WARNING: RATHER LONG POST

So my friend is GMing a campaign using tiles from the Mighty Empires set. There are 8 players total playing on a hexagonal map consisting of just over 100 tiles. Each HQ is roughly equal distant apart. There are 12 HQ locations total. You start with one banner which has one static army list. Each banner has its own specific list, and unique items (any magic or runic item that is not a common item or the rune of stone) are treated as though all of your banners are one list. For example, two banners may not both take Armor of Silvered Steel on their general. However they may both take Dispel Scrolls as these are common items. For each 3 territories you capture (not including HQs or the central city) you generate an additional banner and therefore another unique list.

Movement is based on the average mobility of all of your models combined. For example, a Dwarf army with lots of Rangers, Miners, and Gyrocopters would have a higher movement rate than a Dwarf army with lots of normal slow infantry. Movement caps at 4 and is at 1 at the lowest. Dwarves don't suffer movement penalties for moving through mountain tiles as much as others do, and if they fight non-Dwarf armies in mountain tiles they may take an initiative test to be able to not only pick the scenario but also which role in the scenario they will play.

Dwarves can also enter one of the 3 mines surrounding the central city and tunnel in, emerging in a spot designated by the GM (but I can ask to battle someone and the GM will have me emerge into a combat if he feels).

The goal of the campaign is to have the most tiles owned after 7 turns (not included the initial land grab). The center tile is a massive city that counts as 10 tiles solely for the purpose of winning the game (not for generating additional banners etc).

Also, if you take over an unused HQ or an enemy HQ you may generate banners from their instead as sort of a 'forward base of operations.'

Certain tiles surrounding the central city but roughly 3-4 spaces away are mines and wizard towers that grant the capturing banner special abilities (like one unit gets armor piercing) for as long as the player controls that tile.

The players are:

Beastmen - This player is my uncle. He was one of the two players that have an HQ relatively distant from the other HQs. I know what models he has and see him bringing balanced aggressive lists consisting of Bestigors, Minotaurs, and a Monster of some sort. No special rules for the campaign yet for Beastmen.

Skaven - My friend that plays Skaven has quite an army of full painted miniatures. He has an HPA, a furnace, a doomwheel, jezzails, a cannon, and pretty much every other model out there. He really likes the whole Engineer + Rocket combo. He is also the other player that has a rather remote HQ. Skaven get bonuses for moving their banners that let them travel from one 'razed' map section to another nearby razed section. They can even elect to stay underground and travel to yet another section if they want! Sneaky little gits!

High Elves - This guy is a good painter and just recently started collecting High Elves so has a small collection. High Elves always win 'Don't Pass in the Night' which is normally a test on your General's Initiative whenever two banners move into each other to see which hexagon the battle takes place. Not actually a super scary player, and he is deployed rather far from me. His army bonuses are really just movement enhancers, like causing a unit to have a movement value of 4 for the purposes of map movement etc.

Lizardmen - This guy is a good friend of mine, and is always fun to battle! He brings magic and rock hard infantry, and complements his lists with a few skinks here and there. My first battle will be against him as he deployed right next to my HQ and we both bee-lined straight for the same tile. Lizardmen move through marshes and river tiles easier than others. All-skink banners get +1 to their movement (so they will almost always have a move of 3 or 4). He can also take a level 2 High Elf mage in on ebanner with a unit of Swordmasters!! His coolest special ability in the campaign is that there are three 'craters' on the map, and any banner he has with a Slann in it can call down a comet onto any of the three craters instead of moving, scattering any enemy banners that may occupy that tile! I expect him and I to become allies, but I may hold a grudge for him attacking me while I hold this particular tile I am on... (more into this later)

Daemons of Chaos - This guy is ok but can be kind of a pain in the butt to play against. This isn't because he plays Daemons but is because he hates losing and in my opinion he doesn't have clear grasp on the rules. He is next to High Elves and rather far away, so I am content. They get special bonuses for army composition if they have certain marks within their army or are composed entirely of units from specific gods.

Vampire Counts - This guy is very friendly to play against, and he plays powerful lists and he plays powerful armies. Not to mention he knows what he is doing. But like I said he is friendly and has very good sportsmanship. The GM just wrote in some funny notes for special rules so nothing yet 😛

Ogres - This guy is cool. He didn't show up the first night where we all moved banners turn after turn in a land grab up to the first battle. Someone else moved him and took a few of my banners 🙁 Ogres move through mountains easier, and after massacring an opponent, they get a +1 movement bonus. This guy will actually probably end up being my ally, as I like him and his army and we are right next to each other.

So, for the first few turns I ran Banner 1 straight to the center of the board and successfully held the central city. My other banner appeared and moved a square forward, and my Lizardmen opponent moved his Banner 1 into the central city, and so we have a battle. I get some type of defensive bonus for defending the city but I'm not sure yet.

My Banner 1 is something like this:

-Dwarf Lord - shieldbearers, 1+ rerollable armor save, immune to poison/KB, 4+ ward, great weapon.
-Rune Lord - shield, 2+ rerollable armor save, spelleater and spellbreaker.
-BSB - gromril, preservation, and resistance.
-24 longbeards with shields and fc <-Rune Lord
-16 Quarreller Rangers with FC
-22 Hammerers with Lord and BSB as well as Rune of Battle
-25 Slayers with 1 champ and mus/std
-grudge thrower with accuracy, and x2 pen
-organ gun

My Banner 2 is something like this:

-Rune Lord - shield, 2+ rerollable armor save, 5+ ward, balance and x2 spellbreakers.
-BSB - +1 Toughness, 3+ rerollable armor save.
-x2 Master Engineers, both with Dwarf Handgun and Great Weapon.
-24 Warriors with shields, FC (I don't have warriors with great weapons and the campaign is WYSISYG 🙁 )
-16 Thunderers with shields, FC
-Cannon, forging, burning, reloading, and engineer
-Grudge Thrower, accuracy and x1 pen
-Bolt Thrower, x1 pen, x2 flakkson's seeking, and an engineer.
-Gyrocopter
-19 Hammerers, FC and rune of slowness.

Banner 2 gets to move 4 spaces all the time for being an 'Engineer' Banner. It qualifies as it has a Rune Lord, 2 Master Engineers, and 4 engineers of different war machines (the Gyro counts as en engineer of its own war machines for the purpose of this rule).

So what do you guys think of the campaign, my opponents, and my lists? Any advice that is either tactical or diplomatic? Thanks and wish me the best of luck!

-H33D.