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BATTLES
Expansion
Legendary Battles
A
s part of the celebrations for the rules and conventions required for large
25th anniversary of Warhammer, games like this. This is mainly because the
we decided to organise a 25,000- Warhammer rules are written with the
point Warhammer battle report – one of assumption that there will only be two
the biggest ever! Jervis volunteered to armies, with one player a side, and so
write the rules needed for the game, additional rules are needed to cover what
which are presented here. You can read happens when there are more than two
the battle report itself in the April 2008 players a side. For example, who gets the
Issue of White Dwarf. dice out of the Magic pool? Can units
under the command of one player flee
Jervis: Most games of Warhammer are two- through friendly units belonging to
player games between armies with equal another? And so on.
points values of anywhere from 500 to The rules that follow will explain how
3000 points. However, while games like to deal with these things, and also allow
these are great fun, they are not the only you to do things in a large multi-player
way to play Warhammer. The purpose of battle that you can’t do in a normal-sized
this article is to provide rules for playing game. You’ll find rules for including allied
Warhammer in a slightly different way; one units in your army, for fielding massed
where, instead of playing against a single batteries of artillery or large hordes of
opponent, you gather a group of players monsters. There are also alternative rules
together to fight a really large battle. And for deploying and deciding who has won
instead of choosing the armies to a precise that are especially suited to large games,
points value, you pick a race or two for where adding up Victory Points would take
each side and then use as many models as as long as playing the game itself! All you
you can lay your hands on! need to do is bring along a large army,
Of course, there’s a bit more to it than handfuls of dice, and be ready to fight one
that, and there are a number of special of the most exciting and memorable
2) PICK ARMY
• Choose an army from the relevant Warhammer Army Book.
• Add allied units.
• Add Monstrous Hordes and/or Massed Batteries.
4) DEPLOY
• Agree turn or time limit for game.
• Deploy armies using method decided on in step 1.
5) DESPERATION TOKENS
• Side with lowest points value receives one desperation token for every
100 points they have less than opponents’ total points value.
• Desperation tokens are divided amongst the players in the team.
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Empire - X X X O X X C O C C O C
Orcs & Goblins X - C C X O O X X X X O C
Skaven X C - C O X O X X X X O C
Chaos* X C C - O O O X X X X O C
Tomb Kings O X O O - X O X X X O O C
Vampire Counts X O X O X - O X X X X O C
Dark Elves X O O O X O - X X X X O C
High Elves C X X X X X X - C C O O C
Wood Elves O X X X O X X C - C O O C
Bretonnia C X X X X X X C C - C O C
Dwarfs C X X X O X X O O C - O C
Lizardmen O O O O O O O O O O O - C
Ogres C C C C C C C C C C C C -
* Chaos includes all the different Chaos army books. All
Chaos armies count as common allies to each other.
KEY
X = Enemies: Will not fight on the same side.
O = Occasional Allies: Will fight together, but are not friendly units for purposes of the rules. Can’t flee through each
other. May not be taken as allied units in another army.
C = Common Allies: Will fight together and are friends. Can flee through each other. Can be taken as allied units in
another army. However, characters may not join each other’s units, the General’s leadership and re-rolls for the
army standard will only work for their own army, etc.
count towards the minimum number of also as an additional Hero, Special or Rare
Famous Battles
Core units you must take – the minimum choice if the monster would normally use
number of Core units in your force must up one of these slots as well.
still be chosen from your main army list, So, a Massed Battery of twelve Empire
BATTLE OF A regardless of how many allies you have. Great Cannons would count as a single
HUNDRED CANNONS Note that the game restrictions Special choice, a Monstrous Horde of half-
The armies of Karaz-a- described later for allied units belonging to a-dozen Lizardmen Stegadons would count
Karak, Karak Kadrin and another player also apply to allied units in as a single Rare choice, while four High Elf
Zhufbar united under the your own army. This means they won’t be Dragon Mages would count as two Hero
command of High King able to use your General’s Leadership, for choices (one for the Mages and one for
Thorgrim Grudgebearer in example, and allied characters won’t be their Dragons).
