Campaigns

Warhammer 40K (and most other table top wargames) are fine for staging one off battles, but the real joy of the hobby is in fighting a campaign. An entire operation within the context of a larger war with definable victory conditions that one side or the other can achieve to determine not only who won a particular battle but who won the larger war as well.

In the 4th edition of Warhammer 40K (pp. 230-257), there is a relatively complete set of rules for fighting a campaign.

Allies

Sometimes more than one army may be on each side in a battle or campaign. However, these alliances should be within reason given the 40K canon. I have modified the official alliance matrix to allow greater nuance (and to include Genestealer forces - a personal favorite of mine). Details can be found on the Apocalypse page. A full size, printable version of alliance matrix chart is available for download.

Casualty Recovery

When a model is removed as a casualty it doesn't necessarily mean that the trooper it represents is dead, simply that he or she is too badly wounded to take any further meaningful part in the battle. In terms of a single game there is no real difference, either way the model is no longer relevant to the game and is removed from the table.

However, in a campaign it can make a big difference whether a character or sergeant is wounded, dead or crippled. For each casualty, roll a D6 . A trooper is any model other than a veteran sergeant, priest, sanctioned psyker, enginseer, commissar, officer, medic or standard bearer. A character is a veteran sergeant, priest, sanctioned psyker, enginseer, commissar, officer, medic or standard bearer.

Resupply and Replacements

In addition to casualty recovery  which is to say wounded troopers returned to duty after medical treatment, regiments routinely recruit new members. New recruits typically come from two sources - children of guardsmen and new recruits either from the homeworld or those raised from the populations of their base world/campaign world.

In addition to new men, guard regiments require spare and replacement parts for their machines, ammunition, replacements for damaged weapons, and such. Managing the replacement of casualties and the resupply of material expended over the course of a campaign is the art of logistics. Logistics is part of any successful military campaign, indeed many say it is the most important part. There is an old military maxim, "Amateurs study tactics, experts study logistics".

So long as a regiment can trace a line of supply to their own rear echelon (a path of nodes unbroken by enemy occupation) they are "in supply" and eligible for resupply and replacement. In non-map campaigns, roll a D6 - a result of 3+ means a unit is in supply.

A regiment that is in supply can draw 10% of it's full strength point value in resupply and replacements. Troopers that are returned via casualty recovery do not count against the replacement allowance since they don't need to be replaced. Characters are replaced by characters with no wargear or decorations - their wargear must be paid for out of the replacement allowance. Heroic senior officers are replaced by senior officers, senior and junior officers are replaced by other senior and junior officers respectively.

If an army can draw more in replacements than it lost in the battle, up to 10% of its full strength may be held in reserve. Reserve points can be spent on wargear or vehicles ONLY; men can't be stored, only material can. All regiments start a campaign with full stores (meaning 10% of their nominal strength in reserve material)

Units that are isolated (i.e. not in supply, surrounded, under siege, etc.) cannot draw resupply or replacement. They can use casualty recovery and battlefield scrounging (if eligible - see below) only. An isolated regiment cannot even access their stores. The quartermaster corps is rear echelon, they don't deploy near the front line to avoid capture by the enemy.

A unit that spends a period of time in the rear (1 campaign turn per 10% or fraction thereof  it is below full strength) will be restored to full strength.

For example, a unit with a full roster strength of 1850 points can replace 185 points if it is in supply. Lets say in Battle 1 they have full stores (185 pts) and suffer 200 points in unrecovered losses. They can replace 185 points from re-supply and another 15 from stores meaning the stores are down to 170 points and the unit remains at full strength.

In battle 2 the suffer 400 pts in unrecovered losses. Assuming they are in supply, they can replace 185 points. The remaining 215 points cannot cover their losses, so they draw down the remaining 170 points in stores. The next battle is fought at a strength of 1805 points.

The purpose of this rule is to introduce the concept of absolute economy of force. In many games, a player whose cause is hopeless will engage in suicidal attacks to inflict unrealistic losses on his opponent. Such recklessness happens only in a last stand - the unit will cease to exist as a coherent fighting force after such an action.

If a player has to worry about what his force will look like at the start of the next battle, players will take more care to husband their resources just like a real field commander has to.

Battlefield Scrounging

The army that holds the field after a battle (this is not necessarily the winner of the battle) may recover up to 20% (roll 4D6-4 to determine exactly how much) of its losses from the battlefield as salvage. Battlefield scrounging points can be spent on men (timely application of field aid allows additional casualty recover), wargear or machines (scrounging parts from friendly and enemy machines).

The army that controls the most uncontested table quarters (ties are resolved in favor of the winner of the battle) is considered to hold the field for the purposes of this rule. In a raid or kill team scenario, the defender is always considered to hold the field regardless of the outcome of the game since the attacker had no intention of holding any ground in the first place.

For example, a Guard army suffers 850 points of losses to a Dark Eldar raid, since the raiders have withdrawn even though the Guard lost the battle, they hold the field and can scrounge. The Guard player rolls 14 on 4D6 meaning he can scrounge 10% of his losses (850 point) or 85 points of salvage from the field.

Related Pages

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Active Turn Sequence
Campaigns
Ice Warriors