Armageddon
Contents
Books
| Book | Kind | Edition | Version | Last update |
 Crusade: Armageddon | ||||
| Crusade: Armageddon | Expansion | 10 | March 2025 | |
Introduction
In this section you will find rules for Hellscapes, Anomalies and Unbound Adversaries - new rules to represent the conditions faced by the combatants on the daemon-infested battlefields of Armageddon. You will also find a number of new Battle Honours you can give to your warriors as they fight their way across Armageddon, as well as unique Crusade Blessings that can come into effect in your games. Additionally, you will find rules for running an Armageddon campaign, and swathes of new missions using Hellscapes, Anomalies and Unbound Adversaries to make this a campaign like no other.
This section contains the following rules:ARMAGEDDON CAMPAIGN
These rules allow you and your friends to play through a combined Crusade experience across a campaign, working together in your alliances to take the fight to the enemy.
CRUSADE BADGES
Here you will find Crusade Badges representing achievements you can aim for depending on the alliance you decide to fight for in your Armageddon campaign.
BATTLE TRAITS
These rules cover all of the skills and new capabilities your forces can learn from fighting in this specific theatre of war as they gain experience and achieve new ranks.
MIGHTY CHAMPIONS
These rules describe how the most famed heroes of the 41st Millennium can enhance your Crusade force with new strategic abilities, giving you more reasons than ever before to include them in your Armageddon campaigns.
CRUSADE RELICS
Many powerful artefacts, found within these pages, can be recovered from the battle-scarred landscapes of Armageddon.
ARMAGEDDON CRUSADE BATTLES
The rules presented on these pages outline the sequence to follow when playing Armageddon missions, and walk you through all of the steps to get you up and running.
The Anomalies rules complement the Hellscape rules, adding a random element to your battles that may help or hinder your warriors. These rules can be used with Hellscape rules, or by themselves. The frequency with which these Anomalies manifest can change depending on your Crusade rules or on what you agree with your opponent, letting you decide how chaotic you want your battles to be.
UNBOUND ADVERSARIES
Unbound Adversaries introduce the threat of enemies native to - or invading - the battlefield you’re fighting over. The Unbound Adversaries rules let you use other miniatures from your collection to represent the daemonic legions assailing the defenders of Armageddon, or any other force inimical to both players. Unbound Adversaries act in their own turn to thwart the plans of you and your opponent, forcing you to adapt to new threats as they arise.
CRUSADE BLESSINGS
This section provides a range of new Crusade Blessings that can be used by an Underdog to get a leg-up on their more experienced opponent, ensuring every Crusade game provides a fair battle.
AGENDAS
When playing one of the Crusade missions presented in this book, you can choose from these Agendas, which provide unique ways for your units to gain experience on the battlefield.
CRUSADE MISSIONS
This section includes a variety of missions, allowing you to play your own battles set on Armageddon.
These rules allow you and your friends to play through a combined Crusade experience across a campaign, working together in your alliances to take the fight to the enemy.
CRUSADE BADGES
Here you will find Crusade Badges representing achievements you can aim for depending on the alliance you decide to fight for in your Armageddon campaign.
BATTLE TRAITS
These rules cover all of the skills and new capabilities your forces can learn from fighting in this specific theatre of war as they gain experience and achieve new ranks.
MIGHTY CHAMPIONS
These rules describe how the most famed heroes of the 41st Millennium can enhance your Crusade force with new strategic abilities, giving you more reasons than ever before to include them in your Armageddon campaigns.
CRUSADE RELICS
Many powerful artefacts, found within these pages, can be recovered from the battle-scarred landscapes of Armageddon.
ARMAGEDDON CRUSADE BATTLES
The rules presented on these pages outline the sequence to follow when playing Armageddon missions, and walk you through all of the steps to get you up and running.
HELLSCAPES
Hellscapes are a set of rules that change the conditions under which your warriors are fighting. Each represents a different kind of phenomenon, such as you might encounter during a daemonic incursion or other, similarly devastating event.
ANOMALIESHellscapes are a set of rules that change the conditions under which your warriors are fighting. Each represents a different kind of phenomenon, such as you might encounter during a daemonic incursion or other, similarly devastating event.
