Tag: Warhammer 40k

Knight Night Fight Night 5: Tag Teams Minis

Knight Night Fight Night 5: Tag Teams Minis

A new year, and once again we’re cooking up one of the best events at Drawbridge Games: Knight Night Fight Night! The game where people bring some of the big baddies of the game to slug it out for glory and to be added to the Knight Night Fight Night Trophy! This is the 5th incarnation, and we’re having some fun with the format. We’ve gone big, now time to go mini–in the great tradition of Mascarida Sagrada and Sky Low Low. Instead of big Knights we’ll be doing the smaller classes of stuff just like “Minis” wrestling promotions. It will be taking place on Thursday, January 15th, 2025 with setup at 6:30pm and first dice thrown at 7:00pm sharp. As always, we’ll have a door prize drawing, so just participating gives you a chance to win! Given they’re small we’re doing this one in Tag Team mode again. Players can either field two models themselves, or two players can team up as a Tag Team.

Event Rules

Teams of two models (can be a single player who brings two, or pairs of players who each have one) will be placed in a central, circular Royal Rumble arena–this one will have some notable terrain features to keep it interesting. The goal is to be the last model standing–knocking all of other competitors “out of the ring”–and that last standing model wins the event for their team. See the list at the bottom of this post, but can be summarized as “roughly dreadnaught-sized and walks on two legs.”

To start the event, all teams will have the points of the two models in their team calculated. The highest two points total teams will have their models start in the ring. After each round, the next two teams in points are added to the ring (making their grand entrances, with entrance music if so desired).

Every round of combat all participant models in the ring are dealt a playing card, and play turns will run in that order: lowest numbers first, with suit order high-to-low in reverse-alpha to break numerical ties, so Spades > Hearts > Diamonds > Clubs, with Aces low. The active Knight will move, shoot, can charge and fight. Note that models attacked won’t swing back (there’s no ordinary combat phase). The goal is to incapacitate opposing models by taking all of their wounds, which represents knocking them out of the ring (over the top rope). There are a few different special rules we’ll be using that will both help this happen, and give models a chance to keep fighting in the ring.

“Recover In the Corner” action: Declare at the start of your turn. Roll 1d6 and recover that many wounds. Can move (including advancing) but cannot fire any weapons, charge, or make any melee attacks until the start of its next turn.

“Re-roll Chip”: Every model gets one re-roll chip. Every Tag Team who put up a promo (posted on the Drawbridge Events Facebook page and/or Discord) gets a second re-roll chip per player participating in that promo. The player with the best promo (judged by Enrico) gets a third re-roll chip. Re-roll chips can be exchanged or traded as you wish during the game with other players. They can be spent to re-roll any one d6 roll (including the “Out of the Ring” table or the result of a “Recover in the Corner” action). That can be one’s own roll or an opponent’s. They can also be spent to get rid of the card you’re dealt at any point for turn order, and be dealt a new random card from the deck. Note that no one will have CP’s to keep things simple, this is a sort of replacement for that.

“Out of the Ring” chart: Whenever a model is reduced to 0 wounds, they immediately must roll on the following chart (any model rules that might trigger on “when reduced to zero wounds” such as exploding are ignored). Conceptually a Battle Royale is about throwing your opponent out of the ring and their feet hitting the ground (indicating they’re out). While we don’t have an actual ring to be thrown out of, these are the results when the participants take those devastating finishing attacks.

RollResult
1 “I’ll get you back”Both feet hit the ground and this model loses. However, they’re not quite ready to accept that. They immediately get a single turn of shooting (regular, not reduced wounds penalty) to try and take an opponent with them, and then are removed from the board.
2 “Ouch, he’ll feel that one”Both feet hit the ground and this model loses. It is removed from the board.
3 “Thats a tough break, J.R.”Both feet hit the ground and this model loses. It is removed from the board.
4 “Hanging on the ropes”The model hangs on, just barely. It is restored to 1 remaining wound, and cannot be targeted any further this round until it acts or until the start of the next round if it has already acted this round.
5 “Push thru the pain”This model grits its teeth and keeps on fighting. Immediately roll a d6 and restore that many wounds to the model. This model cannot be targeted/damaged any further during the current opponent’s activation.
6 “You just made me angry”This model channels the punishment into newfound strength. Immediately restore the model to 75% of its normal wounds characteristic (rounding up). This model cannot be targeted/damaged any further during the current opponent’s activation.

