40k Campaign - Background and Rules

The Fate of Brognar

Brognar is a small mining colony in the Segmentus Pacificus, a mere 2800 light-years from Macharia. Being slightly isolated, the population is in total autonomy, producing his own food and energy, and contributing to the Imperial Expansion by regularly sending their quota to the closest forge worlds.

Being an easy prey, the planet fell into the Chaos hands at the end of the 36th millennium; but five millennia of enslavement later, the population was free again during the Macharian Crusade. The reconstruction has been fast, the planet is back to a high mining rate, fulfilling its duty for the Imperium of Man and peace has reigned ever since.

But in the Grim Darkness of the Far Future, there is only War.

The relatively unprotected wealthy planet has once again attracted a lot of attention around:
- Its green forests could satisfy for another century the hunger of the closets Hive Fleets.
- The Tau are looking for an outpost deep in the Segmentus Pacificus and the relatively isolated planet will hopefully offer shelter and a better understanding of the human race.
- The Chaos Warlords still seek revenge, and have been waiting for such a distraction before striking... Timing is the key.
- Seeing all these converging fleets, the Governor calls for help; several Chapters and Regiments receive the call and send some reinforcements.
- ... but so did the Ork Warlords who would do anything for a good fight... WAAAGH!!!!!

The sky darkens as the battle rages between the fleets in space and the descents to hell starts - the battle barges and troop transports are landing, spore mines are falling and the Ork cruisers are crashing...

Soon on the soil of Brognar, the battle will rage.


Background

Stories are more than welcome. Let us know where your faction comes from, how your battles develop...

Brilliant Stephan! Love the background info!

Kaptain Bloodwash and his Cruiser the "Black Squig" is coming to look for some Bootie and a bit of a scrap!

Battle Groups

There will be several Battle Groups, starting with a certain amount of tiles each (6 with 8 tiles each?). The remaining tiles are Neutral. Each Battle Group has to choose a Commander who will have the final word on spending Resources, choice of Challenges...

Within a Battle Group, the regular alliances should be respected as per the Apocalypse book, but the discussion is open – traitor Space Marine Chapters that follow the organisation of the Codex, renegade guardsmen... Although we’ll have to think also about affinities we need to also be careful concerning the availability of the players: if a member can’t come for a week, it’s preferable that another member is there as we’ll try not to skip a week for a couple of players – of course we can stay flexible for the Blood Bowl league, Deathwatch...

Currently we have 12 players:
Charlie (Orks),
Chris (Space Marines),
Elvis (Chaos),
Mark (Grey Knights),
Richard (Space Marines),
Richard (Space Wolves),
Russel (Tau),
Stefan (Space Marines),
Stephane (IG)
Steve (Space Marines)
Tom (DE)
Tony (Nids)

I might have forgotten a few people, please, confirm or join, even if you’re not sure to be there every time, it’s ok, this are individual games but you’re all part of a team. Anyone will also be able to join a team later.


Set-up

Since meeting together to do set up would be nearly impossible, I will choose everybody's starting positions just to get us going. I will do my best to make it as fair as possible.

Here’s the map if you haven’t seen it yet.

What Happens Each Round

Every round has the following stages:

1. Receive Resources
2. Build Buildings / Upgrade HQ
3. Fight Battles (at least once per week)
4. Conquer Tiles



I. Receive Resources

At the beginning of each turn you receive a number of resource points that you will be able to spend on certain actions:

- Basic Resources = 6

- If you won at least one battle in the last round: +3

- If this is the first round, and you win at least one battle: +3 – meaning that you’ll be able to conquer a tile on the first turn even if you spend all your starting points

- For each Manufactorum that you control: +2


II. Build Buildings / Upgrade HQ

Be careful not to spend all of your points as you will need them to conquer tiles and get point bonuses in your fights.

