40K Dark Imperium "video game tutorial"-style mini-campaign idea

So I had a friend coming down for the weekend and wanted to try out 40K. I picked up Dark Imperium and have been watching battle reports and reviewing the rules for a few weeks. While I appreciate the inclusion of the core book, I find it a little overwhelming as a new player. I found the Duel of Honor mission online, but it throws all of the box’s content at new players at once, too. I want my friend's first experience to be more intuitive, more compelling.

I like the idea of learning the game together via a "video game tutorial" structure, staggering the introduction of units (and thus, the rules). With a compelling narrative, this structure can make learning the rules intuitive and engaging.

Before I dive into my outline, lemme provide some context. I approached the design with certain goals / expectations / preferences in mind:

1) I don't care about winning; ideally, I'd like the missions to be balanced (nothing is more fun than a close game), but failing that, I'd like to tip the scales in my friend's favor.

2) To keep it simple, I stuck with straightforward Matched Play missions. Because I’m limited to the boxed contents, battle-forged balance isn’t entirely possible. However, in keeping with #1, I tried to build the army lists to my friend’s advantage.

3) I tried to tie these mini-missions together with a compelling narrative. My friend isn't gonna care that holding a Relic is worth 6 Victory Points. But if he hears "Your need to gain control of the orbital cannon’s planetside command center before the Death Guard can capture it and perform a daemonic possession ritual", it’ll make for a more immersive experience.

4) The missions progess as a specific chain of events, but the presentation (or “flavor”) chamges depending upon which army won or lost in previous missions. I will probably get more detailed in person, but I included some examples of how the “flavor” might change in brackets.

5) I designed the missions with two environments in mind, since I picked up this mat and some terrain to go with the "Imperial Stronghold” / “Wasteland” aesthetic. We won’t utilize the full 4’ x 6’.

MINI-CAMPAIGN OUTLINE  (1st draft)

The Ultramarines and Death Guard are warring for control of a strategic Imperial world. Their battles have reduced the civilian population centers to ruins. The armies themselves have nearly wiped out one another. With their warlords issuing orders from secret hideouts, the scattered remnants of both armies play a game of cat-and-mouse among the silent, lifeless wastes.

This status quo is about to end. Having escaped from a shattered superstructure beneath the planet’s surface, a dying scientist has issued a distress signal. Both the Ultramarines and the Death Guard pick up the signal, and understand the significance of the installation--it is the secret control center for the planet’s orbital weapons platforms. These platforms were deactivated at the onset of the conflict, which contributed to the slow attrition The army that seizes the control center and reactivates the orbital weapons will be poised to swiftly conclude the conflict.

Orders go out. Ragtag remnants of the nearest battalions mobilize and descend upon the signal.

MISSION #1

Honing in on the distress call, the two armies arrive at the shattered ruins of an Imperial city. While they cannot locate the entrance to the subterranean superstructure itself, they do pinpoint the shell-shocked, half-dead scientist now hiding in terror amongst the ruins. It is a race to “rescue” the scientists, and extract the precise location of the command center’s entrance.

• Mission: The Relic, 223
• Battle Mat: Wasteland
• Tutorial Objectives: Basic rules / simple combat
• UM Units: x1 units of 5 Intercessors (bolt rifles, bolt pistols); x1 Primaris Lieutenant (auto bolt rifle, bolt pistol, counts as Warlord)
• DG Units: x1 unit of 10 Poxwalkers; x1 unit of 5 Plague Marines (boltguns, plague knives; one Marine of player’s choosing counts as Warlord)
• Special Notes: For the “refugee scientist” objective marker, I’m using a Mantic ghoul.

MISSION #2

The [Victorious Army of Mission #1] has honed in on the entrance to the subterranean command center. The enemy force is hot on their heels. The armies engage in a bloody clash at the entrance. Whichever army succeeds in driving off their opponent will afford time to cut through the blast doors and be first to enter the megastructure.