The Anomalies rules complement the Hellscape rules, adding a random element to your battles that may help or hinder your warriors. These rules can be used with Hellscape rules, or by themselves. The frequency with which these Anomalies manifest can change depending on your Crusade rules or on what you agree with your opponent, letting you decide how chaotic you want your battles to be.
UNBOUND ADVERSARIES
Unbound Adversaries introduce the threat of enemies native to - or invading - the battlefield you’re fighting over. The Unbound Adversaries rules let you use other miniatures from your collection to represent the daemonic legions assailing the defenders of Armageddon, or any other force inimical to both players. Unbound Adversaries act in their own turn to thwart the plans of you and your opponent, forcing you to adapt to new threats as they arise.
CRUSADE BLESSINGS
This section provides a range of new Crusade Blessings that can be used by an Underdog to get a leg-up on their more experienced opponent, ensuring every Crusade game provides a fair battle.
AGENDAS
When playing one of the Crusade missions presented in this book, you can choose from these Agendas, which provide unique ways for your units to gain experience on the battlefield.
CRUSADE MISSIONS
This section includes a variety of missions, allowing you to play your own battles set on Armageddon.
Armageddon Campaign
Crusade offers a fantastic narrative experience to the Warhammer 40,000 player, letting you take your collection on its own unique journey. But you might also want to share that journey with other players, weaving combined tales of heroism and victory as you fight both with and against each other in a multi-game campaign. The rules below provide a framework that you can use to take your Crusade forces on just such a path, scaling the experience to whatever duration you and your friends desire.
Introduction
An Armageddon campaign allows a group of players to get together, form alliances and play a series of games. It is split into four campaign phases, each of which consists of numerous battles between the factions.Armageddon Campaign Badges
At the end of any Armageddon campaign battle, every unit that was part of your Crusade army for that battle that does not already have it gains the Armageddon campaign badge. As the unit fights in other campaigns, it can gain additional campaign badges. As well as being a visual record of a unit’s fighting history, various Battle Honours are only available to units with particular campaign badges. Note that a unit keeps its campaign badges and any associated Battle Honours, for future battles, even if those battles take place in a different campaign.Campaign Master
An Armageddon campaign is best run with a Campaign Master. They will take on the mobilisation and organisation of the campaign so that the other players can focus on playing games. A Campaign Master can play in the campaign, but their primary role is to facilitate a smooth and enjoyable experience for all players involved.Forming Alliances
Once a Campaign Master has stepped forward, their first task is to gather the players and sort them into alliances. The system can support anything from just two players, up to dozens of players. The campaign works particularly well with a small group of like-minded and enthusiastic players who can meet on a regular basis.Alliances should be organised as evenly as possible, and when feasible, based on the Factions being played. Once players are assigned to an alliance, their Crusade force is committed to that cause. For this reason, players should play the same Faction through the campaign. If they wish to change their Faction, they can do so at the Campaign Master’s discretion. The alliances are as follows.
Gatebreakers
Those who seek to stem the tide of Chaos that has been unleashed on Armageddon. The forces of the Imperium would be best suited to this alliance, but it could also include any other natural enemies of Chaos.Desecrators
Those who wish to transform Armageddon into a nightmare world of endless carnage. The forces of Chaos are best suited to this alliance, but they may be joined by others who would think nothing of putting whole worlds to the sword to achieve their ends.Marauders
Those aligned with neither of the above alliances, who seek to sow chaos, to achieve esoteric ends, or to make opportunistic attacks when their foes are divided and vulnerable. This alliance is best suited to those who carve their own path - even if they aren’t all working towards the same goals.Allies of Convenience
Note that these are guidelines on how to organise players into an alliance, rather than a requirement. If it suits the group better to organise the alliances differently, the Campaign Master should feel free to do so.For example, if many of the players in the group have Crusade forces associated with a single alliance, to make the alliances more evenly numbered some of them may have to fight for a different alliance than what we have recommended. You could always create some interesting narrative to explain why one side fights for another.