Painting Requirements: All models participating in Knight Night must be painted to a tabletop standard and based. Part of this hobby is, well, the hobby, so I want to encourage people to paint and get models finished for events. There will be additional chances at prizes for those who paint up new models for the event.

Tag Team: Players can choose to field two models from the following lists, or bring one model and team up with another player. You can choose and coordinate teams in advance, and we can also pair up likely allies on the day of the event–so don’t let having just a single model limit you. Come and have fun and game with new and old folks in the community alike. Activations are separate by model, but victory goes to the team (even if one of the team member models has been eliminated). And we’ll have an extra model with rules on hand in case we have uneven numbers to make certain all who show up can join in the fun.

Model Options and Choices

Minis Options: Players can choose any models from the following lists of roughly dreadnaught-sized, walks on two legs, models. Chosen from their codex with gear allowable from the data sheet (no relics or warlord traits). No army rules, detachment rules, or upgrades that aren’t part of the basic datasheet entry for the model will be used. These are vanilla versions of the data sheets folks. If I missed anything definitely message me and we can expand the list.

Space MarinesRedemptor, Invictor, Ballistus, Brutalis, Venerable Dreadnaught, Murderfang, Bjorn the Fell-Handed, Death Company Dreadnaught
Imperial GuardSentinels*
Adeptus MechanicusIronstrider Ballistarius*, Sydonian Dragoon*, Kastelan Robots**
Imperial KnightsArmigers
Adeptus SororitasMortifiers*, Penitent Engines*
Adeptus CustodesContemptors, Telemon
Grey KnightsGrand Master in Nemesis Dreadknight, Nemesis Dreadknight, Venerable Dreadnaught
Chaos Space MarinesHellbrute
Death GuardHellbrute
Thousand SonsHellbrute
World EatersHellbrute
Chaos KnightsWardogs
OrksDeff Dredd, Killa Kans***
T’au EmpireRiptide, Ghostkeel, Broadsides*
AeldariWar Walker*, Wraithlord
DrukhariCronos*, Talos*
TyranidsCarnifex, Screamer-Killer, Old One Eye
NecronsCanoptek Doomstalker****, Canoptek Reanimator****

*Given these are the very lightest of walker vehicles, an additional third model in the tag team is permitted if all are marked with a single asterisk

**Kastelan Robots must be a tag team of two. They cannot be individually taken, and cannot join another tag team. However, they get the inclusion of their “manager” the Cybernetica Datasmith, who accompanies one of the two robots (and can swap to the other one as long as he doesn’t ever end a move action outside of 2” of a friendly Kastellan). The manager is just killed if killed (no roll on the “out of the ring” chart), but this team is not out of the battle until the manager is killed as well.

*** Orks don’t count so well, so players can take one unit of three Killa Kans as their tag team entry. Single Kans cannot be chosen.

****Yes these violate the two legs option, but we’re including them

Sorry Emperor’s Children, Genestealer Cults, and Leagues of Votann. You have to sit this one out as far as I can tell.

Bug Hunt 2: A December to Dismember

Bug Hunt 2: A December to Dismember

Homage to the ECW wrestling event very much intended here. The Drawbridge Mega-Battle Hive Mind has been hard at work planning our year-end event, and we wanted to revisit the Bug Hunt that people had a lot of fun with for our 10th edition launch event. So we’re announcing Bug Hunt 2: A December to Dismember! All the info you need is below.

Background: Pocket dimensions are perfect for the mysterious Hunt-Master to stage his little games. And this time he’s crafted one where he can see just how effective the various hunters of the universe fare when set loose on quarry. Across all sorts of armies and races there were strange disappearances, as units turned up missing without explanation. As their peers searched for them, these wayward forces find themselves waking up on a shoreline of an island teeming with Tyranid organisms, from the smallest to the greatest. And given one simple explanation in a carefully filigreed scroll with writing bafflingly in their own native tongue: “Hunt as many as you can. The winners will be returned, the rest kept for eternity. Kill your trophies and compete for the greatest haul… but at least one of your number needs to return to your transport to keep them.”

