The Battle for Macharia

Alright, Warhammer 40,000 players, we had a meeting and decided that the best way to run a campaign as grand as the 13th Black Crusade/Battle for Cadia idea, was to play through another campaign first to makes sure that all of the rules are ironed out and functional.

Sticking with Abaddon's 13th Black Crusade as a frame of reference for Fluff purposes, I've decided that the preliminary campaign is going to be the Battle for Macharia. For those of you who Don't know, (and lord knows I didn't,) Macharia is a heavily militarized Hive World in the Cadian system. It's been dubbed a Shrine World since the Ecclesiarchy declared the deceased Lord Solar Macharius a Saint. (pictured below)

It seemed convenient in fluff terms. Right place, right time, but still a relatively minor warzone in the big picture.

So Derek and I are going to sit down and draw up a map. It'll be a fluff based, linear campaign.

The campaign will work with all players fighting the same scenarios each cycle, with the overall results determining exactly how well each side does in the campaign, which will lead directly from one battle to the next. Depending on how well each side does overall will determine the next scenario. Since Derek's playing Chaos and I'm playing IG, it should cancel out any bias.

SO, yes. There. That's about as far as we've gotten.

OH, armies! Right, each player writes a Warhost list of 6,000 pts. It's an Escalation campaign, the first battle played at 750 pts. Each time you field a list, you draw the units from the Warhost list. And, as we read in the previous entry, lost units are lost unless they're veterans, etc. etc. etc.

So there. A blog update.

OH! And, please guys, paint your models. We want to take pictures of the games, do batreps and post them on here. I'm pretty sure you can get a 750 pt army painted up by early February.

Veterans and other Campaign Basics

Each faction will have a Warmaster, who is in charge of his subordinate Generals.

Each general (or, y'know. Player.) Each Player will create an army list. For the Practice/Starter campaign we'll run first, it'll be 6,000 pts. From this list, your TO&E/Warhost list, you will create field-legal lists for use in battles.

When a unit is wiped out, or the vehicle is destroyed/explodes, it is removed from your list forever.

But, a Veteran unit is different. A unit gains veteran status when it:

• Performs a successful sweeping advance on the enemy.
• Caused multiple enemy units to fall back from shooting attacks in the same battle.
• Use shooting attacks to wipe out an enemy infantry unit that began that shooting phase with more than half of its' strenght
• Killed an enemy HQ character
• Destroyed another enemy veteran unit.

Roll a Leadership test for the unit in question (Maybe? I'm not sure if we want it to be an automatic thing that happens, or if you should test for it.) If they pass, you then choose a classification of veterancy (Recon, Melee, Gunnery), or Monstrous Creature (if you are one), Vehicle (if you... are one), or HQ Character. Note that if you roll and get an ability that doesn't benefit your unit, immediately add or subtract one from the roll to get a different one.

Recon Veteran

1. Infiltrate
2. Move through cover + Skilled Rider
3. Stealth
4. Scouts
5. Fleet
6. Fearless

Melee Veteran

1. +1 Weapon Skill
2. Counterattack
3. Hit and Run
4. Preferred Enemy (against w/e army they are engaged against, i.e. whoever they destroyed to gain veteran status. That's who they're preferred enemy against.)
5. Furious Charge
6. -1 to Enemy's Leadership value during assaults

Gunnery Veterans

1. +1 BS
2. Relentless
3. Tank Hunters
4. +d6 to weapons range each turn
5. Any special weapons in the unit are twin-linked
6. Any heavy weapons in the unit are twin-linked

Vehicle Veteran

1. +1 Ballistic Skill
2. Ignore Difficult and Dangerous terrain, and may still move up to d6" immediately after suffering an Immobilized result.
3. The vehicles Tank Shock inflicts a -2 penalty on the enemy's Ldrship, and it rams at +2 Strenght
4. Ignore Shaken and Stunned results
5. +d6 to one weapons range each turn.
6. +1 Armor Value to a single facing, up to 14.

