Campaign Rules and Log

[Jwhitehead333]

40K Campaign


Two of my friends and I decided to start a 40K Campaign. We decided to make it a map based campaign, using a mixture of Risk, Dawn of War Soulstorm and our own made-up rules/ideas. This is our first attempt at making a campaign. I thought I would share our rules and map, because there did not seem to be too many other examples, and anyone wanting to make a campaign can use our rules. And develop them further in their own gaming group.


Map Design
The first thing we did was decide on how many territories we should play with, we ended up with 35, about 12 per player. We drew up the map, and then each player placed their strongholds and claimed two adjourning territories.

Game Overview

• Each territory you own adds to your resources. The idea of the game is to collect more territories then your opponents, and eventually own the whole map.
• Your stronghold generates more resources then other territories. (300 compared to 100 in our case)
• We decided to move ‘amounts’ of resources around the map to represents your army + their weapons, ammo, food etc.
• So on your first turn, you start with 500 resources, then your territories generate another 500.
• You then spend resources to spawn armies from your stronghold, you also use resources to move your army/armies around the map, and attack other territories.
• It costs 10% of your ‘armies’ resources to move from one of your territories to another of yours.
• To attack another territory, it cost 20%.
• You minus this from the armies total as soon as they move/attack, so you must take this into consideration before you move/attack.
• You can make one big army, or split it into two or more armies. But remember that when you spawn them from your stronghold, they must move into an adjourning territory, using 10% of the armies resources.
• Armies can only move one territory per turn.
• You can move/attack with multiple armies in one turn.
• We drew some mountains to stop some territories attacking others.

Attacking

• You declare which of your armies is attacking which enemy territory. If it is neutral, roll 2D6 and X100, this is the points of the neutral team inhabiting the territory. Get a friend to play any team with these points, while you get your armies resources in points. (minus-ing the 20% attacking cost beforehand)
• Play any mission you want.
• If its a draw or a loss for the attacker, both teams loose 50% of their actual loses in the game. (So if I lost 500pts of guard in a 1000pt battle, I would loose 250 resources from that army) If the attacker wins, the neutral army is crushed, although the attacker still looses 50% of his in-game loses.
• If the attacker wins, he gains the territory. If he looses or draws the neutral army keeps it. Make a note of which army and how many points it has left after the game.
• If the attacker wins it, he has to send at least 50% of his resources into it. And can send all of them into it if he wishes.

Special Territories

• We decided to include some special territories. Some of these give in-game bonuses, some give map based bonuses.
• Manufactory (Map) = This territory generates double the resources. (200)
• Temple (In-game)= Every one in your army gets +1Ld. (Possibly OP)
• Airport/Landing Pad = (Map) Your armies may move over two territories rather then one. (They can still only attack once each)
• Promethium Factory (In-game) = All your vehicles get +1” to their movement. All your flamers count as twin-linked.
• Hospital (Map) = When you fight a battle, you only loose 40% of your lost units points, bot 50%.
• Drug Factory (In-game) = When your units run, you roll 2d6 and choose the highest.
• We decided each player should start with one special territory, and then choose three other neutral territories. We then just rolled a dice to determine their location randomly.

Experimental Rules

• Your Warlord (from your first army) can gain permanent warlord traits. After 5 successful attacks. Roll on any of the three warlord trait tables. He keeps that trait from now on.
• After ten successful attacks, he may gain a second in the same way.
• Tyranid Attack. On turn ten, (or maybe 20) the tyranids drop from their ship into the middle territory, and start attacking all other territories. The longer you take to put them down, the more powerful they get.
• Dark Eldar Raiders. Not sure yet.

Example Turn

• Roll off to see who gets first turn. Then second, etc. The player who gets the first turn then starts by counting how much resources his stronghold + territories generate. You are then allowed to spend the resources generated + whatever you have leftover. On your first turn you get an extra 500 resources.
• They then spawn armies, they may spawn one big army or spawn two (or more) smaller armies. When you spawn from your stronghold, you must deduct the 10% movement cost from the armies resources.
• That is all you can do on your first turn.
• After everyone else has finished their turns. The first player then gets their second turn. They then generate resources, spawn armies and move/attack.

This is the map after our 'deployment' but before our first turn:


We each had to draw our own stronghold, and only had 30 seconds to complete it. (Not sure what the Tau one is??)


I will go over the campaign rules and try to make them clearer. And I have probably forgotten some rules. I will also update this thread as we have our turns.
Thanks for looking

[Goshawk]

Hey this sounds pretty cool. It's very in depth and sounds fun to play. It's good that you are only playing with 3 players, as this sounds like it could be a nightmare with 4+ people.

