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Sorry for the dry title, but with the Gathering Storm story arc and the division between between people who want and don't want plot advancement, and I was curious as to what (if any) might be the cause for this divide. One of my personal hypothesis is based on the thought of if one considers their armies as their own separate entity with their own story to tell, or if they base their armies on pre-existing fluff/ care more about modeling/painting/gaming. This isn't to say you don't care about your armies, of course :V. I based this idea on similar games that allow customization, such as XCOM, Civilization, and the Sims, as this allows people's own stories attachment to form and

My OWN person thoughts thoughts is that, as a Roleplayer, I general put my own story first. In DnD I don't care about what's happening to Drizzit or Raistlin, but on Pyrah the halberd wielding fighter who fled her home. the same idea applies to my ork army.

For me it's sorta hard to pick an option as I don't have a problem with plot advancement but I have an issue with how GW is going about advancing it. To me I love the setting and the factions with having the freedom for my army to be their own characters. With the plot advancing it could be cool to see new events play out but the issue with how GW makes things happen is by having everything revolve around named characters. It's becoming a story of heroes and villains instead of the amoral grimdark slog of endless war that is suppose to be 40k.

I'm all for plot advancement, and I'm even willing to admit that part of that likely comes from the army I use exclusively - the Tau Empire.

As is, the Tau Empire is pretty much insignificant in the grand scheme of the 40k universe in a way that is fairly unique - it is the equivalent of a mosquito, trying to avoid getting swatted away as the insignificant pest it is by the giants of the setting. Without an advancement of the plot, the Tau Empire cannot become an influential force in the 40k universe, and while I technically signed up for exactly that (though I didn't realize until after I'd invested heavily in Tau models and background just how insignificant the Tau Empire was in the grand scheme of things), I wouldn't mind seeing Tau explore, and expand into, a few more niches beyond "naive brighthammer faction with undertones of dark".

I'm also inclined to have my own army consist of characters that aren't named in the fluff - while I have both Farsight and Shadowsun as models (two of Farsight, even - I plan to convert the second to a Fusion Blade commander), I prefer presenting them (where possible) as similarly-equipped characters of my own creation with similar skill sets and similar Signature Systems (Farsight is a bit tougher in that regard, what with the sword, but Shadowsun's XV-22, while not mass-produced, almost certainly was given to other Commanders of similar tactical inclination).

To the extent that I write fan-fluff on the existing Special Characters, I do so with the explicit intention and understanding that what I'm writing is not really canon in any form - at best, it is an alternative universe. If Shadowsun turned to chaos entirely as a result of plot advancement, any writing I make that includes her doesn't really make much of a difference to my writing - she was already a non-canon take on the character.

I'm okay with plot advancement, I just don't care for primarchs being added in because they belong in 30k as near-forgotten figures of mythical feats and legendary battles.

 Unusual Suspect wrote:
I'm all for plot advancement, and I'm even willing to admit that part of that likely comes from the army I use exclusively - the Tau Empire.

That IS something that is beyond the scope of this poll: if what army one plays has an effect on your opnion of advancement or not. certainly, as an Ork player exclusively, I know full well we're not going to get anything of note out of the Gathering Storm with any further story arcs also unlikely to net anything outside of anything involving Ghazghkull

 Luke_Prowler wrote:

 Unusual Suspect wrote:
I'm all for plot advancement, and I'm even willing to admit that part of that likely comes from the army I use exclusively - the Tau Empire.

That IS something that is beyond the scope of this poll: if what army one plays has an effect on your opnion of advancement or not. certainly, as an Ork player exclusively, I know full well we're not going to get anything of note out of the Gathering Storm with any further story arcs also unlikely to net anything outside of anything involving Ghazghkull

I actually see a lot of potential for Ork AND Tau advancement as a result of [the consequences of] the Gathering Storm - presumably both the Imperium and Chaos will be weakened when their respective "storms" break upon each other, and that presents a great deal of opportunity for the current scavenger races of the 40k universe - the Tau, the Orks, and the Necrons.