Monstrous Creature Veteran

1. Horrifying, unit inflicts -1 Ldrship to any enemies within 12"
2. Overpowering- Fearless units may still be victims of Sweeping Advance from this Monstrous Creature.
3. Overpowering-as above
4.  Gain +1 wound
5.  Gain "It Will Not Die"
6. +d3 attacks on the charge

HQ Character Veteran

1. "Not without my men!" In battles where this model is present, any unit that is destroyed within 12" of this character may roll a d6: On a 5+, the unit is Not removed from the warhost list.
2. If killed, Leader model remains in place as an objective afterward during objective missions
3. Martyr: If killed, all friendly models within 12" gain Hatred (enemy faction that killed said HQ character) for the remainder of the battle.
4. Eternal Warrior
5. Zealot
6. Strategic Genius- Ok guys, would we prefer this let you 1) re-roll reserve rolls 2) re-roll the dice for outflanking, or 3) allow you to re-deploy a unit up to 12" from where it started after your opponent is done deploying?

You only gain veteran status once per unit.

Special Casualties: When a special character is destroyed or leaves the table during a battle, they are not instantly destroyed. Instead, roll a d6. If the model is a special character, on a roll of 2 or better, it survives, having only been temporarily injured. If the model is just an independent character, this roll requires a 4+.


CAMPAIGN UNIVERSAL SPECIAL RULES

Live to fight another day- In normal 40k games, attrition isn't a problem, your models will still be on the shelf at the end of the day. In a campaign, a unit, once lost, is gone for good. Because of this, continually feeding your troops into a meatgrinder can be detrimental to future endeavors. For this reason, one unit per turn may choose to fall back automatically during the shooting phase in lieu of any other actions. WHen a unit attempts to flee this way, it falls back just as if it had failed a moral check. This unit, however, does not ever regroup under any circumstances; it continues to run until it reaches the board edge and leaves the table. Assuming it is in good condition and has only lost a few troops, your unit will live to fight another day. Sometimes, however, the long trip to safety might see them take a few more casualties... turn your back to the enemy at your own risk!

Survival of the Fittest- If a nit is destroyed via sweeping advance or is otherwise wiped from the table, then this unit is removed from that player's warhost list, never to return. The same is true of vehicels that suffer Destroyed or Explodes results on the damage chart, or lose all their hull points. Units under half strength that flee the table or are falling back at the end of a battle suffer this fate as well.

However, units that flee at Above half strength Will survive, and are Not removed. Similarly, veteran units and HQ units may only ever be removed from a warhost list after a roll of 4+.


ALLIES
You can take allies in your battle-field lists... Provided that they are actually FROM your allies in the campaign. Those units on the tabletop are subject to the allies-chart things in the book. If you want to field your buddy's troops as allies but they're listed as "Desperate Allies,"then you're subject to the "One Eye Open" rule on page 112 of the big rulebook.

The beauty of this is that it relies on you maintaining the good-will of your fellow generals. If you throw away those Terminator squads you had loaned to you, it'll probably be a cold day in hell before you get any more support.

The Crusade Begins!

If you don't know what Abbadon's Black Crusades are: http://warhammer40k.wikia.com/wiki/Black_Crusade, then there you go.

Every so often, Abbadon gets a wild hair up his ass and decides to invade the Imperium. In 999.M41, his greatest invasion of the Imperium spews forth from the Eye of Terror.

This campaign pits the forces of Order against the forces of Chaos.

Imperial Guard, Grey Knights, Adeptus Sororitas, Space Marines, and Eldar against Chaos Daemons, Chaos Space Marines, and (traitor) Imperial Guard.

I haven't drawn a map on the computer yet, so I'll try to put into words my ideas for the campaign so far. It'll be a fairly linear campaign.

The forces of Chaos land on Cadia, the first battle being at the main planetary space port, as the easiest landing zone.

