As the dust of the failed revolution settled on the little planet of Bunrell, political unease was replaced by impending dread – had the genestealers succeeded in alerting any nearby Hive Fleets to the prescence of the White Heart star system?

Weeks turned to months, as steadily the alien threat did not descend from the skies, but still trouble brewed – The genestealers had been beaten back, but had escaped their nest before it was cleansed. Civilians living in the lower levels of the Hive Cities regularly disappeared, whilst flamer-wielding Redemptionist gangs lynch any who show any signs of being a genestealer hybrid.

Daily life resumed slowly, as it does after any tragedy. Many buildings, roads and bridges required repair or demolition and replacement, with the Mechanicus stepping up to the task and producing wonders of engineering from the rubble of rebellion.

With the implicit threat of alien invasion, many of these staggering monuments performed a dual-purpose as bunkers, silos, barracks and other structures of war, ready for the day when they were needed. Bunrell became criss-crossed with trench works, weapon emplacements and mustering grounds.

Just when the fear finally seemed to giving way to normality, the sanctioned psykers amongst the Astropathic choirs began prophesying a cataclysm that would strike the world – an amalgam of adamantium and asteroid, a ship graveyard crushed together in the swirling Emperyian, harbinger of destruction – a Space Hulk.

The path of a Space Hulk is almost impossible to predict, as they drift randomly through the currents of the Warp, dropping into real-space through weak points in the fabric of reality, where they fall victim to gravity once again. Having little or no propulsion, these gigantic entities have almost unstoppable momentum, but are unlikely to ever collide with anything larger than debris simply due to the scale of the universe, where a star system is as a grain of sand against the emptiness of a concert hall.

But that is not always so…

Dubbed The Rocket by fearful Imperial astronomancers, the space hulk materialised into real-space at the outer edge of the White Heart system, and whirring cogitators plotted and checked and re-plotted and re-checked the object’s trajectory. Incalculable odds (or cruel fate) had placed the hulk on a collision course with the planet of Bunrell.

With a count-down clock of the impending impact, military forces both Imperial and Alien make best speed towards The Rocket, armed with Vortex warheads in an effort to re-direct or break-up the hulk, to prevent the collision. All the while, varied alien factions aboard the hulk prepare to prevent or escape the destruction of their ark, or simply to whittle down the opposition!

—————————

For the first game of this year’s campaign (occurring on Wednesday the 7th of September), players need only bring the Hero they intend to be their Warlord for the duration of the campaign, where they will battle using simplified rules and Space Hulk board game tiles to reach the optimum places on the space hulk The Rocket to place teleport homers for varieties of dangerous explosives. There strictly speaking isn’t a points limit, but your Heroes may find their shiniest equipment having a funny moment if I feel you’ve overdone it. I would suggest equipping the Hero as you intend to for the Campaign, with the addendum that Bikes, Jump/Jet Packs and Wings will have no effect in the game.

Note that due to the size of Space Hulk board tiles, anyone that has chosen an Astra Militarum (i.e. Imperial Guard) Tank Commander will need to instead bring a standard Company Commander. This does not prevent you using the Tank Commander for the rest of the campaign. Likewise Necron Overlords may not bring a Catacomb Command Barge.

Imperial Guard characters may bring up to two infantry models to act as bodyguards, equipped as per the Command Squad Veteran options (i.e. Medic, etc.). Anyone using a Tau Carde Fireblade may bring two Fire Warriors.

Heroes such as Daemon Princes, or other large models, may either use a slightly smaller stand-in, or will simply occupy 2-4 squares (should be manageable).

A few last Hero entries:

Craftworld Eldar Farseer and Autarch

Craftworld Eldar Spiritseer and Harlequins Grand Harlequin

Generic Grey Knights Hero and Space Wolves Rune Priest

Chaos Daemons Daemon Prince and Tau Cadre Fireblade

Tyranid Broodlord and Hive Tyrant

Also something that is of note, Games Workshop has been releasing “drafts” of Frequently Asked Questions for their 40k rules on their Facebook page (here is a link to a collection of links on a 40k forum, to save searching). As they are not “official” yet, whether you use them or not remains you and your opponent’s choice, with the exception of anything marked as “Errata”, which will be counted as official for the campaign. There’s not alot in that category – the main two are increasing the number of attacks of Dreadnoughts and Helbrutes so as to bring them into line with the Space Marine and Dark Angels versions, and increasing the WS/BS of Blood Angels scouts for the same reasoning.