What: This will be a staged event that runs all evening on Thursday, December 4th. Players can contribute in two ways, both by painting Tyranid models to populate the island, and by bringing a single squad and a transport that can hold them (see more info below) and seeing just what all they can hunt before escaping the various “islands” with their haul. There will be multiple GM’s on hand so people can compete starting at different points on the 12 foot island board we’ll have, and we’ll keep a “leader board” through the night detailing which players have the most Tyranid kills on their safari expeditions… while still managing to get a single model back and free. If there’s room, players can even give a try multiple times during the evening with their squads. As always, prizes at Drawbridge will be based upon a random draw amongst participants where additional draws will be entered for not only the winner, but for each unit newly painted for the event that participants bring (as we ask all models in these events be a minimum of three colors and based), and for “best painted” Tyranids and hunting squads alike.

Hunting Squads: Players participating in the bug hunt will bring one infantry squad of their choosing, attach one character (non-epic, so no “named” characters), and a vehicle that can transport that squad and character. Note that while the temptation may be the most expensive transport, note that the Tyranids will have a set of “Artificial Intelligence” rules for when they notice something and attack it–so a Land Raider firing off lascannons 48″ away might just alert the entire half of the island. That means no jump infantry or other “doesn’t fit in a transport” types, and that some armies will have different limitations (e.g. Necrons can only transport Warriors in their Ghost Arks, but they can bring a Night Scythe if they want a different sort of unit… tho who knows what flying Tyranids might notice that tasty flying croissant). Also, no Drop Pods… as the point is needing to “get away to safety” in the transport. There will be entries into the prize draw for fielding a newly-painted squad, a newly-painted transport, best painted combo squad+transport, and best “Hunters” themed squad (aimed at those who want to convert up a squad of specialized hunters or even specifically Tyranid hunters). And sorry: no Knights armies and no Daemons, given the nature of this event being about a squad striking out from a transport (don’t worry: Knight Night Fight Night 5 will happen in early 2026, and we did Daemon-cember last year).

Bugs for the Cause: The goal is to cover the table in groups of Tyranid models, from large to small. The more the merrier. So to encourage people to paint up those units each squad of Tyranid models that are painted up for the event give the person bringing them a bonus two draws in the prize pool. And we’d love if the established Tyranid players bring along their masses as well, just to crowd the board with some amazing Nid biodiversity.

How Will it Run? See below for the “if/then” set of “Hive Mind” reactions that will guide when and where Tyranid units respond to the attacks of the hunter squads. The sound of battle, the smell of casualties, the sight of long range gunfire, all will have a chance to draw other squads of Tyranids into the fray. Especially dangerous when the last stragglers are trying to get back to their transport with a haul of bug trophies! As always with our big events, the goal is simple, silly, and thematic rules to get us throwing dice together and laughing at the fortunes (and misfortunes) of squads as they compete for glory in this latest Bug Hunt!

Leaders: As mentioned above, players can choose to have one character attached to the squad as well. Ideally we are thinking of them as “medic” support characters, particularly apothecary/hospitaller/painboy type models, but you can bring any model that isn’t an “epic” hero.

To reward those who were taking the time to do up their dedicated medic-type models, those fielding a medic will get a bonus in the game. That list is: Apothecary, Sanguinary Priest, Hospitaller, Painboy, Painboss, Plague Surgeon, and Biophagus. Anyone fielding those models will get one “emergency patch-up”, where they can once during their mission, at the end of any phase, roll a d6 and restore that many models to their unit. That’s in addition to their other rules. It’s a very limited list by design, really only the proper healers (sorry rebuilders in Necrons and cloners in Drukhari). If there’s some new version of this type of model I’m missing from other factions let me know and I’ll add them.

Tyranid “Artificial Intelligence” Rules:

Every player turn their units will be doing things, and those things generate chances for the Tyranids to hear, feel, smell, or sense them and attack back. Each player will have a d20 placed near their forces to represent the “alert level” for their turn. The list below has the various things that increase alarm amongst the Tyranids. They are additive (cumulative?), and certain Tyranids have a chance to sense some things more than others (burrowers sense movement of heavy vehicles, while Psychic powers being used can be seen by Hive Mind critters). At the end of the player’s turn (move, shoot, charge, assault), note the number that the alert level has risen to that turn and then the player must roll ABOVE that number to remain undetected.

