The Kotheous Campaign - Pt. 1: Introduction

In my last blog entry I told you about all the new discoveries I’ve been experiencing of late. New discoveries inevitably take up more of my time – particularly the enthusiasm I have for Fantasy Flight card games at the minute. What this means is my Games Workshop hobby has suffered a little. I haven’t painted in a month or two now and only had one game of Dreadfleet.

Well thanks to fellow #warmonger Tim (@warllama40k), this is about to change.

If you’ve read previous blog entries, you’ll know Tim and I crossed paths on Twitter whilst discussing the wargaming hobby and have since met on a couple of occasions at Warhammer World and Games Day.
Over on his blog here, he has started work on a Warhammer 40,000 campaign and while reading about his preparation and ideas, I decided to get in on the action.

My experience of 40K campaigns is limited. My friend and I have played through all six Planetstrike missions, but while they are thematically linked with an escalating level of threat and devastation, there aren’t actually any rules that change the following game based on the events of the last, as is usually the case in a campaign.
We did try out a two-game campaign during a visit to Warhammer World, with a smaller game to begin with – the winner of which would be the defender in the subsequent battle, controlling turreted strongholds against the attackers deep striking in. Beyond this though, my games of Warhammer 40,000 have been single skirmishes.

Following Tim’s guidance, I’m hoping to put together a five game campaign pitting the Space Wolves against the Eldar. I say five games, but it’s actually going to be six.
I know, I know, I shouldn’t be having an even number of games, but this first game is actually going to be a prologue to the campaign, a small skirmish that will set the scene for the main event to come.

Tim is basing his campaign on a planet called Thrask in the Caerphillax Sector on the Eastern Fringe – with the intention of developing this area of space over time.
What I’ve decided to do is base my campaign in the same sector, but on a planet called Kotheous. Small, with harsh weather conditions, Kotheous was nevertheless a valuable outpost for the Caerphillax Sector and a well positioned trade route for other planets such as Thrask. That was until it was cut off by warpstorms towards the end of the Age of Apostasy. Abandoned, nature has taken back the planet – it’s factorums and bastions falling into decay. The warpstorms have cleared, but Kotheous remains a shell of its former self, ruined and forgotten. Until a passing Imperial vessel picks up a signal coming from the surface……

In my next update, I’ll be laying out the rules and plans for this opening skirmish.

One last thing.
As the Caerphillax Sector is Tim’s baby, I didn’t want to just wade in like a spoilt child playing with another kid’s toys, which is why I’ve steered away from Thrask and added another planet. But I’m also going a step further. Once my campaign has played out, I’ve come up with a little surprise that will allow Tim himself to decide the fate of Kotheous.

Stay tuned……