Hello guys we all know that 'in the grim darkness of the future there is only war' but politics, in my opinion, have to play a large part in 40 k games. Because it is not a dictatorship ruled by an absolute dictator but a council of rulers which came from many different organizations that dont truly trust (even sometimes feud) with each other. So my question is how much politics do you use in your games? ( some stories are mos welcome )

In one of my games, a planetary system (which contains 4 civilized worlds) ruled by a single Imperial Governor. But in these planets there were multiple countries (some are major, some are minor) and there always have been conflict between these countries. One of these countries' president (wont bother you with names) called a private meeting with an Administratum Master whose duty was the determination of the Imperial Tithes and Classifications of the planets (for 6 generations his familiy was responsible with this duty). Ambitious president wanted to overthrow the Governor and become Governor by himself. And because of this systems nature that can only be achieved in case of a war. He wanted that Administratum Master to ignore or delay the help requests that would be given by the Governor. And of course because of the war that will be fought, the classification of the Civilized Worlds will be reduced and their Tithes will reduce accordingly. In return that president offered %10 percent of the uranium that are mined here ( planet had some rich veins of uranium) will go directly to the Administratum Master.( because of the Tithe reduce, there will be plenty of uranium that can be sold to Chartist Captains and it will be very profitable) Administratum Master accepted this offer. And soon a Great War has occured in this system. Governor has called for help, but no one responded. Administratum Master stated that it was an inner conflict and a retribution strike would be risky and unnecessary to sectoral authorities. But the given order that not to respond to this matter never reached to a nearby Imperial Guard regiment that has been stationed near the system. So they heard the help call and sent many troops to this war to help the Governor. At the end this Great War turned to a Nuclear War ( because of the arrival of IG, the other countries wanted to wipe them out quickly) and ravaged entire system… This event almost destroyed all civilization in this system… Sorry for my bad english tried to do my best!

So far I haven't done much politics in my game but I'm sure it will come.

Not much politics either, unless you count an upcoming mission I'm planning for my friends to Malfi, which will involve siding with an Isstvanist faction to trigger a massive war on Malfi destroying heretics and corrupt rulers.

CapitolImperialis said:

Maybe that's just me but that sounds more like a Recognitor (spelling?) at work than an Istvaanian.

In Rogue Trader and Ascension I use political maneuvering fairly heavily. For characters in (normal) DH; Politics are something Acolytes gripe about (But not too loudly!)

Gurkhal said:

I probably should have clarified this more - the war that will be triggered on Malfi will spread throughout the sector; my campaign takes place in a version of the Calixis sector that is threatened by heretical uprisings and xenos invasions. Sicne Malfi is a hotbed of corruption and heresy, it makes a good starting point to trigger an inter-sector war that will burn the sector, cleaning out the unclean and the alien (and hopefully leaving only the Imperium still in power).

CapitolImperialis said:

Alright that cleared it up a bit.