The Vadinax Campaign is Goonhammer’s Global Crusade Campaign for Warhammer 40,000. Each week we’ll explore the major events taking place in the sector and talk about how players are shaping the ongoing story in the sector. 

It’s week 4 of the Vadinax Campaign and the first phase of the campaign is drawing to a close. That means that starting this week, players will get an extra 500 points added to their Orders of Battle, letting them go up to 1500 points without spending any extra RP (though many of our players have already just spent and started playing 1,000-point games and then some).

If you missed last week’s update, you can find it here.

Let’s take a look at the numbers this week:

Games Played

• Vadinax Global: 51, bringing the total to 246 games from 101 rosters
• Mordrax: 6
• Parasbine Secundus: 12
• Nox Veritas: 13
• Perplior: 43
• Agrippa IV: 4
• Tern’s Endeavor: 17

That’s 146 campaign games played in the last week alone, with major territory shifts taking place in each system. In the global campaign, the forces of the Imperium continue to crush the Chaos invaders, but Xenos forces appear to be operating in their blind spot, making inroads on a number of planets while the Imperial forces dive into ancient space hulks and fend off challengers on Varghast.

The Gotep Dynasty Stirs

Necron forces in the sector have been busy, most notably those of Overlord Nebumka, Hierarch of the Ghost Stars, Conductor of the Awakening, Rightful Ruler of the Lost Legions, and Tamer of Nalphium’s Wolves. After being forced to flee in the Kerberos sector following a disastrous campaign against the Storm Lord, Nebumka and her court have risen again and begun cutting a bloody swath across the Vadinax Sector, hoping to raise the sleeping warriors of the ancient Gotep dynasty and rally them to her cause.

The Votann Ascendancy

The most successful of the xenos forces in the sector have been those of the Atlan Ascendancy, a medium-to-large-sized Kindred led by the twin Kahls Hyvor and Vynn. These forces have been locked in constant battles with the Bilious Brood of Fecundus, a Death Guard force led by the Lord of Virulence Dysbiosis.

Something Wicked This Way Comes

Scans in the sector are now showing the arrival of Ten Thousand Lies, the Ark of Omen gifted to Shanker Gord by Abaddon. The target destination of this profane craft is yet unknown, but its arrival is likely to lead to war on a previously untold scale.

Introducing Fated Hour Rules

I love that Crusade gives you a way to avoid death. But sometimes that robs all the tension from key games and narrative arcs. Enter Fated Hours – these are missions where the stakes are high and only the strongest will survive. Each time players play a mission with the Fated Hour rules, they have a chance to lose their characters permanently, and the chances of that happening will go up with every unit which dies. It’s a big risk, but the missions it shows up in will typically have big rewards…

New Narratives

Starting this week there are two new narratives for players to pursue: The Great Joust and The Election on Siasa.

• Players who want to participate in The Great Joust will want to be on the lookout for couriers holding invitations. Secure one, and you can use it to enter the Joust – tradition holds that no invitations can be refused, and this can have dire consequences for the overly proud noble houses of Orlern.
• Players looking to influence The Election on Siasa will look to either protect or assassinate the planet’s current governor, and may be on able to enter their own puppet candidate.

+++STATUS REPORT: MORDRAX+++

++9424777++

Battle Group Athena have taken control of a technological vault in the Lumina Radwastes.

+++ Heavy fighting continues in Hive Soron.

+++ Suspected intelligence operative activity has increased in Octavia.

+++ The Space Hulk Gloriana has been identified and boarded.

+++ A strange signal is being received on Aleph Proxima.

+++>END<+++

+++STATUS REPORT: NOX VERITAS+++

+++0128023M03+++

Chaos is on the upswing. The forces of the Ruinous Powers have found a foothold and took territory. Pa’ul Tredes has found rare allies in Farseers Al-Sharod and Lenore of the Children of the Emerald Veil. The Manufactorum continues to be a hot battleground, but the Imperium is holding the line. Successful defense after successful defense making it harder for the invaders to take ground.

