Getting Started...Ground rule ideas.

Ok here we go with another blog. This one will attempt to coordinate a 40k campaign in the central Maine area.

1st up here are some of the ground rules I would like to try....in no order, just random thoughts at this time.

1) We will use the Planetary Empires rules for the campaign. Just the standard set with 2 Hive city tiles.

2) We will add in the rule so our battles could come from the 40k rulebook, Battle Missions, Planet Strike, Cities of Death, Spearhead, or Apocalypse.

• The two players setting up the battle will roll a d6, winner will choose one of the 5 options...

1. to roll using the roll using the ultimate challenge table on pg 6 of the Battle Missions book.
2. If it is the very first battle of the campaign between two opponents the winner may choose to make this a Spearhead battle.  Spearhead rules in White Dwarf #366.
3. If the winner owns a spaceport tile they may fight use the Planet Strike rules as the attacker.  If the defender has a tile in a Polar region, the attacker may choose for both sides to use the Winter War rules for Planetstrike.  If the attacker wins the battle, and has used the winter war rules he must attempt to take the polar tile.
4. If their opponent has a ruin tile or a hive city tile, they winner of the roll may fight a Cities of Death battle, choosing the level (Alpha, Beta or Omega) of the battle.  If the city/ruin tile is also in a polar region, the attacker may chose to allow both sides to use the Winter War rules for Cities of Death. 
5. If their are 4 players, and the other pairings winner agrees, the two winners may team up against the two losers in an Apocalypse battle.  Yes, this may make some unusual and normally illegal pairings (Chaos Marines and  Imperial Guard vs. Space Wolves and Eldar)

• In order to attempt to take a Hive city tile, you must beat your opponent in an Omega level Cities of Death battle.

3) Each round will last one month, they will start on the 1st of the month and end on the last day of the month. The Campaign will kick off June 1st, with the map building and tile selection taking place at the next game night (which may not be until mid June) You can play any opponent / anywhere.  You may play as many times as you wish in any month.

4) We will each start with 6 tiles. First player to 10 tiles wins, if they have played at least one game against every other player in the campaign.

5) Additional players may join the campaign after it has started. They will get 6 random tiles to create a "Moon" which may only be attacked by those controlling a spaceport (Planetstrike).  Likewise the moon player can only attack the main planet with Planetstrike rules, until they control a tile on the planet itself.


6) The minimum point value of any army will be 1000 points, they maximum before modifications for tiles / factories will be 2000.  meaning pick battles with your opponent of 1000-2000 points.  Apoc battles will have an army limit of 1500 per army.

7) Special / Named characters may be used, but if they are a casualty in one game, they are not allowed to be part of the army build for that armies next battle.  Ex: I take Eldrad as an eldar player, and he dies in a fight against Fabby.  I would not be able to use Eldrad in my next campaign battle, but I could in the following one.

How do these sound?  Do you guys like them?  further suggestions?  My goal is to keep it very simple.

That is all for now...I'll be sending invites to this campaign / blog.  I'm looking for an online mapping tool to display the current map of the planet.