Cult Of Slaanesh - Campaign Supplement

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Martialartist
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Cult Of Slaanesh - Campaign Supplement

Post by Martialartist »

As I've said, in my spare time I've been putting thought into a campaign to be included in our Cult Of Slaanesh document. This campaign would be based around the Khaine-Slaanesh civil religious war on Naggaroth that rages as both factions vie for control of the populace and support of the common Dark Elf.

After a little work, I've put togethor a list of scenario's that I've thought of and a quick fluff summary of the situations. I DO HAVE THOUGHTS ON RULES AND MAP SETTINGS ETC. FOR EACH OF THESE SCENARIO'S but just haven't done the work or had the time yet to type it all up. I figured it would be best for me to just get some idea's up though, so here are some scenarios (in no particular order) that I invisioned would be a PART of this campaign.

Campaign Armies

One player plays the Khainties in the campaign, the other plays the Cult Of Slaanesh. Armies to the restrictions of each scenario are chosen from the following lists:

Cult Of Slaanesh: Cult Of Slaanesh army list in rest of book
Khaine: Following characters and units from Dark Elves.
• Crone Hellebron
• Shadowblade
• Death Hag
• Assassin
• Warriors
• Crossbowmen
• Dark Riders
• Harpies
• Witch Elves
• Executioners
• Shades
• Bolt Thrower


Scenario: Street Fight
Khainites stalk the street’s after dark and wandering Dark Elves must be wary. The mistresses of Slaanesh have watched the movements of the enemies and have prepared a surprise in the dark for one patrol of foes.

Scenario: Politics of the Nobles
With the war between Khaine and Slaanesh beginning to reach its stride, both factions vie for support and money from the minor nobles in Dark Elf society.

Scenario: Plunder For the Gods!
An incoming fleet of Corsairs returning from the Old World has had great success and arrives laden with treasure. News of their triumph has spread throughout Naggaroth and both religious movements are willing to risk a naval conflict to seize the gold before it makes landfall….

Scenario: Hydra!
Shades working for the Cult Of Slaanesh have managed to steal a young Hydra egg from its owner in Karond Kar. Bred by the most skilled beast masters available, the beast has been reared and trained by those of Slaanesh’s will. The Cult has made sure to keep this monster hidden and have been waiting for the right time to unleash their beast upon their hapless foes…..

Scenario: Supply Train
An army marches on its stomach, and the stomach is carried from place to place by supply trains. A specially selected squad under the command of a sniper-Assassin lies in wait to ambush for guarded Slaaneshi caravans taking supplies to the front lines.

Scenario: Temple Raid
The Sorceress leading the Cult movement in Ghrond has tortured information of the next Khainite rituals from a captured warrior. Seeing an opportunity, she readies her army to make a daring raid into the midst of the enemy…..

Scenario: The Inspiration Of A Leader
Dissatisfied with the war’s progress, Crone Hellebron herself decides to take to the field of battle and slaughter as many enemies as possible in a bid to inspire the fervour of her followers. However this move isn’t without risks, for should Hellebron fall the worship of Khaine would be seriously destabilized.

Scenario: Daemonic Summoning
The summoning of Daemons isn’t an easy or quick process, and often multiple spellcasters are required to create even the slight dent in reality to allow Daemonic entry. Several of the Cult’s Sorceresses have gathered to do just this, protected by their warriors, but hearing of their actions the Khainites marshal with the mission to slay the wizards and throw their heads before King Malekith as proof of the Cult’s heretical act.

Scenario: The Anointed Comes!
With the war of faith escalating, Slaaneshi Sorceresses have sent magical messengers into the Chaos wastes to seek the aid of their greatest warriors, the Anointed. No reply greets any of the Sorceresses entreaties, but one day a favoured one and his bodyguard come striding south to further the ambition of their god’s cause. Slaughtering past watchtowers but suffering losses along the way, the Anointed and his crippled force arrive outside a Dark Elf city, just hours before the a significant clash between Khaine and Slaanesh is about to be fought. Desperate for this legendary killer to never aid the Cult at this confrontation, Crone Hellebron sends what little she can spare to slow down the Chaos butcherer or die trying.

