Question both to the beta players and people eagerly awaiting the release of Only War: where will your campaign in the service of His Divine Majesty´s Imperial Guard take place? And who will be your fellow Guardsman pitted against? Are you waiting for the fluff of Spinward Front, or will will you show those pesky Astartes how Achillus Crusade should be won? Will your enemies be iconic green-hordes and armies of Chaos, or will you be shooting some secessionists and obscure yet horific xeno horrors?

With help of OWBeta I am already preparing a story arc, named Failed Crusade, which will deal with attempts to resurect the Margins Crusade, in face of Blood Pact/Stigmartus stylisied Chaos force, unpredictable void clans (inclóuding Meritech Remmant and Chaos Reavers), some rebels, Slaught and there might be Rak´gol and Yu´vath coming. Good luck, Hammer of the Emperor.

I suppose the type of world depends on the regiment the players create, it makes some sense to cater to their choices, for example if they want to play Catachan's it probably means they want to trek through jungles hunting Gooks. I probably will get OW when it comes out but haven't though lots on the subject. That said I quite like the idea of running a campaign with the players on the losing side, like fighting on the Eastern Front from the Germans point of view post Stalingrad (or the Russians before Stalingrad). There are lots of ways they can 'succeed' yet still be involved in a losing battle, such as fighting in a rear guard action, evacuating civilians and rear echelon units, demolishing bridges as enemy tanks try to cross, enforce a scorched earth policy denying resources whilst the enemy races to stop them and in general fighting to simply slow down the enemy. I think in a campaign like that knowing when to hold your ground and when to retreat would be the real skill for players, leave to early and the enemies success is even more crushing, leave to late and you risk being Blitzkrieged

I'd also be interested in getting an Armoured Company going (Leman Russ' or maybe just Sentinels), but I've no idea if the OW core rules are covering that sort of thing. I'd be pleasantly surprised if they were.

DW

I'm not entirely sure about the fine points but my players will have to fight human -ish enemies. So no Orks, no Tyranids and other inhuman enemies.

Most likely they'll face traitor guardsman or something along those lines combined with some other threat like daemons, raiding dark eldar, a few chaos space marines or other 'elite' threats.

Similarely the planet they'll fight on will be some sort of developed / developing world with maybe a single hive thrown in for good measure and some industrial sites as well as a few areas where the planet is still a frontier.

DarkWinds said:

The Campaign idea i am toying with my mind right now is a line infantry regiment pulling garrison duty on a Hive by request from the PDF (the arbitors failed months ago, picture the start of the judge dread movie) that has been increasingly unable to deal with under hive riots/verging on open rebellion, this of course leads to an open rebellion if the squad cannot stop it through their actions in the lead up.

The way I am thinking of getting it started now is while they are en-route to the patrol kick off point when their transport suffers sudden mechanical failure and lands with excess force into a part of the under hive that has been basically written off. the residents are still Imperial friendly, but order is run by the gangs and scummer kingpins, the squad (looking at 2-7 players) must sneak/fight/bribe their way out and back to friendly lines

(during this time clues as to the reason behind the riots will be around for them to discover , and if they choose to do so, go running deeper into the hive to deal with it, or return to HQ with the info to resupply, if they do not find it HQ will get the info through other means, GM fiat!)

regardless of how they get the info, they will be tasked as a covert assault team to go in and eliminate the cause, if they fail the hive descends into open rebellion and street fighting (they end up in the thick of the heaviest fighting for their failure) if they are successful in stopping the rebellion, the campaign takes a break as they get shuffled off to the next zone of conflict, OR if the group prefers an Inquisitor takes notice of the squads success and takes them on as Acolytes and the campaign segues off into a DH game.

*edit for clarity*

My group is dead an school just started back up, so my very few gaming sessions are run as one-shots.

I enjoy throwing them into the civil war on my personal world of Avernus. It gives you secessionists, a traitor Astartes warband, and a fleet of Chaos Reavers against the Avernus 'Avengers' 48th Light Recon, along with Cadians, Kriegers, and an Imperial Navy fighter wing. It's been great fun thusfar; the whole thing has been very cinematic, with Tauros races across the salt flats and Valkyries narrowly dodging friendly artillery in a crumbling hive. The various baddies cover a nice variety, too.

I feel you, Plushy. Work and school has killed my group, but we'll be back up during the next break, and I've got a hell of a plan for them.