You can build the following buildings on empty tiles that you control:

Power Station (powers up to 3 other buildings): 2 resources
Manufactorum (provides extra resources): 3 resources
Shield Generator (makes surrounding tiles more difficult to conquer): 2 resources
Command Bastion (makes enemy tiles easier to conquer): 2 resources

You can also use your resources to upgrade your main HQ. If you change HQs during the campaign any upgrades are lost.

You can only choose one upgrade per round, and each costs 2 resources:

Expert Commander: +1 to reserve rolls, deployment rolls, and first turn rolls
+1 Wound (can only be used twice)
+1 Ld (to a maximum of 10)
+1 BS and WS
+1 Save (to a maximum of 3+)

Character Wound Table
Your upgraded HQ is now a Special Character, and although he managed to earn a reputation and is a great leader for your troops, well he can also die...

At the end of the game, if your Special HQ - this does include the HQ already a Special Character in your Codex - dies, roll on the following table:
1: Serious Wound The Special Character was seriously wounded. They can be used in future battles, but start the next game with only 1 wound. In adition the Character's profile is affected. Roll a further D6: 1. -2 Initiative; 2. -1 WS; 3. -1 BS; 4. -1 Leadership; 5. -1 Strength; 6. -1 Toughness
2-4: Wounded The Character can be used in furutre battles, but starts the next game with only 1 wound.
5-6: Concussed The Character wasn't badly wounded, just concussed.They may be used in future battles as normal.

III. Fight Battles

Your Battle Group must fight at least one battle per week. If you do not fight a battle you receive no resource the next round.

You must fight only against those you could conquer (i.e. those adjacent to you, or if you control a space station - others that control space stations).

There is no limit to how many battles you fight in a week.

The same person can be challenged more than once, but not more than twice. However, he can choose to not do the second challenge if he does not have time.

Also, if you are challenged you can choose not to challenge somebody else. If this is the case please simply post that you pass.


Starting with the player that has the least number of tiles and buildings (roll to break ties), each player must challenge one other faction. After that is done you are free to play against anybody you want to play against, as long as you complete the one challenge match.
You can use resource points to add to your points limit, at the cost of 1 Resource = a 5% boost, with a maximum of a 25% bonus allowed.

Unless you want to play an Apocalypse, Planetstrike or Spearhead game, it is recommended to use the Battle Missions book instead of the regular missions only, just to vary your games – but it’s your choice as gamers. A good way to decide which game is played: from the Battle Mission book, roll a D6.
1-3 Regular missions from the 40k rulebook
4-5 Use the themed mission from the Battle Missions book
6 Use the random table from the Battle Missions book


Special warzones
Some tiles can’t just be attacked by a random challenge. If a player wants to attack a specific warzone, he has to say so before setting up for the game and some special rules will apply – more on this later.


Special 500 Point Rules
The following restrictions apply when playing 500 point matches:

1. No 2+ saves. You can bring units with 2+ saves in, but they only get 3+ saves in game.
2. No vehicles with a total armour value of more than 33. Total Armour Value = Front + Side + Rear.
3. 1 HQ, 0-2 Elite, 2-6 Troops, 0-2 Fast Attack, 0-1 Heavy.


IV. Conquer Tiles

To conquer a tile you must be adjacent to it (remember that Space Stations count as being adjacent to other Space Stations) and you must have won at least one game against that enemy.

The cost to conquer the enemy tile is based on your best victory against them.

Major Victory = 3 points to conquer
Minor Victory = 5 points to conquer
Neutral Tile = 3 points to conquer
Neutral Spaceport = 6 points to conquer

If you played multiple games you can conquer more tiles, but the cost to conquer increases by 2 for each extra tile you want to take.

Shield Generators make it harder to conquer tiles. To conquer the tile with the shield generator you must pay an extra 4 points. To conquer tiles adjacent to shield generators you must pay an extra 1 point.

Command Bastions make conquering easier. If you have more command bastions then the player who you are trying to conquer, then the cost to conquer is decreased by 2.

