HELP - I want to run a campaign....

[Sunjester]

....but can't make my mind up!

I'm just winding up a Chain of Command mini-campaign at my club, https://sites.google.com/site/tringwargames/current-activities/chain-of-command-italian-campaign, but I really fancy doing something with a longer duration.

I'll keep it flexible and work it so that players can drop in and out of games as they are available, rather than rigidly allocating a specific role to each player.

My problem is, looking at my collection, what do I do, Historical, Fantasy or Sci-Fi? I've done a lot of WW2 lately, so I'll give that a miss this time. I want something at a skirmish level rather than big battles, using 28mm, but I'm not sure whether to make it a 1:1 level game, or small unit based like Lion Rampant.

So Here's the Thing, based on what I've got to play with, I'd like your thoughts please, Guys. I just need a kick start to get the inventive brain juices flowing.

Here is the list of Raw Materials.

Figures
Late Roman/Arthurian era: Romans and Barbarians
11th Century: Spanish and Moors
13th century: Assorted Western Europeans, Crusader Holy Orders, Saracens and Mongols
16th Century: Border Reivers
18th Century: French, British, Settlers and Indians for Canada
19th Century USA: Cowboys
19th Century Africa: Natives, Explorers, Colonial troops and Askari
19th Century Chinese Boxers
Also a bunch of prehistoric creatures, ape men and neandathals to make these Lost World-ish
Modern/Near Future: USA cops, Feds and biker gang

Fantasy
Lord of the Rings: several hundred orcs, dwarves and elves
Chronopia: Stygian (lizards) and Devout

Sci-Fi
Star Wars: Stormtroopers, Rebels and mercenaries (including a bunch of Hoth figures)
Star Gate: US Marines plus about 100 Jaffa
plus a bunch of general figures suitable for Post Apocalypse/low tech/Firefly style gaming


Settings/Terrain
Suitable trees, hills, hedges, walls, plants etc for European, Desert or Jungle settings
Dark Age -Small village, fortified farmstead and a reasonable sized earth and timber fortress
Medieval - Stone castle and Keep Tower
15th-18th century, small town of timber frame buildings (about 15 houses)
Small Wild West town
Generic adobe/mud brick buildings, suitable for desert, middle east or mexico (lots, 30+)
Volcano
Underground cavern terrain
Dungeon
Isengard (about 4 feet tall)
Assorted ruins suitable for anything from Osgiliath to post nuclear war

Thanks!

[has.been]

1) Star Gate with several backward worlds. The object being to collect parts of a fantastic weapon (Arthur's Sword or Thor's Hammer) ready for a final showdown.
2) Exploring a recently discovered 'Lost World'  when the 'recently' is set will give you the 'modern' troops, e.g.Cowboys or WW2 or present day.
3) Use everything. There is a Sci-Fi novel where (it turns out) the Earth is about to cease to be. Some very powerful Aliens 'save' bits of humanity (such as Alexander the Great's army, Ghengis Khan's horde, troops from the British in India and modern Afghanistan) and create a zoo like world. Weird armies are created by the alliances between the different groups.
4)Get the players to be heroes, such as Arthurian knights and throw all you can at them (monsters, Roman legions, undead of course etc.) while they build their legends.

[Rhoderic]

Just a snapshot suggestion: Taifa-era Andalusia is surely one of history's great "free-for-all" settings. Would your 11th century Spanish and Moors let you do numerous mercenary bands including Andalusians, Spanish, Almoravids/Almohads and non-Spanish western Europeans? By having all players represent mercenary leaders or other "free agents" you could maybe devise some campaign system that focuses on accruing personal fame and glory (as opposed to territorial control and other more inflexible aspects of that sort), which could keep the campaign open for drop-ins and tolerant of drop-outs.

Borders Reivers is also a fun theme. That trend died way too fast.

We don't have the full picture in regard to which of your collections are big enough to support a campaign with numerous factions, though. Unless, all of the collections you've listed are?

