GW Summer Campaign: Conquest of Kaiserslautern IV

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**Happygrunt**

Via natfka:

There has been beta testing going on for a summer campaign, and today is the first reporting of it I have seen. Of course its still in its beta form, but is being tested at several locations, a couple of which are in the US. (I have not heard of any others elsewhere yet).

Please take this as a rumor as nothing official has been announced, but this is not the first I have hard of this campaign. Quite some time ago we had rumors that one was coming, and that it would hit this summer.

via the Son of Dorn on the Most Perturbatory
http://perturbatory.blogspot.com/2014/01/new-gw-campaign-conquest-of.html
Well, as I predicted, it seems Games Workshop is reaching back out to us with a new Campaign. Centered around the Dark Vengeance set, it's a low points event for some fairly casual play. However, it's still in beta.

The Gamer's Haven, in Spokane, Washington has the privilege, alongside approximately 12 other stores, (that we're aware of) of beta testing the missions. Apparently a community of over 200 people does count for something. Upon the success of the test event, it'll be rolled out nationally. Check out the details below:

"On the remote imperial planet of Kaiserslautern VI in a distant sector the servants of the Dark Gods open a new chapter in their unending campaign to destroy the Imperium of Man. Having planted the seeds of rebellion among the populace for centuries, Chaos Lord Krannon the Relentless is now ready to reap the bitter harvest. There is still hope, however, for the citizens loyal to the Emperor. Company Master Balthasar and his Dark Angels stand ready to defend Kaiserslautern VI with their very lives, if necessary. The fate of the planet is now in your hands. It is time to choose sides and once again let slip the dogs of war."

You will need a few things to play, mainly a small army that uses a modified Force Organization chart.
- 600 point army that has 1 HQ, 1-2 Troops, 0-1 Elite, 0-1 Fast Attack, 0-1 Heavy Support, and 1 swing slot that can add 1 more slot on any part of the Force Organization chart. Alternatively, you may use either one of the armies from the Dark Vengeance Starter Set. The Dark Angels player may not use the Limited Edition Chaplain however.
- 1-2 additional Basic Troop choices without upgrades, such as Kabalite Warriors, a Space Marine Tactical Squad, Chaos Cultists, etc. These should be in addition to your 600 point list as they will be added to your army later in the event.
- 1 Fast Attack choice without upgrades
- 1 Elite choice without upgrades

All of these unit are important as this is a story driven campaign that starts with a few small games and builds up larger as you get further into the story. The actual missions will be posted in the store, and score sheets for the event will be handed out on the nights of the event. This is designed as a fun and friendly event, so feel free to come out and have a great time with us. There will be small participation prizes for everyone who shows up such as lanyards and patches, so come out and get some free loot as well!

Well, I am excited and hope it is true, not only because I do love small point games but a global campaign sounds really fun.

**AesSedai**

Cool, nice to see GW do something with the community in mind. GW gets flakk when they deserve it, and praise when it is warranted.

**Weltenwolf**

Really? A global campaign named after a small german hellhole of a city? You gotta be kidding ...

**Breotan**

I think it was less about the actual city and more about the name.

**Snrub**

Weltenwolf wrote:
Really? A global campaign named after a small german hellhole of a city? You gotta be kidding ...

Just looked this up. Wow. Way to go Geedubs you funny buggers.

This could be interesting. Keeping the eyes peeled.

**Ragnar69**

Weltenwolf wrote:
Really? A global campaign named after a small german hellhole of a city? You gotta be kidding ...

You never heard about the infamous greater deamon Zahnarzt, didn't you ?

**Pacific**

Sounds like a cool way of getting new players in.

Think it just looks to be something with that in mind, rather than anything that could even come close to matching the majesty that was the Eye of Terror campaign!

**filbert**

I think someone at Nottingham HQ was watching the Bundesliga highlights on ITV4 and something has stuck subconsciously...

**Alkasyn**

The format seems rather small ?

**alphaecho**

Maybe they meant Kaiserschlacht after the Spring offensive in 1918?