order to stop a powerful able to join units from your main army. All models in the formation must be of
horde of Ogres. Just as the The only exception is allied Wizards in exactly the same type, though they can
Ogre army was divided by your army, who must use your pool of take different upgrades and options if
the river Aver, an army of power and dispel dice, and don’t get a desired. The formation is deployed as a
Nuln arrived to aid the separate pool of their own. single unit, and each model after the first
Dwarf throng. Caught must be placed within 6" of a model from
between Dwarfs and Men, Massed Batteries the formation that has already been
the Ogres were swept away and Monstrous Hordes deployed. Once the battle starts, however,
by the largest concentration I doubt that there is an Empire player who all models are treated as individual units,
of artillery ever seen in the hasn’t dreamt of being able to field a and they move and fight separately just as
Old World, and were massed battery of Great Cannons, and I’m they would in a standard battle.
utterly destroyed. sure that any Lizardman player worth his Each side may take up to one
salt yearns for the chance to unleash an Monstrous Horde or Massed Battery for
entire regiment of Stegadons in a every 5000 points in their combined army.
thundering stampede! Most other armies So, you could take one Monstrous Horde
include artillery and monsters that can or one Massed Battery in a legendary army
similarly be fielded in huge numbers in a worth 5000-9999 points, or two in a
Legendary Battle! legendary army worth 10,000-14,999
A Monstrous Horde or Massed Battery points, and so on.
consists of several monsters, chariots or Note that the limit is per side, not per
war machines that are grouped together player, and this means that teams will quite
into a single formation that counts as one often have to discuss who will get to use
Special or Rare choice (as appropriate). them before armies are picked. It’s not a
Monsters taken as mounts for a Hero can bad idea for players to pool suitable
be grouped together in this way, counting models under the command of a single
as a single Hero choice for the army, and player; for example, several Empire players
Expansion
could pool all of their Great Cannon units will set up.
models into a single Massed Battery under Screen: Place a screen between the two
the command of one player. In this case, deployment areas, and then have each side Famous Battles
the player in command of the formation deploy simultaneously behind their screen.
would have to pay all of the points for the (We find that Games Workshop figure THE BATTLE OF
models he has been lent. cases can work well for this if you have HEL FENN
enough, or you can use cardboard boxes, In the year 2145, Mannfred
Setting up or whatever else you have to hand). von Carstein, last and most
With the armies chosen you are now ready Race: Both sides set up simultaneously. The cunning of the Vampire
to set up and play. The first thing you will side that yells out “finished!” first gets to Counts, launched a surprise
need to do is to set up your gaming table, choose if they have the first or second turn, winter attack on the Empire
or rather gaming tables, as with a game this and their opponents only have five more while the realm was in the
size you will probably need to join several minutes to deploy the rest of their army. grip of a fierce civil war.
of the tables you normally use together. As Any units not deployed within this time He almost succeeded in
a rule of thumb, allow at least one 6' x 4' must be placed in reserve (see the rules for capturing Altdorf, but was
table for every two or three players taking reserves, later). forced to retreat by a
part. So, two 6' x 4' tables will cater for a combined Empire, Dwarf
4-6 player game, while three 6' x 4' tables Fighting a Legendary Battle and High Elf army. The
will work for 6-8 players, and so on. You’ll be happy to learn that you’re now alliance pursued Mannfred
Try to avoid setting up the tables in a ready to play… well, almost. Here are the into Sylvania, and he was
long, thin row, as this will not only look modifications to the game rules you’ll need finally brought to battle at
strange, but can lead to players simply to use when fighting multiplayer battles: Hel Fenn, where he was
playing several normal games side-by-side. • Each player in a team controls his own defeated by the Elector
Instead, I’d recommend trying to create a army. All players on the same side move Count of Stirland, and his
deeper, squarer battlefield than you would their units in the Movement phase, all Undead army destroyed.
normally by putting together several tables the players shoot in the Shooting phase,
so that the long edges are touching. and so on. If there is ever a disagreement
Offsetting tables to create an irregular on what order to do things in, then roll a
shape also works well. die to decide who goes first.
