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The Hiruscant Campaign

Rules for a node-based Warhammer 40K campaign. Example node map of Hiruscant and nearby systems.

Index

Errata and rules changes for next version of the rules.

Rules

Setting up the Campaign

Players generally each start with a single battleforce, located in the start node for their faction.  Some factions have special setup rules - see the Special rules for factions section.

Each player chooses which faction to play.  There should be at least one Imperium of Man (Imperial Guard or Space Marine) player, and at least one Xeno/Chaos player, but it is generally OK to have multiple players playing the same faction.

Campaign Movement

Each day (at midnight), players accumulate one command point. Players initially have 7 command points.

Points can be spent at any time by sending an email with force orders to the referee. Possible orders are:

Moves are executed in the order they arrived, as soon as the referee checks email (daily at least, unless a pause is scheduled).

A player cannot accumulate more than 14 command points; Any unspent excess is  lost.

A player can spend any and all of his accumulated points in a single command - so, it is possible to make two successive moves at once.  If the first move(s) in a series brings a battleforce into combat (eg, if another player moved a few minutes before), the remaining moves are cancelled and the command points are wasted.

In general, if an order is invalid at the time it is executed (typically because the battleforce is locked in combat, but other situations could arise), it is cancelled and the command points are wasted.

Battleforces for the same player can stack in a node, but there is no advantage in doing so - indeed, in case of a lost battle with no retreat possible, all battleforces in the node are lost.

The referee keeps force locations and orders publically available - there are no hidden movements.

Accelerating play

At the end of any day where all players have less than 5 points, all players accumulate extra command points until at least one player has 5 points.

Players may postdate their orders to be executed at a future date when the command points are available.  This can be convenient when going on holiday just before having the command points needed to launch an offensive...

Lets get a game going If, by gamenight time, there are no pending battles, each player gets an extra command point and is allowed to issue a single order, repeatedly, until at least one battle is pending.  Players not present are also awarded extra command points, and these "acceleration" points are not lost if they bring the players total over 14.  Players may not spend acceleration points to attack players that are not present. After gamenight, players may not spend any leftover acceleration points until 24 hours later.  If a player can use both acceleration and normal command points, acceleration points are always spent first.

Creating a Battleforce

When a player creates a battleforce, either at start or as reinforcements, players should provide the referee with a roster (including name and background fluff) for that battleforce.  The roster should allow the creation of valid forces for which the player has models (no proxies!) - ie, there should be at least one HQ and two Troops.  There can be any number of each type of unit in the battleforce. It may contain at most 3000 points worth of units.  They player need not be able to field models for all of them simultaneously, but must have (or intend to acquire) models to represent any unit listed in the roster.  The units included in the battleforce should be capable of fighting in any of the missions possible, so it should include units to make viable assault, line defense, raid, etc. forces.

A battleforce should also include a Kill-Team roster, representing the elite team sent out to handle difficult, small-scale missions. The 160 points allowed for the Kill-Team is not considered in the 3000 point limit for the battleforce.

A player can create battleforces smaller than 3000 points, if desired; New units can be added later (see Modifiying a Battleforce, below).

The referee keeps the battleforces and their compositions publically available.

Combat

Once two battleforces are locked in combat, their controlling players should play out the mission at their earliest convenience.

The players negotiate the force level they wish to play (500 to 2000 points), and determine a mission as described in the mission selection rules. The node entries may have suggestions to type of terrain, or suitable missions to play in the node.

The players select their units from the roster(s) of their battleforce(s) in the node.  Units should generally be included exactly as they are specified in the battleforce roster.  A player may leave out models from a unit (for example, to get the force points value total below the agreed scenario limit), but such a partial unit scores only half experience.

The winner of the mission keeps the battleforce in the node. If the attacker lost, the attacking battleforce remains in the node it came from (if still controlled - otherwise, it retreats to any other neighbouring controlled node).  If the defender lost, the defending battleforce must retreat to a neighbouring controlled node.  If the battle is a Draw, both forces retreat, leaving the contested node uncontrolled.

If there is no valid retreat node for a battleforce, it is lost.  If a player has no battleforces left, the player can continue to accumulate actions points and acquire reinforcements as normal.

Mission results are logged by both players sending a result email (with as much background fluff as possible, pictures too if available) to the referee, who will publish the battle reports.  The result email must at least include:

If the mission is not played within 14 days (or if the players both request a random result), the referee decides the result randomly (Roll D6: 1-2 Attacker wins, 2-3 Draw, 4-5 Defender wins) and retreats the losing battleforce(s). No Victory Points or Experience is awarded for randomly resolved battles.

If more battleforces enter a node where a mission is already in progress, the new attacking battleforce will attack the winner of the current battle, as soon as it is completed. Any number of pending battles can "stack", awaiting resolution, in a node.  A player may enter nodes where his own forces are already fighting - this represents reinforcements who will take over if the first force falters and retreats.