Campaign Length
An Armageddon campaign is split into four campaign phases, each of which involves battling in a different stage of the war. Before the campaign begins, the Campaign Master should determine the length of time allocated to each campaign phase and the number of games that can be played in that phase. Once either of those conditions have been met, that campaign phase ends and the success or otherwise of each alliance in that phase is determined. The alliance that wins the final phase wins the campaign.A campaign can be a long and expansive experience where each campaign phase takes place over a month or two, with many battles fought and mighty heroes lost to the fires of war. Equally, it can be a short and focused campaign played over a weekend, with each campaign phase consisting of just one or two battles representing the key moments of the conflict.
Here are some example configurations for your campaign, to give some guidance to a new Campaign Master.
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As a guide, if each member of your campaign group will play one game a week, this means a very fast campaign can be played in a month - in which the Campaign Master would allocate one week per campaign phase, and a target of one game per player per campaign phase - while a slow campaign will take closer to six months to complete - in which the Campaign Master might allocate around six weeks per campaign phase, and a target of five games per player per campaign phase.
If your campaign group is gathering in the same place to play a number of games in quick succession, a very fast campaign can be completed in a day, and a fast campaign can be completed in a weekend. In this case, the Campaign Master can set the length of each phase to one or two games, depending on the length of the event, and each player will play that number of games in each phase.
Campaign Phases
Over a campaign phase, players from opposing alliances will battle each other to work towards their alliances narrative goals. The Campaign Master has a few options concerning how players are matched up for games. They can leave players to arrange games themselves, with challenges thrown down and honour at stake. Alternatively, it may be appropriate to introduce more structure to the match ups. For example, a game schedule will ensure that everyone gets an equal amount of games, or, in campaigns with a large number of players, each alliance can be broken down into smaller subgroups that are then matched against each other to make arranging games even simpler.Once you have gathered the players into alliances, established the way to play and determined the length of the campaign, it’s time for the struggle for Armageddon to begin!
Narrative Goals, Campaign Points and Strategic Points
In each phase of the campaign, each alliance pursues a narrative goal. Their progress towards that goal is measured in strategic points, which each player can earn as described in their narrative goal. The narrative goal also describes the consequences of success or failure.
Success and Failure
At the end of each campaign phase, the alliance with the most strategic points succeeds in its narrative goal - that alliance gains one campaign point. If there is no alliance with the most strategic points or for each alliance without the most strategic points fails in its narrative goal. Ure strategic points of each alliance are then reset to 0.Your alliances success or failure determines which narrative goal you attempt in the next campaign phase, and also have another effect as described in your alliances narrative goal.
The ultimate victors are not decided right up until the final phase, so everything is still to play for even if an alliance does not meet its narrative goal in an earlier phase of the campaign.
Ending the Campaign
At the end of the fourth phase, if one alliance has a higher total of strategic points than each of the other alliances, that alliance wins: the players in that alliance are the victors of the campaign. If two or more alliances are tied for the highest total of strategic points, whichever of those tied alliances has the highest total of campaign points wins. If there is still a tie, then the campaign ends in a bloody draw, and the war for Armageddon rages on.Gatebreakers
Stabilising the front lines on Armageddon’s principal continents will provide a stable foundation for its defenders.
At the end of each battle,if you are the victor, gain five strategic points.
RESURGENT MORALE
In the next campaign phase, attempt the Reclaim the Lost Hives narrative goal, and each time you purchase the Increase Supply Limit requisition, increase your Crusade force’s supply limit by 250 points, instead of 200.SUCCESS
GRIM DETERMINATION
In the next campaign phase, attempt the Strengthen the Imperator Line narrative goal, and in each battle, the first time a unit from your Crusade army fails a Battle-shock test, that unit instead passes that test.FAILURE
Building on early success, the Gatebreakers of Armageddon strike to seize and cleanse the fallen Hives of Hades and Thoraddis.
At the end of each battle, if two or more units from your Crusade army (excluding AIRCRAFT and Battle-shocked units) are wholly within your opponent’s deployment zone, gain five strategic points.
