Rehashing A Campaign System Part II - Injuries & Veterans

OK, I'm finally getting around to finishing off these campaign rules. I present the Veterans & Injuries section that will finish off what I started. Once again I should stress these are supposed to be a quick and easy system, nothing complicated here.

Veterans

It has been previously stated that armies are chosen afresh each battle, however, if a general wishes he can use the same troops and characters from game to game. The benefit of doing this is that Characters and Rank and File can gain veteran status. There is a down side of course, veterans are only veterans if they are the same troops, reinforcing a unit waters down the seasoned troops and therefore you can only apply the veteran rules to units that start the next game with the same numbers as the previous game (after injury recoveries). Units that you "bump" back up to their starting number (symbolising reinforcements) lose any veteran status they may of gained.

At the end of the battle roll a D3 for each unbroken unit that is present on the battlefield and consult the Veteran table below. Add an extra 1 for each Standard the unit captured in the battle.

D3 Roll +1 per Standard Captured in the Battle	Result
1-3	Re-roll to hit dice once per battle
4	Unit becomes a +1 Elite*
5	Unit becomes a +2 Elite*
6	Unit becomes a +3 Elite*
7+	Unit becomes a +4 Elite*

* see WFB page 97

When using the re-roll of to hit dice a player can choose whether to use this bonus on close combat or missile attacks and ALL of the dice must be re-rolled, you can not only re-roll the attacks that missed. Of course a player risks the possibility of rolling an even worse set of scores so must use his bonus carefully. Each battle a unit survives gives another roll on the table and a unit is allowed up to 3 re-rolls in total. Further re-rolls beyond the allowance of 3 are lost. A re-roll cannot be used to re-roll a re-roll - only one re-roll at a time is allowed, and the player must abide by the second result.

If a unit gains Elite status the player can decide to make them either Shock Elites or Missile Elites. The unit also does not count towards the number of Elites allowed in the army by territories.

Elites that gain Elite Status via the Veterans table DO count towards Elites allowed in the army by territories because their base level is Elite.  Elites that gain Elite Status via the Veteran table that is lower than, or the same as, their present Elite level count the roll as another result of 1-3 (you can still only have the maximum of 3 re-rolls).


Veteran Characters

Just as an army has its battle-hardened elite regiments its characters can also gain renown in the eyes of their troops and develop heroic qualities. They DO NOT gain the bonuses of any unit they lead, instead they become veteran characters with bonuses as described below.

A character automatically gains a bonus each time he accomplishes a heroic feat. A heroic feat is one of the following.

	Heroic Feat
1	The Character is with a unit of troops that captures an enemy standard.
2	The Character kills an enemy army standard bearer in hand to hand combat.
3	The Character kills an enemy character of at least an equal level in a challenge.

The number of heroic feats achieved gives the benefits listed below.

Number of Feats	Bonus Gained
1	Veteran. The Character becomes a fearsome fighter and can re-roll all of his hand to hand combat or shooting "to hit" dice once per game in exactly the same way as a unit of Veteran troops. For each feat the character gains a further re-roll per battle up to a maximum of 3 times in the same way as Veteran troops.
2	Skilful. The Character adds +1 to his WS & BS characteristics.
3	Fast. The Character adds +1 to his I characteristic.
4	Strong. The Character adds +1 to his S characteristic.
5+	Furious. The Character adds +1 to his A characteristic.

These are cumulative so a character who has accomplished 5 heroic feats can re-roll his hits 3 times per battle, he has +1 to his WS, BS, I, S & A characteristics.

Losing Veteran Status


Once a unit or Character becomes elite it keeps its status from game to game against all players in the campaign until it is broken as a result of defeat in hand-to-hand combat, flees off the battlefield or until it is destroyed. It will then revert to it's normal status in Warhammer Armies automatically.

General Victory Bonus

If you win the battle and your General survives (after Injury rolls) then roll a D6 and consult the chart below. The chart gives a bonus to the General the next time he fights a battle. The General must be fielded identically to the battle he won (plus any Veteran bonuses). This bonus only applies to the next battle he fights in the campaign, it is not a permanent bonus.

