Thursday, October 19, 2017

Narrative Mission: When the levee breaks

I've stolen some ideas from GW on this, theres a "Chelsea" mission in the Exterminatus rule expansion that dealt with a wave crashing over some forces killing civilians.  Call this running with the theme.  Please let me know what you think.

When the Levee Breaks - a 100 power level mission for Project Mayhem


The fluff part


After being pulled back from the defensive duties guarding the transmitter stations against the siege of Iron Warriors, the Marines Errant have left the company of the Sisters of Battle and Imperial guard to dive through the jungles toward the 7-8 Dam, in Sector 85b. Transmissions bounced from com-link to link, antenna to short-wave radio. Instructions were mixed, details were hazy. Still, one thing was for sure. They were bringing three predators in tow with their armored transport column, and would arrive at the dam by morning.

Upon reaching the dam after a relatively uncomplicated evening foray (they had to pause to exterminate some charging ambulls in Sector 84a), the Marines found what looked to be a large group of hedonistic rebels engaged in a looting spree amongst some civilian transports. These transports had once been commissioned for an evacuation of a zone miles away, and they had made it just miles from this site before being slaughtered to a child. The rebels had dismantled most of the internal combustion engines and slapped together what essentially was a large, steel reinforced, multi-barrel Molotov cocktail. When the Marines cleared the brush to engage, the bomb detonated at the foot of the 7-8 Dam structure, and water began to pour out from the two-story high hole blown in its structure. Thousands of gallons of water per second began to pour onto the field, washing all terrain and debris toward the two forces.

The Errants, hoping to salvage what they could from this mission, were ordered to jump forward and grab as many objectives as possible. The hedonists, quite proud of the job they had done, have decided to keep what they can and high-tail it out of town.

This is where our mission begins.

The Rules Part


This is a narrative mission, using mostly boots, tanks and guns. It is understood that one side will not come to the table with a whole shit-ton of knights or flyers.

Both players will deploy perpendicular to the dam structure. The Marines Errant will deploy up to 12" onto their board edge. The Noise Marines (Chaos) and their allies will deploy 12" onto the board edge on their own side. Three chaos units may be held in reserve as "looters."

Eight objectives will be set down the middle of the board, each player will place four. They should land more than 18" away from a board edge, except at least two should be near the dam and at least two should be near the other end, and can violate this restriction.

DEPLOYMENT.

The Chaos force will deploy first, holding looters in reserve. 

The Imperial force will deploy next, up to 12" away from his board edge.

Infiltrators are deployed normally. 

Next, the Chaos force will place 3 looter units upon objectives. It should be noted that these objectives are not yet revealed, so the Chaos player has no idea what objectives he is actually putting his forces upon. These units must be placed with one model at least within 1" of the objective, and no looting models from the same unit may be within 1" of two objectives. 

THE WAVE

A string will be laid at the base of the dam. Every turn the string will be moved in a straight line toward the opposing end of the table. Any unit, objective, or terrain piece it comes into contact with will be immediately removed from the board as a casualty. No saves of any kind are allowed, and Chimeras are not immune to its destructive effects. No exceptions, really, except units that are flying. 


Turn one, objectives will be replaced with suitable markers for their respective identifications. Each one will be rolled for, but will be treated differently by each force.

1-2: Wounded citizen. The objective will be replaced by a citizen model. Each player turn, the citizen will be moved 3" away in a straight line away from the dam, unless prevented doing so by a model or terrain.

3-4: Transmitter. The objective will be replaced by something mechanical looking. This is a transmitter, used to beam signals into low orbit. It is stationary.

5-6: Improvised Explosive. The objective will be a bomb of sorts. It can be "picked up and moved" as a relic. A model carrying the improvised explosive may detonate it at any time, however it causes d6 moral wounds to its carrier, a mortal wound to anyone within 1" of the carrier, and 1d6 normal wounds to any unit within 6" of the carrier. Carriers of the relics can be any model that has at least one "hand." A hand is defined as a literal hand at the end of an arm, or a power claw, fist, dreadnaught close combat weapon, "grabbing stick," what-have-you. This designation will be strictly left to the model and its appearance on the table. Models without any sort of "hand" cannot carry improvised explosives. Chain reaction: if an improvised explosive is detonated within 6" of another improvised explosive, the two will detonate simultaneously and damage will be compounded. A player who successfully detonates three or more improvised explosions in one phase will be owed a drink of choice from their opponent.


HOW THE TEAMS REACT TO THE OBJECTIVES

Citizen: Imperial infantry units that come within 1" of the citizen will rescue the citizen. It will be scored as 1d3 victory points. Chaos units that come within 1" of the citizen can either hold him hostage (+1 command point per turn) or execute him on the spot (+1 victory point). If a citizen is rescued he is removed from the game. If a citizen is held hostage, he moves as a virtual model with the unit he is with. He does not fight or shoot, and will begin to run again if the unit he is with is destroyed.

Transmitter: Either force (Chaos or Imperial) that comes within 1" of the Transmitter may "open a channel" at the end of their movement phase. The transmitter will begin transmitting data about the battle to their allies nearby. While a force has a channel open, they may, at the beginning of their subsequent turns, either score a victory point or a command point, their choice. Units that have a channel "open" (within 1" of a transmitter) that are destroyed by the wave will lose one victory point due to the confusion and / or panic it causes on the "other end of the line."

Improvised Explosive: Holding onto an improvised explosive at the end of the game is 1 victory point for the Imperial team. Detonating an improvised explosive is worth one victory point to the Chaos team.

At the end of the game, the winner is the one with the most victory points. Having the "last units on the board" will be a tie breaker. There will be no victory points scored for First Blood, Kill Points, Linebreaker, Slay the Warlord, or any of that nonsense.

The end.