You're probably right that Ghaz will be at the forefront of that, but I wouldn't put it past GW to slip in some Beast-level Orks coming into the fluff as a result of the escalating Primarch-versus-Primarch conflicts.

I like custom characters/armies and the lore behind them. I like my Bad Moons orks. But what I don't love is zero goddam characters for my clan. When orks attack its just 'oh no some ORKS are attacking" which clan? what warboss/mek? Bring back Nazdreg back into the mix and have him do things.

JK funny joke I play the npc race nobody gives a flying gak.

I guess I'm by no means special snowflake here, but I have completely separate approach to "fluff 40K" and "tabletop 40K":

For me fluff/story advances are only an illustrative background, a "living and ever expanding setting", without any impact on what I (re)create with my games. I play a faction not an army, my lists aren't set in stone, my characters come and go, I play entirely different lists every month/campaign etc. And I have a very tight and likeminded playpartners, so even if GW decided one day, that they nerf any faction beyond playability or scrap it completely, we don't really care as long as we have all minis we need/desire.

Of course it is a great feeling of hobby continuity, that what was just a hint in a 2nd ed Eldar codex is finally happening in "official 40K" after 20+ IRL years - the Rhana Dandra. But it's official outcome has very little importance to me - it's more like "I can now play this chapter from 40K timeline with more style and appropriate models" than "it's time to kiss my models goodbye because the end of times is near". Just like with Horus Heresy - you can play "current events 40K" or "historical recreation 30K" or anything in between. And how exaclty GW writes "current" fluff for Special Characters isn't important for me either (except for "backstory" which gives those characters their... character). I didn't scrap my 2nd ed lead Eldrad model only because they decided to "officially kill him in the fluff".

And if I ever find money and time to build my Necron army, they will most certainly be "Oldcrons", because I like them more than "Newcrons" and I really don't care what "currently official fluff iteration" is.

I see my armies as their own characters and I don't want plot advancement.

I've seen this same phenomenon with roleplaying games, some people are obsessed with the mataplot and the exploits of the signature characters. I want to make my own characters and my own stories within the setting*, if I want a readymade story and characters I read a book or watch a film.

Now, I'd not have huge problem with plot advancement that would not significantly alter the setting. Things like the Armageddon War are fine background events, your armies can participate but the setting remains fundamentally the same. It is not the same with these recent events, new Eldar god and a returning primarch will drastically change the setting.

* I think this is one of the reasons why I really can't get exited about HH. It is dominated by the existing and well defined legions and their primarchs. In 40K I can make my own chapter (or a regiment, or a craftworld) and design my own colour schemes and characters.

I have many armies, so the answer differs.

My Salamanders are 2nd Company (so, established canon written by someone else).
My Haemonculus Covens are Prophets of Flesh (likewise)
My Imperial Guard are Valhallan 597th (ditto)

My Kabal Dark Eldar are Bladed Lotus (so, officially mentioned in fluff but never fleshed out)
My Harlequins are Soaring Spite (same)

My Craftworld, Corsairs, Daemons, Night Lords, and Wych Cult forces are all members of armies/warbands that are solely creations of my own head.

However you slice it, I favor plot advancement.

nou wrote:


For me fluff/story advances are only an illustrative background, a "living and ever expanding setting", without any impact on what I (re)create with my games. I play a faction not an army, my lists aren't set in stone, my characters come and go, I play entirely different lists every month/campaign etc. And I have a very tight and likeminded playpartners, so even if GW decided one day, that they nerf any faction beyond playability or scrap it completely, we don't really care as long as we have all minis we need/desire.

And if I ever find money and time to build my Necron army, they will most certainly be "Oldcrons", because I like them more than "Newcrons" and I really don't care what "currently official fluff iteration" is.

 Crimson wrote:
I see my armies as their own characters and I don't want plot advancement.

I've seen this same phenomenon with roleplaying games, some people are obsessed with the mataplot and the exploits of the signature characters. I want to make my own characters and my own stories within the setting*, if I want a readymade story and characters I read a book or watch a film.

