MIGHTY EMPIRES RULES.

CONTENTS; 1) Game set-up and Free Lords 2) Background 3) Realms 4) Campaign season; -Armies (Banners) and Banner Composition -Movement -Battles -Book-keeping 5) Winter season; -Winter quarters -Diplomacy -Reorganisation -Espionage -Deployment 6) Summary (The aim of the game)

Chapter 1) Game set-up. A new Player first selects which Warhammer race they will use to represent their Realm on the battlefield. This is a permanent choice although some freedom is allowed if you control at least one Town tile; (see Armies/Banners). Although this Campaign is set on the island of Dragonis in the Warhammer world and alignments will be familiar to Players it uses its own set of alignments due to the isolation from the rest of the world and these are worth clarifying here. Good forces are as follows; High Elves, Wood Elves, Lizardmen, Bretonians, Dwarfs and Empire. Evil races include; Dark Elves, All Chaos factions, All Undead, Orcs & Goblins, and Skaven. Ogres and Dogs of War Armies can choose to be either Good or Evil but cannot later swap. These alignments limit which allied troops you can select as part of your own army but do not prevent you from allying with a Player from a different alignment (see Diplomacy). The idea of the slightly different alignments is to emphasise the unique background of Dragonis, provide the Player with the experience of leading a homogenous force with new challenges involved and strengthen the narrative of a big final battle. Each new Player must select a Free Lord Character and name them (see below). The purpose of the Free Lord is to represent the Player as a leader of a nation with few if any restraints on their resources, of course its more fun to use a free death machine too. Each new player begins their campaign with one army which starts in Crowsmarsh the central city tile (home of the Crowsmarsh Mercenaries Guild Est. 751AD and various other adventurer types and ne'erdo-wells) or they may arrive from the known lands at the Port tile. Players may then choose to move one, two or no tiles. It is permissable to move over a tile unopposed with this move before local forces become annoyed with their presence. The tile that the Players Army ends it's move on will be hostile (unless some diplomatic agreement exists; see Diplomacy). This is a preliminary move to establish a Player's position on the island and once the order has been submitted and resultant games played movement follows the normal rules in the Movement section.

Of Free Lords; Your Free Lord may choose his equipment including a normal mount (horse or single wound equivalent; absolutely not a skaven mount of any kind) for free although you must follow Army composition limitations ( so no chariots or magic items to begin with e.g.). This means a Treeman Lord cannot be initially chosen as it takes up a rare choice and a Slann can take his compulsory upgrade but not further upgrades until later. Magic levels are fine but not the Vampire Lord's 4th level as it is a special upgrade.

During any winter season you may redesign your Free Lord to incorporate any extra selection bonuses you may have earned. If your Realm shrinks you are not obliged to redesign your Free Lord. A Free Lord cannot usually change his equipment during the campaign year, but if your army acquires a magic item or similiar and no other character exists to use it the item may be used by your Free Lord. If the Free Lord is used they do not count against the points allowance nor do they use a character slot (they can be used in games smaller than 2000 points e.g.) but they replace the General and must act as General. See Reorganisation for more details on Free Lords.