**Allod**

I guess Kaiserslautern and Birmingham (of RT fame) are in the same sector?

**Peregrine**

Alkasyn wrote:
The format seems rather small ?

It seems to be intended to be a newbie intro campaign with point sizes aimed at allowing a new player to use the starter set army.

That said, they're incredibly stupid rules. Without limits on AV 14/flyers/etc it's going to be a rock/paper/scissors match to see whether your opponent brought an answer to your "death star" unit, and a newbie has no chance of winning. And the "basic unit with no upgrades" rules are even worse since they rule out lots of fluffy choices (yay, an IG veteran squad with no heavy or special weapons). I can imagine that the "extra" units are going to be used in "now add your extra fast attack choice to your 600 point list" games, which means it's going to be a competition to see who can make the most powerful free units that don't need upgrades to work.

I guess it might be kind of fun if everyone voluntarily refrains from bringing good lists, but that's not a very reasonable hope to have.

**xruslanx**

Peregrine wrote:
Alkasyn wrote:
The format seems rather small ?

It seems to be intended to be a newbie intro campaign with point sizes aimed at allowing a new player to use the starter set army.

That said, they're incredibly stupid rules. Without limits on AV 14/flyers/etc it's going to be a rock/paper/scissors match to see whether your opponent brought an answer to your "death star" unit, and a newbie has no chance of winning. And the "basic unit with no upgrades" rules are even worse since they rule out lots of fluffy choices (yay, an IG veteran squad with no heavy or special weapons). I can imagine that the "extra" units are going to be used in "now add your extra fast attack choice to your 600 point list" games, which means it's going to be a competition to see who can make the most powerful free units that don't need upgrades to work.

I guess it might be kind of fun if everyone voluntarily refrains from bringing good lists, but that's not a very reasonable hope to have.

Pergrine you have been told on several occasions that your WAAC, super-competative mindset in 40k is not usual. Most 40k players, especially those who play at Games Workshop stores, are casual and will be playing a fun game with whatever models they have painted that they think are cool, not spamming the most expensive, most powerful units around.

This actually seems like the sort of thing I would have loved when I was 12/13, I don't think it's aimed at oldies like me though. Still, good luck to them.

**Hybrid Son Of Oxayotl**

Happygrunt wrote:
- 1 Fast Attack choice without upgrades

Uh ? So what is my Dominion Squad without upgrade going to look like ?

Anyway, clearly not made for competitive players, but designed for people that just want to have fun, and make something enjoyable from a fluff standpoint. I mean, it's “1-2 additional Basic Troop choices without upgrades”, without any point cost restriction, and that does include Grey Knight terminators, doesn't it ?

**Nevelon**

Could be fun.

I agree that units with no upgrades, with no point value associated, is not really a level playing field. Some things work great out of the box, others need a little bit more.

But we only have part of the picture here. 40k is easy to break. This looks to be an intro campaign, taken in that spirit I think it could be fun. Depending what the missions are, there might be a balancing factor we're unaware of.

**Kanluwen**

Hybrid Son Of Oxayotl wrote:
Happygrunt wrote:
- 1 Fast Attack choice without upgrades

Uh ? So what is my Dominion Squad without upgrade going to look like ?

Anyway, clearly not made for competitive players, but designed for people that just want to have fun, and make something enjoyable from a fluff standpoint. I mean, it's “1-2 additional Basic Troop choices without upgrades”, without any point cost restriction, and that does include Grey Knight terminators, doesn't it ?

