Anatomy of a Campaign

Having played mostly competitive tournament 40K with a sprinkling of Apocalypse games mixed in, I’ve wanted to play a narrative campaign for some time. I’ve had the Crusade of Fire book Games Workshop released last year, but I was too new to the scene in Austin to get in on the game when other local 40Kers played it. Well, now that I’m all in with my Tyranids and the last Dataslate with extra missions focusing on the invasion of Hive Fleet Leviathan, I decided now was the time to work up a campaign of my own. As with all worthwhile things, the first step was research and here’s what I’ve found to be necessary for embarking on a narrative journey in the 41st Millennium.

Story

Unsurprising to some, the first thing you need to construct your campaign is the seeds of a story. If your plan is to string missions together from Dataslates, gathering elements for the story won’t be very difficult. There are pages in each Dataslate describing the dangers the Imperial world of Satys was threatened with from Hive Fleet Leviathan. If you’re creating your own story from whole cloth, you’ll have to work a bit harder. The starting point is what the thrust of your narrative will be about, whether a Xenos invasion of an Imperial world, a chaotic rebellion leading to a sector-wide civil war, or the reclamation of a pivotal artifact whose use could affect the fate of billions. After you’ve decided the main conflict you’ll need to fill in the details of what factions are vying against each other. If you’re planning on including more than 2 people in your campaign, this is a great opportunity to play with inter-faction combat as well. Imperials may team with Eldar against an army of Chaos Marines and Daemons, but just because they have a common foe does not mean each Warlord does not have his own goals to achieve. In my years of being an RPG GM, I’ve found it doesn’t matter what the campaign idea comes from as long as it fulfills two things — promoting conflict and allowing the players to affect it.

Setting

Once you’ve got the initial idea down you should then focus on the setting for the campaign. Will the battles be fought on a single world or on several worlds throughout a sector? Will there be engagements on space stations where gravity has little hold or on a Daemon world where the laws of physics barely apply? The setting for your world is a great way to introduce variety in how the games play and I’m a big fan of planetary conditions having influence on the narrative you’re forging. From Hive worlds to Death worlds, you’ve got a lot you can pull from and you should use every element you think will make for a fun game. Especially if there are elements you can use in more than one battle which can help create a cohesive feel for the conditions the armies are being met in. If your campaign lasts for more than 6 sessions and you can include these sorts of elements throughout different locations your players will enjoy experiencing the familiarity of challenges each location provides. As the wise games developer Andrew Greenberg has said, “the setting is often the most engrossing part; take full advantage of it,” and the galaxy in Warhammer 40K is no exception.

Creating Missions

With so many Altar of War Dataslates as well as supplemental Codexes having additional missions, it shouldn’t be difficult to use any one with your planetary conditions inter-mingled. At a base level, simply doing this with one of the 6 missions in the main 40K rulebook can give you a wildly different game than you would see if you played a book mission straight. If you do not have access to any Dataslate missions you can combine 2 of the main rulebook missions to vary game play, just remember there should be a narrative point to each and every engagement. Perhaps you’ve decided to merge the Emperor’s Will mission with the Relic mission. Instead of just playing them as is, you could make it so your force has to take the Relic, which is a dangerous bomb, and must deliver it to the location of your opponent’s Emperor’s Will objective and clear out its defenders so the bomb can be set. You can also use the narrative itself to give bonuses to the armies fighting it out. For example, in the last stage of a Tyranid invasion you could give each of the ‘Nid Troops, Elites and Fast Attacks the Endless Swarm rule and the beleaguered defenders know the fate of the entire world is on the line and have the Zealot special rule to show their heroic fortitude. There is no limit to what you can do as long as fun can be had by all the players involved.