Action/OccurrenceAlert Level ModifierType
Unit Advances+1Sound
Hover Transport Moves+1Sound
Tracked or Wheeled Transport Moves+2Sound, Vibration
Aircraft Transport Moves+1Sight
Aircraft Transport’s Move comes within 24” of Flying Tyranid model+4Sight
Massive Transport Moves (really huge hard-to-miss stuff that people might bring… Monolith or Stompa for instance)+5Sight
Tyranids Unit damaged by ranged attacks+3Sound, Smell
Ranged Attacks from Silenced source (GM uses judgment, but needs to be like sniper rifles or properly silenced stuff… note that Ork Kommando guns are NOT silenced)-2Sound
Ranged attacks fired from a vehicle or infantry “Big Gun” or “Loud Gun” source (again GM judgment–machine guns and big cannons here, any projectile weapons that make a “bang” louder than a bolter)+2Sound, Vibration
Tyranids Unit damaged by melee attacks+4Sound, Smell
Melee Attacks from Silenced Source (only commando troops get this: Kommandos, Catachans, Night Lords, Raven Guard, Scouts, Reivers, Striking Scorpions, etc.)-2Sound
All Targeted Unit(s) Completely Wiped Out in this turn-2Synapse
Model uses an ability or an attack with the “Psychic” keyword+2Synapse
Something else that would alert a unit (GM’s discretion)+X by GM’s discretionGM’s discretion
Something else that would keep a unit hidden/silent/unobserved, such as move after shoot to a hidden position or specific wargear (GM’s discretion)-X by GM’s discretionGM’s discretion

The player then checks for Alert at the very end of their turn by rolling a d20 and comparing to their Alert Level for their prior turn. If they roll ABOVE their Alert level, no problem, their hunt has remained undetected. Any Tyranids that are in engagement range, have been shot but not killed by them, or have noticed them in a prior term but not reached them, get to respond with movement, shooting, charge, fight as normal, but no other Tyranid units notice and remain dormant. Tyranid units in melee also get to fight back in the player turn as normal. 

If the player rolls BELOW their Alert level, then the GM rolls a d3. That many units beyond any shot/hit respond to the attack. What units respond depend on the modifier descriptions (they indicate which model responds first). After that it is simply the nearest three models to affected Tyranid units or to the player units themselves (GM discretion for what makes sense given the situation). 


Synapse: If this modifier was involved, the first unit to respond is the nearest Synapse creature. The GM may then designate any one other Tyranid model within 12” of that Synapse creature to be notified by their Synapse leader if a 2 or 3 was the result of the d3 . 

Sight: If this modifier was involved, the first unit to respond is the closest flying or winged creature

Smell: If this modifier was involved, the first unit to respond is the nearest unit of Rippers or Gaunts

Sound: No special choices, just nearest models

Vibration: If this modifier was involved, the first unit to respond is the closest burrowing creature (Raveners, Mawloc, Trygon, etc.)

If multiples of these are involved, the GM can use their discretion about what units compose the d3 responding (as long as they’re drawn from the correct sorts of units)

Loota Island: Orktober 2025

Loota Island: Orktober 2025

It’s time for the month of Ork-tober 2025 at Drawbridge Games. And we’ve got some fun planned with a month-long event that culminates in an all-day (and maybe much of the night) Mega-Battle on November 1st–which happens to be the Extra Life charity fundraiser day this year. We’re calling the whole thing “Loota Island” and there are going to be a lot of ways for players to participate, from painting to skirmish battles to the big event.

This Orktober we’ll be telling the tale of Loota Island, an Ork invasion of an Imperial Planet that gets supported by some Xenos races cooperating owing to the mass threat of the Orks.

(Don’t worry Chaos folks, a Daemon-cember event will happen again this year and be your change to field some forces; and Tanksgiving will be a time for any and all forces to be a part of one of our big events).

There will be two phases: the building (painting) and loota raids phase, and then the final invasion mega-battle. Participants can field any type of Orks army they like if they want to play on the Orks side, and can choose any of the following to fight on the Imperials+Helpful Xenos side: Space Marines, Sisters of Battle, Adeptus Mechanicus, Adeptus Custodes, Imperial Knights, Imperial Agents, Astra Militarium, Genestealer Cults, Leagues of Votann, T’au Empire, Aledari, and Drukhari.

