Age of Sigmar Open Play is the best format for pick-up games

As the title says, and you should try it.
I made a set of cards from the AoS 3.0 Open Play battleplan generator, and that's how I want to play from now on.

Remember the good old Open War cards, back in AoS 1.0?

 

Best thing ever. Even if they created sometimes uncomfortable territories to deploy in, and most of the Objective conditions were mirror matches to both players... it actually worked really well!
The only things that some may have felt weren't working as well at the time were mostly due to the game itself not having matured: this was before the age of the General's Handbook.
People hadn't started yet to adopt matched play battleplans as the standard, or even points!

These cards made sure every game was different, yet each of the objectives made narrative sense and was compelling.
They had objective scoring, kill points, kill the messenger, etc. It included Ruse cards as a balancing mechanic to help a player with a smaller army, or additional Sudden Death Victory conditions to give a change to those with a REALLY smaller army than their opponent.
It also included Twists, which helped add more diversity to games and flavor the fantastic happenings of the realms.

Actually... the Open War generator has actually kept appearing in the General's Handbook several times. Here's one from 2018:

And they added a bunch more modular narrative rules in these GHBs, which fit perfectly into these generators.
But random generator tables aren't as cool and useful as cards.

The current edition of Age of Sigmar, 3.0, ALSO has an Open Play battleplan generator, exactly the same way.
And now, Open Play even asks players to use points. Everything uses points now.

Even White Dwarf supplements that introduce new rules to armies are carrying their own faction-specific Twists and Ruses!

The Open Play battleplan generator is the best format for pick-up games.
It always uses points, players can even use the matched play restrictions and Realm rules if they wish, but then just roll up (or use cards) to make up the battleplan.
And presto!

There is even one Victory condition that involves a mysterious Objective (the Arcane Prize) in the center, that has to picked up by a unit but you never know what it is going to be! It could be trapped, it could be a warding icon, it could give off an arcane aura bonus!

I have made a set of cards with all the AoS 3.0 Open Play battleplan tables, and it's become very useful at our local gaming shop!!

AoS 3.0 Open Play Battleplan Cards (click here to download).

 

Something I have in the works, developing slowly over the past years, is a set of cards with MANY narrative battleplans and twists and ruses. So using them in games becomes so much easier.

 

Stay tuned!

Have fun simplifying your games!

Warfront - An Age of Sigmar Map League/Campaign

Hello folks!
I have finally come up with a map campaign ruleset! It's been so long in development, but now it has finally coalesced into being!

I decided to share this piece of rules kit that I developed for our local games store, to solve the problem of getting all players together on the same day for a Map Campaign.
We've all been there, and it's complicated.  Hence, I finally came up with Warfront.

Download - WARFRONT Rules Age of Sigmar (click here)

Download - WARFRONT Flamescar Plateau Map (click here)

This is a Map League/Campaign for a gaming group/store, where every game played, even random one-off games, can count towards the overall advance of each Grand Alliance as they conquer territory along the map. Even better: each new game can benefit from the bonuses accumulated by previous games from players belonging to the same Grand Alliance: either previously established garrisons on the map or Spoils collected from previous victories.
All very easy and straightforward: 1-2 pages of rules.

This map is for a 'Firestorm' Warfront campaign, with a few embellishments of mine.

Note: Destruction Grand Alliance HQ a tribute to Warboss Kurgan! :D Orc pirates abound.

All you need is some corkboard, some coloured pins, and presto!
Winning battles grants the winner control of the map region and Spoils markers, or if they win a Skirmish battle they can choose to earn Intel markers or destroy the enemies' fortifications.
Players keep track of which territories their Grand Alliance controls, and how many Spoils and Intel markers they have accumulated using the coloured pins. Fortified and Garrisoned map regions, as they are developed by winning players, are further marked with extra white/transparent pins (these are places with defensive earthworks or full-fledged forts, respectively).

