War Heroes: Rules

Main Events

Primary Battle

     A primary battle uses the standard Apocalypse rules. Primary battles are when your army faces off against another at full force. You may participate in a primary battle once every four weeks. There are no specific dates your primary battles must be played. You can organize a primary battle with any other commander(s) in the campaign at a time that works for all involved. If you have not played a primary battle and you want to battle against a commander that has, you may. However, the other commander must count the battle as a skirmish with a draw result.
     In a primary battle you may make temporary alliances with any army you are not hated enemies with (see page 198 of your Apocalypse book). There may only be two sides in a battle unless all players agree to an 8+ hour game. Each side must have the same number of players.
     Official alliances may be made (even with hated enemies) so long as the commanders have made a written agreement. This may be done even before the first primary battle. For further details about alliances please see the commander section.

Skirmishes

(75%) Mad Dash

A mad dash is a smaller battle fought over transport and supply lines where each side risks army points with the winner taking all. A mad dash uses the standard Apocalypse rules. Each army uses 75% of their points for this battle. The players must decide how many points they will risk. A player may only risk points they have above 3,000. The winner gains army points equal to the amount their opponent loses.

(50%) King of the Hill

A king of the hill battle is over one extremely valuable resource. King of the hill uses modified Apocalypse rules. Each army uses 50% of their points for this battle. Any number of players may battle for the throne. There are no deployment zones. There is only one objective in the center of the table. To hold or contest this objective you must be in base contact with it. All players have the Flank March asset for free and Ambush may not be taken or used.

(35%) Coup d'état

A coup d'état is what happens when the leadership from two armies meet and someone starts shooting. Although the name might suggest something major happens, these meetings never have important leadership figures and always have expendable troops. Each army uses only 35% of their points for this battle. Use the standard Apocalypse rules except: there are no objectives deployed, and each army must choose at least three HQ units. During deployment each army must deploy all their HQ units. Before the first turn each army randomly selects one of their HQ units. All models in that unit are tipped over and count as an objective for the opponent. Additionally, every HQ unit counts as an objective for the opponent after every model in the unit has been slain. This specific battle may only have one player per side and each side has the Ambush strategic asset for free.

(25%) Cleanse

A cleanse is a minor battle over a piece of territory. Two armies battle until no enemy unit remains on the board. Each army uses only 25% of their points for this battle. Use the standard Apocalypse rules except there are no objectives. This specific battle may have any number of players per side. If a player must leave before the all enemies have been wiped out that player forfeits all commander points and army points for this battle (war hero points are kept).

(3,000) Clash

A clash is near full-scale battle over resources that are hardly worth the conflict. A clash uses the standard Apocalypse rules. Each army uses 3,000 points for this battle. Any number of players may battle for supremicy. A clash must last a minimum of three full game turns. If it does not, all points for the skirmish are negated.

(250) Lost Patrol

Lost patrol missions are conflicts that occur so far from any army's main forces that no backup is expected. And the units on the battlefield have already been ruled out as casualties by their commanders back at the main force. A lost patrol uses the standard Apocalypse rules except the play area should be 4x6 and there is only one objective, which should be placed in no-man's land. Each army may only use 250 points and no war heroes may be fielded. This skirmish is special in that it uses the 5th edition rules for scoring units (only Troops). This specific battle may only have one player per side.

Commanders

The commander of an army is simply the player that uses the army, you.