Specific Warzones

City of Gradinstal: The city is in ruins but remains a powerful symbol that guards the gates to the northern lands; while armies fight each other, a duel between two warriors is taking place; the outcome may change the moral of the troops and reverse the balance. Each player has a free extra Vindicare Assassin - each player needs an appropriate count-as model for his army. If the Assassin is killed during the game, it counts as an extra point – e.g. 2 KP or 1 Objective.

Macharius Hill: During the Macharian Crusade, Brognar was freed by Lord Solar Macharius himself, setting foot on the planet and personally leading his Third Army. A statue was erected in his honour, at the very place his headquarter was assembled after his ship had landed, to remember everyone that he watches over the population. As long as the tile stays in an Imperial player’s possession, a loyalist can reroll once a game a failed Leadership test. If at any point during the campaign, a non imperial player is in possession of the tile, he can decide to topple the statue. During the rest of the campaign, all imperial units suffer a -1Ld for Morale tests.

Planetary Defense Laser: The Defence Laser is stationed on a tiny island in the Sea of Torments.The access is hard and dangerous, and will require an extra 2 Resources to capture. If you control the arsenal of laser silos, you may use a preliminary bombardment in every game you play – for every enemy unit on the table, roll a D6, on a 6 the unit suffers D6 wounds with saves allowed and takes a pinning test; vehicles hit are Stunned. You may also use 3 Resource Points to destroy an enemy building.

Governor’s Palace: The planet’s capital is the last bastion where the Governor tries to keep his PDF organised to support the reinforcements. Elite forces and the best heavy weaponry have gathered from all over the planet when the attack was imminent. Only a 3000 points or more Apocalypse game can be played here and the tiles around need to belong to a non-neutral force. This tile can be attacked by several players. The Palace counts as 4 tiles when calculating victory points.

Fort Al’Harmo: Here took place the final fierce battle that sealed the fate of the Chaos Lord. It’s a superb strongpoint, a formidable place to defend and the attackers will have to put all the effort to break through these fortifications. The game uses the Planetstrike Expansion rules, the defender being the person whose tile belongs to.


Hazardous Mining Sites: Brognar’s mines are a great source of wealth for the planet and allow its economy to have a right balance between autonomy and exportation. However the mining sites themselves are dangerous. The amount of metals and gas present in the area attract electric and sand storms, cavities in the ground create geysers and wealthy habitat for xenos or bacterias... Use the Hazards table before each game to determine in what condition the battle will unfold.

sounds like its gonna be epic thou dont know if anyone has those rules for the special game types.

Inquisitor Coteaz and Brother Grimsted are most probably looking for chaos arifacts to crush in to dust , Or they can sense that one of the other warbands is about to turn renegade !?
(The names Mark by the way)

Brenton prob playing tau

Rules for the mining sites won't be long.

I'm changing also a couple of things for the HQ upgrade (Tom mentioned he can now have a 2+/2++ save with his Archon...)

But it's fair and balanced.

It's better now, if you get a bad injury, I'll be able to instantly kill Vect with a Boltgun

Think my head may explode from reading all of that! but sounds awesome Kozak Redfang and his battle brothers stand ready to wage war for the Allfather and Russ

I tried to make the campaign interesting and interactive BEFORE the games themselves start. And without making it too complicated or rewriting a whole rule book...

I had to forget about some rules, try to restrain myself to add some more and make it easily playable - I was gonna introduce some "raids on buildings", "blitz tactics", "boot camp or other buildings", "experience for units", "rules in montains, jungle, seas, cities"...

I think they're quite simple now:
1. use resources to boost own units
2. fight battles with some variety (hostile environement, special rules or just regular games)
3. use resources to capture tiles

Don't hesitate to ask for changes, I'm open to all suggestions until we actually start the campaign. I hope we'll enjoy playing as much as I enjoyed writing it.

Can we all start confirm who will be playing now? And hopefully by next week or the following one we can start the campaign itself.