The Elder Scrolls Call to Arms FAQ

What is The Elder Scrolls: Call to Arms?

The Elder Scrolls: Call to Arms is a 32mm miniature Adventure Game. Players build forces from the iconic factions such as the Imperial Legion, Stormcloaks and Adventurers, and battle for the future of Skyrim. 

Who wrote the game?

The game was written by industry veteran Mark Latham, who has also written for The Walking Dead, Legends of the Old West, Batman Miniatures game and Harry Potter Miniatures Game, and developed by the Modiphius Wargames team.

Release schedule

The release schedule is broken down into Ages and Chapters. The Age sets the major theme for that block of releases, and the Chapters are smaller, themed release waves within the age. Each Chapter consists of 3-4 months of releases.

Right now we are in the Skyrim Age and the Civil War Chapter. Our next Chapter, Steam and Shadow, will start releasing late summer 2020.

Where can I buy the game?

The game is available in all good gaming stores.  We are selling to all major distributors, if you’re local store cannot purchase the range for you contact support@modipius.com (or ask them to)  and they will help you.

You can also purchase from our webstore! https://www.modiphius.net/pages/elder-scrolls

How do I get the PDF's? 

If you pre-ordered through the Modiphius webstore you should have an email inviting you to download the rules and quest PDF's. If you did not receive it please contact support@modiphius.com 

If you pre-ordered through a local store you can contact support@modiphius.com with proof of your order, or your local store who can request them on your behalf. 

The rules book and Escape from Helgen introductory book are free to download here. The Quest book is £4 if you haven't pre-ordered but want to check it out. 

Will The Elder Scrolls: Call to Arms be available in my country?

Modiphius’s products are available worldwide through our webstore, or through retail.

We are selling the game to all major distributors, if you’re local store cannot purchase it for you contact support@modipius.com (or ask them to)  and they will find out for you.

How long will the pre-order last?

The launch bundles will always be available, even after release. The Ethereal Dragonborn bonus miniature will be withdrawn once the pre-order finishes in early April, and from then  on  will only be available as a show exclusive model, which is the norm for our pre-order exclusives. A standard version of this model will be available in retail in Chapter 2 (later this year).

I pre-ordered with my local gaming store, how do I  get the Dragonborn Ethereal?

The Dragonborn Ethereal is one of our event exclusives. Currently he's only available through our pre-order bundles however you'll be able to get the same miniature as an event special at future conventions and during the convention we also make them available online from our store for those who can't make it. The same miniature will also be appearing in an Adventurers set at retail in normal resin colour later on. 

What do I need to play The Elder Scrolls: Call to Arms?

The Elder Scrolls: Call to Arms Core Rule Set contains all rules for the game, a quickstart guide, twelve scenarios as well as cards, dice and gaming tokens.

The Elder Scrolls: Call To Arms Imperial Legion Plastic Faction Starter and The Elder Scrolls: Call To Arms Stormcloak Plastic Faction Starter provides you with enough miniatures to play the game’s battle mode and all miniatures can also be used in Delve mode.

The Elder Scrolls: Bleak Falls Barrow Plastic Delve Set provides you with plenty of miniatures to play the game’s delve mode and the Dragonborn Hero.

How many miniatures do I need?

Players can choose from our Faction Starter sets which include all the miniatures you need to start collecting one of the factions, such as Imperials, Stormcloaks or Adventurers.

A standard battle mode scenario can be 5-12 models per side

A standard delve can be made from 1+ player controlled miniatures and up to 7 adversaries (There’s often no limit as adversaries scale up with the player controlled party)

How long does a game last?

A typical game will last around an hour to 90 minutes. A quick Delve could be completed in around 30 minutes, if the Dragonborn is especially effective!

How much space do I need to play?

 Most games are played in a 3x3 space. Some Delves might only need 2x2 and an especially large battle might need 4 x 4

Are the rules available as a PDF?

We’ll be making the rules available to download soon, keep  an eye on our  mailing  list and website.

Are the cards available as a PDF?

There are no plans at the moment to release the cards in PDF.

What types of game modes are there?

The game features two modes, Battle Mode, which allows you to fight an opponent with AI controlled Adversaries hindering both sides, or Delve Mode where you fight against the AI controlled Adversaries either solo or in cooperation with another player.

Can I play solo?

Yes. Solo and cooperative games are a core part of The Elder Scrolls: Call to Arms. The Delve mode allows you to fight against AI controlled Adversaries.

What factions are available?

In our first Chapter we have The Imperial Legion, The Stormcloaks and the Adventurers. Further factions will be revealed in later chapters. Draugr will get their full treatment as a playable faction in a later chapter, but keep an eye out for some initial Draugr faction rules as a PDF soon.

Are there mechanics for character creation/progression and warband progression?

Each hero has a base and levelled profile in the core game, and levelling is one of the key rewards for gaining victory points during the game. Just like in the Skyrim video game, when you level up you reset your health, magic and stamina pools.

