Fate of Konor

Fate of Konor, full name Fate of Konor: Galaxy in Flames, is an official global tabletop campaign Games Workshop issued from July 27 to September 10, 2017 to promote 40,000's new eighth edition and continue the storyline since The Gathering Storm. Players have the opportunity to paint models and play designated battles at game stores in various countries to decide the fate of six planets in the Konor System in continuity: Astaramis, Loebos, Drenthal, Vanitor, Konor and Nethamus; one planet every week. Every planet gets its own missions, stratagems, and stories during the campaign. Players can take part in two ways:

• By building and painting new units for your Warhammer 40,000 collection. For each new painted unit, you will get 1 point for your faction. If your painted unit falls under the theme of the week (see below) you get 2 points instead.
  • With loyal space marines having the most popular army in the game and roughly half of all codices belonging to the Imperium this specific method of scoring seemed to favor one side over the other.
• By playing games of Warhammer 40,000. For each victory – regardless of the style of game, victory points or points values (if used) – Chaos and Imperium players will get 1 point for their faction. Xenos players’ victories instead remove 1 point from either the Imperium or Chaos faction, the Xenos player gets to choose. If you achieve victory using models from the theme of the week (see below), you get 2 points instead – unless you’re a Xenos player, in which case you remove 2 points from the opposing faction of your choice.
  • As you can see, the math here means it's really about which faction has more players, because the optimal way for both Imperium and Chaos to play is circle-jerking, with Imperium vs Imperium and Chaos vs Chaos, both of which guarantee the respective faction gets points. As a result, it's not material which faction has better armies or better players, only numbers.
    • However to try and counteract that many shops made it so Imperium v Imperium or Chaos v Chaos matches were straight up illegal.
      • Or by basing the points on which faction the winning army was set up as in the mission.

The units you paint and the games you play will matter like never before, as the results reported to your local store influence which side of the war is winning each week and, eventually, the final outcome of the campaign. [1]

Background

"Ultramar burns. The putrid warbands of the Death Guard, led by the Daemon Primarch Mortarion, have launched a furious assault upon the Ultramarines’ stellar empire. This eruption of all-out war threatens to drown the stars themselves in bloodshed and terror. Legions of Heretic Astartes and Chaos-spawned monstrosities have already rampaged across world after world, spreading the malignant corruption of the Dark Gods in their wake. Yet all hope is not lost. The return of the Primarch Roboute Guilliman has stalled the seemingly unstoppable momentum of the Chaos advance. In a series of bloody battles, the armies of the Imperium – reinforced with mighty Primaris Space Marines – have reclaimed many worlds thought lost, forcing their hated foes to retreat and regroup.

Now the worshippers of Chaos seek to regain their advantage by smashing a path through the Imperial battle line to Macragge, home world of the Ultramarines. Should they succeed, the greatest Imperial stronghold in the sector will be gravely threatened, and Guilliman’s forces will be cut-off and surrounded. To achieve this end, the forces of Chaos must conquer the well-located Konor System. Powered by the industrial might of the forge world of Konor, this centre of produce and production feeds the Imperial war machine with vital shipments of munitions and machinery. Populous and prosperous, with a large and well-equipped defence force, the Konor System embodies the glorious dream of Ultramar. Crucially, it also guards one of the few stable warp transit routes to the Macragge System. If the Chaos advance is not halted, Konor will soon fall, and a path to the heartland of Ultramar will be laid bare.

Yet the warriors of the Adeptus Astartes will not cede their rightful domain without a fight. The Ultramarines stand against the Chaos onslaught with nobility and courage, smiting the foe with bolter and blade. And they are not alone. The military sledgehammer of the Astra Militarum rumbles into action, an armoured fist of devastating tank columns and endless regiments of soldiers that grinds all before it into ashes and dust. Scattered Space Marine Chapters rush fresh reinforcements to the war zone, seeking to aid their embattled kin. Enigmatic Tech-Priests of the Adeptus Mechanicus send forth their legions of steel, and mighty Imperial Knights bestride the slaughter like ancient gods of war.

Every single warrior – every bolter round and bomb – will be vital, for the Chaos host sweeping across the Konor System is vast beyond imagining. Warriors of the Death Guard march implacably forward, enemy fire spattering harmlessly from their rusted power armour and pallid twisted flesh. In return they unleash bombardments of noxious toxins and flesh-melting plagues. Daemonic legions surge alongside the Chaos advance, exulting in the chance to wreak torment across the material realm. Warbands of Heretic Astartes, millions upon millions of depraved mortal cultists, and a thousand other horrors converge upon Konor, drawn to its aura of agony and death like sharks to blood.

