Introduction

Welcome to Bristol Vanguard’s Voidwar, A Boarding Action narrative event, a follow on from our 2025 Boarding Action event and also Vanguards other Narrative events

The event will be made up of 5, 1v1 boarding action missions and 1 special secret ending mission. For the narrative portion you will be assigned to teams together pool your resources to influence the outcome of a branching narrative across the weekend.  

If you have any queries about the event, please ask one events team at bristol.vanguard@yahoo.co.uk or on the clubs facebook page or discord and we will try to answer any queries you may have.

The Story So Far

“Citizens of Valtir-9, by the Omnissiah’s will I have been entrusted with this most sacred task. This Abominable Intelligence cannot be allowed to escape this world, even now it seeks to fling itself beyond the gravity well through broadcasts and schemes. I am left with no option other than Exterminatus, the device has been deployed and soon will activate. Worry not, your transition will be quick and the Omnissiah will greet you on the other side.”

Archmagos Xylander Very watched from the bridge as the device’s gravity waves visibly rippled through the planets crust followed by large chunks of rock falling inwards into the impossibly dense singularity forming in the core. Staring into the growing blackness the Archmagos felt nothing but a primordial fear of the dark. Satisfied that no one, nor any “thing”, could survive the implosion he ordered his underlings to record the sensor data for later examination. There were multiple copies of this device stored in the vaults of Mars and he had been honoured with the first deployment of it in Imperial history. Content he ordered the fleet back into the warp.

10 years later…

It’s power source finally depleted the Necron weapon shut itself off and with that the extreme gravity that was holding the Valtir Singularity together dissipated. Slowly, but inevitably the crushed and broken fragments of the planet split once more and spread into the void. Creating a vast asteroid field rich in minerals was mixed with structures made up of the plant’s facilities and void ships that had not escaped the devices range but had been spared complete destruction.

Scavengers have discovered this source of resources and drawn the attention of many factions, but perhaps some secrets are best left buried.

The Essentials

Event Schedule

Saturday 26th June

Army Composition

• 500 points limit per game. Your list may change between games but your warlord must remain the same.
• In accordance with the latest Warhammer 40k Boarding Action rules.
• Latest Balance Dataslate rules and Munitorum Field Manual point cost are applicable. (Note that Boarding Action detatchments are not Codex detachments and so the non chapter Space Marine enchanced Oaths is not applicable).
• Please note that forgeworld units are permitted where up to date rules exist within a compendium, index or other valid publication.
• Legends units & Epic Heroes are not permitted; however, these models may be used as proxies for legal models so long as the base size matches.
• We are aware that there are issues with GW updates/support for Boarding Actions. In particular around the BDS and unit sizes. Please reach out ahead of time of there are any clarifications required.

Army Modelling and Painting Requirements

All players should attempt to have their forces painted to a Battle Ready standard.  Those that are not All boarding patrols should be fully assembled, appropriately based and with their chosen wargear appropriately modelled. Full WYSIWG is not required but any differences within a unit should be clearly identifiable and not potentially confusing to a reasonable opponent. If unsure whether a model is acceptable or not please contact the organisers before the event via email at bristol.vanguard@yahoo.co.uk.

All players should attempt to have their forces painted to a “three colour minimum” standard. Any questions over whether a model is suitably painted should be referred to a TO on the day. If this is not met the player will be deemed “not battle ready” by the TO and so will not receive the corresponding points award in their games

Extensively converted or kit bashed units are welcome, and can be very cool, but it should always be clear to your opponent what the unit and wargear is intended to be. Conversions should be of an appropriate size for the rules used (i.e. not using a guardsman conversion as spawn) and consistent in appearance (i.e. all Las Cannons should look the same) across the army. If in doubt, or if your army is highly converted, please email the club some photos ahead of the event.

Narrative Campaign Rules

Full details of the narrative structure & rules will be provided one month before the event. The below overviews are to give a general idea of how things will run and exact wordings may change slightly.

The Teams

Each player will be allocated into a team by the TOs ahead of the event based upon their detachment & warlord submissions. Each team’s score is defined by its “influence Points”. This score does not direct correspond to Victory Points earned in game but your Victory Point totals and/or completing narrative objectives will give you more chances at earning these points.

Missions & Scoring (70min per game)

Basic missions will be drawn from the boarding action book, the Victory Points earnt from these “primary mission” will be converted into either influence points for your team, or requisition points for yourself.

All Missions will be matched the board they are to be played on and players will rotate across tables via a draft at the start of each round. No player should end up playing the same mission or opponent twice.

Additionally, there will be a narrative secondary missions which will allow players to earn influence points for their team.

Narrative  Rules

The full pack of narrative rules will be released closer to the event as it is undergoing testing. However, the structure will be broadly as follows.

• There will be a grid of hidden tiles, under each tile will be a reward of some kind (think battleships but less misses).
• At the end of the game each player can convert their VP from the game into either Requisition Points for themselves or into Ammunition which their team fires at the grid.
• Requisition Points can be spent to buy Custom Enhancements, Special Wargear or Mercenary units for use in your games.
• Narrative secondary missions will either gift enhancements or the chance to gain information about the structure of the grid.

Terrain

Firstly, all the Boarding Action sets we will use come from club members or other attendees. As such we kindly ask that you treat them with an extra dose of care and respect.

We are initially planning for 16 players with 8 tables of terrain including some of the new tomb world sets. We would like to increase the number of tickets available and in particular the tomb world sets but this requires extra sets to be sourced from attendees. If you would be willing to bring a set with you, please let us know via email.

Trophy Awards

Vanguard Bear Trophies will be available for the teams based on following criteria:

• Highest Influence
• Lowest Influence

In addition to this there will be trophies available for players based on their individual achievements across the day. Some examples are given below but these are subject to change. A final list of trophy categories will be provided one month before the event.

Finally, there will be two painting/hobby trophies available. 

• Best Painted Warlord
• Best Painted Boarding Patrol (Army)

Sportsmanship Policy

Thankfully we’ve never had issues at our events but any harassment, bullying, poor sportsmanship or unpleasant behaviour will not be tolerated. We hope that any issues would be resolved between players at the table but if you feel uncomfortable or unable to resolve issues, please inform a TO as soon as possible.

The TO will usually provide a warning and guidance on what needs changing. If this warning is not heeded, or in cases of serious deviations from expected standards of behaviour, the TO may force a player to withdraw from the event and venue. Such decisions are at the TO’s complete discretion and are final on the day.