Alliances

     An alliance with another army will help both you and your ally. To make an alliance you must give a paper to the campaign organizer with both your and your ally's signature on it. The terms, if any, of the alliance must be stated as well. Commanders with an alliance must do all primary battles with their ally or allies. This also means you will need two or more other commanders that have at least a temporary alliance available to make your primary battle possible under the restrictions given for primary battles.
     Alliances give the armies involved safer borders and transport routes. To represent this any player with an alliance gains 15 additional army points each time they do a primary battle. Also, any skirmish battles done with an ally gives 10 additional army points. These points are given to the armies involved before each battle. So, it is possible for your first primary battle to have 3,015 points instead of 3,000 if you make an alliance.
     To break an alliance you must inform the campaign organizer. After an alliance is broken each commander involved loses half of the army points they gained due to the alliance (listed above). Breaking an alliance is also possible during any battle. The penalty for doing this is much harsher. Breaking an alliance during a battle will make both commanders lose all army points gained due to the alliance plus an additional 5 points per battle fought together.
     If a commander wishes to break their alliance during combat they must announce it at the start of one of their sides turns before the movement phase or strategic reserves arrive. At that point their previous ally counts as an enemy and their previous enemies count as temporary allies. All assaults the backstabbing commander was in end and models involved must move an inch away from each other. The backstabbing player must wait for his new allies turn to act again. The betrayed commander(s) continues with their turn, probably very angry at the new enemy.
     Temporary alliances which are made for only one battle may not be broken and do not grant any additional points. Even if the commanders involved in a temporary alliance consistently battle together they will still only have a temporary alliance unless they contact a campaign organizer to make it official.

Commander Points

Commander points show how you as the player are doing in the campaign. Essentially, the higher your points are the crazier you are about Warhammer 40,000. At the end of the campaign cycle a small award may be given to the commmander with the highest score.

Army Points

The Apocalyptic battles of the campaign will grow in size and ferocity. As time and the armies march on they will inevitably enrage their enemies, inspire their comrades, and call in favors, fueling the fires of war. Army points signify the commander's ability to gather additional forces. Each army begins the campaign with 3,000 points.

War Heroes

     This campaign allows for up to three highly detailed and fully painted models to achieve truly great skills and stats. As you battle with these three models they will earn points that can be used to improve their battle prowess, eventually truly earning the title of war heroes.
     Each war hero acts as an independent character if they were not already one. If they are normally a member of a unit then they are always deployed normally as an attached independent character to that unit. Additionally, war heroes count as a scoring unit. War heroes should be treated as independent characters at all other times.
     These models cannot be vehicles or monstrous creatures. Walkers, of course, are cannot be war heroes by these standards. Additionally, neither can swarm models be chosen, as their models represent multiple creatures and not a single hero. Also, any named character (unless it is a vehicle or monstrous creature) may be chosen as one of your three war heroes. However, only one war hero in your army may be a named character or from an HQ unit. Additionally, two or more war heroes may not be chosen as part of the same unit. So, a player could have two war hero Space Marines in tactical squads, but those two war heroes could never start the game as part of the same tactical squad.
     After each battle of the campaign you may spend war hero points to improve one or more of your war heroes. If any changes are made to weapons or wargear they must be modeled as well. Any war hero points that are not used are saved up until spent.
     War hero points are accumulated in different ways. Simply for playing a battle you will get general points that can be used on any of your war heroes as you see fit. Also, how each war hero performs in the battle will greatly increase points which that specific hero receives. War heroes not present for a battle may only receive general points.

War Hero Upgrades

To purchase an upgrade the war hero must already have the next lowest rating. When determining the current rating always use the base. So, a regular Space Marine Scout with two close combat weapons has two attacks. But, his base number of attacks is one. Upgrading his number of attacks to a base of two would cost 2 war hero points (see below). And in combat he would then have three attacks since he still has two close combat weapons.

Weapon Skill

Ballistic Skill

Strength (may only increase to double original value)

Wounds (may only increase to triple original value)

Initiative

Attacks

Leadership

Gear

Universal Special Rules (may purchase in any order)

War Hero Gear (uses army points; must have Gear 4 to access)

War Hero Gear Descriptions

Gear
     Banner of Initiative:
Any models in the same unit as a war hero carring a banner of initiative with a lower initiative than the war hero recieve +1 to their initiative. This bonus will stack with any other bonus to initiative, but a models initiative may never go above 10.
     Banner of Leadership:
Any units with a model within 6" of a war hero carring a banner of leadership may use the war hero's leadership score for any morale or pinning test.
     Camo Cloak:
The model wearing this gains the stealth universal special rule.
Weapons
     Bolt Pistol:
Range: 12" S: 4 AP: 5 Pistol

     Boltgun:
Range: 24" S: 4 AP: 5 Rapid Fire

     Hellgun:
Range: 24" S: 3 AP: 5 Rapid Fire

     Laspistol:
Range: 12" S: 3 AP: - Pistol

     Lasgun:
Range: 24" S: 3 AP: - Rapid Fire

     Plasma Pistol:
Range: 12" S: 7 AP: 2 Pistol (Gets hot!)

