Introduction:
I don't much like playing wargames. But I do like playing with rules (such as making a campaign and the interesting special rules for it), making army lists (which is a needed part of playing the game), and writing (which is partly covered in this, and partly covered by battle reports).
My housemate likes playing wargames. I know a few others, too, who like the idea. So I am running a campaign of it, played over VASSAL.
Note: as it is played over VASSAL, which is an Internet thing, we can accept a few extras who like to play the Warhams and are happy to do a bit of writing. This is really so I can link all the other players to it, but hey, it could be recruitment too.
Setting:
Exuro, found in the Thanatos System of the Segmentum Pacificus, was going to be settled as an Imperial World, until the reserves of promethium, ready for tapping, were discovered. One city had been built, roads, castles and cathedrals set up... but when the natural resources were discovered, it was decided that plundering them was of greater value.
Fast-forward a mere hundred years, which is basically how long it takes to boil a kettle in 40k, the rate the plot moves, and it has now seen war from several different factions, one refinery mysteriously turning into fire, most of the capital city decimated, and an ever-growing frost overtaking the planet.
And now, everyone wants a piece of it.
Players:
| Player: | Army: | Confirmed: | Territories: | VP: | BP: |
| Koumei | Space Marines | Yes | 2 | 0 | 1 |
| Reth Shannar | Tyranids | Yes | 2 | 0 | 1 |
| K-Chan | Dark Eldar | Yes | 2 | 0 | 1 |
| Erin | Dark Eldar | Yes | 2 | 0 | 1 |
| Aaron | Imperial Guard | Yes | 2 | 0 | 1 |
| Magic Juggler | Orks | Yes | 2 | 0 | 1 |
| Chengar | Order of the Faithful Blade | No | 2 | 0 | 1 |
Map:
Basic Campaign Rules:
Army Lists:
Each player has one actual army, but several lists within it. You must have:
[*]A 200 point Kill Team (with USRs chosen from the start)
[*]A 1500 point "regular" army list
[*]A 2000 point "regular" army list
[*]A 2000 point "Defender" list for Planetstrike
[*]A 2000 point "Attacker" list for Planetstrike
[*]A 2500 point "regular" army list
[*]A 2500 point "Spearhead" army list
[*]A 5000 point Apocalypse force
[*]Optional: a 10,000 point Apocalypse force (for rare special battles - you may wish to write this up only when it becomes relevant.)
Planetstrike Attackers: you can have 1-3 HQ, 0-6 Elite, 0-6 Troops, 0-6 Fast Attack and 0-3 Heavy Support.
Planetstrike Defenders: you can have 1-3 HQ, 0-3 Elite, 2-8 Troops, 0-3 Fast Attack and 0-6 Heavy Support.
Spearhead: you can have 0-2 HQ, 0-3 Elite, 0-6 Troops, 0-3 Fast Attack, 0-3 Heavy Support and up to 1 of each Spearhead formation.
Notes:
[*]Every list has to actually include the unit(s) chosen for the Kill Team. They follow the normal game rules when this happens, rather than becoming Kill Teams. They can, however, take extra upgrades, more models or transport vehicles though.
[*]Every army list from 1500-2500 must have one of the HQ choices as a constant. So if you take a Lord Commissar, for instance, as your only HQ choice for 1500, then all of them have to have him. If you took 2 choices for the 1500 point list, then you could choose which one has to be in all lists. Higher point games can add more wargear though.
[*]The Apocalypse force must contain the entire 1500 point list - it can't just be 10 Baneblades.
[*]Right after a battle, but not right before, you may alter your lists (but not the main HQ or the Kill Teams). Basically you can go "Man, having played it, I think I'd rather take X" but can't go "Oh, I'm fighting Y, I shall take X".
The reasoning is for some pretence that this is all part of the same force, just with different amounts of troops deployed at varying times.
