The
Campaign Rules for Warhammer 40,000
By Glenn Davis
Warhammer 40K Campaign
Your Nation: Using the Greyhawk map, players choose their Nation, which is made up of 3 adjoining territories. One of these 3 territories must be declared as the Capital of their Nation. Each Territory that a player controls as part of their Nation, provides 100 points worth of forces every turn. At the beginning of the game, all players start with 3000 points worth of forces with which to protect their Nation and conquer others. The monthly (it is assumed that 1 turn is played every month) 100 point per Territory controlled increase, is used to bolster or reinforce the starting 3000 point force(s). No Territory can ever contain a force larger than 5000 points.
Reserves:
Each Territory you control is made up of inhabitants that are loyal
to you and your Nation, Therefore, each Territory is able to muster an
additional 250 point force to protect that particular Territory. This 250 point
force must be created at the start of the campaign, must have 1 HQ and 2 Troops
and can not change or alter from Territory to Territory. This bonus force may
never leave the Territory that it protects and can be used regardless of whether
the Territory has reached it's 5000 point limit.
Experience: This campaign allows for units and characters to increase in experience and ability. In this regard, this campaign follows all of the campaign experience rules listed on pages 159-163 in the Warhammer 40,000 Rulebook. There is one notable exception to these rules which is, Units and Characters which gain abilities through experience, do not ever become Elite choices and/or cost more points to use in games. Special Characters, as listed in their army lists, cannot ever earn experience or acquire new abilities beyond those which are already listed for that Special Character.
Resurrection: All forces involved in this campaign are eligible to be resurrected, or brought back into the game, if destroyed. All models which are removed as casualties from a game, are put to the side. After the game is over, a roll is made, depending on what type the model is, to see if it can be used again in the next game or if the damage was too severe for it to continue in the campaign.
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Character and HQ Choices are generally, very sturdy individuals. They are allowed to fight again on a roll of 3-6 on a d6.
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All other forces can be used again on the roll of a 4-6 on a d6.
Notable exceptions to this rule are: Vehicles or Dreadnoughts which suffer a Catastrophic Explosion (a roll of a 6) on the Penetration chart may not be used again in the campaign. Also, any forces which suffer a wound from a weapon whose strength was twice the models toughness AND no save was allowed. (For example: A marine scout who is hit and wounded by a lascannon [Str. 9 AP. 1] ). A Character or Commander who suffers such a wound IS eligible to resurrect provided he/it was ALLOWED any sort of save.
Conquering Territory: The object of the campaign is to conquer all of the Nations and Territories on the map. To conquer a Territory, you announce to all that your forces are INVADING a Territory. This enemy Territory must be one that borders, or touches, your Nation. You may only Invade 1 Territory per turn and may only Invade from 1 of your own Territories. This is illustrated below:
TERRITORY C
TERRITORY
A TERRITORY B
Enemy TERRITORY X
You
have forces in Territory A, B and C and you want to Invade Enemy Territory X.
You may only Invade X with your forces from Territory A or B (because they touch
the enemy Territory) but not both. You cannot Invade from Territory C because
they do not border or touch the Territory you wish to Invade.
A regular game of Warhammer 40,000 is played to determine the fate of the
Invaded Territory. If the Invader wins this game, then the Territory is conquer
and immediately becomes part of his expanding Nation. If this Territory happened
to also be a Nation's Capital, then the entire Nation is conquered and becomes
the Invader's new Territories.
Strategy Cards: 'To the victor goes the spoils,' and that saying holds true i this campaign as well. Every time a player wins a game, whether he is the Invader or Defender, he earns a Strategy Card, which is drawn/chosen at random. These Strategy Cards can be used in a following game or can be traded between players as bribes or favors. (For example: "I'll give you two Strategy Cards if you attack my neighbor." or "I won't attack you this turn if you give me a Strategy Card.") No player can ever have more than 3 Strategy Cards in his possession at any one time and must discard one if he ever earns more than 3.
THE TURN SEQUENCE
1. Reinforcements
Created
At the beginning of each turn, players earn 100 points worth of forces per Territory controlled. Territories that were conquered by an Invader during a previous turn, do not earn any points for the previous owner (unsuccessful defender) but do provide points for the new occupier. These forces can be used to bolster and existing force, reinforce an army that has sustained losses or to create a new force.
2. Movement
After assigning their points, players then decide whether or not to move troops, either to another territory they control or to invade a neighboring territory. You may only invade a territory that your nation borders. Movement is unlimited within your own territory whether it is newly conquered or not. (I.E. A controller can move his newly created troops from Territory A all the way through all of his other territories to get to territory D, for example). However, he may not, then, invade with those newly moved troops. (I.E. troops moved from Territory A to Territory D must remain there until the next turn movement phase.
3. Combat
Players who are invading territories, or defending territories fight it out.
An attacker who wins, conquers the territory and it becomes part of his expanding Nation (see – resources, above). A defender, who wins, successfully repels the hostile invaders and can keep his territory. (Resources remain at full strength). Newly conquered territories do not automatically produce Reserve Points for the new controller. Only if the newly conquered territory had unspent Reserve Points when it was attacked can the new controller earn the Reserve Points.
4. Resolution
Current territorial points are worked out and Food totals are assigned to the troops to sustain them. All players start off as Neutral towards each other. By attacking, this instantly changes to Foe. You can attempt to improve your relations (to Neutral or Friendly) with your Neighbors by trading resources or making alliances with them.
If a player has lost his Capital to opposing forces, then his game is over. If the losing player has any territories which are untouched by the conqueror and are 2 or more adjoining territories away, that player may then opt to help out another player by providing any unspent Reserves points to that player provided they have never fought a battle against each other and had good relations (I.E. Friendly).
(For example, if I lose my Capital (X) to my foe, but I have some territories touching my Capital (O) and then territories (A & B) touching those, I can then send any unspent Reserve Points over to another (Friendly) player to help him out. [The enemy of my enemy is my friend!].
If I had previously spent my Reserve Points from those particular territories, then I can do nothing and my campaign is over.)
Illustration: XOA
OOB
All remaining territories are then turned over to the conqueror. This is where this campaign gets brutal, by cutting the heart out of your enemy and conquering their Capital, you can gain a lot of territory rapidly and your nation and forces can grow immensely powerful very quickly. So protect your Capital well!!!
Advice:
Troops created from a particular territory
should be numbered or color dotted on the
bottom of the model to show which territory
it belongs to and can be changed easily as
the campaign progresses.
Leaving the Reserves in your Capital as points,
keeps them from needing food, and are an instant defense if your Capital get
attacked.
Try to keep your Capital as far away from the enemy as possible!
Going after several different players reduces your chances of making allies who will either trade with you or come to your defense if their Capital falls.
If a territory looks like it’s going to be attacked, make sure to use your unspent Reserve Points and convert them to troops to help defend the territory. But make sure this won’t put you over the 10,000 point limit otherwise your extra troops will be lost!
“I will never forget what I saw at Obsidian Station. The bones of five thousand brave men lay scattered about the winding corridors. Their blood was slick upon the walls and floors of the dormitories. Their innards were hung from control panels like grotesque decorations of some insane celebration. But not a single skull was to be found; all taken as sick trophies by these despicable attackers."