Custom narrative mission I wrote, looking for input

[Zephaniah Adriyen]

So, I've decided I want to take on the challenge of designing a narrative campaign. The premise is a Chapter of the Adeptus Astartes or a regiment of the Astra Militarum has responded to reports of a Space Hulk dropping pieces of ship and debris onto a planet, and rumors that something has crawled out of it. The idea would be that a Genestealer Cult lives aboard that Space Hulk, and that the campaign would consist of the Cult either being exterminated or making a near-immovable foothold on the planet. This would be the inaugural game of the campaign, where the Imperium force has responded to a recent crash. Note that this is not the first crash to occur, meaning that if the Attacker scores a major victory here, the plot can still continue.

 

I'm looking for advice regarding where to go from here, as well as what to set as the results of each ending to the battle. The idea is to have a three-stage campaign, with a final mission resulting in one of the "Final Boss" units being confronted, or simply a major confrontation otherwise. During the final mission, the idea would be to have either the Patriarch or the Captain be the target for their rival, and for the preceding missions to work their way toward the final confrontation.

 

Mission 1: Crash Site Zero

 

The Imperium has sent a force to respond to reports of crashed pieces of debris falling onto a planet from a Space Hulk. This force is about to run into more than it anticipated…

 

 

= BATTLEFIELD =

The battlefield should contain minimal ruins or other buildings, several hills and craters, and at minimum three pieces of “wrecked vehicle” terrain; the pieces of crashed Space Marine lander from the “Battle for Macragge” box set is ideal for this purpose, though the players may decide before the battle what constitutes a piece of "wrecked vehicle" terrain. All “wrecked vehicle” terrain pieces must be within 8” of the center of the battlefield.

 

= DEPLOYMENT =

The Attacker may deploy their troops anywhere on the battlefield outside 12” of any “wrecked vehicle” terrain piece; at least three pieces of such terrain must be placed on the battlefield. The Defender does not deploy any units until the start of the first battle round.

 

= ARMIES =

The Attacker may consist of a selection of units with the ADEPTUS ASTARTES or ASTRA MILITARUM keyword, with the following parameters:
All of the Attacker's units must share the same <CHAPTER> or <REGIMENT> keyword (ex. RAVEN GUARD, SPACE WOLVES, SCYTHES OF THE EMPEROR, DEATHWATCH; CADIAN, MILITARUM TEMPESTUS, DEATH KORPS OF KRIEG). They may not have the GREY KNIGHTS keyword.
The Attacker must not take any unit with the CAPTAIN, WATCH CAPTAIN, WOLF LORD, GREAT WOLF, COMPANY COMMANDER, MASTER, GRAND MASTER, WATCH MASTER or CHAPTER MASTER keyword.
The Attacker must take at least one INFANTRY unit with the Troops battlefield role and one INFANTRY unit with the Elites, Fast Attack or Heavy Support battlefield role. In addition, the Attacker cannot take more than one unit with the HQ battlefield role and cannot take any units with the Flyer or Lord of War battlefield role.
Finally, the Attacker’s army must be a maximum of 10 Power Level or 150 points; the measurement and exact value will be agreed upon by the players.

 

The Defender’s army consists of two units of five Purestrain Genestealers.

 

= RULES AND VICTORY =

Something’s Moving In There: At the start of the Defender’s first turn, the Defender must place at least one unit of Purestrain Genestealers within 2” of any of the “wrecked vehicle” terrain pieces, to be agreed upon by the players when building the battlefield. If the Defender chooses to place only one unit of Purestrains on the board at the start of their first turn, they must place the second unit down on their next turn.

 

Don’t Let Them Escape: If a Purestrain is within 8” of a board edge at the start of any of the Defender’s movement phases, it may move off the board; if it does so, it is considered to have “escaped”.  The battle ends when all Purestrains have either moved off of the board or been slain.

At the end of the battle, count the number of Purestrains slain and compare this to the number of Purestrains which have “escaped”; if the number of “escaped” Purestrains is higher than the number slain, the Defender scores a minor victory. If the number slain is higher, the Attacker scores a minor victory. In the event all Purestrains manage to escape, the Defender scores a major victory; in the event all Purestrains are slain, the Attacker scores a major victory.

 

Edit: Font sizes are fun.

Edit 2: Added the little flavor text blurb at the top.

Edited February 17, 2020 by Zephaniah Adriyen

[Brother Tyler]

With the small model count, have you considered making this a Kill Team scenario that can be followed up with WH40K scenarios?

[Zephaniah Adriyen]

With the small model count, have you considered making this a Kill Team scenario that can be followed up with WH40K scenarios?

