The Grand Battle
This article relates to Warhammer Fantasy Battle 6th edition. It covers rules for 3-way, 4-way, 5-way etc. battles.
Overview: The armies close in on each other, each ready to do battle. Who can remove the most threat and survive the longest?
Armies: Armies are chosen to an agreed points value.
Battlefield: Scenery is set-up in an agreeable manner
Deployment: At the start of the battle, each player rolls a dice. Highest scoring player gets to choose his deployment zone in the order he wants. E.g. he may want to choose his deployment area first, second, third etc. The next highest must choose first, or after the highest scoring player if he wishes to choose first. Then the next highest chooses his deployment next etc, slotting in the first player, if he chooses not to deploy first. This advantage is quite significant, as the highest scoring player may be able to avoid the opponents he’d rather not fight.
Each player rolls a dice. The highest scoring player deploys first. The next highest scoring player deploys second, but only count the scores rolled by the two players adjacent to the player who rolled the highest. Deployment continues this way for the whole deployment, e.g. if the player was on the highest scoring player’s right, then continue to deploy counter-clockwise, if the player is on the left, then continue to deploy clockwise.
Who goes first? Players each roll a dice. Follow the same method as deployment, except the player who finished deploying first gets +1. In a 5-way or more battle, you may want to increase this to +2, and the second person to finish deployment gets +1.
Map
(Description)
In a 3-way battle, use a triangular deployment. E.g. each person has a square deployment of 12" by 12", or any size you like. Then, measuring from the front of the deployment, the other armies have to be at least 24" away.
In a 4-way battle, use a square battlefield.
In a 5-way battle, use a pentagonal battlefield.
In a 6-way battle, use a hexagonal battlefield etc.
Usually two of the armies will be 24" away, and the others will be further.
Length of game: Generally, 6 turns is enough. In a 5 or 6-way battle, you may want to increase this to 7 turns, in a 7-way or more, perhaps 8 turns or even more. Though exceeding eight turns is not a good idea. You may also like to increase the length of the game due to the points value of the army.
Special rules: No additional special rules.
Victory conditions: To stop armies from taking an all-out offensive ‘kill as many guys as you can’ tactics and collecting victory points, a new system of scoring is introduced. At the end of the battle, add the total points of surviving troops to your victory points for capturing standards, destroying troops etc.
NOTE: DO NOT ADD EXTRA POINTS FOR GENERAL SURVIVING OR KEEPING YOUR OWN BANNER ETC.
The one other change is that a table quarter are worth 200 victory points, not 100. This reflects the higher importance of controlling the battlefield. In a triangle battlefield, you may like to try table triplets rather than table quadrants.
Additional special rules:
You may want to use some additional special rules to make the game even more unpredictable.
- Pests
Place an abandoned village in the centre, or a ruined tower. Place a few swarms in it. The player whose turn it is rolls a scatter dice and artillery dice. The swarm base moves the number of inches indicated, in the direction indicated. On a roll of a misfire, the swarm just stays still. If a swarm bumps into another swarm, then they just stop. If they bump into a player’s troops, they fight them till they die. They can seriously screw up a general’s plan(if he has one), or maybe in more suitable terms, the general’s advance.
All swarms of the same type must remain together.
It is always fun having a total random factor in the game which can affect all players.
- Objective- Item
Place an item objective in the middle of the battlefield. The first unit to reach it picks it up. Stupid creatures may not pick it up, but a character with a stupid regiment that actually gets to it may pick it up. The unit may not hand it over to anyone, except the general model. If they flee, they still have the objective. If they flee and are cut down, the pursuers pick it up. A unit may choose NOT to pick it up if they so wish. But there is no advantage in that.
In a battle with a total points of <1000 the objective is worth 50 victory points, plus 50 per enemy army.
In a battle with a total points of 1001-2000 the objective is worth 100 victory points, plus 75 per enemy army.
In a battle with a total points of 2001-3000 the objective is worth 150 victory points, plus 100 per enemy army.
