Destiny of Kings

• The Dark Tide Rises

MANTIC GAMES

Necromancer through a series of interlinked Kings of War scenarios:

• Angels Fear to Tread • The Gates of Dolgarth • Soulshard – A new scenario for Dungeon Saga • Gates of Hell • Borderline • The Underworld Opens

New Heroes The complete stats and rules for using the Heroes of Dungeon Saga in your games of Kings of War. • Mortibris the Necromancer • Demon Lord Ba’el, Bane of the Mortal Kingdoms

The Destiny of Kings is a campaign supplement for the fantasy mass combat game Kings of War. A copy of Kings of War is required to use this book.

• The Spirit of Valandor

Within this book you will find:

• Rordin the Dwarf

Map-based Campaigns A series of suggestions and guidelines to help you organise and run map-based campaigns.

Narrative Campaigns Learn how to link scenarios to tell a story through your games of Kings of War.

The Quest of the Necromancer An exciting example of a narrative campaign. Read about the events that followed the defeat (or was it?) of the Necromancer Mortibris, as narrated in the Dungeon Quest game and supplements, then re-enact the evil crusade launched by the

• Orlaf the Barbarian

• Madriga the Elf • Danor the Wizard

New Narrative Scenarios All new narrative scenarios to obliterate your enemies. • Last Stand • Flanked • Baggage Train • Defense of the Idol • Breakthrough • Deep Defence

© Mantic Entertainment 2015 Mantic, Kings of War and all associated characters, names, places and things are TM and ©

Product Code: MGKW09

www.manticgames.com

ISBN: 978-0-9931984-5-8

DESTINY OF KINGS – A CAMPAIGN SUPPLEMENT BOOK FOR KINGS OF WAR

Mortibris the Necromancer cursed and spat in the dust as he saw the host which awaited them. Leave it to the Elves to meddle in matters which did not concern them. With the Dwarfs and possibly the Basileans soon to be at his back, he could ill-afford further distractions here. No matter. The Elves facing him had no idea of the power he could unleash. Not even the blighted maiden at their head, whose essence he recognised readily enough… Madriga!.

A Campaign Supplement Book for

www.manticgames.com

Destiny of Kings

A Kings of WAr CAmpAign supplement BooK 1

Destiny of Kings

Contents

Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

Heroes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47

Map-Based Campaigns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Epilogue . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48

Narrative Campaigns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .18

Narrative Scenarios. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49

The Quest of the Necromancer . . . . . . . . . 20

New Scenario Rules . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50

Scenario 1: The Dark Tide Rises . . . . . . . . 22

Last Stand . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .51

Scenario 2: Angels Fear to Tread . . . . . . . 26

Flanked . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52

Scenario 3: The Gates of Dolgarth . . . . . . 29

Baggage Train . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53

Scenario 4: The Soulshard . . . . . . . . . . . . 32 Scenario 5: Gates of Hell . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38

Defence of the Idol . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54

Scenario 6: Borderline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41

Breakthrough . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55

Scenario 7: The Underworld Opens . . . . . 44

Deep Defence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56

Credits Kings of War Game Design

Special Thanks

Alessio Cavatore

Matt Gilbert, Daniel King, Sami Mahmoud, Chris Morris, Nick Williams

Background Material Greg D Smith

Mantic, Dungeon Saga, Kings of War, and all associated characters, names, places and things are TM and © Mantic Entertainment Ltd 2015. All rights in the design, text, graphics, and other material in this publication and its selection or arrangement is copyright of Mantic Entertainment Ltd., or has been granted for use by other third parties. This includes images, text, graphics, corporate logos and emblems. Reproduction is prohibited. Colours and contents may vary from those shown. Photography not to scale.

Playtesting Kings of War Rules Committee, The Mantic Community

Art Shen Fei Chan, Heath Foley, Yann Hoarau, Alan Lathwell, Luigi Terzi

Mantic Games

Thanks to Darth Asparagus at Deviant Art for use of the map icons.

193 Hempshill Lane, Bulwell, Nottingham, NG6 8PF, UK

Graphic Design Dylan Owen, Kev Brett

www.manticgames.com

Photography Ben Sandum

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introduCtion

Welcome to The Destiny of Kings – a book all about epic campaigns in the fantasy world of Kings of War.

In the first part of the book, we present advice, suggestions, guidelines and rules for running a Kings of War campaign based on a map.

What do we mean by a ‘campaign’? It’s a broad and complex subject, but as a quick overview we can define a campaign as a series of tabletop battles that are linked together to form a story. This story, in turn, drives the tabletop battles and gives them a wider context: the battles and the backstory feeding each other. In a campaign there are consequences of winning and losing an individual battle beyond the immediate bragging rights. Armies have to fall back as territory is captured, cities are besieged and fall and individual units become veterans or gain reputations for cowardice and incompetence.

In the second part of the book, we’ll delve into story-driven campaigns and we’ll offer you a great example of such a campaign – the Necromancer’s Quest. This narrative campaign picks up the story of the Necromancer Mortibris from the pages of Dungeon Saga and the Return of Valandor. This time the evil sorcerer’s plots escalate to an unprecedented level of magnitude, threatening to wipe out entire realms if they dare oppose his machinations. Join us in this unholy crusade to spread un-death and Abyssal corruption all over the world of Mantica! The final section has six new narrative scenarios for use with any army, depicting battles between unequal armies. One player takes an attacking army while the other tries to hold them off as the defender.

There are many, many different ways of running a campaign for a game of fantasy battles, but in this book we’ll mainly concentrate on two types – Map-based Campaigns and Narrative Campaigns.

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mAp-BAsed CAmpAigns Map-based Campaigns revolve around the idea of capturing territory and forging one’s own mighty domain; so successful generals control more of the map and sometimes have more troops because of this. They also become more of a target for the rest of the players. Such a campaign is generally run in a series of turns with the campaign turns of grand strategy being played out on a map and alternating with battles fought out with models on a tabletop.

for one reason or another. This is a real shame as it puts people off trying, when it is, in fact, not the hidden and secret art it may at first appear to be. Running a good campaign requires a lot of effort, but the rewards are worth it. As with many things, you get out what you put in. So what does that mean in a practical sense? Well the best way to explain is to give you a set of campaign rules to use as a starting point and let you have a go yourself. Bear that in mind from the outset – these are only a starting point. Campaigns, more than any other aspect of gaming, are best when tailored to the gaming group involved. Feel free to add, remove or otherwise tinker and change any aspect of these rules in order to get a game that suits you and your fellow gamers better. This applies most obviously to the collections of miniatures and scenery you have available, as well as the time and space you have to game in. If I said that the campaign finale has to be a 10 player game on a 12 foot table you may simply not have either that many players or that large a space. Does that mean that you can’t play a campaign? Of course not! Change what you need to fit what you have and what you enjoy. It’s your game, so embrace it. There is no wrong or right answer to running a campaign, and your sole guide should be the idea that having more fun is better than having less.

In some ways, one can look at the campaign as the pinnacle of tabletop war games, combining all the many facets of gaming into one continuous and interrelated whole. And when it is done well and works smoothly it can indeed be an amazing experience and one that the players will talk about for many years. Unfortunately, many campaigns fail to live up to this possibility

In the end, what tells you whether your campaign was a success or not is when people come to you and ask when the next one is. I’ll start then with some ideas, common problems and general suggestions and leave the rules till the end. After all, the rules are pointless if you can’t organise the thing and your players get bored and wander off half way through.

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What’s a Campaign For?

and being overambitious with their aims. It’s not bad to aim high, but you do make things harder and more prone to fail if you try to include all the cool options at once in your first attempt.

In one sense, the purpose of a campaign is simply to offer another fun way of playing games with model soldiers. From another viewpoint you could say that a campaign is really a means to put the battles you fight on the tabletop into a wider context. Why are you ambushing the enemy? Why isn’t he ambushing you? If you fight a meeting engagement then where were you both going? How did you outflank the foe? Why are those two armies allied? You get the idea.

Anyway, enough cautions. How do you set up a campaign? • Decide who is going to run the campaign (the campaign organiser). All the following steps are done by this noble and selfless individual.

While you can always just make up a bit of background story to explain any battle, it’s more fun to have it evolve in front of your eyes as the results of actions chosen by a group of players, each vying for domination of the whole world… muahahahaa!

• Sort out/draw up a map. • Decide on the campaign victory conditions. • Ask your friends/advertise/conduct a séance to decide who will be playing.

Setting up a Map-based Campaign

• Tell everyone how long you think the campaign will last and what the victory conditions are. Explain what size armies (and anything else) people will need, detail any specific rules and ensure that your players all agree that this is reasonable, attainable and sounds like fun.

There are myriad possible permutations for this process. This is a simple set of basics for you to start with. As you become more familiar and more confident in running campaigns you can add complexity and elaborate in the areas that appeal to you and your players. Be aware though that one of the most common causes of failed campaigns is the organiser and/or the players overreaching themselves

• Get each player to pick their armies and write down their troops’ starting positions. • Start the first turn.

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Do You Need a Campaign Organiser?

people know who is winning and losing; they chivvy players along when they need chivvying; and they get to take the credit whether it goes well or not. Some of their work is basic record-keeping, other parts may involve flashes of creative genius or a flair for showmanship. No two campaign organisers are the same, and each campaign is in some ways a reflection of the organiser behind it.

The short answer is yes. You need someone to keep things moving along smoothly, whether they’re called a game master, referee, campaign organiser, or other similar name. This is seen by some as a bit of a thankless task. It certainly can be a lot of work, though it doesn’t have to be onerous if you’re well organised. Perhaps the most difficult thing is dealing with awkward players, but we’ll come to that later.

Should the Game Organiser Play?

Being a campaign organiser (as I’ll call them) can also be a very rewarding role. This is especially true if you run a successful campaign, though even in one that does not run until the planned end there are often many great moments.

I tend to be the one that does the organising, and I want to play as well, so the rules allow for this. However, not everyone does and there is no need to. If your campaign rules require a degree of interpretation or secrecy then it’s not very fair for you to know all that and take part as well. It’s really down to what you want to do and what’s reasonable with the rules you’ve got. In the end, the campaign organiser has to be impartial and he can only be that if the rules allow him to be on an equal footing with the other players.

So what does a campaign organiser actually do? Well, if you’ve ever played a roleplaying game, they are a bit like a games master or dungeon master in one of those: they organise the world and keep everything running smoothly. They coordinate the games and the results of battles so that

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Know the End Before You Start

As the campaign organiser, it’s down to you to maintain the player’s focus. So how do you do this?

We haven’t even got to the rules yet, and I’m talking about the end. Well that’s because it’s vital. Whilst people might say they like the idea of a fully immersive and fluid environment to game in, with endless options and an open story arc, in reality people like goals and to know what they’re aiming at. A simply defined goal is a clear way to let the players know what they need to do and to give their actions purpose. Examples are things like capturing another player’s capital city, winning a certain number of battles, upgrading a certain number of units, and so on. You can do it the other way too, with a time limit instead of a task to complete.

You start at the beginning with the players. You know these individuals better than I do. Ask yourself - can you rely on them? When someone asks if they can join your campaign, you should consider whether they are likely to stay involved or drift off. Excluding players may sound harsh, but if one player drops out they can spoil the thing for half a dozen others, so it’s really not nearly as unfair to the one that is refused as it is for the rest. It’s worth impressing on players that they’re letting everyone else down if they don’t play the games in a timely manner. Peer pressure is a wonderful thing at times.

For example, you could play for a campaign year and see who has the largest domain when the armies go into winter quarters. Exactly what you set as the campaign goal isn’t as important as everyone knowing what it is. There is one golden rule: it’s always better to end when the players want more than when the campaign is dying on its feet. When in doubt, shorter is better. If your campaign was successful you can always run another.

Keeping Everyone Involved One of the hardest things to do is to keep everyone focussed and fighting out the tabletop battles. We gamers are a flighty lot, and are easily distracted by shiny new toys. These days there is no shortage of new games and new model ranges to tempt gamers away from the campaign you’re trying to run, and few players have had the experience of what a really good campaign is like and so don’t know what they’re missing if they wander off.