Participation in various events gives players chances at entry for the prize draw done on the final day at Drawbridge, done in our usual door prize style.

The Loota Raids – Month of Orktober

During the month of Orktober, participants can earn draws in the final drawing in three ways: Painting Progress, playing Loota Raid skirmish missions, and converting (and painting) Looted Vehicles.

For those playing Orks, every squad of Ork infantry (between 3-12 models depending on the box set) that you newly paint during the month of Orktober earns you a draw. Post a pic of the squad assembled/primed either in the store 40k Painting Chat or the Painting section of the Discord, then a pic of the final painted squad.

For those not playing Orks, you get a draw for every vehicle you newly paint during the month of Orktober. Same rules apply: share a before and an after pic to get your draws counted (I’ll track them here on this site).

Players can also do a Loota Raid skirmish mission. This is designed to be a small number of points, and entirely infantry units except for one vehicle on the non-Ork side. Players should discuss points value and match each others’ points as well as they’re able. We recommend no more than 300 points per side of Infantry (the vehicle can be any points value). Players need not field any characters to lead the force, and any characters used cannot be more than 3 wounds.

The scenario runs 5 rounds. The deployment map is below, and uses a smaller board size (36″x36″). If the Ork player fields any Kommandos they can be placed in the advanced zone indicated upon deployment.

For the purposes of this mission each model in the unit acts as it’s own unit with separate activations. Think like Kill Team. If the unit has one-use upgrades like Bomb Squigs, those go with a specific model and can only be used by that model. This also includes deployment, so models from the same unit can be spread out all over the battle area as desired. The limitation of not deploying within 9″ of an enemy model is reduced in this mission–models cannot be deployed within 6″ of an enemy model. The defending player deploys a model first and then sides alternate placing models until all are deployed. Models may be placed in reserve as normal with any rules they have. Players then roll off for first turn.

The vehicle begins in the control of the non-Ork defender, but is not “active” at the start of the game. Starting round 2 onward the player can try to “activate” the vehicle by rolling a d6 at the end of the command phase. On turns 2 and 3 the vehicle starts on a 6. Turn 4 it starts on a 5. Turn 5 it starts on a 3. Once a vehicle is activated it can fight as normal in the battle. However, the Ork player can also seize the vehicle. If there is no enemy model within 1″ of the vehicle, an Ork model within 1″ of the vehicle can take an action during the shooting phase instead of shooting to try and commandeer it. They roll a d6. On a 4+ they take control and activate the vehicle (it cannot charge during that turn’s charge phase). The Ork model can commandeer an activated vehicle as well. If the Ork model inflicts 1 or more unsaved wounds on an activated vehicle in melee, then they can roll a d6. On a 6 they get inside and manage to take control. A vehicle under Ork control uses it’s normal stats but replaces all ballistic still values with a 5+, and it loses any special qualities of a vehicle that would come from the nature of the crew of the vehicle (players should agree in advance what those are), and adjust any special rules that mention buffing one’s own army to count for the Orks. If the vehicle is destroyed by either side leave it on the table–it becomes a wreck and counts as impassible terrain for the rest of the game.

The game is a victory for the Orks if they control the vehicle at the end of the game. It’s a narrow victory for the Orks if the vehicle is destroyed (by either side) but no enemy models remain within 12″ of the vehicle at the end of the game. It’s a draw if the vehicle is destroyed (by either side) and enemy models are within 12″ of the vehicle. It’s a victory for the non-Orks if they control the vehicle at the end of the game. Also, note that this mission is likely to be very random and silly, so don’t take it too seriously–and if something is funky and not working right, agree with your opponent how to handle it and focus on having fun.

Playing the mission gains each player one draw in the final drawing. Update the organizers (Andrew) when a game has been played so we can keep track.

