Thursday 16 February 2017

The Rescue - Mission & Rules - Imperial Fists (Rich) vs Flesh Tearers/Astra Miltarum (James)

The Challenge
The challenge has been thrown down, a night has been arranged and the fluff has been written. Yes on Saturday evening Rich is coming over for beer and toy soldiers to my house to throw down some dice for the first time this year.

As we don't get to play too often (bloomin' kids) we love to have a bit of a story behind our games now that we are out of our 5th Ed. competitive stage. So the planning has been extensive over whatsapp deciding on mission, forces and story line. I thought that it was quite interesting and different and so here it is shared with you all.

It all starts with a map
Firstly as soon as Rich got the ok from his better half the first thing he did was draw a map...
He had this idea in his head about a rescue mission and that because we love playing Zone Mortalis he also wanted to incorporate his realm of battle and Zone Mortalis boards in the game.


The original idea
The original idea was that his Imperial Fists would start in the middle of the board around the entrance to an imperial bunker (a square of his realm of battle board). This entramce would lead underground into the Zone Mortalis board pieces. Meanwhile my Flesh Tearers and Astra Militarum forces would start at the edge of the realm of battle board and try to break into the bunker claiming whatever it was he was stealing/rescuing. Also I would have a small strike team that had already got into the bunker so that I was attacking him on 2 fronts.

The points and forces
With the idea of a battle being fleshed out we focused on the forces being used. We are playing 40k v 30k here and so Rich has more points than I do but seeing as we have the whole evening we really wanted to play a bigger game. After some discussions we decided on 3250pts but with no vehicles on his Imperial Fists side (the reasoning will become clear) and a few vehicles on my side. When this was decided I came up with some fluff ideas about what may be happening.
Image result for Imperial Fists Image result for Flesh Tearers
The backstory
A splinter force of former Flesh Tearers have taken by force an outer rim planet in a back water system not too far away from a major trade route. They have turned the inhabitants into slaves for their own ends and now run the planetary defence force to protect the planet so that they can pillage the trade route to their hearts content.

During one of their raids on the trade route that boarded a ship that was heavily guarded with a small force of Imperial Fists. On the ship they found nothing save 1 prisoner - a powerful Psyker - which they brought back to the planet for further 'questioning' by their own psyker (Mephiston stand in). The prisoner was injured in the raid and began to bleed psychic energy. The 'interrogations' by the Flesh Tearers psyker opened up more wounds causing psychic energy to pulse out of the prisoner at regular intervals.
Image result for psyker
In the meantime the Imperial Fists responded to the emergency beacon sent out during the raid and sent out a sizeable force to the planet to get the prisoner back alive. With the size of the Flesh Tearer and Planetary Defence forces on the planet it was decided to land on planet in a remote area well away from any way of being discovered. From this base the Imperial Fists sent out a scout party secured a disused underground bunker near the city where the prisoner was being held and found an old vendetta skimmer that was still operational.

With an all out assault doomed to fail against an overwhelming force and the fact that vehicles would draw too much attention a small raiding party was sent out on foot from the disused bunker. The plan would be to break out the prisoner get him back to the vendetta, fly him out to the Imperial Fists remote beach head and get him off planet as quickly as possible.

The plan worked perfectly with the Imperial Fists nearing the bunker with the prisoner intact. The only drawback was that the prisoner was starting to pulse more powerfully during the escape as he needed medical attention. These pulses began affecting those nearby...

The Flesh Tearers and Planetary Defence Force immediately gave chase as soon as the alarm was raised with the overcharged engines of the marines and the light vehicles of the PDF catching the raiders just shy of the bunker. Also the Flesh Tearers psyker quickly identified the location of the Imperial Fists base and drew together a small squad for an incredibly risky move. He concentrated his powers and managed to teleport the small squad into the confined space of a chamber inside the bunker to also attack from within...

Rules

Objectives
The Flesh Tearers win if they either kill the psyker or destroy the Vendetta gunship the turn after the psyker enters the Vendetta.
The Imperial Fists win if the Psyker successfully makes it into base to base contact with the Vendetta gunship and then the Vendetta gunship survives for 1 whole game turn with the psyker on board.

Set up & Game Length
The board is arranged as shown. The  Zone Mortalis tiles  (24" x 48") are set up with a chamber at the bottom right corner and walls arranged to deny any first turn charges. Also the board will allow for a vendetta gunship to be positioned inside the Zone Mortalis board. The Vendetta is treated as impassable terrain until the psyker is on board. Then for 1 extra turn it acts as a normal Vendetta but with only 1 hull point remaining.
The game will last for 6 turns.

A quick shot of the table set up Rich has been working on for this, more to follow on the bunker complex in another post. Beyond the top left of the board will be the Zone Mortalis, accessed through the bunker!

Deployment & First Turn
The Imperial Fists deploy in their deployment zone as shown on the map. This can be in or outside of the Zone Mortalis board as long as all models are in the deployment zone.
The Flesh Tearers/Astra Militarum deploy in their deployment zone as shown on the map. Mephiston and his squad of terminators deploy in a chamber in the Zone Mortalis board as shown on the map.
The Imperial Fists will take first turn.

The Psyker
This model is an independent character that may only move a maximum of 6" per turn. This model will begin on the board a total distance of 24" from base contact of the vendetta.
The Psyker may only move if he is in base contact with a model from a squad (This is to signify that he is wounded and needs help to move. He may leave 1 squad and join another squad in the same turn even if the squad is in close combat. However he may never move more than 6" in any turn. If a squad breaks and falls back he stays where he is.
The psyker may not fight in cc or shoot in the shooting phase as he is too wounded to do so.
The psyker is T4 and has a 3+ invulnerable save provided by the the shield of psychic energy emanating from him.
Look out sir rolls can be taken as normal.

Special Rules

Psychic Pulse
The wounded psyker is bleeding out psychic energy in powerful pulses. This energy travels across the battlefield and can affect infantry units in the form of boosting their powers. As the game goes on the pulses become more powerful as his wounds worsen and more energy escapes from him.

At the start of each game turn roll for every infantry unit on the board to see if they get affected by the psychic pulse:
Turn 1 - a 6+ succeeds
Turn 2 - a 5+ succeeds
Turn 3 - a 4+ succeeds
Turn 4 - a 3+ succeeds
Turn 5 - a 2+ succeeds
Turn 6 - automatic success!

If a unit is affected by the psychic pulse roll again to see how that unit is affected:
1 = +1 BS
2 = +1 WS
3 = +1 T
4 = +1 S
5 = +1 Attack
6 = +1 Initiative
Note:
These bonuses ARE cumulative! It is possible for any unit to be a super unit by the end of the game!

Breach!
One vehicle during the game may attempt to ram the doors to the bunker. If this is an assault vehicle the attacker may assume the troops successfully pour forth into the bunker complex. Any other vehicle may fire its weapons once into the ZM area, being able to hit any models within the hanger area it might reasonably see. 

The Flesh Tearer and Imperial Fist infantry may access the bunker without impediment through the bunker doors.

A roll of 2+ indicates a successful breach of a vehicle. 



And so to battle!
We are really looking forward to playing this game and with the extra bonuses it should get really bloody!!

Let us know what you think of our rules and mission and any improvements we could make.

Cheers
James & Rich

fourdadsoftheapocalypse.blogspot.co.uk – A blog about Warhammer 40k and the Horus Heresy by four Dads

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