I mean, the whole thing would be small model count - the friend I have in mind to play this with likes small model/points count games anyway. The next mission I've partly written (Defender victory) would immediately follow up as far as campaign timeline, and use the Attacker's list plus an extra hundred points. The scenario would have the Attacker chasing escaped Purestrains and falling into an ambush.

[Zephaniah Adriyen]

Yay double post. I wrote up a second mission for this project, and I think I did a good job of it. This mission would take place if the previous mission's Defender wins.

 

Mission 2: The Ambush

 

Calling in reinforcements and following some of the escaped Genestealers in order to better dispense the Emperor’s Justice to the foul xenos, the Imperial forces fall into an ambush as the Genestealers coordinate with the budding Cults established by their kin…

 

= BATTLEFIELD =

The battlefield should use Zone Mortalis terrain and rules. (Note for forum: my FLGS has a Zone Mortalis ruleset based on the old one and Cities of Death ready to go, which would be used for this.) The terrain should be configured with a central hallway longways across the board; the center of this hallway will be referred to as the “center line”.

 

= DEPLOYMENT =

The Defender must set up within 6” of the center line and within 12” of one of the shorter battlefield edges.

The Attacker’s army may be deployed anywhere outside 6” of the center line.

 

= ARMIES =

The Attacker’s army may consist of up to 100 points of Acolyte and Neophyte Hybrids, and up to 100 points of Genestealer Purestrains, Aberrants and Hybrid Metamorphs. The Attacker’s army must also contain either a Magus, Primus or Abominant.

The Defender’s army must contain all units used during Mission 1, as well as an additional 100 points with the same parameters as Mission 1.

 

= RULES AND VICTORY =

We’ve made a Terrible Mistake: Anytime the Attacker loses a unit of Neophyte Hybrids or Acolyte Hybrids, they may set up a new unit within 6” of any battlefield edge, outside 9” of any enemy models and outside 6” of the center line.

 

Bring Them Down With Us: The battle ends when either the Defender no longer has any models remaining on the field or at the end of the fourth battle round.

If the battle ends with the Defender being slaughtered to a man, the Attacker wins a major victory; if the battle ends with the Defender’s forces remaining on the board, the Defender wins a major victory.

[Berzul]

So, I've decided I want to take on the challenge of designing a narrative campaign. The premise is a Chapter of the Adeptus Astartes or a regiment of the Astra Militarum has responded to reports of a Space Hulk dropping pieces of ship and debris onto a planet, and rumors that something has crawled out of it. The idea would be that a Genestealer Cult lives aboard that Space Hulk, and that the campaign would consist of the Cult either being exterminated or making a near-immovable foothold on the planet. This would be the inaugural game of the campaign, where the Imperium force has responded to a recent crash. Note that this is not the first crash to occur, meaning that if the Attacker scores a major victory here, the plot can still continue.

 

I'm looking for advice regarding where to go from here, as well as what to set as the results of each ending to the battle. The idea is to have a three-stage campaign, with a final mission resulting in one of the "Final Boss" units being confronted, or simply a major confrontation otherwise. During the final mission, the idea would be to have either the Patriarch or the Captain be the target for their rival, and for the preceding missions to work their way toward the final confrontation.

 

Mission 1: Crash Site Zero

 

The Imperium has sent a force to respond to reports of crashed pieces of debris falling onto a planet from a Space Hulk. This force is about to run into more than it anticipated…

 

 

= BATTLEFIELD =

The battlefield should contain minimal ruins or other buildings, several hills and craters, and at minimum three pieces of “wrecked vehicle” terrain; the pieces of crashed Space Marine lander from the “Battle for Macragge” box set is ideal for this purpose, though the players may decide before the battle what constitutes a piece of "wrecked vehicle" terrain. All “wrecked vehicle” terrain pieces must be within 8” of the center of the battlefield.

 

= DEPLOYMENT =

The Attacker may deploy their troops anywhere on the battlefield outside 12” of any “wrecked vehicle” terrain piece; at least three pieces of such terrain must be placed on the battlefield. The Defender does not deploy any units until the start of the first battle round.

 

= ARMIES =

The Attacker may consist of a selection of units with the ADEPTUS ASTARTES or ASTRA MILITARUM keyword, with the following parameters:

All of the Attacker's units must share the same <CHAPTER> or <REGIMENT> keyword (ex. RAVEN GUARD, SPACE WOLVES, SCYTHES OF THE EMPEROR, DEATHWATCH; CADIAN, MILITARUM TEMPESTUS, DEATH KORPS OF KRIEG). They may not have the GREY KNIGHTS keyword.