Chapter 2) Background. This campaign is set on the Warhammer World island of Dragonis. Settled for around a millenium by Elves Dragonis was once prosperous and civilized before ardent civil war destroyed the Elven Kingdom. Its economy shattered and its proud architecture in ruins the populace of Dragonis suffered on the brink of extinction before they began to rebuild. Surrounded by the Elven ruins new races began to build towns and villages from tumbled stone and untamed forest. Now Dragonis is a land of raiding, plundering warlords with its one servicable port acting as both a tenuous link to the outside world and a gateway for pirates, adventurers, exiles and mecenaries. After decades of decline current day Dragonis contains an unpredictable mix of folk with haughty hate-filled Elves fighting to reclaim their lost lands from hordes of usurping rebels. Geographically Dragonis is surrounded by high cliffs and mountains which catch the rain and send three swift rivers into a central depression where a large marsh drains into honeycomb caverns and eventually the sea. At the heart of this swamp lies the city which forms the hub for what passes as commerce on Dragonis (smuggling and hiring mercenaries for the most part) with the three rivers acting as highways for the movement of troops and trade. Thus Dragonis is split into three main regions, the heavily forested south haunted by savage wild Elves and dread mutants who worship the moons, the unpredictable north-west whose many farms and villages nestle amongst sorrowful Elven ruins and barely disguise the terrible, fey secrets buried there, and the north east where day turns to night in a blink on the lonely moors as unholy fog drowns the unwary thankfully hiding the supernatural crimes committed in the howling wastes. The past of Dragonis gives it a raw and wild culture akin to nature herself, although you can stumble upon a dwarf tavern as easily as an unquiet graveyard. Here more than anywhere lies the chance for mercenary scum to claim vast unimagined power and glory to match. Chapter 3) Realms. A Players Realm is the nation he carves out on the map. In simple terms it is the number of tiles he controls. At the beginning of a players campaign they will not control any tiles and therefore do not have a Realm. Players move on the map initially as routiers or nomads though it is supposed all Players will eventually settle by winning a game and claiming a tile. All tiles begin as independant and all tiles not controlled by a player are independant. Independant tiles defend themselves in the same way as a Player though they do not have Armies just defensive garrisons. The first tile a Player conquers becomes his Capital. This remains his Capital until he elects to change Capitals in a Winter season (see Winter season, reorganisation). A Player who loses his last tile continues as a nomadic force until such a time as they reconquer a Capital or Winter sets in. Tiles are automatically garrisoned to varying degrees so your Armies are free to act offensively. The composition and size of your Armies as well as how many Armies you have under your control is directly linked to the size of your realm. Realms are recorded though it will be necessary to use flags as a visual representation on the map. A City is represented on the map by the walled settlement token, there are four of these. The port is represented as a walled settlement with a lighthouse on a coastline, it is not a City it is a special tile. Towns are represented by the castle token. Three special tiles also use a customised castle token, these are not Towns. Resources use the mine token. Two special tiles use the mine token, these are not resources. Players must name their Capital. Players must name every tile they conquer. Players whose Realm consists of three or more tiles (including counting the City as two) must name their Realm. SPECIAL RULE; The mountain tiles are impassable until one is claimed by a Dwarf Player. A Dwarf Player may claim any mountain tile by moving onto it in the normal fashion (though with no opposition) and declaring a HOLD FOUNDING. The

mountain tile then counts as a city tile permanently. From this point on however all the mountain tiles become accessible as the increased traffic in the underground passages reveals the ancient portals and are treated as independant cities (even to Dwarf Realms).

Chapter 4) Campaign Season. It is the year 1001AD (After Discovery). A year will be recorded as it passes and consists of three turns of movement on the map (spring, summer, autumn) and one winter season where any record keeping takes place. Spring, summer and autumn are known collectively as the Campaign season. The mediator will decide how long in real time each season will last (envisioned to be on average 3-4 weeks). A season is the time allowed to organise battles, fight battles and write movement orders for the following season.

Of Armies/Banners; In Mighty Empires one's Armies are traditionally known as Banners. Throughout the remainder of the rules i will refer to Armies as Banners. Your Banner has a percent value which will be recorded but is easy to calculate. When a game is organised Players are free to choose any size game that suits them. Once it is decided how many points will be used Players then are allowed to use a percentage of those points depending on the percent value of the Banners in question. The rules for Army selection are those associated with the original size of the game agreed, not the recalculated points of the percent value. In addition no characters may be selected except one to act as General (The general may be a magic user). If the Free Lord is used they do not count against the points allowance nor do they use a character slot (they can be used in games smaller than 2000 points e.g.) but they replace the General and must act as General. Nothing classed as a war machine may be used. No rare troops choices may be made. No special/named characters are allowed. No monsters or monstrous mounts are allowed. No magic items, magic unit upgrades or ability upgrades are available, although command groups and equipment are ok. As an example, if Player A and Player B choose a 3000 point game all the 3000 point allowances apply regarding accessible troop types but Player A is new and has no modifiers while Player B has recently been on the receiving end of two sound thrashings and suffers a -10% penalty, using 2700 points. A small disadvantage but not insurmountable. A Player who is doing well and winning lots of battles will have slightly more points and more freedom to choose their troops than a Player who is new or who has been recently defeated. On average the difference will not be too great and possible to overcome although mathematically it is possible for a huge gap to appear under certain circumstances. In order to mitigate this Players will be encouraged to use Diplomacy. In these instances it is hoped two smaller Players will find common cause against a great foe. A Banner occupies the single tile it is in and has a zone of influence that extends to any adjacent tile (see Movement). It can elect to move up to one tile per season(see Movement) In this way it will come into conflict and Players will organise games to decide the outcome. A Player has one Banner as standard plus another for every three tiles he controlled in the preceding Winter season. A player with multiple Banners must choose one to be his Guards Banner. This Banner contains his Free Lord and only this Banner can, any other banners may select up to one character which may be a magic user to be the army general regardless of available selection bonuses. This character is paid for in the usual way. A Player may not have more than one friendly or allied Banner on the same tile. Hostile or unallied Banners sharing the same tile after movement must fight a battle. Banners that are not fighting in a battle directly, ie. sharing a tile, can join in any battle occuring in an adjacent tile. This means you can have two banners supporting one another be they of the same Realm or allies. Equally viable is a temporary alliance where two unallied Banners are close enough to offer support to the other should the whim take them. It is worth noting that in this way support would be available to both participants in the battle from a third party who should choose one or neither Banner to support. You have one Banner as standard and another for every three tiles owned though this is calculated in the Winter season not immediately. A supply route is necessary to keep a Banner fighting, if you find yourself cut off from an adjacent friendly tile you fight with a -10% penalty. To count as friendly an adjacent tile must be entirely free of enemy Banners. A Banner is the offensive part of a Players armed forces, every tile will defend itself to varying degrees however. This is known as a defensive garrison.

