Imperialis Armada - The Void of Void


Here on the blog it is our intention to, at some point, be able to play a campaign system which incorporates models of different scales all having an impact on each other - in order to really capture the epic nature of the Imperium at war.

To that end we are forging ahead with writing rule sets for gaps in the current scale shift ranges - one of these key areas is games representing void war.

The most common Warhammer 40000 void war themed game has to be Battlefleet Gothic. Now whilst the game hasn't been officially supported by Games Workshop for some 20 years there is a huge group of gamers out there who have kept the game alive through continuing to play outside of the continuous supply of new models and rules updates. Like the Horus Heresy it certainly isn't a 'dead' game system. This does mean that there is still a healthy supply of ships and other models out there, with some 3rd parties making models that are also suitable for use in the original rule set.

I love the BFG models and as an added bonus the ships (in the most part) used in the game are also era friendly for the Great Crusade & Horus Heresy. If anyone remembers the Eldar Corsair ships, the Kroot Sphere and the Demiurg ships you'll already be preempting where we'd like to take this.

As part of my work with the Enemies of the Emperor expansion for Age of Darkness I will be writing a campaign system which includes a small element of void warfare as part of the mechanic. I'd like to expand this out into a playable table top game that incorporates all of the 'goodness' out there into one handy resource.

For the most part I see the best format would be in a small scale skirmish game with a fleet of say around 6 or so models - ranging from gigantic ships (possibly the Gloriana classes) to the smaller transports and monitor ships which play vital roles in both Explorator Fleets, the Expeditionary fleets of the Imperium and later the full might of a Legion fleet.

I'm very keen to include scenario elements which play out a narrative with interactive environments that have an impact on how a mission plays out.

I have some initial ideas - enough to hash out a little play testing with my fellow UB4H'ers and hopefully then we can begin to share the direction that the rule set may take.

Do you have any ideas? any burning things that you feel 'must' be included in a void warfare game set in the Golden Age and the Age of Darkness? if so drop a comment below.   

In space nobody stops for ice-cream.
KF

Comments

  1. The BFG rules are pretty good already, the most important part for a integrated campaign would be the ways the fleet games interact with the other scales. Any transports or other large ships being lost would lead to less troops/points being available for the battles on the targeted world, Bombarding the world from orbit (I suppose as a option after having won a void engagement above the planet?) could likewise reduce the defenders' available points, but also destroy infrastructure that would be beneficial to capture. In the end it depends on how many battles you envision for each planet, as I doubt you could really generate much impact from the above if there's only a couple of battles before a planet is won or lost.

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    1. Thanks for the feedback - yes we would definitely want to have that kind of interplay between systems where the macro system has a direct influence on the micro system. In terms of what level of interplay we can have that will be laid out in the campaign book I’m currently writing titled - Compliance, which will be both a campaign system which auto corrects for missed games but will also be playable as a board game too.

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  2. The last official support for BFG was in 2010 (the BFG FAQ 2010 was official, and is still used in 'official' tournaments), so, ten years ago. I seem to recall that Warp Rift contained ways to cross your BFG and 40k games over, as well as Epic had rules for orbital bombardment by starships.

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  3. So... "New Fan" here...

    The Great Crusade book had the benefit of "re-imagining" some of the races. An example would be the Eldar Exodites whom have a different playstyle and emphasis compared to their AUS30K counterparts. "Simpsons Did-It" is not an acceptable reason to not revisit it.

    The chaos fleet in the original BFG rulebook uses a very different playstyle- and from a gaming prospective you could investigate that further (and its extremes) and get some really interesting outcomes. Even reducing the number of hulls aviable and offering options on their layout could make for dynamic and varied gameplay. Imagine a murder with the option to "upgrade" to an armored prow, torpedoes or dedicated forward lance arrays (whom appear to be more commonplace in the lore).

    With regards to integrating BFG with campaign play, I think the greatest missed opportunity comes in the form of the older Battlefleet Gothic Invasion booklet. It covered linking pre-zone mortalis, traditional 40k and BFG scenarios and the way they linked (although primitive by todays standards) was a delight.

    The point I would be making- You don't need a massive campaign to tie the two together. The hobby elements and charm of just playing a 2x2 300pt zone mortalis game with an interlinked BFG scenario is enough to capture the imagination.

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