Now, I'd not have huge problem with plot advancement that would not significantly alter the setting. Things like the Armageddon War are fine background events, your armies can participate but the setting remains fundamentally the same. It is not the same with these recent events, new Eldar god and a returning primarch will drastically change the setting.

mixture of these two opinions is how i feel. on one side i think yeah whatever GW my word bearers host are still space isis maniacs and my slaaneshi demons are fethed up hedonists beyond imagination. with abby's black crusade failing yet again and the ultramarines are led by now by a 10,000 year old literal demigod i wonder whats going to happen to chaos and the general grimdark of 40k since the aeldari/ultramarine/celestine's whoever/necrons are forming an alliance of space order. and im not sure how much more story they can fit into 999.999999999.M41.

if they want to introduce new stuff, campaigns like armageddon can be epic, totally unique, new gameplay elements for that expansion, and not desrupt the setting of the game, and the stories effortlessly spread throught out the 41st mellinium. but too late for that, be interesting to see what GW does now, it seems to me all a lead for a semi-space AoS that will come with 8th, gameplay and crunch im not too worried but fluff, and new swirly whirly models of guillimarines, i definately am.

40k's background works as just that, a background. It creates a setting where we can put in our own characters and stories, or live those of characters that have already been established in the setting.

Even if we were to discount the fact that the writing staff are absolutely terrible as a rule, advancing the plot is always going to be met with disappointment. The Universe is always meant to be several minutes from midnight, and you can't push it forward for want of an actual conclusion, since it was never meant for that. So in order to competently keep things going along, a disappointing status quo must always be settled on.

Instead of building the major conflicts of the setting into a bigger and bigger climax that should never come to happen, the writers should be doing the exact opposite. Focus on smaller, more nuanced conflicts that have yet to be explored in the incredibly vast setting and history. Similar to how the Blood Ravens in Dawn of War are essentially their own in-depth little story within the greater setting.

I'm absolutely in the camp of 'my army are characters/important'. Creating interesting new ideas and adding new fluff to the general background of 40k is my favourite part of the hobby. The fact that 40k is so conducive to adding in your own stories is probably its strongest appeal over its competitors. While I'm not averse to plot development, I am very concerned with the direction GW is taking with the recent stuff. If it was up to me I'd do it in a drastically different way.

I agree very much with previous comments along the lines of 'if I wanted to read a pre-determined story I'd go watch a film'. However, that doesn't necessarily preclude the plot moving forwards.

Here's how I'd do it.

GW's main role should be 'overarching games-master'. They are here to show us precisely how it's done.

I would leave the setting exactly as it is for now, but set up a succession of 'Eye of Terror' style campaigns to be fought by the player-base, set in various different locations around the galaxy. These campaigns will be held at various pre-planned events around the globe, and the plot will contrive restrictions on lists in order to level the playing field slightly (or simply to make things more interesting/fluffy/tricky than a tournament net-list-fest).

The outcome of these campaigns will be determined by how the players do in each event, the ultimate fate of the sector being written into the ongoing story of 40k.

This does a number of things:

1. Encourages participation in campaign events for people invested in how their faction fares
2. Allows for a gradually evolving storyline, rather than leaps and bounds, which gives it legs going into the future
3. Provides a fantastically rich lore, which is constantly changing, satisfying the whole 'plot advancement' crowd
4. Provides a happy medium between tournament play and narrative play, all in a GW sanctioned event
5. Because they'd be held frequently, you wouldn't need to contrive a way of sandwiching in every faction into every campaign, but everyone would still get the chance to play
6. This is the important one: makes it feel like each and every player is themselves involved in the advancement of the setting. Rather than having what is happening dictated from some bloke in the midlands, the events that are unfolding are because[ of your actions in the real world. You want to encourage participation? Involve people.

