Last fall, I had grand ambitions to run a Regiments map campaign for the NEWC. I had played and run the Border Princes campaign from the Generals Compendium (perhaps the greatest WHFB book of all time) about half a dozen times and thought its narrative focus and game within a game nature would be a huge it. I spent a long time rewriting rules, converting scenarios, and transcribing mechanics but ultimately decided to drop it at the eleventh hour in favor of a league inspired version Steve came up with. It worked out great and everyone had a blast! The Border Princes asks a lot from its players and with our geography it didn't look like it was set up for success. Doesn't help that I was pitching a 14 page rules packet to a group who prefers to do things on the fly! Someday, I hope to assemble a dedicated group and share what is easily one of my favorite wargaming experiences.
I've slowly been repurposing some of the work that I did and this scenario I am sharing is part of that. This was a special mission for use on a specific map segment of the Border Princes called the Warrens. In this region, bandits and ne'er-do-wells calling themselves the Carrion Band lurk behind labyrinthine rock formations. Human factions could bully them into providing support, gaining some extra points in the upcoming battle. The big flashy part of the scenario is that both players could nominate one unit in their army to become skirmishers! This was exciting because that type of unit does not exist inside the confines of Regiments and was a cool problem to try to solve. Below is a version of that scenario with the campaign related rules stripped out so it can be used in regular games of Regiments. There are likely many issues with skirmishers I had not foreseen, so if you try this, let me know how it goes!
ROCK LABYRINTH
Overview. Two armies meet in the Warrens, a rugged area in the foothills of the Black Mountains which is home to a labyrinthine series of rock formations. Maneuvering and shooting in the Warrens is difficult and ambushers may lurk around every corner.
Armies. Armies are chosen as normal.
Battlefield. The table should be covered by rock formations that turn the battlefield into a maze. All of the rocks are very steep and thus impassable terrain. Rock structures should be set up at least 7” apart to allow units to pass in between, but there should be no straight paths from one side of the board to the other.
Mission. Place D3+2 objectives. Players roll-off to go first and then alternate in placing one marker each outside of deployment zones and over 9” away from each other. At the end of each round, if a unit is within 3” of an objective while enemies aren’t, then it's seized. Objectives stay seized even after leaving, but if units from both sides are contesting an objective, then it becomes neutral again. The game ends after 4 rounds and the player controlling the most objectives wins.
Deployment. Players roll off and the winner picks a long table edge as their deployment zone, with their opponent taking the opposite. Then the players alternate in placing one unit each within 12” of their table edge, starting with the player that won the deployment roll.
Skirmishers. A single unit in each player’s army may adopt a Skirmish formation for the duration of the battle. Skirmishers have the following changes to their rules:
Movement and Formation. Skirmisher units do not have to be in formations. Instead, unit members must stay within 1” of at least one other member and within 9” of all other members. All facings are considered the unit’s front facing. The unit may only be within 1” of other units when charging and may only charge if at least one charging model is within charge distance of the target unit. Skirmishers may move or shoot in any direction.
Melee. Once one model makes base contact with their charge target, the remaining models in a Skirmishers unit rank up around it to maximize contact as though it were a normal Regiments unit. If charged, once the enemy unit makes contact with a model, turn all models to face this unit and rank up around the charged model. Skirmishers do not receive any combat bonuses for the number of rows their unit has. Skirmishers otherwise follow all other melee combat rules as presented in the Regiments rulebook.