     Pulse Rifle:
Range: 30" S: 5 AP: 5 Rapid Fire

     Shotgun:
Range: 12" S: 3 AP: - Assault 2

     Sniper Rifle:
Range: 36" S: - AP: 6 Sniper, Pinning, Heavy 1

Additional Rules

General Game Rules
          The army point limit may not be exceeded, even by 1 point. Your army may of course utilize less than its point limit for any battle.
War Heroes
          It will help keep the campaign more believable if no war heroes are chosen from units that do not have the ability to gain experience. Examples of this include: Thousand Sons in power armor (not aspiring sorcerers), any Necron (see their codex page 12). Also, any unit with that is "mindless" should not be chosen as a war hero. However, an army that has Necrons as the primary codex is allowed to ignore this rule.
War Hero Points
          If a war hero is part of a unit that suffers a "Terrible accident!" result on the deep strike table it counts as critically wounded by an instant death attack. If a war hero falls back off the board they count as critically wounded. If a war hero is part of a unit that is destroyed by a sweeping advance they count as critically wounded.
Gear
          Wargear and weapons war heroes use must be accounted for in your army points. War hero points can not be used to purchase equipment. However, if a war hero purchases Gear 5 and above they are allowed a specific point limit of war gear that you do not need to account for. So, with Gear 5 you could pay for all of a war hero's weapons/wargear if the point total for all the weapons/wargear was 15 points or less. Or, with Gear 5 you could negate 15 points of weapons/wargear that the war hero takes. You must pay for any overflow.
          The point costs for War Hero gear are higher than the cost listed in any codex which contains any of the same items. If a war hero has access to an item of war hero gear through their normal codex, they may of course use the lower cost. The higher cost of war hero gear is to account for the difficulty of finding and adjusting the equipment to work for the war hero.
          All weapons and war gear must be shown on the model. However, sometimes the original war hero model may need to be replaced with a more appropriate model in order to do this. If switching models is required for any weapons or wargear choices, you should paint the replacement model in such a way that some continuity exists between the original and the new model.
          If the unit the war hero was chosen from does not have a sergeant/champion then that war hero is considered to already have Gear 2.
Universal Special Rules
          Unlike normal independent characters, war heroes do not automatically have 'move through cover' or 'skilled rider.' However, they are very low cost upgrades.

Apocalypse Rules: additional campaign resources

Official
     The Rules in this section have been verified by Games-workshop.
          Games Workshop recommends using the 4th edition rules for determining scoring units. This campaign will follow what Games Workshop has recommended. That means a scoring unit for the War Heroes campaign is: any non-vehicle unit of at least 50% strength, any mobile vehicle except dedicated transports, any vehicle squadron of at least 50% mobile vehicles, no independent characters (except War Heroes, see rule), and any artillery unit of at least 50% strength. For additional information see the fourth edition Warhammer 40,000 base book, page 85.
          Units transported inside of a flyer cannot fire while transported.

House Rules
     The Rules in this section are official rules for the campaign that are not official rules in regular Apocalypse games.
          Dice on the floor: whenever rolled dice go off the table the fallen dice count as automatic failures. A more detailed description of this rule is available on page 19 of the Warhammer 40,000 base book.
          Cocked dice: whenever dice do not land flat they must be re-rolled. A more detailed description of this rule is available on page 19 of the Warhammer 40,000 base book.
          Removing Casualties Reminder: try to use the 5th edition rules for removing casualties. To date most of us have been using the 4th edition rules. Please read page 25 of the Warhammer 40,000 base book! I know I needed to read it again. Please note that this is the same method used for assaults.

Additional Datasheets

Official
These datasheets are from www.games-workshop.com. The same files listed below can be found on the Gamesworkshop site.

