Just kicking around an idea for a starting campaign - looking for some suggestions/improvements etc!

Overview:

Story starts with 'the planetary civil war before joining the Guard' - the PCs will be part of a second rate/reserve type WARPAC unit, armed with autoguns and other solid shot weapons, fighting against a tech advanced (and supported by Tau) 'Capitalist aggressors' in a recently started WWIII - (maybe even with nukes/chem warfare.)

I picked this as I can use various WW2 and Cold war tropes/other movie plotlines (Stalingrad, Enemy at the gates, Cross of iron, even starship troopers), but from the 'other side' - the main driver is that the initial opposition will be effectively equivalent humans, but with the opportunity to ramp them up with first las weapons, and then actual xenos (so thinking gue'vesa.)

This lets them start off as 'you all arrive in your civilian clothing on the troop train from XX, where a patriotic broadcast announces that you are all brave heroes of the 2278th Workers battalion, and the motherland is proud of your heroic sacrifice against the fascist aggressors.....

The campaign will end with the arrival of Imperial forces to remove the Tau, and then the drafting of the by-now 'elite' unit into the guard - this will allow an equipment/gear refresh and start of a new campaign. So - any suggestions?

sounds like a nice idea
be sure to haress them with clerics when they finally join the imperial flock

Followed closely by clerks making sure they're up to the Departmento Munitorum's standards!

Including any surviving Comrades getting dragged away by the Commissariat for 'Thought violations'.

I really like the campaign plot, might steal part of it. Not sure I would call it a "planetary civil war" though, as that would make WW2 one as well.

If you're going for the "motherland" thing however, you gotta have the Iron Guard come and save them, and have it turned out their planet used to be part of their system a few thousand years ago before they lost contact in a Warp storm.

My group are en route to a planet that was at first thought to be under some sort of xenon attack, but are about to find themselves facing humans (secessionist) with some de raiding thrown in.

I'm aiming for an enemy at the gates feel, but the latter part of the film.

Looks like e kinda game I'd love to play though mate

That's all for feedback - v useful! In response to a few comments, and to clarify (without making this too close to Real Life) - my thinking is that in the 41st Mill - a World War (as we've experienced) would only be considered a 'civil war' by the rest of the galaxy - after all it's one planet's internal disagreement - that's not to suggest that our World Wars weren't horrific, or that civil wars are at all 'civil' - but it does lead to some unfortunate ideas on how genocide in the future is viewed...

Also - in my own head I'd had the planet as a functional part of the Imperium, rather than a 'lost world' - but one bit of 'lore' I am struggling to get details on is how planets are actually governed! We all know that there is a nominal Planetary Governor who has a mandate from the Administratum - but what are the tiers of government below that? - ie as in my planned campaign - do separate countries/power blocs actually exist? All the examples I've read of Guard units seem to reference Homeworld rather than home country - all Valhallans are from Valhalla, all Cadians are from Cadia - not Valhallan New New Zealanders or Cadian New Antarctians for example - is this poor writing, or are planets all 'one country' in the future - not even a north/south divide or regional accent to distinguish them!

There's a Gaunt Ghost's novel were all the action occurs in a war between the two main hive-cities (countries?) of a planet.

In the Imperial records maybe all the planet counts as a single administrative unit with a single Governor and such, but the point of view will be different when you think about the inhabitants of that planet: they will recognise the differences between several "countries", "cities", regions of the planet, and so on.

Each part of the planet may focus in a different comercial activity (*), have it's own PDFs with it's distinctive uniform and equipment, they may be governed by a different highborn family and so on.

There must be a capital city, though, and a main starport (unless the planet is big and important enough to have more than one starport...).

Also, if it fits your campaign, the planet moons and orbital stations, if they are inhabited at all, may count as independent "countries" or "factions" that can also be interesting to throw in the war...

(*) I suggest you that you design a planet with a main interest for the Imperium that can have minor variations depending on the country or region that you focus in. So, for example, if a planet is important because it has a high animal fertility rate and big plain surfaces to feed and exploit cattle, you can have variations in the type of farming that is done in every region: colder regions can specialize in fish, furs and leathers; tropical regions can specialize in big reptiles (DINOSAURS!!!) and stuff like that.

but one bit of 'lore' I am struggling to get details on is how planets are actually governed! We all know that there is a nominal Planetary Governor who has a mandate from the Administratum - but what are the tiers of government below that? - ie as in my planned campaign - do separate countries/power blocs actually exist? All the examples I've read of Guard units seem to reference Homeworld rather than home country - all Valhallans are from Valhalla, all Cadians are from Cadia - not Valhallan New New Zealanders or Cadian New Antarctians for example - is this poor writing, or are planets all 'one country' in the future - not even a north/south divide or regional accent to distinguish them!

I believe this is chiefly due to the old sci-fi cliché of "1 planet = 1 nation". That being said, the way the Imperium works (or at least how I read about it in Codex fluff) does promote this way of running things, too, as the Adeptus Terra wants to deal with only a single representative (or body of representatives) able to speak for their entire world, in order to have it easier organising things such as tithe responsibilities. This is why the Emperor, or rather the High Lords of Terra in their role as His representatives, sanction only a single Governor per planet.