COMMANDING GRASP
In the next campaign phase, attempt the Raze the Monoliths narrative goal, and in each battle, in your second Reinforcement step, you can select one unit from your Crusade army in Strategic Reserve. Set up that uniton the battlefield as if it were the third battle round.SUCCESS
STAGED WITHDRAWAL
In the next campaign phase, attempt the Light in the Dark narrative goal, and in each battle, at the start of the Declare Battle Formations step, you can select one INFANTRY or BATTLELINE unit from your Crusade army. All models in that unit have the Scouts 6" ability until the end of the battle.
FAILURE
2. Battle-shock
In this step, you must take a Battle-shock test for each of your units on the battlefield that is Below Half-strength. To do so, roll 2D6: if the result is greater than or equal to the best Leadership characteristic in that unit, the test is passed; otherwise, the test is failed and, until the start of your next Command phase, that unit is Battle-shocked.While a unit is Battle-shocked:
- The Objective Control characteristic of all of its models is 0.
- If it Falls Back, you must take a Desperate Escape test for every model in that unit.
- Its controlling player cannot use Stratagems to affect that unit.
Once you have taken Battle-shock tests for all of your units that require them, your Command phase ends and you progress to your Movement phase.
In this step, if for any reason a unit is forced to take a Battle-shock test for being below its Starting Strength, unless otherwise stated, that unit does not also have to take a Battle-shock test for being Below Half-strength. While a unit is Battle-shocked, all models in that unit are also Battle-shocked.
- Take a Battle-shock test for each unit from your army on the battlefield that is Below Half-strength.
- Roll 2D6: if the result is greater than or equal to the unit’s Leadership, the test is passed. Otherwise, the unit is Battle-shocked until the start of your next Command phase.
- Battle-shocked units have an OC of 0 and their controlling player cannot use Stratagems to affect them.
- Battle-shocked units must take Desperate Escape tests if they Fall Back.
Attached Units
Some CHARACTER units have the Leader ability, which lets them merge with other units (known as Bodyguard units) to form an Attached unit.The Starting Strength of an Attached unit is equal to the combined Starting Strengths of all of its units (i.e. the number of models in the Leader unit added to the number of models in the Bodyguard unit). If either the Leader unit or the Bodyguard unit in an Attached unit is destroyed, the Starting Strength of the remaining unit is changed to be equal to its original Starting Strength.
Example: A Primaris Captain (Starting Strength 1) is attached to a unit of Intercessors (Starting Strength 5). This Attached unit has a Starting Strength of 6. If all the Intercessors are destroyed, the remaining Primaris Captain would revert to having a Starting Strength of 1.
For the purposes of rules that are triggered when a unit is destroyed, such rules are still triggered when one of the individual units that made up an Attached unit is destroyed (the Leader or the Bodyguard unit).
Example: If a rule awards you with 1VP each time an enemy unit is destroyed, and you target an Attached unit, you would gain 1VP if the Bodyguard unit is destroyed and 1VP if the Leader unit is destroyed (for a total of 2VP).
SCOUTS
Scouts form the vanguard of many armies. Unnoticed by the enemy, they range ahead of the main force.
Some units have ‘Scouts x"’ listed in their abilities. If every model in a unit has this ability, then at the start of the first battle round, before the first turn begins, it can make a Normal move of up to x", with the exception that, while making that move, the distance moved by each model in that unit can be greater than that model's Move characteristic, as long as it is not greater than x".DEDICATED TRANSPORT models can make use of any Scouts x" ability listed in their abilities, or a Scouts x" ability that a unit that starts the battle embarked within that DEDICATED TRANSPORT model has (provided only models with this ability are embarked within that DEDICATED TRANSPORT model), regardless of how that embarked unit gained this ability (e.g. listed in their abilities, conferred by an Enhancement or by an attached CHARACTER, etc.).
A unit that moves using this ability must end that move more than 9" horizontally away from all enemy models. If both players have units that can do this, the player who is taking the first turn moves their units first.
Example: A unit has the Scouts 6" ability. At the start of the first battle round, the controlling player can make a Normal move with that unit of up to 6".
- Scouts x": Unit can make a Normal move of up to x" before the first turn begins.
- If embarked in a DEDICATED TRANSPORT, that DEDICATED TRANSPORT can make this move instead.
- Must end this move more than 9" horizontally away from all enemy models.