All in the story

The number one thing you’ll immediately notice for a narrative heresy event, is a bit of extra storytelling. Whether it’s a one off with a unique planet, or one of a long series of events and campaigns with a long running story, the event pack will likely contain a little bit of light reading!

Because heresy is a ‘pseudo-historical’ setting, rather than an ongoing narrative, it grants a wide degree of freedom to the community for creating and developing their own stories. Yes, the key points of the narrative are fixed, no matter how many games we play (the traitor forces will never win on Terra, Ferrus will never survive Istvaan, etc) however there are still thousands of legionaries and millions of stories all over the galaxy that are ongoing at the same time, that aren’t in a black library novel, completely unexplored. This freedom means that event organisers can begin to chain together their events, and in turn because they have the freedom to shape those stories, you as players can feel like you’re actually impacting and shaping that little corner of the heresy with your troops. Indeed, in these narrative events you often see teams or players able to change or gain bonuses during subsequent games based on their side’s results – or event shape a bonus for the next event!

Even if the event is set in a more ‘fixed’ point of the narrative, such as Beta-Garmon, or Istvaan V, there’s still so many unknown stories from within these battles that can be explored. Whilst in these cases the end results are well known, players can still attempt to see if their characters and forces will spite the enemy a little extra, win a little harder, or even maybe escape the oncoming destruction. In these situations, you’ll often see very narrative missions, designed to match the main events of the battle’s players are recreating – much like an actual historical wargame!

This is the number one element of what makes a narrative event, its an act of communal storytelling. Much like a TTRPG, the players are coming together not just to roll dice and kick the shit out of each other (though that is naturally a part of it), but to get invested in the lore. To have their characters become the heroes (or villains) of a much bigger story – and to be remembered in narrative for years to come. Indeed some of the more major events have even made their way into the canon lore!

Now you might say,

To which you would be right! A narrative story is necessary for a narrative event, but its not the only thing…

Missions and Balance

Tournaments and competitive events are designed, by their nature, to offer a fair challenge to all comers. In order to do this, the missions in each round must be fairly picked, and offer a scenario where neither side starts with an advantage prior to the rolls of the dice. This is necessary, meaning that the only factors affecting the game’s results are those caused by the players, not the T.O. Often, these days, the missions are taken from the official source material or tournament packs too, allowing for equivalencies on a larger scale when discussing faction strengths, meta builds, etc.

A narrative event does not require any of these things.

Because a narrative event is ultimately a self-enclosed environment, there is no need to consider what any other event or even official rules pack says. The E.O.s are entitled to modify and tinker with missions, or make up new missions, until their hearts are content. In most cases the actual missions from the heresy core book that typically focus more on kills and annihilation style victories, are abandoned in favour of more objective based gameplay. In many events you will see missions that try to persuade the players to play in a different manner to what they are used to, to make decisions between the success of the mission, and the death of the foe.

For example – take the following mission from our own first event, the Skirmish in the Therion System:

Now this mission is not necessarily fair. If you’re running an armoured company for example, you’re going to struggle to claim the building. But you can choose to blow it up! The downside of this is that just blowing up the central objective doesn’t mean you’ll win; it just stops your opponent having the chance to score higher. But again, by choosing to shoot your blast weapons at the hub, and not the enemy, you may be accidentally losing the game anyway…

And like that, a mission has now made its players have to think a little harder. Do I put my best infantry in the central objective, and therefore not use them elsewhere? Do I use tacticals that can shoot out? Do I claim the hub early and risk the protocols killing the squad by accident?

You’ll find at narrative events; missions will be more like this. Unusual, with extra rules and factors to consider, often with random elements, but always telling a story! Some may even outrightly favour one side over the other, as a reflection of the events you’re recreating, or possibly as an impact of a prior event or mission. For example in our second event, the Traitors won the opening game of securing a downed pilot and valuable information – so in the second game they started in control of the objectives!

Restrictions

When looking to attend narrative events, you’ll also have to be wary of restrictions placed to fit the narrative.

Now to be clear, these are different to houserules that change the nature of the game itself; those are a discussion for another time. Instead, these are restrictions and choices placed on your army list building, to try and ensure the forces fighting in the event fit the narrative.

Typically, these restrictions fall into one of four types:

1 – The Usual. The most typical restrictions for narrative events tend to be “No named characters or primarchs”, and “no Lords of War”. This typically reflects the fact that the warzones you are fighting in are far away from the main battlelines, and not under the watchful gaze of the biggest characters of the heresy. Also because, like with the lords of war, they have a way of really swinging the balance sometimes if an opponent doesn’t have one, so in the interests of fairness and fun, they are often restricted.

2 – Faction Restrictions – Typically seen for events set in particular eras of the war, or key set story battles. For example, an Istvaan V event may say only factions that actually fought at Istvaan V are allowed. This in particular can be applied to Custodes, Daemons, and the new Legiones Hereticus forces, that may not be best suited towards a particular sphere or era of the war.

3 – ‘Must Takes’- Rare to see, but always a sign of an E.O. that has a particular image or plan in mind. These restrictions demand you take something extra or specific in your list. For example, a siege-based event could demand you bring at least one fortification or building, an event set on a forgeworld may demand you bring an allied mechanicus force etc. Our own event in November asks participants to bring a Legion Centurion (not consul) that will progress in skills as the event moves on!

4 – Alternative Lists – Maybe there will be a Zone Mortalis battle. Or an additional 500pt skirmish before the event fully begins. Some events may even ask for an attacker and a defender version of the same list – to ensure you can bring all your favourite toys without feeling restricted to covering everything in one list!

The Scoring

The last thing that makes a narrative event is the bit behind the scenes – the scoring and points. Whilst a true tournament values victory above all, and will rank its competitors, a narrative event is under no such obligation. Many I personally have attended have valued ‘soft scores’ (sportsmanship, painting, narrative list building) over flat victory points.

Like with everything else, its designed to promote a different attitude of the players. Where in a tournament you are promoted to play to the victory, in a narrative event you are promoted to play to the pleasures of both parties. Be a sportsman, have pride in your army, bring a list that is fun to play against. Take your time in the game! (Hint, if you’re cheering because you beat your opponent at 3,000pts in under an hour, you’re probably not playing very narratively/friendly).

You’ll often see as well that the final points and scores are not displayed by player, but instead as a team. You didn’t win the event, the loyalists as a whole did! This is often really nice for helping newer players to feel included too, and for their opponents to still play and get a victory, but not feel obliged to absolutely hammer the newbie into the dirt.

Conclusions

So, there we are! A brief but straightforward summary of what makes a narrative event. The rules, the missions, the armies, the scoring, everything comes together to make a fun and relaxed environment, and one that sees players often get far more ‘in character’ and immersed than your would see at your typical 40k tournament.

And for many of us, who are veteran players allowed out off duties for the weekend, the having fun bit is far more interesting than the winning bit anyway.