Round 4 was proof-positive that even a campaign run within the hallowed halls of Privateer Press is not immune to the intrusion of real-life responsibilities and unforeseen events.

As the round fell smack-dab between PAX Prime and NOVA Open, our dauntless Retribution commander and Convention Manager Michael Plummer found himself unable to complete all of his games.

So, while I’ve talked a lot about my thoughts and approach to the actual running of a campaign, I haven’t yet spent a lot of time talking about the organization and management of the campaign.

The first piece of advice I’d give to anyone looking to run any type of campaign is: determine how you will handle the inevitable curveballs life throws at you. Knowing from the outset what your protocol will be when someone is unable to make his game or, worse, are out of communication for an entire round ensures that when it happens, you can resolve it quickly and with minimal disruption.

While there is no one method for handling these things, I have found a few options to be very successful in the past. The first is to simply hand a game loss to the person who can’t make the game. While this is somewhat arbitrary, it’s a quick and clean way to immediately resolve unplayed games. My caveat to this, however, is to only use this method for basic games that have little impact on the players overall. Not only can this approach kill a lot of the excitement of the campaign, but it also can rob the “winning” player of the joy of his victory. After all, if you are taking the time to play in a big epic campaign, I think it’s safe to assume you are doing so to play some equally epic games of WARMACHINE and HORDES!

The second option is to have players dice off. When using this method, it’s usually a good idea to come up with a modifier system to take into account the asymmetry of army banners. You don’t want a coin flip to decide a game where one player outnumbers the other by 2:1. You can even take this method further by developing a chart that then lets the winning and losing players both know how many casualties they need to roll for (if you are using a system of dynamic army composition, which we are in this campaign). Overall, this method, while a bit involved, leads to a much more satisfying outcome for unplayed battles. As an added bonus, you can also use this option when one player might simply be faced with an impossible game. Rather than force that player to play to the inevitable outcome, you can resolve it quickly and easily. If you do this, though, I strongly recommend the outmatched army suffer some larger form of penalty, as it is overwhelmed and crushed fighting to the last man (or farrow, tharn, thrall, etc.).

The third option is to have the player who’s unable to attend choose someone to stand in and play the game as a proxy. This can be the GM or any non-campaign player. While this isn’t always possible to do, in my opinion this really is the best option for handling these situations because the game still happens, albeit with a different general at the helm.

The final option is to simply hold the game over to the next round. I decided to use for the battle between Plummer and Hungerford in the Rimmocksdale Lake tile. The battle there would not only be pivotal for both players, but it was also sure to be a fun and exciting one to see actually played out, given the forces each had and the special scenario for the tile. So, that tile and those banners simply became frozen in time, with the tile giving neither player Supply Points and neither player being allowed to change in anyway the composition of troops in that banner.

So with this in mind, how was Round 5 shaping up overall? Check out my weekly campaign update email to find out!

As we close in on the halfway point of Season 2, things are quickly shaping up for a very bloody close to the season. Circle Orboros has radically shifted its focus following its rapid assault into the Trollkin homeland, and now the forces of the enigmatic druids march inexorably toward Ironhead Station and the center of the current conflict. Whether they aim to seek some retribution for the treachery of their erstwhile Minion allies or have some other less discernible goal, it seems only a matter of time before their wrath falls upon the other factions.

To the west, the forces of the Retribution continue to be assailed by the allied might of the Convergence and Khador. The Khadoran army, eager to avenge the insult it suffered in the opening days of the campaign at the R.C.O., has launched a bold attack against one of the elves’ supply depots. While the Khadorans are backed by their Cyriss-worshiping allies, however, their aggressive move has left them no place to retreat should the Retribution forces manage to repel the assault.

That said, Khador’s High Kommand has not lost sight of the greater strategic picture, despite the army’s desire for revenge against the Iosans. The Greylords Covenant practically salivates at the untold discoveries the capture of the athanc wagon could provide them. But they are not alone in their quest for this treasure; even as their task force arrives at the rumored sight of the athanc wagon, another force emerges from the ground beneath them, ready to challenge them for the prize.

There were two big events that marked Round 5. First, it was the first round to have the “hot spots” I talked about in my last Insider appear on the map. Control of these tiles would net players a healthy sum of campaign VPs and so were a high priority for many.

Second, I dropped another GM surprise on the players (well, mostly Ed) when I revealed that one of the “Hot Spots” actually contained a Legion of Everblight army! Suddenly Ed found himself face to face with a heretofore-unknown hostile force that would be commanded by Privateer Press’ own Sculpting Manager Doug Hamilton.

In the end, it was sure to be another action-packed round as we made our way to the halfway point of the campaign!

’Til next time,
Will