[*]A 200 point Kill Team (with USRs chosen from the start)
[*]A 1500 point "regular" army list
[*]A 2000 point "regular" army list
[*]A 2000 point "Defender" list for Planetstrike
[*]A 2000 point "Attacker" list for Planetstrike
[*]A 2500 point "regular" army list
[*]A 2500 point "Spearhead" army list
[*]A 5000 point Apocalypse force
[*]Optional: a 10,000 point Apocalypse force (for rare special battles - you may wish to write this up only when it becomes relevant.)
Planetstrike Attackers: you can have 1-3 HQ, 0-6 Elite, 0-6 Troops, 0-6 Fast Attack and 0-3 Heavy Support.
Planetstrike Defenders: you can have 1-3 HQ, 0-3 Elite, 2-8 Troops, 0-3 Fast Attack and 0-6 Heavy Support.
Spearhead: you can have 0-2 HQ, 0-3 Elite, 0-6 Troops, 0-3 Fast Attack, 0-3 Heavy Support and up to 1 of each Spearhead formation.
Notes:
[*]Every list has to actually include the unit(s) chosen for the Kill Team. They follow the normal game rules when this happens, rather than becoming Kill Teams. They can, however, take extra upgrades, more models or transport vehicles though.
[*]Every army list from 1500-2500 must have one of the HQ choices as a constant. So if you take a Lord Commissar, for instance, as your only HQ choice for 1500, then all of them have to have him. If you took 2 choices for the 1500 point list, then you could choose which one has to be in all lists. Higher point games can add more wargear though.
[*]The Apocalypse force must contain the entire 1500 point list - it can't just be 10 Baneblades.
[*]Right after a battle, but not right before, you may alter your lists (but not the main HQ or the Kill Teams). Basically you can go "Man, having played it, I think I'd rather take X" but can't go "Oh, I'm fighting Y, I shall take X".
The reasoning is for some pretence that this is all part of the same force, just with different amounts of troops deployed at varying times.
Every player will start with two territories, which cannot be labelled. Each player also begins with one Battle Point.
If you catch someone who has time, you can challenge them to a battle. Should they accept, you spend the Battle Point (they spend theirs, to challenge someone else). After the game, you gain Victory Points (VP) based on the result: Win = 3, Draw = 2, Loss = 1
The battle can only be on unclaimed territory, or territory belonging to either of the players - chosen by the person who issued the challenge (the Attacker). The Attacker may also, if it is a "regular" battle, select the deployment type (between the three regular types).
If the battle was on unclaimed territory, then afterwards, the winner may spend 5 VP to claim the area, gaining it as a territory. If the battle is on the Defender's territory, then providing s/he has at least 7 VP, s/he may declare it to be a Planetstrike invasion: should the Attacker win, s/he may spend 7 VP to steal the territory from the defender.
By spending 5 VP, you can fortify an empty territory you own - any that does not have a named piece on it (such as the Promethium Fields as opposed to "has a mountain"). Whenever you are playing a battle on this territory, you set up all terrain, and you decide on the deployment zones (even if the attacker goes first, you can still say "I start on this edge, you get that one").
By spending 3 VP before you launch an invasion, you can bombard a fortified territory: you can select up to half the buildings (bastions, bunkers etc. - a fortress counts as 3 buildings) to be turned into craters before deployment happens, and after deployment, any infantry on the field who are not in vehicles or buildings must take a Pinning test, right at the start of the game.
By spending 10 VP you may convert an empty tile (Plains or Mountains only) you own into a Missile Silo: as long as you own it, you can automatically unleash the bombardment for free every time.
By spending 6 VP you may convert an empty tile into a Defence Point: as long as you own it, you may cancel one of the following (per battle) used by an enemy within a radius of 5 tiles:
[*]Bombardment (see above)
[*]Crash and Burn Stratagem
[*]Heavy Duty Drop Bomb Stratagem
[*]Orbital Bombardment Strategic Asset (including any variants)
If you have 50 or more VP, you may launch an Obliteration Crusade against one of the moons that is occupied by your enemy. Play a 10,000 point Apocalypse battle and, if you win, you spend 50 VP and the entire moon is destroyed, reduced to space debris. All territories on it are lost, with no refund, and no longer count for the amount needed to win.
