Megagame Makers

You are The Prince of Darkness, heir apparent to the throne of the Dark Empire. Dad has given you some money to conquer the independent city state of Urr before the onset of winter. Do not fail your Father the Emperor.

You have been provided with:

• a large amount of gold to raise a massive mercenary army
• an experienced mercenary recruiter to serve as your Bretwalda of Recruiting
• the Imperial Court's Grand Necromancer to raise additional undead forces
• a baggage train to support your army
• several Imperial guard regiments to guard the gold and serve as occupation forces after Urr has been conquered.

The first thing you have done with all that gold was to spend some of it on a Fancy Mobile Brothel…

The Prince of Darkness is a wizard. You have certain powers. Other wizards of the invasion force have a different set of powers, you cannot use their magics only your own. It would be wise to keep some of your magics secret.

Your personal magics can be used at will. Success is automatic.

• Yanking someone's eyeballs out from up to 20 paces away. What it says on the tin. The target is blinded until anybody in the game casts Edan's Thaumaturgic Poultice. It doesn't have to be on the specific player, the assumption is that all of the targeted characters will find some way to lay their hands on a jar of Edan's ointment. The player involved will wear a blindfold until this happens.
• Walk in Shadows You can discretely travel to an area of the game that is usually off limits to you. Interaction of any kind by you suspends the effect. So you can not sneak up on a team of players to spy on them. This spell is mostly used to facilitate secret negotiations by sneaking into a place and then revealing yourself to the folks you want to talk to. Victims of the Charm of Forlorn Encystment can't escape or be reached by this spell.

These are massive magical rituals requiring a 100 participants, multiple hours and a probably blood sacrifice. A wizard player must go and request a ritual from the magic umpire during the magic phase. A team can only cast 1 spell each turn. There are separate spell lists for Tactical and Strategic turns. A player who adds nice touches, or theatrics in the description gets a bonus. Effects can be made to appear anywhere on the map. The order in which spells are resolved is based on a first come first serve basis. Rumours that the ritual spells of The Prince of Darkness and his minions are dangerous because they delve to deeply into the forbidden arts are of course treasonous. Spells use either red manna or black manna. Certain spells also use other ingredients often with limited availability those can only be cast when they are in the possession of the caster. Players need to provide evidence to the magic umpire that they have (and are expending) those ingredients.

• Insect Host (red manna) A gigantic swarm of locusts appears, directed by the mind of the Dark Prince. The swarm proceeds to attack the harvest. For each red manna, remove 4 food tokens still out in the fields, or forests.
• Voice of the Great Wyrm (red manna) At least one 3-headed fire breathing dragon shows up, demanding to know why they have been called. A successful casting requires 2 red manna, or a joker. This spell only summons dragons; it does not control them. You have to make a deal… Better bring a very skilled negotiator with a very good offer, say lots of treasure. The ideal choice if you don't mind causing lots of collateral damage and want to go 'Dresden' on a location, airlift a warband, or need heavy fire support for an all out assault… Special: An extra dragon WILL show up for each additional 2 red manna/joker. This is a horrendously dangerous spell!
• Ship of Tears (black manna) A magic ship appears made of the tears of whores (m/f) lamenting the deaths of a Real Man!™. This ship can sail the river into Urr and dock whilst ignoring the fortifications that are there to repel a waterborn attack. The ship disappears after it has been docked, potentially stranding the units in a very hostile environment. For each unit to be carried you need both a black manna and a sample of camp follower tears shed during the memorial service of a different deceased Real Man!™. To count as a real man according to the standards of this spell, you must be the first player character of the game of a member of the entourage of The Dark Prince (including The Dark Prince). Rumours that by any objective standard the biggest stud in the game is captain regent Fabian of Urr are of course base slander.
• Chitinous Armor, Leathery Wings (black manna) The Dark Prince and his entourage go out for a lark. This spell summons their dragon like mounts and armor made of living beetles. Resolve this as a raid. Ignore all the usual raid modifiers and replace them with a flat +1 bonus. Roll 1 die for each black manna and keep the best result. However if a joker is drawn the entourage runs into prince-regent Fabian and his posse. In this case the raid fails (automatic result of 1 on the raid table), The Dark Prince gets to decide who he betrayed in his cowardly escape.
• Fractured Unity (red manna) This sows discord and emotional turmoil throughout a kingdom. This prevents anyone from seeing other groups in the same kingdom as allies. Casting this on Ur raises the terror track level by 2. Casting it on the Free Folk means that they abort everything they are doing now and the next turn is a tactical turn covering an Orcish civil war. Dwarves and Elves are completely immune to this spell. Each casting requires 1 red manna and the caster having betrayed his own team in a big way the others are not yet aware of. Each betrayal fuels only 1 casting.

• Crimson Portents (red manna) Sacrifice a sentient being, read his/her entrails and predict a glorious victory. All of the armies under the banner of the Prince of Darkness get a +1 on their battle rolls during the next turn. Cost: 1 red manna, if a joker comes up the planned human sacrifice turns out to be a sexy dancing girl and the Fabulous Fabi and his Posse stage a daring rescue attempt giving the armies a -1 on the battle roll instead. The servants of the Prince do not realize this is how it works, so they are always surprised by this turn of events.
• Death of Obsidian Butterflies (black manna) The Dark Prince calls forth a cascade of sculpted obsidian butterflies with razor-sharp wings, flashing over his shoulders and past his sides in a glassy black torrent. Pick 1 battle. Perform 1 standard ranged attack at the start of this battle for each black manna.