I'd lean more toward the plot advancing than the "your dudes" aspect, as I've never really understood how the latter is supposed to be actually executed. The OP mentioned stuff like Sims and Xcom as being more in line with the Your Dudes model, and I certainly understand it in that perspective. I'm unsure of how it translates into 40k, though. I'm pretty sure everyone who's played Xcom has a bunch of stories about how Rookie McRookieface, FNG 1st class pulled off something amazing during a mission gone bad and single-handedly snatched victory from the jaws of defeat. And then that guy gets sent back to base, promoted, levels up a bunch, and maybe he gets some distinctive gear and new gun or something, we've all been there.

In 40k, I'm also just as sure every player has a story about how an assault squad lost all it's members save one, who then heroically won the combat and proceeded to cram a melta bomb up the tailpipe of the heretic tank that anchored their entire line (or some similar event flavored for faction. Unless you play Nids or something). After which....then what? Maybe you went conversion-heavy and have every single model be it's own unique special snowflake model, but most likely battle brother genericus was just that, one of a dozen or so generic looking dudes with a jump pack and chainsword, who will go back to doing that next match. It's not like you have a lot of other choices, you've already got a sergeant for that squad, and every other link in the chain of command as well. Maybe you'll be able to tweak the model a bit, add a purity seal or a bit of decoration or something, but that's going to be the limit, if you can go that far ("nice job wiping out that unit of bloodletters, guardsman Jones. You're heroism has been noted. Unfortunately, you've seen too much." *BLAM*). Past that.....I dunno.

You can do some stuff, sure. You can make up your own chapter, design their history, their stories, their heroes and villains, ect. But that's not what people mean when they talk about your dudes, they're usually referring to an ongoing, emergent story, and I don't think that's very doable given that 40k's tabletop status leans toward a fixed nature, or at least an inflexible one. Maybe you can rejigger the command chain a bit, have one captain die or be promoted and have his place taken by a promising subordinate, but that's going to be the limit or close to it.

I am all in team your dudes. This is what makes war gaming great. My dudes aren't the big players of the story that is 40k. They never could be since they aren't mentioned in any of the big epic tales in the setting. They are a group of interesting misfits on a backwater world or at least too insignificant to be mentioned in the fluff.

This makes that I could not care less about plot advancement as long as my faction doesn't get sacked. Simply because it doesn't affect my dudes that much.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 Unusual Suspect wrote:
I'm all for plot advancement, and I'm even willing to admit that part of that likely comes from the army I use exclusively - the Tau Empire..

lol you aren't for plot advancement you want more stuff. Tau plot advancement has always been, here is a bigger toy to play with or a cool new faction ; )

As a Necron player, I'd really like to see the Necrons becoming far more known to the universe as a whole. I admit I was giddy when everyone's favorite canon troll - Trazyn - was at Cadia, and I hope that we will see more of them and him.

I'm hoping Trazyn can convince some of the big Necron characters of the importance of the eye of terror, and nothing would warm my cockles than chaos getting smashed with some very big, very scary boom sticks of the Gauss variety...

But yeah, a big "TA-DA!" of the big ol' metal men to the universe as a whole would be hilarious and awesome.

I don't want a story, I want a setting. So I don't like plot advancement. And the Order of the Ebon Lance is a completely original army!

I like plot advancement, however it doesn't affect me or my own armies, nor does it have to affect anyone else; just play and plot around whatever time space you want, past or present.

As long as the current plotline in 40k doesn't outright remove factions/subfactions from existence, there should be nothing to fear. But again, if that was to happen, just play in the past!

G.A

Could be worse.
Space Wolves players - Meet Wolf Lords Egil Ironwolf and Sven Bloodhowl, likeable, relatable and exciting.
Oh, did we mention suicidal?
They're both already dead...

I collect Minotaurs and Death Guard. Plot advancement doesn't affect their story, and a fresh stalemate is good in my opinion. So I am happy

 Battlegrinder wrote:
I'd lean more toward the plot advancing than the "your dudes" aspect, as I've never really understood how the latter is supposed to be actually executed.

Read my proposal directly above your post it's an example of how the whole 'your dudes' thing can be applied on a scale that only GW could organise, which would both satisfy the desire to move the plot forward, and involve the fluffy 'your dudes/forge the narrative' guys while simultaneously encouraging attendance and participation in events.

