Friday, September 27, 2013

The Aleph Sector Campaign

Welcome to all new members of the Wargames Society! Here is a very short explanation of how the campaign works.

The Aleph sector campaign is a narrative campaign which has been going on since 2001. Its likely the longest running and most written about campaign not run by Games Workshop!

The full history of the sector can be found on the right under "Campaign Files", along with a full description of how the campaign works. However there are nearly a million words to read, so the three posts below show an overview of what's going on in the campaign right now!

The campaign is a "turn up and play" campaign. When you win a game you earn "points" which go towards the campaign. The basic points are as follows:

Games 1500-2000pts:
Loss - 0pts
draw (same VPs) - 0pts
win (neither side gets 3VPs) - 1pt
win (someone wins and gets 3 or more VPs) - 2pts
win (scoring 3+ VPs and double your opponent) - 3pts
win (wiping your opponent off the board) - 4pts

In addition bigger games score more points and the campaign is not limited to 40K. Epic, Gothic, Kill Team and AI all feature. Generally armies are sorted into "factions" (broadly races but not always) and unless stated you're results will be lumped in with your "faction" - e.g. if you are an eldar player and you play a space marine player and win, your result will be applied to the Ares campaign (see below) unless otherwise specified.

You can play whenever you want and whoever you want and have as little or as much involvement in the narrative as you want. Generally there are five kinds of player, briefly explained below.

1 - The winning player submits his win and I (the GM) will apply the most sensible result to the campaign (easy!)
2 - The winning player will be given options by the GM and will pick one.
3 - The winning player will already have an idea of what his faction wants to do in the campaign, perhaps with some background. The GM comes up with ways the player can achieve the results.
4 - The player knows the rules fairly well and will plan campaigns by consulting the map. He will inform the GM of what the battle is about and the result will be applied afterwards. Usually these players have a faction with a fair amount of "fluff" and even contribute things to the blog.
5 - This player is someone who understands and shapes the campaign. They are similar to 4 but are usually the leaders of a certain faction and guide events and help the GM with story arcs.

Most players start between 1-3 and then some move on to 4-5. It depends how much you want to be involved in the background. And don't worry about "losing" for your side. It's a multiplayer narrative campaign not a league! You can't "win" the campaign nor can one side be "wiped out". The campaign is about building a history of events and creating story arcs, not about finding out who is "best" at 40K!

Come and see me on Saturday 5th October if you want to know more!

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