Man Battlestations Forum
MBS Campaigns => Archived Campaigns => MBS 2016 BFG Campaign => Topic started by: Ruckdog on March 06, 2016, 06:35:58 pm
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This topic is intended to get the ball rolling on a proposed BFG campaign. Here is the rundown:
Rules: BFG Campaign Rules
Method Of Play: Online using Vassal, though if there are two or more participants who are local to each other, they can play their games "IRL" as well.
Eligibility: This campaign is open to members of MBS. Since the forums will be the main method of reporting results and tracking fleet status, participants will need to be members of the forums to post.
Timeframe: We are looking to close the organizing period by 1 April, and start playing games for the campaign after that. The plan right now is to play the campaign to completion, so it will probably last through the summer.
List of Players
Player(and their fleet)
- Ruckdog (Imperial Navy)
- Ulric the Grey (Chaos, Tzeentch)
- dalekunz (Harlequins (Dark Eldar Proxy))
- Andrewchristlieb (Tau)
- Warhawk (Orks)
- ElBrak (Orks)
If you are interested in joining in, respond below with what fleet you plan on using! Also feel free to ask any questions or make suggestions below as well.
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Ok I will throw a post on. I am going to play as well. Though right now tentatively as a Power of Chaos Tzeentch fleet. As for the rest of the campaign I look forward to what comes up and the fleets being played.
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I need to reread the rules, but likely for Eldar.
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OK! I've updated the first post. I think Ulric and I running IN vs Chaos gives a solid foundation for the rest of the campaign. I'm not sure what faction Andrew will be running.
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Im still undecided on fleet, but probably IN or Tau.
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Whatever you prefer! If you run IN too, I think we will want to make and agreement such that we don't gang up on Ulric too much ;D
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Yeah that was kinda my thinking. Uf a few more hop on and want to run Chaos I'll do Imperial, but otherwise I'll run Tau for the variety.
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If we have two IN players, and Chaos needs help, I can gladly switch to Dark Eldar (if there's a viable fleet list) or Slaaneshi Chaos (Emperor's Children). It's been a LONG while since the Flesh-Ship Lollipop has tantalized the space-ways. ;-)
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Dale your Scaring the Poor children. Please think of the children. Which is also why GW got rid of Slaanesh in Age of sigmar. Not very family friendly faction.
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Now in Slaanesh's defense there are a lot of families that wouldn't be here without em... ;)
Straight Chaos/Imperial might be simplier for a start though, especially with hidden pirate bases and all that without an impartial moderator.
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I am thinking of the children...the Emperor's Children!
See, without the Dark Prince(ess?) the options are so ... mundane. Khorne is all murder-death-kill, blah blah blah, about as fun as a broken record. You've already got Tzeentch covered. And even if you'd tolerate the Lord of Decay and Despair's minions, I just don't truck with that sort for real-life reasons. So the fun-party, 50 Shades of Naughty, Spring-Breakers-Eternal faction it is!!!
I mean, who doesn't look forward to being rammed amid-ships by the cruiser "Sweet Transvestite" ? ;-)
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KILLFRENZY. KILLFRENZY. KILLFRENZY. KILLFRENZY.
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Only you dale. Only you would name a ship that and claim to be straight. Anyway brother, if you want Chaos thats cool, I recommend that you DL the Powers of Chaos pdf, that has the rules for the Theme fleets.
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KILLFRENZY. KILLFRENZY. KILLFRENZY. KILLFRENZY.
'Yes Lord, may I introduce Captain KILLFRENZY."
"Is that his name or his ship?"
"Both it seems, milord Abaddon. He ..uh...says that a lot. It makes fleet coordination rather difficult"
"KILLFRENZY. KILLFRENZY. KILLFRENZY. KILLFRENZY!!!"
<Abaddon facepalms> "Yes, yes Captain... you'll get plenty. Dismissed"
<To his aide> "Place our expressive Captain Killfrenzy right out in front of the Planetkiller. Extra ablative armor is always welcome."
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Only you would name a ship that and claim to be straight.
Rocky Horror is a goldmine for Slaaneshi quotes and names ;-)
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I should clarify, despite disdain for the way GW oversimplifies Khorne ("You can never wear too many skulls, Mother always says..."), I'd be more than happy to take on the Blood God's mantle if such would be more comfortable for those involved :-)
Just call out "Blood for the Blood God", and I shall answer. I'd likely even welcome than challenge to make such a fleet interesting.
