Real work is annoying

Sorry for the lack of new missions. I am smack dab in the middle of term papers. New mission will come out on Thursday. In the mean time. play spearhead or read a book or something.

Mission number 4. Miracle in Hanger 34.

500-1250 points

4x4 Board.

If you have space hulk tiles they will work great!

Set up: you going to make a bunch of corridors with a big room in the middle. Put barricades and stuff in the corridors.  It should resemble a ship (I bet you see where this is going)

Deployment.  One group of boarders and one group of defenders. The boarders will come on the board via access points rule or can be held in reserve.Defenders start in the center of the board.

step up something like this.
 Boxes from your minis can work a treat here

Mission. The Defenders must seal all the breachs and halt the advance of the boarders. The boarders must Collect a series of objectives places through out the board by the Defender.

Special rules

Access points. All units coming on from reserve will use these points. You will need 5 generosly spaced out around the board.number them 1-5. When a unit comes on from reserve roll a D6. The unit will come on at that access point. On a roll of 6 the controlling player may choose. The defender can seal an access point on a role of 5+.

Doors. Place doors in logical areas. A door can be opened or closed by any model in base contact with it. If a door is open and an enemy is within inch of the model that opened the door. Have both models move 1 inch back (for a total of 2 inchs) to simulate jumping back in surprise. For some added depth you can assign armour values to your doors. Any unit my choose to shoot or assault a door. A penetrate removes it from play.

Overwatch. A throw back to an edition I never played. A unit may go into overwatch if it is in effective firing range of a closed door. When the door opens you may make an out of sequence shooting attack at the unit in question. You must be facing the door. Pass a leadership test to establish overwatch and if the overwatch unit is assaulted it is at I1 for the first round to simulate their distracted nature.

Rat Holeing. Any unit with grenades or Melta weapons may choose to make a new door between sections of hallway. on a roll 2D6. On a roll of 7 or better a new path is made and you may move through it. You must take a difficult terrain test to move through this path. When rolling to blast open the path doubles cause a wound. Armour saves allowed.

Night fight is in effect, the defending player rolls to end night fight on a 3+ after turn 3.

This mission is how I imagine boarding actions in 40k. I didn’t ban tanks cause I think it’s reasonable for them to be on the board. I mean if I were an ork you’d better believe I’d bring a truck on a boarding party! Just use some common sense though. Roll dangerous terrain on corners or at barricades.

A shout out to the scholarly gentlemen at the 11th company for inspiring this mission and Pat for interviewing me. click this link, listen to the show and join the forums. It'll make you taller
http://www.tangtwo.com/11thcompany/

Bat-rep #1 - Blood river

the Board

Pedro Kantor peered for the open hatch of his Land Raider Redeemer Rynns Retribution. The river had burst its banks and the air was thick with Warp pollution. Brother Baltasar’s voice crackled over the vox

“A warp disturbance is emanating from the river my lord. The locals say it is driving men mad! Xeno raiders have also been spotted. Scout Sergeant Diego reports Eldar in the area.”

Pedro surveys the field. His gene - enhanced mind plotting assault routes and firing lanes; his troops racked the slides of their bolters and the engines of rhino transports roared to life.

Knock Knock

“Brothers, find me the Xenos and bring me their heads!” Pedro slammed on his battle helm and punched his power fist into the sky “There is only the Emperor!”

 His brothers raise their weapons in return of the salute “He is our shield and protector”

Across the river a elegant figure eyed the Space marines as they mustered. He turned to his cohorts. “kill the mon-keigh” the Eldar took positions and opened fire.

a little game of pokey chest

Battle Report: Mission 1 Blood River

On the attack

I played a 2000 game of Blood River tonight. There were some slight differences but it was a very interesting experience. The terrain was heavy on barricades and buildings. We had a river ( a cut up recycle bag) that ran down board center and bridge that traversed it. We didn’t use the returning units because it we felt it would make the turns far too long as both of us had shooting heavy armies.

The river itself was a major feature just as I hoped it would. While both of us had shooty armies our assault elements were able to maneuver and engage each other in the river. My assault terminators got the jump on the striking scorpians and the farseer made a Hail Mary assault and destroyed the Redeemers flame cannon. 