If all players agree, a stack of pending battles may be resolved in a single battle, See rules on staging multi-player battles, later.

A Battleforce that is in currently awaiting a battle outcome (either in progress, or in the "stack") may not be given orders.

Note that it is in the battling players best interest to conclude the battle as soon as possible, as the movements of other players may cut off their retreat.

Experience

Units that participate in a battle accrue experience.  See the Warhammer 40K rulebook, p242. 

Modifying a Battleforce

Units in a battleforce can be modified using the experience rules. See the Warhammer 40K rulebook, p244, with the following modifications:  Retraining in order to avoid the 100 XP loss is a special order that costs 5 command points. The retraining order applies to all units in a battleforce - so if you want to adjust units, it is usually best to do the adjustments all at once and then send the battleforce off to retrain, as a single batch of orders. Also, the cost of Change of Leader is always -100 XP (not -D3x100 XP) for upgrading a regular squad leader to a veteran squad leader, representing the same squad leader getting more experienced.

A unit can be retired entirely from the battleforce, and new units can be brought in.  New units start with no experience.  Retiring a unit from a battleforce costs 1 command point. Adding a unit to a battleforce costs 2 command points.

Example: An Imperial Guard player is upgrading an Infantry Platoon: Giving a missile launcher to an experienced squad of Guardsmen costs it 100 XP; Upgrading the sergeant to a Veteran sergeant in another squad costs 100 XP for that squad, and adding an entire squad to the platoon costs 2 command points.  The player chooses to Retrain the battleforce to avoid the XP loss - this costs 5 command points, but nullifies both the XP adjustments, since the changes were to two different units.  The complete change then costs 7 command points.

Victory Points

Weekly points

The players score victory points according to the objectives of their faction; Victory points are tallied as they are awarded.   Victory points are awarded weekly (sunday midnight) for controlling planetary surface nodes. Nodes with pending battles yield no victory points to either side.

Battle points

The players get victory points for battles:

Robin Hood points: If the winner of a battle has a lower IASL score than the loser, the loser gets the difference in IASL scores, taken from the winners score. For example, if an IASL 10 army Crushingly Defeats an IASL 13 army, the winner gets (12-3)=9 VP, while the loser gets 3 VP.

Faction victory points

In addition to node points, factions get victory points as follows:

Winning

The game can run a set number of days (in which case the player with the most VPs win) or to a set amount of victory points.

Special Nodes

Some nodes have special rules; they are detailed in this section.

Installations can be destroyed at any time by any faction with a battleforce in a node, at which point they no longer grant a VP bonus. Destroying an installation is a normal Order, with a 0 command point cost.

Space Capable Battleforces

If a battleforce is Space Capable, it can move from a planet surface node to Orbit.  The following section describes when a force is considered Space Capable.

Multi-player Battles

If a stack of battles include forces owned by three or more players, they may by mutual consent agree to resolve the entire stack by a single multi-player battle.

Split the forces into two sides according to the Allies and Enemies defined for each faction in the Faction Special Rules. Allies must be on the same side, and enemies must be on opposite sides.  If it is not possible to construct two sides, fight the battles two players at a time normally as the stack resolves.

Each side gets an equal amount of points, divided equally among the players on the side. Each side uses a normal Force Organization Chart for the mission being played.  When playing missions with the Reserves special rules, then only one player's units should start on the board, the rest should enter normally as reserves.

If a losing (or drawing) side includes multiple players, each losing battleforce is retreated individually, in order of the battle stack - so, the first participant(s) gets to retreat first.  Any battleforces that cannot retreat are destroyed as normal.

If the winning side includes multiple players, the first force in the battle stack gets to keep the node, and the remaining battleforces are retreated to any neighbouring node where a retreat would normally be possible.  If the battleforce cannot retreat, it is not destroyed - move it to the players reinforcement node.

If the players can agree on rules for three or more sides, then it is possible to resolve even more complex battle stacks as single (very confused) battles - eg, Tyranids vs. Eldar vs. Imperial Guard.  In such scenarios, there must be one winning side; the rest are considered losing sides, for retreat purposes. In such free-for-alls, each player of course has the same amount of points. In multi-player battles, the winner scores Victory points for each opponent defeated.

Special Rules for factions

The following section describes the special rules that applies to each of the engaged factions.

Chaos

Blood for the Blood God: Chaos forces glory in death and destruction, and the scent of blood and mayhem brings more warriors eager for bloodshed. When a battleforce is destroyed as a result of combat with Chaos forces, the Chaos player immediately receives a reinforcement Battleforce.