You will need a few things to play, mainly a small army that uses a modified Force Organization chart.
- 600 point army that has 1 HQ, 1-2 Troops, 0-1 Elite, 0-1 Fast Attack, 0-1 Heavy Support, and 1 swing slot that can add 1 more slot on any part of the Force Organization chart. Alternatively, you may use either one of the armies from the Dark Vengeance Starter Set. The Dark Angels player may not use the Limited Edition Chaplain however.
- 1-2 additional Basic Troop choices without upgrades, such as Kabalite Warriors, a Space Marine Tactical Squad, Chaos Cultists, etc. These should be in addition to your 600 point list as they will be added to your army later in the event.
- 1 Fast Attack choice without upgrades
- 1 Elite choice without upgrades

So you start off with a 600 point army list with an HQ, 1-2 Troops, 0-1 Elite, 0-1 Fast Attack, 0-1 Heavy Support and a "swing slot" that lets you add an extra slot onto any one part of the FOC.

Additionally you have the following:
1-2 additional Basic Troop choices with no upgrades
1 Fast Attack choice without upgrades
1 Elite choice without upgrades

These are supposed to be added to your 600 point list in the course of the event.

What likely would happen is that as the event wears on, you get upgrades for the additions in the course of play. It is a campaign after all, not a tournament.

**CalgarsPimpHand**

xruslanx wrote:
Peregrine wrote:
Alkasyn wrote:
The format seems rather small ?

It seems to be intended to be a newbie intro campaign with point sizes aimed at allowing a new player to use the starter set army.

That said, they're incredibly stupid rules. Without limits on AV 14/flyers/etc it's going to be a rock/paper/scissors match to see whether your opponent brought an answer to your "death star" unit, and a newbie has no chance of winning. And the "basic unit with no upgrades" rules are even worse since they rule out lots of fluffy choices (yay, an IG veteran squad with no heavy or special weapons). I can imagine that the "extra" units are going to be used in "now add your extra fast attack choice to your 600 point list" games, which means it's going to be a competition to see who can make the most powerful free units that don't need upgrades to work.

I guess it might be kind of fun if everyone voluntarily refrains from bringing good lists, but that's not a very reasonable hope to have.

Pergrine you have been told on several occasions that your WAAC, super-competative mindset in 40k is not usual. Most 40k players, especially those who play at Games Workshop stores, are casual and will be playing a fun game with whatever models they have painted that they think are cool, not spamming the most expensive, most powerful units around.

This actually seems like the sort of thing I would have loved when I was 12/13, I don't think it's aimed at oldies like me though. Still, good luck to them.

Peregrine has a really good point. It isn't a WAAC-mindest, it's being conscious of the pitfalls of severe imbalance. The weird limits on unit upgrades and lack of restrictions on flyers, armor values, etc make it even easier for people to accidentally or intentionally bring a list that crushes others without effort (or conversely, unknowingly bring a list with no chance of winning). Especially if this is supposed to be bringing new players in, who often have a very narrow and random selection of models to work from.

I don't understand how people like you can't see this. Pointing out and perhaps even fixing balance issues helps helps players of all kinds, but especially casual players.

**Lockark**

CalgarsPimpHand wrote:
xruslanx wrote:
Peregrine wrote:
Alkasyn wrote:
The format seems rather small ?

It seems to be intended to be a newbie intro campaign with point sizes aimed at allowing a new player to use the starter set army.

That said, they're incredibly stupid rules. Without limits on AV 14/flyers/etc it's going to be a rock/paper/scissors match to see whether your opponent brought an answer to your "death star" unit, and a newbie has no chance of winning. And the "basic unit with no upgrades" rules are even worse since they rule out lots of fluffy choices (yay, an IG veteran squad with no heavy or special weapons). I can imagine that the "extra" units are going to be used in "now add your extra fast attack choice to your 600 point list" games, which means it's going to be a competition to see who can make the most powerful free units that don't need upgrades to work.

I guess it might be kind of fun if everyone voluntarily refrains from bringing good lists, but that's not a very reasonable hope to have.

Pergrine you have been told on several occasions that your WAAC, super-competative mindset in 40k is not usual. Most 40k players, especially those who play at Games Workshop stores, are casual and will be playing a fun game with whatever models they have painted that they think are cool, not spamming the most expensive, most powerful units around.

This actually seems like the sort of thing I would have loved when I was 12/13, I don't think it's aimed at oldies like me though. Still, good luck to them.