I decided to revisit a Dark Heresy world we worked with for our last campaign. A little more fleshed out on a grander scale and set up for terrible things. In their campaign they failed to end the machinations of a maniacal Planetary Governor and his cabal of hereteks. They used scavenged tech from a Space Hulk to recreate what they think were the schematics to a Titan Factory. Hoping to gain independence from the Empire, the Governor has now declared sovereignty over the planet, which has exploded into a giant warzone.

Since we're not revisiting Dark Heresy (though it was fun), we'll continue the story through some of the planet's citizens: a militia brigade. I drew heavy inspiration from the Byzantine Empire when designing the social and political constructs of this world, so the Planetary Governor hardly has control over his lesser leaders, who are all either vying for control of the fight or serving the head of the PDF loyally (who is actually not the Planetary Governor, but his Lieutenant). To prevent the players from fighting for the Governor (they're known to make decisions like that from time to time), I'm throwing a mutated traitor at them in the first session. It will serve as a warning to them that greater, far more cruel powers are looking at this as an opportunity.

I'm excited to see them maneuver around with limited contact, limited leadership, vague orders and all the difficulties of being separated from the main force for a few sessions before the cavalry rolls in (a few months later in the form of a contingent of the Imperial Navy) and tries to bring in some big guns and organization to the mess. I'm going to try to move them to a mobile special ops squad after that, so they can plan missions together and use Valkyrie to drop them into locations and help steer the progress of the war in their favor.

I just hope they're as into the setting and gameplay as I have been reading through the BETA.

If I get the opportunity, I will set a campaign during the first siege of Vaxanide in the Calixis Sector. It is a fight against insurmountable odds and I think it could be a cool setting and conflict to explore.

To create some kind of variation, it will not just be Imperial Guard vs. Orks. They will have to deal with declining morale and civilians of various kind when on furlough. I am very much inspired by Band of Brothers and The Pacific.

I would start with a small prolog that would feature the crew aboard a system monitor and their experiences during the opening moments of the siege (and return to them if they manage to survive - using the Rogue Trader rules). Later might also feature a brief Deathwatch fun…

I doubt it will happen however and I also got that Imperial Navy Meritech Wars game I would like to run… (Right now it is going to be Star Wars: Edge of the Empire beta (arriving tomorrow - woohoo - I hope) and Changeling: the Lost).

I have a small number of named regiments floating about in my Dark Heresy/Deathwatch crossover game:

Pathine 47th Airborne Infantry (think 'Double Eagle', by Dan Abnett)

Horan 13th Heavy Assault Infantry (from an ice world, a little heavier than grenadiers, a little lighter than Storm Troopers)

Balecaster 4th "Black Jacks" (spades) Vanguard Infantry (scouts), and the Balecaster 4th Armoured (predominantly Earthshakers, but there is a fair number of Chimeras and a few Leman Russ MBTs and variants, Trojan recovery vehicles, Salamanders, etc.)

Kephis Alta Outriders (think "Old West" Texas Rangers/US Marshals mounted on equine-esque beasts of burden)

I also have a home-grown Sororitas Order, so…Frateris Militia, anyone?

And the Maccebean Janissaries have creeped about in their cherub-like masks.

I've spent a lot of time fleshing out the Tyranid siege on Castobel (Orpheus Salient, Jericho Reach). Much of what I've imagined is complete fabrication to compliment the information already presented in the Deathwatch line of books, but the Players seem to enjoy the setting, and with some recent political developments removing Deathwatch assets from the planet, but a tangible morale-boosting (if small) victory for the IG regiments currently deployed on the planet, things may be looking up on the salient. All it needs is a fresh influx of eager Imperial Guardsmen…

I personally am still in the set up for a Death Korps campaign.

Under the command of a Mordian HQ in an army in the Jericho Reach (Salient unsure, probably no 'nid killing). The Commanding Officer doesn't really like the Korps and thus sets them for the hairiest assignments, the Krieg Commander did ask for it after all, on the flanks, on point or other relatively exposed and alone positions. High casualties, not that the Korpsmen care, but it is clear that the HQ doesn't like the Regiment though they are not trying to get them killed, they are damned effective after all.

I really want to run the length and breadth of the Siege of Vraks.

Plushy said:

Should be a nice solid game! Kinda wish I was in your group! haha

The Guardsmen are going to assault a Chaos-held space station or fortress with orders to cleanse it of any survivors, so the Imperium can take it back. When they get there, all the Chaos cultists are dead- because the Genestealers hiding on board got to them first.