Everyone resets to one Battle Point in either of the two following situations:
[*]Every player has spent their BP
[*]A full week has passed since the last time BP were reset
This is to prevent the situation where nobody can battle because X has exams or is getting married or in hospital, but likewise prevents the situation where Y and Z are bored for a weekend and play nine battles, racking up the VP like crazy.
If you catch someone who has time, you can challenge them to a battle. Should they accept, you spend the Battle Point (they spend theirs, to challenge someone else). After the game, you gain Victory Points (VP) based on the result: Win = 3, Draw = 2, Loss = 1
The battle can only be on unclaimed territory, or territory belonging to either of the players - chosen by the person who issued the challenge (the Attacker). The Attacker may also, if it is a "regular" battle, select the deployment type (between the three regular types).
If the battle was on unclaimed territory, then afterwards, the winner may spend 5 VP to claim the area, gaining it as a territory. If the battle is on the Defender's territory, then providing s/he has at least 7 VP, s/he may declare it to be a Planetstrike invasion: should the Attacker win, s/he may spend 7 VP to steal the territory from the defender.
By spending 5 VP, you can fortify an empty territory you own - any that does not have a named piece on it (such as the Promethium Fields as opposed to "has a mountain"). Whenever you are playing a battle on this territory, you set up all terrain, and you decide on the deployment zones (even if the attacker goes first, you can still say "I start on this edge, you get that one").
By spending 3 VP before you launch an invasion, you can bombard a fortified territory: you can select up to half the buildings (bastions, bunkers etc. - a fortress counts as 3 buildings) to be turned into craters before deployment happens, and after deployment, any infantry on the field who are not in vehicles or buildings must take a Pinning test, right at the start of the game.
By spending 10 VP you may convert an empty tile (Plains or Mountains only) you own into a Missile Silo: as long as you own it, you can automatically unleash the bombardment for free every time.
By spending 6 VP you may convert an empty tile into a Defence Point: as long as you own it, you may cancel one of the following (per battle) used by an enemy within a radius of 5 tiles:
[*]Bombardment (see above)
[*]Crash and Burn Stratagem
[*]Heavy Duty Drop Bomb Stratagem
[*]Orbital Bombardment Strategic Asset (including any variants)
If you have 50 or more VP, you may launch an Obliteration Crusade against one of the moons that is occupied by your enemy. Play a 10,000 point Apocalypse battle and, if you win, you spend 50 VP and the entire moon is destroyed, reduced to space debris. All territories on it are lost, with no refund, and no longer count for the amount needed to win.
Everyone resets to one Battle Point in either of the two following situations:
[*]Every player has spent their BP
[*]A full week has passed since the last time BP were reset
This is to prevent the situation where nobody can battle because X has exams or is getting married or in hospital, but likewise prevents the situation where Y and Z are bored for a weekend and play nine battles, racking up the VP like crazy.
Should a player be left with zero territories, they have one chance: they automatically gain a Battle Point if they have none, and must declare an invasion within the week, even if they haven't the VP required. If they win, then they gain the territory (spending the VP if they can, setting their VP to zero otherwise) and are safe. Yes, this can cause a chain reaction of emergencies if there are many people with 1 territory each.
If they fail, then they have been wiped out, insufficient forces and supplies remaining to establish a hold.
There are two ways to win. The first is by being the only person remaining (by everyone else being wiped out), and the second is simply to hold at least 50% of the territories - that's 65+ territories, good luck.
If they fail, then they have been wiped out, insufficient forces and supplies remaining to establish a hold.
There are two ways to win. The first is by being the only person remaining (by everyone else being wiped out), and the second is simply to hold at least 50% of the territories - that's 65+ territories, good luck.
