So i was thinking about starting a tank based campaing since i have one group playing commandos i want to try something different with another group. I read a few topics about that but i just don't have idea what that kind of campaing should have. I mean for most of regiments it's easy to make some adventures like presented in core rulebook or gm kit and they really fit with commando types and infantry. But what players can do in tank regiment beside being part of major offensive and vehicle combat? Need some ideas for a general story or mission types.

Tanks are win alls in combat, or at least viewed as such. They are looked up to by infantry because they ignore small arms and have big guns. I would treat tanks thusly:

For planetfall/big battles give them orders to cover a large area of the trench by themselves (edit: no other tanks but maybe a handful of fleshy fleshy infantry). This means they are called to different sides of the area more often than a field medic which keeps the action fast paced. This also makes the PCs the biggest target in the immediate area which can keep a tech priest busy.

Then they are sent out to push the front line and gain strategic points. This should be a blue milk run, until they run into mines and ambushes and can't expect reinforcements until tomorrow when the infantry roll in to hold the objectives they've taken.

Don't forget that riding around helping all those infantry man realy eats thru the fuel, and there is no refueling in the middle of battle. They finaly took the objective, but now they have to hold it, no reinforcements in two or more days and the tanks are starting to scrape the bottom of theire fuel tanks and ammunitions, now every shot counts. Oh wait, didn't you tell them that the enemy will want to take that point back, preferably at night - did they remember to install search lights?

Another idea is after a big offensive that didn't go so well, they get stuck far behind enemy lines, now try to get some supplies and get back to your positions, and preferably do it unnoticed... in tanks.

So i was thinking about starting a tank based campaing since i have one group playing commandos i want to try something different with another group. I read a few topics about that but i just don't have idea what that kind of campaing should have...

Yeah, I was wrestling with this a while ago, and started this thread to debate the specifics of a tank-based campaign.

As far as non-standard missions go, the only thing I'm coming up with at the moment is from the movie The Beast : the tank gets separated from its column and becomes lost in enemy territory, where technologically inferior but numerically superior enemies try to destroy the tank before it can escape.

Of course, in almost any discussion about tank-based campaigns, I run into elements that require House Rules; in this case, fuel range would be an important consideration- and that's an element that is inexplicably missing from all WH40KRP vehicle rules...

There's also the fun of a commanding officer (not from your regiment but who is in charge of overall deployment wherever your regiment/squad happens to end up) not really understanding how to utilize armor. An idea I have thought of using if my players want to do an armored campaign is to crib from some Harry Turtledove stuff using an alternate world war two. The problem there is that a colonel, who is a genius at armored tactics, has to keep correcting other commanders that try to use the tanks as infantry support. Essentially treating them like shields instead of weapons.

In OW that can be used a few different ways, theres the generally ignorant leader who views the tanks like a big wall of iron that could help defend advancing columns or treating them like rolling artillery pieces that can better defend themselves at a trenchline, which will bring all kinds of enemy attention to said armored vehicles and also likely get them yelled at when they try to use appropriate tactics. Then there's the even more fun leaders that view armored troops as glory boys, essentially that they aren't 'true' guardsmen the way the general ground pounders are since they have it easy and safe (in comparison at least), so giving them near suicidal missions with the argument that they need to actually work to earn their glory like the rest of the guardsmen.

Make it as awsome as this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Csv1wXOr5tY

Clint Eastwood coolness factor aside: there is something to be said for a trio of Leman-Russ tanks behind enemy lines, maybe desperatly trying to fullfill their mission, trying to get back in one piece, or do some little clandestine operation of their own.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nC4lVoCFZvk

Go see Fury hoppfully that will give you som inspiration

There is also a great set of graphic novels by Dan Abnett called "Titan." Obviously this is not centered around a small vehicle but it still has lots of good ideas if you scale them down to a leman russ, great fodder for giving you the idea of what it's like to have a crew in a death machine.

They go up against a lot of other big things and help (or attempt to help) the infantry columns.

Baneblade by Guy Haley is about the crew of a baneblade (natch) but also features plenty of Leman russ and titan action!

remember Shield of humanity has rules for superheavy tank regiment, if the players want to drive something bigger.

Make the crew dismount to fight on foot regularly. Yeah, on the open battlefield they have 15 inches of armor between them and every big bad in the galaxy. But the tank can't climb four flights of stairs to retrieve the wounded Lieutenant and the critical intelligence he's holding.