[Eric the Shed]

Can I suggest Robin Hood with the Lion Rampant Rule Set...great fun...

or

do a Time Travelling Campaign - Bunch of Futuristic travellers need to travel through time (ie all your genres) to correct 'history'

[shandy]

Just a snapshot suggestion: Taifa-era Andalusia is surely one of history's great "free-for-all" settings. Would your 11th century Spanish and Moors let you do numerous mercenary bands including Andalusians, Spanish, Almoravids/Almohads and non-Spanish western Europeans? By having all players represent mercenary leaders or other "free agents" you could maybe devise some campaign system that focuses on accruing personal fame and glory (as opposed to territorial control and other more inflexible aspects of that sort), which could keep the campaign open for drop-ins and tolerant of drop-outs.

Yes! That's a project I want to do one day. One could use the simple campaign system that was published in Miniature Wargames a couple of issues ago… I forgot the author   It was Biblical Ancients, but it would work for the Almoravid invasion, with the Almoravids for one or more players and the different Taifa states being played by whoever drops by… I'll have to find that issue, unfortunately all my stuff is packed up for a big house move.

EDIT: I found it! It was an article by Jim Webster with the title Canaanites for Christmas, published in MW/BG 368 (http://www.atlanticpublishers.com/miniature-wargames/2013/11/20/miniature-wargames-with-battlegames-issue-368-out-this-week/)

[jp1885]

Watch the Doctor Who episode 'The War Games', and all your questions will be answered

[v_lazy_dragon]

Most generic 'fantasy' settings would be able to accomodate all your historicals up to an indlcuing the border reavers, along with the lost world stuff and dedicated fantasy ranges.

Or stealing a leaf from has.been's #3 and the Heroscape game you could go for a a Ragnarok battle at the end of time, with great heros and warriors drawn from across time and space...

Personally i'd go for Has.been's ~1 suggestion and go for Stargate, using a range of worlds with differing technology levels

[Rhoderic]

Between the Late Roman / Arthurian, 11th century and 13th century collections, the Lost World figures and potentially some natives with primitive weapons from the colonial Africa range (if you have them), you have the makings for quite a fleshed-out swords-and-sorcery setting. Perhaps a setting centered on a North African kind of milieu, with some temperate European-style lands off to one edge and tropical Subsaharan-style ones off to the other. If the Stargate Jaffa are the same scale you might even be able to include them as a strange sword-and-planet style civilisation.

[Lowtardog]

Lion Rampant is a must I think Graham although I know the lads at Tring have been doing a SAGA campaign too if memory serves me.

Perhaps pull in a fantasy campaign in an alternate reality/ fantasy setting. You could give it an oldhammer feel using a range of figures form barbarians, renaissance, medieval to more fantastical realms such as dwarves, undead. It then lets all comers have a bash in the campaign

[Sunjester]

Thanks for all the ideas Guys.

I think I'll go for a larger scale skirmish campaign using Lion Rampant.
At the moment I'm torn between fantasy and historical.

Either a Tolkien based game around the breakup of Arnor in the mid-Third Age, 3 competing kingdoms, plus Dwarves, Elves and Orcs.

Or 10/11th Century historical. Andalusia would be good, or else Italy (Saracens, Byzantines, Normans, Papal States plus intervention from the German Emperor).

Or maybe combine the idea and do an alternative-universe history, adding Fantasy races to Spain or Italy?

Cheers.

Hi Karl, How are you doing? You are right there is a Saga Campaign on-going but it's really ground to a halt as it was made too complicated for the number of players. I submitted my last orders in January and I'm still waiting for the results!

Plus I don't rate the rules very much myself, the battleboards are more important than what happens on the tabletop a lot of the time, and I feel that some of the later armies are unbalanced compared with the armies in the original rules. Plus a lot more people seem to prefer Lion Rampant, since I first took them along to the club at least 7 or 8 other members have bought the rules and are building armies.

[LeadAsbestos]

Personally, I'd do an Arthurian campaign, rules via LionRampant, campaign system stolen from Dux Brit. Fast, easy, fun, plenty to play out...

[eilif]

Couldn't read the link you put up, but if a campaign of about 10 games is big enough for you, Song of blades would be a good option for your fantasy and historical figs.  It's 1:1 and the "Song of Deeds and Glory" campaign system is really easy to manage.  The only problem is that at about 12 games you end up with warbands so advanced that they play to easily.