Border Princes Campaign 1: Overview

Right, my thesis is done and dusted and it is time to get going with some serious modelling and gaming projects.  My first cab off the ranks is to start setting up a map-based campaign to provide some narrative and thematic structure for WFB games with my regular opponents.  

I have long wanted to have a go at the Border Princes map based campaign from the amazing General's Compendium, so my aim is to set this up for 8th Edition.  

The basic idea is as follows:

• The map (see above) is divided into territories which may be either plains, road, bridge, river, forest, mountains, or swamp.  There are also six 'special' named territories - the ruined High Elven tower of Tor Anrok, the cosmopolitan town of Aldium, the fortress-town of Malko, the bandit-infested Warrens, the haunted Geistenmund Hills and the tribal lands of the Iron Claw Orcs.
• Each player controls a force which is made up of 'banners' (armies essentially) which are moved around the map.  Each 'banner' normally represents a 2,250 point army (though there are ways to increase the pts. of each banner, eg. fortifying, allies, etc.).
• Each Banner is not a 'fixed' list - the 2250 points are chosen differently every battle.  It is assumed that  between battles troops are redistributed across the players' realm, etc.  This keeps bookkeeping simple, which for a first campaign is very important.  Of course, each Banner should absolutely have an appropriate name, named characters, etc.!
• The campaign is divided into a 'Campaign Phase' and a 'Battle Phase.'  In the Campaign Phase players move their Banners around the map, muster new banners, or perform all sorts of other campaign related activities (more to follow).
• When two enemy Banners find themselves in the same map region at the end of the Campaign Phase, a battle takes place.  Basically, once all campaign moves have been completed, the players will have a month-6 weeks (to be determined) to resolve any battles that take place.  Different terrain sections (including the special map sections) will impact the battles/scenarios used (more to follow).
• The Campaign will last a set number of turns which is calculated by the number of players taking part. At the end of the campaign, each faction adds up all the territories it controls: 1 point for each normal territory, 5 points for each special territory and 10 points for the fortress-town of Malko!  The faction with the most points emerges dominant and secures a new kingdom in the Border Princes (though such kingdoms tend to come and go in the chaotic lands of the Border Princes).

Right, that's all for now.  Next time I start thinking about the terrain we need and the scenarios played in each section.