Howdy all,

Since I'm running a couple of Conquest events next month, who isn't, I decided to finally flesh out an idea I had and run it for my players. Since it's just now seeing the light of day, and I mean I JUST typed it up, I thought I'd share it here for any helpful criticism from my favorite e-people.

THANKS!


Pherungia’s Towers

Several years ago, a powerful mage broke off from the Atlantis Guild to work on a project which he didn’t wish to share with the powers within the guild. Pherungia, a High Magus of great renown, had perfected a type of steel that was indestructible. He hoped to build himself a fortress of this material in order to begin a powerful empire of his own. Because he was a true visionary, many chose to follow him, and he and his followers soon set out under cover of darkness for the Kurahb Mountains to establish the free country of Pherungia.

The first things to be built were the towers. They were a beautiful dark marbled gray color and they shone brightly under the glare of the setting sun. While the walls and other buildings were being constructed temporarily out of stone until they could be replaced with Pherungian steel, the 4 towers stood proudly upon the high mountain field, their offensive capabilities nearly completed. Unfortunately, whenever the sun would set, the glare off of the towers could be seen for a hundred miles in all directions. Having gazed first hand upon this marvelous alloy, Grand Vizier Colostrum was well acquainted with its properties. Already furious at the loss of this valuable metal as well as the services of its creator, Colostrum sent a large force to deal with the renegade Magus and to bring him back to a life of enslavement, working to further Colostrum’s career.

The army of Atlanteans easily outmatched Pherungia’s forces in numbers as well as in equipment. It took them very little time to decimate the walls of the castle and lay them to waste. But the towers withstood all assaults upon them and couldn’t even be scaled due to their incredible smoothness. Since no air support had been sent on what was thought to be an easy mission, the attackers soon realized that all they could do was trade shots with the defenders. But the defensive abilities of the towers proved to be too much for the Atlanteans and the offensive abilities, now that Pherungia had made them fully functional, soon sent the attackers into a full retreat. The Pherungians followed and managed to eliminate nearly all of the attackers. Upon returning, the Pherungians discovered to their dismay that an arrow lobbed by the retreating Atlantians had found its mark. Pherungia lay slain upon the first tower he created while finishing the work to activate it’s weaponry. With the secret of his steel and his vision now lost, it wasn’t long before the new citizens of Pherungia scattered and left the towers abandoned.

When the few surviving Atlanteans returned from the battle, they told of an indestructible fortress that could not be assailed. Fearing even more disgrace than what had already befallen him, Colostrum chose not to send any more of his already depleted troupes into the mountains. Instead, he chose to blockade the only pass down from the mountains and to never allow anyone to ever descend from Pherungia so long as it stood. A wall and towers were hastily erected, blocking the road at the most defensible location. When the survivors from Pherungia came down from the mountain they were mercilessly slaughtered by the Atlanteans. Two days later, the small province run by Colostrum was overrun by a Black Powder attack that came before reinforcements could arrive.

The Black Powder Rebels were just one of many who both feared and craved the power of Pherungian steel, and soon yours was not the only group fighting for control of the towers. After an arduous climb to the plateau, your forces are now directly across from an unfriendly army with the shining towers in between you. Both sides know that control of the offensive might of these towers could turn the tide in your favor. As you order your men forward, you see the other side break into an all out sprint for the towers. Looks like it’s a race for more than just power…your men’s very survival depends on gaining control of those towers.

RULES

All standard Conquest rules are in effect for this battle except where noted. In the middle of a 3’x6’ battlefield will be four towers set in a square. Any round, flat surfaced object between 4” and 6” in diameter may be used to represent the towers. The towers will be spaced approximately 16” apart. The front and back walls are Low Walls. The side walls are rubble that functions as Hindering Terrain. In the center of the towers will be a building approximately 4”x 6” set sideways that will be considered Blocking Terrain. The towers follow the rules for Castle Towers except where noted. The towers are indestructible. The stats for the towers are as follows; 11 attack and 3 damage with Pierce, 3 target capability, a Defensive Bonus of 3 and an 18” range. Towers neither receive Action Tokens nor do they ever Push. Each tower will have a portal that begins open.

Control of the towers is determined by which player has more points worth of figures on top of it. If you have more points worth of figures on a tower at any time during your turn, and still have an Action available at that time, once per turn you may give an Action to a figure on the tower to either make an attack with the tower or to open the portal. You may not do both during the same turn. If you have a figure that currently shows the Command Special Ability on top of a tower you control, you may give the tower a free Action, but the Command figure may not be given an Action that turn if you choose to take advantage of this free Action.

Points are scored as normal, but an additional 100 points is awarded for each tower controlled at the end of the round.

not bad altan, have but one comment, link the rebels to the story more

Sorry, the scenario was already thought out and I created the story just because I'm an old time role-player who likes for there to be something more than just hacking and slashing. Just threw it together in a few minutes, so I might take some time and make it better later. The main thing I'm concerned about is ensuring that the scenario plays well for my players since I doubt I'll have time to playtest it before I have to run it.

Thanks for the comments and I'll repost the story if I have a chance to improve upon it. And I'll keep those rebels in mind!

Hey, I didn't know you were getting a job as the next Wizkids designer!

No, seriously, don't you think 30" range is a little much (well, I suppose if you are trying to outdo Corpheus...)? And I think conferring the range and stuff on someone IN the tower but not the tower itself would be more balancing, too. At my old venue the warlord always tilted the game so far in favor of castle defenders it was sickening, and well, I wouldn't want you to commit the same mistake. Maybe a range between 14-20" is what I think would be good.

Great scenario idea though and good story!