Warfront had been developing in my mind for quite a while, from what I started a couple years ago with the 8th Edition "Theaters of War" scenario generator. I've been trying to make a modular scenario generator that would fit seamlessly into a map campaign. And a type of map campaign that could be run in a store that anyone could contribute to, without any input or coordination from any manager or Games Master.
But development slowed down as I became more focused on Mordheim, and had to face the fact that there were indeed a lot of rules required, which I kept tweaking slowly over months... and as Warhammer Fantasy slowly lost steam.
But it was really with the release of the Firestorm boxed game for Age of Sigmar that this all really crystallized in my mind, and I found out how to implement it.

Warfront is also very customizable: the ruleset is meant to be so simple it should work for every map you can come up with for your own gaming group, or even work in multiple systems.
I have also developed a version for Warhammer Fantasy 8th Edition, and cooked up a Map set in the Dark Lands, Mountains of Mourn and the Sea of Dread.

Download - WARFRONT Rules Warhammer Fantasy (click here)

Download - WARFRONT Dark Lands Map (click here)

It is truly more a logistic framework to organize players than necessarily a rules supplement. The easiest and laziest way to insert narrative into your games. :)

Combining it with Army Progression
Within the larger pool of players participating on-and-off in the League, a smaller group of players can always come together to play an army progression campaign "story" together, growing their armies as they go. All the while participating in the larger war for the territory.

In Age of Sigmar this is best done via Path to Glory or the Skirmish campaign systems, which both allow for growth of armies and gaining veteran abilities as they grow in experience.
Because the WarFront rules contain an in-built balancing system when forces are of different sizes (Sudden Death and Ruses/Stratagems), even when some players have played more games it would not severely unbalance the game if they have a larger force.


Try it out! Put one up in your store or gaming club today!
Playing in a "campaign" was never so easy.

Play hard and prosper!

Narrative rules in Age of Sigmar: a review

This is a post a long time coming, and I've been doing my research the past months making sure I got the full scope. And tried my hands at a few games.
This is for newcomers to Age of Sigmar, current players, naysayers and even those who aren't interest in this edition of the game. There are ideas here that are very valuable and relevant, and many games could benefit from it.

•  For those still waiting for "The Enemy Within" Mordheim scenarios, I'm still editing them! Evidence:

 Now back to our topic of today.

Age of Sigmar has currently LOTS of easy-to-fit, modular rules that are filling up all the narrative needs you can have. They have slowly been building up since last year.
I'm surprised at how I myself am so satisfied.

For the uninitiated in Age of Sigmar (AoS), one of the biggest perceived flaws of the system was a lack of larger game structure and unit customization, especially in terms of magic items and certain upgrades, with the biggest offenders being Hero models (which had become painfully generic). This led to a huge fear that AoS would not cater to narrative-led games but more to casual light play.

Then things started to change, massively, especially with The General's Handbooks. But I will go by parts.

BATTLEPLANS (aka scenarios)

The earliest change you could see, even in the first releases, were Battleplans, or scenarios. In AoS, many of them were released in the first campaign books, and these were very diverse in their objective, and already set out the blueprint for narrative missions.
From the onset, they were as rich or richer than scenarios you would find in the old 6th ed Generals Compendium or the narrative scenarios in the final section of the 8th ed Core Rulebook. With the first Generals Handbook (2016), most universal narrative scenarios were covered: flanking attacks, defensive blockades, King of the Hill, last stands, etc. They even have a strategy matrix scenario, where both players' pre-game strategy decisions affect the game setup.
Being released as part of the game's core functionality, instead of "those other scenarios that look funky", went a long way to normalize their use.

TIME OF WAR

These are modular special rules, that represent different environments, or battle set ups: imagine battles supported by divine magic, or access to new spells drawn from the local place. For example, all wizards when in the Realm of Fire gain access to the Fireball spell.
The rules are short, contained, and easy to paste onto any battleplan. And are perfect to layer onto any game to represent fighting in different terrains (or planes of existence, as we now have in AoS).

But (and this is the best part), in a very sneaky way, they have introduced RPG-like item upgrades into Age of Sigmar, to develop your army! :O If a player wins a Major Victory in a battle, they get to collect a Triumph from that region's Time of War rules. These take the form of small magical items or magical blessings, such as the return of the Ruby Ring of Ruin or the Acorn of Ages, or a Wizard gaining a Tome of Fire which grants them the use of the Fireball spell outside the Realm of Fire.
As per the rules Triumphs only apply to the next battle, but within any gaming group you can house-rule it that Triumphs (or some of them) are permanent.