We’ll have a full character progression and warband tracking in a later supplement. 

What is the largest possible size for a game?

The size of a game of The Elder Scrolls: Call to Arms is determined by its Gold Septim limit. The highest recommended Gold Septim limit is 500 Septims, which could have upto 20 models per side.

Will the Adventurers faction be including familiar followers?

Adventurers will make more of an appearance through Chapter 1, where you’ll be sure to see a few familiar faces (in fact our second month’s releases includes two Adventurers sets). 

What shows will you be attending? Can I buy online and collect at a show?

Check our events calendar to see which shows we are attending. We do not offer show pickup for online orders, but we do usually have all of the bundles available at shows. The events we usually attend  include Salute, Adepticon, UK Games Expo, Gen Con, Essen Spiele and Dragonmeet UK. 

Do I need to know anything about the Elder Scrolls?

Not to play the game as the core book contains all of the rules you need to play

When is the game set?

The Elder Scrolls: Call to Arms is currently set approximately 201 years into the 4th Era of Tamriel, during such events as the Dragon Crisis and the Skyrim Civil War. Future releases may jump forward or backward through the timeline of The Elder Scrolls.

When are you doing miniatures from other Elder Scrolls games?

We’ll be sticking with Skyrim for a little while. We have our Skyrim Chapter releases planned out until mid-summer 2021. After that we’ll be looking at our next Age.

Can I play as my favourite characters from the video game?

In time yes! Each chapter will release more and more of the characters you recognise for The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim.

Are Beasts/Monsters/Draugr/Dwemer a playable faction?

Additional factions, both player and AI adversaries will be added in future Chapters. We’ll have some interim rules for Draugr before their full treatment in a future expansion.

Where can I play this?

We’ll be providing ongoing support for retailers to run demo games and organised play in the form of a Launch Event kit and Organise Play kits which will include event posters, exclusive scenarios and some exclusive goodies such as dice or cards with alternative art or unique, named versions of existing cards.

Are there rules for Competitive/Tournament play?

We’re working on a couple of additional modes of play beyond Delve and Battle, and Tournament style competitive play is part of that. 

I have Fallout: Wasteland Warfare, can I use the dice and rulers from that?

No, The Elder Scrolls: Call to Arms uses its own unique dice and requires a measuring instrument labeled in Inches.

What type of plastic are the plastic minis made from?

The plastic miniatures are made from HIPS - High Impact Polystyrene. This is the same kind of plastic that you see in traditional model kits and lots of multipart miniatures from other manufacturers like Northstar, Perry, GW push fit and so on. It's not the same plastic as the Fallout starter set, Reaper Bones, Pathfinder Battles, or Nolzurs. It can be glued with regular modeller’s polystyrene cement or Plastic Weld.

Will everything be released in plastic?

Not everything. Some sets, such as character packs or heroes are only being  released in Modiphius’s high quality resin. Typically we are producing unit packs in hard plastic and and characters in resin. We are also producing resin versions of the plastic sets but these will not be available through distribution. They and our resin terrain are available from Modiphius webstore and your local retailer can order them direct from us - you can ask them to contact sales@modiphius.com if they're not aware how. 

Do the models come painted and assembled?

The models are unassembled and unpainted.

How do I put the minis together?

To assemble the miniatures you will require modelling clippers and glue.

Plastic miniatures can be built using polystyrene cement/plastic glue. Resin miniatures can be built using super glue.

Keep an eye on the Modiphius webpage for articles and blogs for assembly and modelling guides, hints and tips.

What's the difference between the resin and plastic minis?

Resin miniatures come with scenic bases, whereas the plastic miniatures have plain bases. Resin detail is a little crisper than plastics, but plastics are a little bit more durable.

Do the plastic miniatures feature scenic bases?

No, the plastic miniatures have plain plastic bases.

Why are there only 2 puzzle pillars in the Markers and Tokens Set when they come in 3’s in the video game?

The Markers and Tokens set replaces the card tokens in the core set. There are two sets of punchboard, so two of each token. The tokens represent an objective and are a little abstracted in game play terms. A puzzle objective is represented by one of the puzzle pillars, or a lever, for instance. Now, in the source material you might have three puzzle pillars you need to align, or four levers that have to be set correctly. In the tabletop game we have an action economy going on that you don't have in the video game. Three puzzle pillars to rotate is potentially 3 actions for a hero, and in a solo delve over, say, six rounds, that's a quarter of your total actions. So, we abstract it. The puzzle token represents all of the gubbins required for that objective.

Why aren’t there equal mixes of chest types in the Treasure Chest Pack?

The treasure chests give you enough so that, again, you match the tokens in the core set. Because the treasure tokens have different values on the reverse, to indicate locked or unlocked chests, we gave you enough that you could write or paint the values from the tokens onto the bottom of the chests. The Master chests are usually either objectives (hence their inclusion in the Markers and Tokens set) or placed as a result of specific scenario instructions, so they are a lot less common.

When are Dragons coming?

Soon…