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Be realistic. Depending on the ages and responsibilities of your players you may need to give them more or less time to organise and play their tabletop games. Typically, a campaign is set up so that players decide what they are going to do on the map, who they will send armies to attack and so on. The organiser then works out who needs to fight who to resolve this and then players are given a period of time to get these battles done on the tabletop.

ad hoc basis, or you could nominate another player as a subordinate general and only they can fight for you. This can be an option for letting those players who aren’t in the campaign full time get involved on a “per game” basis. Whether this would work depends on your mix of players, and it may not be necessary at all. In either case, it can be a pitfall where a lazy general simply lets his subordinates do all the fighting for him. For this reason it is common for subordinate generals to have some form of disadvantage in game terms. Exactly what this is depends on how punitive you feel you need to be, but examples could be smaller points sizes, restrictions on certain elite troop types, less inspiring leaders, and so on.

You need to be aware of your player’s commitments. If you are all at school and it’s the summer holidays, or students with time to spare, you can make this gap very short. If everyone has a job, children and other commitments then one game a week or less may be all they can manage. In either case it is always a good idea to be responsive to the actions of the campaign. Perhaps there are few battles this turn and the people involved are quick to get their games done. Maybe you can do the next turn quickly.

In the end, however you do it, the campaign organiser needs to keep people focussed and enthused with the campaign. Playing in a campaign is not a duty, it’s supposed to be fun, so keep it that way. Perhaps the most common failing here is being overambitious with your campaign. I’ve said it before, but it’s very much worth repeating: it’s far better to run a successful short campaign, than a grandiose and hugely involved extravaganza which drifts off into tedium and abandonment after a few weeks. A successful campaign makes people want to try again, gives the organiser confidence and can be built upon by all. Players who learn how brilliant a well-run campaign can be will be more willing to put their own effort into taking part in (or even running) another. So start small and controlled, and build up gradually.

If you have the other end of the possibilities then you may have more than one game for several players, and need to give them a little longer than usual. You need to try and strike a balance between long enough to get the games played, and so long that players who aren’t busy get bored and wander off. It’s a new challenge each turn, and a central one to the success or failure of the campaign as a whole. One trick that I’ve seen used to advantage is to allow people to stand in and fight each other’s battles. This can be on an entirely

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What If Someone Drops Out?

You can always add all manner of bells and whistles later, once you’ve got the basics in place and have a group of players who are keen and keep the whole thing on track. Of course, you don’t have to start with these or even tell folk you’re intending to do one. You could start a simple campaign and then write a little newsletter to email round to the players if something particularly interesting happens or if you have the time.

It happens to everyone. Life throws you a curve ball and it’s no longer possible to play when you need to. Whose fault it is doesn’t matter: what’s important is how can you keep everything running smoothly so that everyone else in the campaign can carry on? Forewarned is forearmed. When you start the campaign, have a plan in place for what happens if someone pulls out. Actually, it’s far more likely that they’ll simply stop playing the games and not tell you that they’re stopping, and you will have to draw the line yourself. You can let people use proxies and subordinate commanders if you want to. I have been in the situation where I’ve run a few successful campaigns for a gaming group and had eager substitutes who would take over the retiring player’s position entirely, but that relies on building up a reputation and you don’t start with that. If you haven’t been taking part yourself then perhaps you could take over here – at least for a time.

Prizes are another thing you sometimes see in campaigns. Personally, I don’t think they should be necessary as a well-run campaign is such a great reward in itself. However, if your campaign has a clear goal then you could club together to get a prize for whoever wins. This might help keep players involved and is most simply done by asking everyone for a small amount of money to play, pointing out to them that this is not your pay, but is going into a pot for the prize (and make sure that it really is).

A common alternative is to declare the power neutral. After all, in the real (fantasy) world, kings die and dictators are deposed. Who’s to say that their ruler has not been assassinated and a period of reorganisation halts their march of conquest? Perhaps they are now only fighting in their own defence and are easy pickings.

Newsletters and Other Gubbins Some campaign organisers like to write newsletters to keep everyone informed. These days these could be group e-mails, a secret Facebook page, or even a website or a blog for the campaign. These are lovely, but are something of a distraction. I’d suggest keeping things simple to start with.

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mAp-BAsed CAmpAign rules The following system is not the only way you can play map-based campaigns; not by a long chalk. There are loads of intriguing permutations and options, some of which I will mention in passing. However, what follows is a practical system and will form a solid basis on which to build more elaborate structures should you choose to do so. Feel free to pop over to the Mantic forums and let us know if you run a campaign. We’re always interested to hear your feedback on this and any other Kings of War issues.

A Map The first step is to sort out a map. This is the ground over which your campaign will be fought. For our example campaign we are going to use an abstract map, as this has a number of advantages. By “abstract” I mean that this doesn’t literally represent the borders and

exact locations of the cities and fortresses of each player relative to one another – just like a ‘real’ fantasy map. ‘Real’ fantasy maps, like the map of Mantica, are great and can provide a background for excellent campaigns. In fact, I’d recommend them as something to aim for. However, for the beginner at campaign organising they offer a number of additional hurdles and complications. The main one is that people can’t just pick on who they want, and some players find this frustrating. It can be particularly problematical if a player is next to someone they find hard to beat and keep losing. Whilst this may be all very “realistic”, it’s not always as much fun, and a simple campaign won’t have the elaborate systems of covert actions, skulduggery and secret alliances which might better cope with this geographical misfortune. So, instead of a ‘real’ map, we begin by using an abstract map. This abstract map is very simple. Each player has a capital city and 1, 2, or 3 towns, depending on how big a campaign you want. As long as each player starts with the same number you’ll be fine. Usually the objective of the game is to capture one or more enemy capitals.

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Map-BaseD CaMpaigns In order to attack an enemy capital you must first capture one or more of his towns (as agreed at the start), so that you have a safe route to supply your army when they besiege his capital. We’ll come back to how you actually capture a town later. Note that you must hold the town yourself. If other people have captured them, or if you subsequently lose control of it, then you have to lift your siege of the capital so you can go back and protect your lines of supply. In this system of mapping, we only need to imagine each player’s territory individually, not altogether. This makes things very simple as you can see in this picture, especially as I’ve gone for only a single town each:

The minimum size for a field army is 1,000 points. A town or city will need a garrison of at least 500 points to even attempt to defend itself, but can hold as much more as you like. This (maximum) total and these limitations apply for the whole campaign, not just at the start: • Field army: • Garrison:

1,000 to 2,000 points. 500 to 3,000 points.

If an army or garrison falls below these limits after it has rolled to recover battle losses then it is disbanded and the survivors return to their own capital to reorganise. This is the only exception to the minimum and maximum for garrisons as the capital holds any leftover units and may therefore be of any size.

“Town A” and “Capital” aren’t very evocative names, and I’d suggest that you think of something more characterful for your maps. You can try getting the players to think of their own names, but this usually ends up with some very silly ones. Of course, this does depend on who you’re playing with. So, if we decide that the first player to capture an enemy capital is the winner then that’s pretty straightforward. Everyone can understand that and see what they need to do in order to achieve it.

Initial Positions Once you have got your map ready then each player needs to secretly allocate his troops (in the form of points) to each town, city and field army. A field army can sit alongside a town or city in the same space. So with a 1 town map, you have 4 possible places to allocate troops: a garrison for your town, another for your capital and a maximum of 2 field armies. However, you don’t have enough warriors to fill all of these options, so you will have to make the first of your difficult command decisions. Each player starts the campaign with 3,000 points worth of troops to allocate, up to 2,000 of which can be in a single field army.

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So, with 3,000 points I could have, for example, two smaller field armies, one massive one, or a single 2,000 point army with 500 points of garrison in each of my town and capital, etc. When everyone has written down where their points are allocated then you can reveal them to each other. Perhaps you’ll want to have a master map with all this written on. It’s certainly a good way for the campaign organiser to keep track of things. Of course, if your players all have much larger armies than this then you could make the points limits larger. This set of values allows for relatively new player to join in, but you know your players. How big are their armies? Do they regularly play 5,000 point games or do they prefer 2,000? Tailor your campaign to suit their preferences.

Destiny of Kings

So What Units are in Each Army?

an enemy force doesn’t march over the horizon that month. Your order can be one of two things:

You only need to write an exact army list for a garrison or field army the first time it gets into a tabletop battle. Until that point the fog of war allows you to chop and change your ideas about what you might include, and if you paint up a new unit after the campaign starts then you can still use it in your armies if it has not yet fought.

• Rest. The army tries to rebuild its strength after a battle, or simply sends out messengers to recruit likely lads from the surrounding area. If a resting army is at full strength, it will simply hold its ground and do nothing.

After your initial battle, the survivors of this army list will continue to form that garrison or field army. You can make changes and recruit more, but you can’t just change your mind at will. As a side note, there is another option you could consider here. If you want maximum flexibility for the players then simply track how many points each army is worth. Recover losses and so on as normal, but then just reduce the survivors to their points value again and when you next need to fight you are free to write your army list as you choose. This is less realistic, but you may be more concerned with the freedom to pick a different army each time. The downside of this approach is that it’s even more abstract and the idea of gaining experience is lost (because individual units don’t persist form battle to battle).

Campaign Turns Our campaign will alternatively have campaign turns and battle turns. In a campaign turn you decide what you’re going to do in a grand strategic sense, moving armies around a map. In a battle turn you must fight any battles you find yourself involved in as tabletop games of Kings of War. The results of these tabletop clashes will decide who advances and who retreats on the map. Each campaign turn is a month of time in Mantica (though you can play it in a realworld day, week or month). In each campaign turn you can give one order to each field army. Garrison forces stay where they are and simply hope that

• March! Simply write down secretly the place to which you want that army to march. Remember that it cannot go to an enemy capital until you control the agreed number of towns. Apart from that you can march anywhere. Write your orders down secretly on a bit of paper and fold it up. When everyone has written their orders, the campaign organiser collects them up and puts them in a hat (horned helmet, skull, or whatever is to hand). He then draws them out, one at a time, resolving each on the master map as he goes. Usually this only takes a few minutes and can be quite exciting, so is well worth doing when everyone is there. If the campaign organiser is playing as well then he should write his orders on a piece of paper just like everyone else. In this case he may want to get different players or perhaps neutral bystanders (this bit often attracts other gamers if you are at a club) to draw the sets of orders. There are a number of things that can happen with the orders. They are resolved in sequence, and the order in which they are drawn can change the outcomes of your plans. Start with the first set of orders. As you resolve each set of orders, mark locations of battles on the master map so that you know who needs to resolve a tabletop battle before the next campaign turn. You may want to use counters, dice or spare models for this. Resolve the orders as follows: • March! If the army has not already been engaged in a battle by an enemy army then move it into the area it has been ordered to march to. If the army moves

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already involved. His army will arrive on a random flank edge on their turn D3+1. A battle can have up to 2 others intervening (one on each flank). If a third additional army arrives it must fall back.

Nothing: the marching army immediately captures that location including the undefended town or capital, which opens its gates rather than fight an unwinnable battle. Mark the new allegiance on the map.

If he falls back he simply returns to the location he started in. This is just like arriving in an empty location.

An enemy army: fight a battle. This cancels any unresolved order that an army in that area had. If an enemy garrison is present as well as an enemy army then fight the army in a normal battle and ignore the garrison. The garrison can come in from their army’s edge of the table on their turn D3+1.

• Rest: The army stays where it is. If no enemies attack this area by the time all orders have been resolved, the army rolls 1D6 per 100 points (or part) that that player is below his 3,000 total for all his armies and garrisons combined. The army’s current location alters its chances of finding suitable recruits as follows:

An enemy garrison: fight a battle. Own capital: 2+ Own town: 3+ Captured town: 5+

A battle: the commander of the marching army can decide to either intervene or fall back.

Each successful roll gains 100 points for that army to spend immediately on new unit(s). Any unspent points are lost. Add the new unit(s) to that army’s roster.