The potted explanation is GW should hold an ongoing series of campaigns based in different areas of the galaxy. These event will be fought over by the player-base, and the outcome of which will become part of the 40k background going forwards.

The little stories you speak of about the Assault Squad being killed to a man...but then heroically nuking a Land Raider would be enshrined forever in the background of 40k. Your Dude would become a solid, tangible part of the 40k universe that everyone would know about. Your Dude would be written into White Dwarf Articles, get his own official page on Lexicanum, potentially reappear in later battles where if he survives and does well again may rise to become a great hero of the Imperium!

It's Captain Tycho applied on a global scale, involving the armies and characters of real-life GW customers and players.

It's how things should be run.

I don't care. I see my army as my own, and even have my HQs and certain models have a personality in my head, but all in all I feel like advancement in plot could be good. I'd rather the overall setting not change too much, but I'm fine with plot going forward.

Also give my grey Knights and update, the poor bastards need some love.

I'd like some plot advancement, it used to advance through campaigns like Armageddon, EoT and Medusa V and on the WHFB side through Albion, Storm of Chaos, Lustria and Nemesis Crown and so on. And while they weren't all stellar, at least things were happening. Having the universe set permanently at 59 seconds to midnight isn't terribly interesting. In any case, lesser plot developments have been happening anyway, they've just all been increasingly crammed into 999.999 M41.

For those who want a setting, not a story, there's no reason why your army couldn't just be a "historic" army from a particular point in the setting. I like to think of my Death Guard as being early post-Heresy. Afterall, Warp time shenanigans can explain why they could end up fighting Tau

My merry band of girls just wants to be left alone on their single system of the galaxy. They felt abandoned by the Imperium as a whole and decided it was better that they fended for themselves. So all the plot could do at this point is provide me with new toys that they can liberate from ships that wander too close to their..space..space?

 Ynneadwraith wrote:

 Battlegrinder wrote:
I'd lean more toward the plot advancing than the "your dudes" aspect, as I've never really understood how the latter is supposed to be actually executed.

Read my proposal directly above your post it's an example of how the whole 'your dudes' thing can be applied on a scale that only GW could organise, which would both satisfy the desire to move the plot forward, and involve the fluffy 'your dudes/forge the narrative' guys while simultaneously encouraging attendance and participation in events.

The potted explanation is GW should hold an ongoing series of campaigns based in different areas of the galaxy. These event will be fought over by the player-base, and the outcome of which will become part of the 40k background going forwards.

The little stories you speak of about the Assault Squad being killed to a man...but then heroically nuking a Land Raider would be enshrined forever in the background of 40k. Your Dude would become a solid, tangible part of the 40k universe that everyone would know about. Your Dude would be written into White Dwarf Articles, get his own official page on Lexicanum, potentially reappear in later battles where if he survives and does well again may rise to become a great hero of the Imperium!

It's Captain Tycho applied on a global scale, involving the armies and characters of real-life GW customers and players.

It's how things should be run.

I saw that post, and while it sounds like a good idea.....didn't they already do that with the Eye of Terror and Storm of Chaos, and stop after the players didn't get them the results they wanted (or so I'm told)? Your idea has merit, indeed I'm fairly sure several wargames run this way. But I'm not sure GW would do it.

