Each player will get to pick a blue warp lane from which to enter the sector. Every army has a �driving force� that will spearhead all their attacks. This force can travel around to conquer various places and challenge other players.
Assault Points � Everyone starts with 5 Assault points. These are used for beginning an attack on a new planet. Spending these points is like using supplies on orbital bombardments and laying siege to a point on the planet to obtain a foothold. It costs 3 AP to attack a neutral point and 6 AP to try and attack a planet another player has fully seized. You earn AP by taking over territory. Successfully conquering a new neutral territory earns you 1 AP. Defeating a standing army owned by another player earns you 1 AP for every 500 points you face.
Objective Points � Every planet is broken down into valuable territories, rated from mostly useless (0 OP) to crucial (3 OP). Each one requires a certain amount of conquering time to take, but OP are the points used to determine victory. The number of OP a territory is worth also determines the maximum size of army that can be stationed there (0 = 500 points max, 1 = 1000 pts, 2 = 1500 pts, 3 = 2000 pts). For the sake of simplicity, we will say that terrain or other circumstances will prevent a 2000 point force from attacking a 500 point army holding a 0 OP objective� all forces should be balanced and the defender�s army size should determine the engagement size (as the spearhead is immense and has no real troop limit).
Travel Time/Conquer Time � War takes time. So, rather than having a fixed order of engagement, each objective takes a certain amount of time to wrap up. A territory worth 0 OP takes 2 hours, 1 OP takes 4 hours, 2 OP takes 6 hours and 3 OP takes 8 hours. Travel between planets in the same system is negligible (you still have to spend AP to attack a new world). Travel in a warp lane takes 48 hours, so be sure you want to leave a system before sacrificing rounds of attack.
Rewards � There are two rewards to be noted. If you unite an entire planet, you earn a standing garrison for that planet. It amounts to a number of points worth of army (determined by the planet�s overall worth) that can be divided over the planet (keeping in mind the OP army limit) to protect your efforts from outside invasion. If attacking a landed enemy with a garrison, the max army size is that of the garrison. If you unite an entire solar system, the OP for that system is doubled.
Defeat � If your spearhead is attacked and beaten, you are not destroyed, but simply forced back to the last territory you attacked from. If you just landed on a planet, you are forced off-world. If you have other territories in the system, you retreat to one of those; otherwise, you must fall back into a warp lane that will take you back to your empire. You are only erased from the campaign when you have no territories and insufficient AP to lay siege to new lands.
Fog of War � While all armies know the layout of the sector, not all of the system knowledge is known. Until you arrive in a new system, players know nothing of that system or who might be in it. Once you have a presence in the system, you can tell when an enemy force enters a sector and what they are conquering. This can give you an idea as to whether you wish to try and conquer this sector or move on to the next. Since I�d be the one organizing this campaign, all army actions would be submitted to me so no one else would be aware of your actions. This has the unfortunate side effect of me knowing all army deployments�I will do my best to plan my actions first, so I don�t plan around your actions.
Scenarios � Scenarios will be chosen at the time of resolution, but should fit the area of the battle. Terrain will also be affected by where the battle is fought (if you�re fighting in a desert, you�re not likely to see an urban sprawl). Size of forces will be predetermined.
Alliances � Some factions can work out an alliance with other players (once they know the other exists). Imperial factions can always ally (Marines, Imperial Guard and Inquisition). Eldar and Tau can ally with the Imperium, but the alliance can be severed at any time, as the two would only ally so long as it benefits both sides. Dark Eldar can only ally with Eldar (for the span of a couple rounds, max� they have no patience for their misguided brothers) and they can hire Kroot Mercenaries in a pinch. Necron and Tyranid cannot ally with anyone, as their objectives are alien to anyone but themselves. Chaos and Lost and the Damned can ally, as they follow the same Gods. Armies of the same type can all ally (two Tau forces can ally, for example), save for Dark Eldar, as Kabals often war with each other. The campaign can also end when an alliance seizes the entire sector. Tenuous alliances cannot win in this way (once the rest are destroyed, they turn on one another).
Special Concessions
Dark Eldar - Piratical Raider Rule
In the Dark Eldar Codex, it states that Dark Eldar can only be the attacker because they don't claim land. For this campaign, that is not the case. Due to special circumstances of this mission, the Dark Eldar can be the Defender, but being inexperienced in defending territory, the Dark Eldar still use the Attacker deployment charts.