Probably the most interesting thing to happen was the last terminator lost his mind, raged and assaulted an AV 12 building housing Pathfinders. At the start of the movement phase he was only 11 inchs from the Farseer and the last Dire Avenger. But the building was 10 inchs away and the terminator had to go to the nearest enemy unit.  It was fun to slap a building into rumble 

The Jist of the game is like this. Eldar had first turn and skimmed up to the left flank. The intent was to force the Marines to commit to the flank and then retreat to center. The plan fell apart when one wave serpant was destoryed and the farseer was forced to disembark. The Space marines spilt up. The Scouts attacked the fire base of pathfinders and Fire Prisims. The Landspeeders were shot out from under them but they managed to wipe out one squad before the Prisms fell back to the corner. A group of striking scorpians waded into the river. A group of Warpspiders and a autarch attemped to deepstrike but scattered into a rhino.

Base of fire

Good Driving bro!

A group of fire dragons lost their ride and were wiped out somewhat ironicly by a flamer shot from the Redeemer.a second group of fire dragons was demeched and shot up so only 2 remain alive. To finish them off they were assaulted by a dreadnaught. They ninja’d it down with someamazing melta bomb action and proceeded to shoot up another dread. Their rampage only ended when some Sternguard bolter them down.

The game ended fittingly in the river. Pedro Kantor and The Farseer met in single combat.

Kantor sprinted down the assualt ramp into the River. The Eldar psyker rushed to meet him. Kantor unleased a torrent of fire from Dorns arrow. Each round stopped meter short and their mass reactive charges detonate prematurely. The Seer closes the distance and unleashes a flurry of attacks Kantor was hard pressed to parry them all. The Farseer saw an opening and summoned all of his psykic might. He thrust his spear and unleashed a bolt of lighting. At such close range there was no where for the Mon Kiegh to go. But what seemed like certain victroy was stolen from the seer. Kantors Iron Halo burned bright and stoped the lightning before it could sunder the Chapter masters armour

“The Emperor protects you xenos filth!”

Kantor barreled forward and shoulder charged the farseer. He fired Dorns arrow into the Seers knee caps at point blank range,turning them into bloody stumps. The seer fell into the river and was being dragged away by the swift current but Kantor grabbed him and hauled him up. And tore off his helm.Their eyes locked.

“Our Dark cousins will be here soon. Then Mon-keigh you will know terror” blood splattered from his lips.

“Let them come their fate will be the same as yours witch.” Kantor drew back his power fit and punched the Farseer in the chest. The Eldar’s light armour buckles and his interal organs exploded out of his back. Kantor dropped the carcass into the river.  His vox crackled to life

“My lord, the Xeno! are retreating should we presue?” Scout Sergeant Diego reported.

“Do not follow them. We will dig in here. We will have more xeno blood to spill soon enough” 

Philosophy and Dice.

My conceptual  approach to mission design might confuse some players. I think it's important for my "readers" to get some idea what i am thinking about when designing a mission. I like to draw on my D&D encounter designing experience. Every mission should be unique and interesting. Now in a game system where we have codices that determine what the players play it falls to the mission to change how the players play. Objectives, kill points, victory points and quarters are the common goals for a game and balanced missions. Designers often utilize a combination of all of them to make missions. my goal is to break away from that and turn the crazy meter up to a 9.5. 

Balance isn't a factor I take a lot of stock in. I give both sides special rules out of fairness. Balance is the difference between Chess and 40k, If you want balance play the same list and see who can come out on top. The test of skill in 40k is taking what you have and making it work. 

So in that spirit I recommend, play more than one game, take turns being attacker and defender and pick the mission and tailor your army. Your not always playing in a tournament so if your buddy doesn't play grey knights don't worry about planning for them. change the missions to fit you play group and for the love of the Emperor have fun!

Historical Battles 1

I’m going to start basing some missions on historical battles. I’m a history major and watch enough history channel (before it became about buying things from peoples garages) that I have a fairly good selection of famous battles (and not so famous ones). Now I cannot stress enough that these missions are BASED on historical battles. I don’t want a flood of emails talking about how clearly the tiger tank is blah blah blah blah. The things I will be looking at are: How the commader prepared for and fought the battle. How the defenders reacted and finally any miscellanious stuff I can find.

Example

If the militia wandered off to go harvest crops  prior too or during a battle, a special rule that you might see is a negative motifier to troops leadership as the game goes on. That’s a terrible rule, but a good example I think.So without further needless talking

Historical Battle 1 (if you can guess the battle I am baseing this off of I will send you a pop tart. Hint seven years war)

2000 points

Terrain. A large river a large down the center. 12 inchs wide LOS blocking terrain on both sides. With a few paths down the river

Urban setting in one depolyment zone. Craters dugouts or “field fortifications” in the other.The urban area should have 4-6 buildings, these buildings are armour 13 all around and can hold 12 reuglar size models.