The other issue is that, while Assault Squadie Mcraiderkiller would get his own story in White Dwarf and maybe show up somewhere else, I'm still not quite seeing how that would apply to the actual army, because that's more what Your Dudes is about than the White Dwarf thing. For an actual example, in my last game my CM and the last surviving Sargent from the tactical squad he was attached to were ambushed by a Mawlock that came in from reserves, and took a full volley of that electro-surge thing it's got. The Sargent tanked every single wound in that hit, only going down to the last one, which you can easily fluff as him throwing himself in front of it to protect his chapter master (who was sadly eaten in the assault phase, but points for trying). And by happenstance, this particular Sargent happened to be one of the few unique models I've made, so I actually could do something more with him.....but what? He won't really fit into a command squad with just a bolter and chainsword (well, shotgun and chainsword, but Counts As), and his squad still needs it's sergeant. After all the effort I spent to make him look like 2016 Doomguy, I'm sure as hell not pulling him off the table to reintroduce him as my dreadnought, even if I had a dreadnought. I might rotated him off into his own tac squad with a couple other characters from video games (I don't exactly run the most fluff friendly army), but that would be because I want a squad that has Doomguy, Master Chief, Issac Clarke, Ben Carmine and Command Shepard in it, not because those models have actually done anything to merit being assembled together like that.

Your Dudes is not about immortalizing a single moment in a dude's career, it's about that career itself, and I don't think that's really workable in the 40K environment.

 Battlegrinder wrote:

I saw that post, and while it sounds like a good idea.....didn't they already do that with the Eye of Terror and Storm of Chaos, and stop after the players didn't get them the results they wanted (or so I'm told)? Your idea has merit, indeed I'm fairly sure several wargames run this way. But I'm not sure GW would do it.

The other issue is that, while Assault Squadie Mcraiderkiller would get his own story in White Dwarf and maybe show up somewhere else, I'm still not quite seeing how that would apply to the actual army, because that's more what Your Dudes is about than the White Dwarf thing. For an actual example, in my last game my CM and the last surviving Sargent from the tactical squad he was attached to were ambushed by a Mawlock that came in from reserves, and took a full volley of that electro-surge thing it's got. The Sargent tanked every single wound in that hit, only going down to the last one, which you can easily fluff as him throwing himself in front of it to protect his chapter master (who was sadly eaten in the assault phase, but points for trying). And by happenstance, this particular Sargent happened to be one of the few unique models I've made, so I actually could do something more with him.....but what? He won't really fit into a command squad with just a bolter and chainsword (well, shotgun and chainsword, but Counts As), and his squad still needs it's sergeant. After all the effort I spent to make him look like 2016 Doomguy, I'm sure as hell not pulling him off the table to reintroduce him as my dreadnought, even if I had a dreadnought. I might rotated him off into his own tac squad with a couple other characters from video games (I don't exactly run the most fluff friendly army), but that would be because I want a squad that has Doomguy, Master Chief, Issac Clarke, Ben Carmine and Command Shepard in it, not because those models have actually done anything to merit being assembled together like that.

Your Dudes is not about immortalizing a single moment in a dude's career, it's about that career itself, and I don't think that's really workable in the 40K environment.

Yeah my idea would be very similar to the Eye of Terror and Storm of Chaos campaigns. That's actually where I got the idea from.

However, the glaring flaw in their plan with those was that it actually mattered which side won. You can't have a freeform campaign and then only plan for one eventuality.

By setting each campaign in a no-name backwater planet (comparatively of course), it flat-out doesn't matter which faction wins because it's not going to break the galaxy. Setting it on Cadia is a terrible idea. Setting it on BumF*ckMiddleOfNowhere IV fixes it you can make people care about the Bumf*ckians by making their characters compelling, rather than important to the universe at large.

As for the whole 'Your Dudes' thing then the scenario you don't think is particularly doable is exactly what I feel they should be encouraging. It could mean buying a Dread if that's what you want to do, but if you don't then why not just paint a little medal of honour on your heroic little dude and state he made a miraculous recovery you don't even need to change the model if you don't want to, just record the story.

The ultimate way that the 'Your Dudes' thing could be really cool is if one of your dudes develops such a cool story behind him that GW actually make a model of him. That would be so damn cool, and would really help GW connect with their buyers on a level they haven't yet achieved.

