Playing in the Campaign
The troops trudged along the hillsides, making their way towards where the orc camp was reported to be. Digger knew it wouldn't be much longer before the tolls of this campaign would make the troops start complaining. It did seem to last forever, but so did the orc threat. At least he had preliminary reports of the leader of this band's capabilities. His scouts also reported two locations within the enemy camp that would be key points to hold in order to route the orcs and gave word that they had encountered enemy patrols on their run. They knew Digger was coming; the battle would be tonight, whether he was ready for it or not. With a stout heart, Digger pressed forward on this Eternal Campaign. - zephyrstorm
The Campaign Structure
Rounds: The Eternal Skirmish Campaign is broken up into rounds, the length of which may differ depending on how the campaign is administered. Each round contains a deadline for when game results must be reported, a deadline to sign up for the following round, and a deadline for the campaign administrator to have each round's schedule posted. For the Vassal/Maxminis Campaign these three important deadlines can be found in each round's main post and may change depending on who is currently administering the campaign.
Pairings: Match pairings are randomly scheduled, within the following guidelines:
- Warlords will only battle against other warlords who are no greater than three Warlord Levels higher or lower
- Warlords will only battle against other warlords who they have not played in the last three rounds
- If there are not enough players to schedule the round with these limitations, the pairings will be scheduled to meet these guidelines as closely as possible.
Odd Man Out: If there are an odd number of warlords playing in a given round, the player playing the most warlords or the campaign administrator will have one of thier warlords sit out the round as a spare, ready to substitute for any player who cannot play.
Scenarios: Each week the campaign uses a different scenario. Each scenario may have different victory conditions, or unique rules to provide variety and allow players to use their creativity when constructing their warbands. The rules for each scenario will be provided in advance of the posting of a given round's schedule. More information and some custom scenarios can be found in the Scenarios section
Warlords
Your First Warlord: The warlord you begin the campaign with must be a commander and cost 35 points or less. Players should keep in mind when choosing their warlord that their first few matches may be at 50 points, so choosing a 35 point commander will leave little room to build a warband, however having a higher point creature may be beneficial once you start playing larger matches.
Warlords of multiple factions must choose one faction for which they are ever after considered to be for the purposes of warband building.
Adding More Warlords: After each round with a match successfully completed, a player may add a new warlord of a different faction, to a maximum of 4 which would provide one warlord per faction. These warlords are either chosen using the same method as your first warlord, or a Lieutenant who you have promoted to become a new warlord.
A player may also include one Epic Warlord of any faction, in addition to the standard four warlords, once they have a creature reach Warlord Level 10.
Retiring Warlords: If you decide you would prefer to use a different warlord from a faction you already have a warlord in, you may choose to retire your current warlord and sign up a new warlord from that faction. The retired warlord is no longer active and no longer eligible to play. Retiring a warlord is permanent. Unless your warlord is epic, you will be forced to retire them when you promote a Lieutenant if the Lieutenant can not be started in another faction.
Signing Up
Intent to Play: Players are not required to play all or even any of their warlords every round. Before each round of the campaign begins, players must declare their intent to play in that round by the deadline specified for the campaign. At this time the player provides the names and factions of each of their warlords they would like to have scheduled in that round of the campaign.
Promoted Lieutenants: If a player intends to promote a Lieutenant and play them as a warlord, they must provide which magic items and Lieutenants the newly promoted warlord will be bringing with it when the player declares their intent to play.
Arranging Your Games
How you arrange a place and time to play your games will depend on how the campaign is being administered. For details specific to the Vassal Eternal Campaign, see below.
Scheduling the Match: Each player must email his opponent and post on the as soon as possible after the schedule has been posted in order to start arranging your matches. Players must also post in the round's thread that they have sent their opponent an email, both so that their opponent can respond if they do not receive the email, and so the campaign administrator knows you are attempting to schedule a match. Once a time has been agreed upon one of the players must post the date and time of the match. If after two emails a player has not received a response from his opponent, the player should email the campaign administrator and inform him of the situation.
Withdrawing from a Match: A player who can no longer play a match that he has committed to playing by signing up for that week must both email his opponent and post in the current round's thread that he must withdraw from the match. A player who must cancel his match for a round and fails to notify his opponent will be suspended from the Campaign until an acceptable explanation is given.
