Custom Mission!

[fluger]

I was inspired to try my hand at mission design.  I think that this mission looks fun and balanced, but it also is REALLY wordy.  Not sure how to make it better.  

 

Breakthrough! 

 

The defender is attempting to reinforce a critical part of the war theater and is making a dangerous night march through unknown terrain to get to the critical point.  They are bringing with them an item critical for the war effort as well.  Unfortunately for the defender, the attacker has gotten word of this desperate gambit and has moved to intercept, arriving ahead of time, but only just!  

 

Setup:

 

1. Speak to your opponent about the Terrain and then determine Warlord Traits. Determine Psychic Powers/other abilities. Night Fighting is in effect for the first turn automatically, there is no need to roll.

 

2. Roll off. Winner chooses whether he will Attack or Defend. The Defender will choose which long board edge he will be Arriving from/Falling Back to before deployment begins. The opposite long board edge will belong to the Attacker in the same way.

 

3. Defender's Deployment.  The Defender deploys within 12" of the center line of the board running from long board edge to long edge, and 18" from the Attacker's long board edge.  The Defender can deploy as many units as they wish and place as many as they want in reserve as well.  

 

4. Attacker's Deployment.  The Attacker rolls for every unit in their army that does not infiltrate, or is not Fast Attack, Elite, or HQ.  On a 3+, the attacker can choose how to deploy them, on a 1 or 2 they must be placed in reserve (as normal, so if applicable they may deep-strike, outflank, etc).  Any unit that can deploy normally can also be put in reserve as well.  Any units that the Attacker wishes to deploy can be placed anywhere up to 18" from any of the defender's units.  

 

 

5. Roll off to begin alternating placement of your infiltrators, any infiltrators that the Attacker has can be deployed within 12" of enemy models even in the open, and 6" if completely hidden. Then roll off again to alternate moving any scouts as normal.  

 

Mission Special Rules:

 

1. The Trap Is Sprung:  The attacker always goes first, the defender may NOT attempt to Seize the Initiative.

 

2. The Night is Dark and Full of Errors:  In addition to the normal rules for night fight, during the first turn of the game whenever a unit wishes to target an enemy unit for any reason, the player must check to see how far their unit can see.  All units can see 2d6x2 inches.  If the intended target is further away than the unit can see, the attempt fails automatically (for instance, the shooting attacks automatically miss).  Attacks that do not require line of sight ignore this penalty.  This check might be made multiple times per unit (for instance, if a unit tries to shoot a unit and then tries to assault it).  

 

3. Hurry Up!:  Reserves can be rolled for starting on turn 1 and any unit in reserve at the start of turn 3 automatically comes in. 

Additionally, due to the desperate nature of this operation, any unit arriving via deep strike on turn 1 will scatter 2d6" more than it usually would, and units that are arriving via outflank on turn 1 must re-roll any rolls of 5 or 6 when determining what side they come in on.  

 

4: Extraction Point:  If a Defender's unit is wholly within 6" of the Attacker's table edge and wholly within 18" of the center of the same table edge, then it can be removed from the board at the end of the movement phase and counted as Escaped.  If a model is unusually large and cannot wholly fit within 6", it needs to be touching the table edge.  No unit can Escape on Turn 1 and no model can Escape the turn they arrive from reserve.  Flyers and Flying Monstrous Creatures or any other unit that can choose to leave the board during the course of the game can choose to be counted as Escaped instead of going in to ongoing reserves if they leave in their usual manner (just remember that a model cannot leave the board the same turn they arrive).  

 

5. Get Out:  As long as one unit escapes as per Extraction Point, then the Defender cannot automatically lose due to having no models on the table at the end of a turn. 

 

Primary Objectives (9 points):

 

Break Through!:

Add up the total points value of all Escaped units.  Units that Escape that are under 50% of their starting strength, vehicles with less than half of their starting Hull Points, and multi-wound models (like Independent Characters and Monstrous Creatures) with less than half of their starting wounds count as half their normal points value when determining this.  

 

Add up total points value of Defender units that were destroyed.  As well, any units that are under 50% of their starting strength, vehicles with less than half of their starting Hull Points, and multi-wound models (like Independent Characters and Monstrous Creatures) with less than half of their starting wounds count as half their normal points value when determining this. 

 

If the total points value of units destroyed or damaged in the Defender's army is greater than the total value of Escaped units than the Attacker wins; if it is less, then the Defender wins.  

 

Secondary Objective (6 points):

 

Attacker Objective (only): 

 

Tracking Beacon:  Any unit in the Attacker's army that has not gone to ground and is not falling back can forgo shooting and instead launch a tracking beacon onto a Defender's unit (note that the unit can do this even if it normally has no shooting attacks).  The Defender's unit must be within 24" and visible to the Attacker's unit.  To place the beacon, the Attacker rolls a d6.  On a 4+, the Defender's unit now has a tracking beacon on it (note that this is NOT a shooting attack).  A unit with a tracking beacon can choose to remove it by not moving in the movement phase.  If a unit with a tracking beacon Escapes, then the Attacker scores this objective.  Note: a unit cannot remove a tracking beacon and Escape in the same movement phase.   