TBH, it doesn't even really need to be 'Your Dudes' on the level of an individual dude. Just having your army, your homebrew craftworld/chapter/forgeworld/hive fleet, the actions of your company of Salamanders, immortalised in the background of 40k is cool enough as far as I'm concerned

Ultimately, I don't think they'll actually do this. It's a pretty unorthadox way of running their company, so while the going's good with what they're up to at the moment they won't change. However, I sincerely believe that the above approach would result in more interest from the players, more attendance at events, and overall more sales of the same models they'd be producing anyway

 Ynneadwraith wrote:


Yeah my idea would be very similar to the Eye of Terror and Storm of Chaos campaigns. That's actually where I got the idea from.

However, the glaring flaw in their plan with those was that it actually mattered which side won. You can't have a freeform campaign and then only plan for one eventuality.

By setting each campaign in a no-name backwater planet (comparatively of course), it flat-out doesn't matter which faction wins because it's not going to break the galaxy. Setting it on Cadia is a terrible idea. Setting it on BumF*ckMiddleOfNowhere IV fixes it you can make people care about the Bumf*ckians by making their characters compelling, rather than important to the universe at large.

Yeah, that would be a pretty good idea. Which is likely why we'll never see it.

 Ynneadwraith wrote:

As for the whole 'Your Dudes' thing then the scenario you don't think is particularly doable is exactly what I feel they should be encouraging. It could mean buying a Dread if that's what you want to do, but if you don't then why not just paint a little medal of honour on your heroic little dude and state he made a miraculous recovery you don't even need to change the model if you don't want to, just record the story.

Not sure about the metal or adding a purity seal (the issue with painting a model to have a certain exact look is that you really don't want to then do anything to change that look), but he's definitely coming back after a stay in the infirmary/reloading from a previous save.

 Ynneadwraith wrote:

The ultimate way that the 'Your Dudes' thing could be really cool is if one of your dudes develops such a cool story behind him that GW actually make a model of him. That would be so damn cool, and would really help GW connect with their buyers on a level they haven't yet achieved.

TBH, it doesn't even really need to be 'Your Dudes' on the level of an individual dude. Just having your army, your homebrew craftworld/chapter/forgeworld/hive fleet, the actions of your company of Salamanders, immortalised in the background of 40k is cool enough as far as I'm concerned

Ultimately, I don't think they'll actually do this. It's a pretty unorthadox way of running their company, so while the going's good with what they're up to at the moment they won't change. However, I sincerely believe that the above approach would result in more interest from the players, more attendance at events, and overall more sales of the same models they'd be producing anyway

It would be nice though. And I suppose you can do that on a smaller level, you'd just have to figure out how.

Haha! Reload from his previous save excellent

Yeah agreed it's probably too neat/unorthadox of an idea to see the light of day (even if I do say so myself!).

I could see them doing it as a local campaign though. There's precedent with things like Pilgrym for INQ28. I'd just love to see them actually give it a proper go to see how it works.

 Ynneadwraith wrote:

Yeah my idea would be very similar to the Eye of Terror and Storm of Chaos campaigns. That's actually where I got the idea from.

However, the glaring flaw in their plan with those was that it actually mattered which side won. You can't have a freeform campaign and then only plan for one eventuality.

GW did plenty of campaigns that weren't status quo shattering, but still added a lot of flavour and universe building, like Albion and Lustria. Medusa V and Nemesis Crown were the last two global campaigns before the timelines for both 40k and WHFB were brought back before EoT and SoC respectively. Neither were defining moments for their settings and they were both total clusterfeths. So a campaign can be a complete mess even if the outcome doesn't really matter to the setting

I do think they could always start running these types of campaigns again, tell the narrative through White Dwarf issues, take the results month to month and then compile the entire event into a supplement book at the end. Have store managers submit bits of fluff as well as the results from their stores. That way there actually would be a chance for Your Dudes to make it into the lore, maybe not as a defining part of the story, but maybe more along the lines of Commander YourCommander did something notable.

Nothing really fits for my answer, becuase mine is this.

I want plot advancement I don't want a shark jump.

So far the plot advancement has been alright, chaos is not standing around with their crank in their hand. Primarch coming back is cool, but it being raw butt made me groan but I knew it was going to happen. Would have been more feasible or believable to have either Russ or the lion come back first but eh I'll take it.