Insidious Corruption: The Chaos player may Corrupt the weakly-held human lands. At a cost of 10 command points, the Chaos player may Expand Control into any Imperial Guard node that does not have an occoupying battleforce.

Chaos Cultists: Three times during the game, the Chaos player may Corrupt one Imperial Guard battleforce. It becomes Tainted (place a marker to indicate this) for the duration of the game.  A Tainted battleforce remains under the control of the Imperial Guard player, but may ignore orders issued them (being busy worshipping dark gods): Roll a D6 when the move is executed, on a 1-3 the order is ignored and the command points lost.  Space Marines may attack Tainted battleforces as if they were Chaos controlled (and score points as if they were Chaos controlled).

Reinforcements: The Chaos forces use any Deep space node for start and reinforcements.

Allies: None: Chaos players may attack any other faction, including other Chaos players.

Enemies: Space Marines.

Tyranids

Without Number: Tyranids pay only 4 command points for a reinforcement battleforce.

Tyranoforming: On a planet where more than half the nodes are Tyranid-controlled, Tyranoforming sets in - The Tyranid player spends only 1 command point to Expand Control on that planet.

Reinforcements: The Tyranid use any Deep space node for start and reinforcements.

Instinctive Behaviour: Tyranids automatically destroy all installations except Webway portals when a node becomes Tyranid controlled.

Shadow in the Warp  Webway portals cannot be activated in Tyranid-controlled nodes, and Webway portals in Tyranid-controlled nodes become dormant - ie, they cannot be used for Eldar reinforcements or movement. Likewise, Dark Eldar cannot move directly to a Tyranid-controlled node from Warp.

Allies: Tyranid: All Tyranid forces are considered splinters of the same Hive fleet.  Tyranid battleforces may not attack other Tyranid forces, but may expand control at the expense of other Tyranid players' territory.

Enemies: All non-Tyranids.

Orks

Waagh! When enough Orks gather, the mass of mobs becomes a coherent Waagh.  Once per week (at sunday midnight), the Ork player gets 1 bonus command point for each Ork battleforce beyond the first on each planet. Roks are not counted.

Rok Landing: When Orks perform a successful move from Orbit to planet surface, the target node gets a Rok.

The Space Hulk: The orks have a special Battleforce representing a Space Hulk. It sets up in any deep space node at start together with the initial Ork battleforce, and moves normally from then on, except it may not land on a planet.  This battleforce serves as the Ork reinforcement node.

Allies: None: Ork players may attack any other faction, including other Ork players.

Enemies: None.

Necrons

Phase Out: Necrons can phase out any time, returning to their Tomb Planets. At a cost of 1 command point, the Necron player may move a battleforce from any node to a reinforcement node. The node they moved from remains Necron controlled.

Reinforcements: The Necron use any Deep space node for start and reinforcements.

Allies: Necron: Necron battleforces may not attack other Necron forces, or expand control at the expense of other Necron players' territory.

Enemies: All non-Necron.

Space Marines

Space Mobile Warfare: Space marines may retreat from surface nodes to the orbit node, if it is not occupied by any other faction.  Space marines may move directly from deep space to surface nodes, bypassing the planet orbit. This counts as a difficult (4+) move, and failing the move means the battleforce moves into the Orbit node instead.  Space Marines may ignore the normal difficult path (3+) rolls for moving to and from orbit.

Rapid Redeployment: It is not the mission of Space Marines to hold territory - once the objective is captured, it falls to the Imperial Guard to hold it while the Space marines move on to the next critical battle. At a cost of 1 command point, Space Marines may cede control of a node to the Imperial Guard player, if the Imperial guard controls a neighbouring node. The Space Marine player gains a +1 VP for each node thus ceded.

Call for Help:  The Space Marines only arrive after receiving the distress psi-transmissions from the sector governor; The Space Marine player starts the Campaign with zero command points.  Space Marines do not set up their initial battleforce at start, but may place it in any Deep Space node as part of their first Move order.

Reinforcements: The Space Marines use any Deep space node for start and reinforcements.

Allies: Imperium of Man. Space Marines may not move or expand control into any Imperial Guard or Space Marine node.

Enemies: Chaos, Tyranids, Orks, Necrons, Dark Eldar

Daemon Hunters and Witch Hunters

Treat as Space Marines, except they

Eldar

Webway Portals: Eldar may use their ancient webway portals to move from world to world.  The Eldar player may, three times in total in the campaign, announce the activation of a Webway portal in any surface node not occupied by an enemy battleforce. That node has a Webway portal from that point. Eldar may move from a node with a Webway portal to any other node with a Webway portal, as well as to Warp (ie, their Craftworld).

Craftworld: Eldar reinforcements arrive in Warp.

Allies: Eldar: Eldar battleforces may not attack other Eldar forces, or expand control at the expense of other Eldar players' territory. Eldar players may not use Webway portals placed by another Eldar player.