From there, the invaders either advance on the fortress cities of Cadia, or the survivors of the first landing are driven back across the plain.

Either way, the next phase involves the siege and assault on the Kasrs (those aforementioned Cadian fortress-cities.) There will be three of them, each with a different sort of strategic bonus.

• The first will house the immense Cadian Defence Command Batteries. Control of this city will let you fire (an as yet undetermined number of) artillery bombardments at other tables. They'll probably function a lot like the IG Master of Ordinance guys. It'll be powerful, but with a pretty high chance of scattering. And it won't be game breaking. I'm going through the 3rd, 4th and 5th editon main rulebooks for inspiration, since there used to be rules for Preliminary Bombardments. It might be as simple as a couple of free Basilisk rounds. I had this idea yesterday, so it's all a bit of a work in progress.

• The second will house the Cathedral/Basilica, the center of Imperial worship on Cadia. Unbeknownst to any Cadians now living, it is also on top of one of the greatest of the Pylons dotting the surface (or buried beneath it) on Cadia. As a lynchpin Pylon, it's capture and corruption can allow the deepstriking of Daemons onto the surface of Cadia. (You can't do that before now. If you read the Eisenhorn novels (or one of the articles about the black crusades) you'll know that the mysterious Pylons on Cadia are what have been keeping the spread of the Eye of Terror at bay. It's an active sort of anti-warp defense. A major objective of the entire Black Crusade is the destruction of these pylons to allow the Eye of Terror to spread further, corrupting the physical universe.) The Imperial forces are simply defending their city and cathedral. Troops with LoS to the Cathedral will be stubborn, and within 6" of it, fearless. They might gain Frenzy or Hatred, too. I need to re-read the rules, but think rabid, foaming at the mouth kinds of faith. Chaos will also have some sort of special rules, too. I need to work on this some more.

• The third of these cities is the primary Planetary Defence Center, housing this continent's Orbital Defence Batteries. These massive laser installations will allow the controlling player extra degrees of control over the lower orbitals. 

Now, I haven't figured out exactly how we're going to do this, but there will be a mechanism dictating the extent to which each side controls the lower orbits of the planet. If one side or the other has enough control to be decisive, their side will be able to reinforce their overall lists to some extent.

That brings us immediately to Army Lists.


This will sound familiar to Derek, Hilton and Parrott, since I'm basically cribbing it from that one set of campaign rules, but each player will make a list of 5,000-10,000 pts (Haven't decided what level yet.) You will field legal armies from these lists.

When you lose a vehicle or unit from this list, they are Dead. Remove from list. Not available anymore.

If a unit excels in a battle (wipes out an entire unit single handed, captures an objective, that sort of thing,) it gains veteran status. There's a table you roll on and they gain a veteran ability (fearless, move through cover, counter-attack, that sort of thing.) A veteran unit has a 4+ roll at the end of a battle to se if they are Actually dead (or only Mostly dead).

The same goes for named characters, only moreso. A named character 'killed' in a battle sits out the next one, as they are busy 'recovering.'

After the battles for the Cadian Fortress cities (if 2/3 or more are taken by Chaos,) the final battle will be at the heart of the Cadian defence command headquarters. It'll probably be in the middle of a city. If the fortresses hold (again, if at least 2/3 remaind in Imperial hands), the defenders will sally forth and there'll be an Apocalypse battle on the plains of Cadia.

So that's what I've got so far, gang. We'll designate one player from each side as overall commander. (An Abbadon and a Creed.) Extra fun for the imperial sides because nobody has to listen to Creed except other IG players. Sisters of Battle, Inquisition, Grey Knights and Space Marines don't give a shit.

So let me know what y'all think. I've got even more ideas than this, but most of it's scribbled on paper at the moment. So far I've got Me as IG (duh), Jeff as Black Templar, Derek as CSM, and Josh as Traitor Guard/various chaos forces.