ALLEGIANCE ABILITIES

This was one of the biggest splashes coming out of the Generals' Handbooks, and what really started to introduce customization back into the game.

- Flavorful Abilities
They give specific battle traits rules  to armies from specific grand alliances (Order, Chaos, Death and Destruction) that really evoke the narrative spirit of their models. They give command traits to your general, from which there are a few choices, and help to define their powers and personality. Finally, you can give Heroes magic items (though in a much more limited manner than previous editions) which bring back many favorites.

 While having less options and less customizability than previous editions, the fact that points are not involved, and you just pick an option from each list, it makes army-building less time consuming and avoids number-crunching.

 With the Generals Handbook 2017 most allegiances (like Followers of Tzeench, Ghostly Undead, or Duardin Fyreslayers) also got their own set of abilities and further expands the flavour of that sub-faction (like Wood Aelf Wanderers being adept at mist-walking and shooting on the run).

-Magic Lores
Finally, and this has only been explored in a couple sub-factions, we are starting to see specific Magic Lores being re-introduced. Sylvaneth, Bonesplittaz and Followers of Tzeench wizards can each get one single spell from the Lore list, on top of those they know, as long as their army is aligned to that specific allegiance. They still cannot cast more spells per round than before, so balance is preserved.

And just like that, a lot of flavour gets reintroduced back into the game almost seamlessly.

OPEN WAR CARDS

This one is probably one of the best ideas ever in Warhammer, and previous editions would have benefited massively from this gaming aid.
It is a scenario and special rules generator in the form of a set of cards, with a pile for Deployment Zones, Objectives and Scenario Special Rules. It also has a pile for Ruses (special tricks players can play on each other during battle) and Sudden Death (special victory conditions for armies that are significantly smaller.
And just like that, you can generate an interesting random scenario, with diverse objectives from capturing objectives to killing a messenger.

Further, you can combine specific cards from each pile beforehand to build custom scenarios at your pleasure. And also, Ruse cards make a great bonus resource for use in narrative campaigns.

CAMPAIGNS

We had been waiting for these for quite some time. Boy, they really spent time streamlining these. They are very easy to implement, but they really REALLY shine when you connect them to the other narrative rules options, more than any other Warhammer edition before.

-Army progression campaigns
The first form these take, and the most straightforward, is a Time of War rule called Regiments of Renown (you might remember this name ;) ) that allows each unit to gain a 'veteran' ability after each game. This is great for league and ladder campaigns in a gaming group, especially when players still have small armies.
The next big breakthrough was Path to Glory, which was so popular that it got released and expanded in its own book. In this format, you pick from one of many allegiances within each Grand Alliance (like Khorne Bloodwarriors or Sylvaneth) and choose a champion and a few units of followers. After each battle and accruing glory points, the army is upgraded with either more followers or champion/unit 'veteran' abilities which all build on the army's flavour (like undead units recovering more models, or Aelf champions improving their command abilities). The follower tables balance the strength of the added models by how many you get to add in each upgrade.

This is the next easiest step to implement in a gaming group, and pick either a glory points threshold to win or come up with a special battle royale final scenario or somesuch.
Of course, players can use either of these progression rules (or both!) bolted on to a larger map-based campaigns.

-Map-based
The Generals Handbooks introduced a few simple setups for map campaigns, which are pretty easy to mock up in gaming groups.
But things really took off with the release of Firestorm. This is a boxed game, and just feels like a boardgame: a map, cards for resources and point tracking, and reusable sticker/tokens to track army position and garrisons built.

It is designed to be very freeform, where players can challenge for control of any map section anywhere, but as they build garrisons they are granted more troops when fighting nearby. And rivers restrict this, so geography still plays a role. Also, the scale of the armies fielded is also freeform, and players can agree on any value (of matched play points or even skirmish-level renown points) to fight their battles, and even vary it from battle to battle.
As players fight battles, they gain Glory and Build points. The first count towards final victory, while the latter are used to build garrisons and upgrade their deck which determines how powerful their overall force in the campaign is. It is from this deck that the amount of points they can field is decided.