Also, +1 for the WW2 movie references. To me, it's a great way to drive home the bleak situation of perpetual war, and I've tried to insert the same kind of feeling/style into my Valhallan's background .

Good points all - my aim is to make it as 'realistic' as possible (in a world of swords being a practical combat choice) - so I planned to model the world on our Earth as much as possible - so the Imperial Governor (maybe based on the moon?) would run essentially a 'UN', with the US/Western Europe being one power bloc, and a 'Soviet' Russia being the other (lets me keep Africa as a third front if it works.) That way the two factions can fight, while still being an Imperial world - so the next question would be - what would be the prime resources that two such factions could provide (and would prove a lure to Xenos/Tau), that would be sufficient for the Imperium to maintain the status quo?

Based on real world history - the US/western powers as a 'breadbasket' - what about the Soviet side - manpower as an exportable resource? (maybe based on current affairs - promethium?)

As a next question - does anyone know what weapons are considered forbidden/lost by the Admech? Virus bombs and Exterminatus weapons to wipe out worlds are used - but what about battlefield nukes or chemical weapons? Real world WW3 would have involved plenty of both being used - but in 40k we seem to do the sci-fi trope of leaping from hand held firearms and light arty (based on the given range stats) to - 'glass the planet' without any intermediate steps - or are there weapons I'm missing?

To me, it's a great way to drive home the bleak situation of perpetual war, and I've tried to insert the same kind of feeling/style into my Valhallan's background .

Love your wiki BTW - exactly the vibe I'm after.

Perhaps you could look at a sort of " 1984 " style world for inspiration. With all the manipulation and propaganda going on there it should fit into the grim atmosphere of 40k nicely.

The resources could probably be anything you'd like, although the Tau would likely be interested in materials more than humans. And maybe this Envoy from GW's Inquisitor RPG helps a bit to flesh out the interaction between the Tau Empire and this collaborating faction of yours?

As for weapons, there's definitively something between artillery and Exterminatus, at least when I'm looking at GW's material. It just so happens that it rarely shows up as it's not exactly vital to the core game ... however, Inquisitors in the 3E WH Codex were able to call in orbital bombardment as a tactical weapon and have a ship in orbit attack a designated target with a Lance strike. Since orbital bombardment can also be used to trigger Exterminatus (by cracking a planet's crust), I would imagine that there are different levels of intensity such an attack could utilize.

Further weapons that spring to mind are Deathstrike Missiles, which (as per the 5E Codex IG) are intercontinental with a range of several thousand kilometers. Their variable payload can deliver warheads ranging from biological agents to titan-killers up to the dreaded vortex warhead which, upon detonation, creates a sort of artificial black hole. Vortex warheads have become increasingly rare as their creation dates back to the Dark Age of Technology, and due to their destructive potential they are only unleashed in "the most apocalyptic battles". Launch codes have to be authorised by Segmentum Command itself.

The most common payload of a Deathstrike is a plasma warhead, which "engulfs everything in the blast in a raging fireball that vaporises flesh in an instant. There is no escape from the cataclysmic explosion as everything, even buildings, are torn apart. So armed, a Deathstrike Missile Launcher has the capability of annihilating entire armies."

(source: 5th edition Codex: Imperial Guard)

Manticore/Deathstrike Launch Platform:

http://www.games-workshop.com/gws/catalog/productDetail.jsp?prodId=prod770022a

Apocalypse Datasheet for the Vortex missile:

http://www.games-workshop.com/MEDIA_CustomProductCatalog/m1230511a_NEW!_Imperial_Guard_Datasheet_-_Deathstrike_Vortex_Missile

PS: thankyou!

there are nukes and such, just look at the Planet Krieg and you get the meaning of a truly horrifying WW3 possibility

as far as i recall almost every imperial planet is ruled by one governor but how he runs things i absolutly up to him.

imagine the imperium taking the planet you play on and installing a superpower with advanced weapons and leaves again only to collect tithes every now and then. if the governor enjoys it why not leave the rest of his world in a feudal state so be it, if he thinks that war strengthens his subjects so be it. in an endless universe there has got to be almost every single possibility and WH40k inlustrates this pretty good.

p.s. a fun way to bring the tau to your world would actually be rare earth elements, according to the new tau codex they use highly radioactive stuff in their weapons. these could either be of no use to the empire since promethium is the primary fuel or also a ingridient for quite powerful weapons ala nukes

Good suggestions - I'd been thinking about this some more, and think that your suggestion works well - the 'Western Europe" (needs a better name)/NATO faction have access to these rare minerals, as well as provide food for offworld export - the minerals not being of use to the Imperium, but are to the Tau. The Warsaw Pact forces are technologically behind, but produce one item on a massive scale that the Imperium finds of great value - the AK2074 autogun, an STC pattern from before the Dark era of Technology, used to equip PDF forces throughout the sector (as well as the PCs at start.)

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