Circling this firestorm of destruction are predatory xenos races, ever seeking to further their own mysterious ends. Orks surge into the war in their millions, delighting in the spreading carnage. Craftworld Aeldari and Drukhari circle from afar, offering their services as mercenaries or launching raids to fulfill some unknowable agenda. Tyranid and T’au forces spill in from the Eastern Fringe, capitalising on or drawn by the escalating conflict, while even the Necrons send invasion forces to exploit the infighting of the younger races and expand their ancient empires.

No part of the Konor System will be left unscarred by the coming war. If the Heretic Astartes’ plans come to fruition, the system’s own worlds will be weaponised and turned against Ultramar. The forces of Chaos will force open a route to Macragge, and this shining light of the Imperium will face obliteration." [2]

Campaign by Week

Each of the six weeks revolve around a specific theme for model painting and a specific planet. [3]

Week 1: Astramis

The theme of the week is to start collecting, basically buying box sets of mixed units. That's right, they figuratively made the theme of the first week spending money. The planet at stake was the hive world Astramis, won by the Imperium.

Week 2: Konor

The theme of the week is elite units. The planet at stake was the forge world Konor (let's be mildly fair to GeeDubs, naming your planet and system the same is common as shit in science fiction), won by the Imperium. Noted for having some chaos player from /m/ joining in /tg/'s general threads telling his comrades to unload nothing but Soul Grinders. An idea so crazy most people would go broke trying it. In, perhaps, a return to the political satire of 40k's youth, North America was tasked with the promethium sump. In short they put Americans in charge of taking/holding the planet's oil.

Week 3: Nethamus

The theme of the week is vehicles. The planet at stake was the agri-world Nethamus. Sadly Cha....NAH just kidding, the Imperium won overall on Nethamus. This week is notable for being almost unwinnable by tyranids armies without cult support.

• Chaos actually won the battle for Convoy Druseus (UK & Rest of World), but the final announcement left that out; thanks, GW.

Week 4: Vanitor

The theme of the week is Grey Knights psykers. The planet at stake was the astropathic relay world turned daemon world Vanitor. This marked the first planetary victory of Chaos in the campaign.

Week 5: Drenthal

The theme of the week is fast attack and flying units. The planet at stake was the aeronautic academy world Drenthal. For the mission focusing on fast attack and fliers, units with FLY can not score. From a gameplay perspective it makes sense but it is still really dumb and hurts the hell out of Tau and Eldar. Again, thanks for looking out for your players, GW.

• Chaos wins, this time by a much larger margin than before.
• Actually, it was Flyers that couldn't score, not units with FLY. Jump pack infantry, fast attacks, and anything that wasn't in the Flyer role could have still scored. Oops.

Week 6 Leobos

Leobos before and after the Imperium detonated the fusion reactor of one of the space hulks that made up the planet's engines.

The theme of the week is terrain and lords of war. The planet at stake was the Death World Loebos which was an Exodite world until the Imperial Guard slaughtered it millennia ago, and as a result its world spirit went insane. The trees will eat any thing near them much like the plants of planet Catachan or the Helsrich Monsters of Armageddon. The imperials' goal is to blow the planet the fuck up. Chaos wants to use it to attack things as it spins out of control. If chaos wins the campaign is a tie, Imperials could still score a minor victory.

• North America is in charge of destroying/protecting the PLANET'S engines.
• The EU is fighting over the planet's world spirit
• The UK ROW is tag over the giant fortresses on the "front" of the planet. This battle was a one-sided affair from day one as the Imperium's opening momentum shoved Chaos' shit in so hard it resulted in a 90/10 split that, even after the campaign extension, rendered the battle completely hopeless for Chaos.
• Imperial WIN.
• First and only instance of GW extending the campaign by a week. This has led to some players suspecting GW is trying to manipulate the results.
  • Though imperials were winning on Thursday when it would have ended and still won in the end so if that was the case they failed.

What this means for the Future of 40k

Considering how much attention this campaign got compared the Age of Sigmar campaign (does anyone remember that?), expect to potentially see more 40k related campaigns. New stories and lore based on this campaign are also bound to pop up. More importantly, this gives GW and idea of what was popular model wise. Splitting up the campaign by unit type was no coincidence. GW can basically look at and see what model types sold the most during the campaign. What faction sold the most, what unit type, and what kit sold the most all give GW data as to what is popular among the players. Chances are our purchases will affect what GW does in the future of this edition.