Divide this area into quarters or 6ths

Setup

Game is played longways with 18 inch deployment zones at the narrow ends of the table

One player will be the attacker he will take the position in the field. The defender will take position in the urban area.

The Attacker sets up and goes first. The defender siezes the iniative on a 5 plus,

Special rules.

Night fight for two turns

But sir! I don’t wanna get wet!. Any vehicle can cross the river. If it ends its turn in the water it scatters D6 as the current talks it away. (skimmers are obviously exempt.) Infantry must make a difficult terrain test never get cover and stirke last in combat. If a vehicle scatters into a unit resolve a ramming or tank shock as required

Lead from the front! Your generals are as brave as they are inspiring. Any unit within 12 inchs of a hq may us the HQ units leadership. If the HQ unit is killed. The army gets preferred enemy.

 

Objectives.

Attacker:

No one can hold us back! Gain the enemies bank of the river by turn 3 with an undamaged unit 1pt

In the name of…! Get your HQ to the enemies deployment zone. 2 pts

This town is our town. Have a unit in ever quarter of the town.

Defender.

On the wire men! Spot the enemy through the darkness before the end of night fight 1 pt

None shall pass! Destory a unit in the river. 2pts

Take the fight to them. Gain the enemies bank with 50% of your army by turn 4. 3pts

Designers Notes. This is a fighting mans mission. Both armies are advancing and meeting in the middle. The river is suppost to be a dangerous obsticle. Players can make it narrow on the sides and wide in the middle to make it even more dangerous. I suggest both sides make use of infaltrators to distrupt movements and tie up enemies in their deployment zone. Hope you all enjoy the gaming!

Mission 3 Pursuit and Control.

This mission is a modification of capture and control set you board up as normal.

 I suggest you lay down 3 roads. One going down the center of the table long ways  and two on the left and right hand of both players. As per page 57 of the BRB; roads add 6 inchs to some vehicles movement! Deploy buildings, craters and other terrain as you see fit.

Do these diagrams help or just look tacky?

Objectives

Each player places 1 objective in their deployment zone. The player “steers” that objective at the start of their movement phase before any units move.

Each turn the objective moves 3D6 inchs in a direction determined by the scatter die. A hit rolled cause a reroll but the objective scatters 1 less d6 to a minimum of 1 (yes you can re-roll a re-roll in this regard.) you re-roll the scatter dice until a direction is determined.

If the objective scatters off the board or into impassable terrain it goes into reserve and returns to play as per deepstrike rules in the board center.

the objective stops moving on turn 5.

Special Rules:

Good thing I brought some friends!: If any players army is tabled the army returns on the board as per reserve rules.  Night fight rules apply until the returning players next movement phase.

18+ special rules (21 in some states)

Anytime a scoring unit is within 3 inchs of an objective drink! Remember though

Mission 2: Seige of Fort Terror

2000+ points

Set Up

One large bastion or fort in the middle of the table with craters and hills surrounding it. The bastion should be able to divided into sections for victory purposes

Player 1 deploys half his force in the Bastion and puts

the other half in reserve. Player 2 deploys outside the bastion 18 inchs away from the bastion walls.

Special Rules:

The Bastards of the Bastion: You and your opponent have a lot of leeway in the design of the fort. It could be four tower connected by a wall, some buildings with barricades and vehicles to block the roads or a fort that makes Verdun look like wooden cottage. Use you

imagination!

The bastion will grant the defenders a +3 cover save and on turn 1 and 2 defenders can re-roll misses. Turn 4 and onwards ammunition starts to run short and you must re-roll all hits (yikes)

Brief Relief

The remaining 1000 pts of the defenders army will begin rolling for reserves on turn 2 as per reserve rules with the exception that you roll for the entire army. When the army comes onto the board each

unit will roll to outflank. 1-2 will be a narrow table edge of the players choosing, 3-4 a long table edge of the players choosing 5-6 deep strike (even if the unit doesn't normally deep strike as a special rule)

Fire for effect.

Player 2 has access off board artillery. This rule uses the orbital bombardment rules from codex space marine. The blast template scatters the full 2d6.

The player has 1 bombardment shot per turn. The scatter dice may be re-rolled if an army HQ choice can draw LOS to the target and has not moved. The blast template can also use the HQ unit’s ballistic skill if the unit is spotting the shot.

Psy-ops. As the game progresses the defenders morale falls lower and lower. Any time a unit within the bastion is called to make a morale test is suffers a negative penalty equal to the turn number to a minimum of 2. Units with special rules that keep the LD value constant remain unchanged. This rule does not confure additional bonuses to close combat victories.