I'd even offer to do a 2nd Tzeethcian warlord, but then John would have to curse my sudden but inevitable betrayal. Also, the Tzeetch Warlord in my head sounds like Fezzini from Princess Bride, and would be voiced as such :-)
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Dale any fleet you choose dale is fine with me. I am just giving you crap brother you know this. Hell I got a transgender un...I mean aunt in my family I see once a month during family events. I just find it entertaining what you decided to name your slaaneshi ships. Though I do like the idea of two tzeentchi warmasters, cuz you know that aint going to last very long.
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Lol, Killfrenzy was a Slaughter class during the Gothic war named because it constantly broadcast "KILLFRENZY" on all channels on loop. The Khorne comment eatlier reminded me of it.
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Lol, Killfrenzy was a Slaughter class during the Gothic war named because it constantly broadcast "KILLFRENZY" on all channels on loop. The Khorne comment eatlier reminded me of it.
Oh, I recall that indeed, though I couldn't recall the exact word until you said it. And I always wondered how the heck Abaddon and Co. tolerated or even worked with it ;-)
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Hee hee, sounds like you guys have been having fun ;D. Loved the bit about the KILLFRENZY!
Anyway...
For point values, I'm figuring that the Chaos, IN, and Tau forces will start with 2,000 points, while the Eldar will use the "raiding" fleet rules and start with 1,500 points. My thought is that each of us will start a thread for our individual fleets, and update them as time goes on and we gain experience, refits, reinforcements, etc. As for initial leadership values, I plan on having a single thread for all of us to roll in. The forum has a dice roller installed, which you can use with the following code, replacing the () with []:
(roll)1d6(/roll)
You can use any kind of d-whatever (d3, d4, d10, d12, etc), and in any amount. Here is what a single d6 roll would look like:
Rolled 1d6 : 6, total 6
Now, the downside of the dice roller is that if you go back and edit a post, the dice are automatically "re-rolled." as a result, I will configure the leadership rolling thread to not allow post edits.
I also plan on running an overall status thread, that will show updates to the sector map, as well as track our current Renown levels. Thoughts?
Yeah that was kinda my thinking. Uf a few more hop on and want to run Chaos I'll do Imperial, but otherwise I'll run Tau for the variety.
I'll pencil you in as running Tau then!
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I finally had a quick moment to download the key docs, so I'll start reviewing and fleet building this weekend.
I'm also likely FAR from decided on my fleet faction until I can reacquaint myself with the core rules and new lists. Slaanesh, Dark Eldar, Craftworld Eldar all still appeal, as does Adeptus Mechanicus. And I haven't even looked at Tyranids yet ...
How does the Raiding Fleet campaign structure differ that 1/4th less forces works out okay? Are the campaign rules in the Core book, I can't recall?
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Basically you have a pirate base or you could use the craftworld station in the Eldar pdf. Then you also play raid level missions, and are going to be the attacker which always puts your opponent at a disadvantage. Then if you happen to roll for a 'Battle' instead of a raid, you still choice a raid mission, but its battle level points.
Basically your opponents will loose much more in those fights, as I can't smash you in a equal fleet level engagement. Also yes its in the core rule book page....150
Also remember that we have to find your base. You get to pick a planet for your 'hidden base' then you get to attack out from there. The other players have to locate it first, and then I have to be able to attack it, its not like I can find it and share that info with the IN or Tau, they have to find it on their own. Then after that, they attack your base which will have a space station to defend it as well. If they loose you can relocate your base, at no cost to you. If you loose you loose the Resources for that turn as you find a new hidden base....
Basically you dont have to worry about holding planets, as you will never hold a planet, but you can still and leach resources from the others.
Also your not holden to the Warp routes that the rest of us are. so you can Attack anyone.
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Hey, yes the campaign rules are in the back of the core rule book (available online as a PDF if you do some searching). The pirates get a "pirate base" which is hidden (can be on any planet) and always gives them the benefit of a hive or forge world so it's a bit easier on them at the beginning to make repairs and such. Orks Eldar (all flavors) and Necrons were the only ones I remember using the pirate base though... Oh and Human Pirates from the rogue trader docs. Orks had the option with the 2010 update of taking a wagahh fleet and playing as a full faction also though. Not sure about the others.
We are using the 2010 update correct Ruck? Any other house rules anyone want's to throw out?
I know the two big ones I can remember doing was that ships couldn't overlap (despite the ruling that they could which makes no sense on the tabletop)... could work here though so....? The other one was that blast markers only counted against gunnery if they were directly in line between stems, ignoring them if for instance one was in base contact on the other side of the ship. That one's kind of iffy though, some people love it others hate it.