• Battle Mat: Wasteland
• Mission: No Mercy pg. 219
• Tutorial Objectives: Melee; Intercessors, Bloat-drone
• UM Units:  x1 unit of 5 Intercessors (bolt rifles, bolt pistols); x1 Primaris Lieutenant (power sword, bolt pistol; counts as Warlord); x1 unit of 3 Inceptors
• DG Units: x1 unit of 6 Plague Marines (x5 w/ boltguns, plague knives; x1 w/ bolt pistol, plaguesword, power fist, counts as Warlord); x1 Foetid Bloat-drone

MISSION #3

Delving deep into the subterranean superstructure, the [Victorious Army of Mission #2] has located the master control nodule for the orbital weapons platforms. [The Ultramarine leader need only execute the system protocols to reactivate the platforms] OR [The Death Guard Warlord must bind a daemonic spirit to the system, which will reactivate the platforms and cede control to the Death Guard]. Unfortunately, the [Defeated Army in Mission #2] has infiltrated the facility and hacked into a nearby auxiliary nodule. They are attempting to wrest control of the system. The armies must battle for ultimate control.”

• Battle Mat: Imperial Stronghold
• Mission: Secure and Control, pg 222
• Tutorial Objectives: Plasma weapons, Ancient, Noxious Blightbringer
• UM Units: x1 unit of 5 Intercessors; x1 unit of 5 Hellblasters; x1 Primaris Lieutenant (power sword, bolt pistol; counts as Warlord); x1 Ancient
• DG Units: x1 unit of x20 Poxwalkers; x1 unit of 7 Plague Marines (x5 w/ boltguns, plague knives; x1 w/ plasma gun, plague knife; x1 w/ bolt pistol, plaguesword, power fist, counts as Warlord); x1 Noxious Blightbringer (cursed plague bell + plasma pistol)

MISSION #4

The orbital weapons are live! The platforms unleash death upon countless [Defeated Army of Mission #3] starships and surface-side fortifications. What’s more, a sizeable fleet of [Defeated Army of Mission #3] reinforcements, already en route to the planet, is now heading into a trap!

However, in the chaos of the orbital batteries, planetary command of the [Defeated Army of Mission #3] has revealed itself. It lurks in low orbit aboard a might ly flagship. Miraculously, the flagship has managed to destroy one of the weapons platforms, punching a hole in the planetary defense grid and clearing a collision course with the planet surface! [Defeated Army of Mission #3] command intends to take out the subterranean superstructure, thus deactivating the weapons platforms once more and ensuring their inbound fleet has a chance of capturing the planet.

Unequipped to destroy the suicidal enemy craft, the [Victorious Army of Mission #3] manages to intercept and board the flagship, with the hope of steering it off course to crash harmlessly into the wastelands.

• Battle Mat: Imperial Stronghold
• Mission: No Mercy, pg. 218
• Tutorial Objectives: Commanders, psykic phase, army build
• UM Units: x1 Captain (Warlord); x1 unit of 5 Intercessors (bolt rifles, bolt pistols); plus player’s choice of a) x1 unit of 5 Hellblasters or b) x3 Inceptors and x1 Lieutenant (either one)
• DG Units: x1 Lord of Contagion (Warlord); x1 unit of 5 Plague Marines (boltguns, plague knives); x1 Malignant Plaguecasters; x1 unit of 10 poxwalkers

MISSION #5

The [Defeated Army in Mission 3] was [successful / not successful] in its efforts to suicide strike the command center. In an unexpected turn of events, the flagship jettisoned an escape pod to the surface. Its commander possesses a beacon that can inform the approaching fleet that the weapons platforms are [online, and thus the fleet should retreat OR offline, and thus the fleet is free to advance]. The [Victorious Army in Mission 3] must capture this beacon at all costs, in order to feed misinformation to the enemy fleet. In this final hour, the fate of the planet will at last be decided!

• Battle Mat: Wasteland
• Mission: The Relic, pg. 223
• Tutorial Objectives: Review / Synthesis
• UM Units: Everybody!
• DG Units: Everybody!

If you have a grandparent who wants a game to "keep sharp", here's how MtG can be a great fit.

I decided to start a blog because of the response to a a post of mine over on reddit. It struck me as fitting to start my blog with that post.

This post over at /r/boardgames got me thinking I should share my experience introducing my grandmother to Magic.

My grandmother knows I like tabletop games and wanted a game to "keep her sharp", so I built some very simplistic decks. As we played, I would review her deck with her, explaining what the cards meant and occasionally pointing out strategic considerations.

Here's how I approached deck-building.

