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Hey I've volunteered to run this at Dakka Con, it's a fun battle fought among space corridors between the Emperor and Horus.

I'll post in 3 parts, basic rules, special rules for the rooms and victory and finally stats for the Big E and Horus O'Heresy themselves.

Take a look and let me know if you see any potential problems. After I run it I'll post an article so others can use these rules.

EDIT-link to my article on fighitng 40k battles inside a space ship.

http://www.dakkadakka.com/wiki/en/Space_Hulks_and_Boarding_Actions

Part 1/3 General Rules



SUMMARY
 Imperial and Chaos forces fight the ultimate battle of the Horus Heresy! With special guest appearances by Horus and the Emperor!
 Bring 300 points of Chaos or Imperial models (no vehicles!) fight it out in a dungeon death match! (Other armies may be used if you don’t have anything else.)
 Earn victory tokens for destroying the enemy, lose half your tokens when you die but come back for more!
 Winner is the player with the most victory tokens at the end of the battle.
 Note: This scenario is heavily based on a mini-game by Jervis Johnson called Warmaster (no not the 10mm fantasy game, the one from WD161). These goal is for players to have a fun and challenging game. When questions and problems come up the game master should find a solution that leads to the most fun game. Don’t sweat details like the fact that assault cannons weren’t used at this time, or that most of the marine chapters had not been founded. I mean, come on, it’s only a game.

BACKGROUND
 Horus Heresy, brother against brother, fate of the universe blah, blah, blah.
 Well this is it! Horus is besieging Holy Terra itself! But he has made one critical mistake! He has dropped his shields giving the Emperor one chance to lead a personal assault on his battle barge!
 You play one of the many bands of loyal Imperials and foul Chaos scum who have joined this ultimate battle!

ARMIES
 Bring 300 points of models chosen from one army list. No vehicles, nothing with a toughness higher than 7. No more than 25 models.
 Just to repeat NO VEHICLES, NO TOUGHNESS HIGHER THAN 7, UP TO 25 MODELS.
 If at all possible try to bring Imperial or Chaos forces. Other armies are allowed, they will be assigned to Chaos or the Imperium to balance forces.
 There are no additional restrictions, you do not need to take an HQ, you may take as many elites as you can fit. You may ignore 0-1 restrictions on units and wargear items.
 Special characters are allowed and encouraged. However you may not take multiples of the same special character.
 Squads should be fully legal and be at least the minimum size.
 All models deploy normally, no infiltration, daemon summoning, Callidus shape-shifting etc.
 Models must be assembled painted and based, but you knew that already right?
 Note: The restrictions on vehicles, high toughness models and the number of models is to preserve sanity and fun. Combat with a model your unit cannot hurt is never fun and when you only have a few models to start with… Similarly even with ‘only’ 300 points players can still get 50 or more IG, 100 or so grots that would take forever to use. Hence the 25 model cap.



TERRAIN
 The entire table will be covered in corridors and rooms. Several companies make them, including GW's Space Hulk terrain. They can also be scratch-built. See the final section of these rules for some terrain ideas. There should be 6 entrances, numbered 1-6. Entrances are placed at the edge of the table.
 There should be several, clearly identifiable special rooms (see below). Special rooms should be several from each other and scattered throughout the table.

DEPLOYMENT
 Each side should choose a commander. The Imperial commander will control the Emperor as well as his forces, the Chaos commander gets Horus. Commanders get victory points for casualties inflicted by Horus and the Emperor.
 Horus must deploy in his throne room. The Emperor may deploy with any Imperial unit.
 Chaos forces deploy first, anywhere on the table but they must be at least 18” walking distance from any table edge.
 On turn one, Imperial players will move on to the board from a random entrance (roll a d6).
 Note: In order to make this game challenging and fun I tried to give each side advantages and disadvantages. Chaos is in a defensive role, Chaos forces not only have to protect Horus, they also have to guard several special rooms to keep Horus from dying in an orbital burn-up or to keep him from being deluged by deep striking Imperials. At the same time players compete as individuals, so players might decide to go hunting and forget the overall strategy.

START OF TURN
 Players roll 3d6 (roll off for ties) to decide the order they will go in. Each player moves, shoots and assaults in turn. Players also take part in any assaults their models are involved in.
 Note: I thought about giving some armies a bonus here, based on initiative score, strategy rating, leadership, special powers whatever but I felt it would be unfair. Sorry guys, we’re using strictly random rolls.

MOVEMENT
 Move normally. Jump packs, wings, bikes, turbo booting, veil of darkness and other special movement options may be used normally. Assume the ceiling is high enough to accommodate them.
 Model bases must be able to physically fit through openings to enter rooms or corridors.
 Models may not move over or through walls and doors. Yes, even Necron Wraiths. The walls are ray shielded OK?
 Units must maintain coherency. In addition, different units in your force should remain within 6” of each other. Units that are trapped or falling back are exempt.
 Note: This rule to preserve sanity so you’re not scattered all over the table and to prevent people from hiding a cheap model to keep from being wiped out.

