Tell Us a Story: Your Guide to the Wildlings 40K Narrative League
The dice are rolling again. This Friday, Round 1 of the Wildlings 40K Narrative League – Dominatus gets underway, and ten of our players are heading into the new edition with one job: create great games and tell great stories.
This is our narrative league for 11th Edition, built around the new Dominatus campaign deck. There's no fixed game size. You and your opponent agree what you fancy playing, whether that's a quick scrap at 1,000 points, the full 2,000, or something enormous and ridiculous. We sort out the rounds and the pairings, you arrange your game, and the cards give you the framework.
After each round, every player posts the story of their battle. Those stories are voted on by the league, the votes add up across the whole campaign, and at the end there are prizes for the best storytellers. Not the best generals, the best storytellers.
The Ethos: It's About the Fun
Let's be clear about what this league is and isn't.
It isn't about who can build the nastiest list or grind out the most wins. We have the League of Wildlings for that, and we love it. This is something different.
This league is about the moments you still talk about months later. The hero who survived three turns of focused fire on a single wound. The squad that failed a simple charge and then spent the rest of the game hiding behind a wall. The last-ditch stand on an objective that swung the whole battle. The Dreadnought your army now has a lifelong grudge against.
The rules matter because they create those moments, but they're the backdrop, not the point. The Dominatus cards and the new edition set the stage. What happens on that stage, and how you tell it afterwards, is what counts.
That's why you can lose every single game in this league and still come away as one of the winners. A glorious defeat, told well, is worth more here than a flawless victory with nothing to say about it.
It's also a brilliant, low-pressure way to learn 11th Edition. Nobody is going to judge you for forgetting a rule when the whole table is more interested in whether your Captain survives the turn.
What This Guide Gives You
Some of our players have written narratives before; some have never tried. So we've put together some practical ways to create stories and epic moments at the table:
the kinds of games you can play, and how the Dominatus cards help set them up
how to build a story before the first dice roll
how to create heroes, villains and gloriously useless units
how to capture the moments that matter while you play
how to turn it all into a write-up people will want to read and vote for
And you don't need to be in the league to use any of it. Whether you play at the community centre, Bay Games or at your kitchen table, everything here works for any narrative game of 40K.
Want to see how the stories unfold? Follow the league on our website and socials, and come down to watch the games in person.
What Is Narrative Play, Anyway?
Most people meet 40K through matched play. Two armies of equal points, a balanced mission, and a result at the end. It's a great way to play, and it's what makes tournaments work.
Narrative play keeps the same rules but asks a different question. Instead of "who won?" it asks "what happened?"
In a narrative game, the battle has a reason to exist. Your army is there because something is at stake. Your characters have names and histories. The mission might not be balanced at all, because real battles rarely are. A handful of warriors holding a bridge against a horde isn't a fair fight, but it's a great story.
Narrative players aren't less serious about the game. They're serious about different things. They care whether the battle felt like part of a war, whether the characters meant something, and whether the ending was worth remembering.
How Dominatus Works (and How We're Using It)
Dominatus is 11th Edition's new card based campaign system, and it's perfect for us because it builds the story into the structure of the campaign.
Alliances. Players are divided into two or three alliances (Liberators, Oppressors, and optionally Raiders), who fight a series of games across three campaign phases, all building towards a final decisive battle.
Locations. Each phase takes place at a location that gives a bonus to whichever side controls it, along with war zone rules that shape every battle fought there that phase. In other words, the battlefield has a personality.
Briefings. Each alliance gets a Briefing card per phase that sets out its forces' situation and determines which Agenda each player works towards, based on both players' Force Dispositions. This is your "why are we fighting here?" handed to you on a card.
Agendas. Instead of a standard Primary Mission, players can choose to pursue an Agenda, a themed task specific to their alliance. This is where a lot of the storytelling starts. Your army isn't just scoring points, it's trying to do something.
Upgrades. The winner of each battle draws a Battle Honour card and the other player draws a Battle Skill card, and both grant a chosen unit a lasting upgrade for the rest of the campaign. So even your defeats leave a mark on your army.
The phase results. At the end of each phase, the alliance with the most Battle Honours takes the location and its bonus, the alliance with the most Agenda Achieved cards is in ascendancy and gains a Relic card, and the Briefing card is flipped over to reveal what your efforts meant for the wider war.
The Wildlings twist. We're running Dominatus as written, with alliances, phases, Locations, Agendas and all. The one change is points. A standard Dominatus campaign has every player using 2,000 point Strike Force armies, but in our league, points flex up and down to suit each pairing. If you and your opponent want a smaller game on a work night, do it. If you want to go huge, go huge. On top of the cards, we add our own layer: your story gets voted on.