There are rumors in spreading through the ranks that the taint of Chaos has touched Imperial command. Who this has affected and how much remains to be determined. No word has gotten out to the Inquisition yet.

Tredes has made further strides in finding what the mysterious SoulStone is leading him towards. It took him into the heart of the Waagh Scrapyard, where the forces of Iásar-Athreith were ambushed by the Waagh of the ‘Eadkrumpa.

The Mud Dogs answer calls for aid from the Crimson Guard in the Southern-Agrifields only to similarly face the wrath of the Caustic Stampede.

+++STATUS REPORT: PARASBINE SECUNDUS+++

+++0139023M03+++

KEPHISTRONE STANDS! Through the tireless efforts of the Imperial forces, Lord Makarios’ bloodthirsty assault has been rebuffed. Laud hailers surrounding the Basilica of the Bloody Shroud trumpet triumphant propaganda to the beleaguered citizens of the port about how not a single defender took a single step back during the defense of the city.

The cunning Lord Vectarion attempted to turn the tide at the 11th hour by infiltrating the city through its sewer network, but forces from the Order of Her Resplendent Ashes managed to foil their plans by the thinnest of margins.

Elsewhere, Strike Force Gladius has failed to seize Miltner’s Docks from the forces of Chaos. Their attempted operation was thrown into disarray by reports of a daemonic incursion on the Strike Cruiser Herald of Victory. However, this appears to have been a deception, a trick of the warp-twisted local voxnet.

In Espern’s Drift, the Sun’Chur Dynasty appear to have started to get their feet under them, and have begun inflicting losses on the motley crews of miners. They may not have crushed the pitiful young races, but they have at least convinced them that there is unlikely to be any further profit in plundering the asteroid belt.

+++STATUS REPORT: AGRIPPA IV+++

+++021923M42+++

Another brutal week of fighting has raged across the world, with the majority of the battles being fought by the PDF Crimson Defenders; bringing the fury of General Armac to his foes.

A message between the forces of Chaos was intercepted by the Custodian Strike Force “Sol Operis” on planet, who gathered help from the 323rd Siege Regiment of Krieg to help cut off the advance of the heretics. Their plans quickly fell apart as the rampaging World Eaters barrelled up the field and tore into their lines.

The dread host of Markarios’ Shock Troops, along with assistance from the Traitor Agrippan 82nd “Rippers,” clashed with the forces of the Imperium on the outskirts of the Prison. Making off with a relic from a hold near the prison’s west wing, the Krieg and Custodes forces were left reeling from the fury of Khorne’s followers.

While the battle between the Imperial and Chaos forces raged above, a skirmish was happening in the sewers below.

The forces of the True Sons clashed with the Citrine Syndicate in the depths of the prison sewers, with the Chaos Forces attempting to discover more about the cryptic writings found around the prison. They believe they have discovered their purpose, but so have the Tome Keepers…

With the arrival of the Arks in the sector, the major players on Agrippa IV are coming to their allies and asking for groups of highly skilled units to complete clandestine acts deep behind enemy lines, in the interest of their factions and benefactors.

What will be left of the world when the dust settles? Only time will tell.

+++STATUS REPORT: TERN’S ENDEAVOR+++

+++0139023M03+++

Valern Citadel is besieged.

Whether spurred on by heightened atmospheric disruption or called forth by some malign twist of warpcraft, weather patterns skew out of season, a tempest of forked lightning and icy daggers sending the Imperial retreat from Grand Kriosa into disarray. With the planet’s defenders caught in piecemeal conflicts, a vicious assault is launched at the seat of Imperial defensive coordination, while diminished conflict in the Graves sees resurgent Ork warbands surging forward from their scrapyard lairs to bring the fight to unwelcome audiences.