If he intervenes then he must decide whose side he will fight on. He can fight alongside or against either of the armies

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Finally, if there no armies (yours or enemy) in the same area as your Capital, you can roll for Rest for your Capital, just like an army. After rolling for rest, you can generate a new army from points available in your capital, or they can remain in your Capital’s garrison. Remember though that your total points can never go above the agreed maximum total for the campaign. In addition to the above, as long as there is no battle in the area at that point, if an army shares a space with a friendly town or city then it may drop off or pick up as many points/units as it chooses. Do this after the army has rolled for resting, if appropriate. Just swap the points/units from one list to the other, remembering to keep within the allowed maximums and minimums. Neither can voluntarily be reduced below the minimum size allowed.

Results of Battle The losing army must retreat, as must an army that intervened on that side. Where it goes depends on where it can be safe. Go down the following list until it finds somewhere to retreat to. The retreating player gets to choose if there are several equal options. • A location owned by the player containing a friendly army or garrison (not one with a battle in). • An empty location owned by the player. • The player’s capital. If this is currently being attacked then the retreating army may still be added to the capital’s garrison after the fight is resolved (assuming the Capital is not taken by the enemy!), but it will not be allowed to recover losses.

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Regrouping After a Battle

5-6

This is done after you look at the map and work out where you can retreat to. However, it’s best if you can do this with the models still on the table after the battle, before you pack away. The same is true for working out experience (below). It’s not essential, but it means you can tell at a glance who survived and who didn’t without having to write things down or try to remember them. Units that remained on the table at the end are assumed to be able to replace their losses with stragglers and returning lightly injured. They will fight at full effect in their next battle. If you want, and you have some extra points available, you may pay the difference in points to upgrade this unit to the next size up (e.g. Troop to Regiment, or Regiment to Horde…) and/or you may purchase a magical artefact for them if they don’t have one already. You can of course disband any unit voluntarily. Units from both sides that were routed in a battle may not be able to recover from their crushing defeat and may be so demoralised that they are disbanded. Determining this is best done with the models still on the table to save on having to remember or write things down. Both players should roll a D6 for each such unit, telling their opponent which unit they are rolling for as they do so. Score Result 1-2 The unit has sustained too many casualties to be reformed. Remove it from your army roster. 3-4

A grizzled veteran manages to round up enough of the injured and stragglers to form a semblance of the former unit. It is reduced to the next smaller sized version of the same type of troops (adjust its points values accordingly). If there is no smaller size then it is disbanded as 1-2 above.

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After some heroic shouting on the part of the unit leaders, the unit reforms. The shame-faced and dazed troopers look a mess, but they will quickly recover and the unit will fight at full effect in the next battle. If you want, and you have some extra points available, you may pay the difference in points to upgrade this unit to the next size up (e.g. Troop to Regiment, or Regiment to Horde…) and/or you may purchase a magical artefact for them if they don’t have one already.

Destiny of Kings

Experience & Reward So far we have looked at the defeated units and how much they suffer. However, units that survive the battle on both sides will have learned valuable lessons. • Each unit that survives on the winning side gets 1 point of experience. • Each unit that survives on the losing side gets 2 points of experience. Yes, that’s right. You get more experience if more things go wrong. You will need to keep track of this experience on your army roster.

Veteran Units

When a unit has gained enough experience to have 1 experience point per 40 points it is worth, rounding up (and including any artefacts), then it gains Veteran status and receives one special rule from the list overleaf. The campaign organiser can choose this rule for Veteran units (a more balanced and characterful approach) or the players can (a more fun but extreme solution)… just make sure this is clear from the beginning. So, for example, a troop that is worth only 75 points will gain Veteran status after a single lost battle, or after two battles won (assuming it survives, of course). This is because 75/40=1.87 (rounded up to 2), so the unit needs two experience points to become veteran. On the other hand, a unit that is worth 170 points will need 5 points of experience to earn that status. This is because 170/40=4.25 (rounded up to 5). When a unit receives the first Veteran special rule, its experience points reset to zero, and the process starts again, only this time the unit gains a new rule when it has 1 experience point per 30 points it is worth, rounding up. The process is then repeated again, but this time the unit gains a new rule when it has 1 experience point per 20 points it is worth, rounding up.

Units cannot gain more than three special rules, unless of course your campaign organiser decides otherwise. Note that this process is done after the regrouping process (see above) is finished, including any downgrading or upgrading of the unit size and magical artefacts, so the points value of the unit may change, which can speed up or slow down the experience & reward process. In any case experience points gained by a unit are not lost if the unit changes in value, but the amount of experience points needed for a Veteran special rule will indeed vary if that happens.

Veteran Special Rules: • The unit gains the Headstrong special rule. • The unit gains the Elite special rule. • The unit gains the Vicious special rule. • The unit gains the Iron Resolve special rule. • The unit gains the Brutal special rule. • The unit gains the Fury special rule. • The unit gains the Pathfinder special rule.

Expanding on the Experience System If you have run a campaign or two before, or are especially ambitious, you could easily expand on this simple experience system. For example, you could devise some tables for the veteran units to roll on when they qualify for an upgrade, and they could earn the special rules above or even increase some of their characteristics. Nerve and Attacks are good ones to feature on such charts, but be careful with Sp, Me, Ra, De, Crushing Strength etc, which should always be limited to a single +1 maximum increase (if increased at all!). As in most of the things listed in this section, I’d encourage you to start simple and get some experience of running a basic version before you try to add all the bells and whistles, exciting as they may seem. You are far more likely to get players wanting to have another go at campaign games if you serve them up a success

16

Map-BaseD CaMpaigns the first time, even if it is a simple one. Building on this will be a lot easier than convincing your players that the failed experiment is worth trying again.

Wrapping Up a Campaign If you have a simple set of victory conditions, such as the capture of a single capital, then the campaign will end in a similarly simple fashion when someone fulfils them. At this point it’s always a good idea to get everyone together to tell them the news and congratulate the winner. If there is a prize then you can award that too. This is also a great time to get some feedback on what worked and what didn’t, so that

your next campaign can be even better. Did the players have a fun time? Would they do it again? Which bits worked really well or didn’t work at all? Are there rules that need to be expanded or simplified (or abandoned)? In general, how could it be improved? You’ll probably want to leave a gap before you start again, so you have a bit of thinking and planning time. Soon though, a successful campaign organiser will start to get enquiries from the players about when the next one might start, and new folk will hear the stories and will yearn to have that experience themselves. You cannot rest on your laurels whilst eager generals champ at the bit! Up now, there is work to be done!

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Destiny of Kings

nArrAtive CAmpAigns A Narrative Campaign is very different from a map-based one. Normally, the campaign organiser, which can indeed take part in the campaign and enjoy the fun as well as the other players, needs to write a storyline. You can draw inspiration from the many fantasy (or historical) military campaigns that can be accessed in the form of movie, novel, comic or game and then let your imagination run free and make the event ‘yours’, adding unexpected twists and exciting side-quests. What you are trying to achieve is a series of games that the two or more players in the campaign are going to play through.

Each game has consequences and the outcome of the game will have an impact on the following game or games. So for example, the players play Game 1 and the player that wins gets an advantage for the next battle, Game2: an extra amount of troops, a free magic artefact, a free extra Hero, or some tactical advantage during the game… As you have already seen, one of the advantages of narrative campaigns over map-based ones is that you can have great fun with a minimum of two players. Also, these two players could in theory keep playing this campaign for a very long period of time (even years!), if they are enjoying it – there is no hurry and no complex organising of a whole bunch of gamers with busy lives getting in the way.

Linear vs ‘Tree’ The one described above is a linear campaign – the simplest type of narrative campaign, where the players will go through the scenarios in order: Game 1, then Game 2, then Game 3, etc. You can alternatively develop a more complex type of narrative campaign – the so-called ‘tree campaign’. In this kind of campaigns, the outcome of a scenario may determine whether the players need to play a certain game or another, and the story may then reconvene to a common point, or instead branch even further to different outcomes. For example, if Game 1 ends with an Evil victory, play Game 2. Instead if Good wins Game 1, then move straight to Game 3. An example of ‘tree’ campaign is shown in the diagram below.

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narrative CaMpaigns ‘Tree’ campaigns can be great fun, but are more complex to design than linear ones. As an example of a campaign for you to play we have written the Quest of the Necromancer campaign, which is presented in the following pages. It is mostly a linear campaign, with only the little exception

Example Tree Campaign

of a Dungeon Saga side-quest which is not mandatory, but is very good fun if you do have this other Mantic game. So what are you waiting for? Enter the world of Mantica and test the mettle of your Living Legends, for Good or for Evil…

Game 1

Skirmish Good Win

Evil Win

Pitched Battle

Minor Siege

Good Win

Evil Win

Good Win Evil Win

Last Stand

Major Siege

Good Win

Evil Win

Evil Win

Ambush!

Good Win

Good Win

Evil Win

Evil Victory!

Good Victory!

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Destiny of Kings

the Quest of the neCromAnCer The Quest of the Necromancer is a narrative campaign designed for two to four players (maybe even five!), featuring an Evil force made of Undead and Abyssals against a Good alliance of Basileans and Dwarfs, with some Elves turning up at the nick of time to (try to) save the day, as they often do. This campaign is centred around Mortibris the Necromancer and the other characters we have introduced in the Dungeon Saga game and its supplements. They are presented here (see page 47) as Living Legends, which allows you to field these excellent models in your Kings of War games.

But I Want To Use A Different Army!

Of course, if you want to adapt this campaign to suit other forces, feel free! With a little extra work, it’s easy to change the protagonists on each side to, say, Orcs versus Forces of Nature, or Ogres versus Goblins (gulp…), or any other combination of armies.

Beginning the Campaign Before the campaign starts, the players should familiarise themselves with the narrative detailed opposite. At the start of each battle, before deployment, one player should read aloud the scenario’s background. The story that unfolds as the campaign progresses will add depth and character to your games.

Experience and Recovering From Losses Feel free to adapt the rules for recovering from losses after a battle and experience and rewards on page 15-16 for use with the Quest of the Necromancer campaign. They aren’t an integral aspect of this campaign, so we won’t set hard and fast rules for them here – we’ll leave that up to you if you feel they will add to your games.

Feeling Competitive? When playing this campaign, remember that the battles are first and foremost ‘narrative’ scenarios. They are not designed to be balanced in the same way as tournament scenarios are – the main intention is to have fun experiencing the unfolding drama of Mortibris’s quest. And sometimes it’s fun to see if you can win against seemingly insurmountable odds. If you want to turn the campaign into a more competitive experience, after you’ve completed each scenario, swap armies and play it again. Not only will you face fresh tactical challenges, but you’ll also have a good idea of who was the better player.

Multi-Player Games This campaign lends itself particularly well to multi-player participation, as some of the forces are made of two (or more) separate allied armies. It’s much easier to assemble the required forces if you recruit some friends who have, or want to collect, the relative armies, and then you can all join battle together as allies against the common enemy (see the Kings of War hardback rulebook, on page 77).

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the Quest of the neCroManCer

the AbyssAl CrusAde It was a time of relative peace. After the wars of the Gods had scarred the very earth, vomiting forth strange new races and rendering evil into flesh. After the spite of Winter had drowned fully half the globe, drowning ancient and noble kingdoms. After the remnants of onceproud realms had scattered. Peace, albeit uneasy. The marauding hordes of Orcs and Goblins nibbled at the edges of civilisation. The twisted inhabitants of the Abyss would occasionally venture forth to wreak havoc on the world, before inevitably stretching themselves too thin and too far from their realm and being driven back. Diplomatic discord would occasionally spill over into minor conflict. But still, the soil of Mantica rested under a peace of sorts, a natural equilibrium that saw civilisations flourish and grow, and the cycle of life resume.

previous age as the Age of Conflict. They would soon discover how inadequately framed their experience had been. The wars that followed would cost the lives of millions, and see the fires of war consume the world once again. This is the tale of their beginning. The undead legions of the cruel Necromancer Mortibris will sweep across the land alongside the hordes of the Abyss, led by Ba’el, the Woe-bringer. Arrayed against them will be a fragile alliance of Men, Elves and Dwarfs. The fate of the world is in your hands.

