Force Building and Campaign Play in V3
Here's a bit of a preview about how the main two forces - Militia and Task Force will work in Campaigns, as well as as some hints on how Forces will be build (Yes, there are lists and points, called resources).
We are aware that often, people don't really want to play as the Militia player. The allure of playing the high speed Task Force guys is always pretty appealing.
For the new edition, we've put the Miltiia in the driving seat, when it comes to Campaign play. The decisions they make on building their force and how they operate will dictate the path of the campaign and the Operations available.
Militia Force Builder
When building your Militia Force in Spectre Operations, you take the role of the overall Warlord, recruiting Commanders and fighters across a region. You won’t often take to the field yourself, but you will have chosen commanders that you entrust to fight your battles. The goal of your enemy is to dismantle your force through force or intelligence to a degree where they can locate your position and play a final Operation to ensure your Kill or Capture.
As a Warlord, you must manage your funds, which you use to recruit your fighters on and off of the battlefield and build your Reputation. Reputation is used to represent respect or fear in a local region and on the World Stage. A high Reputation will give you benefits, but will also enable your opponent or opponents to draw greater resources to neutralise you.
Your reputation will need to be maintained and ideally grow to draw more fighters to your cause. If it falls too low, you may face desertion, or outright mutiny. Reputation can be increased by completing Objectives in a Scenario and performing actions between Operations.
Enemy operations will often target your commanders in an effort to disrupt your ability to coordinate forces and control a region. It is important to ensure they are protected not only by fighters, but by the control of intelligence on their location through reputation management.
Resources can be spent on Fighters and their equipment, as well as assets to enable escalations. Resources can also be spent on intelligence, which will enable you to recruit human intelligence or other ways of giving you unexpected advantages in Operations.
You’ll have the option of deciding the motivations of your Militia Force, whether it is Ideological, Financial or Political. Each of these have benefits and drawbacks. The setting for the Campaign will also be decided by the Militia Player - their Base of Operations or Regional Control will dictate the setting of each Operation. The Territory held and revenues of funding will also direct the Operations that can be chosen and where your resources can be targeted.
Task Force Builder
A Task Force will usually be assembled to conduct an Operation, or series of Operations. A Task Force can be drawn from a single Nations Special Forces, or a Coalition of Nations working together to achieve a goal or eliminate a common enemy.
The Task Force will often be comprised of several Elements, each of which specialising in a certain field, whether that is Direct Action, Covert Action, Intelligence or Espionage. Tier 1 forces will usually take the lead in Direct action, while Tier 2 or other more conventional Forces may be used to carry out less sensitive Operations, or Operations where more boots on the ground and more firepower is required.
As a player, you will take the role of the Task Force Commander.,Iit is your job to assemble the Elements you need to complete your objectives. As a campaign progresses, you may wish to Cycle more specialist Elements into your Taskforce, or request assistance from outside agencies… if you need something doing ‘off the books’
As a Commander, your performance will be evaluated by the ‘powers that be’. If you are performing well, you’ll be given access to more resources to continue the fight. If you are underperforming, you’ll have a fire put under you to get results. You’ll also have to manage perception on the World Stage. The use of excessive force, which results in Escalating Operations and unnecessary casualties will draw unwanted attention, which will limit the Operations available to degrade your targets Forces.
Playing a Taskforce will allow a great deal of flexibility in your approach to a campaign. You could rely heavily on Intelligence and utilise small teams for surgical Covert strikes, embed your Operators into Local or Militia forces, or commit the full kinetic ability of a Direct Action Force and show no mercy...
We will preview some of the Force lists soon and explain how these are used ot build a force.
Stay tuned!