, in addition to their printed speed, gain F4 and the Flight special ability. Legion's Undeniable Gravity does not function on this battle grid. Note: F4 is not added to existing speed, it is just another movement option a creature can choose from. For example a Xeph Warrior has a choice of speed 8 or speed F4 each time it moves, not F12 or anything else!

Victory: As per the Old Standard Scenario

Creator: Zippy

This tutorial is designed to show you how to create some slightly customized units based off of existing units. While originally intended for use with the Eternal Skirmish Campaign, it does allow you to make minor fixes to units between module updates, or even provide you with a tab in the Units menu that has all of your favorite and often used units.

Creating the Extension: Let's start by creating the extension and making sure it is in the right place to be loaded. First you'll need to make sure you have an extension folder for the module that you're using. By default, the DDM Skirmish module is named similar to 'DDM_1-XX-X.mod', where XX corresponds to the most recent set number, and the X after that corresponds to the number of updates to the module since that set was released. So your actual module name may vary. Based on your module name, create a folder in the same directory as that module named 'DDM_1-XX-X_ext' (again, replacing the XX and X with your actual module's numbers). If you have downloaded any of the pre-existing extensions, this folder should already be in place.

Open up VASSAL, and on the opening menu, under the Extension Design section, select Load Module and load in the most current DDM module. After the module is loaded (it should look very much like you're playing it right now), go back to the opening screen and select New under the Extension Design section. You should now see something similar to a file structure, with few buttons at the top of that window. Click the save button at the top, and go ahead and save this extension inside of the _ext folder we just created.

Creating a Space for your Units: In the Edit Extension window, expand the folder listing arrows so you can see the contents of the following directory: Miniatures Skirmish Game -> Placeables -> Tabbed Panel -> Units. Right click on the Units folder and select Add Scrollable List. This will create a tab along with the other alignments to store your custom units in. For now, we'll name this tab 'MyEC,' though you can call it whatever you want.

Now you can start adding units to this folder. The units are stored in all the Scrollable List folders inside Units. Start by copying over the unit you wish to customize. For this example, we'll use a Wizard Tactcian. So right click on the Wizard Tactician (inside the CG folder), and select copy. Then right click on the MyEC folder and select Paste. You've now copied this unit into your custom tab.

All of the customizations to your units below are done in that unit's properties menu. To access this, just right click on the Unit (Wizard Tactician in this case) and select Properties.

Changing a Unit's Name and Health: To rename your unit, you'll have to edit the properites in two places. First, under the Current Traits on the right selection window, select Basic Properites and then click the Properties button below that menu. The unit name is displayed at the right, which you can change and hit Ok. Now highlight the Text Label and hit the Properties button again. You should see an attribute called Menu Command that has the unit's name in it. Change it here as well. Also now on this screen, the first attribute (labeled Text) is the field that stores the unit's Health. If your lieutenant has already leveled up, you may want to change this to the new total, then hit Ok.

Making a Unit a Commander: To make a unit a commander, we need to change one of the properties. You will see on every unit a Prototype listed in their Current Traits. Non-commander units have this listed as 'Unit 1x1' (or 'Unit 2x2' for large creatures). To make a unit a commander, select this Prototype and click on the Properties button below. Change the word Unit to Commander (leave the 1x1 or other size the same) and hit Ok. Your unit is now a commander, and will have the Commander Effect template available in the contextual menu when you right click on it, and will have its icon displayed with a star in the upper left corner.

Assigning Spell/Breath Templates: To assign a template to a unit for easy access, you'll want to select Place Marker in the list of Available Traits (on the left) and then click the Add button. The properties for that trait should open automatically. You'll want to change three things on this properties. The Command attribute is what you want to be displayed in the contextual menu, so in our case we'll change this to 'Cast Fireball.' Now click in the Keyboard Command attribute and hit Ctrl-B, as we need to assign it to a keystroke that isn't already in use (Ctrl-M is the default for Mark Moved). Lastly hit the Select button, and it will open up the module contents. Look inside Placeables -> Tabbed Panel -> Markers for the templates; select on and hit Ok. For some templates (like cones, you may want to adjust the Horizontal and Vertical offset in order to get them to appear in the right spot. I'd suggest look at an existing unit with a cone template for those values. Hit Ok to get out of the Place Marker properties. Lastly, select the Place Marker in the Current Traits menu and move it up in the list such that it is directly below Basic Piece. Otherwise, the template will be listed as the first thing in the contextual menu (where HP usually is).

If you want to get tricky too, some units on activating the Place Marker have a Report Action associated with creating that template. To add this as well, select Report Action in the available traits and add it to the unit. In the Report Action properties, click in the Report on Keystroke below the add button and hit Ctrl-B (to assign it to the same keystroke we assigned the Place Marker). If we wanted the template creation to add some flavor to the log when it's added, in the Report format change it to "$location$: $newPieceName$ * casts fireball". Hit Ok and now creating the template will list the text you just specified.

Notes

Remember to save!
Don't change the image associated with the the unit you are customizing. Each unit has an image associated with it, and if you keep the unit image the same, then it will keep the link to the image that is in the standard module. This means people won't actualy require your extension to be able to see the units you customize.

Campaign Extensions

Epic Warlords

Epic Warlord Level

Experience

HP

Feats

Commander Rating

Class Level

Attack Bonus

HP

Special

Class Level

Attack Bonus

HP

Stealth Abilities

Special Attack Damage1

Class Level

Spell Progression

No Spells

1st Level Casters

2nd Level Casters

3rd Level Casters and above

Highest Warlord Level

Warband Size

Support Troops Per Level Difference

The Auction House

Scenarios

The Standard Campaign Assault Scenario (the Standard Scenario)

The Old Standard Campaign Scenario

Terror Not Forgotten

King Of The Hill

Astral Battle

Storm Fury

The Moon

War on the Elemental Plane of Fire

King of the Caves

King of the Caves

Stone Dead

Greased Pig Contest

Caught in the Spider's Web

No Way Out!

Bounty Hunters

Creating a Custom Extension

Special Attack Damage¹