Oh, and did I mention he's moved to the fifth floor because three squads of Elite enemies in the building searching for him? And the vital intelligence is in his mind, so the tank crew has to make a Medicae test to keep him conscious long enough to pass it on to them?

Flesh out the tank company, as well. Give other tanks the crew will be interacting with Callsigns. Don't need to fill in whole back stories for everyone, just enough to give them flavor when the players interact ("Thunderfoot" commanded by the incompetent Ashleigh, Willem the one-eyed Gunner, and driven by Mickey who's colorblind and can't read his sensors very well).

For enemies to fight while mounted, Xenos enemies should all have Lance or Melta weapons. Always. Traitor/Rebel forces always have Krak missiles or better tanks (either faster, more armor, or more powerful ordinance). Chaos vehicles- Defilers and Hellbrutes with heavy melee weapons. Defiler claws in close from the side turn a Leman Russ into a Sardine can.

Finally, the biggest concern of players in my game is that if the tank blows up, they ALL blow up. Everyone has to reroll. You can mitigate this by giving the players a second tank to command in certain battles. They can crew it with their reserve characters and even interact to get their new stories straight.

I have a party of six players and they are rolling with three leman russ battle tanks. I just need to make scenarios that are appropriate for them.

I have attached them to an infantry company to provide support in a defense engagement.

The one they liked the most is when I had them each make a character for a drop troop regiment and they played the assault and hold on an outpost behind enemy lines. While their main armor regiment characters got to lead the relief force.

Hmm, this could wrap up with a Chaos force that has, among things, a Shadowsword. Once your party is really cool, and quite proficient at using the advantages of their tanks to decimate the foes, having one superheavy enemy, specifically armed to bust tanks, could really keep it interesting. Of course, also be sure to give the Shadowsword its typical escorting footsloggers, and maybe some vwhicles; no one's driving the Baneblade-turned-tank hunter around without backup, I hope.

Well there are multiple roles they could be performing.

1. Infantry support, while not done much in modern warefare here it still seems to be something regularly done in the 40k universe where a single tank gets pulled from an armoured unit to support a company or so of infantry, now there are a few interesting things you could do with this:

1a. Supporting a push, your tank is supporting these infantry as they push up on their objective, maybe they have had some problems with enemy emplaced weapons and they need you to clear them out or maybe its just general support. Imagine you advancing and take out a few machine gun nests then bam a enemy SPG turns up and makes life interesting.

1b. Helping hold the line, your tank and maybe a few others have been sent forward to an infantry regiment to act as rapid reaction fire support to help plug holes and brace buckling portions of the line. Imagine a long night where your tank is being rushed from place to place to help hold back the tide, maybe including a retreat where you have to make the decision to hold off the enemy to save the infnatry or to run as fast as they can to save themselves, maybe conflicting orders from your regiment and the regiment that you are attached to.

2. An armoured push, where your tanks are hammering into an enemy line to break through it for the infantry to follow up, fairly simple just smash into the enemy and hope you don't hit anything that will slow you down or stop your advance.

3. Deep penetrration, where you and maybe some mechanized infantry are hammered through the enemy lines to either range deeply in the enemy lines and cause havoc while the infantry assault frontally (think plan 1919) or to capture significant objectives and cut off the enemy encircleing them for the infantry to mop up (think blitzkreig and russian actions during the 2nd world war).

4. Blunting an enemy attack, where the enemy armour is trying to break through your lines and you are trying to stop them basically imagine the two armoured formations slamming into each other in a whirlwind of destruction.

5. Bulking up a convoy through dangerous terrain, that fuel has to get through that mountain range or desert or forest and they have requested some armoured support to get it through... well good luck getting ambushed over and over again.

It sort of feels more like a video game, where things are a bit more dependable, and you know what is possible, even expected, and it's expected as being possible, even mandatory, but it could be cool to be part of the infantry bubble wrap that often gets 40k tanks where they need to get without being lovingly caressed by a melta bomb, and have the tank be a demolisher. The IG forces need to enter a base, and only the demolisher cannon is strong enough to pierce the walls, but if it went alone, emplaced lascannons, a-holes with krak missile launchers, and howling jerks reminiscent of that one Legolas-proof Uruk-hai, but carrying a melta bomb, instead of a sparkler torch would make even your Tech-Priest not want to see that Demolisher again. Thus, it's your job to guard it, be extra firepower, and once the Demolisher is close enough, and has punched through the walls, you rush the base, and do your thing.