Then came the Necromancer. Mortibris was not the first of his kind. Nor was he the sole architect of the dark times that would follow. But it was his pursuit of the Portal of KhulHarakh, and the subsequent opening of the seals on the Entrance to the Underworld, which began the dark times. Human scholars had known the

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Destiny of Kings

SCENARIO 1

the dArK tide rises

The keening wail scratched at his eardrums, dragging Bartolius from fitful half sleep to full wakefulness in a handful of heartbeats. Like fingernails down glass, it seemed to penetrate the very soul, resonating within and worsening the headache that cold, hunger and general privation ensured was his constant companion. He was already half out of his cot when his equerry hammered on the door.

were forewarned. The man saluted and left, and Bartolius turned his attention to his armour, buckling it in place with some difficulty, fingers numb with cold and age. He’d dreaded battle on a daily basis these last few years, knowing that it would likely be the death of them all. Strange how calm he felt now it was here.

“Come!”

He smiled to himself as he watched the guards scurrying about in their panic. The very sight of Ba’el and his horde had unnerved them utterly, and focused their attention away from him and his own forces. He reached out with his magical sense and felt the colours of their fear and anxiety in his mind’s eye, savouring it for a few indulgent moments. The awareness of his undead puppets was, in the main, dim and dull. A whisper-thin echo of the life which had preceded it, delicate as breath on a mirror. The colours of the demon hordes burned in a continual shade of anger and hatred, blinding like the sun if looked upon for two long. By comparison, the emotions of the mortals, cloying and sickly as they were, represented a breath of fresh air.

The man burst in, breathing hard yet pale as milk. So it was bad. “Sir, the…they…it’s…” the man stammered, terror driving any sense of reason or decorum from him. Bartolius strode across the room in two steps and delivered a ringing slap to the man’s face, hard enough to sting without injuring. The equerry’s eyes focused a little, and he took a deep breath before speaking. “Demons sir! Creatures from the pit. A whole mass of them, coming this way from the North.” “Is the tower secure?” It had better be, he added to himself silently. The tower was the best advantage their garrison – such as it was – possessed. “Yes sir, the men stand ready. But sir…there are so many…” He thought about slapping the man again, but decided against it. Beaten men were no good for starting a fight with. “Courage lad. We have faced off against these beasts before. Send runners to Golden Horn, and reinforcements will soon be here.” That last was a lie of course. Sinners Vigil was well-named. There would be no aid sent to the sort of men he commanded, though at least they may be avenged swiftly if the Hegemon

***

Mortibris reached out with other senses, feeling along the tendrils of control he exerted over the various creatures which shambled around him. The dry emptiness of the long dead skeletons and revenants, the hazy, wet anger of the more recently deceased zombies, and the sharp, animalistic hunger of the bestial Ghouls and werewolves. He savoured each link, tasting their distinctness, seeing the world through dozens of different eyes in dozens of different ways. Like a conductor, he played upon the strings of each, ratcheting up whatever anger, hunger, anguish or simple hatred existed there. At the edge of his awareness, he felt the moment – the singular perfect instant of opportunity, and he pulled. A hundred marionettes jerked into action at the impulse, and the army of the dead emerged from the treeline, marching towards the unprotected rear of the humans.

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sCenario 1: the DarK tiDe rises

Scenario Overview

picked from the Undead Armies list, which must include Mortibris.

Assailed by the Abyssal hordes of Ba’el from the front and the undead forces of Mortibris from behind, the beleaguered garrison of the Sinners Vigil watchtower must stand firm and hold their ground long enough for their messengers to reach Basilea and warn them of the impending danger.

The defender picks a 1,000 points force from the Armies of Basilea, but cannot include any Living Legend, nor any unit with the Fly special rule (including magical artefacts which confer that rule!).

2) Choose a Gaming Area Play on a 6’ x 4’ area.

3) Place the Terrain

1) Prepare Your Forces You and your opponent pick armies using the process described in ‘Picking a Force’ on page 76 of the Kings of War hardback rulebook. The attacker picks two forces – 1,000 points picked from the Forces of the Abyss list, which must include Ba’el, and 1,000 points

Place a Watchtower on the battlefield as shown on the map below – a hill with a watchtower (a single tower or a small building) and some low walls around it must be placed in the centre of the field. Place other terrain following the guidelines on page 84 of the Kings of War hardback rulebook.

4) Duration The game lasts until all defending forces have been wiped out from the table. Note down in which turn this happens.

Scenario 1: Set-Up Diagram

Set-Up Area A

18"

Middle Line of the Table

18"

Set-Up Area B

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Destiny of Kings

5) Victory

7) Who Goes First

The defenders are trying to get a messenger out through the Undead lines back to Basilea and to hold the enemy forces as long as possible to increase the chances of the messengers reaching their destination. The attackers are trying to prevent all messengers from getting through and annihilate the defenders as fast as possible.

The defender takes the first turn.

6) Set-up The defender must set up all his units first, within 6” of the middle line of the table. At least one unit must be in base contact with the watchtower.

Special Rules The Messengers

In addition to his forces, the defender has three messengers on horseback. The player may substitute one mounted messenger for two messengers on foot. These models are deployed normally like the rest of the army and have the profiles below: An infantry messenger has the following stats: Unit Size 1

The attacker then sets up all of his Abyssals in Set-up Area A, more than 18” from the middle line of the table, and all of his Undead in Set-up Area B, more than 18” from the middle line of the table.

Sp Me Ra De Att 5

4+

–

3+

1

Ne Pts 10/12

–

A messenger riding a horse has the following stats:

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Unit Size 1

Sp Me Ra De Att 8

4+

–

3+

1

Ne Pts 10/12

–

sCenario 1: the DarK tiDe rises

Both types of messenger have the following special rules: Individual, Iron Resolve. The messengers can move off the battlefield by moving into contact with the attacker’s table edge. If a messenger model does this, it escapes and counts as routed. After the game is over, roll a dice for each escaped messenger on the following chart to find out whether the messenger has made it to Basilea to deliver the news – as you see, the longer the defender can hold out, the more chances there are of a messenger making it to Basilea. Game Ended Roll needed on Turn: to reach Basilea: 1-3 6 4-5 5 6 4 7 3 8 2 If the game ends on turn 9 or later, or if the defenders managed by chance to completely destroy all the attackers, you can re-roll all results of 1!

The Watchtower

The watchtower is blocking terrain. In addition to his other units, the defender can choose to have either a Troop of Crossbowmen or a Heavy Arbalest garrisoning in the watchtower – declare this as you deploy. You don’t need any models to represent this garrison, they are assumed to be inside or on top of the tower/building, firing out of arrow-slits,

windows, battlements etc. But feel free to use said models to represent the garrison if you have them available. This unit may never leave the tower for the entire game. In your Shoot phase, the garrison can fire with a 360 degree arc of fire, counting as height 6 and measuring range from the building itself. Enemy units can shoot and charge into contact with the watchtower as if it was the unit occupying it. Note that attacks are never doubled/trebled against the unit in the tower. The defence of the garrison is always 6+, regardless of the unit’s actual Defence. If it succeeds in routing the garrison, the watchtower stops firing for the rest of the game. Otherwise the watchtower garrison can keep firing unperturbed (i.e. cannot be disordered) against any enemy in sight, including the one that just assaulted it. Note that if all units in the defender’s force are routed, the game ends and the garrison is also lost – the attacker does not need to destroy the garrison for the game to end.

We Are Legion

Any Abyssal unit routed is set aside and can enter the battle again in its following turn, completely fresh, moving onto the table from the Abyssal table edge.

Battle Results If any messenger reaches Basilea, this will give enough time to the Basilean priests to summon the mighty Jullius and Samacris to help their armies in the ensuing battle, as described in Scenario 2.

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SCENARIO 2

Angels feAr to treAd The ground before them seethed, writhing beneath the living, pulsing tide of infernal flesh which flowed across it. The riot of colours displayed in the Abyssal ranks only added to the effect, like the shimmering, pulsating waves of colour which sometimes flowed from the spires of the magical orders in the city, and occasionally, from the barely-seen peak of the Tower of Heavens itself. Mixed amongst them were the shambolic living dead – skeletons and zombies shuffling forwards in their odd, lumbering gait. Matias was sure he could see one or two familiar bits of heraldry in amongst the undead, the odd splash of Basilean Blue appearing amongst the ranks of unholy warriors. He shuddered at the sudden rush of awareness of his own mortality which the sight

provoked. If they failed here today, would it be him marching at the head of this swathe of evil, empty eye sockets staring sightless out at the world as maggots ate him inside out? The beating of magnificent wings snapped him from the morbid reverie, and he looked upwards to see a solitary winged figure descending slowly, alighting next to two of its kin. The Elohi tossed its golden hair and returned his scrutiny with a haughty look. Matias looked away again, unable to keep focused on the angel for too long even were it not piercing him with that cold blue stare. With the Elohim at their backs, they might survive this, though so far only a handful had arrived. Could they not see the danger from the Tower? Or, worse still, chimed a small, evil part of his mind, did they see and remain where they were out of fear? He dismissed the notion, though a flicker of unease remained. *** Another of the weakling angels descended on white pinions, alighting next to its brethren. Ba-el’s forked tongue darted from his mouth, tasting the mix of emotions on the air. Fevered anticipation burned with acid urgency from the hordes around him. The bitter musk of fear radiated from the humans arrayed before them, more foul to him than the stench of the wretched dead who marched alongside them. The Necromancer had left him many of his flesh puppets while he dealt with his other business. But it was the taste of the angels themselves that fired his rage. The urgent lust for violence clouded all other sensations, drowning even the depths of his contempt for the weakling mortals arrayed before them. Human terror, like their meat, was a mere appetiser, wolfed down in a moment of sheer indulgence, barely touching the palate. Today, he would gorge on the fear of angels.

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sCenario 2: angels fear to treaD

Scenario Overview

The force cannot include Valandor, Madriga and Rordin.

The demonic hordes of the Abyss Pour forth towards the city, Ba-el at their head screaming challenges to the very heavens. Though the Abyssals are accompanied by a shambling horde of undead, there is no sign of Mortibris among their ranks. The defenders of Basilea stand ready to meet this threat, trusting in the power of their twin Guardians Julius and Sammacris, and their legions of Angelic Elohi, to help them win the day…

If in Scenario 1 the messengers reached Basilea, the army also gets Jullius and Samacris for free on top of the existing forces.

1) Prepare Your Forces You and your opponent pick armies using the process described in ‘Picking a Force’ on page 76 of the Kings of War rulebook.

2) Choose a Gaming Area Play on a 6’ x 4’ or 8’ x 4’ area.

One player picks two forces – 1500 points picked from the Forces of the Abyss list, which must include Ba’el, and 1500 points picked from the Undead Armies list, but cannot include Mortibris. The other player picks a 2000 points force from the Armies of Basilea (including up to 1000 points of allied Dwarfs, if you want), which must include Danor and Orlaf.

3) Place the Terrain This battle takes place in the esplanade in front of the walls of the City of the Golden Horn, no terrain at all is placed on the table. The Basilean edge of the table represents the mighty city walls – of course, if you have enough fortifications to line up the Basilean edge of the table, that would look awesome.

Scenario 2: Set-Up Diagram

Set-Up Area A

12" Middle Line of the Table

12"

Set-Up Area B

Walls of the City of the Golden Horn

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Destiny of Kings

4) Duration As normal, see page 84 of the rulebook.

5) Victory The hordes of Ba’el are trying to defeat the Basileans in the field and send them reeling back within the relative safety of their walls. This will allow the Abyssals and Undead forces to swarm South at a much faster pace. This battle is a ‘Kill!’ game as described on page 85 of the rulebook.

6) Set-up

As normal, see page 84 of the rulebook. Of course if you have placed the walls at one end of the table, the Basilean player automatically wins the roll and must deploy his first unit on that side of the table.

7) Who Goes First

can fire three ‘shots’ at the enemy. These shots count as coming from height 8 and measure range from any point on your edge of the table (or the fortifications if you have placed them on your edge). Each ‘shot’ can be one of the following (declare just before firing each shot): • A Regiment of Crossbowmen • A Heavy Arbalest • A Lightning Bolt (6) spell

We are Legion

Any Abyssal unit routed is set aside and can enter the battle again in its following turn, completely fresh, moving onto the table from the Abyssal table edge.

