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Alternative Uprising Campaigns

RAW ✔️ Source: The Book of Ruin

The Uprising Campaign charts the fall of a hive to Chaos. As it progresses, the hive descends deeper and deeper into anarchy and madness, until those left alive must scavenge through the dead just to survive another cycle. This aptly reflects the emergence of a Corpse Grinder uprising within a hive, and the grim results of what happens when law and order break down. However, the Uprising Campaign can be used to represent different kinds of apocalyptic events by adding new rules, or changing the way some of its existing rules work.

In this section we present six alternative ways of playing the Uprising Campaign. These provide guidelines and simple changes that can be made by the Arbitrator to the campaign system, providing a different experience for their players. Arbitrators should also feel free to combine the following alternative campaign types to create unique kinds of campaigns, or perhaps even create their own variants of the Uprising Campaign using the variants below as inspiration.

Order From Chaos​

The Order from Chaos Campaign variant is, in effect an Uprising Campaign in reverse. An uprising has shaken the hive to its foundations, and millions lie dead at the hands of the rebels. A massive surge of Palanite Enforcers has been unleashed by the Imperial House, and a war of pacification begun. Enforcers, deputised gangs and Guilder watchmen are slowly bringing order back to the hive, one dome at a time. Against these instruments of Helmawr's brutal rule are the rebels, outlaws, and true deviants fighting desperately to preserve the savage world they have won for themselves. Even the most depraved cultists realise they are outnumbered and outgunned, and so there remains only one thing to do: take as many of Helmawr's lapdogs with them as they can.

This campaign variant switches around the Insurrection and Damnation phases, and has the following rules changes:

  • The campaign begins in the Damnation phase and, after downtime, moves on to the Insurrection phase.
  • Each player's territories begin ruined, and remain so for the duration of the Damnation phase.
  • During the Insurrection phase, at the end of each campaign week in which Order has Ascendency, all players must 'un-ruin' one of their territories.
  • To aid in Helmawr's pacification of the hive, Enforcer gangs, and those declared for Order, earn a stipend each cycle. This represents the huge amount of resources being poured into the reconquest of the hive, and, makes things more challenging for those dedicated to the Dark Gods. At the start of each campaign week, a gang aligned to Order gains 2D6x10 credits to add to its gang's Stash.
  • At the end of the campaign a new Triumph is also available: Heart of the Rebellion – this Triumph is claimed by the Chaos aligned gang with the highest gang rating of all the Chaos aligned gangs.

Hive War​

Though it is rare, over Necromunda's long history, there have been times when true warfare has come to the hive world. During these dark periods, entire hives have been engulfed by fighting, and armies have stormed through their claustrophobic domes. These events make the everyday gang violence pale by comparison, the weapons and numbers employed by the Clan Houses unable to compare with the brutality of a true military force. Of course, during these wars, commanders will turn to whatever forces they can lay their hands on, conscripting gangs by their thousands to fill out the ranks of irregular militia battalions.

A Hive War Campaign variant pits gangs against each other in open warfare, supplied with heavy ordnance to deal with their opponents. The generals directing the carnage are also less concerned with the preservation of the hive than the Imperial House would like, and so actively target the territories of their rivals for annihilation.

If players are using this campaign variant, use the following rules changes:

  • All players must declare for Order or Chaos at the beginning of the campaign, representing the two main sides in the conflict.
  • Players may not switch sides once their choice of allegiance is made, though this does not prevent them from playing against gangs on their own side – friendly fire is almost guaranteed in the close confines of a hive battlefield!
  • To reflect the influx of arms and wargear into the hive, all items in the Trading Post have a Rarity of Common. In addition, players can choose items from the Trading Post when creating their gangs.
  • When a gang captures a territory from their opponent, they can choose to destroy it. If they do so, the territory is removed from the campaign.
  • At the end of the campaign a new Triumph is also available: Hive General – this Triumph is claimed if the gang has destroyed more territories than any of their rivals over the course of the campaign.

War of the Gods​

The hive has fallen and the Dark Gods rule supreme! Now that Lord Helmawr's lackeys have been dealt with, the true contest can begin – the war of the Gods. This variant on the Uprising Campaign represents a hive that has been completely consumed by Chaos. Those left alive are all followers of one of the four major Chaos powers, and their attention has now turned to the destruction of their rivals. In this kind of campaign order has completely broken down, the gangs existing in a wasteland of ruined habs and cannibalised settlements. The signs of Chaos are everywhere, from fell shadowcreatures shambling through the thoroughfares, to the mutating effects of the Warp twisting the very bones of the hive itself.

A War of the Gods Campaign variant uses the following rules:

  • The campaign takes place entirely within the Damnation phase, with the usual break for downtime. This means the campaign will be a Damnation phase, followed by downtime, followed by another Damnation phase.
  • Instead of Order and Chaos, there are four allegiances at the start of the campaign, one for each of the four Ruinous Powers: the Blood God, the Architect of Fate, the Plague God and the Dark Prince.
  • At the start of the campaign all players must declare for one of the Ruinous Powers. Gangs cannot change sides once their allegiance has been determined, and gangs gain no benefits for being aligned to Order or Chaos or being unaligned.
  • Chaos is considered to always be in ascendancy. However, at the end of each campaign week the Ruinous Power whose gangs won the most scenarios becomes ascendant for the purposes of choosing scenarios.
  • Players should keep track of how many campaign weeks each Ruinous Power is ascendant. At the end of the campaign, the Ruinous Power who was ascendant the most is the winner and claims the hive.
  • At the end of the campaign four new Triumphs are also available: Lord of Blood – the gang who has the highest gang rating of all those dedicated to the Blood God. Twister of Fates – the gang who has the highest gang rating of all those dedicated to the Architect of Fate. Pestilent Lord – the gang who has the highest gang rating of all those dedicated to the Plague God. Prince of Perversion – the gang who has the highest gang rating of all those dedicated to the Dark Prince.

