Deployment, Mission Rules, Primary, Secondary, and Gambit Breakdown

[Valerian]

 

 

Deployment, Mission Rules, Primary, Secondary, and Gambit Breakdown

by

u/McWerp

 

(I, Valerian, did not create this.  I copied it from a post by McWerp over on Reddit.  Thought it would be really helpful for those of you over here in The Fang).

 

10th Edition Leviathan Mission Card Breakdown

 

A lot of videos released today with a lot of content about how the game is going to play in 10th edition, and I don't know about y'all, but I found it pretty overwhelming and confusing.

 

The solution? A pared down simplistic explanation of each card. Some of these explanations may be missing some minor rules minutiae so use at your own risk. 

 

In this post when I say 'Action' it means:

 

Unit that is eligible to shoot. Can't shoot or charge until end of turn. Completes end of turn unless otherwise specified.

 

Deployments

 

You choose one option at random from the 5 available deployments.

1. Corner deployment with 9" away from the centre. (Corners)

2. 10" in along long board edge. (Dawn of War)

3. 18" in along short board edge. (Hammer and Anvil)

4. Line from mid way point of short board edge to opposite corner. (Sweeping Engagement)

5. Line from mid way point of long board edge to opposite corner. (Crucible of battle)

 

Deployment Summary

 

All of these have exactly 5 objectives. There is always an objective in the center, and one in each DZ. the other 2 objectives are spread along the center line at varying separations. If you want exact measurements, you'll have to look at the cards.

This seems like a fair spread of deployments. I will miss some of the harder to measure ones from 9th edition, but I definitely won't miss measuring them. I hope GTs use the 'extra objectives' mission rule pretty often to spice these 5 basic deployments up a bit.

 

Mission Rules

 

You choose one option at random from the 12 available mission cards

1. Does nothing.

2. advance rolls of 6 deal the unit a mortal.

3. sticky objectives.

4. extra tactical mission if playing tactical, one tactical mission if playing fixed.

5. No infiltrating on objectives. No scouting onto objectives. No redeploying onto objectives. No deep striking onto objectives.

6. Any reserves attempting to come in on turn 2 only come in on a 3+.

7. Player placed objectives. Set up alternating. 6" from board edge, 9" from other objectives.

8. Draw 2 mission rules. If you draw the 'no mission rule', discard it, and draw 2 more. Use all of these mission rules.

9. If control own DZ objective at start of command, gain a cp on a 4+

10. Draw 3 discard 1 for tactical missions.

11. CP reroll and new orders cost 2 cp instead of 1.

12. Center objective splits into two objectives that move 6" towards two opposite corners. If corners are in no man's land, objectives must move towards them.

 

Mission Rules Summary

 

I love the vast majority of these. None of them are TOO punishing for any particular strategy, unlike some of the negative special mission rules from 9th edition. The only one that seems egregious is player placed objectives, which seems AWFUL with only 5 objectives. I think I'd recommend only using this one in combination with the extra 6th objective mission rule. And even then, it probably just encourages incredibly safe stalemates. Also not a huge fan of the 'no special rules' card. It's boring, there should always be something fun going on!

 

Primaries

 

You choose one option at random from the 9 available primary cards. 2nd player scores end of game instead of command phase in turn 5 unless otherwise specified. You can score a max of 50 points on primaries.

1. 5 Per objective held end of command. (15 Max)

2. 5 per objective held end of command (max 10). Action to burn objectives in no mans land/enemy DZ. Burn action only completes start of next command phase if you still hold. Score 5 end of game if a no mans is burned, score 10 end of game if enemy DZ is burned.

3. 4 for hold one. 4 for hold more. 4 for kill one. 4 for kill more.

4. 3 per objective held end of command. If its in no mans land and held with a character, it becomes empowered. Stays empowered as long as they keep a character within range of it. Score 3 per empowered objective end of command. 15 max.

