Chapter for Initial Campaign

[Brother Tyler]

Okay, GW made some revisions to the Sin of Damnation campaign in creating 3rd edition, basically expanding upon the six missions that appeared in 1st/2nd edition with missions from elsewhere (Deathwing, missions published in White Dwarf/Space Hulk campaigns, and some new ones).

 

Part of my goal with this project is to feature a wide variety of Chapters for the campaigns/missions. While I've been considering merging the Spawn of Execration and Harbinger of Despair (and possibly the Sword of Halcyon) campaigns into a single larger campaign, I now realize that that is contrary to my goal of having many campaigns for many Chapters, so we're just going to revise a single campaign for the initial book.

 

What this means, naturally, is that I'll have to paint up miniatures in the appropriate colors. Ideally, I want to use a Chapter that has appropriate miniatures/bits. Now I have some campaigns in mind for a few specific Chapters, and those will come later. These include:

• Long War campaign - Space Wolves versus Red Corsairs
  
• Long War campaign - Imperial Fists versus Iron Warriors
  
• Long War campaign - Salamanders versus Astral Claws versus Executioners
  

So if I rule those Chapters out, we're down to a few Chapters with the appropriate bits:

• Dark Angels/Deathwing (and I have the nifty terminators from Dark Vengeance, so fleshing out their ranks will be easy)
  
• Black Templars
  
• Raptors/Mentors or other eagle/hawk head Chapter badge (my DIY Vengeance Hawks, for example)
  
• Ultramarines (though I really want to save them for a Battle for Macragge campaign)
  
• Crimson Fists
  
• Red Scorpions (the benefit here might be that we can use the Commander Culln mini and make this a mini-campaign set as part of the Anphelion Project)
  
• Minotaurs (though I'd prefer to save these guys for a Long War campaign set during the Badab War)
  

I have a bunch of Crimson Fist/Imperial Fists terminator shoulder pads, a bunch of Raptors terminator shoulder pads, and whatever Space Wolves/Black Templars terminator shoulder pads there are that come on their upgrade sprues (in the case of the Space Wolves, the older sprue, so probably not great for TDA).

 

Using a DIY Chapter would mean my DIY Chapter since that's pretty much all that I'm interested in (no offense to you guys and the great DIYs you've done). That seems a bit indulgent, though, so I'm not too keen on the idea. That's not going to stop me from building/painting some Vengeance Hawks TDA for Space Hulk/Zone Mortalis, mind you, but it seems a bit vain for me to use them in the initial mission book launch for the Indomitus project. I'm not completely opposed to the idea, but will only do it if that's what everyone else (or rather, the majority) really think I ought to do.

 

In my opinion, the best solutions would be the Crimson Fists or the Ultramarines. Both adhere to the Codex Astartes (which is good for the rules we're developing for the other characters). In the case of the Crimson Fists, I would set the campaign before Waaaagh!!! Snagrod. In the case of the Ultramarines, though, I'd want to re-write the campaign into a Battle for Macragge campaign (set in one of the polar defense fortresses, and part of a larger campaign). However, I'm going to defer to the members here since this is a B&C project and not just "mine."

 

And yes, we're sticking with the Indomitus pattern tactical dreadnought armour. I fully intend to paint up some Cataphracti and Tartaros as part of the Long War expansion, which will pit (Chaos) Space Marine terminators versus (Chaos) Space Marine terminators.

 

And as you may have inferred, some of these (mini-)campaigns/missions might actually fit into larger campaigns using different systems, such as Zone Mortalis, BFG, Wrath of Angels (when we get around to writing the power armoured version of the Space Hulk rules), etc.

 

Your choices in this poll are those that have appropriate minis/shoulder pads. I've excluded a few for which I have definite campaign/mission ideas for later (Astral Claws, Space Wolves, Salamanders). We will do those as later expansions, but not for the initial book. If I don't have the bits necessary, I'll buy them. The only work after that will be in revising the storyline of the campaign appropriately.

 

Note that the vote will stay open until it's time for me to start putting miniatures together. At that point in time, whichever option has at least 5 votes and at least 2 more votes than the next choice will be the winner. I really have no idea how long this will take other than to say that it will be while Stage 2 is in progress.

Edited October 21, 2012 by Brother Tyler
Added last "paragraph" giving criteria and timeline (such as it is) for a winner to be selected.

