Does anyone play narrative scenarios and campaigns?

[Marked_by_chaos]

Out of interest and considering the clear nudging from GW in the new rulebook, who departs from standard scenarios/lists and has a go a playing narrative games and campaigns? If so how often?

[TheDoctor]

I'm running a campaign right now.

However, I'm really only using stuff published by GW and Forgeworld right now (the missions in the back of the 6th edition rulebook, Cityfight, Zone Mortalis, etc.). Since right now, most of us are still wrapping our heads around the rules, so I don't want to do anything too crazy.

But, that being said, all the stuff published by GW and Forgeworld covers a wide range of scenarios.

[Battleworthy Arts]

I'm currently running a 16 person apoc campaign.

[snailboy.jr]

I'm actually writing and working out a "tree" campaign between two of my friends and I, and it's a blast!
6th has been a little motivational to make me go out and create my own universe.

[ForgottenLore]

I'm actually writing and working out a "tree" campaign between two of my friends and I, and it's a blast!
6th has been a little motivational to make me go out and create my own universe.

Out of curiosity, how are you organizing a tree campaign with 3 players?

[Moosen]

I'm working on a campaign right now as well, to serve as an intro to 6th for my group. However, I'm having to get creative with the narrative as the other 3 players are Ultras, Templars, and Guard. My Chaos marines will need to pull off some sneaky stuff to get them fighting each other

[onidemon]

All of the games I still remember from over the years have been narrative campaigns with named characters - it's a very fun way to play the game, and really gets back to the roots of the thing in Rogue Trader.

In game terms, one of the most memorable games I ever played involved Sisters of Battle versus Eldar, on a green gaming mat with some fantasy castle walls liined up to close off a third of the board. The Eldar were trying to get past the wall and into the far deployment zone. The Sisters won, but barely.

That's the boring version. In practice, the Edenite Abbey was the last remaining Imperial Force holding the Capital shield wall, the field cluttered with the dead of a dozen PDF companies thrown into the fray as a brake against the aspect warriors that so cruelly and easily hunted them. In the final moments, as the last of the defensive lines fell, a lone and undistinguished sister engaged an eldar aspect exarch in single combat. Against all odds, the combat ended with the Eldar laid low, and the sister still breathing. The cowardly aliens fled before the shocked imperial soldier, and for the first time since the beginning of the war, there was a symbol of hope: the wounded, battered battle sister, standing over the broken body of her foe. At last, proof the Eldar were mortal too, and could be killed.

It was only the result of some lucky dice rolls, and a lousy break test for the Swooping Hawks, but it set in motion that sister as a special character in the campaign, much like how Tycho and Thraka were created through studio campaigns. I remember I even gave her a jetpack in the form of an extra set of Swooping Hawk exarch wings I had laying around, turning her into an "angel" who flew above the Imperial forces in future games. It was glorious stuff; how 40k ought to be, in my opinion.

[Carlosophy]

I'm working on a campaign right now as well, to serve as an intro to 6th for my group. However, I'm having to get creative with the narrative as the other 3 players are Ultras, Templars, and Guard. My Chaos marines will need to pull off some sneaky stuff to get them fighting each other

Alpha Legion shenanigans all the way.


Onidemon, you have the right idea. Pretty much the whole of 2E leading into 3E was a massive narrative campaign for us. To cut a long story short the Chaos Lord Ptah Janos succeeded in ransacking the world of Cuprium which left the Dark Angels 3rd Company stranded, the PDF scattered and enabled him to attack and destroy the Eldar Craftworld Yarlenesh.
We now run smaller scenarios as an aftermath sort of thing with a Dark Angels 5th Wing Rescue Company on the trail of the 3rd and Janos striking out from his Asteroid field bases.

[Kurisu313]

Please see my signature Currently running a nid vs imperium campaign in the batrep section, and soon to be starting a Necron/Eldar/Dark Eldar conflict as well.

[Nymie_the_Pooh]

I hadn't had a chance to participate in a campaign since third. Third included things in the rulebook to cover giving advances such as a tank hunter bonus to a unit after a few battles and similar things so it was partially covered right in the BRB. I skipped fourth due to life, and never got the chance for a campaign in fifth. Well, there have been a couple of times where I got to play a string of missions that were loosely tied together, but not a detailed campaign or one spread out over time. I have the Generals' Compendium and skirmish supplements for Fantasy which were both chock full of great ideas for campaign play that could be ported over to 40K in a pinch. The skirmish game is wonderful for sending small groups out to gather information then provide a bonus to the big game based on how that goes so is good if you want a bit of a campaign feel, but want to test the waters first with just a couple of games. It was pretty easy to get in three skirmish games and have all three affect the big battle in less time than was required for two big games.