Chaos Space Marines
Doom Blaster of Khorne
Doomsday Device
Plague of Zombies
The Lost and the Damned

Imperial Guard
Banehammer
Banesword
Doomhammer
Shadowsword
Stormlord
Stormsword

Tau
Pathfinders Long Range Infiltration
Rapid Redeployment Force

House Rules
These datasheets are valid for this campaign. Updates to these datasheets are possible. The newest version of any of the datasheets will be the only valid version. The version and date updated are listed on the bottom of each page. If a version number is below 1.0 the datasheet is only valid in skirmishes.

Chaos Space Marines
Chaos Hounds
Death Guard
Emporer's Children
Thousand Sons Legion
World Eaters

Tyranid
Dominatrix

Primary Battles
Army is fully assembled (no repairs needed)	+1
Army is assembled and 50% painted	+2
Army is assembled and 75% painted	+4
Army is assembled and 100% painted	+6
Used a newly purchased unit for the 1st time	+1
Used an Apocalypse formation	+2
Used a super-heavy or a gargantuan creature	+2
Used a named character (x1 max)	+1
Did not pick the Flank March asset	+1
Battle lasts over 4 hours	+1
Battle lasts over 8 hours (stacks with above)	+2
You have no strategic reserves and no units left at the time limit	+5
Defeat (stacks with above)	+2
Draw	+3
Victory	+4

Skirmishes
Won a Mad Dash worth under 75 points	+1
Lost a Mad Dash worth under 75 points	+2
Won a Mad Dash worth 76 point or more	+2
Lost a Mad Dash worth 76-150 points	+3
Lost a Mad Dash worth over 151 points or more	+4
Lost a Cleanse	+1
Won a Cleanse	+2
Played a Coup d'état or Lost Patrol	+1
Draw result with a Mad Dash or Cleanse	+1
Cleanse lasted under 3 hours	+3
Skirmish lasted over 4 hours	+1

Primary Battles
Used a fully assembled and painted vehicle (x10 max)	+1
Used a fully painted HQ unit (x10 max)	+1
Used an Apocalypse formation (x5 max)	+5
Used a super-heavy or gargantuan creature (homemade)	+5
Used a super-heavy or gargantuan creature (official)	+15
Used any part purchased from Forge World (x1 only)	+5
Battle lasts over 4 hours	+10
Battle lasts over 8 hours (stacks with above)	+15
Each side had 2 or more players	+10
Each objective contested by your side	+5
Each objective held by your side	+15
Each objective held by your army (stacks with above)	+35
Opponent(s) have no units on the board at the time limit	+50

Skirmishes
Used only fully assembled and painted models	+5
Lost a Mad Dash	-X*
Won a Mad Dash	+X*
Win for 1500+ pts	+65
Win for 500-1499 pts	+40
Win for 499- pts	+25
Draw for 1500+ pts	+35
Draw for 500-1499 pts	+20
Draw for 499- pts	+10
Loss for 1500+ pts	+25
Loss for 500-1499 pts	+10
Loss for 499- pts	+5
Played a skirmish	+5

Primary Battles (general)
Lost	+3
Draw	+3
Won	+4

Primary Battles (specific war heroes)
Critically wounded by an instant death attack	+1
Critically wounded	+2
Survived battle	+3
Caused a wound (x5 max)	+1
Destroyed a vehicle (x3 max)	+2
Critically wounded another war hero (x1 only)	+3
At time limit, within enemy deployment zone	+1
Contested an objective	+3
Held an objective	+4

Skirmishes (general)
Win for 1500+ pts	+2
Loss for 1500+ pts	+1
Win for 1499- pts	+1
Loss for 1499- pts	+1
Draw	+1

Skirmishes (specific war heroes)
Critically wounded by an instant death attack	+0
Critically wounded	+1
Survived battle	+2
Caused a wound (x3 max)	+1
Destroyed a vehicle (x1 only)	+1
Contested an objective	+1
Held an objective	+2