Peregrine has a really good point. It isn't a WAAC-mindest, it's being conscious of the pitfalls of severe imbalance. The weird limits on unit upgrades and lack of restrictions on flyers, armor values, etc make it even easier for people to accidentally or intentionally bring a list that crushes others without effort (or conversely, unknowingly bring a list with no chance of winning). Especially if this is supposed to be bringing new players in, who often have a very narrow and random selection of models to work from.

I don't understand how people like you can't see this. Pointing out and perhaps even fixing balance issues helps helps players of all kinds, but especially casual players.

A hell drake can be realy hard to deal with in smaller point games, if you did not have the foresight to bring weapons and units to try and deal with it. Restricting unit upgrades make this issue even greater.

I don't think every person who might end up bringing a Helldrake had WAAC on their mind when doing so. plenty of people who like the model.

**Kanluwen**

Again, from the way it's written, you're not "restricted from unit upgrades" for your 600 point list.

If that were true then the Dark Angels and Chaos Marine forces from Dark Vengeance would be illegal since they have unit upgrades in them.

The way it's written you're restricted from unit upgrades on your additional forces(the 1-2 additional Troops choices, the 1 Fast Attack choice, and the 1 Elite choice) that are on top of your 600 point list.

**carmachu**

GW gets an E for effort, but failing grade on execution at the moment. Unless it addresses pitfalls of flyers or AV14 in a 600 pt unit game. A LR and a DW terminator squad is going to be a tough nut, as will flyers and other things.

The guy who brings an HQ and 2 tac sqauds and another item is going to be outclasses.

**Farseer Faenyin**

Seems like a shoddy attempt at Escalation that is already done quite well by local clubs. It is a shame they didn't put limits on the first 600 pts of:

Combined AV 35
Points limits in slots
No flyers

Just my two cents though, having played in more than a few Escalation leagues.

**d-usa**

This global summer campaign seems kind of weird. Almost seems more like the kind of thing that used to be in a small booklet that you would actually get in your starter set to help you get started with playing games and to learn the rules.

"Thank you for purchasing Dark Vengeance: here is a set of missions to help you get started with the game of 40K using the contents of this box. Once you are familiar with the rules and the units in this box you can continue this campaign by purchasing these exciting other models that are part of our hobby to continue the campaign..."

**AlmightyWalrus**

So 10 TH/SS Terminators for that Elite slot then. AmIdoin'itrite?

**Medium of Death**

I think we need to see more details before we start slating GW for their fluff driven, new player focused event.

**LordVonDoom**

Wait,what? I went to high school in Kaiserslauten, now it is a grimdark battlefield? I didn't think it was that bad.........

**EYEofTERROR**

IT IS STILL IN BETA.

Don't panic.

I applause this effort by GW. I don't have to participate to appreciate.

**Hybrid Son Of Oxayotl**

carmachu wrote:Unless it addresses pitfalls of flyers or AV14 in a 600 pt unit game.

It is perfectly possible to deal with AV14 in a 600 points game, I can do it with my only available troop choice which can brings two melta and a twin-linked multi-melta on the table for some 140 points . But flyers is another thing completely. I can't deal with flyers at all, except for allies or fortifications, actually.
Still, I agree that AV14 is not exactly balanced for a 600 game, though. But so many other things are imbalanced in this game anyway…
I mean, if people can bring in some riptide, wraithknight and screamerstar, who cares if they can also bring AV14 ?

**xruslanx**

AlmightyWalrus wrote:
So 10 TH/SS Terminators for that Elite slot then. AmIdoin'itrite?

My demolisher squadron wants a word

**Hybrid Son Of Oxayotl**

How many D weapons can one fit in 600 points, with the 1HQ 1Troop tax ?
Let's consider for the purpose of the argument that Lord of War and Fortifications are allowed.

**Happygrunt**

Friendly reminder that, if rumors are true, this IS being beta tested, so the no flyers and an AV limit ideas may very well show up in the final product.