Vanadian Campaign: Overview

Vanadian is a world in turmoil. Factions both within the Imperium and without are fighting to decide the destiny of this troubled system. The Vanadian Campaign is a narrative campaign for Warhammer 40k. It is intended to give some background context to your 40K games, and give a sense of story and meaning. It is not intended to add any difficult book keeping or be restrictive in any way.

The star system of Vanadian has been divided into a series of warzones, some have special rules to fight in them, and once they are controlled, they will grant special rules to those factions who own them. However there is no requirement to use these in your Vanadian games, and they can be adopted in part or in whole as it suits your temperament.

Similarly the factions fighting over the carcas of this once once proud demi-forge have been assigned codex's that fit their back story. Whilst we strongly recommend that when claiming a victory for a faction you use a valid codex for the faction, our opposition can be proxies in from any other codex or list.

The Important thing is to post results for your faction, results will be collated and at the end of each game turn, control of each region will be determined and factions will be informed of the bonus'es they have unlocked.

The Golden Rule is: Have Fun and post results!

The Strategic Turn

The game will be divided into Four Strategic turns, with each turn roughly equating to one month (or after enough Activity).

This is essentially a book keeping phase during which time the GM will update the Faction pages and list the bonuses each faction can claim in game.

So Whos winning?

Each turn the GM will open a turn thread and give a summary of activity in the system. The WarzonesThe system of Vanadian has been divided into war zones.
Warzones can relate to anything from an entire moon to a region on a planet to an industrial block of a Hive. Factions established in the war zone will compete against each other for possession of a Warzone. If your faction is not in a war zone already and you would like to invade it, there are two ways to invade it:
- win several games against a faction in that war zone to establish a beachhead; or
- Win a game and contact the GM with a Batrep (it is Narrative after all).

This is the only time you need to play an opponent with a specific codex. If you win, report the result and tell the GM you are going for control when reporting the result

Organising a Game

Organise a game just as you would a normal 40k game with one exception: pick a region to fight over.
At least one faction should be present in that region for the control to be calculated, otherwise the Game will be calculated as a Skirmish.
If you want to, set out the board with appropriate for that terrain, agree any rules you are going to apply from your factions rules for that turn. Then play the game.

All results count. Report them all.

Results will count for more if the codex is in the region you are playing over.

Posting Results

Once you have completed your game and have a result, post the result online here: this is an online form that includes help on how to fill it in.
This goes into a massive database which calculates the result. Control Games will gain control of regions; Skirmish games will make regions easier to take.
Results will be posted in the strategic phase.

Warzones

In the Vanadian System; there are:
- two Worlds;
- two Moons; and
- an Orbital Station

Each of these are divided into points of strategic interest. Special rules and current ownership for the turn will be posted into the Warzones Thread.

Factions in the Vanadian System

There are five factions in Vanadian, with considerable cross over in terms of codex, allowing for a lot of variation/Battle brother action. More info can be seen in the page for each Faction. The Factions are:
- Vanadian Bishopric (Ecclesiarchy)
- Vanadian CLI Division (The Du-Umvirates forces)
- Lord Blearggg, Lord of the Flies Vavoured of Papa Nurgle (Chaos and Dark Mechanicum)
- Vanadian Independance Movement (Tau Worshipers)
- Cabal of the Splintered Eye (The Cabal of Archon Azhad, Master of Wilderheim)

Vanadian Campaign Background

Vanadian lies on the half fogotten spur of the damoclese gulf transit trail, in the Three sisters subsector. It is a Civilised world, ruled by a co-regency world shared between the Adeptus Mechanicus  and the Adeptus Terra. General-Govenor Fostrop and Fabricator Krovius rule in a easy Du-umvirate.

The Vanadium system is an Imperial strong point and an island of calm in a subsector drenched in blood. In the century leading up to the recent Damoclese Crusade, many of the worlds in the three sisters subsector had sucumbed to the heretical philosopies of the Tau. Greedy govenors of the surrounding systems had fallen one by one to the false promises or outright conquest by the Tau. Vanadian stood appart, keeping true to the God Emperor.

