++++Missive begins +++++

Games can be played anytime and anywhere, but the Arbitrator will be providing full support at Ordo’s Thursday Game Nights - see the forum or discord for details on Ordo's Game Night.  

@ninefinger can be available on other evenings for support with advance notice.

1/2 and 1/9 - Practice Games and Demo nights

1/16, 1/23, 1/30 The Incursion Phase - Cycle 1 and 2 - 3 weeks for 2 cycles

2/6 Downtime Week - Multi-player Scenario

2/13, 2/20, 2/27 - The Delving Phase: Cycle 3 and 4 - 3 weeks for 2 cycles

3/6 Downtime Week - Multi-player Scenario

3/13, 3/20, 3/27 - The Survival Phase: Cycle 5 and 6 - 3 Weeks for 2 cycles
 

Gang creation will follow the guidelines laid out in The Book of Desolation.  Players must declare their gang's allegiance, either allied with the forces of the Malstrain or the Archeo-Hunters.  Both allegiance types have benefits and drawbacks, and determine how the conditions in each Phase affect your gang.  

Gangs will be recruited at 1000 credits.  Archeo-Hunter Allied Gangs may be either a Spyre Hunting Party (pg 21 BoD) or a Secundian Incursion Force (pg 44 BoD).  Malstrain allied gangs may be either a Malstrain gang (pg 49 BoD) or a Malstrain Corrupted Gang (pg 56 BoD)

As laid out in the Book of Desolation, a Secundian Incursion Force may use any of the six House Gangs, Ironhead Squat Prospectors, Palatine Enforcers or Venators as the basis for their gang, replacing their Leader with a single Spyre Hunter.

Malstrain Corrupted gangs may use any of the six House Gangs, Badzone Enforcers, Corpse Grinder Cult or Palatine Enforcers as their base gang.  They may upgrade their Leader to have access to Psychic powers for 35 credits, may recruit up to three Malstrain Genestealers and one Malstrain Coalescence as Brutes, gain access to Malstrain Tyramites as pets for their Leader and Champions, and may recruit Malstrain Brood Scum as gang members.
 

Exemptions to the above restrictions may be allowed, with prior Arbitrator approval.  (Nomads, Outcast Gangs, etc).

The Book of Desolation assumes that the campaign will be made of both Underhive and Ash Waste missions.  The addition of vehicles, while rewarding, can slow down or unnecessarily complicate games, particularly for newer players.  Players will be asked to opt-in to playing Ash Waste style games and will not be required to do so if they choose to opt-out.  

Models for both Abyssal Ferryman Teams and Malstrain Genestealer Ash Waste forces will be available as loaners from the Arbitrator for players wishing to play both types of Missons.  Crews of vehicles and mounted models will be created by the Arbitrator, and can be drafted for games as necessary.

Mission modifications will be set out by the Arbitrator for players who wish to limit their Campaign to exclusively Underhive scenarios.

The tables on page 66 of the Book of Desolation will serve as the primary guide for mission selection.  Modified versions of missions will be provided for Underhive adaptations of Ash Wastes missions.

All of the rules laid out in the Underhells Campaign will be utilized.  Please familiarize yourself with:

• Roaming Horrors

  • Deployed before the Ready Fighters step each turn, Monsters prowl the Underhells.  Players activate the horrors after each of their own activations, and must act according to their nature.

• Madness, Desolation, Darkness

  • Each phase of the campaign has different rules affecting nerve tests, trading post availability and visibility.  These rules can have differing effects depending on your gang’s Allegiance.

• Data Stacks

  • Two Data Stacks are set up on the battlefield during the Survival phase of the campaign.

Each player will create a list of 13 tactics cards, either during the weeks of practice games or on their first night participating in the campaign.  The first 10 cards will be randomly determined from the list of 18 Hive Secundus cards.   The final 3 can be chosen from any of the Hive Secundus Tactics Cards, Core Gang Tactics Cards or the Gang’s House list.

Similar to the Limited Method outlined in the Core Rulebook, once a Tactic Card has been used, it is eliminated from a player’s list of tactics cards.

Cards will be either chosen by the player or randomly determined  as described in each Scenario.

House Patronage rules will be in effect as outlined in the Core Rulebook, on page 239. If, after Step 5 of the Pre-Battle sequence, the difference in crew value is greater than 400 credits, the player with a lower value is an Underdog and may select bonuses from the House Patronage table.  Select Crews,  Brutes, House Agents, Bounty Hunters and Hive Scum will be created at the beginning of the campaign by the Arbitrator.

Any model hired as a House Patronage benefit cannot be activated as part of a group activation and does not count as present at the start of the battle for the purpose of Bottle checks

Any Gang Tactics cards selected as a House Patronage benefit will be eliminated from a gangs list after use in the same way as other Tactics Cards.

Underdog Tactics Cards are always selected from the full list and are not eliminated during the campaign.