Moon XM is a mysteriously important Imperial world, officially home to the Adeptus Mechanicus since Cog-sanctioned Explorators first discovered it (and christened it Moon XM or 'Moon 1010;' the Mechanicus simply refer to it--and their secluded stronghold thereon--as 'Binary'). Moon XM circles the gas giant Castus Inferior in a peculiar double-locked orbit, one side of the proto-star always facing its star Castus, the other always facing deep space, Binary likewise in perpetual lockstep with each. Life on the moon survives only in the eternal terminator zone, a thin band encircling its circumference neither impossibly hot--as the boiling sunward face ever is--nor eternally frigid as the spaceward side is. Moon XM is catalogued as a world rich in geological resources, particularly rare metals, and benefits from proximity to stable interstellar transit points; its peculiar astro-orbital state is, on the other hand, emphatically not stable, with howling wind-, ice- and sand-storms approaching any terminator-edge (and racing unpredictably across the moon with the slightest orientation shift by either sun or planet) and days-long eclipses when the other system planets--which are not orbitally locked--transit between planet and star; but so long as the precarious gravitic dance of Castus and it's lesser sibling holds, the Imperium has deemed something about Moon XM valuable enough to justify the risk.
Moon XM is also now an Imperial world under seige--as irresistible tendrils of the Tyranid Hive Fleets have reached out across the galaxy, to claim it.
It was not laid seige to unawares. As the first hints of peril approached, a respected xenobiologist named Shemrun Bushep working on Binary pieced together what was happening--and knowing the approaching Shadow in the Warp would smother any astropathically transmited pleas for help, launched his findings in an older Mechanicus technology, a warp-capable message drone. That drone fell from the Immaterium without reaching its destination--but its priceless contents were rescued from the clutches of the advancing Great Devourer by an Eldar Farseer, Kaze of the Aurora Craftworld, who sounded the clarion call of alarm to the Imperium.
Even now, in dramatic response, the masses of the Imperial Guard, the agents of the Inquisition and the strike forces of the Imperial Space Marines rally to join the Adeptus Mechanicus in defense of Moon XM. The Eldar have augured that defending the monkeigh world is in their ultimate interest and have joined, as well. The integrity of communication has not been secure, however--and in the defenders' wake, Chaos and Dark Eldar have come raiding, and Orks spoiling for the fight, while enigmatic Tau and malevolent Necron embassies have advanced upon Moon XM to observe from high anchor.
So have all the races of the forty-first millennium chosen to involve themselves in the throes of deadly battle, to determine whether Moon XM--and whatever priceless mysteries it may hide--will stand against the invasion...or be forever consumed by the Tyranid scourge!
XMax Games in Dallas invites all North Texas hobbyists to play games of Warhammer 40K in-store beginning February 2010 and count the results toward determining the fate of the Imperial Moon XM! A running tally of in-store games will reveal whether the world is weathering the invasion...or falling to the Hivemind. A Tyranid victory over •ANY• opponent swings the balance toward destruction, an Imperial victory against any opponent restores order (though at risk), and the results of battles involving other races affects the outcome as well, depending on who defeats who--as such carnage affects planetary Stability, regardless of combatants!
The outcome of the Defense of Moon XM campaign will be determined by Stability Points, awarded per game; Tyranids are trying to reach Destabilization of the world, the Imperium to achieve Stabilization. The bigger the battle, the greater the impact, as hobbyists will use dedicated special scenarios, under battlefield conditions unique to the Moon itself, all culminating in a Spring Break climax event in March 2010 that will seal the fate of XM--and perhaps reveal it's hidden secrets, as well!
Defense of Moon XM Campaign Scoring
- A TYRANID army vs ANY IMPERIAL army: 3 SPs ('Stability Points') toward Stabilization or Destabilization for the winner
- A TYRANID army vs an ELDAR or TAU army: 2 SPs toward Stabilization or Destabilization for the winner
- A TYRANID army vs ANY OTHER army: 2 SPs toward Destabilization if Tyranids the winner, 1 SP for Stabilization if Other the winner (simply for killing bugs and diminishing their resources)
- ANY IMPERIAL army vs ANY OTHER army: 1 SP toward Stabilization if Imperial the winner, 1 SP for Destabilization if OTHER the winner (even Eldar, to represent the cost in resources for allies fighting when a larger threat looms)
- An ELDAR army vs ANY OTHER army: 1 SP toward Stabilization if Eldar the winner, 1 SP for Destabilization if Other the winner (unless Imperial, then see above)
- ANY OTHER army vs ANY OTHER army: 1 SP for the winner to assign to Stabilization or Destabilization as winner elects (this allows Tyranid vs Tyranid, Imperium vs Imperium, etc, battles to still have some campaign impact, as the planet is marginally Destabilized by the bug-on-bug carnage, or slightly retrenched by an Imperial force achieving a high ground, even at the cost of other Imperial blood, etc, and allows armies of any other sort to engage each other and direct the result as the scenario indicates, or as they choose)
- Battles fought at 1500 points or greater: 1 Bonus SP for winning army to assign as they elect
- Apocalypse battles (minimum 3000 points a side): 1 Bonus SP for winning side to assign as they elect
- Special Moon XM Campaign Scenario played: 1 Bonus SP for winning army to assign as they elect
All scores are cumulative (for example, if a Tyranid army of 3000 points playing a special Moon XM Campaign Scenario posted at Adeptus North Texas in an Apocalypse game defeats an Imperial opponent, they would earn *6* Stability Points toward Destabilizing the Moon=3 SPs for the victory over a direct defender, one more bonus for playing at 1500 points, one more bonus for playing at the Apocalypse level, and one more bonus for the scenario).
The Great Devourer has stormed the 41st millennium with renewed vigour in 2010--and now, it has come at last to Moon XM. There has never been a better time to begin a new Tyranid army, or reconfigure an existing one. And while the stakes for Imperial armies are obvious, every race in Warhammer 40,000 has something to gain--or lose--across the astrally divided face of the Mechanicus moon. Perhaps the locked orbits of Binary and it's world--a seeming odds-defying galactic coincidence--are not the accident of astrophysical circumstance they seem...and the moon's secret, something yet a third race willing to fight to keep hidden...
Will your army rally to the conflict? And will you save the world--or destroy it? The answer will be found on the eight new game tables available for play any time from Noon till Midnight (and 2pm till 10pm Sundays) at XMax Games' spectacular new 40K campaign, beginning in February.
The Defense of Moon XM has begun!
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