The Attacker must not take any unit with the CAPTAIN, WATCH CAPTAIN, WATCH MASTER or CHAPTER MASTER keyword.

The Attacker must take at least one INFANTRY unit with the Troops battlefield role and one INFANTRY unit with the Elites, Fast Attack or Heavy Support battlefield role. In addition, the Attacker cannot take more than one unit with the HQ battlefield role and cannot take any units with the Flyer or Lord of War battlefield role.

Finally, the Attacker’s army must be a maximum of 10 Power Level or 150 points; the measurement and exact value will be agreed upon by the players.

 

The Defender’s army consists of two units of five Purestrain Genestealers.

 

= RULES AND VICTORY =

Something’s Moving In There: At the start of the Defender’s first turn, the Defender must place at least one unit of Purestrain Genestealers within 2” of any of the “wrecked vehicle” terrain pieces, to be agreed upon by the players when building the battlefield. If the Defender chooses to place only one unit of Purestrains on the board at the start of their first turn, they must place the second unit down on their next turn.

 

Don’t Let Them Escape: If a Purestrain is within 8” of a board edge at the start of any of the Defender’s movement phases, it may move off the board; if it does so, it is considered to have “escaped”.  The battle ends when all Purestrains have either moved off of the board or been slain.

At the end of the battle, count the number of Purestrains slain and compare this to the number of Purestrains which have “escaped”; if the number of “escaped” Purestrains is higher than the number slain, the Defender scores a minor victory. If the number slain is higher, the Attacker scores a minor victory. In the event all Purestrains manage to escape, the Defender scores a major victory; in the event all Purestrains are slain, the Attacker scores a major victory.

 

Edit: Font sizes are fun.

Edit 2: Added the little flavor text blurb at the top.

 

I like the idea behind this scenario, but I do have some questions.

 

1) What size is the battle field? If you are playing such a small points game, even a 4 by 4 board might be too big, yet a singular board for Kill Team, for instance, would be too small for the radius presented for deployment through the wreck pieces of terrain.

 

2) Who has the first turn? Is it set on the defender, perhaps? Because, otherwise, on the first turn the defender has no models on the field, and the attacker can simply advance on the wreck pieces of terrain and negate a lot of deployment. Im thinking, a the cheapest, the attacker could bring in 10 guardsmen and a heavy weapons team, plus a commander, and with that, he could very well block one or two terrain pieces early on.

 

3) It has already been mentioned, but would this work better wth Kill Team rules? You could totally play a high points KIll Team match (say, 200 or 250 points), over a small points Warhammer match (the 150 presented), and that would retain the size in terms of models, but would give you a TON of more flexibility in the match itself.

 

 

 

Yay double post. I wrote up a second mission for this project, and I think I did a good job of it. This mission would take place if the previous mission's Defender wins.

 

Mission 2: The Ambush

 

Calling in reinforcements and following some of the escaped Genestealers in order to better dispense the Emperor’s Justice to the foul xenos, the Imperial forces fall into an ambush as the Genestealers coordinate with the budding Cults established by their kin…

 

= BATTLEFIELD =

The battlefield should use Zone Mortalis terrain and rules. (Note for forum: my FLGS has a Zone Mortalis ruleset based on the old one and Cities of Death ready to go, which would be used for this.) The terrain should be configured with a central hallway longways across the board; the center of this hallway will be referred to as the “center line”.

 

= DEPLOYMENT =

The Defender must set up within 6” of the center line and within 12” of one of the shorter battlefield edges.

The Attacker’s army may be deployed anywhere outside 6” of the center line.

 

= ARMIES =

The Attacker’s army may consist of up to 100 points of Acolyte and Neophyte Hybrids, and up to 100 points of Genestealer Purestrains, Aberrants and Hybrid Metamorphs. The Attacker’s army must also contain either a Magus, Primus or Abominant.

The Defender’s army must contain all units used during Mission 1, as well as an additional 100 points with the same parameters as Mission 1.

 

= RULES AND VICTORY =

We’ve made a Terrible Mistake: Anytime the Attacker loses a unit of Neophyte Hybrids or Acolyte Hybrids, they may set up a new unit within 6” of any battlefield edge, outside 9” of any enemy models and outside 6” of the center line.

 

Bring Them Down With Us: The battle ends when either the Defender no longer has any models remaining on the field or at the end of the fourth battle round.

If the battle ends with the Defender being slaughtered to a man, the Attacker wins a major victory; if the battle ends with the Defender’s forces remaining on the board, the Defender wins a major victory.