D6 Roll	Result
1	Respected/Feared. Next time your army fights all units within 12" of the General may add a further +1 to their combat result. This special ability lasts until a combat within 12" of the General is lost, after which the troops' confidence is shaken and the bonus ceases to apply.
2	Motivational. Next time the army fights you can re-roll any one failed Leadership based test. This does not allow the unit to re-roll a failed re-roll from another source such as the army's Battle Standard - i.e. you can re-roll a failed test but not a failed re-roll.
3	Mad Dog. Next time the army fights the General can add +1 to his own "to hit" rolls in hand to hand combat. This applies until the General takes wound or is forced to flee, after which the bonus is lost.
4	Inspiring. Next time the army fights the General will permit Leadership bonuses over a greater area than normal. Add D6"  to the normal 12" effect range. Roll this dice at the start of the game to find out what your range bonus is for the duration of the battle.
5	Famous. Next time the Army fights one unit within 12" of the General will automatically pass a Leadership based test it is required to take once per battle. The Player must declare he is using this ability before any dice are rolled for the test but no actual dice are rollled. The Player is not allowed to use the ability retrospectively once he has failed a test.
6	Victorious. Once per battle add +1 to any combat result anywhere on the battlefield. You must declare you are using this bonus before fighting the combat - not afterwards. You can not use the bonus to boost a combat result once you've fought.

Injuries

At the end of the battle roll a D6 for each Rank and File model that was removed as a casualty. On a roll of 4+ the miniature survived the battle with a minor wound. They may be returned to their unit. On roll of 1, 2 or 3 the poor fellow died as a result of his injuries (for Undead the magical energy animating the corpse holds on a 4+ or fades away and the corpse falls "unlifeless" to the floor on a 1, 2 or 3).

After a battle any Hosts dissipate, they can not be retained, they scatter and must be bound afresh.

Characters are not rolled for in this way, instead the following table is used. Any injury that results in a characteristic being is reduced to "0" kills the Character off and he ends up with a "Dead" result instead.

D100 Roll	Result
01-50	Full Recovery. The Character makes a full recovery and can be used in the following battle.
51-53	Eye Injury. The Character survives the battle with the loss of an eye (randomly determine which). A character with only one eye loses -1 BS. A Character with no eyes is blinded and is retired from service, therefore if Eye Injury is rolled for a second time count this result as a Dead result.
54-55	Ear. The Character survives the battle with the loss of an ear (randomly determine which). A Character with one ear suffers no penalty but a Character who loses all of his ears is partially deafened and loses -1 from his Ld characteristic. Subsequent rolls of Ear after the second have no effect, treat the result as Full Recovery.
56-58	Face. The Character becomes horribly disfigured and now causes Fear in Close Combat in all living creatures under 10 feet tall. Subsequent rolls of Face have no effect, treat the result as Full Recovery.
59-61	Light Head Wound. The Character sustains head injuries which affect his mental processes. He loses -1 from his Ld, Int, Cl and WP characteristics.
62-63	Serious Head Wound. The Character sustains serious head injuries which drive him slightly mad. Although his reason is questionable, his convictions are strengthened by his increasingly rational personality. The Character loses -1 from his Int and Cl characteristics, but adds +1 to his Ld and WP.
64-68	Light Leg Wound. The Character survives but one leg is broken or badly cut. Although the Character recovers full use of his limb he suffers a permanent movement characteristic reduction of -1.
69-71	Serious Leg Wound. The Character survives but one leg is badly injured and must be amputated. Unless the Character has more than two legs, the loss of the limb will reduce his movement by -2 and he can only move by use of crutch. This means he is normally unable to carry anything in both hands. The Character's I is also reduced by -1 because his disability makes him slower. If a character has more than two remaining legs the loss of a limb has the same effect as a Light Leg Wound.
73-75	Light Arm Wound. The Character survives but one arm (or other manipulative limb) is badly crushed or cut. The Character recovers full use of the limb with but a minor permanent effect. He loses -1 from his WS and BS and -1 to hit in close combat when using a weapon that requires two hands.
76-77	Serious Arm Wound. The Character survives but one arm (or other manipulative limb) is badly injured and must be amputated. Unless the Character has more than two arms the loss of the limb will make it impossible to use certain items. The Character can no longer use a shield or weapons which require two hands.  He loses -2 from his WS and BS.
78-85	Light Body Wound. The Character has suffered a chest or abdominal wound. Although the Character recovers, his T characteristic is permanently reduced by -1.
78-85	Severe Body Wound. The Character has suffered a deep chest or abdominal wound. Although the Character recovers, his T, S and W characteristics are permanently reduced by -1.
89-00	Dead. The Character died either on the field of battle or afterwards of his wounds.

So there we go, if you've made it to the end then well done. I hope I haven't missed anything out. I don't think I have. I really hope someone finds the time to indulge me and gives this set of campaign rules a try. Could be they're brilliant, most likely they aren't and they'll turn out to be utter cr*p. That's fine, I'm not adverse to tweaking them or even forgetting about them all together but I just wanted to get the idea out of my head and put it down on "paper".

Thanks for reading and happy gaming!