Defensive garrisons and independant garrisons may always select a general (which may be a magic user). Defensive garrisons are automatically destroyed if defeated.

Banner Composition For every three tiles in Realm: +5% Lost last battle: -5% Lost last two or more consecutive battles: -10% Defending Capital: +50% (cumulative with settlement type modifier) Defending City: +50% Defending town: +25% Defending Resource: +10% No supply route traceable to friendly tile: -10% Disease!: -10% For every one Town owned the Banner or defending garrison may use one selection bonus from the following list (subject to other selection restrictions); 1) may include non-magic using characters as normal. 2) may include magic using characters as normal. 3) may include special characters as normal. 4) may field rare choices as normal. 5) access to allies (up to 50% of the agreed points) from an aligned army list or up to one choice from an unaligned list. This can be selected multiple times. Allies do not cause panic in units from the main army but do suffer panic caused by other allied units and units in the main army. The exception to this would be a main army unit that has a rule preventing it from causing panic to other units in the main army, these units do not cause panic in allies either. The allied units may use the Leadership of a Free Lord but not an ordinary general and they may only be joined by their own characters, not those of the main army. Any unusual situations not covered here will be dealt with in accordance with the generals compendium allies rules. For every Resource owned the Banner or defending garrison may use one selection bonus from the following list (subject to other selection restrictions); 1) may use common magic items. 2) may use army list magic items 3) may use war machines. 4) may use any denied upgrades to characters or units. (Remember equipment and command groups are ok anyway) 5) may use monsters and monstrous mounts. There are six special tiles.You may take these free units in any friendly Banner or defending garrison regardless of selection restrictions. Characters can choose magic items if appropriate selection bonus is available, these are then free also. Their bonuses are as follows; 1) castle with skull tower = one FREE monster/monstrous mount. 2) castle with domed tower = one FREE war machine. 3) Port tile = one FREE special character. 4) mine with tower = one FREE magic user. 5) mine with claw tower = one FREE magic item. 6) ruined castle = one FREE rare choice. Where there is no Limit to the number of models in a rare choice the maximum unit strength is 15.

Control of the centre tile allows any Banner or defending garrison in the Realm to include a 10% bonus which may only be spent on mercenaries (Dogs of War/Ogres) and is not subject to selection restrictions. Control of any City allows you to count it as a Resource or a Town for each game, but not both at once. In addition it counts as two tiles when calculating how many tiles you own.

Of Movement; A Banner may move one tile per season. A player is to write down a clear movement order for each season and communicate this to the mediator via Email (if you trust him) or sealed in an envelope with possibly a wax seal, (if you dont). Movement is therefore to be considered simultaneous. Banners cannot pass like ships in the night so if this situation arises a dice off takes place to decide which tile the resultant battle takes place in. North is marked on the Map by a red tab, this gives every tile a north facing, a south facing, north-east and south-east facings to the right and north-west and south-west facings to the left. Please be careful when issuing orders as you are obliged to live with the consequences of a mistake. All tiles are occupied at all times as they begin as independant and remain so until absorbed into a Players realm. This means that unless you have an established Realm to patrol or express permission to have military access every order you give will result in a battle. After a battle the victor takes possession of that tile. Every battle takes place in a single tile and that is the tile taken possession of. Supporting Banners cannot claim the tile. The defeated Banner retreats one tile which must be friendly. If this is not possible The Banner retreats to its Capital. If this is not possible the Banner is destroyed. A Banner is considered to have a zone of influence one tile from its position in all directions. It can be called upon to join any battle taking place in this zone at full strength if it has no battle of its own to fight that season.