 Each map region has its own Time of War rules to ensure different areas remain interesting and distinct to fight in.
The story in Firestorm is actually one of its coolest selling points, which strangely is not being used in promotional material. The reason armies are fighting there is to gain control of the Prismatikon, an ancient arcane array (from a fallen civilization, of course) that harnesses the energy of a captive elemental fire-entity into a beam weapon. Together with the arcane computer of the Infinity Gears, this magical weapon of mass destruction can be fired through portals across the Realms to level entire cities. Hot dang!

NARRATIVE GAMING EVENTS

Finally, we get to what is probably the biggest change in Warhammer narrative gaming. People are organizing lots of Narrative Events throughout the world. They are like tournaments, but unlike player's competing with each other as gamers, players compete as allegiances and drive forward a narrative played out in flavorful scenarios. Lots of campaign and scenario special rules are being created by avid gamers and organizers out there.

You can find the latest news in the Narrative Event Organizers Network.

If only they had done this back in 8th edition Warhammer. Now, not only are they popping up everywhere but even Games Workshop is supporting and popularizing these events. Wow. :)


THE NARRATIVE SETTING ITSELF
Coming to the end of the article, I'll just describe what people who aren't familiar can expect of the Age of Sigmar world, and to understand how life in the Mortal Realms really is for the average mortal there. The setting of Age of Sigmar has often been touted as shallow and designed in a rush, but in truth I believe Games Workshop should really talk about it more, so that people understand its stories and how people see their world.

The Old World of Warhammer was destroyed. This was many millenia ago in the Age of Sigmar. People talk about it in a mythological way, and how the gods (Sigmar, Nagash, Allariele) and other powerful supernatural entities (Arkhan the Black, The Glottkin) trace their past to that place. But the origin of many of these larger-than-life characters is now shrouded in myth (only we know the truth!).
These gods helped populate the Mortal Realms: eight planes of existence each of which is dominated by a prevailing magical force (Aqshy the Realm of Fire, Chamon the Realm of Metal) which corresponds to one of the Old World's winds of magic. This was apparently how the remnants of the Old World stabilized: they are now fantastical and highly supernatural. Realmgates, mystical natural portals between the realms (or within the same realm) that can take many shapes, connect them and allow travel and trade. Warhammer is now Cosmic Fantasy, much like Planescape.
 
Each god took stewardship of a different realm, and helped the mortal survivors who managed to start eking out an existence in these Realms, using the realms' resources and slowly incorporating them into their culture. And multiple cultures and races (aelfs, duardin, humans) started cooperating and practicing multiple religions in the same place (including Nagashian worship!). Many cultures across the Realms evolved, and empires already rose and fell. But what really drove all the civilizations into the ground was the massive invasions of the Age of Chaos. Not the usual raids, but a concerted invasion that broke the gods' power.

Now most mortals are either enslaved, converted to Chaos or are valiantly resisting in guerilla fights and hiding out in resilient locations. This has now been several centuries of Chaos domination.
This is where the Age of Sigmar starts, with Sigmar's warriors, the Stormcast Eternals, returning to bring freedom to the Realms. They even find settlements of survivors who have never stopped believing in Sigmar after all these centuries and prayed to him for salvation.
And the Stormcast themselves are former mortal heroes who have been reincarnated as Azyr-empowered superhumans, and can be reincarnated again and again... but at a cost to their souls and memories. I want to see how long will it take for some Stormcast to start rebelling against Sigmar's decision in enlisting them and forcing them to fight forever.

At this point in the story several regions have been liberated and small cities have sprung up from the survivors and migrants from Sigmar's realm... This also works well as a "points of light" system for RPGs, making it easy for "heroes" to adventure out of the safety of the city to the wilderness and fight monsters.