Scenario: Open Confrontation
The Cult Of Slaanesh has at last risen in power enough to believe they can challenge a force of Khaine’s in a direct confrontation in open battle. Should Slaanesh triumph, the Lord Of Murder will suffer heavy public loss of face and support while Khainite victory would remove much of the Slaaneshi military faction currently battle worthy. The day dawns shaping as a key encounter in the ongoing struggle for religious supremacy.

I will try and get some rules and stuff up for (at least some of) these ASAP, but just thought I would open the thread for others to see the sort of direction I was going to take on this part of our Cult project. Also need help fitting the whole thing into the overall timeline and events of the Cult.

MA
Strike hard and fast, but strike silently.

Revive the Cult! http://www.druchii.net/viewtopic.php?t= ... sc&start=0
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Weenth
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Post by Weenth »

I do like ideas for scenarios, some of these sound more like they'd better work using other GW games rules [Street Fighting -> Mordheim/Warhammer Skirmish; Plunder for the gods.. - Man'o'war? Dunno, maybe rather WD rules for using ships, as the forces should be relatively small) I especially am interested in your ideas for 'Inspiration of a Leader' and 'Daemonic Summoning'. :)


One thing that I'm a bit worried about is disproportion in unit choices of both Cults - looks lik Cult of Khaine got the short side of the stick.

- IMO CoB should be included (or is it, just not listed as it's a part of a Death Hag?)

- From the sound of it, you want to leave all mortals out from CoS at first, and let the Anointed and limited Knights/Warriors in the last two scenarios, right? Would indeed even the things out a bit.

- Leaving out daemons in smaller/earlier scenarios would also help, but I guess you've thought of that already.

- I'd also leave Slaaneshi CoK out if Khaine side doesn't get access to regular CoK and chariots

- I think khainites should have access to Hydra, if you want to allow that to CoS through a scenario (so I understood).



Different issue altogether is campaign background. As I understand it, it's placed after SoC? Is it after F&B also, or is it an alternative version of the conflict? If the former I advise you to read F&B background and events in detail, as not to conflict them.
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Post by Martialartist »

Weenth wrote:One thing that I'm a bit worried about is disproportion in unit choices of both Cults - looks lik Cult of Khaine got the short side of the stick.

- IMO CoB should be included (or is it, just not listed as it's a part of a Death Hag?)

- From the sound of it, you want to leave all mortals out from CoS at first, and let the Anointed and limited Knights/Warriors in the last two scenarios, right? Would indeed even the things out a bit.

- Leaving out daemons in smaller/earlier scenarios would also help, but I guess you've thought of that already.

- I'd also leave Slaaneshi CoK out if Khaine side doesn't get access to regular CoK and chariots

- I think khainites should have access to Hydra, if you want to allow that to CoS through a scenario (so I understood).


Points on these:

Yeah, Khaines do get Cauldron, I just forgot to put it on the list!

The thing to realize is that all those scenario's don't form a complete campaign yet, they are also just in a random order (roughly smallest-->largest but its not exact) and so your point about the Anointed, Mortals and Daemons is a bit destabalized, but yes the idea was to at first have a couple of DE on DE smaller scenario's with the campaign building up and more and more specialized units on each side being slowly introduced (eg. Anointed, Daemons and Mortals), such that the campaign could easily be played by someone slowly building their cult army, just starting with the basics and gradually playing bigger and more involved battles as they learn the style of the Cult and hopefully paint some models!

MartialArtist wrote:Armies to the restrictions of each scenario


This sort of means that though the Khainites have less units available all up, each scenario would restrict some of the Cult and Khainite selections such that the lists were (hopefully) balanced in each scenario.

Weenth wrote:Different issue altogether is campaign background. As I understand it, it's placed after SoC? Is it after F&B also, or is it an alternative version of the conflict? If the former I advise you to read F&B background and events in detail, as not to conflict them.