I know with the Tau Drow, Orca, and Warden escorts don't roll for leadership normally and use the leadership of their parent ship (they're all "towed" into battle), but in the past I've always played them as having their own leadership since the rules (or 2010) never addressed the issue of multiple parent ships having different leaderships for combined squadrons of escorts (since the escort squadrons can draw ships from various parent vessels in different squadrons so you could game the system by saying some of the escorts in each escort squadron came from whichever parent had the highest leadership so all the escort squadrons had high leadership)...
TL,DR roll leadership for towed escorts per normal.
Another issue I've had is with the Convoy scenario since the random setup for an attacker can mean them having to take escorts without any capitol ships. I've basically ignored the rule about having to have the ships towed in in that scenario and just assumed they were dropped off at an earlier time (since it's an ambush and all).
Thoughts on that and anything else anyone would bring up for this?
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Basically you dont have to worry about holding planets, as you will never hold a planet, but you can still and leach resources from the others.
Also your not holden to the Warp routes that the rest of us are. so you can Attack anyone.
Well, that does sound appealing from a Dark Eldar perspective... ;-) And those Shadowfields sound oh-so vile...
I just don't want to leave my Chaos brethren in the lurch if I go Raider. Arrangements can always be made though. ;-)
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Basically you dont have to worry about holding planets, as you will never hold a planet, but you can still and leach resources from the others.
Also your not holden to the Warp routes that the rest of us are. so you can Attack anyone.
Well, that does sound appealing from a Dark Eldar perspective... ;-) And those Shadowfields sound oh-so vile...
I just don't want to leave my Chaos brethren in the lurch if I go Raider. Arrangements can always be made though. ;-)
To be fair we would welcome you all into the greater good.
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Perhaps the Tzeentch chaos lord can make arrangements with you both from time to time. After all that False emperors slave dogs must go right? For the Greater good, and for saving your own souls from the great Devourer?
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Hey andrew, for your escort issues, I would roll seperately for each squadron. Yes they are being towed, but they act independant of the mother ship during combat. This also makes it so that you dont have to worry about multipule different leaderships in an escort squadron.
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Yeah that's what I usually do, but wanted to get the okay before I start rolling leadership.
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@Andrew:
Rolling separately for escorts sounds like the way to go to me too. I would have no problem with you deploying escorts with no capitals in a Convoy scenario; we can imagine that they were deployed their before the game by a crafty Tau ship commander trying to catch Mon-Keigh transports by surprise ;).
As for the rules, yes, the 2010 FAQ is in effect as far as I'm concerned.
Oh, and one of the things I realized after going over the campaign rules again last night, we will need a place to roll for appeals in addition to leadership. I can either make a separate sub-forum for that, or we can just use the Leadership one for both.
Another thing I noticed is that in the book, a "Campaign Turn" is defined as any time two players have a game. Ulric proposed that we instead modify that to something along the lines of having a campaign turn equal 2 games. The problem is that every Campaign Turn is a chance to roll for an Appeal, collect resources, perform repairs, etc. This in turn leads to the concern that more active players may advance too quickly. Expanding a Campaign Turn to more than one game taps the breaks on the progression system just a bit. What do you guys think?
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Okay, I'll setup a thread for my leadership tests.
I don't see an issue with adding a thread for appeals and such to the leadership area, no idea who I'd appeal too though... "Hello Astartes would you mind sending me some of your troops and equipment... For the Greater Good?" :D
(https://encrypted-tbn2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSQWSQaGevEGgp12-JKV3NJH5hvOQNF4ar61FrUroRw5JlQ2x0mW8rLEQ)
Maybe we should set the campaign turn to a set time irl, like once a week or every two weeks ect... That way everyone stays on the same page as far as that's concerned, but people can play as much as they can get a game in without having to wait for someone else to "catch up".
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Problem with that Ruck is the damage from the first battle will carry over to the second fight. So I suggest that we do all the steps after a battle. This includes the Renown, but Renown does not take effect until the next 'Turn'. So you would add up all the renown from the first and second battle...make your changes, then do your appeals, refits, and reinforcements.
This way you can repair between battles but not add ships to the rooster. This way your first battle will still have an effect on the second one, just not as large as one, unless you were butchered.
Another option is this.
Roll for initative at the begining of the turn. The two that win get to pick their opponent. In this case if the one who wins wants to attack the next person in the initiative, then they fight and it goes to the next person in line to pick an opponent.
So example...
Player A, B,C,D Roll initiative.
Player C wins, next is B, then D, and finally A.
Player C wants to attack player B. So then that leaves Player D to attack Player A.
Next round the winners of initiative are Player A, C,B,D.
