Open Campaign Rules
Open Campaign Rules
An open campaign requires a games master to adjudicate the results of various decisions
the players make, and to decide what scenarios will best determine the outcomes of their
actions. The players should be encouraged to think creatively when devising their
strategies. The GM may also rule a players intended actions as outside the scope of
possibility, or beyond the knowledge that the characters they represent would possess (for
instance reinforcing a world before its astropaths call for assistance).
The GM is the only one who has all the information given about the campaign – each of
the players must make decisions based on their own faction specific knowledge.
The following general rules apply to all factions, however each individual faction also
has specific rules that may apply.
The Sector
The campaign is waged over an entire sector. A map of the sector marking habitable
planets and stable warp routes should be drawn up, and a separate map should be given to
each of the players containing faction specific knowledge.
The standard unit of time on the Sector scale is 1 month, and it takes a single month for a
starship to reach a suitable position for a warp jump and progress through a stable warp
route to a linked planet. The same route would take 2 months without a Navigator.
Having arrived at a planet it takes 1 week for a starship to approach within system, and
their arrival will have been noticed by any Navigators or Astropaths within the system
(note – only the number of arrivals is noticed, not the size of ships or allegiance unless
broadcast astropathically)
The system
A general description of the star system should be drawn up (for use with naval
engagements), and a map of the habitable planets should be created and a copy given to
each faction present detailing any troop dispositions and resources they have access to.
Engagements and actions within a system fall under the jurisdiction of the GM.
Imperial Guard
Each Imperial controlled Plannet contributes an initial 5 regiments to the Guard, and the
Guard player should make a note of their disposition.
Each game year, a planet that is unoccupied by enemy forces (at the GMs discretion) may
raise another Regiment. A maximum of 6 Regiments may be supported per imperial
controlled world.
An Agri world is needed to support every two Forge or Hive worlds, and two Hive
worlds are needed to support every Forge world. An unsupported world cannot raise
regiments.
It takes a full week to land a single Regiment of Imperial Guard (or 4 Regiments with a
spaceport) during which time the landing zones will need to be secured.
Casualties are most likely fatal (perhaps 5/6), however positions that are not unique (such
as astropaths/primaries psykers etc) can be replaced with field promotions.
Each Feral/death world regiment raised has a 1/6 chance of containing a psyker Battle
squad. Each regiment that contains a psyker squad has a 1/6 chance of a primaries psyker
instead.
Imperial Navy
Each imperial controlled planet has a small compliment (1D6?) of patrol craft for system
defense.
Instead of raising a Guard regiment, a Forge world may begin building a starship. Once
production has begun, it takes 1 month plus 1 month per hit point (in battlefleet Gothic)
to build the ship.
The navy can support a maximum of X hitpoints worth of ships per Hive or Imperial
world. Unsupported ships are treated as crippled.
Space Marines
A Strike cruiser can contain a company of Marines. An Escort vessel usually contains a
single squad of Marines.
Space Marines are heavily protected by their armour, and regenerate/recuperate easily.
Many of their casualties in battle should be capable of recovering given time (probably a
month, with 1/3 fatalities at most)
Tyranids
Each Hive Ship contains the equivalent of 10 regiments worth of Tyranid creatures as
well as a number of support vessels.
Travel between the closest star systems takes place through real space rather than the
warp and takes 6 months. Environmental effects will be felt within the last 3 months, and
warp travel will become impossible during the final month. Advance scouting organisms
(probably a regiments worth) will begin landing during the fleets final week of approach,
after which the temperamental remnants of Astropathic communication will be cut off.
A Plannet which is devoured will replenish a full Hive ships worth of Creatures (10
regiments worth) and support craft as well as healing any damage the hiveships are
suffering. Alternatively, the planets resources may be used to build another Hive Ship.
A Plannet which is infested with surviving Tyranid organisms will create a regiments
worth of organisms over the course of a year.
Eldar
Mark on the Sector map the location of any gates capable of allowing Starships to pass
through, and any systems containing inter-planetary gates.
Mark the locations of Inter-Planetary, Mechanised, and Infantry gates on system and
Planetary maps.
It takes a month to create an Infantry gate, 3 months to create a mechanised gate, and a
year to create a planetary gate.
Travel via the webway is effectively instantaneous through in-system gates, and takes a
month through inter-planetary gates. Inter-planetary gate travel via starship takes only a
week.
Eldar medical technology is highly advanced, and they regenerate well. Fatalities should
be minimal (about 1/3)
Chaos Daemons
Each month there is a 1/6 chance that daemons will be able to open a brief incursion
somewhere, consisting of the equivalent of a single company.
Daemons sustained by a rift can travel at will within tainted ground, and can manifest
brief periods beyond the tainted ground (although they automatically become casualties
having done so)
b) Building a warp portal – this takes 1 month to create a minor portal, or a year to create
a major portal.
Chaos Space Marines navigate through sorcery and demoncraft, so all ships containing
them are capable of navigating the warp.
Chaos Space Marines can create warp rifts, build warp portals, and create tainted ground.