With the exception of the declared invasions (Planetstrike), the usual way to determine battles is by rolling 1d6:
With the exception of Spearhead and Kill Teams (which use their own rules), the Mission is selected normally unless the territory allows for a special Mission type.
Optional House Rule: for Annihilation, if both players agree, they may use the old method of determining the victor: if you wipe it out, you get its entire points value (now with modern codices having things easily divisible by 5 or 10!). If you immobilise a vehicle or reduce a unit below 1/2 strength, you gain half their value. Tally it all up at the end.
If both players are fighting in unclaimed territory, they may elect to both spend the Action point and play a battle of Apocalypse. Ignore the usual Mission and Deployment type, the game goes according to Apocalypse. At the end of the battle, the winner may spend 1 VP to, instead of capturing the territory, destroy it. It becomes a burned out crater, good for nothing, and can be captured by nobody - actually decreasing the number of territories needed to win via land-grab.
Linked Territories:
Territories that are adjacent, owned by the same player, are "linked". When territories are linked, this provides two additional options:
1. In Apocalypse, if both players have territories adjacent to the territory in question, they may "gamble", by betting territories (an equal number, no more than the amount of linked territories you actually have in a group that has at least one adjacent to the battlefield). The winner takes all of them.
If each player is betting at least 4 territories, it is so massive that it becomes a 10,000 point battle. Yes, really. You may want to set a lot of time aside for this.
2. If you launch a Planetstrike invasion into one territory that is linked to others, win, and capture it, then both players may ignore the BP limit and continue: a linked territory is targeted, using the next Planetstrike scenario. If the defender wins, they get their previous territory back (no cost) and the invasion ends. If the attacker wins, they capture another one (no cost) and the invasion may continue if both players wish. This time, if the defender wins they win back one territory and the invasion may still continue, and so on. It continues until one of the following occurs:
[*]Either player decides to stop the chain
[*]One player owns all of the linked territories
[*]All of the 6 Planetstrike missions have occurred
Note that only the first battle awards VP.
Special Kill Team Rules:
[*]No vehicles with a FAV+SAV+RAV higher than 32 (ie heavier than a Rhino or Chimera)
[*]No named/unique characters (ie Doom of Malantai)
[*]Nothing with a 2+ Save of any kind (ie Terminators) or a 3+ Invulnerable Save (ie Mark of Tzeench + Storm Shield), no you may not play with the rules/USRs to get it either.
[*]After every Kill Team game, even if you lose, give one of the models a +1 increase to one characteristic (to the usual maximums). No model can boost the same characteristic twice. If you somehow manage to boost every model in a unit to have the same characteristic increase, it actually changes their statline (meaning it's no longer a bonus, and can be raised again, yes) - but only in Kill Team.
[*]For the purpose of Kill Teams, the following will count as USRs even though technically they are not: Rending (applies to all attacks, melee and ranged), Gauss (likewise), And They Shall Know No Fear, Shield of Faith (3E version), Mark of Khorne, Mark of Nurgle, Mark of Slaanesh, Mark of Tzeench, Faithful (3E version), I'll Be Back, Poison (4+ - melee and ranged), Power From Pain.
The first two are for balance. The third is to add a bit of interest to it (and because taking small, expensive units is usually a bad idea in KT). The fourth is to add more interesting options so that not every list is "Feel No Pain, Turbo Boost, Furious Charge".
| d6 roll | battle |
| 1 | Kill Teams |
| 2 | 1500 points |
| 3 | 2000 points |
| 4 | 2000 points |
| 5 | 2500 points |
| 6 | Spearhead! |
With the exception of Spearhead and Kill Teams (which use their own rules), the Mission is selected normally unless the territory allows for a special Mission type.
Optional House Rule: for Annihilation, if both players agree, they may use the old method of determining the victor: if you wipe it out, you get its entire points value (now with modern codices having things easily divisible by 5 or 10!). If you immobilise a vehicle or reduce a unit below 1/2 strength, you gain half their value. Tally it all up at the end.
