I am trying to get back into wargaming again, and while I feel quite comfortable with historicals I have a very marmite relationship with fantasy rank and flank games. In order to investigate this further, I have put together an Aggression campaign for WHFB 4th Edition.

What is an Aggression Campaign?

The gory details of the campaign system are detailed on this blogpost , but incase that drops off the web before this does, the premise behind this campaign is as follows:

• Five ‘homelands’ each connected to their neighbour on the cardinal points plus a central hub land.
• Each army has a defined aggression rating of 1-3, each year roll 1d6 and add the aggression to determine the next battle. The highest total is attacker, and of the lands connected to them the lowest is the defender.
• Battles take place on the defender’s land. If the attacker wins, the defender is annexed, and if the defender wins the attacker is repulsed and their aggression is permanently reduced by 1.

Aggression Campaign Map Example

Cribbed directly from the blog post above, here is an example map showing an Aggression campaign in progress:

The Armies

I have chosen five armies of 1000pts each to play this game. I am bringing along no magic items, weapons or standards – and using the original Warhammer Armies pamphlet from the WHFB 4e boxed set to build my lists (with the exception of CD, see below)

High Elves

A mixed force of a Level 2 Mage as general, and around a core of 15 Spearmen (with Spears and Full Command) there’s a ranged component of 20 Archers and 2 Bolt Throwers, complemented by the speed of 5 Silver Helms and 2 Chariots.

Home ground is a magic forest and an aggression of 1.

Night Goblins

A large force consisting of Goblin Lord Makarev in a retinue of 30 spearmen. Ranged offense is via two units of 20 archers and two spear chukkas. Heavy punch is with a Giant and 3x Trolls, with fast attack on a unit of 10 wolf riders and a snotling pump wagon.

Home ground is mushroom grove and aggression of 2.

Chaos Dwarfs

An elite army consisting of a Lord in a unit of 14 Warriors, A unit of 10 Blunderbusses, an Earthshaker Cannon and 30 Hobgoblins, rounded out by a unit of 5 Bull Centaurs. The army list for the Chaos Dwarfs comes from White Dwarf magazine, instead of the Warhammer Armies pamphlet.

Home ground is wasteland and aggression of 2.

Undead

Led by a Vampire Lord, this army consists of two blocks of 15 Skeletons with Spears and Shields, with 5 Ghosts, 10 Ghouls, and 10 Skeleton Horsemen to back him up.

Home ground is village/castle and aggression of 1.

Daemons of Tzeentch

It’s not possible to field an all-daemon army with the Warhammer Armies pamphlet, so a Lord of Change is proxied as a Beastman Lord on Disc as commander. Accompanied by 10 Flamers, 10 Pink Horrors, a Chariot and two Chaos Spawn.

Home ground is hellscape and an aggression of 3

First Year

The next steps are to get the three 1000pt armies built, and in order to do that I need to work out the first fight to set the priority. Here’s the rolls for warfare in the first year:

• High Elves have Aggression 1 + D6 roll of 2 =3
• Night Goblins have Aggression 2 + D6 roll of 5 = 7
• Chaos Dwarfs have Aggression 2 + D6 roll of 4 =6
• Undead have Aggression 1 + D6 roll of 1 = 2
• Tzeentch have Aggression 3 + D6 roll of 1 = 4

What’s Next?!

Stay tuned for the emergence of the Night Goblins from their fungal grotto…