If the Ork player gets a victory or a narrow victory they then have the option to “loot” that vehicle for the Extra Life game. The player should acquire their own kit of that vehicle, convert it to a suitably Ork-y version (I encourage thinking about what Ork model it might proxy as, and having those weapon options present too). If they field it at the Extra Life game then it can use the Looted Vehicle rule for the event, and operate with the same rules as the vehicle would normally have except with a 5+ ballistic skill, and would again lose any rules that are dependent upon the nature of the crew (confirm with the organizers). Fielding a vehicle looted in this way nets an Ork player 5 draws in the prize drawing (as winning, then converting, then painting is a big undertaking!).

The Extra Life Invashun Extravaganza

More details on the big event will follow when we get closer to it, but here are the basics. Extra Life is a 24-hour gaming marathon where players can donate money to the Extra Life charity (through the sponsor Drawbridge) for minor advantages in games like re-rolls. It’s a great charity event and Drawbridge has raised thousands of dollars for various charities in the city as a part of it in prior years.

We won’t do a full 24 hours, but we intend to do a pretty long time for the event. The games will be drop-in, drop-out, with an island defended by Imperial forces with contingents of “good” Xenos assisting them being invaded by a flotilla of Ork attackers from both sides. There will be rules for returning destroyed models to play, and players can join for as long or as little as they would like through the day and evening (and maybe early morning). Players can earn draws in the final prize drawing for participating in the event as an Ork player, for participating as an Imperial or Xenos player, and for event-specific missions: every player will get a randomly assigned mission card detailing what they need to do during the mega battle to get their extra draws.

It should be silly fun as always, and we’ll have the full list of how players join, what the possible missions are, and how donations to the Extra Life cause can be used for in-game bonuses. We’ll do the drawing at the end of the event, and participants do not need to be present to win (so even if you cannot make the big event, you can still paint to get draws or play the Loota Raid mission).

So mark November 1st on your calendars to attend during the day and/or evening, and in the meantime get those models built and ready to paint for the month of Orktober!

Ork players please do inform the organizers (Andrew) that you’re planning to play Orks for the event so we can have a good list of who is able to bring what for the event (as we’ll match the size of what forces the Imperials+Xenos side can bring based around our Ork presence). Ork collaborators will get a bonus draw in the drawing, and two draws if they do at least 300 points of Ork infantry new for Orktober (to play the Loota Raid mission!).

Armageddon at Drawbridge Gate: Summer 2025

Armageddon at Drawbridge Gate: Summer 2025

This Summer at Drawbridge Games we’re launching a store-wide Warhammer 40k Crusade Campaign, designed for all players in the community to participate in. The goal is for people to get in games to tell the stories of their own armies whilst being a part of the bigger narrative for the store, culminating in two mega-battles at the end of the campaign to decide things. We’ll be loosely using the 2025 Crusade supplement for Warhammer 40k, but players will not need that to play the games. You’ll find the campaign’s story, procedures, and plan below.

Story

Like Angron’s attack on the planet of Armageddon, the planets in the Drawbridge Gulf system are in a moment of extreme, planet-threatening crisis. In the past, strange causeways formed in the warp between planets in the Drawbridge Gulf (see here for an example: https://youtu.be/RBBMz3_EXn4?si=bT3VybVjBlXamYk5 ), and the machinations of Chaos are yet again playing havoc on the connections between planets in the system. Warp anomalies and rifts have begun forming on the twin planets of Ponte Levatoio and Drifbrú. Ponte Levatoio is a mining world rich with resources, recently partially developed by the tech priests of Mars to begin manufacturing. From scrap to rare resources many factions would love to either control the planet or quickly extract its resources and escape. It’s sister planet of Drifbrú by contrast has the other commodities of the galaxy. Not only is it a lush and prosperous agri-world teeming with life and with a huge population of human workers, but its also an ancient touchstone of the war in heaven, with buried artifacts of both Necron and Aeldari significance forming powerful warp ley-lines to converge on the system. In short, every faction has decided that the moment of the warp instabilities connecting the two of them is the perfect time to strike and get their gains or thwart others’s aims.

Mining World Ponte Levatoio with the serene Agri-World Drifbrú in the distance

Procedures

The Campaign will use the basic 40k Crusade system described in many supplements. Any 10th edition Crusade rules description will get you the basics you need to play–here is the basic version from Warhammer Community which includes the printable roster sheet as well as the cards to track each unit: https://assets.warhammer-community.com/warhammer40000_crusade_crusaderules_eng_24.09-x7lpyyilc9.pdf .

