Slow grow campaign?

[Jarl Caldersson]

So I have a few members of the community that are getting into 40k, but only have a small army or just starting out. So I thought about a slow-grow campaign that allows them to slowly build up a force to play with. I know there was Path to Glory, which was for chaos but I needed something for every faction can play. So I am asking for suggestions on a way to start this campaign up as this is unfamiliar to me and I want a good way to do it.

[Xenith]

Check out the crusade rules from the main book. As I recall whole start at a maximum 1000pts-ish (50 power) but actual games are more commonly 25 power or more, so ~500pts. You dont have to spend campaign points on new models, so you can keep the same core of the force and either have a really experienced small army, or someone can have a larger army with experience divided between more units. 

 

All the Start collecitng boxes are good starts for this, with Combat Patrol boxes being pretty explicitly designed for it. 

[Jarl Caldersson]

I will see what people have, I think most people only have a HQ+troop units and maybe something else

[Halandaar]

Agree with Xenith, definitely check out the Crusade section which is part of the main rulebook now. It's essentially a framework for growing armies over time, either in terms of raw size (with new models) or improved units (XP, abilities) for those who don't want to spend on new kits. All armies have access to the stuff in the rulebook, and over time as the new 9th Edition Codexes come out, each faction is getting it's own unique Crusade features which are often very thematic.

 

Although it's written for Power Level and IIRC it wants you to start at 50PL (approx 1000 points), it's very easy to adapt it to using points and start at a lower level (ie 25PL/500Pts)

Edited March 10, 2021 by Halandaar

[Xenith]

 

Although it's written for Power Level and IIRC it wants you to start at 50PL (approx 1000 points), it's very easy to adapt it to using points and start at a lower level (ie 25PL/500Pts)

 

The absolute max starting CP for a new force is that 50PL cap, but they can be anywhere up to that. As per Halandaar, you have the option to either spend points to add new units to the force, or upgrae existing ones to make them better without buying new models. 

[Rik Lightstar]

It'd be easy enough to take the Crusade format and drop the starting Power/Point level to something they're all comfortable with. So from 50/100 > 25/500 or even 20/400

 

You may also want to drop the number of Requisition Points available at the start to even things up a bit, going from 5 > 3 would work.

 

Then have a set rate of gaining Requisition in addition to the ones gained for games played.

 

Rik

[Gederas]

Also recommending Crusade as what you're asking about is exactly what it's made for :yes:

[ThePenitentOne]

Slow grow is my jam.

 

The deal with Crusade (as written)- everyone starts with 25 PL, but you have 5 Requisition points and most people burn those to increase supply limit since that's what gives you the biggest bang for the buck in a low PL game. If you burn all 5 RP on supply limit, it will take you to 50 PL.

 

You can't hold more than 5 RP in pool, so if you stick with 5 RP, you do have to spend some of them, otherwise you won't be able to claim the RP that you earn in your first game. The suggestion above of lowering starting RP works, but their are enough upgrades to buy with RP that you don't have to lower it- just make a rule that no one spends it on Supply limit until after the first game.

 

I almost always use starting RP to pay for the pre-game buffs, because when you do that, those buffs become a permanent addition to the character.

I always take a warlord trait- at least for my warlord, but usually for others in my army too; I really like giving WL traits to non-HQ characters, because in Crusade, you can do that.

 

Doing those 3 things will use 3 RP. You can keep the other two in the bank and get playing, because you've created enough space in the RP pool to earn more RP.

[Kaiju Soze]

What I don't think anyone has made clear is that while you start with a 50 Power army, you don't have to use the whole thing.  If you stick to Combat Patrol missions each player only uses about 25 power worth of units chosen from their full list, which lets them include units in a list without having to actually field them until the unit is assembled/painted (depending on how much the group cares about the hobby side).

[Xenith]

Slow grow is my jam.

 

The deal with Crusade (as written)- everyone starts with 25 PL, but you have 5 Requisition points and most people burn those to increase supply limit since that's what gives you the biggest bang for the buck in a low PL game. If you burn all 5 RP on supply limit, it will take you to 50 PL.

 

The suggestion above of lowering starting RP works, but their are enough upgrades to buy with RP that you don't have to lower it- just make a rule that no one spends it on Supply limit until after the first game.

 

 

 

I might have the wrong end of the stick here, but it sounds like you play 'everything on once crusade roster vs everything on another crusade roster', so as you say potentially a 25 supply limit army vs a 50 supply limit one?  Just be aware that that's not how the crusade missions are played - the supply limit is just all the models you have accss to, but you still choose a power level limit for each game you play. Someone could have a 200 supply limit crusade force, but if someone new joins and they play a 25 PL game, then that player has to choose 25PL from his 200PL crusade force and play with that alone.

 

 

 

 I really like giving WL traits to non-HQ characters, because in Crusade, you can do that.

 

You can do that in matched also. Who gets trait doesnt depend on force org slot, just on having the CHARACTER keyword.

[Azekai]

Just play combat patrol to start with and then add on 100 points per week/month as appropriate. Toss in some colorful gear options and give a bit of thought to the setting and the scenarios and bam. You have a slow grow campaign.

[ThePenitentOne]

 

 

You can do that in matched also. Who gets trait doesnt depend on force org slot, just on having the CHARACTER keyword.

