Category Archives: Rules Writing

Woehammer Path to Glory TTS Campaign

We’re about to kick off a very special Path to Glory campaign on our Discord server. Mulptiple players will take part in trying to claim the island of Cratonia on behalf of their Grand Alliance! A maximum of 5 players from each Grand Alliance will co-operate with teach other to claim as much of island as possible. Players will be able to deploy garrisons and send messages via envoys to other allied players in the hope to find their opponents and destroy them in the field.

There may also be the odd event that crops up that affect players as they campaign across the island.

If you want to take part, then hop on over to our discord server and contact me on the TTS channel. The first moves will take place on 1st August 2023, and it’s open to all no matter your skill level.

We have the following spaces remaining:

Order (1 slot)
Destruction (2 slots)
Chaos (2 slots)
Death (5 slots)

Campaign Rules

1. ORDERS

At the beginning of the campaign, each player will be given a starting location. They will then be asked to give the Campaign Master (CM) an indication of what they would like their army to do.

Example: I want my force to move to the East and take position on the opposite river crossing near Rustok.

Once all the orders are in, the game will progress with the CM mapping out the player movements until an event occurs or armies become visible to one another. This will be known as a ‘pause’.

At the point a game is paused, players will be able to give the CM new orders for their force if they wish.

2. MOVEMENT

Movement occurs at a rate of 3 squares per campaign ‘day’.

Armies will all move at the same rate. Movement North, South, East, or West 1 square counts as 1. Movement in a diagonal direction counts as 1.5.

Mountains and rivers are impassable apart from passes through the mountains or bridges over the rivers.

Movement along roads increases an armies movement that by 1. Movement through forests or woods decreases their movement by 1.

Ocean travel is possible, but each square of ocean travel will cost the player 5 Glory Points.

3. VISIBILITY

All armies are able to see up to 5 squares away (diagonal vision across squares will count as 1.5 in this case as well).

Armies cannot view over mountains or through forests/woods.

If an enemy army moves into your sight, the CM will pause the game and update all the players in the campaign as to what their scouts report to them.

The CM will then ask the players for new orders.

Example Pause Update: After marching for two days, your army is now encamped on the northern shore of Selina’s Cove. Your scouts report back an enemy force roughly the same size as your own is around a day and a half march north of yours at a bridge crossing. They believe the force is made of Duardin from the Kharadron Overlords. What are your orders?

4. FIGHTING BATTLES

Once armies are in adjacent squares, they have the option to fight a battle.

Battleplans will be chosen at random from the core book for the players unless one or both have the option to complete a quest via a battle plan. In these cases, the player who can complete a quest can choose to override the random battleplan choice. If both players have the option to complete a quest, then they must roll off for who decides.

If you find yourself adjacent to an enemy army. You may choose to flee your movement rate. However, this would be in the direct opposite direction of that army.

In cases where two or more armies from two sides meet, the players can either fight one large battle or two one v one battles if the larger battle is difficult to organise. In the case where two games of one v one is chosen, the CM will roll off and determine who gets to choose their opponents. The winner decides the opponents for their armies.

Example: Two Order armies (Sylvaneth and Kharadron) come across two Chaos armies (Slaves to Darkness and Skaven). The four players decide they would very unable to organise a full battle between the four of them and thus opt for two 1v1 battles. The CM rolls off and determines that Order have the choice, the Order players decide that the Sylvaneth force will fight the Skaven and the Kharadron will fight the Slaves.

In rare circumstances where three or more factions from completely different Grand Alliances meet. The CM will roll a priority order, and the highest scoring player will choose who they want to fight or whether they want to withdraw. Followed by the 2nd player, etc. If a player is asked to pick whether to fight or withdraw and no enemy remains unengaged, that player can choose to wait to fight any victor’s or carry on their movement to another location.

Games where one army have more points than their opponent will be capped at +25% of the lower valued force. I.e. a force of 2000 meets a 1000pt force. The 2000 point player will be limited to raking 1250pts. This also applies to summoning. Therefore, during a battle, the total points of an army cannot be more than 125% of the opponents force.

If an army loses a battle, they flee their movement rate directly away from the opposing army.

If an army that flees finds itself pinned in by enemy armies, the CM will offer them safe passage to another location within their own territory.

5. ALLIED PLAYERS

Messages can be sent to allied players in your Grand Alliance.

Messages travel at a rate of 5 squares per campaign day. Messages can communicate anything a player wishes. Such as the location of enemy forces. Size of enemy forces. Intention to challenge an enemy, or even just to ask how the weather is.