Well, I really would have no idea, and this is why I posted what I have up as I was hoping you, Kyrel, or anyone else could give me a bit of a hand here and if I do the rules could sort out the whens and whys. My basic idea for it was that it would sort of follow as the Cult sprang up, from small raids on Khaine, to growing and gaining support, recruiting, waging larger scale attacks and eventually concluding with a battle (possibly even with guest appearances from embodiments of Khaine and Slaanesh themselves) that decides which religion will gain superiority for the next era (though it won't completely destroy the other side).

Anyway, any help with time lining the campaign would be fantastic.

MA
Strike hard and fast, but strike silently.

Revive the Cult! http://www.druchii.net/viewtopic.php?t= ... sc&start=0
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Post by Martialartist »

Weenth wrote:One thing that I'm a bit worried about is disproportion in unit choices of both Cults - looks lik Cult of Khaine got the short side of the stick.

- IMO CoB should be included (or is it, just not listed as it's a part of a Death Hag?)

- From the sound of it, you want to leave all mortals out from CoS at first, and let the Anointed and limited Knights/Warriors in the last two scenarios, right? Would indeed even the things out a bit.

- Leaving out daemons in smaller/earlier scenarios would also help, but I guess you've thought of that already.

- I'd also leave Slaaneshi CoK out if Khaine side doesn't get access to regular CoK and chariots

- I think khainites should have access to Hydra, if you want to allow that to CoS through a scenario (so I understood).


Points on these:

Yeah, Khaines do get Cauldron, I just forgot to put it on the list!

The thing to realize is that all those scenario's don't form a complete campaign yet, they are also just in a random order (roughly smallest-->largest but its not exact) and so your point about the Anointed, Mortals and Daemons is a bit destabalized, but yes the idea was to at first have a couple of DE on DE smaller scenario's with the campaign building up and more and more specialized units on each side being slowly introduced (eg. Anointed, Daemons and Mortals), such that the campaign could easily be played by someone slowly building their cult army, just starting with the basics and gradually playing bigger and more involved battles as they learn the style of the Cult and hopefully paint some models!

MartialArtist wrote:Armies to the restrictions of each scenario


This sort of means that though the Khainites have less units available all up, each scenario would restrict some of the Cult and Khainite selections such that the lists were (hopefully) balanced in each scenario.

Weenth wrote:Different issue altogether is campaign background. As I understand it, it's placed after SoC? Is it after F&B also, or is it an alternative version of the conflict? If the former I advise you to read F&B background and events in detail, as not to conflict them.


Well, I really would have no idea, and this is why I posted what I have up as I was hoping you, Kyrel, or anyone else could give me a bit of a hand here and if I do the rules could sort out the whens and whys. My basic idea for it was that it would sort of follow as the Cult sprang up, from small raids on Khaine, to growing and gaining support, recruiting, waging larger scale attacks and eventually concluding with a battle (possibly even with guest appearances from embodiments of Khaine and Slaanesh themselves) that decides which religion will gain superiority for the next era (though it won't completely destroy the other side).

Anyway, any help with time lining the campaign would be fantastic.

MA
Strike hard and fast, but strike silently.

Revive the Cult! http://www.druchii.net/viewtopic.php?t= ... sc&start=0
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Post by Weenth »

MartialArtist wrote:Well, I really would have no idea, and this is why I posted what I have up as I was hoping you, Kyrel, or anyone else could give me a bit of a hand here and if I do the rules could sort out the whens and whys. My basic idea for it was that it would sort of follow as the Cult sprang up, from small raids on Khaine, to growing and gaining support, recruiting, waging larger scale attacks and eventually concluding with a battle (possibly even with guest appearances from embodiments of Khaine and Slaanesh themselves) that decides which religion will gain superiority for the next era (though it won't completely destroy the other side).


The way I see it you have four options (in timeline order):

a) Historical campaign of early days of Druchii (before Cult of Slaanesh was outlawed).

b) Pre-SoC campaign

c) after SoC alternative to F&B

d) after F&B campaign

- The first two are IMO useless, as you would be very limited both in unit choices and scale of conflict (anything bigger than skirmishes between the cults would have been noted in official history).

-'c' would require you to include the fact, that full CoS army is already gathered, so also doesn't fit.