 

 

Sort of- in matched, only Warlords can take Warlord traits, and while it doesn't explicitly state that your Warlord HAS to be HQ, it usually doesn't make sense in terms of fluff or rules to make an Elite character a Warlord; it makes so little sense, I had assumed it was a rule, but you are right to point out that it is not.

 

There are strats which allow non-warlords to have Warlord Traits; I had thought these were restricted to HQ as well, but not all of them are. So if I wanted to take a Cannoness WL in matched, I could still use the Heroine in the Making strat to give a WL trait to a hospitaller or Repentia Superior if I wanted, but I'd only be able to do it for one model.

 

In Crusade, my Cannoness, Dialogus, Hospitaller, Repentia Superiors and Imagifiers can all have WL traits as long as I pay them all and don't duplicate any of them.

 

And thanks for the reminder about the Crusade roster vs the size of the battle. I'm a slow painter, so I burn very few RP on supply limit anyway- as such, I frequently forget that it's okay to have stuff on the roster that doesn't take part in a given battle.

[Xenith]

 

 

 

You can do that in matched also. Who gets trait doesnt depend on force org slot, just on having the CHARACTER keyword.

 

 

Sort of- in matched, only Warlords can take Warlord traits, and while it doesn't explicitly state that your Warlord HAS to be HQ, it usually doesn't make sense in terms of fluff or rules to make an Elite character a Warlord; it makes so little sense, I had assumed it was a rule, but you are right to point out that it is not.

 

There are strats which allow non-warlords to have Warlord Traits; I had thought these were restricted to HQ as well, but not all of them are. So if I wanted to take a Cannoness WL in matched, I could still use the Heroine in the Making strat to give a WL trait to a hospitaller or Repentia Superior if I wanted, but I'd only be able to do it for one model.

 

In Crusade, my Cannoness, Dialogus, Hospitaller, Repentia Superiors and Imagifiers can all have WL traits as long as I pay them all and don't duplicate any of them.

 

Again, you use a strat to give a trait to a non-warlord character, and can do this multiple times depending on the game size - per SM codexes. Others will catch up.

[Jarl Caldersson]

Thank you all for your suggestions, now to choose Death Guard or Black Legion...

[Rik Lightstar]

Thank you all for your suggestions, now to choose Death Guard or Black Legion...

 

An important thing to note about Crusade with how the rules are, you choose for your Command Roster an overall Allegiance (can't remember the name for it) of Imperium, Chaos, Aeldari, Orks, etc.

 

So you could have 2 Patrol detachments on your command roster, which works well as these can be 25 Power and your total is 50 at the start. One can be Death Guard and the other Black Legion, obviously if you want to play bigger games later you're losing out on faction benefits if you mix the two. 

 

BUT, you could have a Death Guard main force that grows, and a Black Legion "Strike Team" so to speak for the smaller games.

 

Really ties in with the Chaos Warband type theme.

 

Similarly with Imperium you could have an Imperial Guard main force, a small Custodes Strike force and later add in Mechanicus, Astartes and Soritas Patrols.

 

Rik

[ThePenitentOne]

 

 

 

 

 

Again, you use a strat to give a trait to a non-warlord character, and can do this multiple times depending on the game size - per SM codexes. Others will catch up.

 

 

Cool- haven't checked the SM Dex in a while, and somehow missed the fact that the Strat scales for game size in my first pass. Does anyone know if Necrons and Deathguard had a similar strat, and if so, has it been similarly updated? I'd check myself, but I don't play either army.

 

If they're going to make it scalable for everyone, that's pretty cool. 

[Tyriks]

Crusade does not have you start with 50PL each, 50PL is the combined total of your army and your opponent's.  You each start with 25PL (or 500pts).  I don't know why they combine them for PL and not points, but that's where the confusion is coming from here.  

[Oxydo]

Crusade does not have you start with 50PL each, 50PL is the combined total of your army and your opponent's.  You each start with 25PL (or 500pts).  I don't know why they combine them for PL and not points, but that's where the confusion is coming from here.

A player's Order of Battle can consist of any number of units, but you must have a Crusade card for each unit and the combined Power Rating of all units in your starting Crusade force cannot exceed 50.

So you Crusade force starts at 50 PL/1000 pts, and Narrative/Crusade play actually differs from Open in that it states "Maximum power level of each army" in the muster armies step.

Furthermore, each battle you and your opponent decide on how many PL/Points you will be using, and there is nothing forcing anyone to use all their units.

 

 

An important thing to note about Crusade with how the rules are, you choose for your Command Roster an overall Allegiance (can't remember the name for it) of Imperium, Chaos, Aeldari, Orks, etc.

 

So you could have 2 Patrol detachments on your command roster, which works well as these can be 25 Power and your total is 50 at the start. One can be Death Guard and the other Black Legion, obviously if you want to play bigger games later you're losing out on faction benefits if you mix the two.

Just want to add that your Crusade Rooster doesn't need to conform to any kind of detachment, though you need to make a battleforged list for the actual games.

[Rik Lightstar]

@Oxydo

 

You're quite right, the Command Roster can be whatever you want, however you probably need to keep potential lists in mind or you'll be stuffed lol

 

Rik

[Xenith]

 

Just want to add that your Crusade Rooster doesn't need to conform to any kind of detachment

 

Crusade Rooster doesnt conform to anything, period. He's his own chicken, and purges where he pleases.