Campaign Rules for Heroclix Solo Wargaming

The following is the third of three optional rules that have been designed to work with the Solo Wargaming Rules for Heroclix posted in January on Solo Nexus. All three optional rules will be in effect during my November 2011 Solo Tabletop Gaming Appreciation Month campaign, a multi-battle, super-powered war played out on a real map of NYC.

Campaign Rules (optional)
Multiple games may be organized such that the outcome of one game affects the conditions and composition of subsequent ones, increasing the number of unanticipated elements for the solo player.


Preparing the Campaign

• All games are planned in advance by choosing the intended build values, opposing forces, and maps.
• The number of games planned is dependent upon how sizable the solo player wants the “war” to be.
• Campaigns are arranged in phases. Games in the same phase are considered to occur simultaneously and have no effect on one another. Games with higher phase numbers are considered to happen later than games with lower phase numbers and may have “survivors” from earlier phases added to their forces if the phases are “tied” to one another. Any number of phases may be tied to other phases.
• To unite the campaign, the overall conflict should follow a theme (e.g., heroes vs. villains, Marvel vs. DC, JLA vs. Injustice Gang, etc.) so that it is clear to which new force survivors will be added.
• The last phase of the campaign must be a single game – a final battle to determine the winning side!

SAMPLE THEME GAME: Two Phases, Two Games
The arrow below indicates that survivors of Phase 1, Game 1 will be added to their thematically-corresponding force at the beginning of Phase 2, Game 1. (Click to enlarge.)

SAMPLE TEMPLATE: Three Phases, Seven Games
The arrows indicate which phases and games are tied together on the way to the climactic Phase 3 battle. (Click to enlarge.) 

Survivors

• Any character remaining on the battlefield at the end of a game that is tied to a succeeding phase is a survivor and will become a member of its thematically-comparable force in the next phase.
• If a game ended in a rout, the characters remaining on the battlefield from the losing force are also considered survivors and will be part of the next phase’s game.
• Survivors do NOT return their combat dials to their starting lines; all damage taken during their original game remains when they move on to the next phase.
• Survivors are placed in the Starting Area with the planned force in the next phase unless the optional Randomized Mustering Rules are being used, in which case survivors will enter the Starting Area on the turn after all of the planned force’s characters have entered their Starting Area.
• If the original planned force was a keyword theme team, theme team bonuses are still in effect and will also apply to survivors that share the same keyword.
• Regardless of how many extra points of characters are added to a phase by survivors, the game’s original point value action allotment remains the same.

Weather Continuity
If the solo player considers the campaign to be taking place within the same geographic location and the optional rules for weather are being used, then the Weather Events established for the first game of a phase played on Outdoor or Indoor/Outdoor maps will apply to all games played on Outdoor or Indoor/Outdoor maps within that phase. To determine if the weather worsens, remains the same, or improves as the campaign moves from phase to phase, roll 1d6 before the first turn of the first game of every subsequent phase and consult the chart below. (Click to enlarge.)

Declaring Victory
Since all phases and games eventually lead to a final climactic battle, the victorious side is the winner of the final game, regardless of the previous wins or losses accumulated by that force’s “side” of the conflict during all previous phases. This, then, makes the cumulative effect of phase-to-phase survivors a critical aspect of the overall campaign.