In a battle with a total points of 3001-4000 the objective is worth 200 victory points, plus 125 per enemy army.
Keep adding 50 victory points as a base bonus, plus 25 victory point extra bonus per enemy army. You get the idea. If you don’t, ask someone else.
Note the total points is the total points of ALL the armies, not of each army.
Different ideas for items-- Weapon/Book- Does not slow unit.
- Metal Chest- Slows down unit by ¼
- Piece of Artillery- Slows down unit by ½
- Large Idol- Slows down unit by ¾ if carried by a unit with unit 10 to 20. If carried by a regiment with unit strength 20 or more, it slows them down by ½. This represents them passing round the job of lifting the object, and they only get slowed down a bit because there are many soldiers to share its weight. Cannot be carried by units with unit strength of less than 10.
Decide which item will be used. I would guess some artifact weapon or tome of knowledge(book) would be the most widely used.
- Weapon/Book- Does not slow unit.
- Objectives- Structures
The bonus is the same ,but the way of getting it is different. The player with the most points within 12" of the centre of the structure(s) gets the bonus. The structure might be a large rune-stone, a village or a wizard tower etc.
If the objective consists of several structures, then you may want to increase the radius.
If a regiment or character is only partially in the radius, then follow these rules-
If a regiment or character is less than half in the radius (by base size for a general, by the number of models for a regiment), discount their points value.
If a regiment or character is at least half in the radius, count half their points value rounding up.
If a regiment or character is wholly within the radius, then count their full points value.
A small note, you may find it interesting to combine a few of those. E.g. a village in the centre of the battlefield with swarms in it and also counts as an objective, or even better, a village in the centre of the battlefield with swarms in it, counts as an objective and the item in it ALSO counts as an objective.
It is never fun to have two armies team up to bash up your army. Having two teams team up on one in a 3-way battle is not fun. In bigger battles however, like 5-way battles, you might want to form alliances to get the upper hand. But this scenario is not about teaming up, it’s about total domination. Look at it another way, your ally is a potential threat to you winning.
Modified magic rules to suit multiple-army battles
Casting...
The casting wizard gets more base dice because there will be more targets and so harder to cast. In a 3-way battle, you get 1 more base dice. In a 4-way battle you get 2 more base dice etc. A formula:
Dice= Numbers of opponents +1
Other players can ‘share’ power. One player may donate his dice to the casting player. The number of dice he donates cannot exceed the number of dice the casting player already has. E.g. his magic pool cannot expand more than double. Once the casting player casts a spell, another player may donate his dice to the casting player. But the same restriction applies, the caster’s magic pool cannot expand to more than double. E.g. 2 dice left after casting one spell, cannot receive more than one dice. Each player is only allowed to donate once. Makes magic too powerful? Consider this:
You give the player your dice. He uses your dice to cast a spell on you. You have little dice left, little chance of dispelling. Heh heh heh. That’s one incentive not to help your enemy. However… look at the advantages of helping your enemy
- You can convince him/her to cast a spell on some troops that are annoying you.
- You try and make friends with that player, so he won’t take you out, at least not first.
Will he help you? Or fry you?
Dispelling...
Only one dispel is allowed, but unlike normal dispelling, two players may team up to dispel. All rules that apply to casting also apply to dispelling. E.g. donating dice, cannot exceed double etc.
Let’s look at the disadvantages and advantages. Firstly disadvantages-
You donate 3 of your dice to your buddy, the caster decides to cast a spell on you. You have one dice left. You can only get 1 extra dice from the other players max. If you can get the dice, you have two dispel dice. Another player decides to help the caster, the caster rolls his maximum number of dice allowed for his wizard, and you have very little chance of dispelling.
Advantages
- You don’t want the casting player to get victory points.
- You like your enemy’s archers killing your enemy.
Designer’s Note:
Hope you like it. E-mail me if you want to make any suggestions.
Written by: Y.T. Kho