Different Ways to Play

The next thing I’ve considered is involving several of the variations of playing Warhammer 40K available to play my campaign. With a Tyranid invasion I decided I would use Kill Team missions as a prelude to each major engagement. In this way it would be like a scouting party had come across the vanguard of a larger invading force. If there was a planetary condition I would use that in the Kill Team prelude, then I selected one of the six Kill Team missions that would best complement the main invasion mission. I then created a victory reward for the the Kill Team mission that would be used in the main mission, setting stakes on the line to give further incentive for winning the prelude. Next, a full-size game of 40K would be played with all the setting conditions and Kill Team results applied. The winner of the main mission would receive a bonus for the climax of the campaign, which I set as an Apocalypse game. In this way, a tally would be kept throughout play of which bonuses each player would get for the apocalyptic finale in the campaign of 6 sessions with Kill Team and full-size 40K. Your campaign can be further expanded with 40K supplements such as Cities of Death and Planetstrike. In the end, you have a multitude of options available to play out the events of your campaign and there is nothing stopping you from creating even more.

Well, that’s my game plan for running this invasion campaign. Seasoned narrative players will have noticed I’ve not mentioned dedicated GMing or branching path engagements but perhaps in the future after I’ve tested this campaign I’ll explore those options as well.

The Painting Fork in the Road

In January I found a paint scheme I liked as a starting point for my Tyranids and rushed to get the job to a table-top standard for a tournament in March with plans to finish all 77 models before the next big tourney. It was a great plan until I started getting complemented on the paint job at Railhead Rumble and received a solid paint score. When I got back home and played some local games, random people shopping at Dragon’s Lair stopped and gaped at my models, offering praise and snapping pictures with their phones, as well I won Best Painted at a local tournament at Wonko’s Toys and Games. That planted the seed of doubt in my mind that I didn’t need to push my paint job further, which would darken the lighter blue color quite a bit, and should just finish the models with the lighter blue in mind. I had approached a fork in my hobby road. Do I switch down the path which was getting me complements or stay the course which would be more involved and may not be as well-received?

Pros to Taking the Fork

Most of the way there with my models and can move right in to fine detail work saving time and energy. This is a huge boost as I plan to add at least 31 models to my 1850 list for the Alamo GT now that Dataslates are allowed in that tournament.

Color scheme has been well-received by opponents, random lookers and tournament organizers. As I said above, I’ve gotten an overwhelmingly positive response to the lighter blue scheme as it is now, so the paint scheme seems to be working as is.

It is a quick painting process that can be replicated on future models easily. I was stunned with how easy the method I used on my ’Nids was. Prime white, hit the exoskeleton parts with two coats of Seraphim Sepia. Hit the shell parts with Drakenhof Nightshade. Paint the talons with Abaddon Black and then the rest is just varied detail work.

Cons to Taking the Fork

Some of the models in my army have already been painted to the next step and would have to be stripped or not look cohesive. This will offset some of the advantage of going with the lighter blue as I’ll either be starting from scratch if I strip the paint or certain Monstrous Creatures will not match the rest of the army.

The original vision for the army will never be achieved. This is the major obstacle for me. Going with the dark, dark blue was the original intent as it appears more natural a color scheme than the lighter blue and the idea was that the Tyranids had adapted to match the terrain on their bases, which the darker blue does brilliantly.

Decision Time

Despite the advantages, I’ve decided to press ahead with the original vision. It looks too good on the base to not follow through and will mean the army has a cohesive aesthetic. So, I’ll be painting furiously for the next month and a half and probably won’t get much practice in with the list but I’ll have a great looking army to play with!

Railhead Rumble 2014 Part 2

 