Of Battles; Battles can be any agreed size. The percent system allows players to track their success without becoming a constraint. Two Players whose Banners share a tile after movement fight a battle normally. Independant tiles defend themselves counting only the appropriate bonus for defending whatever size settlement is represented with the cumulative bonus for defending their capital, not the full points agreed upon for the game, so will often be smaller than a Players Banner. They count as owning one tile so a selection bonus is allowed. When two Players clash on an independant tile or an unallied third party tile a temporary alliance must be formed. The two invaders may ally in which case they need to first agree who keeps the tile if they win. Ownership of the tile must be discussed before the battle takes place or the original owner retains control. One invading Player may opt to support the tile instead and will fight alongside their forces but cannot claim the tile, in this case the first Player to offer support becomes the tile's ally and may not claim the tile if they win. If neither Player wishes to ally and both want to press the attack fight the game as normal then consult the victory conditions table in the main rules, if a draw (note that you cannot have an actual draw so one Banner will still win and one will still lose suffering the appropriate negative modifier in the next battle) or marginal victory is scored then the independant tile scorns the winner and both Banners are forced to retreat. A solid victory or better means the independant tile is sufficiently impressed enough to join the victor's realm. In the event of a Player using his Banner's zone of influence to join a battle, that Banner may not claim the tile as the result of victory, it goes to the Banner physically on the tile. Before every battle each Player rolls to see if Disease! has affected his Banner. Roll a D6 and the score of a one means that Player suffers a -10% penalty for the game. (Best to do this as you organise the game rather than on the night). It is important to note that new Players with no realm are immune from Disease! and need no supply route to a friendly tile. Ousted Players who have lost their last tile become nomadic once more and do not need to worry about supply routes though must still roll for Disease! SPECIAL RULE; it may be difficult to squeeze every last battle into a realistic time frame without the campaign becoming a chore, to avoid this a game can be settled using the TRIAL OF CHAMPIONS special rule. Any battle can be decided if both players and a mediator concur by two champions slugging it out. A character is selected up to an agreed points total adjusted for the percent

value of the banner but with no other restrictions. Players are free to use whatever scenarios they prefer, though as default the victory points system in the main rules is used with one exception, draws are unhelpful and will serve only to slow things down dramatically so any superior victory point total no matter how slender will count as a win.In the event of two scores being perfectly even have a trial of champions to determine the winner. Special games with agreed victory conditions that strengthen the narrative are encouraged so feel free to use your imagination. SPECIAL RULE; a Player may find he is prevented from playing a game within the season time limit because of factors outside his control. Once per campaign year a game can be declared to be a SIEGE. A siege allows the game to be put on hold indefinitely until Player movement disrupts the siege. A Banner entering the tile cancels the siege and sends the sieging Banner on a retreat to a friendly tile. If the sieging Banner leaves the tile voluntarily the siege is lifted and the move takes place as normal. The Banner may be issued with orders and behaves as normal in the season following that in which the siege was resolved. If a Banner that is under siege wishes to move away it may do so without penalty.

Of Book-Keeping; After every battle the victor must supply the mediator with a postcard sized battle report which should be as biased as possible. It is key to the aims of the campaign that a strong narrative is developed so this rule is to be considered the GOLDEN MOST IMPORTANT RULE! Strong sanctions against offending/forgetful Players will be gleefully considered.

Chapter 5) Winter Season.

Of Winter quarters; After battles resulting from Autumn moves have been decided Winter sets in. All Banners are returned to their capital. Banners with no Capital are returned to a friendly tile the Player intends to nominate as a new Capital. If this is not possible that Player is destroyed (perhaps literally) and must return as a new Player. Players wishing to retire voluntarily are asked to do so at this point, though they may do so at any time.

Of Diplomacy; Players are free to make or break alliances anytime throughout the Campaign season offering wild promises in return for dubious aid but in Winter it is possible for two or more players to sign a formal treaty. Written contracts governing signatory Player behaviour may be submitted to the mediator which after mediator review become enforcable as rules. In this way protectorates and satellite realms can be coerced into supporting a more powerful Player as well as genuinely fair contracts written to allow peace of mind or to prevent a Player from achieving domination with the threat of an alliance enforcable in the event of invasion. Tiles may be swapped freely at this stage and not during campaign season. Other suggestions for treaties include non-aggression pacts lasting for a set period of time and promises to attack other Players. To make things simple a Player can use the standard definitions that follow: An alliance requires that participants make no hostile moves towards each other and that if an allied Banner is free to join a battle on the side of an ally it must do so. A non-aggression pact requires that participants make no hostile moves towards each other.

