Special Orders

In the final phase of the Campaign Turn, Special Orders are executed. Special Orders are the “anything goes” part of Games Mastered campaigns that must be negotiated with the neutral referee. Generally, banners executing Special Orders may not move and may not fight in battles (such things would distract them from completing their tasks). If a banner given Special Orders is brought to battle, its Special Orders are put on hold while the troops defend themselves. Troops may still execute Special Orders if they Parley with another banner or banners, as long as the banner in question makes a hold (i.e., Pass) Parley Reaction and is not brought to battle. Banners performing a Special Order will still scout the area in their Scouting Range, even though such banners do not move. No banner would execute a Special Order without pickets and guards in place to watch for danger.

As long as the GM approves the Special Order and helps the player to work out the rules, anything goes. The Special Orders Phase should reward creativity and cleverness but should not unbalance the game. Remember that each turn represents a period of only a few days, and at most, the entire campaign will last a few weeks or couple of months of game time. Activities such as building castles, founding new schools of magic, and the like are simply not possible in the scope of the campaign.

Though there are potentially an infinite number of Special Orders, they will generally fall into one of three categories: construction, preparing for battle, or dirty tricks.

Construction. The banner stops to build something, such as a watchtower, bridge, tunnel, raft, moat, or potentially even a new secret weapon like the Skaven tunneling device pictured in The General’s Compendium. The GM determines how difficult the construction project will be given the skills of his forces (Dwarfs and Skaven would be better able to build a tunnel than Elves), the number of troops committed to the project, as well as the availability of materials (there is plenty of wood, vegetation, and rock on the island; almost anything else would have to be packed in the baggage). Considering that each Campaign Turn lasts a few days, the GM should then give the player an estimate of the number of uninterrupted turns (i.e., the number of turns with no movement, battles, or Random Encounters and Events) the project will require to complete. Remember that the campaign is likely to last only a few weeks of game time. Large construction projects like castles, towns, and ships are simply not feasible.

For instance, let’s imagine that Ken, a Dwarf player, wants to build a watchtower on top of a tall mountain to survey the local landscape and keep an eye on banners in proximity. Ken decides he will dedicate a Regular Banner of 1,200 points to the project and he wants his watchtower to afford him a view of about 3" of map area. The GM considers. The Dwarfs must gather wood, vines for ropes, and other materials, build the tower, and defend themselves all the while. The Dwarfs are generally skilled craftsmen and have a considerable number of Dwarfs (1,200 points worth) to complete the project. The GM declares that the tower will take 3 uninterrupted Campaign Turns to complete.

Preparing for Battle. Banners may take a single turn to prepare a site for battle. They could build simple earthworks, lay traps, set up hiding places for ambushers, maneuver troops onto high ground, build simple barricades, and the like. However, any building project that would take more than a day for the troops to complete should be considered a construction project instead (see above). GMs should take into account the cleverness and timeliness of the player’s preparations and the skills of his troops (e.g., Wood Elf Scouts, Wood Elf Waywatchers, Skinks, Empire Huntsmen, and Dwarf Rangers would be good at setting traps; Bloodletters, Zombies, Sauri, and Black Orcs would not). Depending on how he assesses the likelihood of success of the player’s plans, the GM should then incorporate the player’s preparations into the scenario he designs.

For instance, let us say that John, a Beasts of Chaos player, wants to set an ambush for an Orc banner that has been pursuing his Beastman banner for several turns. John’s banner has managed to elude the Orcs for the time being, and John decides to lay a trap for the greenskins. John informs the GM that his Beasts will find and prepare hiding places (e.g., holes covered with leaves, duck blinds, hollows in rocky outcroppings) around the likely site of an Orc attack. If John’s banner is left uninterrupted for the single turn it takes him to prepare for battle, the GM should design a scenario that takes John’s plans for ambush into account. For instance, the GM could declare that more units than normal could use the Ambush special rule, that John can decide whether to go first or second, that a single unit of Beasts of Chaos can emerge from any terrain piece in any game turn (perhaps a variation of the It Came from Below special rule), and/or that all Orc units have a –1 Ld penalty to Panic tests to represent the effects of the surprise attack.

Dirty Tricks. Dirty tricks can involve espionage, assassination, sabotage, or a ruse de guerre (a strategic trick) that could hide or exaggerate a banner’s size, conceal a banner’s position, maneuver an enemy into a vulnerable spot or difficult terrain, lure an enemy into a trap, or otherwise trick or fool the enemy. One of your agents, posing as a “random encounter” like a traveling tradesman, could try to infiltrate an enemy banner to learn of its size and composition. Assassins could target enemy characters. Saboteurs could spike enemy guns, poison food supplies, or set fire to baggage.

The GM may decide to treat a dirty trick as a Random Encounter or Event of sorts. For instance, if a player decides to try and assassinate an enemy character, the GM could require him to dedicate one of his own characters to perform the task. The GM could create some ad hoc rules or even a scenario for the “Random” Encounter and have the players fight a mini-battle to resolve the dirty trick. Both sides would thus be at risk of losing a character.

The GM might also decide to incorporate the results of a dirty trick into a particular player’s Scouting Report. For instance, if a 1,000-point banner was taking steps to hide its size and disguise itself as a small force to lure an enemy into battle, the GM would determine the banner’s chances of pulling off the ruse (say, a Leadership Test made at -2). If the test was successful, the misguided enemy scouts would report the location of a 400-point banner (rather than a 1,000-point one) to the controlling player.

Note About Food. This campaign lasts a short period of game-world time. As such, players need not keep track of food and other supplies the way they must in other campaigns that last longer periods of game-world time. However, some dirty tricks like poisoning the enemy’s food and water or destroying or stealing his supplies may make food an issue. Should such a Special Order be executed successfully, the GM will have to create ad hoc rules for starvation and desertion.

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