If both players are fighting in unclaimed territory, they may elect to both spend the Action point and play a battle of Apocalypse. Ignore the usual Mission and Deployment type, the game goes according to Apocalypse. At the end of the battle, the winner may spend 1 VP to, instead of capturing the territory, destroy it. It becomes a burned out crater, good for nothing, and can be captured by nobody - actually decreasing the number of territories needed to win via land-grab.
Linked Territories:
Territories that are adjacent, owned by the same player, are "linked". When territories are linked, this provides two additional options:
1. In Apocalypse, if both players have territories adjacent to the territory in question, they may "gamble", by betting territories (an equal number, no more than the amount of linked territories you actually have in a group that has at least one adjacent to the battlefield). The winner takes all of them.
If each player is betting at least 4 territories, it is so massive that it becomes a 10,000 point battle. Yes, really. You may want to set a lot of time aside for this.
2. If you launch a Planetstrike invasion into one territory that is linked to others, win, and capture it, then both players may ignore the BP limit and continue: a linked territory is targeted, using the next Planetstrike scenario. If the defender wins, they get their previous territory back (no cost) and the invasion ends. If the attacker wins, they capture another one (no cost) and the invasion may continue if both players wish. This time, if the defender wins they win back one territory and the invasion may still continue, and so on. It continues until one of the following occurs:
[*]Either player decides to stop the chain
[*]One player owns all of the linked territories
[*]All of the 6 Planetstrike missions have occurred
Note that only the first battle awards VP.
Special Kill Team Rules:
[*]No vehicles with a FAV+SAV+RAV higher than 32 (ie heavier than a Rhino or Chimera)
[*]No named/unique characters (ie Doom of Malantai)
[*]Nothing with a 2+ Save of any kind (ie Terminators) or a 3+ Invulnerable Save (ie Mark of Tzeench + Storm Shield), no you may not play with the rules/USRs to get it either.
[*]After every Kill Team game, even if you lose, give one of the models a +1 increase to one characteristic (to the usual maximums). No model can boost the same characteristic twice. If you somehow manage to boost every model in a unit to have the same characteristic increase, it actually changes their statline (meaning it's no longer a bonus, and can be raised again, yes) - but only in Kill Team.
[*]For the purpose of Kill Teams, the following will count as USRs even though technically they are not: Rending (applies to all attacks, melee and ranged), Gauss (likewise), And They Shall Know No Fear, Shield of Faith (3E version), Mark of Khorne, Mark of Nurgle, Mark of Slaanesh, Mark of Tzeench, Faithful (3E version), I'll Be Back, Poison (4+ - melee and ranged), Power From Pain.
The first two are for balance. The third is to add a bit of interest to it (and because taking small, expensive units is usually a bad idea in KT). The fourth is to add more interesting options so that not every list is "Feel No Pain, Turbo Boost, Furious Charge".
Writing Backgrounds and Battle Reports:
Even to start with, you must write a short "backstory" - a couple of paragraphs for the reason why your army is there and the tale of their landing. It doesn't even have to be original. "There is yummy bio-mass and they want to eat it all." is a perfectly acceptable justification for Nids, for instance.
If your "main" HQ is not a named character from the books, then give them a name and a short backstory and/or description almost like this were a roleplaying game. Feel free to do it for every model if you really want, but that's not necessary. Let's just get a bit of flavour into this game.
After every battle, there has to be a Battle Report. Both players can co-write it if they want, or if both agree on one person doing it, that's fine too. If nobody wants to do it, then the Attacker has to. Yes, this means keeping turn-by-turn notes of what happens, in notepad (or storing logs of the game). It's not that hard. You don't have to describe it in that much detail, just turn the statistical events of the game into a short story that's even halfway interesting to read. If each player demands to be the one to write it, then they can each do one, or they can co-write it (each player handling their turns).