Of Reorganisation;

At this point a Players Free Lord may be respawned if destroyed. You may update them by giving them upgrades based on your current Realms status which will of course be free. As Winter is a Season in its own right you may choose any selection bonuses your Realm allows to redesign your Free Lord who then stays fixed, until you deign to redesign them, and then choose different selection bonuses in subsequent Seasons without changing your Free Lord. SPECIAL RULE; Any Player whose Free Lord amounts to less than 200 points and is either on foot or mounted on a single wound creature may select a FREE BODYGUARD. The Free Lord will be joined on the battlefield by up to unit strength 15 of free special troops on foot (if the Free Lord is on foot) or unit strength 10 of mounted special troops (if the Free Lord is mounted). This rule may only be used in your second campaign year. You may change your Capital. You must recalculate how many Banners you can field, gaining or losing some. You have one Banner plus one more for every three tiles owned (remember Cities count as two). You are not required to lose banners during campaign season if you lose tiles, nor can you gain them during campaign season by conquering new tiles, it happens only in Winter.

Of Espionage; A Player controlling one or more towns or cities may elect to use one agent in Winter. A Player controlling at least one of each (a town and a city) may use up to two agents. Agents and their uses are as follows. 1) The Spy; You may examine your opponents army list before the battle. You may veto one magic item or rewrite your own to adapt (10 minutes allowed for this) in the next battle you fight against this opponent. Alternatively a spy may be selected and held back to cancel the effect of one enemy agent. 2) The Courtesan; This lovely lady (lizard? ratess?) is practised in the arts of infiltration and seduction, charming her way into the arms of enemy nobles and leaving them too fagged to fight the following day. You may veto one character in the next battle you fight against this opponent. 3) The Assassin; He wanders discreetly into the field kitchen, laxative in hand, plop! In the next battle you fight against this opponent they will only avoid Disease! on a 6 4) The Saboteur; Look at the pretty flames! The next battle you fight against this opponent they will count as having one tile less than they own thus losing a selection bonus, your choice which tile (note if you select the tile the Banner occupies they lose only the selection bonus not the defensive garrison). Simply select an agent and a target Player, inform the mediator of your underhanded ploy and rub your hands together.

Of Deployment; In order to commence a new year all Realms can place their Banners in any friendly tile. Spring orders are then submitted as normal. Orders for a new Spring must therefore include a start point and a move order. If more than one Banner is available don't forget to nominate a Guards Banner to contain your Free Lord.

Chapter 6) Summary. Having read through the rules you may note the complete abandonment of the current official Mighty Empires rules, this is because they are an unsatisfactory and watered down version of the original rules. Instead i have adapted the original rules making them less restrictive and time consuming while retaining

the spirit and flavour of those admirable if naive rules. An attempt is therefore to be made to establish a structured campaign system which can link games and add strong narrative, depth and meaning to the games. It is to be hoped that by limiting the availability of units in the early stages that a fresh set of tactical challenges will give a new look to an established game system. Later on you will have access to your full miniature collection. Competition is a fundamental part of wargaming but even this is directed toward establishing a narrative with the recording of battle outcomes and the developing map. While the original intention was to use the campaign format to start up a WAB campaign this idea has met with muted response and borderline resistance. I am happy to hear the opinions of the players but i believe no new participants would be included in a WAB campaign. A note on the role of mediator, i intend to remain closely involved in the management of things though i am keen to take part as a Player also. To this end any neutral person whether involved in the campaign or not can mediate where i am concerned as a Player. Where it is convenient for a Player any acceptable neutral third party can mediate. Ultimately i will be responsible for maintaining campaign records so will become involved eventually but i do not intend to gain any unbalanced advantages. If you still have any queries on this issue, Blitzkrieg Commander is very popular. It is worth noting that i am aware these rules do not close every loophole and some army lists will produce bizarre possibilities. It is not the intention of this campaign to favour one army or hamstring another so i am willing to discuss any special needs your poor defenceless army has. A final note, it is uncertain at this stage exactly what the conditions for final victory will be as it will be fed by events as they unfold, although it will probably warrant a massive battle.