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Hey, I don't know if there's already been a thread about this, heck it's not even a new idea but here goes...

I've been mulling this over in my head for some time now. I collect 40k IG, BA and Inquisitorial. I collect BFG (Imperial Navy of course ). Why not combine the two?

I figure that, with the new planetary empires, a sort of 'Solar/Sector Empire' is now entirely possible. Stay with me:

1) Paint the Planetary/Mighty Empire tiles (or at least one side of them) to resemble space. Mountains could resemble asteroid fields, rivers could resemble gas cloud viens, warp storms or something.

2) A particular tile is selected by each player/race. This is their homeworld. This could be a planet or even a Craftworld. If they lose their homeworld they lose the game.

3) Fleets (represented by flags or whatever) move on a random turn basis. This leads to exciting instances where fleets try to intercept the other as they make their way to the others planet. (Maybe there might be a few tiles that allow extra speed or something, this is all off the top of my head)

4) When attacking a planet, I suggest some sort of staged campaign (or single battle for short games). Probably starting with Planetstrike. The campaign/battle winner either siezes the planet and knocks his opponet out, or destroys the invading foe, leaving thier fleet to return home and resupply.

5) Fleets should only consist of what survived the last battle. Additional points (to represent repair and new construction) should be awarded at the start of each turn. The more planets that one conrtols, the more points they get each turn.

Please tell me what you think, and contribute your own ideas. Thanks in advance.

I think there are a lot of options for campaigns and the limit really is your imagination.

You could get extra points to allocate to reinforcements depending on how many planets you controlled (or certain planets could generate more points depending on what type of planet it is).

Maybe even use some sort of strategy cards (ala 2nd edition) for spicing it up. for example movement is D3 but you can choose to move faster (2D3, 3D3 etc), however if a double is rolled a random event occurs that could be beneficial or not.

Certain planets could have populations skilled in certain types of warefare, so your original army may not be able to have Valks (if you play IG), but capture or re-integration of a certain world may grant you access to troops who use them.

For Orks, you may meet up with a speed freaks clan and so get access to lots of warbikes, etc.

For SM forces you might just meet up with another force of your chapter and they might have terminators, etc.

Sounds like a cool idea, and as said, so long as your imagination is up to it, the sky really is the limit.

Another cool thing might be to say what troops each ship is carrying. So if it is lost, you don't get to use that unit any more, or it is limited, etc.

I figured that for certain 'neutral' planets (ones that aren't claimed or labeled homeworlds) you get something.

For example, an Industiral World gives you acess to another heavy support option. A Hive World = more troops and agri-world could mean more fast attack.

Double post, my bad.

C'mon! No more comments?

Sounds interesting, but, I'm not convinced, I think i'll stick with 40k if you don't mind.

Any tips for improvement or other ideas?

Emperors Faithful wrote:Hey, I don't know if there's already been a thread about this, heck it's not even a new idea but here goes...

I've been mulling this over in my head for some time now. I collect 40k IG, BA and Inquisitorial. I collect BFG (Imperial Navy of course ). Why not combine the two?

I figure that, with the new planetary empires, a sort of 'Solar/Sector Empire' is now entirely possible. Stay with me:

The new battle missions could get you some variety too.

Emperors Faithful wrote:
2) A particular tile is selected by each player/race. This is their homeworld. This could be a planet or even a Craftworld. If they lose their homeworld they lose the game.

How do they win the game? Conquering all?
Do players see the whole map or is the a "fog of war" ?

Emperors Faithful wrote:
3) Fleets (represented by flags or whatever) move on a random turn basis. This leads to exciting instances where fleets try to intercept the other as they make their way to the others planet. (Maybe there might be a few tiles that allow extra speed or something, this is all off the top of my head)

Good, you need some transports. Maybe transport capacity should restrict games to affordable sizes ( 1000-3000 per player ?).

Emperors Faithful wrote:
4) When attacking a planet, I suggest some sort of staged campaign (or single battle for short games). Probably starting with Planetstrike. The campaign/battle winner either siezes the planet and knocks his opponet out, or destroys the invading foe, leaving thier fleet to return home and resupply.

Who defends the yet to be claimed worlds? You need a non-player faction. Undefended new worlds would turn this into a
game where rapid growing empires could overrun the others just by ressources. There should be some risk in conquering,
like having an unknown type of planet and revealing its worth when it is won. A marker could represent a non-player world
and get replaced if a player claims it. Has to be distributed in secret beforehand.

Emperors Faithful wrote:
5) Fleets should only consist of what survived the last battle. Additional points (to represent repair and new construction) should be awarded at the start of each turn. The more planets that one controls, the more points they get each turn.[/b]

A Points system may work fine if you put some time into it. Would like to see planets having different values too, since
spliting up points one may spent worked well for DoW.
So is it possible to repair armies too? Or just the fleet?

