Ok, so I might be running out of ideas for what is becoming a mini-series within my blog...
Happy Friday people! The weekend is here and with it comes a Campaign event for me (and a few of my regular readers); The Auctorian Onslaught.
Unlike the campaign I ran for Leicester Sabres earlier in the year, this event will be played out over the course of a single weekend and run by Christopher 'Topher' Buckle. You can find his ruleset (which I helped write/edit) here!
The campaign depicts the final invasion of the Auctoria Sector by the forces of Chaos after decades of wearing the Imperial defenders down. That said, the four games to be played still represent ten years of fighting. To represent the scale and grandeur of the background, Topher has come up with some pretty ingenious ideas.
Firstly, he created a system of 'Warpoints' to allow the vying factions to bid for each planet. With an allowance of points gained from how well the side did in previous games, they can state how much they want to control that world. Well, control is no the right word, as they will still have to fight for it, but having more Warpoints on the world will allow the players to use a bigger army. As such, we don't have fixed lists like at a tournament; we will pool as many models as we can for use by any of the players on our side (though each player has first pick of his own models, naturally) and make new lists for each game. Topher even created a neat little calculator in Excel to work out exactly what each side can spend. Yes the games will very rarely be perfectly balanced, but it will fit the background quite nicely.
Then there are the War Rooms. Each side has their own room where strategy can be discussed in private, army lists created and diabolical plans hatched. It's also where we will be storing our unused models between games. They will also be home to large system maps which we can scribble on, including recording what Warpoints we have available, any secrets we know about certain planets or ideas we have about the enemy forces etc. Hopefully they will act as a great focal point for each side.
Happy Friday people! The weekend is here and with it comes a Campaign event for me (and a few of my regular readers); The Auctorian Onslaught.
Unlike the campaign I ran for Leicester Sabres earlier in the year, this event will be played out over the course of a single weekend and run by Christopher 'Topher' Buckle. You can find his ruleset (which I helped write/edit) here!
The campaign depicts the final invasion of the Auctoria Sector by the forces of Chaos after decades of wearing the Imperial defenders down. That said, the four games to be played still represent ten years of fighting. To represent the scale and grandeur of the background, Topher has come up with some pretty ingenious ideas.
Firstly, he created a system of 'Warpoints' to allow the vying factions to bid for each planet. With an allowance of points gained from how well the side did in previous games, they can state how much they want to control that world. Well, control is no the right word, as they will still have to fight for it, but having more Warpoints on the world will allow the players to use a bigger army. As such, we don't have fixed lists like at a tournament; we will pool as many models as we can for use by any of the players on our side (though each player has first pick of his own models, naturally) and make new lists for each game. Topher even created a neat little calculator in Excel to work out exactly what each side can spend. Yes the games will very rarely be perfectly balanced, but it will fit the background quite nicely.
Then there are the War Rooms. Each side has their own room where strategy can be discussed in private, army lists created and diabolical plans hatched. It's also where we will be storing our unused models between games. They will also be home to large system maps which we can scribble on, including recording what Warpoints we have available, any secrets we know about certain planets or ideas we have about the enemy forces etc. Hopefully they will act as a great focal point for each side.
Finally
I want to mention the Character Development system that has been
written in to the rules. To represent the fact that the forces taking
part are in a protracted campaign, and thus getting more and more used
to fighting each other, each player can create a Special Character from
any of the normal non-Special Character HQ choices available in their
Codex of choice. After each game, they get a choice of tables to roll
on, granting the character a special rule or a stat increase. Each table
can only be used once (to stop players simply stacking abilities) but
it should create some interesting stories, particularly where certain
heroes and villains come up against each other time and again.
There
is, however, a cost to these skills. For a player to be allowed to use
these bonuses, he has to submit roughly a page of background for the
character, to show the reasons and motivations behind taking part in the
Onslaught. Although there is obviously a competitive element to the
event (pretty hard to take out of anything that involves winning and
losing games...) the emphasis really is on the narrative. Toph has even
gone so far as to say he will allow players to do pretty much anything
they want, so long as they can justify the action with relevant
background!
So,
as I want to experience this campaign to the fullest, that is exactly
what I have done. Let me introduce you Ambrose; you can call him Colonel
Karter though!
Colonel Ambrose Karter
A fallen knight whose demise grew from avarice and ambition
Born to a worker family of Muirana, young Ambrose grew up in awe of Legio Ignis Diruo. As for many small boys, he became obsessed with collecting images and models of the God-machines, playing games between the hab-blocks with other children, pretending to be a Reaver or Warlord and crushing insects and vermin that infested all the towns of the desert world. As he grew to his teenage years, he made many attempts to join the Cult Mechanicus that one day he would command a Titan of his own to smite the enemies of the Emperor. Despite his determination, he was classified as unsuitable by the Adepts of the Omnissiah. Ever the faithful servant, he instead focussed his energies on joining the Planetary Defence Force. Showing at least some aptitude for driving fighting vehicles, he was eventually transferred to the Imperial Guard and stationed on Auctoria Major for further training.
Despite rising steadily through the ranks, Karter never stood out from his peers as a particularly courageous Guardsmen or innovative commander. Upon receiving command of his first battletank, he resented that his 'command' meant he still had to follow orders from his Squadron leader. When he took control of a squadron following heavy losses in his first real combat, he resented that he was still at the beck and call of the Company's commander. Even in to his later career, as the Colonel of an entire Armoured Battlegroup, he felt slighted that Infantry Commanders outranked him despite a reasonably impressive kill record.
This all came to a head at the Battle for Corview Ridge, an armoured engagement of significant scale at the very fringes of the Auctor Sector. Fighting alongside two of the Titans from Ignis Diruo, his company engaged a Chaos host poised for an assault in to the very core of the sector, possibly even targeting Auctoria Major herself. Over the course of three days, and despite losing two crew members in a blast that nearly crippled his Leman Russ Vanquisher, the Duchess, Karter personally accrued a kill count in excess of 20 enemy fighting vehicles, as well as incapacitating a traitor Baneblade and downing three Chaos Warhound Titans. Returning to Auctoria Major, Legio Ignis Diruo was credited with a massive victory, despite losing a Warhound of their own; Karter and his regiment were left in the shadows. Snubbed by those he had once idolised, something in his mind snapped. Looking at the broken, dejected faces of the officers under his command, he made a plan. After repairs and rearming on Muirana, Ambrose Karter led his company out into the desert under the pretence of a training exercise.
In reality he was meeting up with a Warband of Chaos Space Marines wearing the colours of loyalists. Loading the vehicles on to an orbit capable drop ship, the Colonel prepared a recorded message to be voxed from a drone in the desert long after they had left the world behind;
"I am Colonel Ambrose Karter. I have nothing left to give the False Emperor and now my company stands apart from the Imperium. Auctor shall pay for what they have done to me and Ignis Diruo shall burn by my hand. This is my oath and I swear it on the Dark Octed."
And with Karter's final words to the Imperium, I shall leave you for today. What do you think of the background? It is a bit late to include more players at this event but, pending the success of this campaign, who would be interested in taking part in something similar in the future?
Matt
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