Planetary Empires Review
Planetary Empires is a new release boxed set, designed as a visually attractive way of running a map-based Warhammer
40K campaign.
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What You Get
The box contains eight identical plastic sprue frames bearing hexagonal map sections and various markers to add to them.
The hex pieces are 50mm across, side to side, and 5mm deep, counting the wall around the edge which lets them clip together by a system of dovetail joints. Each hex also has a hole somewhere in it, allowing you to pop in a flag or building marker.
Each sprue has the following parts:
7 Double-sided hexes depicting a variety of terrain such as ruins, trench lines, and marshes in 3D relief.
1 Spaceport hexagon. The surface stands proud of the hex edge so it can’t be double-sided.
16 Flags. These are used to show who owns a hex.
2 Manufactoriums.
2 Power stations.
2 Command centres.
2 Shield generators.
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The other component is a rulebook with colour softcovers inside and out, and monochrome inside pages. There are only four pages of rules in English and these are repeated in French, Italian, German, Spanish and Japanese. Some illos complete the book.
The colour illos inside the covers show four ways you can paint up the tiles: Agri world, Desert world, Hive world/warzone, and Dead world (blasted ruins.) Depending on the size of set-up you want to make, it should be possible to paint one side of the tiles in one style, and the other side in a variant style.
The Campaign System
The rules are extremely simple and do not cover movement or logistics. In fact, armies don’t actually exist on the map, which is only used as a marker board for who owns which tiles.
You start a campaign by setting up a map using six to eight tiles per player, followed by some facilities. These are owned at the start of the game.
You win by owning 10 tiles and fighting a battle against each other player. At the end of the round, a player who won a battle is allowed to attempt to capture a tile from the opponent he beat. If the tile is next to one he already owns, 3+ on a roll of
2D6 wins it, if the tile is not adjacent, a roll of 7+ is needed. There are a few simple modifiers to this roll based on the presence of shield generators and other factors.
Battles can be set up by any method the players like, and are fought between any forces. The rules assume battles are between standard sized armies of 1,000 to 2,000 points. You also get bonus points for owning fewer tiles, and for owning tiles containing manufactorums. Other types of facilities can give a bonus in terms of adding initiative to your set up first roll, or adding a Universal Special Rule to a unit in your army.
For some reason, the point values for each facility differ depending on the faction your army is from. For example, Necrons get lower bonus points from facilities and suffer higher capture penalties from shields, than any other faction. Eldar get better points in all areas.
GW say this has been play-tested and is balanced, but they say that about their codexes too, so I am dubious. I haven't played it yet so I don't know.
Supplementary material is already being released. There is a set of Strategem cards on the
GW website, and a separate Hive City tile (£4.90 for two.)
Summary
The basic game looks OK but the rules are inadequate if you are looking for a proper campaign system.
Any players with strategic ambition will want to adapt and extend the rules or write a completely new set. The node based campaign system presented in the 4e rule-book would be a good starting point.
On the plus side, the tiles are well made and paint up nicely. They can be combined with the Mighty Empires tiles, which have rivers and mountains not found in the Planetary set.