Warlords whose opponents do not show up on the battlefield for a match, that has been arranged with the date and time posted, will triumph and earn all the benefits of a win, with the exception of Lieutenant experience for which they will earn half.
Draws and Late Games: If two players cannot find a time to play their game within the round, they may mutually agree to either declare the game a draw or agree to play the game at some time during the next round. Games resulting in draws are as if they were never scheduled, and the results of late games do not take effect until the round following the one in which the game was completed.
Warband Building
In general, warband's are built according to the most current D&D Miniatures Rulebook. However there are a number of rules specific to the campaign which are detailed below.
Warband Sizes: The warband size of each match depends on the highest Warlord Level of either warlord involved as detailed in the table below. Each round will likely have several different sized battles. The campaign administrator will post warband sizes with the schedule each round.
Highest Warlord Level |
Warband Size |
Support Troops Per Level Difference |
| 0 | 50 | - |
| 1 | 75 | 7 |
| 2 | 100 | 10 |
| 3 | 125 | 12 |
| 4 | 150 | 15 |
| 5 | 175 | 17 |
| 6 | 200 | 20 |
| 7 | 225 | 22 |
| 8 | 250 | 25 |
| 9 | 275 | 27 |
| 10 | 300 | 30 |
Support Troops: When a warlord must
battle an opponent of a higher Warlord Level, the lower level warlord
gains support troops to balance the higher level warlord's greater
power. For every Warlord Level difference between opposing warlords
the lower level warlord gains 10% of the warband size (rounded down) in
support troops as shown in the table above
The campaign administrator will post the
support troops with the schedule each round.
Support troops are used with the following guidelines:
- Support troop points are separate from your main warband points and must be used to select a seperate group of support creatures, however the support troops themselves are part of your warband;
- Maximum 4 support troops;
- Support troops may not contain either your warlord or any Lieutenants, although support creatures that have not been eliminated may become Lieutenants;
- No 70% rule for support troops (except for Epic);
- Support troops do not score victory points when they are destroyed, nor for occupying victory areas in assault type scenarios, they do however score victory points when they eliminate an enemy creature; and
- Support troops may be given magic items.
Epics and Huges: Both Epic creatures and huge creatures are legal in campaign games as long as they do not break the 70% rule.
Magic Items: A warlord is limited to bringing to a match a number of magic items equal to their Warlord Level +1. There are also limitations on who they may assign the items to which are detailed in the Assigning Magic Items subsection of the Magic Items section.
Warband Building Errors: It is the responsibility of both players in a match to ensure that both warbands and are legal. If an error is noticed once a warband has been revealed, use the following guidelines to correct the error:
Error - Before First Initiative Rolled |
Correction |
| Warband is too large | Remove the single lowest point creature that will bring the warband equal to or below the legal size. If this brings the warband 3 or more points below the correct warband size, continue to correct the warband. |
| Warband is too small |
Add the largest point creature possible from the following
list until the warband is brought as close as possible to the
legal size, yet still remains under the 8 creature
limit:
|
| Warband contains an illegal creature | Remove the illegal creature. If this brings the warband 3 or more points below the correct warband size, continue to correct the warband. |
| Creature is assigned a magic item it cannot use | The item is returned to the warlord. |
| Magic items have not been assigned | The warlord may carry as many items as he is capable. No other creatures begin the battle with a magic item. |
| Player failed to declare terrain or map | The opposing player may pick up to half (round up) of the opposing player's missing terrain, or if no map is declared where required, the opposing players map is used. |
Error - After First Initiative Rolled |
Correction |
| Warband is too large | The single lowest point creature that, if removed, will bring the warband equal to or below the proper size automatically routes on its next activation and cannot be rallied. The opposing player gains victory points for this creature once it has left the battle grid. |
| Warband is too small | Your troops are late! Choose creatures to bring your warband
up to size as outlined above, then begin placing your creatures
as per the Stragglers scenario in the Miniatures
HandbookIf the warband’s warlord has been
eliminated before it is realized the warband is too small, the
late creatures do not show up. |
| Warband contains an illegal creature | On its next activation the illegal creature automatically routes and cannot be rallied. The opposing player gains victory points for this creature once it has left the battle grid. |
| Creature is assigned a magic item it cannot use | The creature immediately drops the magic item. |
| Magic items have not been assigned | Your warlord is negligent and has not brought any magic items to the battle. |
| Illegal terrain placement or other terrain problems | Continue the game as is, no changes are to be made. |
New Skirmish Rules
Commanded Rout: When a creature must make
a morale save, the player may choose to apply a commander rating that
normally applies as a negative modifier instead of as a positive
modifier. This choice must be specifically stated before rolling the
morale save
Playing Your Game
There are three main differences between a standard skirmish game and an Eternal Skirmish Campaign game -- warband building, scenarios, and the new skirmish rules above. There are also a few requirements specific to the Vassal/Maxminis Campaign:
Logging the game: Every game played within the Vassal/Maxminis Campaign must be logged or risk having the results of the game forfeited. Logfiles must be started before warbands are revealed and must not be ended until after warlords have rolled for their magic items after the completion of the match. Both players of every game should be logging their matches.