 While the tone of the Age of Sigmar is heroic and its Stormcast always shown in a valiant light, reading between the lines you can see how dark seeds of doubt are being sprinkled, that can be used in future stories... The people of the cities who migrated from Azyr behave as if they are better than their "uncivilized" neighbours from the liberated realms. People are wary of the Stormcast, these superhuman war-obssessed angels who arrive in thunderbolts from the sky, and who might quickly go paranoid if they suspect Chaos corruption. In the larger plan of Sigmar, risks cannot be taken.

So things are looking up on the narrative side, much to my surprise. It's just that Games Workshop could be promoting it more, other than the books. They are starting to, here.
All the details that 'sell' the narrative are under the surface.

And that's it. For now.
I am very surprised that, after such an absence of investment in narrative gaming from GW for several years, they have come back so strong and effective.
And I have learned a lot in terms of game rules structure, and deliver simple, modular but effective rules.

Roll high and prosper!

The Enemy Within - a narrative Mordheim campaign

This is the first draft material for "The Enemy Within" campaign for Mordheim Empire in Flames.
This post includes an overview and details about the campaign, and rules for the Campaign Turn and Mission Generation, Exploration tables and Encampment rules, as well as a few new Scenarios and a description of what Objectives will be available.

Here it is finally, some *actually new* material for Mordheim.

This campaign has been my effort to expand 'The Empire in Flames' setting for Mordheim into a fully-fledged narrative campaign, following in the footsteps of Border Town Burning and Mutiny and Marienburg (currently still in production).
Our previous campaign in the Empire, "Empire Burning", allowed me to fully test this campaign system, and the diversity in scenarios together with the interaction with Objectives worked really well (pending a few optimizations).

I chose to focus on the famous Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay campaign 'The Enemy Within', acclaimed for its roleplay challenges of intrigue, investigation and political turmoil. This has led to me going into a more in-depth exploration of the old modules for 1st Edition Warhammer Roleplay, as well as 2nd edition modules, and gathering information from a few Black Library novels. And oh boy, the fun you can bring to Mordheim...
The amount of research I had to do surprised me, as the more I delved into the background and stories in those modules and books, the more I wanted to convey that feeling of cloak-and-dagger adventure, out-of nowhere backstabbing betrayals and political power play, and the more I had to research.

So without further ado, this is what you can expect from the campaign :

Overview:

"The Enemy Within" is a Mordheim campaign set in the Empire of Sigmar, expanded from the rules and scenarios set out in the "Empire in Flames" campaign setting.
The campaign takes direct inspiration from the much-acclaimed Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay 6-book campaign "The Enemy Within", which set a standard for intrigue and diplomacy in many other fantasy roleplay games for the following decades.
It will involve travels through the wilderness while avoiding bands of mutants and beastmen, boat travels down the Reik, raiding on merchant escorts, exploration of forgotten dwarf mines, and attacks on outlying farms and ferries. In addition, it features investigations on cultist's hideouts, arrest of outlaws conspiring with heretic warbands, busting criminals out of jail, the search for a warpstone meteorite, warbands which are trying to use wyrdstone dust to create super-soldier mutants, and infiltrations on sigmarite vaults to steal Nagash's crown of Sorcery. And of course, cultists! Cultists everywhere!
New objectives include the manipulation of Factions against each other for attain political control of a province, gathering arcane books and artefacts for a ritual to damn the whole region (either by opening a portal to the Warp or raising countless legions of the dead), acquiring a warpstone meteorite to infect all the springwaters of the province with Chaos taint, or leveraging local military power to attain glory and fame.

The campaign follows the same structure featured in Border Town Burning and Mutiny in Marienburg, but includes a much wider variety of scenarios (players will never get bored!). In addition, many existing scenarios have been revised to make the rules more consistent and adapted to the campaign.