Clash of Titans

If Ba’el attacks and routs one or more Ur-Elohi (including Jullius or Samacris), for the rest of the game the Basileans suffer a -2 modifier to their Nerve.

As normal, see page 84 of the rulebook. If any Ur-Elohi, Jullius or Samacris attacks and routs Ba’el, for the rest of the game the Abyssals suffer a -2 modifier to their Nerve.

Special Rules City Walls

The additional troops manning the walls of the City of the Golden Horn can shoot against the advancing enemy hordes in support of their army in the field. To represent this, in your Shoot phase, you

Battle Results If the hordes of Ba’el can defeat the Basileans, they can send reinforcements in support of Mortibris (see scenario 3).

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sCenario 3: the gates of Dolgarth

SCENARIO 3

the gAtes of dolgArth Dread seized Rordin in an icy grip as his brain processed the news. He looked up at the young Dwarf who had borne it, searching for some trace of irony or humour in the youthful features. “Undead? Marching here? You are sure?” “Certain, my Lord. Quite a small number, relatively. There is word from our scouts that a larger horde of them marches beside the forces of the Abyss against the Golden Horn. It is possible that these were simply drawn to them from their graves on the plains.” Rordin waved the young Dwarf to silence with an irritated hand. He knew from all-too-personal experience that wasn’t how it worked, though he couldn’t bring himself to start explaining to this young pup. It still amazed him how ignorant his kin remained of the ways of sorcery in general and necromancy in particular. If there were undead marching here, they had a purpose. Of that he was certain. And Basilea too. He wondered if Orlaf or Danor were out there somewhere, facing off against the demons. Orlaf would probably relish it. Danor… well, the boy hadn’t emerged from the vaults beneath Oth unscathed, that was for sure. He shook off the reverie – he had more pressing problems.

The gates of the Dwarf Hold came into sight. Restored to something of their former glory since he had last been there, the Dwarfs having moved back into their ancestral halls. Mortibris smiled to himself – no wonder there had been no sign of Golloch’s forces in their march upon Basilea. The alliance would doubtless be at breaking point. All to the good. He closed his eyes and concentrated, feeling the link with the shard of himself. The Dwarfs had not had the sense to burn the remains of Hoggar, and languishing in the sewers beneath the Hold were dismembered parts of the Zombie Troll, including the piece of his own essence which he had sunk into the diseased flesh. If he could regain that piece of himself, his power would be replenished. He drew his cowl closer about his head, blending in with the undead around him. The Dwarfs must not realise he was here before he reached the gates. Let them think this a small, random incursion. By the time they discovered the truth, it would already be too late…

“Sound the alarum. I want every soldier we have armed and assembled at the Eastern gate in ten minutes.” “At once, High Warden.” The young dwarf hurried off to carry out the order. Rordin sighed, and then picked up Forgebreaker, feeling the reassuring heft of it in his hand. Time to go and earn that title. ***

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Destiny of Kings

Scenario Overview Mortibris seeks his Soul-splinter – the piece of himself which he embedded in his dread servant Hoggar, and which still abides in the remains of the Zombie Troll Shaman. To get it, he needs to get back into Dolgarth, and has taken a small force of undead to try and break in. At the gates, he is met by the garrison, who will do everything in their power to stop him being admitted.

1) Prepare Your Forces You and your opponent pick armies using the process described in ‘Picking a Force’ on page 76 of the Kings of War rulebook. The attacker picks a 1,500 points force from the Undead Armies list, but cannot include any Living Legends. If the Abyssals have won Scenario 2, they have managed to send reinforcements – a small force of 500 points chosen from the Forces of the Abyss list, which cannot include any Living Legends.

The defender picks a 1,500 points force from the Dwarf Armies, which must include Rordin, but cannot include any other Living Legends.

2) Choose a Gaming Area Play on a 4’ x 4’ area.

3) Place the Terrain Place terrain following the guidelines on page 84 of the Kings of War rulebook.

4) Duration See Special Rules.

5) Victory Mortibris is trying to sneak back into Dolgarth, sacrificing some of his minions to keep the garrison busy and cause enough mayhem to allow the necromancer to enter the dungeons with a small retinue. The attacker has to break through the enemy lines and move the unit containing Mortibris out of the table through the enemy table edge.

Scenario 3: Set-Up Diagram

Set-Up Area A

12" Middle Line of the Table

12"

Set-Up Area B

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sCenario 3: the gates of Dolgarth

Mortibris in Disguise

6) Set-up As described on page 84 of the rulebook, except that the defender begins to deploy regardless of who won the roll for table side.

7) Who Goes First

The attacker must secretly nominate one of his Infantry (not Large infantry) or Cavalry units to include Mortibris in disguise at the start of the game – it cannot be a unit with the Fly special rule. Write this down on a piece of paper, fold it and place it next to the playing area.

The attacker goes first.

Special Rules Race Against Time

As there is a Dwarf reinforcement detachment marching at high speed to intercept the Undead and reinforce the ruins of Dolgarth, Mortibris must seize his chance quickly. Play the game as normal for seven turns, then, at the end of Turn Seven, the defender rolls a die: on a 6 the reinforcements arrive and the game ends, on a 5 or less it continues for another turn for each player (Turn Eight). At the end of Turn Eight, roll again, but this time the game ends on 5+, and so on, getting more likely every turn, as shown in the table below: End of Turn: Seven Eight Nine Ten Eleven and further

If that unit is routed, the game ends immediately and the defender wins – the campaign moves to Game 5. The same happens if the game ends while the unit including Mortibris is still on the table. If that unit moves into contact with the defender’s table edge before the end of the game, the attacker reveals Mortibris, the unit is removed and the attacker wins – move on to play Game 4 (Dungeon Saga mission).

Battle Results If Mortibris makes it into Dolgarth, he will have a chance of acquiring a powerful artefact that will help him in the following battles of the campaign (see Game 5).

Game Ends On: 6 5+ 4+ 3+ 2+

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Destiny of Kings

SCENARIO 4

the soulshArd As well as your Kings of War miniatures, you will need a copy of the Dungeon Saga boxed game and the Adventurer’s Companion expansion in order to play this scenario. “Vanished?” Rordin couldn’t keep the disbelief from his voice as he said it. The dark lord Mortibris, one of the most dangerous necromancers in the world, had made his way inside the Hold and then…vanished? “Yes sire”, the guard had at least the decency to look shame-faced as he continued, “He was spotted in the east passage with some of his cohort and then they just…vanished.”

Rordin was already moving as he started firing out orders. “To arms, I want men stationed in the east passage and at twenty metre intervals in every passage, corridor, nook and cranny that leads away from it. If he’s here, he’s after something and he didn’t just bloody vanish. We’ll find him, or I’ll have bloody words with people!” There was a flurry of activity as dwarfs went to fulfil the order, though Rordin paid it no heed as he made his way to the East passage himself, axe in hand. *** The stench would have been unbearable, had he still been bothered by such things. But when one kept company with the dead, both recent and ancient, one ceased to notice the various aromas which accompanied decay and death, next to which the smell of waste was a light bouquet. The stuff which swilled around his ankles and robes as he walked was of similar disinterest to him, though it made the walking no easier. Briefly he considered taking a rib from one of his companions and fashioning a torch, but a naked flame amongst the gases down here was possibly not the best idea, at least not while he was still here. He concentrated instead on the Soulshard, reaching out with his other sense to tease out its location. He felt a pulse of recognition from the thing as his questing tendrils brushed, gossamer light over it, and gave a grunt of satisfaction. The dwarven fools had thought to make some sort of gesture by throwing the corpse into these fetid depths. He would make them pay for their lack of vision.

32

sCenario 4: the soulsharD

heroes

overlord

Unlike most other Dungeon Saga adventures, this time the “Heroes” are the forces of evil, and the “Overlord” is Rordin of the Dwarfs.

Overlord Command Cards:

The Heroes used in this adventure are Mortibris the Necromancer, Gerisoth, Herald of Woe (Abyssal Champion), Enric, Butcher of Stryania, (Vampire) and Razvan the Slave (Wraith). Their Hero Cards are detailed on page 37. In addition to your Hero Cards, take the following: Mortibris: Use the Legendary side of Mortibris’ Hero Card Available spells: Shield, Corrode, Raise Dead, Death Surge, Soul Burn, Unspeakable Fear, Darkness. Raise Dead: Skeleton Warriors (4). Gerisoth, Herald of Woe: Available spells: Flamebolt, Burn Enric, Butcher of Stryania: Available spells: Transfix. Razvan the Slave: Available spells: Shriek.

16 2

Commands per Turn:

viCtory Heroes: Mortibris must reclaim the Soulshard from the well. Overlord: Cripple Mortibris or prevent the Heroes from winning before the time runs out.

This adventure uses only the standard Overlord cards. As you will need more than there are in the boxed game, shuffle together the cards from the boxed game with the cards from the Adventurer’s Companion, and deal from the combined deck to make your draw pile. Rordin: Use the Legendary side of Rordin’s Hero Card, and give him Forgebreaker.

Tactical Thoughts

There is more than one way through the sewers of Dolgarth, and the Heroes will need to choose their path wisely so as not to waste time. It is absolutely vital in this adventure to choose the order of your Hero Turns carefully – the corridors are narrow and you need to be prepared to cast the right spells and send your Heroes through the doors in the right order to avoid getting bottlenecked by a crafty dwarf, or turned into a pincushion by their crossbows. It is equally important to create bottlenecks behind you as you go, and Mortibris’ skeletons are perfect for this. With all of the doors opening once you reach the Soulshard it is important not to be overwhelmed by the more numerous Dwarfs.

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Destiny of Kings

sCenArio mAp

34

sCenario 4: the soulsharD

mAp Key STARTING POSITIONS:

MINIONS:

Hero Starting Position Boss Starting Position Minion Starting Position

FURNITURE: Shield Breaker

Well

Ironclad

Table

Crossbowman

Barrel

Mastiff

Weapons Rack

Note: Arrows Denote Facing

HEROES: Earth Elemental

Mortibris the Necromancer

COUNTERS:

DOORS: Single Door, Mundane Lock

Razvan the Slave Pile of Bones Enric, Butcher of Stryania

CHESTS: Mundane Lock

Gerisoth, Herald of Woe

BOSSES:

Note: Place a lock counter with the corresponding numbers from the map next to each chest.

Rordin, Dwarf Fighter

35

Double Door, Mundane Lock Note: Place a ward/lock counter with the corresponding numbers from the map next to each door.

Destiny of Kings SPECIAL RULES THE SOULSHARD The Soulshard can be found in the well in the final room. To reclaim the Soulshard, Mortibris must be adjacent to the well and use an action. REALM OF THE DWARFS Unlike the mindless Undead, the Dwarfs inhabiting Dolgarth are a little more intelligent and know their way around. Even though they are Minions, once a Dwarf is placed on the board it may open doors to any area already placed by moving adjacent to the door and using their action on it. They do not need to break the doors down as they will have the key, , but the doors will be removed from the board as normal. In addition, once Rordin has been placed on the board, the alarm will be sounded and all other doors on the board will be opened and any remaining areas of the map will be placed. FIELDS OF BONES At the end of each Round, the Hero Player may place 1 additional Pile of Bones in an empty square anywhere on the board.

As part of Mortibris’ Hero Turn, he may raise Skeletons from the dead using his Raise Dead spell card. Once these are on the table they each act as if they are an additional Hero, and will each Move and make their actions in a separate Hero Turn. Interrupts may be made between Skeleton turns as normal. They may act in the same Round in which they were raised. Otherwise they have the stats and abilities of a regular Skeleton Minion. THE EARTH ELEMENTAL Deep beneath the earth the Dwarf Stone Priests are hard at work channelling the energies of Nature to their cause, and Mortibris will stumble upon the results of their studying as he travels through Dolgarth. The Earth Elemental on the map will use the rules for an Obsidian Golem (see the Adventurer’s Companion Bestiary). CHESTS AND BARRELS The Chest marked A contains 2 Power 1 Energy Crystals, the Chest marked B contains a Haste Potion and the chest marked C contains a Healing Potion. The barrels can be destroyed as detailed in the Furniture section of the Adventurer’s Companion.