Game 4

This match was against Robert Mims’ Ork-decorated Tau. I, unfortunately, didn’t get any close-up shots of his models, but Robert had done an excellent job merging the aesthetics of Ork/Tau. Our mission was the Relic and our deployment was Dawn of War, with a bonus objective of scoring wounds on an objective which had to be placed at the same location as the Relic. Looking across the table I could tell I’d be in trouble with 2 Sky Rays and 2 units of Broadsides as well as 2 Riptides staring my bugs down. I rolled lucky with Psychic Powers getting Catalyst on both Hive Tyrants and a Tervigon, giving me hope that I wouldn’t be completely shot off the board. I went first and got Catalyst on 6 Units, then pushed the wave of bugs forward. I had my Hive Tyrants unload on the bonus objective, scoring a bunch of wounds, as there was nothing else deployed close enough for them to hit. My Hive Crones unleashed on 1 of the Sky Rays but didn’t blow it up and my Exocrines managed to kill a bunch of Kroot which were deployed closest to the Relic, but they made their Leadership check and didn’t fall back. Robert’s first turn didn’t go so great as he unleashed a furious barrage that barely scratched the Tyranids. If only it stayed like that until the end of the game. Robert hadn’t played the new bugs much, but as soon as he realized the Venomthrope was moving Shrouded saves, he marked it for death and its biomass was spread across the battlefield, getting Robert First Blood. One of my Crones was shot down and the other was Grounded and charged by the bravest squad of Kroot I’ve ever seen. I attempted to get my non-Warlord Hive Tyrant into close combat with my opponent’s Crisis Suit Warlord, but he got destroyed by the overwatch from nearby Broadsides that rolled 6s to hit on over half their dice. By the last turn I had a Tervigon who had claimed the relic and Catalyst on him. I figured I would take a withering amount of fire, but in the end, rolling dice didn’t work my way. 1 unit of Broadsides unloaded on the Tervigon, causing 7 wounds and all I rolled as saves were 1s and 2s. The Feel No Pain wasn’t much better as everything rolled was under a 5. My opponent had First Blood and Linebreaker and I had Linebreaker with my Hive Crone who was still in close combat with Kroot. I did get more wounds on the bonus objective, but still lost the game by 1 on the primary scoring.

 

Game 5

My last game at Railhead Rumble was against John Connelly’s Necrons. Our deployment was Dawn of War but the mission type was essentially a modified version of the Relic, but with 2 Relics deployed in each of our deployment zones. Sadly I didn’t get Catalyst once with Psychic Powers, and my opponent had a LOT of Wraiths and 3 Night Scythes holding his troops. I had deployed first and my opponent placed most of his army in 2 corners of his deployment zone. Turn 1 was pretty uneventful with Night-Fighting in effect and Tyranids’ short range not allowing me to do much shooting, but I was holding my flyers back in anticipation of my opponent’s Night Scythes entering the board. On turn 2, I moved my flyers towards John’s Relic, hoping to put pressure on his Warlord’s unit. With all the shooting I sent at him I only wounded 1 of his 3 Canoptek Spyders and the rest of the wounds were on his Warlord who didn’t fail a single 2+ save. John’s Night Scythes came on and did what I expected them to, they unleashed everything at my Warlord, bringing him down after all 3 Scythes fired their Teslas and netting John First Blood and Slay the Warlord. The following turns were mainly a Tervigon dying to close combat with Wraiths, Exocrines lighting up said robot shrimp and a unit of them removed by Termagant Fleshborers. Both my Exocrines were then tied up in close combat by the rest of the Wraiths as well as 1 30 man squad of Termagants. The other 30 Gant squad was headed towards my opponent’s Relic, but John had wisely joined a Destroyer Lord to Warriors from the single Night Scythe my Crones had been able to down before running out of Tentaclids. Those Warriors moved towards the Relic and were able to keep unit cohesion so the Destroyer Lord could do his 12" jump onto the Relic, claiming it for the Necrons in the last turn of the game. By the time dice down was called, my remaining Tervigon was holding onto my Relic and John’s Lord had his. John had First Blood, Slay the Warlord and Linebreaker and I just had Linebreaker with my Termagants.

Railhead Rumble was an exciting event and the first time I’d had an opportunity to use my painted Tyranids in an 1850 point battle. Overall I scored 9th place out of 50 (7th place if we’re counting ties as a single place) due to soft scores boosting my battle points. My last 3 games were against tough opponents/lists which ended up in the top 6th Overall. I recommend this annual tournament to anybody in the region who is looking for challenging games and a great environment!

