3 replies to this topic

[ThePenitentOne]

Introduction

 

This thread will explore expanded campaign rules. This post will act as a table of contents for the rules as they are added. 

 

01. Designing Urban Centers

02. Territories

03. Residential Territories

04. Territory Cards

       04a. Thresher House

       04b. STC Habitation Block

       04c. Criminal Habitation

Edited by ThePenitentOne, 26 January 2020 - 09:59 PM.

[ThePenitentOne]

01: Designing Urban Centers:

 

The structure of this campaign is inspired by the Streets of Death rules found in the Urban Conquest expansion. This system uses cards to randomly arrange a set of 25 territories in a 5 x 5 array. Players can take actions in the campaign round and fight battles of Kill Team, 40K or Apocalypse in the Battle round.

 

This campaign significantly expands upon the rules provided in Urban Conquest. There are draft rules for 16 individual territories, which will be detailed in upcoming articles. For now, we can begin with some guidelines for arranging these territories into settlements and cities in order to populate the first planet in our system, Orison's Wake.

 

Orison's Wake is a sparsely populated Agri-world. Most of the land is used to grow crops which are processed into a nutrient kibble and exported to the system's two hive worlds. The vast tracts of farmland are owned by noble families known as Thresher Houses. 

 

The planet has a single large city in the center of the continent, with eight smaller, satellite settlements arranged around it at the carinal and secondary points of the compass. Each settlement represents an intersection between four enormous fields, often controlled by rival Thresher Houses. An Astra Militarum Garrison at the center of each settlement maintains the peace. Several settlements are also fortunate enough to contain a Mission of Adeptus Sororitas to tend to the spiritual needs of both the Threshers and the every day citizens.

 

Each settlement is an array of 5 x 5 territories. Rows are labelled A-E while columns are Labelled 1-5. Each of the four corners [A1, A5, E1, E5] are automatically Thresher Houses: do not roll to populate these territories. You will, however, roll a D10 to determine which Thresher House controls each of these territories:

 

01. House Bannerjee                                                               06. House Mercer

02. House DeRulio                                                                   07. House Rannex

03. House Jendaro                                                                   08. House Syrinx

04. House Kronar                                                                     09. House Tavinder

05. House Mannix                                                                    10. House Veddic

 

Note: You'll be able to read all about the Thresher Houses in the Background thread soon; there will also be posts in this thread about how to populate Thresher Houses and how to use Tresher Houses in Kill Team.

 

Each House is surrounded by three territories. These form the "Quarters" of the city. Each of the three territories that surround a House will be favourably disposed toward it, or even under its direct control. The center row [C] and the center column [3], are generally occupied by Imperial assets or infrastructure territories. For example, the center territory [C3] is automatically reserved for the Astra Militarum Garrison. 

 

In addition to the five territories already placed, your settlement must include the following territories:

 

4 STC Habitation Blocks

1 Power Facility

1 Resevoir

1 Communications Facility

1 Medicae Facility 

1 Manufactorum

1 Rail Yard

 

All together, that's 15 compulsory territories; you can arrange them randomly into any of the unoccupied slots in the array, or place them as you see fit. Once all 15  territories have been placed, roll 3d6 on the table below to populate the remaining 10 territories:

 

3. Progenum Facility                                                         11. Commercial District

4. Ministorum Church                                                        12. Ruin

5. Administratum                                                               13. Motorcade

6. Vacant                                                                           14. Guilder Contact

7. Manufactorum                                                               15. Munitorum Facility

8. STC Habitation Block                                                    16. Mechanicus Researchy Facility

9. Criminal Habitation Block                                              17. Penitentiary

10. Local Air Field                                                                18. Void Shield Generator

This is a basic guideline about how one way to populate a settlement. When I actually populated the 8 settlements of Orison's Wake, I found I had to tweek the process for the sake of our story. For example, I decided that  6 of the 8 settlements would have Adeptus Sororitas Missions. After I had generated all of the territories, I had to swap a territory in 2 or 3 of the settlements in order to hit my target of 6.

 

Note: You will soon be able see maps for all 8 settlements and Aegis City in the Campaign Maps and resources thread.

 

Aegis City:

 

Aegis city is larger than the settlements. It has an additional strip of 5 territories on each of it's 4 sides, making it look like a thick, square cross. There are no Thresher Houses in Aegis City. Its Garrison occupies two adjacent territories, as does the Cathedral of Saint Katherine's Aegis, for which the campaign is named. Its airfield is also a double territory- it is the only facility on the planet equipped to deal with interplanetary shipping. Finally, it also includes a secondary power generator and a secondary resevoir and a minimum of 2 additional STC Habitation Blocks.