Games Worth Telling Stories About
Here's where the fun starts. Below are some classic types of narrative game, how the Dominatus cards can help create them, and a story prompt to get you going. These are examples to spark ideas, not rules. Mix them, twist them, and make them your own.
1. The Last Stand
A small force holds out against overwhelming odds. They probably won't survive. The question is how long they last and what it costs the enemy.
Using Dominatus: If your Agenda pushes you to hold ground or keep units alive, you've got a Last Stand ready made. Use the flexible points to make the odds uneven on purpose, and agree with your opponent that simply surviving counts as a heroic result in the story, whatever the scoreboard says.
Story prompt: Who is the last warrior standing, and what did they say before the end?
2. The Breakthrough
One side has to punch through enemy lines, reach a point, or escape the battlefield entirely. The other side has to stop them.
Using Dominatus: Agendas about pushing into enemy territory or reaching key points turn a normal game into a desperate dash. Combine that with a Location whose war zone rules slow movement or restrict visibility, and every inch becomes a fight.
Story prompt: What are they running towards, and what happens if they don't make it?
3. Hunt the Hero
Somewhere on the battlefield is a character who must die, or must survive at all costs.
Using Dominatus: When an Agenda points you at the enemy's leaders or elite units, give the target a name and a reason. It's not "kill the HQ", it's "silence the preacher whose sermons have turned three hive cities against the Emperor."
Story prompt: Why does this character matter so much, and to whom?
4. The Ambush
One army walks into a trap. The other has been waiting.
Using Dominatus: Location war zone rules are made for this. A battlefield of ruins, darkness or broken terrain gives you the perfect setting for battlesuits dropping from rooftops or cultists rising out of the drains. Agree with your opponent who's the hunter and who's the hunted before deployment.
Story prompt: Did the ambushed side see it coming? Who made the mistake that got them here?
5. The Race for the Prize
Something valuable sits in the middle of the battlefield, whether it's an artefact, a data core, a wounded commander or a relic of a forgotten age, and both sides want it.
Using Dominatus: Tie it to the wider campaign. If your alliance is fighting for ascendancy and a shot at a Relic card, the object on the table can become the reason that Relic exists. Win it, and next phase your army is carrying the thing you bled for.
Story prompt: What is the prize, and what would happen if the enemy got it?
6. Uneven Odds
Nothing says "war story" like a fight that isn't fair.
Using Dominatus: This is where our flexible points shine. Try 1,000 points against 1,500, with the smaller force given a narrative goal it can realistically achieve: survive, delay, or get one unit off the board. Suddenly a loss on paper can be a triumph in the story.
Story prompt: Why is one side outnumbered, and who sent them in anyway?
7. The Grudge Match
You've fought this opponent before. Last time, something happened that neither of you has forgotten.
Using Dominatus: Because Battle Honours and Battle Skills stick with your units, your army carries its history into every game. The unit that won an upgrade by beating this opponent last time is now a marked target. The Briefing card results from the previous phase give you the reason for the rematch.
Story prompt: What happened last time, and what does your hero want now: revenge, redemption or just to survive?
8. The Twist
Two armies meet, each thinking they know what the other is up to. They're both wrong.
Using Dominatus: Agendas are personal to each alliance, so your opponent's goals may have nothing to do with yours. Lean into it. Two forces tearing each other apart over a misunderstanding is pure Warhammer.
Story prompt: What did each side think was going on, and what was really happening?
New to the club or thinking about your first narrative game? Come down and say hello. We're always happy to walk people through a game.
Heroes, Villains and Glorious Failures
A story needs characters. Here's how to make yours memorable.
Name them
"My Captain" is a model. "Captain Rafael Cain" is a character. Name your leaders, your sergeants, your vehicles, even your ship. It takes seconds and immediately makes people care. Names also carry across rounds, so by Round 4 the whole league knows who Cain is.
Give them a want and a flaw
Every good character wants something: glory, revenge, redemption, to get home. Give them a flaw too, like pride, recklessness or a secret. A hero who's arrogant enough to charge alone is more interesting than one who does everything right.
Let the cards tell their history
This is where Dominatus really helps. When a unit earns a Battle Honour, don't just write down the bonus. Tell us how they earned it. The Intercessor squad that held the objective against three charges didn't just gain an upgrade, they earned a reputation.
Battle Skills are even better, because they come from defeat. Your army lost, and it learned something. That's character growth. The squad that got ambushed last game now moves more carefully, and it's because of what happened, not just because a card said so.
Relics are ready made legends. Give them a history and a name, and let them change hands if the war goes that way.
Love your failures
Some of the best characters in any league are the ones who never do anything right. The unit that fails every charge. The tank that explodes turn one, every game. The Eliminators who are wiped out before they fire a shot. Don't hide these moments. Celebrate them. A unit that's consistently useless becomes a running joke the whole league looks forward to.