Railhead Rumble 2014 Part 1

Railhead Rumble has now wrapped and was an absolute blast! The results are posted here and the Best Generals were playing Salamanders, Eldar and NecTau. It was a really fun event I had not attended before, with an interesting element of bidding for what missions would be played and what deployment used, so you could try to get missions/deployment that played to your list's strengths. Check out the rules packet here. Now, behold the forces Hive Fleet Severus sent to tear man, space elf and fishmen apart!

Hive Fleet Severus 1850 Points

 

HQ

Hive Tyrant 2x Twin-Linked Devourers, Wings, Old Adversary

Hive Tyrant 2x Twin-Linked Devourers, Wings

Troops

Termagant Brood x30

Termagant Brood x30

Tervigon

Tervigon

Elite

Zoanthrope

Venomthrope

Fast Attack

Hive Crone

Hive Crone

Heavy

Exocrine

Exocrine

 

Game 1

My first game was against an Imperial Guard army played by Bruce Stephenson, the mission was Crusade and the deployment was Dawn of War. The image above is from deployment and you'll see a lack of Hive Crones (the other Flyrant is off-camera to the left). My display board wasn't big enough to fit the Crones so they were in a box which I had set under the table before grabbing a drink. I realized in turn 2 I had not deployed them and they came on the board in turn 3, but it cost me some serious threat saturation. Anyhow, I had placed 3 objective markers in the middle of the board, as I have learned well the lesson that this list is an all-in attack on my opponent in a wave of murder by gribbly teeth. As such, I knew by turn 3 at the latest I would have troops holding all three of those objectives and still able to engage my enemy behind his Aegis. I got lucky with my Psychic power rolls and got Catalyst on both Hive Tyrants and the Tervigon with the orange poker chip on its base. Railhead Rumble has bonus missions as well and this one was to accumulate wounds on a Toughness 7 objective in the center of the board. I had both Flyrants move up and caused 9 wounds in the first turn. Beyond that I couldn't do much as my opponent had deployed far out of range of anything that could hit him. Bruce's two tanks and the troops behind it advanced towards the objective I had placed near the center of the board and his Plasma Cannon shots didn't do too much damage to a Tervigon with the 3+ cover it had from intervening models and Shrouded from the Venomthrope as well as Feel No Pain from casting Catalyst. I knew that Plasma tank had to die fast, so I glided my Flyrants in, then shot and assaulted it netting me First Blood. I had Termagants move up towards the same objective in the center of the board and quickly piled them all around it. My opponent lit up my Warlord Hive Tyrant with his Leman Russ Punisher and not even Feel No Pain could save him. I quickly got retribution though as I gave Onslaught to one of the Exocrine from the Zoanthrope so he could Run and Shoot at BS 4. Between the 2 Exocrine's large blast Plasma I put enough wounds on the unit his Warlord was in and he failed a Look Out Sir and Cover Save netting me Slay the Warlord as well. The game ended with me controlling the 3 objectives in the middle of the board and my opponent controlling 2. That plus the bonus mission gave me a full score. Not a bad way to start the tournament!

 