 

Other than the exceptions noted above, Aegis City is populated in the same way as a settlement.

Edited by ThePenitentOne, 12 January 2020 - 05:25 AM.

[ThePenitentOne]

02: Territories

 

Each Territory represents a single 6' x 4' table, and all of the relevant information about the various ways in which players can interact with the territory are contained on a territory card. These cards include a brief description of the territory, special rules that may be invoked by a lurking force and a controlling force in the campaign phase, special rules that may be invoked during battle, and any special missions associated with the territory. Finally territory cards will also include scenery suggestions and battlefield photos.

 

Player Factions can lurk, visit or control territories as described on the card. For the purposes of tracking information about territories, I recommend using the card sleeve from Urban Conquest or an array of digital folders. Each pocket in the sleeve or folder in the array contains the appropriate territory card, as well as character, Kill Team, Detachment or Army cards for forces that are lurking, visiting or controlling. Sometimes territories can also contain clues or equipment related to story events. Electronic folders have an advantage in terms of tracking this information because the are not limited by physical size. I will be making specialized cards and tracking tools as both PDF files and fillable spreadsheets.

 

Territories can fall into broad categories: Points of Entry, Infrastructure, Imperial Assets, Commercial and Residential.

 

Of these categories, Residential Territories require special attention. This campaign begins with two cults, silently recruiting members and acquiring materials as they try to evade the notice of armed Imperial forces; as such the distribution of Threshers, Imperial Citizens and Criminal Syndicates is crucial to the campaign. Rules for populating residential territories will appear in this thread after all of the Territory Cards have been posted.

Edited by ThePenitentOne, 12 January 2020 - 04:53 AM.

[ThePenitentOne]

03: Residential Territories

 

As a campaign which begins with the recruitment of Cultists, Residential Territories are the beating heart of the game. There are three types of Residential Territories: Thresher Houses, STC Habitation Blocks and Criminal Habitations. They all have features in common, but there are some key differences, so it's best to look at them individually before I post the Territory Cards. 

 

All Residential Territories need to be populated. This can seem daunting, so you can just use Orison's Wake as is if you prefer; these rules are provided in case you want to create settlements of your own. This post will also explain how I placed the population into buildings, but that can be dependent upon available scenery, so you may have to adapt it to suit your terrain collection.

 

 

Thresher Houses: The Thresher Houses are the Elite Citizens of Orison's Wake, and they have tremendous family and personal resources. Entrance to their territories is by invitation only, though it is possible for small groups of cultists to Lurk undetected, waiting for an opportune moment to infect or corrupt a lone Thresher without attracting too much attention. Some Thresher Houses consist of a single extended family, while other are clans consisting of multiple families. Full details and background for each of the Thresher Houses will be added over time.

 

All Thresher Houses are managed by Elders. Over a lifetime augmented by rejuvenation technologies, these powerful strategists and leaders guide the growth of their assets through marriages, intrigues, espionage and alliances with shipping and merchant guilds and military factions. Next in the hierarchy are the Adults, who are the largest demographic, and the principle agents of the house, whether they are farmers, merchants, soldiers or scholars. The Youth are not as skilled as Adults, but they frequently participate in House business, including the territorial skirmishes which occur from time to time. Finally, Children represent the potential of each House, yet they themselves are too young to contribute to the well being of the House.

 

To populate a Thresher House roll for each age category as follows:

 

5d6 Children

10d6 Youth

20d6 Adults

3d6 Elders

 

That's a maximum of 228 citizens and a minimum of 38. I didn't design rules to track by gender- that's a level of minutiae too deep even for me. In addition to citizens, Thresher House have resources including weapons, vehicles and servitors. You can generate these as follows:

 

3d6 Autopistols                                                        5d6 Autoguns

3d6 Laspistols                                                          5d6 Lasguns

3d6 Stub Pistols                                                       5d6 Shotguns

2d3 Chainswords                                                     1d3 Power Swords

1d3 Vehicles                                                            1d6 Servitors

 

1d3 Special Weapons [melta gun, plasma gun, flamer, grenade launcher, sniper rifle; pick whichever you have in your collection]

1d3 Heavy Weapons [heavy flamer, lascannon, autocannon, heavy stubber, plasma cannon, multimelta; pick whichever is in your collection] 

 

For my vehicles, I'm using Goliaths/ Rockgrinders with the magnetized weapons removed.

