HeroScape Ragnarok:Rule add-ons for epic games!

[Beowulf]

Here are some rule mods that could be used to play a large game of HS(800+ points).

Orders
Each player starts the game with two sets of orders and uses both at the same time. Thus, when it is your turn to activate order 1, reveal both, and activate them one after the other. Essentially, you take two turns in a row.

Reserves
Start the game with half your physical figures in your starting zones(you cannot break up unique squads. With common squads, you must have at least 1 card's worth brought into play). In round two, each player brings half of his remaining figures into play in his starting zones. In round three, each player brings what is left of his remaining figures in play in his starting zones.

Partial Cover*
Any figure who is covered 50% or more by terrain receives an additional defense die.

I'm going to test them out as soon as possible, and may add more as I figure out what works and what doesn't.

*I added this rule so that figures have a greater chance of survival, now that players essentially take two turns in a row, and could potentially attack a single figure 8 times.

[land.scape]

My son and I have done some mega-battles where we also got into using two sets of order markers. But we had the rule that one card couldn't have two order markers of the same number on it. That keeps figures from rushing far ahead of the army, or letting stronger attackers become roaving death machines with all those extra attacks. Essentially, we were playing a four-army game where the armies were allied into two. One problem is that the game took us days to play. It seemed too drug-out.

I like your partial cover rule - allows for the extra difficulty in hitting a smaller target area.

I keep thinking we should have a rule that you only get a height advantage when you have true height advantage rather than whether one base is higher than another. You could determine that by eye or mathematically: Adding tile height plus figure height as listed on their card.

What's the big deal? A small figure, say height of 3, attacking a huge dragon, say height of 13, gets height advantage when he stands on just one tile. Seems wrong to me. But by my rule, that small figure would have to be standing on at least 11 tiles to get height advantage. Tile height of 11 + figure height of 3 = 14 — greater than the dragon's height of 13.

Hmm, guess you'd need to subtract for the difference in height between the two so a larger figure doesn't automatically get height advantage.

[Beowulf]

If I could take HS more seriously, I would probably mess around with Height advantage, but to me, the fact that a Nagrub on height has an advantage over a towering dragon is half the fun

I like your idea for the two armies to a side thing, I'll definitely give it a try.

[The Genius]

These are great ideas. I think that the Reserve rule is interesting and could be really cool with a little tinkering. Maybe you could only bring in the reserve armies if you have less than 200 points or less left, or maybe the players place their reserve armies in different starting zones than where their first armies start. Very interesting, very interesting.

[Mossman]

Good ideas. The potential for 8 attacks would definitely be a concern. It puts a great deal of value on winning initiative. I saw another thread where the poster uses two sets of OM's. The first three units play normally, the second set of three units may move but not attack. Helps you keep your army together, but limits the attacks. Might make for longer gameplay, though.

I like the partial cover rule. Reminds me of Warhammer.

Reserves are cool, but I wonder if there would be a way to make it more random? Sort of like the drop for the AE. Maybe have a chart, and depending on the D20 roll, you get up to X points of reserves. One roll might let you have 60 points in your start zone, another roll would let you have 40 points adjacent to a hero of your choice, and so forth. It would make it risky to keep a high-point single figure in reserve. You might not get to activate it. Anyway, interesting discussion.

[Eclipse]

Here's the rules I've been testing out lately for large scale battles:

Order Marker Sets

Each player is granted an additional set of order markers per 600 points as follows:

Army Total : Order Markers used
10-600 : 1 set (RotV Grey)
600-1200 : 2 sets (RotV Grey, SotM Green)
1200-1800 : 3 sets (RotV Grey, SotM Green, Marvel Blue)

Special Rules for Placing Markers

At the start of a round, players place order markers as they normally would, with the following additional restrictions:

• You can only place order markers of a single color on a card.
  
  Ex: You place the Grey 1 OM on Sonlen. You may place the Grey 2, 3 or X OMs on Sonlen's card, but you may not place Green or Blue OMs on his card.

• You may treat each copy of a Common unit card as an individual for OM placement. In order to do this, you must separate a Common card to place the additional color on.
  
  Ex: Your army consists of Tor-Kul-Na, 1 squad of Marrden Nagrubs and 2 squads of Marro Stingers. You place a Grey OM on the Marro Stingers. You may place an OM of one other color on the Stingers in this scenario, as you have two Stinger cards. You cannot place all 3 OMs on the Stingers, nor can you place more than one color on the single card of Nagrubs.

• You may place multiple colors on a single card once if no other options are available to you.
  
  Ex: At the start of a round, your only remaining units are Shiori and Sonlen. You place a Green Marker on Sonlen. You must place Blue or Grey markers on Shiori. You place a Blue marker on Shiori. You may now place Grey OMs on either Shiori or Sonlen, or spread them across both units.

• EXCEPTION: A unit who may be moved or activated via bonding with another unit is consider to have OMs placed on it as long as OMs are placed on the bonding unit.
  