[Brother Tyler]

For the sake of those that might be wondering, as of this post the voting stands at:

• 1 for Black Templars
  
• 2 for Fists
  
• 2 for Deathwing
  

At least you guys are voting in a way that won't require me to buy (that much) new stuff.

 

+EDIT+

 

And to expand explanations a bit, I want to run through a complete cycle of Chapters for different missions/campaigns before creating multiple missions/campaigns for the same Chapter. So I don't want to create a second Space Wolves mission/campaign until we've created missions/campaigns for the rest of the major Chapters (and some minor Chapters). I'm talking about straight up Marines versus Genestealers Indomitus - the Long War series will be a different series and will be a completely different run.

 

So the Chapter the poll determines will get the first campaign, but won't get another one (or any missions) until we've finished off the other major Chapters. That won't prevent the Chapter from having a Long War mission/campaign (when we get to that part of the project). As I've said, the two antagonists in the first Long War campaign will be the Imperial Fists and Iron Warriors. We can still use the Imperial Fists in the first Indomitus campaign (if that's what you guys think we should do). Likewise, the Wrath of Angels series (power armour) will be completely different and won't affect the Indomitus campaigns/missions, and there will be a Long War component to Wrath of Angels, too. Eventually we'll be able to combine campaigns/missions from different rules sets into larger campaigns, so we might see a Long War campaign for both Indomitus (tactical dreadnought armour) and Wrath of Angels (power armour), possibly combined with standard WH40K, Battlefleet Gothic, Apocalypse, Epic, etc. into a big campaign (the Badab War, the Horus Heresy, and the Scouring come to mind :P ). But let's not get ahead of ourselves...

 

Now if anyone has any strong ideas for new campaigns/missions for any specific Chapters, take that into account when voting, especially if you'd like to start working on those campaigns/missions now. If you'd really like to see a unique new campaign pitting Space Wolves Wolf Guard Terminators against Genestealers, don't vote for them here because this poll is for converting the Spawn of Execration campaign from Blood Angels to someone else.

 

If all of this impacts anyone that has already voted, let me know so that I can reset the poll. I really should have made this clear on the front end. :)

Edited October 24, 2012 by Brother Tyler

[Brother Tyler]

Okay, I'm going to my local GW store this weekend. The standings of the poll will be finalized at that time and will dictate whether or not I have to buy anything (which in this case means only that I might have to buy some sort of Deathwing box since I have all of the parts I would need for other Chapters, or I would order appropriate parts from Forge World).

 

As the poll currently stands, it's looking like the Deathwing are in the lead.

[Brother Landrain]

One thing to note:

The FFG Card Game Death Angel is based off of Space Hulk.

It's first non-BA expansion army is Deathwing.

[Reyner]

I voted for Mentors - they would be awesome looking Terminators.

[Cornelias]

No option for Scythes Of The Emperor! Boooo :)

[Uaronain]

 You have the Black templar section blank brother, that is sad indeed.

 

I look forward to see how you plan to add the non-codex Black templars if we win :)

[Honda]

I look forward to see how you plan to add the non-codex Black templars if when we win

FIFY

[hart3856]

BT are in the lead now :)

[Brother Tyler]

I didn't make the trek to my local GW store this past weekend, but I'll be going this upcoming Saturday. Whatever the poll says before I head out the door will dictate my additional purchase(s). The Black Templars have established a firm, but not insurmountable, lead with the Dark Angels in a solid second place. Will the standings remain unchanged over the next couple of days?

[Phoros]

I ain't no Templar, but I'm a fellow son of Dorn, and those guys are pretty alright.

[Marshal Wilhelm]

I didn't make the trek to my local GW store this past weekend, but I'll be going this upcoming Saturday. Whatever the poll says before I head out the door will dictate my additional purchase(s). The Black Templars have established a firm, but not insurmountable, lead with the Dark Angels in a solid second place. Will the standings remain unchanged over the next couple of days?

Have we won yet? :P

[Brother Tyler]

The Black Templars are officially the winners of this little poll, so they will be the Chapter that we use to illustrate the expansion rules and the Chapter around which we design the expansion campaign.

 

So today I'll see if my local GW has any Black Templars kits on the shelf. If they do, great. If they don't, I'll be making a purchase from Forge World tonight.