 

I like this one as well, and I only have one question:

 

On the attackers army configuration, do you mean that the attacker must incorporate 100 points, and spend those points in the same way as the restrictions stated for game one? That is to say, he has to add 1 troop type infantry unit, one heavy suppor type infantry unit, and up to one HQ choice, with 100 points, and add that to the remaining forces?

 

Or does the wording mean that you take you army for the first game, and add 100 points of anything, as long as you maintain a composition of 1 hq, 1 troop infantry, and 1 heavy suppor infantry, as minimum?

[Zephaniah Adriyen]

 

Mission 1: Crash Site Zero

 

I like the idea behind this scenario, but I do have some questions.

 

1) What size is the battle field? If you are playing such a small points game, even a 4 by 4 board might be too big, yet a singular board for Kill Team, for instance, would be too small for the radius presented for deployment through the wreck pieces of terrain.

 

2) Who has the first turn? Is it set on the defender, perhaps? Because, otherwise, on the first turn the defender has no models on the field, and the attacker can simply advance on the wreck pieces of terrain and negate a lot of deployment. Im thinking, a the cheapest, the attacker could bring in 10 guardsmen and a heavy weapons team, plus a commander, and with that, he could very well block one or two terrain pieces early on.

 

3) It has already been mentioned, but would this work better wth Kill Team rules? You could totally play a high points KIll Team match (say, 200 or 250 points), over a small points Warhammer match (the 150 presented), and that would retain the size in terms of models, but would give you a TON of more flexibility in the match itself.

 

 

 

Mission 2: The Ambush

 

I like this one as well, and I only have one question:

 

On the attackers army configuration, do you mean that the attacker must incorporate 100 points, and spend those points in the same way as the restrictions stated for game one? That is to say, he has to add 1 troop type infantry unit, one heavy suppor type infantry unit, and up to one HQ choice, with 100 points, and add that to the remaining forces?

 

Or does the wording mean that you take you army for the first game, and add 100 points of anything, as long as you maintain a composition of 1 hq, 1 troop infantry, and 1 heavy suppor infantry, as minimum?

 

For your questions regarding Crash Site Zero:

I've decided it's better to play this mission using proper 40k rules, with a medium-large board; this keeps the Genestealers from being able to escape on turn 2 very easily. The Genestealers get up to 14" movement if they advance, meaning on a smaller battlefield, they'll be able to bail no problem.

First turn would go to the Defender. I'll mention that even if it didn't, there's no restriction on where the Defender can place his units in relation to the Attacker's units.

As stated, I think it'd work better with proper 40k rules, to simplify things. The idea is to play this like a quick pick-up campaign - think Shadowspear.

 

Regarding your question on The Ambush, what I mean is the Imperium player must take his entire army list from the previous game and add 100 points with the same keyword and choice restrictions.

[Zephaniah Adriyen]

Double post to keep things separate (assuming it lets me do so). The Counterattack is intended to be played if the Genestealer player has won two victories in a row.

 

Mission 3: The Counterattack

With the Imperial forces having summarily angered the budding Cults on this world without crippling them, the Patriarch has decided to cut the head off of the snake in order to drive off the threat, at least temporarily.

 

= BATTLEFIELD =

The battlefield should use Zone Mortalis terrain and rules. (Note for forum: my FLGS has a Zone Mortalis ruleset based on the old one and Cities of Death ready to go, which would be used for this.)

 

= DEPLOYMENT =

Each force should deploy 12” away from each battlefield edge; players should roll off to decide what battlefield edges are used and which side each player will take.

 

= ARMIES =

Both the Attacker and the Defender should have armies worth roughly 500 points. The Attacker’s army must be of the GENESTEALER CULTS faction, and must contain at least one Magus, Primus or Abominant, and at least one squad of Genestealer Purestrains. It may not contain a Patriarch.

The Defender’s army must be selected using the same parameters as detailed in Mission 1. However, this army must contain at least one Company Commander or Tempestor Prime (if Astra Militarum is the Imperium faction in this campaign) or CAPTAIN, MASTER, WOLF LORD or WATCH CAPTAIN model (if the Adeptus Astartes rose to the challenge). This model will be identified as the “Supreme Commander”.

 

= RULES AND VICTORY =

Our Lord is In Peril: The battle ends when either the Supreme Commander falls or the Attacker no longer has any models remaining on the battlefield. If the Supreme Commander falls, the Attacker is awarded a major victory. However, if the Attacker is slaughtered, the Defender is awarded a major victory.