Brush War Warlords
Brush War is a multi-sided campaign focusing on conventional and unconventional warfare which features leaders that have perks, and units that are acquired through an income of points.
Iterations
Background
Brush War models a fictional war, in a fictional place, between four warlords. The emphasis on the campaign is leadership, small unit tactics, and resource management with forces purchased from an income of Points gained by capturing and holding objectives. Additionally, the warlords are supporting characters that represent the commander of each side, and gains experience and effectiveness through battle.
Rules
Each battle lasts 60 minutes, and once the battle is finished then Points are earned from a basic income, plus a number of Points provided by the objectives that are held. These Points are then used to purchase new units and items for your inventory which are used in the next battle.
If you started the battle with an objective under your control, you do not need to keep units in it, but for an objective to change ownership - you must not only capture it based on Region Ownership conditions, but you must also have a unit in the objective at the end of the battle. If you capture an objective and gained Points from it, but do not have a unit in it at the end of a battle, then you do not gain the objective but you do gain the points (think of this like you rolled through an objective and looted it).
Objective (Winning the Campaign)
Once a faction has 750 Points or more in objective value at the end of a battle, all other Warlords are captured and executed and the campaign is won -- control has been established in the region.
Additionally, once any faction has reached >= 500 Points in objective value, then all other factions become neutral to each other and should gang up on the winning faction. Once that faction is reduced to < 500 Points in objective value, then all sides become enemies again.
Units and Items
After a battle, units and items are purchased with Points, using the Unit Cost Calculator. Think of the units being purchased as mercenary forces (Points being an abstraction of money and other resources).
The restrictions on unit purchases are:
- You may NOT purchase any unit or item more than 100 Points until a Warlord upgrade allows you to do so.
- You may NOT field more than 5 of any specific vehicle type, unless a Warlord upgrade allows more.
- You may NOT purchase mortars, howitzers or rocket artillery until a Warlord upgrade allows you to do so.
- You may NOT purchase UAVs until a Warlord upgrade allows you to do so, and once you can do so, only 1 to 3 UAVs may be fielded at any given time.
- You may NOT purchase any non-militia truck infantry vehicles until a Warlord upgrade allows you to do so (you may only purchase PC, IFV or technical truck (militia) infantry vehicles at start).
- You may NOT purchase Medic vehicles until a Warlord upgrade allows you to do so.
- You may NOT purchase obstacles or fortifications until a Warlord upgrade allows you to do so.
After each battle:
- All units lost during a battle are permanently removed from that faction's inventory.
- All damaged vehicles are repaired.
- All infantry are replaced, as long as the parent vehicle survived.
Warlords
The Warlord is the faction's leader. The leader does not participate in battle and so cannot be killed normally, however the Warlord is located in an HQ that can be overrun which may cause a reduction in Skills or death.
The Warlord Unit
The Warlord appears in battle and is represented as an M577 command vehicle.
In the first battle, this command vehicle is mobile, and can go wherever it wants, and can even be used to take an objective, but it should generally avoid combat. In all battles after the first, the Warlord vehicle is "deployed" (is in a fixed position) and cannot move, but it can be deployed within objectives that begin under your control.
Wounded (Vehicle lost)
If the Warlord vehicle is destroyed during a scenario, then the Warlord is wounded and suffers a -3 Skill point reduction from Skills of choice (the Warlord's owner chooses which Skills to subtract 3 Skill points from). If a Warlord does not have 3 Skill points available, remove as many Skill points are available.
- When reducing Skill points, remember to count any Skill points accumulated in the current battle as points that can be reduced (this means that in the first battle, if your Warlord with 0 Skill points is wounded then you would gain no Skill points for that battle).
Note that it is possible, but rare, that you could lose an objective that the Warlord is located in but by the end of the battle your Warlord is not destroyed. If this happens, there are no penalties to the Warlord - he must deploy to a different objective next turn, if any are available.
Killed (No objective to deploy to)
If at the start of a battle the Warlord has no objective to deploy to, then the Warlord is killed (either by his own men - murdered for his ineptitude - or died as a result of wounds). If this happens, a random Warlord is generated as a replacement, starting again at Rank 0.
Confederated
If you lose your last objective, and you have very few vehicles remaining, you can voluntarily choose to be confederated. Your Warlord is executed and you will not receive a replacement one, and you will now play on the side that captured your last objective (if several sides captured your last objectives, then you may choose). From that point, if the side you join wins the campaign then your result can be considered a DRAW rather than a DEFEAT.
Skills
Warlords have Skills which provide bonuses and perks. Some skills provide bonuses during a battle, while others apply outside of battle.
After each battle, each Warlord gains 1 Skill point and the players decide which Warlord Skill to increase. Also, after the first battle, whenever a faction takes an objective but does not lose any objectives they started the battle with, then their Warlord gains an additional Skill point. This means that a Warlord can gain a MAXIMUM of 2 Skill points per battle.
All Skill upgrades take effect immediately.
Each Warlord Skill has up to three levels, each one providing an increase in effectiveness.