Players have a set maximum number of points you can bring to games based around spending requisition points, and units gain Battle Honors to represent their Upgrades (traits, weapon upgrades, and relics) through experience points (XP), and Battle Scars from defeats. Players should draw up a Crusade Roster and track their units, starting at 1,000 points as usual. The specific Crusade goals of each army from their army book will not be used, as each army will be working on the Armageddon Campaign goal. Note that “goal” is the general term I’m using for the back-of-codex rules for each faction’s own progress toward their own narrative that results in faction Campaign Badges (e.g. Death Guard brewing plagues, Orks accumulating scrap, Eldar doing their absurd weaving three strands of fate book-keeping). Of course players can track their own army progress toward these unique faction goals that yields them their faction-specific Campaign Badges–but that’s for fun only–tho it may affect what your forces do to try and gain XP. No benefits for units are accrued from these–only the unit upgrades from the Armageddon book (awarded by Campaign HQ) will be applied.

Campaign HQ will release a weekly guide for what mission should be played in that week by campaign players, with all the info you’ll need for running that mission. Players additionally get ONE Agenda each game that they can pursue, which can be chosen from the list below from the Armageddon Crusade, or can swap in one of their Codex-specific Agendas if they prefer. There will be bonus chances for unit XP based around players bringing and modeling various Warp Anomalies to represent parts of the missions (a number of missions have strange “neutral antagonist” warp creatures that assail both sides of the battle at random as part of the mission).

Battle Honors Upgrades and Scars will be randomly assigned as part of the Campaign HQ update each week–so you’ll need to tune in to those to see what happened to your forces in the aftermath of the battle. This will make the game more fun because players are not cherry-picking upgrades, and also will give a sense of renown for the units that are becoming either glorious victors or scarred-but-scrappy competitors. You can request the type of Battle Honor Upgrade assigned from the following types: Weapons Modification, Crusade Relic, Faction Battle Trait (found in your army codex), or Armageddon Battle Trait (found in the Crusade: Armageddon book).

After a game, players will submit some short information to the following form: https://tinyurl.com/49k6csun. They must submit their name, the name of their opponent, the campaign mission played, the results of the battle, a photo from the battle of their forces in action, and photos and bit of info on any units that gain new Battle Honor Upgrades or incurred Battle Scars. These will then be featured in the Campaign HQ updates. The rest of the info of Crusade progress, such as Requisition Points and how they’re spent, size of force, Crusade Points, and replacement of units are tracked by each individual on their own as normal for Crusade play.

Players can play more than one game per week, but are encouraged to play them with different armies and opponents to vary things up (see “plan” below for why multiple armies are fine). If you play multiple games in a week just know that the effects of any battle traits or battle scars will not be issued until after the week is finished. To play a game players find an opponent (in the store on Thursday nights or weekends is most likely, but also in the 40k chats on Messenger or the Store Discord–ask to be a part of them if you’re not), agree to a points value that works for both players (remember that Crusade can balance somewhat different points values, but keep things relatively even by generally playing where the lower roster size player is at), select units and play the assigned mission for the week. If two players want to play prior missions from earlier weeks to “Catch Up” then you also can do so during the time frame of the campaign. Those may or may not affect the outcomes of the planetary narrative (e.g. it may be too late to “save the village” if the village was wiped out by last week’s results), but I want people to be able to have fun, play the missions, and feel a part of things so it’s fine to go back and play prior missions.

Painting requirements for Crusade games are a bit more relaxed. We ask that people make a good faith effort in painting their models and follow a “more painted this week than last week” approach to their games. The one rule is that unpainted models cannot be part of the Campaign HQ upates. So they cannot receive Upgrades due to Battle Honors as we’ll want photos of the painted models for those updates. So hopefully getting a unit enough XP to reach these milestones would mean that players are incentivized to put at least battle-ready paint on those models. Likewise, unpainted units that receive a Battle Scar means the player MUST spend a Requisition Point on the Repair and Recuperate action to remove it after the battle (or paint up the models before submitting results). Players can delay submission of the Battle Results to allow painting time if they wish (but the results may not figure in to the planetary narrative in that case (similar to playing prior missions).