When the Crusade rolled through the subsector, Vanadium was selected as the jumpoff point for Imperial operations to cleanse the Three sisters of Tau influence. The population swelled as Imperial Guard Divisions cycled through the world on the way to the front. The shipyards and star ports of the system were upgraded and fortified to cope with the huge increase in traffic.

As the crusade faltered, the economic boom brought by its passage faltered with it. Imperial forces were pulled out to deal with Hive Fleet Behemoth, the fleets left, and along with it much of the civilian starships which had supported it. The Three sisters subector had been left devastated by war, added to this the  loss of its civilian traffic the effect on the subsector was devastating.  Some worlds slipped back into the Tau sphere, many were left contested with neither side able to force a decision either way. Accross the Subsector, whether Tau or Imperial, the effect was the Same. The economy ws left in taters with little hope of recovery.

At the turn of 748.M41,  on Vanadian Prime, Imperial citizens, much used to plenty, quickly found themselves subjected to Austerity. When Austerity became privation, the citizens of Vanadian Prime began to protest.

Co-operation between forges began to break down. Indiviual Magos started to hoard increasingly scarce resources for themselves, forges became insular, production began to suffer, there were even disturbing reports of clashes between the skittari of increasingly independant forges and even between Imperials and Mechanium.

Vanadians Troubles were only just beginning. Unknown to the du-umvirate, a small force of Tau had arrived. Invited in by the traitor General Tenzing of the 10th division of the PDF, the Tau were there to offer aid, both eonomic and millitay to help with the Generals coup.

So it begins...

Normandus Prime - Imperial Agri-World

++++Sniffer Sentinal patrol, GeoMarker Epsilon 3++++
'keep moving, try to get out of the valley to get a warning to base!' Sergeant Fretis screamed down the vox.

He turned his sentinel towards the xenos skimmer that had shredded his corporals sentinal like paper. 'Feel the light of the Emperors wrath xenos scum!', and thumbed both triggers on his control yoke. The hellstrike missile shot over the skimmer. However, the lascannon shot was true to the mark and struck the green vehicle squarely in the side of the hull. Fretis moaned as the kilojoules of energy from the beam of light was simply dissipated by the alien vehicles wave shield.

The skimmers turret rotated towards Sergeant Fretis's direction. 'Oh, throne' was the last words that came out of his mouth before the turret fired.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Normandus Prime was one of the key agri-worlds supplying much needed food to the forces and citizens of the imperium during the Damacles recovery. Due to the vast amounts of food that was required, extensive de-forestation was commenced across the planet. It was during the clearing of GeoMarker Theta 12 that one of the MegaCarver vehicles struck the half buried webway gate.

A week later the Ordos Xenos arrived, and a cordon was erected around GeoMarker Theta 12.
Two weeks later a message arrived from the depths of space for the inhabitants of Normandus Prime.

'Monkeigh, you have three days to leave this planet, or your ashes will be swept away by the wind'

Four days later, the Orion class battle cruiser 'Emperors Retribution' illuminated the night sky of Normandus when its engines went critical. The Endeavor class cruiser 'Indomitable Wrath' slammed into the city of 'Calvarados', killing everything within 8 miles of the impact site. Some say that the people there were the lucky ones.

A day later the Sword wind of Autarch Tirithon struck the major capital cities 'Cherbourgania' and 'Bayeux Prime'.

Timeline

742.M41 Damocles Crusade Begins and Ends in the same year. Imperial Forces withdraw to face Hive Fleet Behemoth.

746.M41 the Tau Sept world of H'Rrus is consumed by Hive Splinter Geiger, but not be fore a heroic defence allows the H'Rus Sept to pull out many of its citizens to a rescue fleet.

747.M41 Tau H'Rus Sept arrives on the planet of Praxedes IV, and joins the front line against the Imperial Guard forces.