-'d' is I believe the closest to what you want to do; you would still need to include the fact, that although disliked by Khainites (to the level of secret murders ;) ) and has its army partially disbanded, Cult of Slaanesh is official and legal at that moment in Druchii society.
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Post by Kyrel »

I must admit that I haven't had time to go through your campaign suggestions in detail, but at the top of my head, I liked a number of them.

To be honest though, I'd really prefer to try and hold off on any serious development of the campaign, until we've agreed upon the fluff and background for the Cult, seeing as we have to try and fit it in with the events in the background.

As for the options for the campaign "timeframe", I actually don't see anything wrong with having scenarios for several different time periods. In the early days of the Cult, before the Sundering, we could have a scenario or two to represent i.e. kidnappings by the Cult, or an attack upon the Cult by non-Cult forces. For this period we might even be looking at making an army that includes High Elf units from that time, seeing as the Dark Elves don't even exist at that time. Might be interesting.
Another option would be to make some scenarios that tie in with the "official" Flesh & Blood campaign, and the events that took place during that time. Those scenarios thus wouldn't be replacing the F&B events, but would be "fleshing them out" by allowing players to participate in parts of the Civil War, without having it determine the entire outcome.
The final option could be to have some scenarios that take place after the end of the Civil War, at which point the Cult has been "legalized". Such scenarios should probably be of smaller scale, and should represent minor skirmishes taking place between the Cult of Slaanesh/Pleasure, and the Cult of Khaine.
Some other scenarios could involve minor clashes fought between the forces stationed in the "hidden fortress" with Lonicera, and whatever force that might happen to stumble upon the fortress by sheer dumb (un)luck.
If we should want to pit the forces of the Cult against other races than Chaos, Dark Elves, (High Elves), and Lizardmen, then we could place a raiding scenario in the post Civil War period, and let the Cult represent a Black Arc with a crew that is sympathetic to the Cult.

And now I gotta get some sleep...zzzzZZZZ
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Post by Weenth »

I agree that we should work out a bit more of background before passing to details of campaign - otherwise part of the work on it may need reworking or even be lost, as too hard to fit in backround.

As for your idea of 'mixed time' scenarios, Kyrel - I do like it; It would give interesting variety. It might be hard to make a consistant campaign spread on such long time (should include Morathi and/or some Anointed, as we would need a character long-living enough to link whole story). Still, if we can pull that one off, it'd be great. :)
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Post by Kyrel »

As for making a complete campaign spanning the time all the way from pre Sundering and up to post Civil War will probably be a rather significant challenge. Rather than focus on a single individual, we could instead elect to focus on a given family devoted to the Cult. That way we don't need to find a single individual that has lived through it all.

/Kyrel
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Post by Martialartist »

Kyrel wrote:Rather than focus on a single individual, we could instead elect to focus on a given family devoted to the Cult.


That's actually a really REALLY good idea.

It just opens up so many possibliities in my mind, such as scenarios like "Assassins In The Dark", "Sibling Rivalry", "Charge Of The Ambiguous Cousin", the list goes on.

Though in these scenario's maybe not ALL of the family is utterly devoted to the Cult....

Thank you very much for that idea.

I've had ideas for a few more scenario's (both from Kyrel's idea and not) to add to the ones above,

- Scenario: Defence Of The Northern Border
One of the key components in Morathi’s strategy is the inclusion of northern Marauder tribes among the bulk of her battlefield troops. For such a plan to work however, these mortal allies must make it past the barrier of Khainite guarded watchtowers that run along the border between the Chaos Wastes and Naggaroth. Many warriors may be lost, but Morathi is hopeful the sheer weight of numbers of the Marauders will be able to breach the superior training and defensive positioning of her enemies. Whether this will work remains to be seen…

- Scenario: Followers Of Faith
There are many minor religious groups hidden among Dark Elf society and both Morathi and Hellebron have realised that if they could convert these disciples and religious intentions and beliefs to their cause, followers, though small in number, of high value and loyalty could be gained without much effort. The only problem is both sides target the and followers of the same group. Will the pressured elves turn one way or the other, of perhaps degenerate into hatred of both sides?