36

sCenario 4: the soulsharD

gerisoth, herAld of Woe (AByssAl ChAmpion) Ba’el’s most trusted Lieutenant, sent to accompany Mortibris, though whether to guard him or watch him is not clear. STARTING STATS 6

4

FEAT: FIRESTORM

2

The Hero bursts into flame, engulfing every nearby model (friend and foe) in a pool of magical fire. Adjacent models, friend or foe, are attacked with a 3 dice magical attack, those two squares away with 2 dice, and those 3 squares away with 1 dice. The Hero himself cannot be wounded by this fire.

COMBAT

ABILITIES Spellcaster

enriC, ButCher of stryAniA (vAmpire) A newly-sired vampire who murdered his entire province in an orgy of bloodletting, summoned by Mortibris as his personal guard. STARTING STATS 7

5

FEAT: UNSTOPPABLE

3

The Hero fights as normal. Then, if the defender is removed from the board, he may immediately fight again. If there are no models to fight, he may move 1 square. If he can now Fight then he must do so. Continue until the Hero can no longer fight or fails to remove his target in one attack.

COMBAT

ABILITIES Spellcaster, Swoop

rAzvAn the slAve (WrAith) The last to fall in defence of his province, cruelly enslaved by the power-drunk vampire Enric, and cursed to follow him for eternity. STARTING STATS 4

2

FEAT: SOUL DRAIN

5

When the model uses Soul Drain, the model itself plus all adjacent models (friend and foe) immediately suffer 1 Hit each. This bypasses all Armour and other protections.

COMBAT

ABILITIES Spellcaster, Walk Through Walls

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Destiny of Kings

SCENARIO 5

gAtes of hell

The Necromancer cursed and spat in the dust as he saw the host which awaited them. Leave it to the Elves to meddle in matters which did not concern them. With the Dwarfs and possibly the Basileans soon to be at his back, he could ill-afford further distractions here. No matter. The Elves facing him had no idea of the power he could unleash. Not even the blighted maiden at their head, whose essence he recognised readily enough.

The she-Elf had been unfocused and lacked discipline when he had faced her last, her natural strength and ability compromised by her rage at his desecration of the maiden Elshara’s spirit. Even at this distance, he could see the same glint in her eye, the set of her body confirming it. She had come here for a reckoning. Foolish. He would teach her the error of her ways, and then maybe add her to his personal guard. After all, it would be a shame to waste such talents… *** Madriga’s blood was like ice in her veins, every muscle taut, loaded with the explosive potential of all her anger. It had irritated her for months after that no trace of the Necromancer could be found other than dust. Twice now, he had slipped through her fingers, denying her the righteous vengeance she sought. She had thought that chance gone and had bent her energy to other tasks. These were perilous times, and at her father’s request she had assumed her mantle as High Warden of the seas. It had felt good to take command of a fleet once again, sailing

the seas and protecting her people. But some small corner of her mind had chafed at the suspicion, the near certainty, that Mortibris was not done. Now here he was, at the head of another vile horde. She saw flashes of Basilean blue and even Dwarven plate. Idly, she wondered if perhaps Orlaf, Rordin and Danor had already fallen. Without her to watch their backs, it seemed likely. She banished the thought, focusing on the present. The Portal was important, though in truth she did not know why. The arcane mysteries had never much interested her – hers was a vital spirit, interested in action, and to the dismay of her father and her tutors, she had never mastered the patience for magic. Nevertheless, her father had impressed upon her how vital it was that the necromancer not be allowed to take possession of it. Even if she had to sacrifice every last warrior at her command, Mortibris must not be allowed to open the portal. Even if her own life must be given. When her father had said that, she had realised just what was at stake. She turned to her lieutenant, a broad elf with the wild hair of a lifetime at sea and a livid red scar slashed left to right from her temple to her chin. “The order is given. We prevail, or we die.” But, she added to herself, the necromancer is mine, either way.

38

sCenario 5: gates of hell

Scenario Overview Mortibris hurries to the Southern Watchline, determined to access the ancient Portal of Khul-Harakh, part of a hidden network of portals that worms its way through the world from the Abyss. The arcane sorcery, which powers it, breaks the barriers between the real world and the Abyss, allowing its malignant power to surge forth into the world. If Mortibris can open it, he can unleash untold horrors, and the reach of the evil of the Abyss will be further than ever. He may also use this as leverage to gain the alliance of the notoriously withdrawn and neutral Ophidian Empire, strengthening his own abilities. Rushing to stop him are Elves from Therennia Adar’s warfleets, led by the High Warden of the Seas, Madriga Starrekin, who has her own score to settle with the Necromancer.

the Elf army can also include Dwarf and/or Basilean allies, including any of the Living Legends in this book.

2) Choose a Gaming Area Play on a 6’ x 4’ area.

3) Place the Terrain Place a Portal on the battlefield as shown on the map overleaf – a hill with a monument (a single monolith, obelisk, or a small building) and some low walls around it must be placed in the centre of the field. The rest of the table is barren desert and can only include a few hills.

4) Duration As normal, see page 84 of the rulebook.

1) Prepare Your Forces You and your opponent pick armies using the process described in ‘Picking a Force’ on page 76 of the Kings of War rulebook. The attacker picks a 2,000 points force from the Undead Armies list, which must include Mortibris, but cannot include any other Living Legends. If Mortibris has managed to enter the ruins of Dolgarth at the end of scenario 3 AND managed to win scenario 4, then the Undead player gets an additional 500 points, in addition to his force. If he did not achieve both of these results, then the Good player gets a 500 points allied Dwarf force. The defender picks a 2,000 points force from the Elf Armies list, which must include Madriga, but cannot include any other Living Legend. If the players agree, the Undead force can also include Abyssal allies (led by Ba’el or not), and

39

Destiny of Kings

5) Victory Both armies are trying to seize and control the ancient Portal of Khul-Harakh. At the end of the game, add up the cost of all of your units that are entirely within 12” of the centre of the playing area. That is your score. Your opponent does the same and you compare scores. If the difference between the scores in favour of a player is at least 10% of the total cost of the armies, that player wins, otherwise the game is a draw. If you are playing with the recommended forces of 2,000 points, you need at least 200 points more than your opponent to win. In case of a draw, see Special Rules.

6) Set-up

Portal to the Netherworld

If Mortibris is within 6” of the Portal, he can use two of his spells per Shoot phase rather than one, against the same or a different target.

Till the Bitter End

If the game ends and is a draw, immediately play another turn per player, and then check victory conditions again. Continue to do so until one side has won – there can be no draw!

Battle Results

As described on page 84 of the rulebook.

7) Who Goes First As described on page 84 of the rulebook.

Special Rules The Soulshard

AND managed to win scenario 4, he is in possession of the Soulshard. The Soulshard magnifies the already mighty necromantic powers of Mortibris. It allows the player to re-roll all failed rolls to hit with any Heal and Surge spells used by Mortibris.

If Mortibris has managed to enter the ruins of Dolgarth at the end of scenario 3

The outcome of this battle is very important, because if the undead control the Portal, Mortibris will find it much easier to summon the dread legions of the Abyss to his side, but more importantly, the Ophidians would support Mortibris and make it extremely difficult for the Dwarfs and Basileans to join up with the Elves in the final battles to come. And viceversa, of course, if the Elves retain control of the portal.

Scenario 5: Set-Up Diagram

Set-Up Area A

18"

Middle Line of the Table

18"

Set-Up Area B

40

sCenario 6: BorDerline

SCENARIO 6

Borderline “Well, trust the bloody elves to make a mess of things. Looks like I’ll need to pull your arse out of the fire again, Starrekin.” Madriga felt the stiffening of her troops as they heard the insult, and took a breath. Even through the pain and the aching tiredness that penetrated her very bones, she had to work hard to suppress a laugh. She turned, glacially slow, and let her gaze drift pointedly downwards to rest on the familiar features of Rordin. She kept her face blank, completely immobile, though she suspected he could see the spark of amusement in her eyes.

themselves, looks of indignant rage crossing what she could see of their faces, the flesh turning puce above their beards. She saw the twinkle in Rordin’s eye, welcome among the aging of his face since last she had seen him. The stared at each other a few seconds more, deadpan expressions set on their faces, their armies united in tense silence, hands on weapon hilts. Rordin’s laugh came like a gun shot, a sharp bark which cut the atmosphere like a knife. Madriga’s own smile split her features in the same moment and the two warriors paced forwards and clasped each other wrist to wrist, in the old greeting.

“I don’t recall a pressing need in my forces for elbow rests, master dwarf. Nor do we require any of that horse piss you call beer. So exactly how is it that you think you and your…men are able to assist us?”

“It’s bloody good to see you, Madriga. Though the seven hells knows I wish it were in better circumstances.”

The dwarfs behind Rordin, who had been chuckling at their Lord’s joke, now froze

“Destiny seems minded to give us no peace, Rordin. Who are we to argue?”

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Destiny of Kings

Scenario Overview Mortibris has fled to the Ophidian Plains, there to try and access the fabled entrance to the Underworld, and unleash dread legions of Undead from beneath the sands of ancient Uhmnia. In his wake, he has left an army of Undead to hold off the pursuing forces of Dwarfs and Elves who are bearing down on him. Victory is within his grasp, and the only effect the alliance can have on the outcome is how costly that victory will be to the world. The evil player must hold off the alliance for as long as possible, and is at lower strength. The longer they hold, the more powerful will Mortibris’ forces be in the final battle. If the evil player won the last game, the Ophidians favour Mortibris’ cause, and will aid him with reinforcements. If the good player won the last game, the Ophidians side with the alliance, and alliance reinforcements will appear.

1) Prepare Your Forces You and your opponent pick armies using the process described in ‘Picking a Force’ on page 76 of the Kings of War rulebook. The attacker picks two forces – 1,500 points picked from the Elf Armies list, which must

include Madriga, but cannot include any other Living Legends, and 1,500 points picked from the Dwarf Armies list, which must include Rordin, but cannot include any other Living Legends. The defender picks a 1,000 points force from the Undead Armies list, but cannot include any Living Legend. If the Elves won Scenario 5, both Good armies are deployed at the start of the game as normal. However, if Mortibris won Scenario 5, the defender gets an extra 500 points to spend on his army and the Dwarf force is delayed and cannot be deployed at the start of the game – instead the Good player must roll a die at the beginning of his second turn – the Dwarfs arrive on a roll of 4+. If they do not, they arrive automatically at the beginning of his third turn. When the Dwarfs arrive, the entire army moves onto the table from the player’s edge and can move at the double, but not charge.

2) Choose a Gaming Area Play on a 4’ x 4’ area.

42

sCenario 6: BorDerline

3) Place the Terrain

to deploy regardless of who won the roll for table side.

Place terrain following the guidelines on page 84 of the Kings of War rulebook, but keep the amount of terrain light as this is a dry and barren part of the world.

7) Who Goes First

4) Duration

Special Rules

The game lasts until the end of turn 12 or until all defending forces have been wiped out from the table – note down in which turn this happens. If the defender was to wipe out the attacker (!), the game counts as lasting 12 turns for the purposes of Battle Results (see below).

5) Victory The defenders are trying to hold the enemy forces as long as possible to buy time for Mortibris to summon more and more dark forces to his aid. The attackers are trying to annihilate the delaying force as fast as possible.

6) Set-up As described on page 84 of the Kings of War rulebook, except that the defender begins

The attacker goes first.

The Breath of Death

Mysterious sudden sandstorms plague this cursed land – roll a die at the beginning of every player’s turn. On a result of 4+, the wind abates for a while and the game is played as normal. On a result of 3 or less, the visibility, for all purposes, is limited to 12", and in addition all units with the Fly special rule cannot use that rule and have their Speed reduced to 3.