  Ex: You have 3 sets of OMs and an army consisting of Sonlen, Tor-Kul-Na and 1 squad of Marrden Nagrubs. You must place one set of order markers on Sonlen and one set on either the Nagrubs or TKN. If you place a set on the Nagrubs, TKN is considered to have OMs placed on his card, allowing you to place your third set on either Sonlen or the Nagrubs.

Activating Order Markers

• After rolling for initiative, players take turns revealing order markers.
• A player must reveal their order markers in numerical order.
• A player may reveal any color order marker they choose at any time.

Ex: 2 players are playing with 2 sets of OMs, the green and the blue. Player 1 wins initiative and may reveal either Green 1 or Blue 1. Afterwards, Player 2 may reveal the 1 OM of their choosing. Player 1 then reveals their remaining 1 OM. Should Player 2's remaining 1 OM be destroyed, Player 2 must pass that turn and Player 1 may reveal the 2 OM of their choosing.

Special Rules for Common Units

• Any OM on a Common Unit may activate any figure of that Unit, but a single Common figure may only be activated once per numerical turn marker.
  
  Ex: You have 3 Marro Stingers cards, one with Green 1 and Green 2 and another with Grey 2. Upon revealing Green 1, you may move any of your 9 Marro Stinger figures. Upon revealing Green 2, you may again activate any of your 9 Marro Stinger figures. Upon activating Grey 2 however, you may not activate any of the figures you used after revealing Green 2.
  
  Ex2: You have 2 Marro Stingers cards, one with Green 1 and another with Grey 1, however you only have 5 Marro Stinger figures remaining. Upon revealing Green 1, you may activate any Marro Stinger figure. Upon revealing Grey 1 however, you may only activate your 2 remaining figures.

• You may reactivate a Common figure if you have more than one colored OM on a single Common card.
  
  Ex: At the start of a round in a game with 3 OM sets, you only have 2 cards of Marro Stingers. You place Green 1 and Blue 1 on the first Stinger card and Grey 1 on the second. You activate Green 1 and move 3 of your figures. You activate Grey 1 and must activate your remaining 3 Stinger figures. When you activate Blue 1, you may reactivate any of your 6 previously used Stinger figures.

• You must pass if you activate an OM on a Common card that has only one color OM on it, but do not have any unactivated figures for that Common Unit.
  
  Ex: You have 7 Marro Stinger figures and 3 Marro Stinger cards, each with a different colored OM 1 on it. You reveal your first 2 OM 1 markers and activate 6 figures. Before you reveal the 3rd OM 1 marker however, the 7th figure is destroyed. You must pass that turn as you have no unactivated Stinger figures.

I'm sure I'm missing some things, but that's what I'm experimenting with right now.

[lemur]

Originally Posted by land.scape

I keep thinking we should have a rule that you only get a height advantage when you have true height advantage rather than whether one base is higher than another. You could determine that by eye or mathematically: Adding tile height plus figure height as listed on their card.

What's the big deal? A small figure, say height of 3, attacking a huge dragon, say height of 13, gets height advantage when he stands on just one tile. Seems wrong to me. But by my rule, that small figure would have to be standing on at least 11 tiles to get height advantage. Tile height of 11 + figure height of 3 = 14 — greater than the dragon's height of 13.

Hmm, guess you'd need to subtract for the difference in height between the two so a larger figure doesn't automatically get height advantage.

My group plays with that rule - you have to have a base height higher (so, to get height, you *still* have to be on terrain higher than the opponent) AND you have to have true height higher (so, base + fig height must be more than opponents').

In this way, Nilfheim STILL has to be elevated to get height; but it's less likely that others will get height on Nilfheim.

[NecroBlade]

I really don't like the idea of using both your #1s in a row. A bonding group could get off 10+ unanswered attacks! Though I don't really play games that large, I'd play two sets like normal markers with a little more flexibility: take turns using ONE order marker at a time, but it can be EITHER of your #1s, then after your opponent uses either of theirs, you use your other one.

Another optional rule I've thought about to help speed up larger games is to allow additional bonding. That is, before taking a turn with a figure when you reveal an order marker, you can first take a turn with any figure that directly gives a bonus to or gets a bonus from that figure. This would NOT include things like Raelin's +2 Defense aura, because that affects EVERYONE. It has to be more specific like Disciplined Army Bonus.

This would let units with traditional bonding take a turn with 3 cards on one order marker, but also allow those without it to get 2 turns. So you have a 3:2 ratio instead of a 2:1. Examples: Arrow Gruts get to move a Swog AND Krug; Tagawa Samurai get to keep Hatamoto Taro in tow; etc.

[gorthan313]

Originally Posted by NecroBlade

Tagawa Samurai get to keep Hatamoto Taro in tow; etc.

Who exactly would be concerned by this?

[NecroBlade]

No one, it was just an example.