Hold the Walls! Attacking the walls directly is a d

Front 14, side 14 rear 14 (note: adjust this profile to fit your forts design. 14’s are reinforced concrete that’s designed to withstand heavy fire. 10’s are sandbags and rubble piled up.)angerous idea. Units attempting to assault into the fort always strike last and do not beneifit from any grenades or other assault gear that can change initative order. Each wall however can be destroyed like a vehicle with the following profile:

Only a Wrecked or explodes result will have an affect and behave as described in the BRB. Walls can be passed over by u

nits that can pass over top of them.

Victory conditions

If you listen to the 11^th company podcast (as everyone should “link”) Neil talked about different victory conditions for players in missions to keep a game friendly and non competative. Neil needs to stay out of my head but a good idea is a good idea so here are some victory conditions for the players to consider

Defender

1) Hold the Line. Keep the majority of the fort for 3 turns without it being over ran by enemies worth 1 pt

2) Sally forth! At some point lauch an assult out of the bastion and win combat. 2pts

3) Relief is forthcoming. With your reserve forces make it into the bastion and link up with the defenders within the walls. 3 pts

Attacker

1) Grab the belt buckle! Get a unit within 8 inchs of the wall and hold for 3 turns. 1pt

2) Rain hell upon them! During any shooting phase kill one enemy with shooting attacks or destroy a section of wall. 1 pts

3) We will take it from them. Secure 75% of the bastion by the end of the game 3 pts.

All objectives can be met independent of

each other

Briefing time and mission 1

Hello everyone!

My name is Battle-ranch and I am a Wargamer! I'm starting this blog with a couple purposes. First and for most to talk about Warhammer 40k. Secondly it will be an outlet for my twisted missions! I love the holy trinity of Capture and Control, Seize Ground and Annihilation. but after years of playing them I am ready do a little more something alittle more imaginative.

That being said from here on out there are going to be custom missions posted that you all can play and take as your own. some will be tactical puzzles, some will be blood baths and hopefully all will be fun!

so without further blathering here is the first of many new missions

BLOOD RIVER
1500-1750 pts

Terrain
required: a river or road that winds through the board. it should go from one corner to the opposite side diagonally.
Optional. 2-3 bridges. Buildings, ruins, forests as you see fit (the more terrain you have the better this plays out)

Deployment
Spearhead

Objective
Kill points or Victory Points (adjust as you see fit)

Game length.
6 turns and then roll as per random game length rules.

Special Rules.

"Death is but an inconvenience!" when a unit is wiped out it goes into reserve. At the start of the next turn it may return as per reserve rules on a roll of 3+ (regardless of turn number) NOTE Units that flee the board due to a failed a leadership test may not return. Cowards have no place here. Transport may return only if they have been exploded.

"Don't Drink the Water!" Any unit that passes through the river must take a leadership test as well as a difficult terrain test. If the leadership test is passed the unit gets the furious charge special rule. On a roll of double 1's the unit also receives the relentless special rule. There is no addition benefit if a unit already has FC or Relentless
If it failed the Ld test that unit the unit doesn't fall back but flies into a rage and must move towards the closest enemy unit. Double 6's the unit breaks down in a flurry of violence and takes D3 wounds from the unit fighting itself with saves allowed. Fearless units must still take the test and adhere to the result. There is no addition benefit if a unit already has rage and no need to fail back if Leadership is failed in this regard.
This rule applies to all infantry, cavalry, beasts, jump infantry, bikes, jet bikes and walkers. Effects end at the start of your next turn. Vehicles and units in transports do not roll DDtW

"Vengeance is a virtue" any time an Independent Character dies and returns to the board it has a special hatred for it's slayer. If the Independent Character can return the favour and wipe out the unit that killed it the points are worth double. This counts for shooting and close combat.
If the Independent Character joins a unit and that unit kills the Independent Character's slayer double points is only received if the IC is in range to fire his weapon

Optional
Night fight. As per BRB. during deployment roll a D6 on a roll of 4+ night fight is in effect. at the top of every turn after the first re-roll and on a 1-3 night fight ends.


Designer Notes:
This is a meat grinder mission that favours close combat armies. Aggression is key. Tyranid and Ork players should have a have a blast with infinite numbers of units to feed in fray! This isn't a mission designed for a light touch. Bring your biggest meanest hammers, smash face, have plenty of beer and keep those dice a-rollin!!