Battle Results As noted above, keep track of how many turns it took for the attacker to destroy the defender – each turn will add an amount of extra points to the forces of Evil in the final battle – Scenario 7!

Scenario 6: Set-Up Diagram

Set-Up Area A

12" Middle Line of the Table

12"

Set-Up Area B

43

Destiny of Kings

SCENARIO 7

the underWorld opens Thunder rolled across the sky and through the earth, rain so rapid and dense that it was impossible to tell whether it fell upward or downward. Gigantic, eye-scorching flashes of lightning lit the scene brighter than day, before vanishing again to leave only darkness and a scorched after impression. Yet not a hundred paces away, Orlaf could see the outside world, dry earth and bright sunshine, as though through a haze of smoke. Before them, a legion of abyssal and undead creatures was assembling, more and more emerging from the pit with each passing moment. He looked over the ranks of his allies. Dwarfs, Basileans and Elves stood in unity, looking a poor match for the swarm which they faced. There was a sound, like the echo of distant thunder heard backwards. Like the tearing of fabric but loud enough to split the sky in two. The thunder stopped rumbling, the sky began

to clear and the lightning stopped. A shaft of pure golden light thrust down from the heavens, alighting on Danor. The young mage looked up, eyes glazed, and as if sleeping, reached into a fold in his robe and produced an amulet. The light touched it, suffused it, and then there was a blinding flash. When it had died down, and his eyes recovered, standing before the wizard was a giant golden figure the barbarian had seen once before. The sharp intake of breath around him told him that all others present had recognised it too. Valandor raised a hand to the heavens, and clenched it into a fist. At that signal, a mighty beating of wings was heard, as legions of Elohim descended. Now they had a fight. *** The portal roiled and rebelled like some sentient creature touched by its anathema. Mortibris strained to hold the connection, but it was already slipping from him. With a sound like ripping flesh, the portal collapsed in on itself, but as it did so, one final figure emerged from it, to stand before him. Steam rose from the red flesh, and if possible it seemed that the creature had grown in stature since he had last seen it. The bestial visage bent to face him, malevolent eyes boring into his own. “You will serve me, Ba’el!” He said the words with an authority he did not suddenly entirely feel. The creature laughed, a chortle like a rockslide. “Your hold on me is done with, mortal. I grant you your life in return for my freedom. But if you are still here at battle’s end, we will have a reckoning. Now, where is my brother?”

44

sCenario 7: the unDerworlD opens

Scenario Overview Mortibris opens the fabled Entrance to the Underworld, pouring fourth demonic legions and undead creatures alike from the rent in reality. Valandor returns one last time to face off against this potential apocalypse, legions of Elohim at his side. A grand alliance of Basileans, Elves and Dwarfs will face off against a huge horde of Abyssals and Undead in a fight for the very world.

1) Prepare Your Forces

• 1,500 from the Armies of Basilea, which must include Danor, Orlaf and Valandor, but cannot include any other Living Legends. The other player picks a force from the Undead Armies list, which must include Mortibris, but cannot include any other Living Legend and an Allied force from the Abyssal list, which must include Ba’el, but cannot include any other Living Legend. The amount of points he has to spend on these forces depends on how long the game in Scenario 6 lasted, as follows:

You and your opponent pick armies using the process described in ‘Picking a Force’ on page 76 of the Kings of War rulebook.

Game Ended on Turn: 1-5 6 7 8 9 10 11

One player picks three forces: • 1,000 points from the Elf Armies list, which must include Madriga, but cannot include any other Living Legends. • 1,000 points from the Dwarf Armies list, which must include Rordin, but cannot include any other Living Legends.

Forces Available to Evil: 1,000 points per force 1,250 points per force 1,500 points per force 1,600 points per force 1,750 points per force 1,900 points per force 2,100 points per force

If the game ended on Turn 12, each force gets 2,500 points… the world is doomed… doomed I tells ya!

Scenario 7: Set-Up Diagram

Set-Up Area A

12" Middle Line of the Table

12"

Set-Up Area B

45

Destiny of Kings

2) Choose a Gaming Area

purposes, is limited to 12”, and in addition all units with the Fly special rule cannot use that rule and have their Speed reduced to 3.

Play on a 6’ x 4’ area.

Two are One

3) Place the Terrain Place terrain following the guidelines on page 84 of the Kings of War rulebook, but keep the amount of terrain light as this is a dry and barren part of the world.

4) Duration See special rules.

5) Victory The Evil forces are trying to destroy the alliance – in order to win, the Evil player must wipe out the entire enemy force. The Good forces, on the other hand, are trying to destroy the two great evils that lead the enemy hordes. If both Ba’el and Mortibris are routed, the game ends immediately with a Good victory.

6) Set-up

Every time Ba’el and Valandor charge into each other, the charging player rolls a die – on a 4+ they annihilate each other and both vanish – counting as Routed in melee.

Battle Results Well, if the Alliance forces are destroyed, the network of portals across the world will have their seals weakened, and evil will be permitted to range farther and wider than it has in many centuries. Mortibris and Ba’el will eventually be stopped, but the amount of lives lost in such a campaign would be beyond count, and the world of Mantica will never be the same again. If the Alliance wins, the threat of Mortibris and Ba’el is averted… for a while at least. Find out how long for (and in other words, how well you have done in the campaign) by keeping track of how Ba’el and Mortibris are Routed and then consulting the following chart:

As described on page 84 of the rulebook.

7) Who Goes First

• Routed in melee by one of the Heroes from this book – this evil is properly destroyed by one of its true enemies, its body appropriately disposed of and its spirit banished for centuries.

As described on page 84 of the rulebook.

Special Rules The Soulshard

If Mortibris has managed to enter the ruins of Dolgarth at the end of scenario 3 AND managed to win scenario 4, he is in possession of the Soulshard. The Soulshard magnifies the already mighty necromantic powers of Mortibris. It allows the player to re-roll all failed rolls to hit with any Heal and Surge spells used by Mortibris.

The Breath of Death

Mysterious sudden sandstorms plague this cursed land – roll a die at the beginning of every player’s turn. On a result of 4+, the wind abates for a while and the game is played as normal, but on a result of 3 or less, the visibility, for all

46

• Routed by a ranged attack from one of the Heroes from this book or by a melee attack from another Good unit – this evil is vanquished, but the body is lost in the mayhem of battle. Within the next generation, their influence and presence will start to materialize again… • Routed by a ranged attack from a Good unit other than the Heroes from this book – this evil seems gone during the battle, and their armies are turned to dust or banished to the nether realms, but after the dust settles, a manic laughter echoes in the night…

CharaCters

heroes

Mortibris the Necromancer [1]

Note that no Army Special Rules are inherited. All Special Rules are explicitly listed for each hero in their entry.

Unit Size 1

Hero (Inf)

Sp Me Ra De Att 5

5+

–

4+

1

Ne Pts 15/17 210

Alignment: Evil – Undead & Empire of Dust.

Hero of Renown

Special: Bane-chant (2), Heal (5), Individual, Inspiring, Life Leech (1), Lightning Bolt (4), Regeneration (5+), Stealthy, Surge (10).

This unit’s Inspiring special rule also affects allied units in the same army.

Chill Mist: While within 6" of Mortibris, all friendly, non-allied units have the Stealthy special rule. Options: Hero of Renown (+50 pts).

Danor the Wizard [1]

Hero (Inf)

Unit Size

Ne Pts

1

Sp Me Ra De Att 5

4+

–

4+

1

Orlaf the Barbarian [1] Unit Size

11/13 100

1

Alignment: Good – Any Good or Neutral army.

Hero (Inf)

Sp Me Ra De Att 6

3+

–

4+

6

Ne Pts –/15 140

Special: Bane Chant (1), Fireball (4), Heal (1), Individual, Lightning Bolt (2), Wind Blast (3).

Alignment: Good – Any Good or Neutral army.

Staff of Silibar: After using a spell, Danor may immediately use another different spell he possesses, against the same or a different target. He may continue to do this until he has used each of his spells once in any of his Shoot phases.

Unstoppable Whirlwind: Once per game, declare you are using this ability just before your attack in a melee. For the rest of this Melee phase, Orlaf has 12 Attacks instead of 6.

Energy Focus: Once per game, Danor can extend the range of one of his spells by 12".

Rordin the Dwarf [1]

Special: Crushing Strength (2), Individual, Vicious.

Demon Lord Ba’el, Bane of the Mortal Kingdoms [1] Hero (Lrg Inf) Unit Size 1

Sp Me Ra De Att 10

3+

–

5+

9

Ne Pts

Unit Size 1

Hero (Inf)

Sp Me Ra De Att 4

3+

–

6+

4

Ne Pts 12/14 110

Alignment: Good – Any Good or Neutral army. Special: Crushing Strength (3), Headstrong, Individual, Inspiring (Dwarfs Only).

16/19 360

Forgebreaker: This ancient weapon confers Crushing Strength which is already included in the profile.

Special: Brutal, Charge (2), Crushing Strength (2), Fly, Fury, Inspiring, Lightning Bolt (5), Regeneration (5+), Thunderous, Vicious.

Now I’m Angry: Once per game, after an enemy unit rolls to damage Rordin (whether in melee or with a ranged attack), the player can force the opponent to re-roll all successful rolls to damage. This effect lasts from that moment to the end of the enemy turn – all units rolling to damage Rordin must re-roll their successful rolls to damage.

Alignment: Evil – Forces of the Abyss.

From the Pit I Curse Thee!: This ability is a ranged attack that can be used once per game. When this ranged attack is used, all enemy units within 6" of Ba’el become Disordered. Options: Hero of Renown (+50 pts).

Madriga the Elf [1] Unit Size 1

Hero (Inf)

Sp Me Ra De Att 6

3+

3+

The Spirit of Valandor [1]

4+

3

Ne Pts

Unit Size

11/13 110

1

Hero (Large Inf)

Sp Me Ra De Att

Ne Pts

10

–/17 375

3+

–

5+

6

Alignment: Good – Any Good or Neutral army.

Alignment: Good – Any Good army.

Special: Bow, Elite, Individual, Pathfinder, Piercing (1), Stealthy, Vanguard, Vicious.

Special: Crushing Strength (2), Fly, Heal (6), Iron Resolve, Rallying (1), Thunderous Charge (1), Very Inspiring.

Trick Shot: Once per game, instead of firing three shots at the normal range, Madriga can fire a single shot that has a maximum range of 48”, ignores the cover modifier and has the Blast (D6) special rule.

Healing Aura: Instead of casting his Heal (6) spell, Valandor may instead cast Heal (3) on all friendly, nonallied units within 6" of him. Roll for each unit separately. Options: Hero of Renown (+50 pts).

47

Destiny of Kings

epilogue

From the moment Mortibris and Ba’el unleashed their hellish crusade upon the mortal world, nothing would ever be the same. Simmering tensions between the civilised races were exacerbated in the wake of the conflict, with civilisations attempting to capitalise on gains made, and territories occupied. The suspicion with which the Dwarfs of the Golloch Empire and the humans of Basilea viewed each other worsened. The Elves of Walldeep saw the need for their kind to take a more active role in the affairs of the world

beyond their walls once more, a decision that did not sit well with the other races. And the ancient Kingdoms such as Ophidia found themselves once more drawn onto the world’s stage, expected to take sides and engage in endless politicking, which distracted them from their true work. The bestial Orcs were agitated by the conflict, pushing further against the edges of civilisation as they sensed weakness and opportunity. The Abyssal Dwarfs rallied to launch a mighty assault from their twisted kingdom, and the Twilight Kin sensed discord amongst their kindred Elven peoples, and wondered at how best to exploit it. The Necromancer’s meddling with the Portals Beneath the World had its own effect. Now that one portal had been opened, and the unearthly energies had been allowed to vomit forth into the real world, the rest of the network pulsed once again with urgent life. Strange sights were seen in many places – children would be born with strange deformities or unnatural gifts, and weird creatures would be spotted at the fringes of cities and towns. The Abyss, ever turbulent, was beaten into a frenzy of activity by the campaign of Ba’el and the possibilities that the network presented. As divided as the noble races were, they would need to unite once again to meet the threats to come in the years ahead, lest they all perish. The Abyssal Crusade had truly begun.