Lots of Narrative scenarios

NEW! (Download the campaign scenario list - draft)
NEW! (Download some of the new Scenarios - draft)
The campaign includes a large list of narrative scenarios, focused in the plains, forests and villages/towns of the Empire. Great emphasis is put on random NPCs and monsters which can appear during a battle, as they can be influenced by the warbands but also the current state of political Enmity between the provinces. An Empire plunged into high levels of sectarian violence has less Watch Patrols around and more refugees in transit (so criminals and raiders can move more easily and kidnap more people).
Each scenario has been adapted so that each player's role fits a specific warband's alignment and goals. This ensures that each warband engages the scenario with a narrative-based objective: The Wardens will always play the role of protecting civilians, The Raiders will always be on the wrong side of the law and attacking settlements, etc.Furthermore, scenarios in this campaign have Experience goals that are focused on the objective that each warband is trying to accomplish. This means that not all scenarios will grant Experience for taking enemy models Out of Action, especially those that rely on capturing objects or moving stealthily across the table. This reinforces and rewards players to engage in the goal of the scenario and aim for tactics of minimal risk and maximum efficiency, as pragmatic real-life military units would.

Objectives

The Campaign features 8 new objectives, with the additional return of a community favorite. Several of these involve interaction with Locations, specific scenario objectives and Organizations to be accomplished, making decisions in the post-game phase almost as important as winning battles.

- The Wardens

Vigilant militias, watch detachments and "adventurers" (ie. thugs) hired by the local law enforcement, these bands roam the countryside apprehending bandits, rooting out conspiracies and protecting the common folk. Oftentimes, their subtle investigations may be the sole line of defense uncovering criminal and military plots against the rightful officials of the land.

- The Zealots

Religion is always a powerful force in the Empire, and in times such as these it is the rallying flag which men of courage and determination (and some with no small amount of insanity) march under to cleanse the evils of mutation and heresy from the community. Often they are grassroots movements, from one of the many religious cults of the Empire, which gather popular support around a prophet or saintly figure. And, if they survive the perils they throw themselves into, eventually official sanction from their church to persecute heretics, mutants and deviants wherever they may find them.

- The Sellswords

Officially sanctioned militias or small private platoons, warbands often associate themselves with those in power, who can propel them to further victories and thus increase their reputation. Whether through crushing the enemies of civilization and vanquishing their lairs, or eliminating their patron's foes on a neighbouring province (or even switching patrons for a more profitable one!), Sellswords are in it for themselves, the outfit's glory and the highest bidder.

- The Seekers

A recurrence of "The Lure of Fortune" Objective from Border Town Burning, these are traders of specialty goods, treasure seekers or collectors of rare objects. Seekers roam the Empire plying their trade, exploring forgotten routes and getting local market contacts, in search of those ever so rare commodities to then sell in lands outside the Empire, playing political factions against each other for leverage in their dealings.

- The Body Traders

A variant of The Seekers Objective, these are smugglers of captives and the dispossessed, profiting in slaves from within the underworld of the Empire, and feeding the machine of war that festers at the fringes of the Empire.

- The Power Behind the Throne

The corridors of power are riddled with powermongers, manipulators and of course, cultists. What they all have in common is their tactics: some of their members are well connected and can pull strings to put other groups at odds with each other, while the rest of their armed thugs instigate provincial border wars they can exploit, and coordinate other dissident groups to cause further unrest. All for the grand power grab to seize control of the Province.

- The Cabal

There is no shortage of illegal magic-users, chaos-worshipping cultists and aspiring necromancers hiding away from the eyes of the law, stealthily courting the underground markets for scraps or forbidden lore, or digging up old graveyard and ruins in search of tainted heirlooms. Are they preparing for some foul necromantic ritual to seal away the power of the Gods throughout the land? Or to summon the physical presence of a Greater Daemon to the world?

- The Raiders 

The borders and wild forests of the Empire teem with those would undo it: the Norsemen, the Orcs & Goblin hordes, the herds of Beastmen, and even the bands of mutants fugitive from the eyes of the law and church. These malcontents, anarchists and savages seek every opportunity to sneak close to civilized lands, to snatch away their people and raid their possesions for all they are worth.

- The Host of Horrors

Among those who seek domination over the lands of the Empire, some have decidedly a more scientific approach, one involving the wellspring of power that is Dark Magic. The substance know as warpstone (or wyrdstone among the common folk) can act as a catalyst for all sorts of wondrous (and horrific) effects on living subjects, harbouring the potential to raise a force of deadly super-soldiers and monsters in a fraction of the time it would take to raise a conventional military outfit. While the most well-known to make use of such tactics are the rat-men, their application is not lost on the many chaos warbands and cults, as well as some of the more creative necromancers.