 

Defender Objective (only):

Priceless Information:  At the start of the game, the Defender chooses one character that is not their Warlord to carry the information.  If this character Escapes, then the Defender scores this objective.  

 

Tertiary Objectives (3 points): 

 

1. Kill Points:  Count up kill points, whichever player had the most scores this objective.  If there is a tie, neither player scores these points. Please note that units that Escaped as per the Extraction Point mission special rule do not count as casualties for determining kill points.  

 

2. Cleanse:  Whichever player has more units within 18" of the Defender's Board Edge scores this objective.  

 

3. Plug the Gap! (Attacker only):  If the Attacker has the unit worth the most points on the board at the end of the game, they achieve this objective.  

 

4.  Heroic Sacrifice (Defender only):  If the Defender's Warlord is removed as a casualty then the Defender achieves this objective.  

[fluger]

My thought on this is that The defender, if very slow and unlikely to escape off the board, could pivot to try and draw the game by going for the 3 tertiaries.  

 

If you are the attacker and are facing a super fast army that you have little chance of containing, then you can tag obvious escaping units and go for kill points and try and deny the Priceless Information.  

 

The defender could conceivably null deploy because they should be getting reserves coming in if they are worried about getting assaulted off the board or shot to bits (the super night fight rules are supposed to mitigate that as well), but then it will be harder to get to the extraction point.  

 

A White Scars Battle Company that can get up close really quickly will then have to contend with being swamped early since if they scout up too close, they will be easily assaulted or shot at close range by the attacker who WILL go first.  

 

Anyway, would love any thoughts about this.

[Lord Hanaur]

Due to jetbike speeds and the like, might it be wise to enter a rule here wherein units can begin their escapes on turn 3?  Just as a way to avoid the speedshenanigans of Dark Eldar and Eldar.

 

Another suggestion:  make the board longwise?  i think the original mission was done that way to lengthen the distance the enemy had to go..

[generalripphook]

Or have it where you can only exit in the movement phase?

[fluger]

Due to jetbike speeds and the like, might it be wise to enter a rule here wherein units can begin their escapes on turn 3?  Just as a way to avoid the speedshenanigans of Dark Eldar and Eldar.

 

Another suggestion:  make the board longwise?  i think the original mission was done that way to lengthen the distance the enemy had to go..

 

I wanted to make it easier to escape.  The original mission WAS length-wise, but 72" is an impossibility for most units to get to even in 7 turns, 

 

The Attacker being able to go first accomplishes two things that limit things like jetbike speeds.  One, both of those units are fairly fragile, and they can easily get shot up or even assaulted.  Perhaps the attacker wants them to leave and puts a tracker on them?  

Secondly, the jetbikes can't leave turn 1 anyway as they could at best be 6" from the extraction point at the end of their turn 1, and would be prime targets turn two.  As well, the attacker should have units in the extraction point anyway and they would have to be removed first.  

 

Or have it where you can only exit in the movement phase?

 

That is already the rule.  

 

 

 

4: Extraction Point:  If a Defender's unit is wholly within 6" of the Attacker's table edge and wholly within 18" of the center of the same table edge, then it can be removed from the board at the end of the movement phase and counted as Escaped. 

[generalripphook]

Oh derp. I don't know how I missed that.

[Hobbitron]

Can a formation be placed in the Extraction Point? This is both a mission question, and a basic rules question....

 

Honestly as attacker that would be my biggest strategy is point denial. Park a couple vehicles there... or flood it with whatever bodies I can.

 

I think that the primary is a little heavily weighted towards the attacker seeing as the moment that the defender takes a casualty, he *must* have something exit to win the objective. And the attacker starts out with a strong advantage in preventing that. A defender can't have something escape before turn 2, and you are very unlikely to see a turn 2 escape.

 

The same principles lead into the secondary objective. It's weighted towards the attacker imo. Because he doesn't have to do anything but prevent a character from escaping, unless he tags the unit first.

 

Also, that brings up a couple points about tagging. Can the attacker tag a unit that the defender has inside of the extraction point already? If it moved in during the shooting phase for instance.

 

Might be worthwhile to clarify when tagging and escaping happen. As it currently stands, a tagged unit could opt not to move in order to remove the tagging, then escape.

 

It feels like the attacker is best off fortifying themselves around the extraction point, and making the defender come to them. Since the defender MUST enter attacker space to win. Alternately the attacker benefits strongly from never moving away from where they deploy.

[Lord Hanaur]

Ive seen Wave Serpents and Jetbikes make a mockery of that mission.  So i mention it for your reference.  Dark eldar skimmers move 36 most of the time and have no reason to want to engage the enemy.  Assault moves and the like will carry you across the board as will transports.  So unless someone was a silly billy and didnt bring any of the above, knowing the mission existed...