Servitors can be any of the servitor models GW makes, but think farming. I may convert Kataphrons with Threshing Scythes, but I'm not sure. For now I'm using regular old servitors.

I use OOP metal Necromunda models for Threshers; as they get infected or corrupted, I will create "cult" versions by using the new plastics and return the metals back to the pool of models for Threshers, to be renamed and used again.

 

From here,you'll want to build as many Kill Teams as you can, because Threshers absolutely will defend themselves, and may even attack! There are Kill Team rules for Thresher Houses, but this post is about residential territories. I will be building a Faction: Thresher House thread to host them instead of posting them to this forum- that way you'll be able to see them before I build this thread up to the point where they would logically appear.

 

I've gone a step further, because I enjoy scratch building scenery, and I made a modular set of buildings specifically for this campaign. I create persistent table maps, so that subsequent battles fought at the same location are fought on the exact table. In the weeks and months to come, I will be building a Saint Katherine's Aegis Youtube channel which will feature the detailed interiors, and the ways in which the buildings can be modified to reflect control by various factions. 

 

My idea was that the kill teams wouldn't necessarily organize across households, meaning that if you caught them by surprise, you could kill team members where they live.

 

Elders will only live in detached residences with selected members of the extended family, while all others live in buildings modified from STC Habitations. These buildings have four individual residences per level,and they are stackable, meaning that you can choose how many buildings you're going to use and how many levels per building. 

 

What I did was assign 1-3 Elders to each stand alone house. Then I added 2-4 Adults, 1-3 Youth and 1-3 Children. I did not roll randomly; I chose based on availability of terrain and models. The remaining models must be placed into the residential units of an STC Habitation. I went with 2-4 Adults, 0-3 Youth and 0-3 Children. It's also a good idea to leave one residence free in each building. Random events happen between campaign turns, and the space might be needed to facilitate an event.

 

I'll be adding both spreadsheets and cards as downloads later on, but it might take me a while to get there. Tracking it sounds daunting, but with the right tools, it's easier than you might think. Still, most players probably don't have the scenery and don't desire this level of minutia. That's fine- the kill teams are the really important piece. If you're adventurous though,a bit of time spent at this stage can be very rewarding. I'm using this campaign to generate content, so stories are everything to me. The distribution can suggest familial relationships, and kill teams create a competing set of loyalties. Add to that the potential for infection or corruption, and you've got a real story generator on your hands.

 

Finally, it should be mentioned that while I've put a lot into the development of Thresher Houses, they are essentially an NPC faction, and many of them will ultimately end up becoming cultists. They aren't really meant to conquer or occupy territories other than their own Houses, and they weren't really designed to be super competitive; we want the cults to grow for the sake of the campaign. They are likely only to be used as Kill Team opponents to cults, likely played by he folks who will become the Imperial Faction players once the Cults get big enough to attract their notice.

 

STC Habitation Blocks: These territories contain the everyday Imperial citizens. There are no stand alone homes for these expendable servants of the Imperium, only STC Habitations. Furthermore, citizens possess no weapons, do not form kill teams and will merely attempt to flee to the nearest board edge. I didn't put anywhere near as much thought into the habitation blocks when I populated them. For recruitment purposes, it's a good idea to start in the Hab Blocks rather than tackle a Thresher House too soon.

 

To populate the territory, just roll citizens as you would for a Thresher House. Do not generate weapons or equipment.

 

When assigning these citizens to their individual residences, you should go for a slightly higher density- after all, these people are poor, and their quality of life is lower than that of a Thresher. It's also not as important to track it as it is for Threshers, though I did it anyway. As with Thresher Houses, leave one unit per building vacant for story events.

 

Criminal Habitations: These are identical to STC Habitations, except that distributed throughout the various residences are Criminal NPC's and their henchmen. There will be enough present in each territory to form a single Kill Team. These guys are tough, and they roam, and wreck everyone's day. Some sell rare weapons, some sell combat drugs, some will work for hire, they have may have allegiances... 

 

Generate the citizens as you would for an STC Habitation Block, then pick an NPC Criminal and enough Henchmen for a Kill Team. If the territory is attacked, citizens flee, but Criminals use them as human shields and attack.

Edited by ThePenitentOne, 26 January 2020 - 10:08 PM.