Sportsmanship: The Vassal/Maxminis Campaign is not played for tangible prizes or awards. It is intended for casual and friendly play, to develope a campaign community, and to promote the use if these little plastic pieces of crack. All players shall conduct themselves according to the campaign's Code of Conduct.
Victory and Loss
Victory Conditions: Unless otherwise stated in the round's scenario, victory is achieved by either gaining victory points equal to the battles warband size, or eliminating all of the enemy's creatures.
Experience: Warlords earn experience based on the outcome of their battles:
Skirmish Result |
Warlord Experience |
| Victorious Warlord - Warlord has not been eliminated | 1000 |
| Victorious Warlord - Warlord has been eliminated | 500 |
| Vanquished Warlord | 250 |
After each battle, warlords may also assign experience to a creature they wish to develop as a Lieutenant. In order to be eligible to receive Lieutenant experience from a warlord, a creatures must meet all the requirements of becoming a Lieutenant and must have been used in the battle. Warlords may only give Lieutenant experience to one creature per battle. Warlords are not obliged to give the experience to existing Lieutenants, nor do future Lieutenants have to be declared before the completion of the match.
Skirmish Result |
Lieutenant Experience |
| Victorious Warlord - Lieutenant has not been eliminated | 500 |
| Victorious Warlord - Lieutenant has been eliminated | 250 |
| Vanquished Warlord | 125 |
Warlord Advancement: As warlords and Lieutenants gain experience, they grow stronger and learn new powers by gaining levels in the Warlord Prestige Classes.
Gaining Magic Items: Along with experience, every match warlords find new treasures. Victorious warlords roll for a random magic item of medium strength or may exchange an existing medium magic item they already owns for a random magic item of major strength. Vanquished warlords roll for a random magic item of minor strength, or may exchange a minor magic item they already have in their possession for a random magic item of medium strength. Magic items are determined by rolling on the tables in the Magic Items section.
Reporting the Match
Game Report: It is the responsibility of the winner of the match to report the results of the game to the campaign administrator, although the losing player must ensure the winner actually does report the results. The following information is required in each game report:
- Victorious warlord's warband: (with all information included upon reveal)
- Experience gained: (1000 or 500?)
- Warlord's leveling options: (if any)
- Lieutenant XP, and who it is going to: (if any)
- Lieutenant leveling options: (if any)
- Magic item gained:
- Magic item used or traded: (if any)
- Vanquished warlord's warband: (with all information included upon reveal)
- Experience gained: 250
- Warlord's leveling options: (if any)
- Lieutenant XP, and who it is going to: (if any)
- Lieutenant leveling options: (if any)
- Magic item gained:
- Magic item used or traded: (if any)
- Battle Report (An optional brief summary of the match):
Logfiles: In the Vassal/Maxminis Campaign it is also the responsibility of the winner to post the logfile in the location given in each round's schedule. As with the game report the losing player must ensure the winner posts the log.
Summary
The following list provides a quick summary of what is required in order to play your first game in the campaign. Details on how do accomplish each of these steps is provided above.
- Choose a warlord.
- Sign up to play.
- Read the weekly notes from the admin
- Arrange your game
- Play your game
- Report the results of your game
- Ensure your stats are correct
- Sign up to play again!