Players will not be able to communicate with other allied Grand Alliance players during the campaign. Messages are the only method they will be able to communicate.

If allied players occupy adjacent or the same squares, then they will be able to communicate directly while being so.

6. ARMIES

Armies will initially consist of 600 point forces following the standard path to glory rules. Territory, enhancements, and glory points are all completed in the same manner as a standard Path to Glory campaign.

However, where factions are able to summon in battle, they will not be able to summon more than +25% of the opposition forces’ value in points.

If a summoning army is fighting an army that is smaller than itself. Its point limit will be that of the smaller force +25% which must include summonable units.

Example: A Daemon Khorne army of 600pts finds itself facing a Sylvaneth army of the same value. The Khorne army is able to units during the battle, which effectively increases the points value of their army. Therefore, this summoning is limited to 150 pts during the battle. This being the +25% over the opponents force.

Where an army that is unable to summon meets an army much larger than itself in battle, the larger army will be able to use 125% of the points of the army that they are able to summon. However, the army with summon abilities may summon a further 25% of their points during the battle, making the contest even

7. POST BATTLE SEQUENCE

Following a battle, players will carry out their normal path to glory maintenance and update their rosters as per the core rules and any additional rules found inside their battle tome. I would ask that they carry out their maintenance in their individual private discord channels using the dice maiden bot so that the CM can ensure everything is above board.

8. GRAND ALLIANCE TERRITORY

Alliance territory is determined by the imaginary line between allied armies and the territory behind them. If an enemy army is able to get behind this line, then they lose any territory that they cannot defend without resorting to map choke points.

Example:

In the above image, we can see that the five death players have positioned themselves on key locations to encompass a large area of terrain. The majority of these borders are also protected by impassable terrain.
The death armies are located in the same places as image one. But this time, an Order army has snuck past Death Army 2 and reached deep into the Severin desert, cutting the territorial lines between army 2 and army 3 and army 2 and army 4. If the Order army were to pish further south into the Provincial Plains they would then cut the territorial line between armies 1 and 4 as well.

9. GARRISONS/GUARDS

For a cost of 25 Glory Points (the cost of which can be shared between players and agreed via messaging), a Grand Alliance can raise a garrison. Garrisons consist of 600 point armies made from the players faction who contributed the most Glory Points towards the fee.

These Garrisons do not move but are used to hold key locations so that player armies can continue their movement to capture and fight for more territory.

Garrisons have a line of sight of 5 and will report all enemy troop movements to all players in their alliance.

When Garrisons are challenged, a volunteer from the grand alliance will take control of that Garrison in battle. Garrisons do not gain experience or territory like the player armies. They are just 600 point armies.

If a garrison suffers a minor defeat, they are forced to retreat 5 spaces directly away from the enemy, but will make an immediate move back to their original location as soon as they are able and challenge any enemy forces present at that location. If a garrison suffers a major defeat, that garrison is destroyed.

Garrisons can be upgraded 100 points a time for a cost of 10 GP, no garrison can exceed more than 2,000 points.

10. SETTLEMENTS

There are a number of settlement on the campaign map, there are two benefits to being camped inside a settlement.

The first is that any unit casualties suffered are immediately recovered once inside a settlement.

The second is settlements grant a defensive bonus and you’ll be able to employ the settlements guard at the start of a battle to temporarily boost your forces. The settlement guard must be taken from the players faction that is in occupation and can be no more than 100 points.

If a Grand Alliance chooses to post a garrison to a town that force must amount to 600 points as per the garrison rules mentioned in section 9. Once a battle begins the force will be able to add an additional 100points of settlement guard made up of the garrison faction.

When a larger enemy force challenges a settlement that has been garrisoned, the enemy force can build a list of up to 125% of the garrison (600 +25% = 750), this is applied before any settlement guard are included in the defenders list and therefore means that the difference between the two sides should only be a maximum of 50 points in value.

Writing a Sci-fi Tabletop Wargame – Part 19

It is 400 years since man first set foot on the moon, and 300 since man found out the Galaxy is a dangerous place….

As with everything I would like this to be community driven, so if you see any typo’s or think paragraphs need rephrasing or moving then please let me know in the form at the end of this article.

Last Weeks Poll Results for Orders

Here are the results from last weeks polls.

