Welcome, Dear Reader, to the first in an ongoing series of articles chronicling the developments in the Vadinax Campaign.

This week marked the first week of the campaign, and hostilities immediately followed. Players from around the globe met up to fight over planets in the Vadinax Sector. Currently more than two hundred players are taking part in the campaign, and over the weekend they recorded 170 games of Warhammer 40k to kick things off. Right now we’re still in the early days, with expeditionary forces in the sector, so the majority of these games are small forces – Incursion and Boarding Actions games from vanguard forces operating ahead of their fleets.

You can following along with the campaign by checking out the page for it in Administratum. Here are the headlines:

The Imperium Defends Its Territory

Despite the best efforts of Chaos forces, the Imperial armies mounted a strong defense of their territory over, winning the majority of their battles. Of these, none were more fervent than the forces of Strike Force Akhan of the Adeptus Kastiana – an umbrella term for nine Ultima Founding Chapters deployed by Guilliman to reinforce and contain a sector of space along the Cicatrix Maledictum known as the Kastiana Trench. Strike Force Arkhan logged a staggering 7 victories in the first week of fighting, with victories over Votann, Chaos, Aeldari, and Ork forces during that time, exclusively in the defense of Keplon.

Varghast Stands Firm

The home planet of the Sons of Ash, Varghast was an early target for the forces of Chaos as they responded to a call from Princeps Shadebinder of House Gloam. Shadebinder’s hatred of the chapter stems back to the assault on Lenk, in which the 4th company, led by Uriah Heracles, stymied House Gloam’s attempts to conquer the planet, decimating the princeps’ fell knights with melta fire.

So far the Sons of Ash have held the edge on Varghast, thanks in part to the chapter’s own efforts, in which they fought off the World Eaters warband of Markarios the Butcher. It remains to be seen if these efforts will hold and if the Chaos forces will direct their forces elsewhere.

Khorne Tops the Great Game

While the forces of Chaos may have been somewhat stymied in their attempts to claim Imperial planets, the Great Game continues in the immaterium regardless. Currently Khorne sits atop the pantheon, with followers of the Blood God delivering untold carnage to their enemies. None moreso than the Bloodthirster Baronghul, who added many skulls to the skull throne and as a result now carries Khorne’s blessing as a result.

In second is the Changer of Ways, Tzeentch, powered by the success of some Thousand Sons forces. The Apostate Cabal is the most prominent of these, led by the Exalted sorcerer Vyrus Dustspinner, whose bold actions have awarded him a blessing of Tzeentch.

Things have none gone so well for the forces of Nurgle and Slaanesh, who currently lag behind in the Great Game. There’s still plenty of time to catch up, however…

Machinations of the Alien

The Aeldari stood firm on Nal’Shara, protecting the maiden world from the taint of mankind. This week’s Exemplar of Kain is Farseer ExtaSlash for their work driving back the forces of chaos

Meanwhile the Necrons have begun surveying the sector, looking for slumbering tomb worlds. The awakening process may have even begun unbeknownst to the inhabitants of the unsuspecting worlds. This weeks Exalted Overlord is Bmaclv, for their subjugation of the lesser races attempting to despoil a sector that once belonged to the Necrontyr.

The Votann have begun surveying worlds throughout the sector, making a big splash on the chaos held world of Fykrat. Resinmancer has honored the ancestors this week by leading the charge into the Vadinax sector for their kin.

There have been reports of Ork, Tau, and Tyranid activity in the sector, but we’ll report more on that when we see substantial movement.

Fighting Begins in the Ultra Vernor Expanse

The local campaigns also kicked off this week in Houston, Seattle, and northern Virginia with players in each putting in games. The fighting was most fierce on Perplior, where players contributed a whopping 67 games over the first weekend.

More battles will be kicking off this weekend as other local campaigns go live and start recording games, so stay tuned for those.

Administratum Updates

For our part, we’ve been hard at work on Administratum, updating the interface to handle the new Conquest mechanics we’re using for the Vadinax campaign. now players reporting games can choose which planet they occurred on and see planetary control stats update in real time. We’ll be continuing to improve this over the next few weeks and add even more cool features to the app.

Next Week: The Saga Continues

That wraps up our look at the campaign this week but there’s more to come next week. And if you’re interested in joining and it all sounds fun – feel free to sign up! It’s never too late to join. And if you’re worried about having players nearby who can play, we’re now letting Patrons at the $6.90 level and above invite a single friend to the campaign free, so everyone can at least have one person to play against. Head over to our Patreon and sign up and then meet us in the Goonhammer Discord!

Have any questions or feedback? Drop us a note in the comments below or email us at contact@goonhammer.com.