This seems like the perfect type of campaign to launch at a gaming club with lots of people.

Put everyone on two sides, Imperium vs. Others. Each person gets a 'Fleet Marker' that goes around on whatever metamap you use, be it paper or planetary empire markers. On this map, each team will have a home planet.

Every round, each player gets a turn moving his fleet around the board, control changing factions after every move. Any players who met the conditions to launch a game (covered below) would do so, and would leave the table. For unengaged players, the next round begin, and they would continue to move around on the map until they can find a game.

When moving around the map, players may opt to make "warp moves." When this happens, players roll a D6.

-1 Lost in the Warp: Roll a D6, player loses points as shown on the Lost in the Warp Chart in their next BFG battle. Additional LitW rolls are not cumulative.
-2 Time Distortion: Player moves to closest friendly planet.
-3 Delayed: Player may not move.
-4 Warp Fluctiation: Player Moves to closest planet. If two or more planets are the same distance, player chooses.
-5 Warp Speed: Roll a D3. Player may move his fleet that many tiles this turn.
-6 Ultimate Unpredictability: Player may move to any tile he wants, so longs as it is two tiles away from a planet or fleet.

Lost in the Warp Chart:
1-6: I've never played BFG, so I'm not sure what point values to use. They should reflect sufficient point disadvantage as is appropriate for the dice roll, where a 6 is minimal loss, and 1 should be a significant loss.

As I mentioned before, once all players have moved,
players may become engaged, according to the following criteria:

-Players whose fleet markers meet in space will begin a game of BFG. Point limits can be determined by the players, or set by the Campaign Manager, in order to ensure fluid meta-game flow. The loser of a BFG game must return is fleet marker to a friendly planet.

-Players whose fleet markers meet on a planet will begin a normal game of WH40k. Point limits can be determined by the players, or set by the Campaign Manager, in order to ensure fluid meta-game flow. The winner of a this game will control the planet, the loser must retreat to the closest friendly planet.

-Players whose fleets land on an enemy controlled planet with out an opposing fleet on it will begin a game of Planetstrike WH40K. The opponent is the player whose fleet is closest away. If multiple opponents are the same distance, then they defending side may choose which player will respond, or, they both may, if the attacker agrees to it. This will launch an Apocolypse game. The losing side retreats to the nearrest friendly planet, the winner returns to where he was on the map before the game, and maintains control of the planet.

-Players whose fleets land on uncontrolled planets gain control of the planets right away, but may not move their fleet for a turn. Alternatively, if there are any players who do not want to participate in BFG battles, these players will be defenders in a Planetstrike mission if a player's fleet lands on an uncontrolled planet. If the player with a faction wins, he gains control of a planet. If he loses, he returns to the nearest friendly planet.

-If at any point more than three fleet markers from two factions fleet markers land on the same tile, an Apocalypse game (or BFG equivalent) will occur.

-If an enemy fleet marked lands on a home planet, an Apocalypse game will begin between all unengaged players. Point size should be sufficient to allow fluid meta-game flow.

After every game participants return to the campaign map, but may not make moves until the campaign organizer records the results, and declares that the next campaign round has begun.

Victory is achieved once all planets are controlled. At this point, the player with more planet wins.

If at any point a side has no planets remaining, but there are still uncontrolled planets, a player that must retreat to the closest friendly planet, that player's fleet is moved to the closest uncontrolled planet, and must take control of it.

It would assuredly make the campaign more interesting if planets had different effects, but I would leave that up to the organizer.

they touched on this idea briefly in the white dwarf they introduced planetary empires in, the you could incorporate BFG into it.

I like the idea. You'd need a large, consistent group of gamers. I know in the local group we've tried to launch campaigns, and each time it grinds to a halt because people can't be bothered to report a move via e-mail, let alone consistently show up for matches

The planets themselves could have effects on game play as well. Like a forge world that lets you take heavy units as elite slots or agri worlds that give an additional troops choice. hehe maybe a Adminastratum world that gives +/- points due to paperwork found/lost in the system.

"But, but I was expecting 3 artillery pieces!"

"Sorry, but 2 is what the request asked for, now please sign here Commander."

Really, these are all great ideas! Keep 'em coming!

(I should also point out that BFG has a mission scenario that clarifies who has control over a planets airspace, so this could have a real effect on the battle on the ground.)

Just posted before necro date!

I'm actually creating a version of this right now, weird coincidence eh? Anyway, my version is based on the 1990 Mighty Empires Rules, and the rules for it are coming on quickly, if you want to look over my current draft for it, then PM me and I'll send it to you (possibly )

As for your Idea, seeing as it is also (almost) my Idea, i think its great, although how will you implement solar systems, and how big will space areas be?