I would say that as long as you can manage who has what resources and when, then this will run along smoothly. If, when you spawn armies, you have to move them into one of your territories, then does that mean you cannot have any defenses in your main base? That's a little counter intuitive to me. Also, you said that when you generate them, you have to spend another 10% on moving them into a territory away from your base. I believe this move should be free. Or at least at a reduced cost for having travelled within your own territory.

About the map. The use of mountains is good, but I think you have the Tau and Orks too close to each other. Move the Orks up one more space. That way they are 3 spaces away from both the Imperial Guard and the Tau.

If you lose your main base are you out of the game? Or do you just not get a base anymore?

[Jwhitehead333]

Hey this sounds pretty cool. It's very in depth and sounds fun to play. It's good that you are only playing with 3 players, as this sounds like it could be a nightmare with 4+ people.

Thanks for looking and commenting, yes it would probably get pretty intense with more then 3 people.

I would say that as long as you can manage who has what resources and when, then this will run along smoothly. If, when you spawn armies, you have to move them into one of your territories, then does that mean you cannot have any defenses in your main base? That's a little counter intuitive to me. Also, you said that when you generate them, you have to spend another 10% on moving them into a territory away from your base. I believe this move should be free. Or at least at a reduced cost for having travelled within your own territory.

We drew this up on a whiteboard, and we have just been writing down the army total, then rubbing out and moving it as needed. Have you played Soulstorm (its a video game)? In that game, when you attack someones stronghold, they get a large amount of men, special terrain, special rules etc. You play a narrative mission to try and wipe them. We had thought of doing something like that. But have not decided on the exact rules yet. But the strongholds will certainly be the hardest territory to take.Yes we thought about the free move when first spawning an army, and will probably use it from now on. We only developed the game yesterday, and have only played the first 3 turns. So far it seems quite fun, and there are many rules that could be added or tweaked.

About the map. The use of mountains is good, but I think you have the Tau and Orks too close to each other. Move the Orks up one more space. That way they are 3 spaces away from both the Imperial Guard and the Tau. If you lose your main base are you out of the game? Or do you just not get a base anymore?

Yes your probably right, but they placed themselves ?? (im playing IG) I will bring it up tomorrow. Regarding the loss of your stronghold, if you loose your stronghold, you are out. But also though of a new rule that over time you could develop other territories (by spending resources on them), into minor strongholds, which would allow you to keep playing for longer, and you would be harder to defeat.

[Perth]

Something you might want to do is use two types of resource. One resource is exactly like points in 40k, you use them to create units at your stronghold. All units in a territory are combined when combat starts and form the army you use.

The second resource is more like supplies, you could make a rule that says it costs X% of a unit's point cost to move that unit into the next territory. You could use these points for other things too, like adding defenses to territories you control or upgrading your stronghold.

This way you don't have to keep remaking lists as your armies degrade from movement.

[Jwhitehead333]

Something you might want to do is use two types of resource. One resource is exactly like points in 40k, you use them to create units at your stronghold. All units in a territory are combined when combat starts and form the army you use. The second resource is more like supplies, you could make a rule that says it costs X% of a unit's point cost to move that unit into the next territory. You could use these points for other things too, like adding defenses to territories you control or upgrading your stronghold. This way you don't have to keep remaking lists as your armies degrade from movement.

Great idea, that makes sense, it was annoying to loose some of your armies total resources when you move/attack. We will defiantly try it out. Thanks

[Goshawk]

I had read in your orginal post that you drew inspiration from Soulstorm's campaign (yes, I've played it a LOT, and prefer it over DOW II) but for some reason I must have blocked it out of my memory when I started to read the rules.

With that understanding, this is making a whole deal more sense to me now. I think you are emulating the mechanics of Soulstorm well. I like the idea of Strongholds being uber bases. With loads of fun special rules and scenarios.

I would make two maps if you can. One is the main map that updates with the colors as someone takes a territory. The other has how many points and what units are present in a territory. Together they would clutter things.

I seriously hope you all have a decent amount of points worth of models. Epic 5000 point battles at a stronghold anyone?

[Jwhitehead333]

I would make two maps if you can. One is the main map that updates with the colors as someone takes a territory. The other has how many points and what units are present in a territory. Together they would clutter things.

I seriously hope you all have a decent amount of points worth of models. Epic 5000 point battles at a stronghold anyone?

Well we have a big white board set up next to our gaming board, and the territories are very big, so we probably wont need two boards. We do have a couple large armies, and might need to do alliances to do the 4000+ pt stronghold battle, maybe even play apocalypse battles.

I will update this post with the first two turns in a couple hours.