Border Princes Campaign 11: Allies

Right, in this post I am discussing one of the more interesting aspects of the planned Border Princes campaign: alliances (or how to dog out 'yer mate!).  You will have noticed in my post about SUPPORT that a banner in combat can not only be supported by an adjacent banner from the same faction, but ALSO by the banners of ALLIES.  Here is how it all works:

Players may form an alliance AT ANY TIME, and do so by informing the ORGANIZER (that's me) and all the other players of the fact via email (extra fluff points go to those who write out an elaborate treaty in a ye olde font, or pen a suitably grandious herald's announcement in a manner fitting their particular faction... Chaos may sell souls with deals in blood, etc.).  It is important to note that alliances can be NEGOTIATED in secret via email long before this point.  This way, you and your ally-to-be can nut out all the details, duration and extent of your alliance and spring it on your mutual enemies when they least expect it!  Once again, simple but fluffed up emails are great fun, eg. "A dark, hooded figure delivers you a scroll of rolled vellum which was clearly once human skin... within lies an offer of a dark alliance..."

However, it should be noted that the EFFECTS of the alliance only come into play once the alliance has been formally announced to the organizer and other players.  The effects are as follows:

• Factions may ally with each other as per the rules in the 8th BRB (forces of Order, forces of Destruction and all that).  Factions may ally with normally non-compatible factions (e.g. an unholy alliance between Order and Destruction factions) as per the rules in the 8th BRB - such unholy unions have been known to happen, especially in the strife-riddled Border Princes, but they have penalties!
• Banners may move through their allies' territories WITHOUT control of the territory changing hands (pinching an ally's territory BREAKS the alliance).
• Banners may DEFEND an ally's territory from a third party invader.  If the Banner successfully defends, the invader retreats or is SCATTERED as per normal and control of the territory remains with the defending banner's ally.
• Banners may RETREAT into an allied territory without being SCATTERED.  Once again, control of the territory remains with the allied player.
• Banners may SUPPORT allied banners in battle (but only ONCE per campaign turn, and only if not engaged in battle themselves).

IMPORTANTLY, note that NONE of the above rules allow 2 allied banners to be in the same terrain section AT THE SAME TIME.

Now, onto BREAKING ALLIANCES.  As with FORMING alliances, BREAKING alliances might follow a long period of email diplomacy either between two allies whose goals no longer converge (the argument before the breakup) or between one ally and a third party who are working to set up a nasty betrayal for the second party in the alliance.  Alliances may be BROKEN at ANY POINT IN THE CAMPAIGN in one of the following methods:

• ANNOUNCEMENT: During the END OF CAMPAIGN PHASE a player may announce to the ORGANIZER and the other players that a particular alliance is at an end.  This is the only way to break an alliance which has any time restriction (end of campaign phase) and the one which is deemed most honourable (amongst those factions who give a hoot about honour).  

The remaining ways of breaking an alliance are NOT limited as to when they can be played, and as such allow you to spring a nasty surprise on a former ally at the last minute.  

• INVASION: A banner may break an alliance by moving into an ally's territory and NOTING IN THE CAMPAIGN ORDERS EMAIL THAT THEY INTEND TO SEIZE CONTROL OF THAT TERRITORY (ordinarily, the campaign ORGANIZER will assume that banners moving into allied territories DO NOT take CONTROL of them unless the player in question specifies this in his orders. 
• RAZING: similar to the above, a banner may break an alliance by RAZING a territory CONTROLLED by an allied player.  Once RAZED, CONTROL of the territory switches to the player whose banner RAZED it.
• WITHDRAWAL OF SUPPORT.  The final, most insiduous, and often most devastating way of breaking an alliance to do so in the middle of battle!  This may occur when an ally is SUPPORTING another banner with 200 pts (or more, depending on no. of supporting banners) of core troops in a battle against a 3rd party aggressor.  To withdraw your support in the middle of battle, you wait until the beginning of any of your (soon to be former) ally's turns.  Importantly you wait until AFTER charges have been declared (including your own 'dummy charges') but BEFORE any chargers have been moved.  At this point you announce your intention to switch sides in the battle!  Your former ally must follow through with his charges as normal (no doubt wishing he hadn't declared several of them now!), but may use his 'remaining moves' to adjust his line at least somewhat against your treachery.  You do NOT move your charges (even though you declared them) and take NO ACTIONS during your former ally's turn, instead taking your turn on your OPPONENT'S turn (and for the remainder of the battle).

A note about alliances, breaking them, and player feelings:

First off, it is important to note from the get-go that the Warhammer World is a grim and bloody place, and alliances are often tentative affairs.  Treachery is especially rife amongst the petty rulers of the Border Princes, where alliances are at best marriages of convenience and at worst a means to manipulate a rival into a position of vulnerability.

The point is that the alliance mechanic and the fluff of the Border Princes campaign both allow for betrayals and backstabbing by erstwhile allies, and players shouldn't get upset by this or allow these events to spill out into real life/spoil the fun of the campaign.  This should all just add to the fun of the game and the narrative.  It's probably best that you enter ANY alliance with the expectation that it will end at some point.  That way, if your alliance survives against the odds great, but you won't be shocked/disappointed/upset if (more likely when) the alliance breaks down.

Probably a good rule of thumb to use with all this is to follow the fluff of your faction in conjunction with the strategic situation to create fun/believable alliances and betrayals.  My Bretonnians, for example, certainly believe in their right to rule the Border Princes and may formally end an alliance which no longer serves this goal, but a Skaven general might gladly turn the table on his ally in the middle of battle without announcing his intentions previously.  Obviously, ALL the factions involved are aiming to be TOP DOG in the Border Princes, so if your ally has left a key territory (e.g. Malko) undefended with only YOUR BANNER to defend it and your ally is not strong enough to hold it anyway, it would almost be unsporting NOT to dog your ally out and snatch the prize!

Similarly, when making alliances, noone wants to feel like it is 'personal' and that someone is getting deliberately isolated or left out.  In general, factions aligned with Order are more likely to ally with OTHER Order factions than form an unholy alliance with factions of Destruction.  Factions aligned with Destruction have few qualms about allying with ANYONE who will serve their interests (with certain exceptions: Dark Elves hate High Elves for example) but will generally also have fewer qualms about breaking an alliance in an unpleasant way.  If it's handled in good spirit and accepted as part of the game it'll all be good.