I know the towers are supposed to be powerful, but should they be THAT powerful.

You might be overdoing it there.

Maybe make them destructable, limit their range, don't give them Pierce, or have them push.

Something like that :)

Here's my reasoning for the power of the towers.

1. 90 minutes for a 1200 point Conquest can often not be enough for a decisive victory. This will speed up the bloodshed and get people into the middle of the battlefield quicker.

2. No one owns any of the towers. All you have to do is have more points on a tower and you then control it. Then next turn your opponent can do the same thing. Control will change almost every turn.

3. Giving the towers this much power will ensure that players are actually interested in the objective instead of like many other objectives where they are easily ignored in preference of just annihilating their opponent.

4. 30" range means there is nowhere to hide! Except beside and behind the towers themselves, of course.

5. It fits the story!

If anyone has an opportunity to playtest it please let me know how it worked for you. What might be interesting is when the towers start firing at each other. I might add something where the only way to destroy a tower is by successfully hitting it with another tower. I'll give it some more thought when I have another free moment.

well just a suggestion to make 90 minutes a decetn amount of time for a round: reduce teh size fo the table... lots of time gets wasted in setup effort early in the game. if the opponents start closer to each other, the bloodshed will begin quicker.

Like you asid the towers are quite powerful (the fact that they're elevated terrain doesnt help either) as it can easily break formations... or ruin key pieces of support...

Last but not least... ML looks broken here... simply fling big figs on top of each tower and you got free shots anywhere on the map... pretty strong. just imagine, with 5 actions (3 from the 1200 total, 1 from command and 1 command roll) you can Move/ML 2 very fast figs with command and get 2 free shots on your opponent before he can do anything (and ruin his ability to gain towers at teh same time)

the free action with towers should probably be for a command figure WITHOUT an action token, just to prevent this sort of abuse... This way, the figs does one action, not 2 (its own and then the free tower)
________
SophiaShine

That is exactly my point. Remember the Battle of the Blackheart scenario? Remember how it was reduced to a two or three turn cheap victory? Well, this scenario wouldn't be as terrible as that with the towers, but how about this:

A guy puts 6 weak technomancers in an army, and levitates a storm golem into the top of one on one turn, and a Thunder golem into the tower on his next turn. Then he starts taking pot shots at the other guy who is pretty much still in his other starting area. Meanwhile he flies a GFD and RLD (or even bounds a couple HOSTs) towards each tower to hold it for good.

I'm not positive, but with 30" range and the towers being defended by stormy and Thunderboy, to later be defended by dragons (or HOSTs), might not this be an advantage too big for the other player to overcome? I mean, if the opponent doesn't have LI up the wazoo, he is in some serious trouble.

But hey, if the game is "play ML or die", we have a winner!!
Oh and expanding on ajj's ideas, pushing would not cause damage to the towers, it would just cause a cessation in pot shot taking for a turn.

Oh, and just to clarify, would that stormy and thunder goober have 23 def. against range then, and 21 def regular?
Just some thoughts....

Olan, good comments. I will give them some thought. I don't think Levitation will be as big of an issue as you might think, but I could be wrong. It will take 3 Actions just to get 1 figure to 1 tower. Since each team only gets 3 Actions in a 1200 point match plus 1+ for Command, odds are they'll only get control of one tower on their first turn. And since the figure on the tower must be given the action to use the tower, they won't be using the tower until the 2nd turn. I just wish I had more time to playtest it.

What you mentioned about Command Figures not already having an Action Token if they want to activate a Tower was how I intended it, but I'll take your advice and change the wording to remove any ambiguity.

JediMaster, Someone could pull off what you suggested, but would that be a bad thing? The whole idea is that it's a mad rush for the Towers and speed in getting there is going to be a primary tactic. If someone doesn't find ways to control a tower quickly they are asking for trouble, as it should be. And since there are two towers on each side both sides have an equal advantage. But again, I think I may just have to find time to playtest it. While in my head I think it may work a certain way, it may be too easy to abuse in actual play. But that's why I ask for opinions! And you could also hide in the 4 corners, so "nowhere to hide" wasn't completely accurate. ;> And hiding in the shadows of the towers on your side will also protect you, since they are also elevated terrain. But the whole idea is to turn it into a fast a furious bloodbath like is not usually seen in Conquest.

I'll try and playtest it Sunday if i don't go somewhere and play. I went last week to try and win one of the LEs, overcame a field of 19 to win the tournament, and then got tempted away by a Draconum Guardian. So now I have to go win again so I can get the stinkin' LE I drove 30 miles to win in the first place!

But keep the ideas coming! I'll try and rewrite it with any changes I think will work well before playtesting it and then I'll probably rewrite the whole thing when it doesn't work right! ;> But that's the life of a game designer, or at least so I'm told.

It's true a player will probably only get control of one tower his turn, but with weak brass commanders at 27 pts, in a conquest game you could field more than a couple of these buggers and have a decent shot at getting those 6 actions.

Another thing might be making the controller of the tower have to wait a turn before he can use the tower. That gives the other guy just a wee bit more breathing room before he starts getting slaughtered. Also, if one player controls a tower on each side of the middle, he wouldn't be able to blow away whoever was coming to take control of the other towers.

And the free action token/tower action thing answered another concern I had. The overriding concern was that the first guy to the towers would have the ability to dominate the game from that point on, and I think this has been addressed somewhat.

It's too bad you didn't post this yesterday; I go to my friend's house every Wed. and we MK away--we could have playtested your little scenario and gotten some good input for ya ;).

Well, good luck and if I think of anything else I'll be sure to post it here.