• 1) Mono decks, White vs. Black. I felt it would be easiest for her to understand what White and Black represent, versus Blue for example.
• 2) I bought as many "vanilla" cards as possible. That way she'd only have to focus on the bare bones rules--mana, power / toughness, combat, life. Four of each card.
• 3) I also kept the cards as thematically straightforward as possible. Humans vs Zombies. That's something an 80-year-old woman can immediately understand. And she can infer the relative power of an Eager Cadetcompared to Foot Soldiers. I even avoided overly "fantasy"-sounding names as much as possible. If the first name my grandmother read was "Neurok Invisimancer', I figured her eyes would glaze over and she'd check out.
• 4) No instants, no artifacts--I kept the focus on creatures, so I stuck to enchantment buffs (Holy Strength and Unholy Strength. This further drove home the Power / Toughness rules, as well as the thematic difference of White and Black.

I figured that by the end of the first game, my grandmother would get the gist of the main rules, so for the highest-mana cards I selected something special. I put a lot of thought into how these two cards interact.

• 5) For her White deck, I chose Serra Angel. She likes angels. She understood Flying right away, and (since the black deck has no fliers) she immediately appreciated the ability's usefulness. She picked up Vigilance more easily than I'd expected, too.
• 6) For the Black deck, I chose Halo Hunter. Its "destroy Angel" rule introduces the importance of playing a card at the right time (both in my case and in hers). After I destroyed one of her angels, she immediately realized that she could play a second Serra without worrying about the Halo Hunter. (I then summoned a second Halo Hunter, which got me a slap on the shoulder). When she got another Serra out and tried using Vigilance to stop a Hunter, I reminded her how Intimidate works, and she said, "Oh, he's so sneaky! He backstabbed my angel and now I can't get him!". It was a great moment to showcase, mechanically, the thematic differences between Black and White.
• 7) In addition to the two special creatures, I also threw in some high-CMC sorceries. Sorceries allowed me to introduce the concept of "permanents", which is important because the White sorcery I chose was Planar Cleansing. I chose Zombie Apocalypse for the Black deck.
• 8) Importantly, I prearranged every card in both decks. I knew our opening hands would only contain lands and low-mana creatures. She'd eventually pick up a creature card that she didn't have enough mana to play yet. She'd pick up a few simple enchantments before the sorcery. She'd pick up a second Serra Angel after I had destroyed the first. She'd get a Planar Cleansing immediately after I played Zombie Apocalypse.

That's basically it. She was very patient for the first half of the game, but by the time the Serras emerged she was getting into it, and she loved when I dropped Zombie Apocalypse--and was even more excited by Planar Cleansing (and the game-deciding Serra that happened to be her next pickup). I of course rigged it so she'd be assured to win.

After the first step-by-step game, I only reviewed her cards when she had questions. Gradually, she got more confident.

Eventually, we switched. She played the zombie / demon deck, and had a great time using Halo Hunter and Zombie Apocalypse against me.

Meanwhile, I used the same method to teach my mom to play. The pivotal moment came when I arranged a two-headed giant game--my mom and my grandmother against me and my cousin (with duplicate White and Black decks). That was what won my grandmother over, and now she expects to play at most family gatherings. She had my cousin help her sister play a White vs White game with her yesterday, so the cult is spreading! : ) Next time I see her, I plan on introducing a some slightly more complex cards, such as Charging Paladin. I think Llorwyn / Shadowmoor would be a great "phase two" to work towards.

Anyway, I had some success with making my grandmother feel good about "staying sharp", and figured I should share. If you have someone in your family who'd be open to it, consider giving this introductory system a try!

Edit: Thank you, everyone, for the kinds words! A few folks have requested the deck lists:

White Deck

• x4 Eager Cadet
• x4 Valiant Guard
• x4 Glory Seeker
• x4 Border Guard
• x4 Foot Soldiers
• x4 Serra Angel
• x4 Holy Strength
• x4 Serra's Boon
• x4 Planar Cleansing*
• x24 Plains

*A reddit user made me aware of Angel of Glory's Rise, which is a much more fitting counterpart to Zombie Apocalypse. See original reddit post for more detail.

Black Deck 

(Disclaimer: it kills me that I couldn't compile a list of 100% vanilla Zombies, like the Humans, and that the stats aren't mirrored perfectly at each CMC tier (2/4 vs 4/2, for example). In light of the Zombie thing, I went with the most straightforward creature types possible, giving preference to whatever was most likely to intrigue or gross out my grandmother. I think I managed a diseased Noseferatu-esque rat / vampire feel.

• x4 Muck Rats
• x4 Gutter Skulk
• x4 Vampire Noble
• x4 Rotting Fensnake
• x4 Mass of Ghouls
• x4 Halo Hunter
• x4 Unholy Strength
• x4 Weakness
• x4 Zombie Apocalypse
• x24 Swamps

:)