Border Princes Campaign 10: Banners and Battles!

Today I am blogging more about the relationship between the CAMPAIGN PHASE (on the map - remember, think Medieval Total War) and the BATTLE PHASE (your standard Warhammer Fantasy Battles).  In particular, I am looking at the way you can use strategy in the CAMPAIGN PHASE to give you an edge in the BATTLE PHASE: crushing your foes with overwhelming numbers or holding them at bay with impregnable defenses.

By way of a brief reminder from an earlier post, each Campaign Phase goes like this:

1. Email Orders
2. Execute Orders
3. Fight Battles (this is where the Battle Phase takes place)
4. Retreat/Scatter Moves
5. End of Turn

• A battle occurs when two enemy banners end phase 2 in THE SAME TERRITORY.
• Remember that each territory can only support (read feed) ONE Banner at a time as per the LIVING OFF THE LAND rules.  Thus NO MORE THAN ONE Banner from any one faction OR an allied faction (friendly banners) may end a turn occupying the same territory.  In the event that this occurs, normally one Banner will be forced to HOLD (specific rules to follow - they don't come into play much).  The ONLY TIME two Banners are allowed to end in the same territory is if they are enemy Banners, in which case a battle is resolved in the Battle Phase (see above).
• VERY IMPORTANTLY note that there can also NEVER be more than TWO enemy banners in one territory.  If a situation arises in which 3 or more enemy banners move into an unoccupied territory, they must each make a DON'T PASS IN THE NIGHT ROLL, and only the two HIGHEST SCORING BANNERS may enter the territory to battle it out - the remaining banner must HOLD.  If two enemy banners both invade a territory with a THIRD enemy BANNER, then the two moving banners must make DON'T PASS IN THE NIGHT rolls for the right to battle the stationary third banner.
• While there can NEVER be more than TWO banners battling over a territory, surrounding banners can influence the outcome of the battle by providing SUPPORT.
• SUPPORT works like so: FRIENDLY banners in territories which are ADJACENT to the battle territory (which means the borders of each territory must touch, even if only a little) may add 200 pts of troops to one of the combatant banners.
• If you are supported by one of your ALLIES banners, then ideally your allied player contributes 200 pts of CORE troops from his army, which he commands during the battle.  If it is not possible for your allied player to join you for the battle then you may instead add 200 pts of your own troops to your list. 
• IMPORTANTLY, you do NOT need to use an action to support a friendly adjacent banner.  HOWEVER, a banner CANNOT support another banner if it is under attack itself (it is too busy defending itself) and a banner CANNOT support more than one adjacent banner at once.  There is, however, no limit as to how many adjacent banners may provide support to a particular combat.
• Remember also that FORTIFYING a territory gives you 200 extra pts which stack with those from support.

Once again, this all sounds more complicated then it is and is best illustrated with an example.

An Empire banner invades (moves into) a territory OCCUPIED by an Orc banner.  The Orc banner is FORTIFIED.  In Adjacent territories there are: another Empire Banner and a Chaos Banner (in battle in the same territory), a Bretonnian banner (in its own territory) and another Orc and Goblin Banner (in its own territory).  The Empire and Bretonnian player are allies, and the Orc and Chaos players are allies.

As it stands, the Empire player has a standard banner (2250 points) while the Orc and Goblin player has a standard banner (2250 points) and is FORTIFIED (+200 points).  

Before the battle is fought, the Empire and Orc players call for SUPPORT. 

The Empire banner is supported by the Bretonnian banner (the Empire player's ally) and as such receives 200 pts. of core Bretonnian troops to be commanded by the Bretonnian player in the next battle (if the Bretonnian player cannot make it to the game then the Empire player may field 200 extra pts of Empire forces, representing logistic/financial support rather than troops from the Bretonnians).  However, the Empire banner CANNOT be supported by the adjacent Empire banner as it is engaged with the Chaos banner.

Thus the Empire banner = 2250 + 200 (Bretonnian) = 2450 (of which 200 are Bretonnian core).

The Orc banner is supported by the adjacent Orc banner (+200 pts.) but CANNOT be supported by the Orcs and Goblins' Chaos Warrior allies because they are engaged with another Empire banner.

Thus the Orc banner = 2250 + 200 (FORTIFIED) + 200 (adjacent Orc Banner) = 2650.

It is important to note that the supporting banners (Orc and Goblin and Bretonnian) can only SUPPORT ONE COMBAT PER CAMPAIGN TURN, so if you have a banner which could support more than one combat it is important to choose carefully which one you wish to support!  For example, after the above-described battle, the Bretonnian banner could NOT support the OTHER Empire banner in its battle against the Chaos Warriors.