058.747.M41 Inquisitor Thelis recovers picts of a Space Marines Battle Barge from the wreckage of a troop transport carrying a company of the Vostroyan CCCLII first born to Praxedes Quintus. An Analysis of the Pict recordings show the Barge to be be that of the Dark Angels Chapter of Space Marines. Navigators on board report the Battle Barge changing course for Praxedes Qunitus.

058.747.M41 Tau H'Rus Sept launch a counter offensive, recapturing the outer suburbs of the town of Vidighese on Praxedes Qunitus.

071.747.M41 Inconclusive Fighting continues in and around down town Vidighese on Praxedes Quintus between the 291st Death Korps of Krieg regiment and the H'Rus Sept.

093.747.M41 Tau finally break the Imperial line in the town of Vidighese. A Company of the CCCLLI Vostroyan broke under sustained Tau assault. With the Tau in positions overlooking the main highway into the city from the south, the Imperial position became untenable and the withdrawal began, with the 291st Death Korps of Krieg regiment covering the retreat.

109.747.M41 Imperial forces around Vedighese fell back to wards the next defense line based around the defensible feature known as the Malvairn heights. At the foot hills the 291st Death Korps of Krieg regiment turned at bay and utterly smashed the Tau vanguard in hot pursuit. Imperial forces had lost 15 km of line and the town of Vedighese had fallen, but the line was re-established

The Tortuga Marches Sub sector

The Fall
The Tortuga Marches Subsector is a distant and forgotten back water of the Imperium of Man, lying on the outer edge of the Damocles Gulf in the Ultima Segmentum.


Conquered during the Imperial crusade, as a possible transit corridor for between spiral arms, the sub sector was discovered to be only a branch and soon became a sleepy backwater.
By 730.M41 many of its worlds had fallen to the Tau or succumbed to the greater good through trade and peaceful annexation. When the Bauxite and Tungsten mines of St Dolan were annexed by the Water-caste in 739.M41, the slow decay of the sub sector finally came to the attention of the Administratum. The Damocles Crusade had by this time been in planning for years and the Tortuga Marches were added to the target lists almost as an afterthought.
In 742.M41 the Damocles Gulf Crusade slammed into Tau space, at first things went well for the Imperials, capturing world after world, destroying many outlying settlements. but eventually the crusade ground to a halt. The Imperium had been attacked elsewhere and desperately needed the forces of the Crusade elsewhere. Primarily to slow the approach of Hive Fleet Behemoth. By the end of 742.M41, not even a year after the crusade had started, it was finished. Imperial commanders agreed to a withdrawal and a truce.

The Withdrawal
As the Segmentum Command began to realise the full extent and nature of the onslaught of Hive Fleet Behemoth, the cries for re-enforcement from the Damolces Crusade armies became more strident. What was planned as an organised withdrawal rapidly descended into a disorganised scramble: Armies were airlifted out leaving all of their equipment behind, to be re-equipped on the way to confront the Tyranids; Troops were abandoned when their Navy transport pulled out with all of their supplies, such as happened to the 17th Brimlock Dragoons; entire regiments were left behind because they couldn't get to the troopships on time.

The Aftermath
In the ensuing Chaos, fighting continued sporadically despite the peace treaty in some cases Tau sept's moved in to the vacuum left by departing Imperials only to run into die-hards and troops who had failed to reach the extraction point in time, in other cases such as the Tortuga Marches sector, local nobles conspired to keep the war going in order to retain that which the Imperium had so far managed to recover before the truce. The high tide mark of the Imperial advance was the star system Praxedes, and the Jewell in the crown: the civilised world of Praxedes IV. Five years after the peace treaty was signed ending the Damocles Gulf Crusade, the war in the Praxedes system continues unabated, neither side seems able to bring enough force to bear on the world resolve the issue, until in 747.M41 a collection of Tau Sept fleeing the destruction of their world by a splinter of Hive Fleet Behemoth come to settle on Praxedes IV.