I like campaign play a lot and enjoy Necromunda, Mordheim, Inquisitor, Bloodbowl, and Warhammer Quest because they are very much based on their campaign systems. If it wasn't for Warhammer Quest I likely never would have taken up the miniature game hobby at all and that never would have happened without the campaign aspects. Then again, at that time miniatures weren't widely used in roleplaying games. The group that got me into Warhammer Quest used miniatures in games of AD&D, but it was mostly about giving a visual of approximations of where anything was than for any tactical use. Maybe I would have picked up miniature gaming later as RPGs picked them up, but I know I wouldn't have when I did if not for the Warhammer Quest campaign.

It's hard for me to get a campaign going these days. Most of the people I know don't have the time to commit to more than a game or two at a time. I'm not a fan of doing a campaign in one of the local shops because all it takes is one dick to get the ball of dropouts rolling. I'm lucky in that the local gamers I have met have been great, but past experience has taught me that a totally open campaign of any sort is me just asking for trouble. Other people might have better luck. It's not a fire I particularly care to stick my hand back into. Some local guys tried firing up a Mordheim campaign recently, but life kept getting in the way so a few people pulled way ahead while everybody else was looking at maybe three games each. There was talk of resetting it this month coming from the guys that had the most games in, but nobody has brought it up yet so it's likely done. I think part of it was nobody wanted to schedule a time to play just one game so we would try to coordinate for three or more people to meet at one time so we could get more games in at once.

I still get to play some Inquisitor at home as that takes fewer people and Descent has replaced Warhammer Quest as I no longer have a copy, but it isn't played often (we have completed all of the scenearios in the expansions barring the two campaigns oddly enough) as it takes too long for a single session. The closest thing to a campaign I have played in sixth is an escalation league, and there wasn't any real story there other than everybody's forces were building up over time so I don't think of it in terms of a campaign.

[Upstartes]

A few times per year, usually when some excuse arises like a birthday or everyone having the same day off work, my buds and I will put together a narrative battle (on-off, not campaign). We will spend a week or two collaborating on narrative background to the battle, mission goals, special rules, etc. These are almost always multi-player, team vs. team events, with the narrative spelling out the how's and why's. The preparations are usually capped off with a one or two page fluff write-up of the game background. These are almost always our most fun games.

Once or twice we have done this for a few-game mini-campaign that we resolve over a couple of days. Again, this is almost always a fun time for all.

[Carlosophy]

I'd love to see Warhammer Quest unleashed on the modern community!

Is my Warrior viable?
I got more Gold than you and you all died. MWAHAHAHA!
Should we spam 4 Wizards?
Which warrior is the most competitive?

:lol:

[murgel2006]

campaigns if ever possible.
Refighting historic campaigns and battles is really great.

And if all works out, I shall be doing a really massive campaign together with my local GW team.

[Scaryscarymushroom]

Out of interest and considering the clear nudging from GW in the new rulebook, who departs from standard scenarios/lists and has a go a playing narrative games and campaigns? If so how often?

Narrative games are basically the only way I play anymore.

As a matter of fact, I played a narrative game of 3rd edition last sunday. It was a rescue mission, Witch Hunters vs. Daemonhunters; Radical vs. Puritan. And I gotta say, it was an excellent game. Best I've ever had in 7 years of gaming history with this opponent. I wiped out about 2/3 of his army while keeping 75% of mine intact. But I lost because he had captured and subdued an 'apostate' priest; holding him prisoner with a squad of Inquisitorial Storm Troopers inside a Land Raider Crusader.

[UnkyHamHam]

Hi! I don't post very often, but Quest is too amazing of a topic to pass up. I actually just got done playing a very short-lived campaign featuring 4 wizards. Those power phase rolls of 1 kill the party.

As far as 40k campaigns go, I have the same problem a lot of you have in trying to get people together. How do you guys go about organizing. I have all the expansions, lots of friends with armies, and a very narrative nature. But I still can't get them all together ever.

[Harbinger]

Out of interest and considering the clear nudging from GW in the new rulebook, who departs from standard scenarios/lists and has a go a playing narrative games and campaigns? If so how often?

Back in the days of yore (3rd edition and earlier) about 1/3 of my games were. I do not have the time to for the most part (i.e. job) right now. I barely have time for a standard game let alone anything groovy like campaigns or Apocalypse.