Skill Types and Effects
- ARTILLERY
- L1: May purchase mortars
- L2: May purchase howitzers
- L3: May purchase rockets
- L1: May purchase mortars
- COMMUNICATIONS
- L1: May purchase UAVs, limit 1 in inventory
- L2: UAV inventory limit increased to 2
- L3: 2x airstrikes available in each battle
- L1: May purchase UAVs, limit 1 in inventory
- DEFENSE
- L1: May purchase wire obstacles
- L2: May purchase conventional or advanced non-buried mines
- L3: May purchase conventional or advanced buried mines
- L1: May purchase wire obstacles
- DEMOLITION
- L1: May purchase VBIED-250lb, limit 3 total VBIEDs in inventory
- L2: May purchase VBIED-500lb, total VBIED limit increased to 6
- L3: May purchase VBIED-1000lb, total VBIED limit increased to 9
- L1: May purchase VBIED-250lb, limit 3 total VBIEDs in inventory
- ENGINEER
- L1: May purchase bunkers and gun pits
- L2: May purchase trenches
- L3: May purchase AT ditches, mine plows, can remove obstacles from your territory, and you receive 1x BREM-1 ARV into inventory (a one time addition)
- L1: May purchase bunkers and gun pits
- FORAGING
- L1: Increase objective based income by +10%
- L2: Increase objective based income by +20% (replaces L1)
- L3: Increase objective based income by +30% (replaces L2)
- L1: Increase objective based income by +10%
- LOOTING
- L1: After battle, any new objectives taken adds bonus income equal to +50% of its value
- L2: After battle, any new objectives taken adds bonus income equal to +100% of its value (replaces L1)
- L3: After battle, any new objectives taken adds bonus income equal to +150% of its value (replaces L2)
- L1: After battle, any new objectives taken adds bonus income equal to +50% of its value
- MEDICAL
- L1: The PSG unit is allowed; non-militia infantry now have a PSG (which contains the medic that matches parent infantry unit's quality)
- L2: Medic vehicles can be purchased (Regular quality medic)
- L3: Medic infantry belonging to medic vehicle units are now elite
- L1: The PSG unit is allowed; non-militia infantry now have a PSG (which contains the medic that matches parent infantry unit's quality)
- RECONNAISSANCE
- L1: Your deployment zone around your objectives is increased from 500m to 750m
- ...additionally, if enemy does not also have this L1 or higher Skill, it overrides enemy deployment zones but does not enter enemy objectives
- ...additionally, if enemy does not also have this L1 or higher Skill, it overrides enemy deployment zones but does not enter enemy objectives
- L2: Your deployment zone around your objectives is increased from 750m to 1,000m
- ...additionally, if enemy does not also have this L2 or higher Skill, it overrides enemy deployment zones but does not enter enemy objectives
- ...additionally, if enemy does not also have this L2 or higher Skill, it overrides enemy deployment zones but does not enter enemy objectives
- L3: Before battle, you will be notified by each commander (in a PM) which objective each of their Warlord HQ is located in
- L1: Your deployment zone around your objectives is increased from 500m to 750m
- BLACK MARKET
- L1: May purchase units or items up to 200 Points in value
- L2: May purchase units or items up to 400 Points in value
- L3: May purchase units or items up to any Point value
- L1: May purchase units or items up to 200 Points in value
- RECRUITING
- L1: Each battle, gain 1x free (noncumulative) untrained infantry squad for each objective you hold
- L2: May purchase non-militia infantry trucks (Ural, Unimog, Pinzgauer, etc.)
- L3: Increase number of non-militia infantry truck vehicle limit by +3 (per vehicle type)
- L1: Each battle, gain 1x free (noncumulative) untrained infantry squad for each objective you hold
- SUPPLY
- L1: IFV infantry have GLs
- L2: APC infantry have GLs
- L3: Non-militia truck infantry have GLs
- L1: IFV infantry have GLs
- TRAINER
- L1: Militia infantry (technical truck troops) are upgraded to Conscript quality
- L2: Non-militia infantry are upgraded to Regular quality
- L3: Non-militia infantry are upgraded to elite quality
- L1: Militia infantry (technical truck troops) are upgraded to Conscript quality
Warlord Unique Titles
For fun, a Warlord will gain a unique title the first time they accomplish a feat that is in the following list. The first gained title will remain permanently with the leader.
- "The Butcher" - Gained by the side that lost 9 out of every 10 infantry units in a single scenario.
- "The Liberator" - Gained by the side that takes a > 50 point objective from another side.
- "The Executioner" - Gained by the side that destroys another side's Warlord unit.
- "The Ravager" - Gained by the side that has lost all their vehicles in a scenario (other than their Warlord).
- "The Timid" - Gained by the side that went the entire scenario without being in contact with the enemy.
- "The Conqueror" - Gained by the side that gained > 200 points of objectives in a single battle.
- "The Destroyer" - Gained by the side that gained 2x the number of kills thank losses in a single battle.
- "The Pillager" - Gained by the side that besieged, attacked, razed, and conquered a substantial village or town (voted on by other players).
Warlord Rank (high score)
A Warlord will increase in rank (shown on their "card"). For every 3x Skill Levels, a Warlord will increase in rank by 1.
There are a total of 13 ranks, which can be considered a high score of sorts. Note that rank can decrease if the Warlord loses Skill levels due to the Warlord's HQ being lost.
- At the end of a campaign, regardless of which side won, the side with the highest rank Warlord is a good indication of who best protected their Warlord.