- Scenario: Assassins In The Night
The Scourge family is now a major supplier to the Cult movement, possibly an ally that Morathi has come to rely on a little too much. Advisers and spies to Khaine see this weakness, and one well-placed knife could be the thing that gives Hellebron the advantage she so desperately needs. To this end, one night three of Khaine’s best Assassins’ depart on a mission to slay one of the most feared warrior’s in Dark Elf society, who also happens to be one of the most influential members of the Scourge family….

- Scenario: Ziggurat
Khaine has commanded his follower’s to build a massive new monument and sacrifice several hundred slaves to him in the middle of a Dark Elf city. One does not disobey a divine god in any case, but the Khainites sense a reward may be forthcoming should they succeed. The dominance of Khaine’s worship means that this project is actually feasible without too many dramas. The Cult can obviously not allow such a construction to be completed. Warrior clashes upon warrior of the steps of this mighty structure while builders scurry back and forth in the background, Khaine’s desires coming closer to fulfilment with every minute.

- Scenario: Ancient Artefact Uncovered!
Rumours of an object of mysterious power and influence have circulated. An area has been determined at which the artefact lies. Both sides make a grab for this magical object in the hope it will prove an advantage to them should they recover it.

There are more I will post later. You'll notice I named this family that I think we should follow the "Scourge" family. That alright?

MA
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Post by Weenth »

My 3 cents:


1. I really like idea of 'Assasins in the night'; would make a great Mordheim-type scenario


2. I think 'Defence of the northern border' would be hard to pull off fluff-wise:

- according to 7th ed fluff the Watchtowers are more of Morathi's domain than CoK, so their crew would probably be on CoS side

- this is backed up by the fact, that according to 6th ed (SoC), Cult's marauder forces were able to move south unhindered

Still, from rule-perspective such get-through scenario would be interesting; dunno what other background it could have though.


3. As for family name - I'd rather have it in Druhir than English; no problem with it meaning 'Scourge', though dunno how this would be in Druhir.
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Post by Martialartist »

Weenth wrote:2. I think 'Defence of the northern border' would be hard to pull off fluff-wise:


Maybe, "Halting the Marauder Tide" then? A little further inland?

Weenth wrote:3. As for family name - I'd rather have it in Druhir than English; no problem with it meaning 'Scourge', though dunno how this would be in Druhir.


I'll leave you and Kyrel to come up with a suitable name then.

MA
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Revive the Cult! http://www.druchii.net/viewtopic.php?t= ... sc&start=0
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Post by Weenth »

MartialArtist wrote:Maybe, "Halting the Marauder Tide" then? A little further inland?
Would work I think; would need to be a rather small scale not to contradict SoC fluff.

Or maybe simply put it after F&B, when Marauders are no longer 'legal'? The DE (regular&khainite units) force would be brought to stop the raid from the north, just to discover too late that it's a trap prepared by CoS, so marauder forces are much bigger than expected and druchii are under fire from crew of the nearby Watchtower?

So would be something like: big marauder force, smaller khainite/druchii force

Battlefield would be something like this:

..MMMM...
..............
M...KK...M
M...KK...M
M.........M
.............
.............
.............
.............
....WW....

M - marauder deployment zone
K - Khainite/druchii deployment zone
W - Watchtower (with RTBs)

The CoS objectives:
- Kill the character leading the forces (Khainite-loyal member of the family maybye?)
- eliminate all enemy units

The Khainite unit
- get at least one unit off the southern battlefield border
- preferably the one escaping to be the general

This is just out of top of my head, needs much tweaking probably



Anyway, I'd rather concentrate on main armylist for now - hard to make a campaign when we have most of the list and some of the fluff still floating in the air. ;)
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Post by Kyrel »

Such a scenario as suggested by Weenth could also work as a simple "Escape" type scenario, where one side's forces has to get as many units across and off the board as possible. Such a scenario could work with both Druchii and Marauder forces on either side (Druchii escaping an ambush as suggested above, or Marauders trying to avoid capture/destruction by Druchii forces).

/Kyrel
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