Although votes are tied on this poll, I have gone with the top option as this achieved the number of votes first

Based on these results, the following wording will be added to our living rules:

THIS WEEKS POLLS

Let’s have a look at Air Combat and Spaceship transport.

–Peter

Name Suggestions?

Do you have a name suggestion for the game or do you have any rules suggestions, or a topic you would like us to focus on next. Or perhaps you would like us to reword something in the main document. Anything you want, let us know below.

Writing a Sci-fi Tabletop Wargame – Part 18

It is 400 years since man first set foot on the moon, and 300 since man found out the Galaxy is a dangerous place….

As with everything I would like this to be community driven, so if you see any typo’s or think paragraphs need rephrasing or moving then please let me know in the form at the end of this article.

Last Weeks Poll Results for Orders

Here are the results from last weeks polls.

Based on these results, the following wording will be added to our living rules:

THIS WEEKS POLLS

A few general polls this week, but an important one around melee.

–Peter

Name Suggestions?

Do you have a name suggestion for the game or do you have any rules suggestions, or a topic you would like us to focus on next. Or perhaps you would like us to reword something in the main document. Anything you want, let us know below.

Writing a Sci-fi Tabletop Wargame – Part 17

It is 400 years since man first set foot on the moon, and 300 since man found out the Galaxy is a dangerous place….

As with everything I would like this to be community driven, so if you see any typo’s or think paragraphs need rephrasing or moving then please let me know in the form at the end of this article.

Last Weeks Poll Results for Orders

Here are the results from last weeks polls.

Based on these results, the following wording will be added to our living rules:

SPACECRAFT SHOOTING
When firing SPACECRAFT a hit roll of 6 will allow the attacking player to choose which SPACECRAFT system has been affected. If the attacking player successfully hits the enemy SPACECRAFT but does not roll a 6, then a system is chosen at random using the following table;

1-2  – Weapons
3 – Shields
4 – Propulsion
5 – Transported Units
6 – Navigation

SPACECRAFT DAMAGE
Instead of having a MORALE STATUS, SPACECRAFT will suffer damage to their systems from successful hits made against them. Shooting in SPACE COMBAT is carried out in the same fashion as the other theatres of war.

Each SPACECRAFT have a number of systems that can be targeted or suffer damage during SPACE COMBAT. Each system will have an effect on how the SPACECRAFT will operate in future turns. These systems are;

Weapons (-1 to hit rolls when damaged)
Shields (+1 to enemy hit rolls when damaged)
Propulsion (half movement speed)
Transported Units (Transported unit suffer 1 level of degradation in MORALE STATUS)
Navigation (SPACECRAFT is unable to turn)

Each of these systems are able to suffer two hits before failing and causing damage to the SPACECRAFT. Damage can be repaired through the use of ORDERS. If two or more systems reach two damage then the ship is considered DESTROYED)

THIS WEEKS POLLS

This week I want to focus on faction creation.

–Peter

Name Suggestions?

Do you have a name suggestion for the game or do you have any rules suggestions, or a topic you would like us to focus on next. Or perhaps you would like us to reword something in the main document. Anything you want, let us know below.

Writing a Sci-fi Tabletop Wargame – Part 16

It is 400 years since man first set foot on the moon, and 300 since man found out the Galaxy is a dangerous place….

As with everything I would like this to be community driven, so if you see any typo’s or think paragraphs need rephrasing or moving then please let me know in the form at the end of this article.

Last Weeks Poll Results for Orders

Here are the results from last weeks polls.

Based on these results, the following wording will be added to our living rules:

MORALE DAMAGE
All land and air combat units begin the game with a Confident MORALE STATUS. As unsaved hits are suffered by the unit this degrades, as it degrades the unit becomes harder to order and can eventually flee the battlefield. There are five morale levels starting with Confident then degrading through Steady, Nervous, Wavering and finally Broken.

SPACECRAFT DAMAGE
Instead of having a MORALE STATUS, SPACECRAFT will suffer damage to their systems from successful hits made against them. Shooting in SPACE COMBAT is carried out in the same fashion as the other theatres of war.

THIS WEEKS POLLS

This week I want to focus a little more on the damage to Spacecraft and how it may be allocated.

–Peter

Name Suggestions?

Do you have a name suggestion for the game or do you have any rules suggestions, or a topic you would like us to focus on next. Or perhaps you would like us to reword something in the main document. Anything you want, let us know below.

Writing a Sci-fi Tabletop Wargame – Part 15

It is 400 years since man first set foot on the moon, and 300 since man found out the Galaxy is a dangerous place….