Exploration and Encampments

NEW! (Download Exploration tables & Encampments rules)
The campaign features revamped Explorations tables, expanded from The Empire in Flames to include the new Objectives and the Enmity system, and few more surprises here and there.
A new feature, that has already been hinted at during the development of Mutiny in Marienburg, is the opportunity of warbands to acquire Encampments.
Originally designed by Steve "Grafix" Gibbs, Steven Hambrook and Nick Kyme, these add a lot of narrative and customization to a warband.
Once a warband finds one and decides to settle, they may gain bonuses (or penalties!) depending on the type of site. The simplest Encampments, such as Houses and Ruins, are easy to find in Exploration, and there is little risk that other warband will find it (there are so many more like it!). But the best potential lairs, such as the Catacombs of the UnderTown or the Barracks, require higher rolls, but there is more likelihood to actually find it belongs to another warband, if they have already claimed it. Often, such lairs are in a state of disrepair, and require significant effort from the warband to rebuild it.
Settling on an Encampment is relevant, as being selected as an opponent in Ambush Scenarios without one carries a high risk that the warband will be caught off-guard around their campfires (the "Camp Assault" scenario) and may be robbed blind. Having an Encampment not only changes the scenario to a more defensible position (the "Encampment Raid" scenario), but enables the warband to improve the site with barricades, pallisades, kennels & stables, traps, secret tunnels, you name it.

NEW! Locations

First introduced in Mutiny in Marienburg, Locations can be visited by Heroes during the post-battle phase instead of searching for a Rare item, to re-supply, investigate, search for special items or to gain the support of Organizations. These allow warbands to pursue non-combat goals and sneaky strategies, which can translate into very unpredictable campaign outcomes, as well as obtaining important achievements that contribute to their Objectives.
Count on seeing trips to the surgeon and prayer shrines, a small stop by a a local tavern (where all sorts of trouble can happen) or a search by the Black Market or tainted goods. For those who rather avoid the eyes of civilization, there is a whole slew of other places they can visit, such as abandoned mines where traces of warpstone may still be found, a quick raid on a defenceless farm or wagon, to grab slaves or supplies, or even a visit to an unholy shrine to pray for "blessings".
Many of these locations are not without their degree of risk (as the locals may not take kindly to the Hero's face or manners, for one reason or another), but the potential rewards are worth the attempt.

NEW! Enmity in the Empire

(Download Enmity Campaign levels - draft)
Each warband that is following one of the Lawful or Neutral Objectives (The Wardens, The Zealots, The Sellswords or The Seekers) will be automaticaly affiliated with a Province of the Empire. And from there comes a big source of conflict and grief: a central core of the campaign narrative is that warband actions may indirectly (or direct but unintentionally!) cause Provinces to develop Enmity towards each other, and force the warbands to stick with their side while the hostilities increase. This can break alliances between warbands, and increase the level of unrest in the Empire which drains resources from the Watch, militias and military patrols, (affecting their random appearances during battles and in Exploration) substituting them with refugees from the growing civil conflict.

NEW! Organizations 

Organizations are entities which warbands can enter a contract with, gaining some form of support while having to either pay some cost or keep winning particular missions to keep that support. The aid Organizations can provide is extremely varied, from discounts on specific items or services (such as wyrdstone appraisal or surgery) to greater access to missions (and challenging first) and other special campaign effects. Often such contracts will make a Dramatis Personae join the warband as an overseer and liaison. For some Organizations, failure to keep up with the costs of belonging to it may even result in retaliation, and assassins coming after your warband.

*************************************
 (page layout design originally by Cianty and Werekin, and all the other talented collaborators who put together Border Town Burning)

And this is it for now. This has been the last ~1,5 years of work and optimization, and now is coming together into something concrete.
There is more stuff that is still not yet ready for upload and is very much in drafty format, but I am working on it to get them out soon.
Comments, feedback, inflamatory remarks, etc all welcome.

Cultists!! Cultists everywhere!!!!

Anyone can be a mutant!!!

muhahaha!!