5. Remove all no mans land objectives but centre objective. You spawn no mans land objectives with an action. One per turn. Must be 9" away from another objective, cant be within 6" of an objective. Hold these spawned objectives end of command for 5 vp (15 max)

6. 5 Per objective held end of command. (10 Max). round 5 2nd player scores in command instead of end of round. End of round, both players score 5 for each objective they hold (15 max).

7. One no mans objective is the alpha. one is omega. Randomly determined. Round 4 alpha is removed. Round 5 all but omega are removed. Round 2 and 3 score 5 for each objective held in no mans land end of command. Round 4 score 8. Round 5 1st player scores 15 if they hold omega end of command, 2nd scores 15 if they hold omega end of round.

8. No mans land objectives can be moved end of (any) turn up to 6" (in any direction) by player who controls them. Cant end on top of models, other markers, or impassable terrain. End of each turn, both players score 2/7/15 for markers wholly within 12/6/inside of opponents DZ (no max).

9. No centre objective. Score 2 end of command phase for your DZ objective. 5 end of phase for no man's land. 6 end of command phase for enemy DZ objective.

 

Primary Mission Summary

 

There's a couple of these that really concern me. Hold, hold more, kill, kill more feels like a primary mission that can spiral out of control fast. And random objectives disappearing throughout the game AND increasing scores for the remaining objectives feels like it will lead to some very random losses you have no control over. There's a few other really wild ones in there, but they are a bit too complex to get a read on without putting models down on the table.

 

Fixed/Tactical Secondaries

 

Pre game you can choose Fixed or Tactical secondaries. If you pick fixed, you pick two of the options below. You can score a max of 20 points on each of these secondaries.

1. BEL - Fixed or Tactical - 2 vp for one unit in enemy DZ, 4 vp for 2. Bonus point for Tactical.

2. Assassinate - Fixed or tactical. - 4 VP for each character kill. bonus points and 5 point max if tactical. Resurrections won't save you.

3. Bring it down - Fixed or Tactical - 2 VP for each monster of vehicle kill. +1 if 10+ wounds. +1 if 15+. +1 if 20+. +1 if tactical. 8 max score for tactical.

4. Engage - Fixed or tactical. 2 vp for 3 quarters. 4 vp for 4 quarters. 3" away from other quarters. Battleshocked units cant score. +1 vp if tactical. If impossible to score, then can be discarded when drawn.

5. Shock Tactics - Fixed or Tactical - take an opp objective, or take a new objective if opponent held no objectives. 4 vp. Cannot score turn 1. redraw if drawn turn 1. +1 if tactical

6. Deploy Homers - Fixed or Tactical - Action. 6" of centre or within opp DZ. Score 2 if at centre, or 4 in opp DZ. +1 if tactical.

7. Cleanse - Fixed or Tactical - Action on objectives in no mans land. Must control end of turn. Score 2 if done on one. Score 4 if done on 2. +1 if tactical

 

Fixed Secondaries Summary

 

I think these are the first big miss of the Leviathan Mission Pack. They just don't seem very well balanced. Bring it down HEAVILY punishes lists with lots of small to medium vehicles. And if an assassinate are blanks enough of the time it means you only reliably have 4 options. Then, Engage, Deploy, and BEL all massively reward mobile fast armies. And Shock Tactics can be a very unfun secondary to try and score against an opponent who knows how to counteract it. It seems like slower armies are simply going to be largely unable to play fixed secondaries, and faster armies are going to be able to opt in or out whenever they deem it necessary without much trouble.

 

Edit: I missed cleanse somehow in my first summary. That secondary does help slower armies out a lot, as brawling over central objectives is something they should be able to manage.

 

Tactical Secondaries

 

If you pick tactical, at the start of each turn you draw 2 secondaries from the full deck. At the end of a turn where you score points for one of these secondaries, discard it. At end of turn, you may discard one to gain a CP.

1. Investigate Signals - Tactical - action wholly within 9" of corner. Score 2vp per corner.

2. No prisoners - tactical - 2vp per kill, 5 vp max.

3. extend battle lines - tactical - hold one obj in own dz and one in no mans land, score 5. If you only have one unit left, hold on in no mans for 2 vp.