48

Destiny of Kings

nArrAtive sCenArios

The original scenarios presented in the Kings of War rulebook are designed to be perfectly balanced, so that two equal armies can fight in an even battle. Here we present six new scenarios where the objective is not fight your enemies in glorious, honourable combat but to utterly destroy them by any means necessary.

Arranging Games

Upping the Challenge

Like all narrative games, these scenarios require more co-ordination than a standard Kings of War game. You will need to arrange things in advance with your opponent, such as deciding which scenario to play and who will be the attacker and who will play the defender.

Adjusting the points limits that the players have for their forces is obviously the easiest way to modify the degree of balance. We do recommend that the defender has no fewer than 50% of the attackers because the challenge starts to become too much.

You can find some suggestions below on how to make things more challenging for either player. The objective of them isn’t to win (though that is always a bonus of course!) but to have a fun and challenging game. Going up against overwhelming odds and seeing how well you do can be just as much fun as playing a perfectly equal battle. You can also use the scenarios for campaign games, where the two forces are unequal. Using one of these scenarios if the attacking player has 50% more points than the defender.

Choosing Forces For most of these scenarios, it is assumed that the attacking player has more points than the defending player (two of the scenarios note that they have equal sized forces). We recommend that the defender has between 50% and 75% of the attackers points limit, but this is entirely dependent on what the players feel comfortable with and how much of a challenge the players want. The attacker should have around 2000 points in these scenarios, so the defender should have between 1000 and 1500 points as a general rule of thumb.

One of the interesting ways of adding challenge for either player is to introduce time limits – particularly for the attacking player. We recommend a 45 minute time limit for standard 2000 point Kings of War games, but it can add a lot of pressure to the attacker to reduce this time limit. 30 minutes can make for a fast paced game. Most of the scenarios allow the defending player to place additional terrain on the board. Having extra obstacles for the attacker to navigate and be hindered by can really even the odds for the defender. Another idea is to have the morale of the forces affected by the events of the battle. For example, you could have the defending forces become more dismayed and suffer nerve penalties for each objective Routed in the Baggage Train scenario. On the other hand, the attackers’ forces could lose cohesion and get the penalties when the defenders Rout a certain percentage of their forces in the Last Stand scenario.

Be Nice!

Just like the other narrative games introduced in this book, these scenarios require both players to come to the table with the right frame of mind. Enjoy these scenarios for the challenging and thematic game that they provide.

49

narrative CaMpaigns

Destiny of Kings

neW sCenArio rules

Reinforcements

Endless Tide

When you are allowed to use Reinforcements, the scenario will tell you what turn they arrive on and which board edge they move on from. In the turn that they arrive, you may give reinforcement units an Advance or At The Double order during the Movement phase. They will move onto the board from any point you wish on the specified table edge.

If the scenario allows a player (usually the attacker) to use Endless Tide, or you agree with your opponent to use endless Tide, then any of your units that are Routed will move on as Reinforcements during your next turn from your board edge(s).

Note that units can’t declare a Charge order when moving onto the board. They need time to size up and assess the battlefield situation before committing to a fight.

Living Legends can’t be recycled in this way.

Organising the Defences Unless the scenario specifically says otherwise in the Special Rules, the defending player may purchase additional terrain to help even the odds. This is described below.

Organising the Defences In most of these scenarios, the defender will have to use the local terrain to the best of their advantage. Of course, they’re sure to have scouted the vicinity before the battle to find the best spot to make their stand and scrape every little advantage they can. Before the game commences, the defender may purchase additional pieces of terrain from the list below using Terrain Points. These Terrain Points are equal to the total cost of the attacking force. Once the normal terrain has been set up and players have picked sides, the defender may place these pieces of terrain anywhere on the board - though they are best served being placed where the defender can take full advantage of them! The players then begin setting up their forces as usual.

HILLS – 800PTS The hill is a Height 2 hill with a maximum size of 6”x6”. OBSTACLES – 400 PTS This is a standard Obstacle, up to 6” long. STAKES – 600 PTS This is an Obstacle, up to 6” long. Any units that are Disordered by charging over Stakes suffer a -2 modifier in the ensuing melee phase, instead of a -1. EARTHWORKS – 600 PTS This is an Obstacle, up to 6” long. Any units shooting at targets that are offered cover by Earthworks suffer a -2 modifier when rolling to hit, instead of -1. This modifier only applies if Earthworks would grant cover by themselves, regardless of any other units or non-Earthworks terrain.

50

extra sCenarios

lAst stAnd The defender’s forces have retreated as far as they possibly can. With the attacking forces circling, all they can do is make a final, valiant stand and take as much of the enemy down with them as they possibly can.

Set-up The defending player chooses a long table edge and sets up all of their forces. These must be entirely within a 24” square in the centre of their edge of the table.

Objective At the end of the game, the defending player adds up the total points cost of all of their units remaining on the board as well as the cost of all attacking units that they Routed. •

If the total remaining is 20% or more of their army total then the defender wins.

•

If the defender has been reduced to less than 20%, but Routed more than 60% of the attacking forces then the game is a draw.

•

Otherwise the attacker wins.

The attacking player does not set up any units before the game begins.

Who Goes First? The attacking player takes the first turn.

Special Rules

Duration The game lasts until each player has taken seven turns.

Reinforcements

The attacking player moves their entire army onto the board during their first turn from any table edge other than the one that the defending player chose.

Last Stand: Set-Up Diagram

24"

Defender Set Up Area 24"

24"

Defenders Table Edge

51

Destiny of Kings

flAnKed The cunning attacking forces have laid an ambush that has taken the defender by complete surprise. The defenders barely have enough time to grab their weapons before their enemy is upon them

Set-up

Objective At the end of the game, the defending player adds up the total points cost of all of their units remaining on the board as well as the cost of all attacking units that they Routed.

The defending player first sets up all of their units in a 12” wide corridor down the middle of the table, joining the two long edges.

•

If the total remaining is 20% or more of their army total then the defender wins.

The attacking player then sets up all of their units more than 20” away from the defending player’s set up area.

•

If the defender has been reduced to less than 20%, but Routed more than 60% of the attacking forces then the game is a draw.

The attacking player takes the first turn.

•

Otherwise the attacker wins.

Duration

Special Rules

The game lasts until each player has taken seven turns.

Organising the Defences

Who Goes First?

The defending player does not get to purchase terrain via Organising the Defences in this scenario. They’ve been taken by complete surprise!

Flanked: Set-Up Diagram

20"

Attacker Set Up Area

Attacker Set Up Area

Defender Set Up Area

12"

20"

52

extra sCenarios

BAggAge trAin The defenders forces find themselves attacked while on the march by an enemy determined to destroy vital supplies. They must hold the enemy off while the baggage trains escape. Reinforcements from both sides stream in, determined to destroy or protect the supplies.

Set-up After terrain has been placed, including any Organised Defences, the Defending player picks one long board edge to be Edge A and the other to be Edge B. Players set up their forces as per Flanked. Additionally, the Defending player gets three free Baggage Trains (see Special Rules). These are set up within the defenders set up area, but further than 24” from Edge A.

Who Goes First? The attacking player takes the first turn.

The game lasts until all of the baggage trains have either moved off the table or have been Routed.

Objective The Defending player must move the baggage trains off Edge A.

• •

Endless Tide

The Endless Tide rule applies to both forces. At the start of the defending players turn, roll a die for each unit moving onto the board as Endless Tide Reinforcements. On a 1-3, the unit will move on from Edge A and on a 4-6 it moves on from Edge B. The attacking player may choose either of the short table edges to move their units on from.

Leaving the Field

Only the baggage trains may leave the field, and can only do so via Edge A. They must have enough movement to completely clear the table edge in order to move off it.

Organising the Defences

Duration

•

Special Rules

The defending player does not get to purchase terrain via Organising the Defences in this scenario. They’ve been taken by complete surprise!

Baggage Trains

The defending player does not need to unlock these with War Engine slots and they do not inherit any army special rules. They have the following profile:

If two or three baggage trains move off Edge A then the Defending player wins. If one baggage train moves off Edge A then the game is a draw. If all three baggage trains are routed then the Attacking player wins.

53

Baggage Train Unit Size 1

War Engine

Sp Me Ra De Att 5

–

–

4+

–

Ne 14/16

Special Base Size: 50x100mm(may not be increased by Exceptional Base sizes), Height 2.

Destiny of Kings

defenCe of the idol The attackers have discovered an object of great historical, cultural or religious meaning to their foes. As part of a larger campaign, they decide to attack the idol in order to destroy the morale of the entire enemy army.

Objective •

If the idol is routed then the attacker wins.

•

If the idol is not routed then the defender wins.

Special Rules Endless Tide

The Endless Tide rule applies to the attackers.

Idol

The defending player does not need to unlock this with War Engines. It has the following profile:

Set-up

Idol

The set up is identical to Last Stand, except the defender gets a single free Idol (see Special Rules). The Idol may not be set up within 12” of a board edge.

Unit Size

Who Goes First?

1

War Engine Sp Me Ra De Att –

–

–

6+

–

Ne –/18

Special Base Size: 75mmx75mm (may not be increased by Exceptional Base sizes), Height 4, Tough. Tough: Individulas do not triple their attacks against this unit

The players roll-off for first turn.

Duration The game lasts (at least) until each player has taken six turns. After the last turn has been completed, the attacking player rolls a die. On a 3+, the game continues for another turn for each player. After the end of these turns, the attacker rolls again and the game continues for another turn each on a 5+. The game will always end after these turns.

54

extra sCenarios

BreAKthrough The attackers have managed to split a small part of the enemy force off and intend to destroy them before they can be reinforced. The defenders know that they have reinforcements on the way, and must hold out until they arrive.

Who Goes First?

Prepare Your Forces

The game lasts until each player has taken seven turns.

In this scenario, the two forces are evenly matched; both players choose equal sized forces. However, the defending player must split their forces in two. Force A consists of up to 50% of their total points value. All remaining units are split into Force B.

The attacking player takes the first turn.

Duration Objective At the end of the game, add up how many points of defender Force A has been routed. •

If at least 80% of the defender Force A is Routed then the attacking player wins.

Split the table in half width wise (from long edge to long edge). The defending player first chooses one half of the table then sets up Force A on their half, entirely within 12” of the centre split.

•

If less than 60% of the defending force A is routed then the defender wins.

•

Otherwise the game is a draw.

The attacking player then sets up their forces at least 24” away from the centre split on the opposite side of the table.

Special Rules

Set-up

Reinforcements

The defender Force B will arrive as Reinforcements at the start of the defending players second turn. They can move on the board from the short edge of the defending player’s board half.

Breakthrough: Set-Up Diagram

Attacker Set Up Area

Defender Set Up Area

Defender Reinforcements

12"

24"

24"

55

Destiny of Kings

deep defenCe The attackers launch an attack on an idol, but this time the defenders have reinforcements riding in.

Prepare Your Forces In this scenario, the two forces are evenly matched; both players choose equal sized forces. However, the defending player must split their forces in two. Force A consists of up to 50% of their total points value. All remaining units are split into Force B.

After the last turn has been completed, the attacking player rolls a die. On a 3+, the game continues for another turn for each player. After the end of these turns, the attacker rolls again and the game continues for another turn each on a 5+. The game will always end after these turns.

Objective At the end of the game, add up how many points of defender Force A has been routed.

Set-up Set up the table in the same way as Breakthrough, except the defending player gets a single free Idol (see the Defence of the Idol scenario). This is placed in the exact centre of the board.

Who Goes First?

•

If the idol is routed then the attacker wins.

•

If the idol is not routed then the defender wins.

Special Rules

The defender gets the first turn in this scenario.

Reinforcements

Duration The game lasts (at least) until each player has taken six turns.

The defender Force B will arrive as Reinforcements at the start of the defending players second turn. They can move on the board from the short edge of the defending player’s board half.

Deep Defence: Set-Up Diagram

24"

Attacker Set Up Area

Defender Set Up Area

Defender Reinforcements

12"

Idol

24"

56