As with everything I would like this to be community driven, so if you see any typo’s or think paragraphs need rephrasing or moving then please let me know in the form at the end of this article.

Last Weeks Poll Results for Orders

Here are the results from last weeks polls.

Based on these results, the following wording will be added to our living rules:

SHOOTING A TARGET
When any unit wishes to shoot, they do so by rolling a number of D6 equal to their FIREPOWER capability. For example, a standard conscript infantry battalion will have a FIREPOWER 1 rating, showing that the unit rolls one D6 when rolling to shoot at a unit.

HITTING
A unit will need a certain number on their FIREPOWER dice in order to successfully shoot an enemy unit.  All units start with a BASE SHOOTING SKILL (BSS) of 4+, this can be adjusted through the Faction creation process and each units RANGED ABILITY will be required on their FACTION SHEET.

Therefore, if a unit is targeting an enemy unit in the open that unit will need to equal or beat it’s RANGED ABILITY on its FIREPOWER dice to record a hit against that unit. However, before you roll the FIREPOWER dice you will need to check against the WEAPON RANGE of the weapon you’re using and apply any effects as below.

WEAPON RANGE
Each weapon will have a range profile showing its EFFECTIVE RANGE and its MAXIMUM RANGE. When a unit is shooting, if the range to the target sits within the MAXIMUM RANGE profile, then that unit will need to deduct 1 from its dice roll when rolling its FIREPOWER dice. Firing a weapon inside it’s EFFECTIVE RANGE has no impact on the dice roll.

ARMOUR SAVES
Once a unit has had hits allocated against it, if that unit possesses then it is allowed to make an ARMOUR SAVE roll for each successful hit against the unit. Use the FACTION SHEET to find the units ARMOUR SAVE. Cover also can have an affect on the save needed.

COVER
Depending on the type of cover a unit is in will have an effect on that unit’s ARMOUR SAVE. Cover comes in three categories, SOFT COVER and HARD COVER. SOFT COVER includes terrain like swamps, fields and woods, this type of terrain allows the player to add +1 to their ARMOUR SAVE roll. HARD COVER includes terrain like built up areas or fortifications and add +2 to a unit’s ARMOUR SAVE.

MORALE DAMAGE
All units begin the game with a **** MORALE STATUS. As unsaved hits are suffered by the unit this degrades, as it degrades the unit becomes harder to order and can eventually flee the battlefield.

THIS WEEKS POLLS

This does raise some additional questions in regards to Morale however:

With option two I can see each ship having a number of “systems” which can be damaged, i.e. the weapon system may take three hits before becoming completely disabled but each hit could mean -1 to hit with their FIREPOWER dice. Once a system has been completely destroyed hits have to be allocated elsewhere.

–Peter

Name Suggestions?

Do you have a name suggestion for the game or do you have any rules suggestions, or a topic you would like us to focus on next. Or perhaps you would like us to reword something in the main document. Anything you want, let us know below.

Writing a Sci-fi Tabletop Wargame – Part 14

It is 400 years since man first set foot on the moon, and 300 since man found out the Galaxy is a dangerous place….

As with everything I would like this to be community driven, so if you see any typo’s or think paragraphs need rephrasing or moving then please let me know in the form at the end of this article.

Last Weeks Poll Results for Orders

Here are the results from last weeks polls.

There was no wording to add to the current living rule book this week so the rules have been unchanged.

THIS WEEKS POLLS

We’ve covered movement, so the next step is to cover the all important shooting phase. It’s a big one this week with multiple polls! So buckle up!

Firstly as a unit on the table top can represent hundreds of individuals how should hits on that unit be treated? As Physical damage (i.e. the unit has a number of wounds and is removed from play once this reaches zero) or as morale where a unit can degrade from good to poor and so on but can have the ability to rest and recover.

Name Suggestions?

Do you have a name suggestion for the game or do you have any rules suggestions, or a topic you would like us to focus on next. Or perhaps you would like us to reword something in the main document. Anything you want, let us know below.

Writing a Sci-fi Tabletop Wargame – Part 13

It is 400 years since man first set foot on the moon, and 300 since man found out the Galaxy is a dangerous place….

As with everything I would like this to be community driven, so if you see any typo’s or think paragraphs need rephrasing or moving then please let me know in the form at the end of this article.

Last Weeks Poll Results for Orders

Here are the results from last weeks polls.