Remember: “battle ready” can be as quick as a bit of contrast and a couple of highlights

Team games are also permitted in the campaign, so if you want to play as a group you’re more than welcome to do so. The main thing about these is that only one faction (see below) per side gets advanced with the results of the game, so just be clear about which side is being fought for when submitting results from a team game.

Plan

As part of this campaign, each army represents one of four competing general Alliances seeking control of the pair of planets. Those Alliances are The Imperium, Chaos (including any Guard and AdMech forces that wish to declare themselves as Chaos), Order Xenos (T’au, Drukhari, Aeldari, and Votann), and Annihilation Xenos (Orks, Tyranids, Genestealer Cults, and Necrons). The overall campaign tracks the wins/losses of these forces to determine which end up controlling various aspects of the two planets through the course of the summer campaign. At the end of the Summer/conclusion of the campaign, there will be TWO Mega-Battles on two different days to determine the final outcome of the two planets. These will feature one massive board and be all-day Armageddon Style mega battles with objectives for each player and board elements effected by the games of the campaign. This is why players are encouraged to play a couple of different armies throughout the campaign if they like–as you can take part in any Mega-Battle that you fielded forces for in at least one game. The matchups and which planet they take place on will be determined by the results of the campaign games–so it might be Imperium vs Chaos on Ponte Levatoio while Xenos clash on Drifbrú, but it could also be a harried defense of Pointe Levatoio by the Order Xenos facing Chaos, whilst the Imperium seeks to repel the Annihilation Xenos from the shores of Drifbrú. Either way, both should be fun endcaps to the campaign when taken together, and give people multiple days to be able to participate in at least one of the campaign end events.

Right now the plan is a bit flexible by interest from the community, but we’re thinking 7 weeks of campaign games and then the culminating two mega-battles in early-to-mid August. That means roughly the following schedule:

Hopefully this gives our community a fun way to play some linked 40k games this summer, get some cool stories built, and really go all-out for some big 40k fun. We’ll hopefully do footage of the two Mega-Battles at the end of it to again compose a video about the event that people can look back on to remember the summer of Armageddon!

Update: Campaign HQ Mission Briefing Week One is Now Live

For those who prefer to read, here is the relevant data for how the first week’s mission will run:

Orktober 2025 – Drawbridge Games

Orktober 2025 – Drawbridge Games

So it’s already July, which means it’s the perfect time to look forward to Orktober at Drawbridge Games in Pittsburgh, PA. Previous Octobers we’ve done different Ork-themed events at the game store: wacky races, mega-battles, and even a “how many Grots can your vehicle or monster kill” game.

Thursday, October 24th we’ll do a mega-battle game we’re calling Survive the Green Tide: players will bring a smaller-sized force and see how long they can survive and what they can take down against a massive (and recycling) horde of Orks that rush forward and fire indiscriminately… which is no different than usual.

Survive the Green Tide

Players can choose to be on the Ork side and join us GM’s (if they bring Orks) or the player side (anything else). For player-side players, they will each bring a small force of 750 points*, chosen as normal. The Orks will deploy on one side of a massive table, the players on the other side. The goal of the game is to see how long the players survive against the relentless Ork push, as well as what all they manage to take down in the process.

A prize pool will exist for this one, and draws will be added for number of rounds survived, as well as for eliminating the biggest and most units. That means entries for things like most points killed, biggest models killed, most Ork boyz killed, etc. The full list will be provided at the event–players will get kill count tracking sheets for that purpose. Balanced forces may be able to score lots of points, but also specialized boyz killers or tank killers could ensure they win specific things. And survivable units may also be the key. Enter and find out.

As a bonus, players on the non-Ork side can loot their own vehicle for the Orks to includd in their throng. It will use all the rules for the vehicle as normal, except it’s Ballistic Skill will be a 5+ for all weapons (regardless of modifiers like Heavy or other special rules). Players will also get a bonus draw in this big game if they manage to kill the model they made (run by their Ork opponents of course).

Ork players should contact Andrew and Rico to register their interest, and get a sense of how we’ll be handling the battle on the Orks side.

All models must be painted (meaningful attempt) and based to be utilized.

* Note that depending on total amount of Orks available and anticipated number of players, that number may grow or shrink. Our best estimate is that all will be able to field 750 and it’ll work out. But keep in mind we might adjust when we get closer to the timing!