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I have been running the events at my local store for a few years now and I am in a bit of a pickle about what to do next. I have been running a fun, anything but serious campaign and now I am looking toward what to do next. I have three paths before me and I just can't settle on one.

My first thought is a themed map campaign based on the Game of Thrones map and substituting 40k armies for the ones in Westeros and from across the Narrow sea.
I am having a bit of a time deciding What 40k armies best fit the ones from the books. The hook that this will have is a giant map printed out to show the world of Westeros and people can play any army they like but what they pick decides who they fight for and who they fight against... at least in the beginning. As time goes on the battles will tell the story of who wins the throne of swords and the planet.

Second is an old fashion poker run. if you play you get a card for each game and an extra one if you win. at the end of the small campaign whoever can make the best five card hand wins. I like that it is simple and easy to manage.

Third on my list is one based on the deck building games like dominion. Each week everyone gets one buy one attack and after all the battles are fought the players can trade cards in a market phase. This is an idea I have had in my back pocket for years. I just have been waiting for the right crowd to put the idea out, and I think I may have that now.

Like i said in the beginning of this post I am looking toward the future and I am open to ideas. so I ask all of you, what makes a good campaign? What do you look for in a campaign? finally what is the best campaign you have played in and why was it so good?

The thing with campaigns is that they tend to drag out to nothing, so I think the best campaigns would be ones that:

1. Give the players something to do all the time.
2. Give players incentive to play as many games as possible.
3. Give players incentive to play even when they're losing.

I like the way Forgeworld do their narrative campaigns: there are usually several "phases" where players can play as much as they like. Winning a phase gives you certain bonuses for the campaign, but you only win the campaign if you win the last phase.

This means that players always have something to do (they can play as many games as they like), they have an incentive to play as much as possible (winning a phase gives bonuses) and there's always a chance to win, even if you've lost every game up until the last phase.

If you like the idea, have a look at the Badab War Part 1 book. I hear the Fall of Orpheus campaign is good, too.

I think a solid storyline is key, not just:

"These orks over here allied with these necrons against those grey knights over there who also allied with Necrons"

I think it depends most on the players.
Are they the type who want to play 40k with a loose narrative tying the battles together? Or are they the type who like to "play a game to play the game" with a really complex campaign system involving supply, repairs, map movement, etc. just to get in a game of 40k?

Personally I like the style of map conquering campaigns with simple movement and resupply and army effects after each battle (such as getting reinforcements via bonus points if you win). Generally I like a unique planet with cool terrain that supports the theme. Maybe a few twists and surprises on the map as the campaign progresses, such as "There is an meteor shower for the next two campaign turns so XYZ happens".
But I also come from an RPG background so bolting a lot of those common elements onto a wargame is right up my alley.

You want to give players incentive to play lots of games, but at the same time, you should not PUNISH players for not playing as many games as others.

We get together twice a week with a few players that can do either of the two days we play but only one who can do both so I am almost always doing a campaign on only one of the two nights. I think I will be doing the poker run model as I wright the back story for the Game of Thrones map campaign.

Thanks to everyone for your ideas, and help. The members who sent me emails as well as the ones who posted here. I will put up my drafts as soon as I can.