Player A picks Player D to attack, and that leaves player C to attack player B.
This way might be more difficult due to the map however, if the players do not have a warp path to each other. Now this eases up if Dale plays Eldar cause he wont be held to that.
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Iirc anyone can defend any planet regardless of warp paths, but they cannot control said planet if they win and only get the resource bonus once. I'll have to flip through the campaign rules again on that one.
So are you proposing that resources are "gathered" and repairs made after each game (then presumably reported here for recording)? While things like appeals are done at a set interval?
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Right andrew. This way you can only gain Renown once, but do not have to worry about a 3rd to half your fleet being low on health and have the opportunity to bring them up on health. I imagine that each turn is actually months if not a year. Plenty of time to repair units between battles.
However appeals and such are handled at the end of the 'turn' with renown so it happens once in a set interval as you said.
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That sounds pretty to me reasonable then.
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As I'm going through the Fleet Lists (and not painting Planetfall like I should be) I glanced at my new White Dwarf issue, with the Genestealer Cult. And the thought occurred to me =>
How would Tyranids work in the campaign? Like any other Empire, or do they count as Raiders?
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As I'm going through the Fleet Lists (and not painting Planetfall like I should be) I glanced at my new White Dwarf issue, with the Genestealer Cult. And the thought occurred to me =>
How would Tyranids work in the campaign? Like any other Empire, or do they count as Raiders?
Per normal I would think... I can't see them setting up a hidden base and making strikes out of it. Maybe a vanguard force though, that might play like a pirate... I'd say just like the Imp/Chaos though for the normal fleet list. I wonder what all would change, their fleet is completely different from the normal fleets as far as leadership and such. It would probably boil down to everyone loosely joining forces to stop the hive fleet.
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Dale I am going to make a recommendation. Do not play as the nids.
Here are my reasonings....
They have different rulesets then a normal fleet and they are built from scratch. So your going to spend more time building them between games then you may have time for.
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I've made a choice...
Andy - Amend me to be running Dark Eldar! Though if no one minds, I'd like to run them as a Harlequin Warhost. Same ships, same rules, but all for the whims of the Laughing God, our raids and pillaging as one Great Dance to honor Kaela Mensha Khaine and the others. I would retitle things appropriately, keeping book names in parentheses - for instance I might call the Despair Class Battleship as a "Sarabande Class Battleship (Despair)". Simply a re-flavoring. :-)
The list would be from the Dark Eldar add-on document, using the Major Kabal Fleet @ 1500pts.
If that would be too confusing, I'll stick to the Dark Eldar background and names instead. Let me know your thoughts.
So your going to spend more time building them between games then you may have time for.
All games are on Vassal, so there's no need to own physical models, correct?
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Thats fine dale.
As for my comment you quoted, it was in referance to each ship needing you to pick its stats, then add in the point costs... etc. just the admin part would be much higher.
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Problem with that Ruck is the damage from the first battle will carry over to the second fight. So I suggest that we do all the steps after a battle. This includes the Renown, but Renown does not take effect until the next 'Turn'. So you would add up all the renown from the first and second battle...make your changes, then do your appeals, refits, and reinforcements.
This way you can repair between battles but not add ships to the rooster. This way your first battle will still have an effect on the second one, just not as large as one, unless you were butchered.
Another option is this.
Roll for initative at the begining of the turn. The two that win get to pick their opponent. In this case if the one who wins wants to attack the next person in the initiative, then they fight and it goes to the next person in line to pick an opponent.
So example...
Player A, B,C,D Roll initiative.
Player C wins, next is B, then D, and finally A.
Player C wants to attack player B. So then that leaves Player D to attack Player A.
Next round the winners of initiative are Player A, C,B,D.
Player A picks Player D to attack, and that leaves player C to attack player B.
This way might be more difficult due to the map however, if the players do not have a warp path to each other. Now this eases up if Dale plays Eldar cause he wont be held to that.
I think I see where you are going with that...it makes sense. Honestly though, I'm fine with just going with the rules as written and doing all steps after each battle...we are a small enough and active enough group that I honestly don't anticipate having major issues with one or two players pulling too far ahead. If we do run into that issue, we can figure out something to even up the standings ;). What do you guys think?
I've made a choice...
Andy - Amend me to be running Dark Eldar! Though if no one minds, I'd like to run them as a Harlequin Warhost. Same ships, same rules, but all for the whims of the Laughing God, our raids and pillaging as one Great Dance to honor Kaela Mensha Khaine and the others. I would retitle things appropriately, keeping book names in parentheses - for instance I might call the Despair Class Battleship as a "Sarabande Class Battleship (Despair)". Simply a re-flavoring. :-)
The list would be from the Dark Eldar add-on document, using the Major Kabal Fleet @ 1500pts.