The Kriosan Retreat

Between misguided heroism in defense of the meager gains of the failed Imperial assault on Grand Kriosa, or simple poor fortune in being stranded as the world’s harsh weather cut short attempts at retreat, several Imperial forces remained to face the Chaos assault in Grand Kriosa. The heroism of the Sororitas of the Order of the Carmine Tabernacle kept this dogged defense from becoming an all-out rout, but any foothold the Imperium might have once gained in Grand Kriosa has now been thoroughly erased.

The Assault on Valern Citadel

As Imperial forces scrambled to regroup, the previously minor sabotage operations conducted at Valern Citadel were revealed to be but a prelude to a crisis, as the sophisticated auspex arrays and defensive batteries of the Imperial fortress cut out just as Archenemy forces made their move. Unopposed at the landing to the broader outworks of the citadel, all available Imperial assets were scrambled in a desperate attempt to stop the Chaos assault. The battle still rages, much of the citadel’s outlying defenses now seized by the unexpected fury and cunning of the attacking armies.

The Green Tide Surges

With the theater of war shifting to Grand Kriosa and Valern Citadel, the Orkish warbands of Tern’s Endeavor – previously embroiled in fighting intruders to their “turf” in the Graves – found themselves free to surge across the storm-tossed seas of the planet, their ramshackle flotillas smashing through the weather with the heedless enthusiasm so common among their species. And as is so often the case, these greenskin attackers stuck their teef in where the fighting was thickest, the warrior Imperial and Archenemy forces in Grand Kriosa and Valern Citadel proving vulnerable to opportunistic attacks from warbosses eager to prove their strength and “show ‘dem humies wat a real zoggin’ fite looks like,” or something like that.

Painting Highlight

Mike Lopez brings us a model highlight this week, as he’s recently finished the leader of his crusade force. Leading a group of fanatical Emperor’s Children deliriously high on the sheer power of noise (and almost assuredly a list of other things far too long to fit into this update), the enigmatic “Mr. Warpwide” picks his way through the icy drifts of Grand Kriosa. Indeed, the followers of Slaanesh are out on force on Tern’s Endeavor, both Astartes and corrupted mortals both…

The Inviolate Sentence

Orkish hordes surge across the waves of Tern’s Endeavor, the forces of Chaos lay siege to its greatest bastion of defense, and tech-priests and smugglers both seem to have thrown their lot in with the perfidious Aeldari or T’au. But all is not lost for the Imperium – even as word begins to spread of some great expedition launched beneath the waves to locate the rumor-shrouded location only known as the Underside, a priority vox message cuts through to all active Imperial commanders and planetary officials, with the highest of clearance codes.

“This is Inquisitor Aleris Mylenne, in command of The Inviolate Sentence. All Imperial forces are ordered to make immediate report of location and disposition. Compliance ensures proper allocation of reinforcement assets and materiel.

Thought for the day: Only the faithless question.”

+++STATUS REPORT: PERPLIOR+++

+++0139023M03+++

]======= The Aquila’s Cry ======[

This is Jex Yarum reporting live from the frontlines on all things Perplior.

Our glorious Armory has been successfully held by the Emperor’s finest and supplies are now reaching local PDF and other friendly forces expediently. Our troops are now headed into the mysterious Steel-Spire Mountains to exterminate the Xenos threat that has entrenched themselves in the highest peaks of the range.

The rumor of a greenskin warband securing a runaway maglev train is highly exageratted. I interviewed Lt. Fungius of the “Roaming Jackals” PDF batalion to get the real story:

There were hordes of them, I never seen such slaughter. Did they take a train? Who cares, they are taking our lives!

There you have it — Lt Fungius has confirmed that the greenskin hordes were defeated, no trains were abducted, and our brave PDF dedicate their very lives to the citizens of Perplior every single day! Other reports suggest that “Da Meenest An’ Greenest Killaz Yooz Eva Seen” warband has been working for some so called “Night Lords”. I assure readers that the lords in charge of night operations here on Perplior would never make a bargain with Xenos.