Cannibal Kingdoms​

This campaign variant focuses on the despicable cannibalistic nature of the Corpse Grinders, and expands the Starvation rules as they appear in the Uprising Campaign. This increase in cannibalistic tendencies could represent the madness of Chaos seeping into peoples' minds, turning ordinary citizens into slavering ghoulish creatures. Perhaps this is the result of a more subtle power than the Blood God, such as one of his dark brothers seeking to spread disorder. It might even be the result of a rogue psyker, some poor individual overcome by hunger, but projecting their ravenous anguish via the Warp as they slowly starve to death. Equally, it may simply be the result of a hive, cut off by endless cycles of ash storms, literally eating itself alive as it loses the ability to feed its citizens.

In a Cannibal Kingdoms Campaign Meat is in short supply and so it uses the following rules changes:

  • The rules for Starvation are in effect from the start of the campaign (i.e., affecting both the Insurrection and Damnation phases).
  • When a gang receives rewards from a scenario in the Insurrection phase, they may choose to take the Meat reward instead of any credit rewards.
  • Gangs can buy Meat from the Trading Post. Meat is Rarity (10), and costs D3x10 credits per portion. A gang cannot buy more Meat than it has fighters during each post-battle sequence.
  • When a gang captures a territory from their opponent, they must devour it. The territory is removed from the campaign, however, the devouring gang does not need to give Meat to their fighters to stave off Starvation for the remainder of the current campaign week – they are well sated by their feast.
  • At the end of the campaign a new Triumph is also available: Carrion King – this Triumph is claimed by the gang that has devoured the most territories during the course of the campaign.

Survivors of the Apocalypse​

The war is over, the rule of law has been broken, and even the madness of the Dark Gods has receded into memory. All that remains of the hive is ash and ruins, its once productive citizens reduced to skulking, scavenging things. But the embers of conflict still burn amid the debris, and staving gangs fight over the wasteland. A Survivors of the Apocalypse variant campaign focuses on survival rather than victory, with the players fighting over scavenged scrap and attempting to build up their ruined territories into some semblance of function. There are no sides in this kind of campaign, and the only true victory is to outlive the opposition.

Survivors of the Apocalypse is unique among the campaign variants as it eschews most of the rivalry between Order and Chaos in place of pure survival, and as such uses the following rules:

  • The campaign takes place entirely within the Damnation phase with the usual break for downtime. This means the campaign will be a Damnation phase, followed by downtime, followed by another Damnation phase.
  • There is no Order and no Chaos faction, and no allegiances. All the allegiance rules and rules related to them are not used.
  • Scenarios provide twice the normal amount of Scavenging rewards (for example, if the scenario provided the winner with D6 Scavenging rolls, then they would receive 2D6 Scavenging rolls). In addition, gangs can spend 10 Scavenging rolls on a ruined territory to double the amount of Meat it produces. This can be done once, permanently improving the territory, even if it is subsequently captured by another gang.
  • Fighters subject to the Starving condition must still be fed Meat. If a fighter with the Starving condition requires a portion of Meat (i.e, during the pre-battle sequence of a game), and they do not receive it, they must make a Toughness check. If they fail they die, and are removed from the gang's roster. If a Starving fighter is fed Meat, they lose the Starving condition as normal.
  • At the end of the campaign a new Triumph is also available: Lord of the Wasteland – this Triumph is claimed by the gang that has improved the most ruined territories during the course of the campaign.

Rise of the Four Armed Emperor​

Chaos is far from the only threat to a hive of dissatisfied citizens. Sometimes more insidious threats will worm their way into Necromundan society in the form of alien infiltrators. These interlopers will make their presence known not with the whirr of buzz saws, or the screams of demented Warp-touched disciples, but instead through subversion at the highest levels. Of all the terrors to be counted among these kinds of uprisings few are as repellent to the Imperial House as the Genestealer threat. A campaign focused on such a rebellion by the alien infiltration organisms replaces the threat of Chaos with that of the xenos, and divides the gangs between those who fight for humanity, and those who have bowed down before dark alien masters. A Rise of the Four-armed Emperor Campaign variant uses the following rules:

  • The Chaos allegiance is replaced with a Xenos allegiance. Players may switch allegiance as normal, but once aligned to Xenos they cannot change their allegiance again.
  • Genestealer Cults gangs and Genestealer Infected gangs must begin the campaign aligned to Xenos and cannot change their allegiance during the course of the campaign.
  • If a gang is not aligned to Xenos, any of its fighters taken Out of Action in close combat by a fighter from a Xenos aligned gang, must make a Willpower check. If they fail, make a note on their Fighter card or beside their entry on the gang roster. Once a gang has three or more fighters so marked, the gang's leader must make a Willpower check at the end of each campaign week. If they fail this check then their gang becomes a Genestealer Infected gang and their allegiance changes to Xenos.
  • If at the start of a campaign week all gangs are Xenos aligned then the campaign ends and Triumphs are worked out.
  • At the end of the campaign a new Triumph is also available: Brood Lord – this Triumph is claimed by the gang that infected the most enemy fighters during the course of the campaign.