If that would be too confusing, I'll stick to the Dark Eldar background and names instead. Let me know your thoughts.
I think it won't be too confusing. I actually like the idea of proxying a Harlequin fleet using the DE rules! I'll update the first post.
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we are a small enough and active enough group that I honestly don't anticipate having major issues with one or two players pulling too far ahead. If we do run into that issue, we can figure out something to even up the standings ;). What do you guys think?
Inevitably, I can't keep game pace and fall behind. But it'll probably work with me being a Raider anyways :-) I could see arranging one battle a week online, tops.
I'm more concerned that with such a relatively small map, I really can't keep a base hidden at all... But if we got bigger, then folks have little reason for conflict. Hmmm... I need to do more of a campaign rules deep dive.
I think it won't be too confusing. I actually like the idea of proxying a Harlequin fleet using the DE rules! I'll update the first post.
Cool. I'll at least come up with a translation guide, my fleet list, and LD rolls by Monday.
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Inevitably, I can't keep game pace and fall behind. But it'll probably work with me being a Raider anyways :-) I could see arranging one battle a week online, tops.
I'm more concerned that with such a relatively small map, I really can't keep a base hidden at all... But if we got bigger, then folks have little reason for conflict. Hmmm... I need to do more of a campaign rules deep dive.
Interestingly, the map I made is larger than many of the official ones in the rule books! I think you are right that the idea is to keep players in close proximity in order to generate conflict.
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This whole thing sounds like a great time. So if there is still time I wouldn't mind joining in but would have to be with me Boyz and all the dakka they can muster.
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I have no issues with the boyz of Gork and Mork joinning in on the fun.
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Every campaign needs more dakka! There is no way you can ever 'ave enuff! Consider yourself added to the list on the first post! You will need a 1,500 point list as a raiding faction.
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Copy that. Time to download all the books and get to reading lol.
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Just want to make sure that using BFG revised rules is what we are doing? Also any good links for the full rule book.
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We are using the 2010 Compendium, as well as the BFG main rule book and armada rule book. The link to the full rule book is in the download section of MBS, as for the extra stuff you can find those in the space naval games thread, subthread Vassal BFG/ B5CtA.
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I think we are just about at the point where Ulric, Andrew, and I need to start selecting our starting planets! For that, we will need to roll initiative. As I mentioned, I think I will just rename the "leadership" board and use that for all public rolls. I'll get a thread started!
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Hi, Ulric the Grey ran into me in the VBFG waiting room and invited me to sign up to the campaign. I've played quite a bit on Vassal and a few games in RL. I mostly play Orks and was thinking of doing a Waagh list or a Ork Clanz list.
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Welcome aboard! I have no problem adding you to the list. I'll update the first post.
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I've created the official rules thread! Let me know what you think, as these are not set in stone and I'm still open to suggestions. At this point, I think we can go ahead and begin playing games, assuming you have your initial fleet list posted and leadership rolled for!
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After Adepticon, I'm just not in the mood for anything semi-competitive or space-ship related.
Please proceed without me.
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After Adepticon, I'm just not in the mood for anything semi-competitive or space-ship related.
Please proceed without me.
Roger all! The good part is, since you were playing a raiding faction you can easily join back in later and play a few game if you decide you want to participate after all. I'll just keep your threads as-is.
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hey guys sadly work is taking up more time than anticipated right now so going to back out of playing in the campaign.
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Will work keep you busy until October? ;)
Honestly, there is no real reason to back completely out. Just play a game or two when you are able. Your renown can't go lower than 1 anyway;)
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ahh well if its going to go for THAT long I guess I wont have to back out then.
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Hey all, I'm new here and was invited to participate by Ruckdog over at the Specialist Arms forum.
Would it be alright if I joined the campaign? I'd be playing Tau Kor'Or'Vesh (FW) if I'm allowed. I've played a couple of times on Vassal beforehand and I'm sure I'll learn whatever I don't know throughout the campaign.
Can't wait to get my Custodian set upon you! :D
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It is certainly alright! You will need to get your fleet list posted, roll for leadership, and pick a starting planet as well.
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Another Chaos fleet warping in!
I'd like to start on Parma if I could, please.
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What's next? How do we know who's turn is it?
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What happens next is you challenge someone to a game 😉. Basically, there is no order that we have to play games in.
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Is this campaign dead? Why aren't people challenging each other?
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Good question! Not sure about everyone else, but I'm playing a game with Seahawk tomorrow.