2:	WS 2	increase weapon skill to 2
3:	WS 3	increase weapon skill to 3
4:	WS 4	increase weapon skill to 4
5:	WS 5	increase weapon skill to 5
6:	WS 6	increase weapon skill to 6
6:	WS 7	increase weapon skill to 7
7:	WS 8	increase weapon skill to 8
7:	WS 9	increase weapon skill to 9
8:	WS 10	increase weapon skill to 10

3:	BS 2	increase ballistic skill to 2
4:	BS 3	increase ballistic skill to 3
5:	BS 4	increase ballistic skill to 4
6:	BS 5	increase ballistic skill to 5
8:	BS 6	increase ballistic skill to 6
10:	BS 7	increase ballistic skill to 7
12:	BS 8	increase ballistic skill to 8
14:	BS 9	increase ballistic skill to 9
16:	BS 10	increase ballistic skill to 10

2:	S 2	increase strength to 2
3:	S 3	increase strength to 3
4:	S 4	increase strength to 4
5:	S 5	increase strength to 5
6:	S 6	increase strength to 6
7:	S 7	increase strength to 7
8:	S 8	increase strength to 8
9:	S 9	increase strength to 9
10:	S 10	increase strength to 10

5:	W 2	increase wounds to 2
6:	W 3	increase wounds to 3
8:	W 4	increase wounds to 4
10:	W 5	increase wounds to 5
12:	W 6	increase wounds to 6

1:	I 2	increase initiative to 2
2:	I 3	increase initiative to 3
3:	I 4	increase initiative to 4
3:	I 5	increase initiative to 5
4:	I 6	increase initiative to 6
4:	I 7	increase initiative to 7
5:	I 8	increase initiative to 8
5:	I 9	increase initiative to 9
5:	I 10	increase initiative to 10

2:	A 2	increase attacks to 2
4:	A 3	increase attacks to 3
6:	A 4	increase attacks to 4
8:	A 5	increase attacks to 5
12:	A 6	increase attacks to 4+d6

1:	Ld 2	increase leadership to 2
1:	Ld 3	increase leadership to 3
1:	Ld 4	increase leadership to 4
1:	Ld 5	increase leadership to 5
2:	Ld 6	increase leadership to 6
2:	Ld 7	increase leadership to 7
3:	Ld 8	increase leadership to 8
3:	Ld 9	increase leadership to 9
4:	Ld 10	increase leadership to 10
4:	Ld A	any unit you join may attempt to regroup
5:	Ld B	if you are fearless you grant that ability to units you join

4:	USR	gain counter-attack
12:	USR	gain eternal warrior
8:	USR	gain fearless
12:	USR	gain feel no pain
10:	USR	gain fleet
8:	USR	gain furious charge
15:	USR	gain hit & run
8:	USR	gain infiltrate
1:	USR	gain move through cover
4:	USR	gain night vision/acute senses
5:	USR	gain preferred enemy (note which one)
9:	USR	remove rage
15:	USR	gain relentless
8:	USR	gain scounts
1:	USR	gain skilled rider
12:	USR	gain slow and purposeful
6:	USR	gain stealth
10:	USR	gain stubborn
4:	USR	gain tank hunters

Power Weapon	20	Laspistol	1
Targeter	2	Lasgun	1
Carapace Armor	15	Shotgun	1
Ballistic Vest	10	Bolt Pistol	5
Refractor Field	20	Plasma Pistol	20
Camo Cloak	7	Hellgun	3
Banner of Leadership	35	Boltgun	5
Banner of Initiative	35	Sniper Rifle	10
Jet Boots	40	Pulse Rifle	10

4:	Gear 2	gain access to weapons/wargear as if you were a sergeant/champion of your unit
6:	Gear 3	gain access to weapons/wargear as if you were one of your army's HQ independent characters
8:	Gear 4	gain access to war hero gear - see list
10:	Gear 5	you are allowed 15 points of free weapons/wargear
12:	Gear 6	you are allowed 30 points of free weapons/wargear
14:	Gear 7	you are allowed 45 points of free weapons/wargear
16:	Gear 8	you are allowed 60 points of free weapons/wargear
18:	Gear 9	you are allowed 75 points of free weapons/wargear
20:	Gear 10	you are allowed 90 points of free weapons/wargear