Each player will represent a powerful border clan, vyeing with each other for prestige whilst avenging acts perpetrated against them.

Although designed for combat between Anglo-Scottish border reivers in the 16^th century, this campaign could be adapted for any feuding environment where raiding is a way of life and vengeance must be had at all costs.

This campaign should easily accomodate between 4 and 8 players.

You Will Need

Two reiver armies and sufficient troops to turn one of them into the Warden's men. I have left the actual structure of the armies open. They may be completely fixed, or the players may be allowed to select some or all of their forces for each battle from a more flexible army list. It depends on what figures you have available and personal preference.

Sample army lists for the warden and Reivers can be found here.

There is no map in this campaign. All clans are assumed to be able to roam freely over the other clans' areas to attack who they wish, and no clan is interested in stealing territory.

Each player will need to keep track of the following:

How many AP they have available for raids or defence.
Their current prestige total. This can only go up.
Their revenge total vs. each other clan. This can go up or down but cannot go below zero.
Their resource total. This cannot go above 8.

All clans start with zero prestige, zero revenge against each other clan and 6 resources.

Each year is split into three Raiding Phases and a Replenishment Phase

Each Raiding Phase has the following sequence:

1) Determine the order of play. The clan with the highest prestige goes first, followed by the next highest and so forth. In the event of ties, roll for it.

2) Determine if the Warden calls a Hot Trod. He will attempt to deal with the clan with the highest current prestige. Take that clans pretige and subtract from it the prestige of the next highest clan. Roll a D6; if the score is equal to or less than the difference, then the Warden decides to deal with them. In other words, as long as all clans have roughly the same prestige the Warden will be happy, turning a blind eye to their goings-on. If one clan gets too powerful then the Warden will step in.

3) If the Warden calls for a Hot Trod then resolve the action against the chosen clan. The Warden is run by the player with the highest revenge total against that particular clan. In the event of ties, roll for it.

4) Each player then takes their turn. The decide if they want to raid, select their target, then resolve the raid.

At the end of three Raiding phases there is a Replenishment phase Each player automatically receives 2 AP of troops, plus AP's worth equal to their current resources. An clan cannot exceed 24AP. One player then rolls a D6 and keeps a running total of the scores. This will determine the end of the game.

When a clan's action comes, they may decide if they wish to raid this phase. If they do not raid they get 2AP of troops back. If they chose to raid then they must select a target. Any other clan can be chosen, but it should be remembered that it is a Bad Thing to have high levels of outstanding revenge against another clan at the end of the game.

The selected target may decline battle. They automatically lose, counting as having lost their stronghold. Revenge is then determined as if a battle had been fought.

If the target clan decides to give battle then it is fought as a normal HOTT game. The raider is the attacker, the target is the defender.

At the end of the battle the attacker scores points as follows:

The defender does not score prestige; this can only be gained from successful raiding or defeating the Warden.

If the attacker wins the battle he steals 2 resources from the defender and adds them to his total. This total cannot exceed 8, so excess resources are lost.

The two sides will then determine their position as regards revenge totals towards each other:

Example:

The Armstrongs attack the Grays. The Armstrongs have 2 points of revenge against the Grays. The Grays have zero points of revenge against the Armstrongs. The Grays lose the battle, losing their stronghold, but killing 8AP of Armstrong for the loss of only 4AP of Grays.

The Grays get +2 (stronghold) -4 (relative AP losses) = -2 revenge vs the Armstrongs, so their total is still zero. They have no outstanding feuds to resolve; although they lost the battle and resources they gave the Armstrongs a bloody nose at the same time.

The Armstrongs get -2 (stronghold) + 4 (relative AP losses) = +2 revenge vs the Grays. Their total is now 4 vs the Grays. They may have won the battle, but there is still a lot of blood to avenge!

The Armstrongs score 2 prestige for capturing the enemy stronghold, and steal 2 resources from the Grays.

If the losses had been the other way around, the Grays losing 8AP as well as their stronghold, and the Armstrongs losing 4AP, then the totals would be as follows:

The Grays get +2 (stronghold) + 4 (relative AP losses) = +6 revenge vs the Armstrongs. This makes their total 6 vs the Armstrongs.

The Armstrongs get -2 (stronghold) -4 (relative AP losses) = -6 revenge vs the Grays. This gives them a final total of 2 - 6 = -4 revenge points, but as revenge cannot go below zero, they now have zero points vs the Grays. So the Armstrongs have avenged past slights, but the Grays now have a lot to avenge!

The Armstrongs score 2 + 4 = 6 prestige points and capture 2 points of the Gray's resources, as before.

If the Warden attacks a clan, resolve it as a raid. The clan is always the defender. The Warden is the attacker and always gets a 24AP army.

If the clan loses, or declines battle, then it gets +1 revenge against each other clan and loses 2 resources.

If the clan wins then they gain prestige as if they were a victorious attacker, as no-one likes the Warden. Each other clan gets +1 revenge against the victorious clan.

The revenge points simulate the fact that the Warden's forces are basically drawn from the other clans!

At the end of each Replenishment phase one player should roll a D6. When the total accumulated score exceeds 20 then the game ends and a victor should be determined.

Each clan takes their prestige and subtracts from it the highest revenge total they have against any other clan. This is their final score. The clan with the highest final score wins. This simulates that fact that although a clan may have great prestige, there is a loss of face if revenge is not exacted from other clans for past acts.

This should be something along the lines of:

Name: CLAN 1

Resources: 6
Prestige: 0
Revenge
Vs CLAN 2: 0
Vs CLAN 3: 0
Vs CLAN 4: 0
Vs CLAN 5: 0
Vs CLAN 6: 0

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