Based on these results, the following wording will be added to our living rules:

INFANTRY & VEHICLES

AIRCRAFT

All aircraft move at a BASE MOVEMENT RATE (BMR) of 10” when in an AIR COMBAT environment, when involved in a LAND COMBAT scenario, aircraft will have no physical model on the play area. Instead, these units operate as support during LAND COMBAT scenarios by conducting aerial bombing on ground targets.

Depending on the faction or the type of aircraft this can vary. As with Infantry & Vehicles, the Aircrafts movement will be shown under the unit’s movement statistic on their FACTON SHEET.

SPACECRAFT

Spacecraft will move at varying rates when taking part in SPACE COMBAT, these rates are determined by the type of ship as well as any additional faction rules. As with Land units and Air units, Spacecraft will have their movement statistics listed on their FACTION SHEET.

THIS WEEKS POLLS

I’ve been a little remiss and have missed a couple a key point during the drafting of what types of unit would be available to factions. There’s one type of unit we’ve not voted on whether to include…. TITANS ! (Think Battletech or Titans from 40k). Should our Sci-Fi game include these?

Also, I’ve been thinking a little about how faction traits should be added to player created factions….

–Peter

Name Suggestions?

Do you have a name suggestion for the game or do you have any rules suggestions, or a topic you would like us to focus on next. Or perhaps you would like us to reword something in the main document. Anything you want, let us know below.

Writing a Sci-fi Tabletop Wargame – Part 12

It is 400 years since man first set foot on the moon, and 300 since man found out the Galaxy is a dangerous place….

As with everything I would like this to be community driven, so if you see any typo’s or think paragraphs need rephrasing or moving then please let me know in the form at the end of this article.

Last Weeks Poll Results for Orders

Here are the results from last weeks polls.

Based on these results, the following wording will be added to our living rules:

MOVEMENT

INFANTRY & VEHICLES

All infantry moves at a BASE MOVEMENT RATE (BMR) of 5” and all vehicles move at a BMR of 8”, however depending on the faction or the type of unit this can vary. Whatever a unit’s movement is will be shown under that unit’s movement statistic on their FACTION SHEET.

MOVEMENT ORDERS

Once a unit receives a move order, that unit can make a move up to its maximum move distance. Remember that a unit can be ordered up to twice per turn and both orders can be move orders.

As well as the above, I’ve written up an introduction for the game along with some others bits and bobs.

THIS WEEKS POLLS

Continuing our polls around movement, we need to take into account aerial and space units. For example, in a ground combat theatre where infantry and vehicles are involved and moving at 5″ and 8″ respectively, what should the movement be of an aircraft? Also if the theatre only involved Aircraft what should their movement be then? How about in Space, what should Spaceship movement rates be?

–Peter

Name Suggestions?

Do you have a name suggestion for the game or do you have any rules suggestions, or a topic you would like us to focus on next. Or perhaps you would like us to reword something in the main document. Anything you want, let us know below.

Writing a Sci-fi Tabletop Wargame – Part 11

As with everything I would like this to be community driven, so if you see any typo’s or think paragraphs need rephrasing or moving then please let me know in the form at the end of this article.

Last Weeks Poll Results for Orders

Here are the results from last weeks polls.

Based on these results, the following wording will be added to our living rules:

“If an order is successfully issued, then the commanding player may perform one ACTION with the specified unit. Actions range from moving and shooting to charging into combat. Before issuing an order and rolling to see whether it is successful a player should first specify what their order is and to which unit the order is being directed. The maximum number of orders a unit can receive in any one turn is two.

THIS WEEKS POLLS

I believe that completes the Order phase (for now), so let’s move on to the movement.

Firstly, should all infantry types move at the same rate? Should all vehicles move at the same rate, or should the player be able to change these values which then affect that units points cost in the game?

How far should Infantry or Vehicles move at their base rate (i.e. the basic value which can then be adjusted up or down later on). Bearing in mind that you’ve all already voted on a gaming area of 4 foot square.

This is likely just to be the tip of the iceberg when drawing up movement rules, as the future will probably involve Grav-Tanks etc, as well as incorporating aerial assets such as fighter craft. Not to mention terrain.

But establishing the essential question of whether variation is allowed within a certain unit type will go some way to resolving some answers for future units as well.

–Peter

Name Suggestions?

Do you have a name suggestion for the game or do you have any rules suggestions, or a topic you would like us to focus on next. Or perhaps you would like us to reword something in the main document. Anything you want, let us know below.