4. Defend stronghold - Tactical - end of opp turn or end of game, if you hold own dz obj, score 3. Cant score turn 1, redraw if drawn turn 1.

5. Overwhelming force - tactical - 3vp per kill on objective, 5 vp max

6. Secure no mans land - tactical - 2 ob in no mans land, 5 vp. 1 ob in no mans land, 2 vp.

7. Area Denial - tactical - one unit wholly within 6" of centre, no enemy wholly within 6" of centre, 5 vp. Or, no enemy within 3" of centre, score 3vp.

8. A tempting target - tactical - opp picks a no mans land objective. If you hold it end of turn, score 5.

9. Capture enemy outpost - tactical - control objective in enemy dz, 8 vp

 

Secondary Mission Summary

 

I like these better than the fixed set. There's a bit more reliable variety here. Its still pretty random, which is unfortunate, and still favours faster armies over slow ones, but the New Orders stratagem and the extra CP you gain if you don't succeed at one are nice little mitigations to how hard some of these can be. Also, saving a high scoring one could lead to some big points scores, and the fact they all score more on average than the fixed ones means you have a bit of an edge over an opponent playing it safe with fixed secondaries.

 

Gambits

 

Start of round 4. Shuffle the 3 actual gambits. Discard 1 at random. Then choose between those two and 'proceed as planned'. If you choose a gambit, no more primary score, instead, GAMBATTTE.

1. Orbital Strike Coordinates - end of your 5th turn, unit wholly within 9" of a corner not in own dz. roll 2d6. +1 for each quarter you are within 9" of (can't be battleshocked or engagement). 12 = 30 vp.

2. Delaying Tactics - 4+ for each enemy unit engaged at the end of your turn 5. If you roll half of them 4+s (or 4 if there are less than 8) 30 vp. +1 if they battle shocked. -1 if you are battleshocked.

3. Emergency Evac - 4+ for each unit wholly within 6" of center of battlefield. If you roll a number of 4+ = half your remaining units (or 4 if you have less than 8 remaining units), score 30. -1 to roll if battleshocked. If a transport has troops inside it, a 4+ on the transport counts for both.

 

Gambits Summary

 

Not really sure what to make of these yet. Feel like they are pretty big hail mary's dependent on a dice roll. Emergency Evac feels like it's going to be impossible to ever even attempt. Orbital Strike seems like an easy one to take a shot at in the non-Hammer and Anvil/Dawn of War deployments, but an incredibly unlikely one to actually succeed at. And Delaying tactics... might be the easiest one to achieve when you have a shot at it. Now you need an opponent who still has a ton of units on the board, that you can get into engagement of, and survive the return fight from, but if you get a couple of them battleshocked, and there's 8+ of them, you are more likely to achieve this one than not. Definitely an interesting option. Course, the one time where you are in a position where it's a good idea is probably going to be the time you discard it and can't even try it!

 

Overall Summary

 

I'm very excited by the way Mission Rules, Primaries, and Deployments all combine. It feels like there is an absolutely massive number of combinations. And while some will be awful, a lot seem very promising. I hope TOs don't just copy exactly whatever basic options GW decides to present.

 

On the other hand, the secondary system seems a bit more suspect to me. The fixed secondaries seem very poorly balanced. And the randomness of the tactical secondaries is definitely something I'll have to get a lot of practice with.

 

[Wolf Guard Dan]

Thank you for sharing and taking the lead on tenth info.

 

To wrap my head around it I think I would need to see the rule book. It does look they put a simplified but still dynamic mission set. So I’m a fan of that 

[Tokugawa]

I think people will play the "tactical card drawing" for some months in beginning of 10th, then if the customer experiences is negative, event organizers will turn to player picked missions, if positive then keep using it.  

 

[Rune Priest Jbickb]

I think gw even mentioned that tournaments might consider pre picking missions,  which seems wise to keep a tournament balancedand allow preparation. I can't find that article this morning though so I might have dreamed it lol.