Game 2

In the second game I played Ben Redleaf, who brought a White Scars force with Iron Hands allies, the mission was Crusade and the deployment was Hammer & Anvil. Somehow, someway I rolled Catalyst for Psychic Powers 3 times again on the same 3 units! Finally I've found something other than Leadership in which my low rolls don't lose me models. We only had 3 objectives to place and I followed with my strategy of placing two near the middle of the board while my opponent placed his 6" from a corner in his deployment. The bonus mission for this game was to knock the objective placed in the center of the table to the left of your deployment edge. Ben didn't think either one of us would score the bonus mission, but I gave it a hell of a try with both my Flyrants moving right next to it and unloading into it getting it about 10" from my victory edge (you can see the bonus objective to the left of the bottom group of Termagants in the picture above). I plodded the rest of my force towards my opponent but like last game didn't have much to shoot at in Turn 1. Ben had a Hunter and 2 Thunderfire Cannons deep in his deployment zone that didn't care much about range and after his Orbital Bombardment didn't do much he killed my Venomthrope with the Thunderfire Cannons getting him First Blood. His bikes came at me and as you can see from the image above it looked like 2 waves rushing towards each other. The bike unit with the Iron Hands Chapter Master knocked my Warlord Flyrant out of the sky and assaulted. I challenged and we were stuck in that combat for a couple of turns with my Warlord not doing much to the Chapter Master with his 3+ Invulnerable save and Feel No Pain saving my Warlord from wounds from the Iron Hand's Thunder Hammer. Eventually, my Warlord fell, but I got revenge by Vector Striking Korsarro Khan and finishing him off with my 2nd Flyrant's shooting getting me Slay the Warlord as well as my Termagants moved towards the objectives near the middle of the board and I got a few more inches of movement with the bonus objective. Ben had a squad of Bikes Outflank and try to take out one of my Tervigons but Feel No Pain blocked some of the wounds. I then charged those bikes with the Tervigon and some Termagants while the other unit of Gants which had been moving towards the center objective. Ben moved a squad of Bikes which had Hit and Run out of assault with my Termagants, towards the objective he had the most Bikes concentrated near and used his Thunderfire Cannons to blow large holes into the Gants that had been holding it. My 2nd Flyrant shot the Scouts holding the objective in my opponent's deployment zone into oblivion and there were no Bikes nearby which would be in range to reach it without moving Flat Out and not shooting my Flyrant which could deny its capture. I had one Exocrine try to finally shoot the bonus objective off the table but got it only 2" from the edge in the last turn. However, more importantly, I had my Tervigon in the middle of the board charge the 3 Bikes which had been in the assault on my Flyrant and what was left of the 30 man Gant squad as well as a unit which had been spawned earlier assault Bikes which were trying to block me from getting within 3" to deny it. It all came down to these rolls, my Tervigon smashed the 3 Bikes into mulched meat and somehow the Termagants won the combat on the other unit of Bikes and the Bikes BROKE from combat moving well out of range to hold the objective giving the 'Nids the win!

 

Game 3

I knew I was in trouble when the pairings were posted for Game 3 as I was placed against another Austin player and one who is a TO for Texas Games Con (formerly War Games Con), Chris Carlile. Chris brought the Eldar force with all the Distort weapons which make my Monstrous Creatures cry. The mission we were playing was Crusade, again, with Dawn of War Deployment. The reason Crusade was played so much was because many of my opponents bid on Purge the Alien and Kill Points isn't my list's strongest strategy, especially this space elf list I faced, so I bid to bump it to Crusade. The other challenge was that Chris also plays Tyranids and knows the new Codex very, very well. When I rolled for Psychic Powers I only got Catalyst once on a Tervigon and I got Onslaught on both Hive Tyrants. Chris went first and immediately sniped my Venomthrope getting him First Blood. I flew 2 Hive Crones to try and knock down a Wave Serpent but couldn't get through its cover saves. Similarly, my Hive Tyrants and Exocrines tried to knock down a Wraith Knight but its saves resulted in minimal damage. And thus the pace of the game was made, as I did minimal damage to him and he devastated my forces turn after turn. He was playing with the Iyanden Codex so I forged the narrative that his army were veterans from a past Tyranid invasion and knew exactly how to handle them. Chris killed my non-Warlord Flyrant with Distort weapons and did the same to a nearby Tervigon which caused many Termagant heads to explode. I attempted to assault my Warlord into one of the units of Wraith Guard and he rolled a single 6 in the Overwatch and I just knew he would roll another 6, which he promptly did. By the end of the game, Chris had killed all my Synapse creatures and cleared out the remaining Termagants. If ever there was a hard counter to my list, it was most certainly this. So much range, with so many Instant Death weapons and an opponent who knew how to get the most out of them. After the game, Chris was good enough to buy me dinner and a beer while we shared war stories with the other Austin players.

It was a very fun-filled first day and I really enjoyed the variety to the missions with the bidding system and bonus objectives. Stay tuned for day 2!