Build rivalries
Your opponent's characters are part of your story too. If their Warboss killed your Chaplain, your army has a new enemy. Talk to your opponent about it. The best rivalries are shared ones.
Heroes don't have to survive
A hero who dies holding the line is still a hero, and that death might be the best thing in your write up. Don't be afraid to let characters fall. Just make sure it means something.
Capturing the Moments
You can't write a great story if you can't remember what happened. A few simple habits make a huge difference:
Take photos every turn. One or two shots per turn, especially of big moments. Photos make write ups come alive and help you remember the order of events.
Jot one line per turn. A quick note on your phone is enough: "Turn 2 – Terminators wiped by Deathwing, Captain lost in ruins." Five lines at the end of the game is your whole plot.
Ask your opponent for their moment. At the end of the game, ask what their best bit was. You'll often find the story from the other side of the table is even better.
Keep your cards together. Your Agenda, Location and any upgrades you earned are your story beats. Photograph them with the table.
Call out the big moments at the table. When something amazing happens, say so. If you both cheer (or groan), it goes in the write up.
Writing the Tale
You don't have to be a writer. If you can tell your mates what happened over a drink, you can write a narrative. A simple structure helps:
1. The Setup. Why are they here? What's at stake? Who's leading them? Use your Briefing card and Agenda as your starting point.
2. The Battle. What happened? Don't narrate every dice roll. Pick the three or four moments that mattered.
3. The Turning Point. Every good battle has a moment where things swing. Find yours and give it the spotlight.
4. The Aftermath. Who survived? What changed? What does your army carry into the next round, whether that's a new Battle Honour, a Battle Skill, a grudge or a scar?
Write as much or as little as you like. A few punchy paragraphs are fine. A multi part epic is fine. Bullet points with photos are fine. What matters is that it tells us what happened and why it mattered.
An example from the last Wildlings narrative league
To show you how this works, here's an extract from Blood and Secrets: The Chronicle of Captain Rafael Cain, written by our founder Stephen during the last Wildlings narrative league.
It follows Captain Cain and his Blood Angels through two games. In the first, they're sent aboard a Space Hulk, Oblivion's Wake, to recover critical data, only to find the Dark Angels already there and refusing all hails. Here's how the first battle ended:
The Blood Angels attacked, but the price was severe. One of Cain's squads was cut down in the fighting. Belial reached the Fallen and took his prisoner, achieving the Dark Angels' true objective before withdrawing. For Cain, there was no victory to claim. The surviving Blood Angels fought their way towards the escape pods as Oblivion's Wake closed around them. Only the Terminators and Bladeguard Veterans made it out. The Space Hulk had taken the rest.
A loss, but look at what it does. The Eliminators were wiped out before they fired a shot. Cain's main force got lost in the maze and arrived too late. Those are the kinds of dice driven disasters that happen in every game, and here they become the story. The escape leads straight into the next battle, with the survivors stranded on a T'au held world, desperate to reach a beacon and signal their ship home.
And that second game ends with a twist:
The truth of the battle became clear only at its end. The Blood Angels had never held the Ethereal. The T'au had fought to recover a prisoner who had not been their prisoner at all. Neither had won.
That's the Twist scenario from earlier, and it came from two players with completely different objectives meeting on the same table.
Why it works:
Named characters and places. Captain Rafael Cain, the Crimson Oath, Oblivion's Wake and Ashlight Vale all make the world feel real.
Clear stakes. Recover the data, reach the beacon, get home.
Failures on show. Lost squads, a failed mission and a narrow escape are what make the story compelling.
Continuity. Each battle leads into the next, so the army carries its losses forward.
A memorable ending. "Neither had won" says more than any scoreline could.
Notice what's missing, too: there's no list of dice rolls or points scored. It's all about what happened and what it meant.
Join the Story
Here's how it all comes together in the league:
Play your game. Arrange it with your opponent, agree the points, set up your cards, and enjoy it.
Post your story. After each round, post your narrative in the league channel. Include photos if you can.
Vote. At the end of each round, everyone votes on the stories. Votes build up across the whole league.
Win prizes for telling the best tales, not just for winning the most games.
To our ten players: Round 1 starts this Friday. Name your heroes, pick your grudges, and go make something worth writing about. We can't wait to read it.
To everyone else: keep an eye on our blog and socials as the stories roll in. If this sounds like your kind of 40K, come and find us. The next chapter could be yours.
Follow the Dominatus league, come and play at the Wildlings: we'd love to have you.
In the grim darkness of the far future, there is only war. At the Wildlings, there are also some very good stories.
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