But I think that, before GW issues their 40k map campaign system, it is time for me to post about a system we've used with my group for years now when playing map-based campaigns: Fate Points.
Basically, Fate Points are there to represent the fact that our generals are special individuals who must survive the campaign. When the system was first devised, it only allowed for "Sir! Beware!" types of bonus, but over time we've added other bonuses to make the "burning" of Fate Points something which at the same time plays a role in the campaign as a whole and may be risky... For burning Fate Points to re-roll for Reserves may at the end of the game cost his life to your general because you haven't got enough left to save him from an untimely death!
++ FATE POINTS ++
You may elect up to 3 characters in your army to be marked by fate.
These characters start the campaign with 3 Fate Points (FP).
Burning 1FP allows to:
- re-roll any failed roll by the character, even if it has already been re-rolled. This means you can burn multiple FP on a single action if you wish. Reserve rolls can also be re-rolled in this fashion.
- allocate a hit to a friendly model within 2" of the character, during the shooting phase.
Burning 2FP allows to:
- allocate a wound to a friendly model within 2" of the character, during the CC phase.
- cancel the effects of an Instant Death, the character survives with 1 remaining PV. You can use this only once per game.
- move a detachment twice during a campaign turn as long as the first move doesn't take it through an area conquered or occupied by enemy troops. The area which has been moved through is not conquered, it doesn't grant its eventual bonus and cannot be fortified. To conquer the area afterwards, the player must move one of his detachments to the area and leave it there for the duration of a campaign turn.
Burning 5FP allows to:
- take up to 250pts of any 2 troop choices in the army list (even if all the Troops FOC slots are already filled) in addition to the normal points value of the game (2250pts for a 2000pts game for example). [This used to cost only 3FP but with the importance of Troops in 5th ed, its cost has been increased.]
- transform a "dead" result into a "wounded" one on the post-battle recovery table (see below).
The characters can win additional FP during the course of the campaign for each of the following situations which occured (without using FP) during a battle in which he was engaged:
- if he survives the game without suffering a single wound.
- if he kills at least 25 wounds worth of enemies in CC in a single game.
- if he made at least 10 successful armour saves in a single game.
- if the result of the game is a victory.(*)
- if the player forced his opponent to use all his FP during the game.(*)
(* - if several characters marked by fate participated in the game, then the FP from these situations must be allocated to only one of them, of the player's choice.)
After a game, characters marked by fate which have been "killed" in battle must roll 1d6 upon the post battle recovery table to know if they are really "dead" or wounded or even simply knocked unconscious...
| Post-Battle Recovery Table | |
|---|---|
| d6 | Result: |
| 1-2 | The character is dead. All his unused FP are lost and all the Ld based tests for the next game will be made at -1. |
| 3-5 | The character was badly wounded. He will be unavailable for the next d3 campaign turns. |
| 6 | The character was simply unconscious. He recovers immediately. |
4 comments:
This is cool, I'm looking to start a new campaign to introduce a terrain piece I'm working on and I might have to include this.
Yeah, nice thinking - the introduction of these makes the Unique characters of warfare more interesting. It also means that character assassination (sorry couldn't help it) would become an essential pastime, any thought on that?
@ Suneokun:
It's true that with these rules, character assassination becomes a central part of a campaign... At least until everybody realizes that it's not necessarily a good idea to focus on this.
Because, while targeting his characters forces your opponent to use more FP, it also forces you to use units which would be better used if you focused on the game's objectives. Killing the enemy general but failing to grab the objectives and thus loose the control of the area is not necessarily a good deal, specially since there's 2 chances out of 3 that you've only wounded him in the end...
It however forces both players to use those characters more responsibly. Throwing them at every menace is no longer a good idea because it has consequences. While it may allow you to win an extra FP, if he "dies" in the game there's 1 chance out of 3 that it will be for good or that it'll cost you 5FP to save him from that death (and that'll he'll be out for up to 3 games)...
I know this is wishful thinking, but hopefully GW implements such a mechanic into their 40k Mighty Empires. If not, I'll definitely be using this idea, as it's golden.
Solid work :)
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