Next, set up your terrain in any • Characters from one player’s army
mutually agreeable manner, and roll a dice may not join units belonging to a
to see who picks which side of the table to team member’s army. Generals
deploy on. You should also set up the and army standards only affect
objectives for the battle at this stage, as units from their own army.
described in the Victory Condition rules • Only units that are noted as being
later on. common allies count as friendly units for
Once these things are out of the way the purposes of the rules. See the Ally
you can deploy the two armies. Set them chart on the previous page.
up 24" apart, as you would in a normal • In a Legendary Battle, each side receives
game. Rather than setting up one unit at a one power or dispel dice in their dice
time, however, which can take forever for pool for each player in the larger-sized
a game this size, I recommend using one of team, instead of the usual two dice per
the following alternative methods of side. So, if one team had three players
deployment: and the other team had four, then both
Map: Each side draws a map of the sides would get four dice. These dice
battlefield and marks on it where their must be distributed as evenly as possible
Editor’s Note: The Legendary Battle report in the April 2008 issue of White Dwarf is an example of a narrative game for which we created a number of
special house rules.
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amongst the players in the team, and uncommon for one side or the other to end
Famous Battles
then randomly decide who gets any left- up with fewer points than their opponent.
over dice. Next, add additional dice to To help even things out, the underdog is
each player’s starting pool as you would given a number of desperation tokens that
THE BATTLE OF normally, and then carry on with the they can use to help them in the battle.
FINUVAL PLAIN Magic phase. How you represent the tokens is up to you;
When the Dark Elves and • Players on the same side are not allowed coins, counters or beads will suffice,
their Chaos allies invaded to share the dice from their pool with although some players will want to scratch-
Ulthuan, they were other players after the dice have been build some tokens that are in keeping with
confronted by a High Elf distributed. their army.
army at Finuval Plain. The • Only one player per side may attempt to The side with the lowest points total
High Elves were terribly dispel any given spell, but they are receives one desperation token for every
outnumbered, but the heroic allowed to try to dispel a spell cast full 100 points they have less than their
efforts of Tyrion and Teclis against any unit on their side, including opponents’ total points value. How the
proved just enough to give units commanded by other players. tokens are divided up is for the team to
them victory. The Dark Elf decide; you can divvy them out at the start
army was all but annihilated Reserves of the battle, keep them in a communal
and the Witch King only When you fight a really large battle, it’s pool to use as needed, or use any other
escaped by casting himself entirely possible that you won’t be able to system you may prefer.
into the Realm of Chaos! fit all of the units onto the tabletop. At A desperation token can be used to do
other times you may want to hold some one of the following three things, and is
units back even if there is room to deploy, then discarded:
in order to keep some troops in reserve to • To change a failed Break, Panic, Fear or
cover any losses you suffer. Terror test into a passed test.
Players are therefore allowed to keep • To cancel out a spell in the same manner
some of their units in reserve. These units as a Dispel Scroll.
are not set up with the rest of the army, • To re-roll any single dice roll (including
and instead can enter play in the same scatter dice and misfire dice). No dice
manner as a unit that has pursued an may ever be re-rolled more than once,
enemy off the table (see page 43 of the even if other abilities that allow a re-roll
Warhammer rulebook for details). The only apply, and the re-rolled result must be
difference to the standard rules is that any accepted, even if it is worse.
or all of the reserves may enter on any turn
that the controlling player wishes, and Ending the game
anywhere on their side’s table edge. A Legendary Battle can either be played for
a specific number of turns, or to a time
Desperation tokens limit. If you play to a time limit, you must
In a large, multiplayer game, it’s not still make sure that both sides complete the
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