 

Another issue:  Flyrant spam.  24" + 2D6 "runs"  Other examples as well but that's the main biggees i can think of out the gaat.  So it might be good to include a reason for them not to streak off or deep streak near the escape edge and call it a game the next round.

 

I do like the Tracking beacons.

[fluger]

Can a formation be placed in the Extraction Point? This is both a mission question, and a basic rules question....

 

I don't understand the question.  

 

Honestly as attacker that would be my biggest strategy is point denial. Park a couple vehicles there... or flood it with whatever bodies I can.

 

I think that the primary is a little heavily weighted towards the attacker seeing as the moment that the defender takes a casualty, he *must* have something exit to win the objective. And the attacker starts out with a strong advantage in preventing that. A defender can't have something escape before turn 2, and you are very unlikely to see a turn 2 escape.

 

The same principles lead into the secondary objective. It's weighted towards the attacker imo. Because he doesn't have to do anything but prevent a character from escaping, unless he tags the unit first.

 

Also, that brings up a couple points about tagging. Can the attacker tag a unit that the defender has inside of the extraction point already? If it moved in during the shooting phase for instance.

 

Sure, I don't see why not.

 

Might be worthwhile to clarify when tagging and escaping happen. As it currently stands, a tagged unit could opt not to move in order to remove the tagging, then escape.

 

Yeah, that's a good point.  I think I'll make a note of that...

 

It feels like the attacker is best off fortifying themselves around the extraction point, and making the defender come to them. Since the defender MUST enter attacker space to win. Alternately the attacker benefits strongly from never moving away from where they deploy.

 

Well they only have a 6" strip to be in unless they have lots of infiltrators.  But, its a very valid point.  Hmmm...

 

I'm going to change some stuff here in response to this.  I think its a good point.  

[Lord Hanaur]

Oh.  Thought of one thing:  What if someone is forced to snap fire.  Can they still fire the beacon on a 4+?

[fluger]

Ive seen Wave Serpents and Jetbikes make a mockery of that mission.  So i mention it for your reference.  Dark eldar skimmers move 36 most of the time and have no reason to want to engage the enemy.  Assault moves and the like will carry you across the board as will transports.  So unless someone was a silly billy and didnt bring any of the above, knowing the mission existed...

 

Another issue:  Flyrant spam.  24" + 2D6 "runs"  Other examples as well but that's the main biggees i can think of out the gaat.  So it might be good to include a reason for them not to streak off or deep streak near the escape edge and call it a game the next round.

 

I do like the Tracking beacons.

 

Yeah, I can see flyrants as being a bit issue and just having a field day with the mission.  I don't see how I can stop that though.  

[fluger]

Oh.  Thought of one thing:  What if someone is forced to snap fire.  Can they still fire the beacon on a 4+?

Good question, yeah, make that a 6+.

[fluger]

OK, I pushed the defender's deployment zone further up so that now the attacker can't place units in the extraction zone at the start of the game, BUT, since they go first and reserves can come in on turn 1, they have a chance to fortify it quickly.  I like this better as, as was stated, it would be easy to just box in the extraction area and deny the enemy the ability to leave easily.  

 

It does kind of compound the FMC issue though.  A bunch of Daemon Princes or whatever could easily fly off turn 2 (good luck killing them even on the ground!) and have an insurmountable lead for the primary (and easily get their secondary and deny the Slay the Warlord).  

 

Hmmm, I think I need a tertiary in place of slay the warlord that works either to the benefit of a static list forced to escape or a list that is up against a force that can just fly off on turn 2.  Maybe a board control tertiary?  I kind of already have one, but maybe another one.  Hmmm....

[fluger]

Ok, I changed the tertiaries to be a bit more complicated but also potentially interesting.  

 

Now, if the Attacker can't stop expensive units from leaving the table, they can at least focus on killing slower expensive units and scoring that tertiary. 

 

If the Defender's Warlord is big points, they have to weigh their options between having it Escape or else sacrificing it to gain the tertiary.  

 

So, if you had flyrant spam or flying circus daemons, you have to weigh giving up on Tertiaries and leaving quickly (assuming your flyrant or daemon prince is the warlord) to score the primary.  So, they could easily nab 15 pts from primary and secondary, but the defender could also tag their high value flyers and get the secondary, then pick off little cheap units and win kill points, have the most expensive unit at the end of the game and have more units in the defender's deployment zone and get the tie.  So, a virtually fool proof tie for the Defender, but not a guaranteed win.

 

Thoughts?  

[Lord Hanaur]

Yeah, I can see flyrants as being a bit issue and just having a field day with the mission.  I don't see how I can stop that though.  

make it a 4+, whether flying or not?

[fluger]

make it a 4+, whether flying or not?

Hmm, good point.  Further changes made.  

[Hobbitron]

Can a formation be placed in the Extraction Point? This is both a mission question, and a basic rules question....

 

Can we pretend I said fortifications? Though I think it's a moot point since you changed deployment.

[fluger]

Oh yeah...fortifications...  

 

Hmmmmmmmmm