Enemies: Dark Eldar, Chaos

Dark Eldar

Strikes from the Shadow Realm: Dark Eldar may move from Warp (ie, Commorragh) to any surface node. and from any surface node to Warp. This is a Difficult (4+) path.

Raiders:  Dark Eldar have no intentions of establishing a presence in the Imperium, and there aren't all that many Dark Eldar to being with.  The Dark Eldar pay 14 command points for Reinforcements.

Commorragh: Dark Eldar reinforcements arrive in Warp.

Allies: None: Dark Eldar players may attack any other faction, including other Dark Eldar players.

Enemies: Eldar.

Tau Empire

Mobile Army: The Tau forces are highly mobile, paying only 3 command points for a Move Battleforce action, and only 1 command point for a Redeploy action. Tau pay the normal 5 command points for an Expand Control action.

Fourth Wave Spearhead: The Tau starts with a defended colony (a battleforce) in any non-City surface node chosen by the Tau player.  Two non-city neighbouring nodes (if any) are also initially Tau Controlled. The Tau player may place reinforcements in the original defended colony node, if it has never left Tau control, or in any deep space node.

For the Greater Good: The Tau player may not destroy City installations.

Allies: Tau: Tau battleforces may not attack other Tau forces, but may expand control at the expense of other Tau players' territory.

Enemies: None.

Imperial Guard

Beset from All Sides: The Imperial guard start in control of all non-Tau surface nodes of the habitable planets , and starts with one battleforce on each planet, placed in any City node on the planet.  If there are more than one Imperial Guard player, distribute the controlled planets equally among them.  If there are no imperial guard players, the Imperial Guard forces are set up anyway, by the referee, before any other factions set up.  A non-player Imperial Guard faction will never issue orders, and battles against it are always immediately resolved randomly, with a -1 result roll modifier (1-3 Attacker wins, 4-5 Draw, 6: Defender wins).

Citizen Militia: The Imperial guard may place reinforcements in any controlled City or Spaceport node.  If there are no such nodes, the Imperial Guard may place reinforcements in any Deep Space node.

Joint Command: Imperial guard may retreat into Space Marine-controlled nodes, but not into nodes that contain a Space Marine battleforce. The node then becomes Imperial Guard controlled, as if it was ceded to the Imperial Guard by the Space Marine player.

Allies: Imperium of Man. Imperial Guard may not move or expand control into any Imperial Guard node controlled by another player. Imperial Guard may not move into Space Marine occupied nodes. Imperial Guard may move and expand control into Space Marine controlled nodes; This counts as if the Space Marine player ceded the node to the Imperial Guard.

Enemies: None.

Missions

The following special missions and mission selection rules are used in the Campaign.

Mission Selection

In general, players can choose to play any mission they can mutually agree on; Kill-Team battles are fine, too.  Players may also use the following tables to determine a battle at random.

When rolling strategy, the attacking battleforce gets a +1 dice bonus.

Choose type of mission

Roll D6:

Standard mission

Special mission

Raid mission

Battle mission

Pivotal Battles

A pivotal battle may replace the regular mission as specified by the normal selection process, if both players agree. Players must agree before rolling for which battle to play.  The stakes are slightly higher in a pivotal battle, represents turning points in the campaign, and players should play with as many points as they can muster.

If the defender has no retreat available, and is at risk of losing the Battleforce, roll a D6 and play one of the following missions:

Orbital Assault

Occurs when a battleforce moves into an enemy-held node from orbit.

Choose mission:

All the attackers units must have either the Scouting, the Infiltrate or the Deep Strike special rules.

Rok Attack

Occurs when the defending (Ork) force includes a Rok.

The mission is always Bunker Assault, with a single Bunker complex (eg, 2x2 8"x8" bunkers) representing the Rok.

The Ork gets an additional 50% of the agreed force level worth of points for the mission, representing the Rok defences. Thus, in a 1000-point game, if the node contains only the Rok, the Ork player has 500 points only, while if the node also contains a Battleforce he or she can spend 1500 points (making defended Roks very hard targets indeed!).

Rok defence points may be spent on Rok Turrets, HQ, Troops and Heavy support only.

A Rok Turret has the following characteristics: Armour 13, all sides. Cost 60+Weapon, Immobile, BS: 2, Weapons (TODO, if anyone plays Orks).

Orbital Battle

An orbital battle occurs when two factions vie for control over a planet's near space. Since we're not playing BFG, the battle is resolved as a boarding action.  Use terrain to represent the inside of a ship of the defending faction (small board, dense terrain with corridors, doors etc), and play either the Kill-Team Sabotage or the Raid: Sabotage mission.

Retreat from an orbital battle is always possible; Move the losing battleforce to the adjacent Deep Space node.