To celebrate his recent ascension, Governor Plantowski is holding his 13th grand parade through Politicus Secundus. The regal Imperial Knights of Lance Cataphract were leading the parade and even held off a band of renegade rioters. It is even said that there were the Emporer’s Angels there in the fight wearing deep blue and red armor and a stylized aquila to resemble a bat. Again, the “Night Lords” did not orchestrate this attack besides rumors. Despite the supposed disappearance of diplomats Wey Quen and Jorun Kal during the parade I can assure readers that they are simply on vacation at scenic Lake Laogius.

Lord Blood Angel Captain Jaehim Cavillus took the riot threat from the parade very seriously and boarded a local cruiser associated with these rebels, no doubt accompianed by the blue and red Astartes. I hear only that this raid went very very well. So well that the Blood Guard made a hasty exit from the craft and even captured an assassin named Exectuioner Noctis they found on their craft after their completely planned withdrawal. The Praedus Noctis cult tried to liberate this prisoner but were of course unsuccessful.

After the failed rescue attempt, Governor Plantowski was planning a public execution of Noctis to put these rebels in their place. Noctis does appear to be unusually large for a heretic, almost double the size of a normal man, so an extra large guillotine was being constructed just for this valiant display. Good is never without challenge however as the ork warband mentioned previously was able to ambush the prisoner transport and free Noctis, no doubt returning him to his masters. No matter as more fighting against heretics strengths the body and mind.

Despite certainly not abducting a train, ork forces continue to try to hamper efforts at Transit Station Repand. Thankfully the Crimson Fist force, Task Force Hacienda (Sjoyner72), repelled the attack by “Da Boyz are back in Perplior”.

Once again the Xenos have proven that they are not good for anything as the enigmatic Tau force Sept R’Myr’Hui ambushed a renegade convoy from “Bansheehead PMC” and failed to do any real damage. Maybe if these Xenos properly destroyed some heretics they might be taken seriously.

That’s all for this week, remember attendance at the 14th ascension parade is mandatory and to pick up your required copy of Aquila’s Cry before the enforcers begin their 14:00 checks!

]==========================[

Here are some highlights of the latest models and narrative reports from last week:

Percival Taranis (Errant) and Anaxamander (Gallant) by SamDJ was quick to get onto the table now that the World Eaters finally have their codex release and wrote up a great battle report with a 2v2 with Delightful(Jeff) versus Small24Potatoes and Dragonsvenom:

I made planetfall after undergoing trials imposed on me by Khorne. Landing in the mountains I quickly came upon Aeldari scum. Now stop my Juggernaut “Quick Bleed” I brought forth more warriors together from my legion. The transports were far behind but such logistical matters escape when the nails tick. Alongside a group of House Khomentis knights we could deal with these xenos scum. Quick as we arrived the xenos were on us. Howling ladies taking down the big knight as it exploded In glorious clouds of smoke and fire. I pushed my steed forward killing the shrinking women. They are no match for may axe, “Hope’s end.” I pushed my forces forward as they rallied to my leadership. The nails were singing a fine song. The eight bloody steps surged forth far beyond my reach killing any they came in contact with. Berserkers of the “12th’s fury Executed my flanking orders and killed a tank and other Aeldari scum. The knights began to fall around us as my mortal followers were shot down. I charged into spider-like creatures who thought they could get away but my speed is too deadly. The nails tick. Alas slaughter was plentiful and many worthy skulls collected for harvest but with our allies falling, I ordered a retreat. The nails punished me for it but I maintained control. For now they live to fight but our might and presence has been announced. Soon this world will drown in Blood.

Next Week: Ten Thousand Lies in Vadinax

That wraps up our look at the Vadinax Campaign results this week but tune in next week when we discover where Ten Thousand Lies is headed and start to see the battle lines drawn. Until then, if you have any questions or feedback, drop us a note in the comments below or email us at contact@goonhammer.com.

And if you want to join the campaign, it’s not too late! Support us on Patreon at the $5 level or higher to get access to the campaign and the Goonhammer Discord!