SHOOTING
 Shooting is normal.
 Running models may automatically run 6" if there are no enemy units within line of sight throughout the entire move.
 Indirect fire weapons may NOT shoot over walls and doors.

ASSAULT
 Assaults with more than 2 players each player fights in each assault phase until it ends.

FALLBACK
 Units fall back towards the nearest entrance. If they make it to the entrance they leave the table normally. They may be recycled normally.
 If the unit is cut off from the nearest entrance they fall back towards the nearest clear corridor.
 If a unit is trapped with nowhere to go, they must pass an immediate leadership check (unmodified). If they pass, they rally (even if they normally could not, the desperate situation gives them courage) if they fail they are removed. If the army is wiped out, the nearest opponent gets a victory token.

RECYCLING
 When an entire force is wiped out or flees the table, the player may recycle his entire force. All wounds, wargear and abilities are restored.
 The player loses half of his victory points (round down).
 Both Chaos and Imperial players come in through a random entrance.
 If shields are down (see below) and the entire force can deep strike they may enter by deep striking.
 Models with a ‘get up save’ (i.e. Necrons) should roll it immediately after being killed rather than the start of the next turn so you know whether or not to recycle.

Sounds great! Not got any chaos or imperial 40k myself but will be watching keenly.

MeanGreenStompa wrote:Sounds great! Not got any chaos or imperial 40k myself but will be watching keenly.

pffft!! don't let that stop you. Just borrow some of my stuff from one of the display cases. There's even a certain "Alpharius Legion" with a heaping helping of chaosy goodness. Or the Games Day stuff I'm working on. Might have the 15 FW Nurgle Terminators done by then.)

So does that mean we can take all the 25 point Inquisitor HQs from the Grey Knights codex that we can fit into the army?

Hmmmm.................................................................

Grey Knights at this will cause my fluff gland severe irritation.

And we're back with more! Part 2/3 of the scenario rules, this time covering the special rooms and victory conditions.


SPECIAL ROOMS AND TERRAIN
 There are several special rooms. To control a room you must have one model in it, have no enemy units inside and your force cannot be in assault. The player who controls the room may use its special abilities. Only one player may control a room at a time.
 Horus’ Throne Room – Horus must deploy and remain in his throne room to coordinate the greater battle and commune with the Chaos gods. The Chaos commander’s force may remain with him or move freely.

 Doors – You may not see or shoot through a door. Opening a door takes 2” of movement. Doors automatically close when no one is within 2”. Doors are AV12, any penetrating hit will permanently destroy a closed door.
 Helm – The player who controls the Helm room may order the ship’s orbit to decay (see below) or stop the orbital decay.
 Plasma Reactor – This room powers the entire ship. Models may not enter the plasma reactor, any models who teleport or deep strike into it are destroyed. Any corridors that lead to it terminate in an armor 14 wall. Players may attempt to destroy the reactor by shooting the outer walls. Any penetrating hit will destroy it and cause a catastrophic explosion. All models within 3d6” of the outer walls are instantly destroyed, as is all terrain. All special rooms lose power. The security center, teleporter and medical bay have no effect. The ship’s orbit begins to decay and shields go down permanently (see below).
 Shield Controls – This room houses controls for the ship’s void shields. At the start of his turn the player may decide if the shields are up or down (see below).
 Medical Bay – The player who controls this room for an entire turn may either restore lost wounds to all wounded models or return one model to life.
 Shrine – Players who controls a shrine gain 1 victory point per turn.
 Security Center – Players who control the security center may open or close d6 doors anywhere on the table.
 Teleportorium – At the start of the movement phase the controlling player may deep strike anywhere on the table. Players may use the teleporter even if the shields are up since they are inside the shields already.
 Destroyed Rooms – Destroyed rooms cannot be entered. Any model deep striking into them is destroyed.
 Negative Space – Space not covered by corridors is assumed to be armor, ducts, power conduits and other impassible terrain. Models may not pass through it, any models deep striking into it are destroyed.
 Note: The special rooms are there to make sure the whole board is relevant, not just Horus’ Throne Room. It gives Chaos an initial advantage, controlling doors, teleporting and other things from the start but it also gives them more to defend.

SHIELDS
 If shields are down recycling players may choose to enter via deep striking, including units that normally cannot deep strike (presumably they are teleporting from other ships or from the surface).

ORBITAL DECAY
 If the ship’s orbit decays it will burn up in the atmosphere. Place a string or tape measure at the front of the ship. At the start of each turn it advances 2d6”. Any models and terrain between the line and the front of the ship are destroyed.

VICTORY!
 1 victory point is awarded for every 50 points of models killed that turn. There is no rounding or carrying over. Killing 49 points of models gives you zero VPs. Killing 99 points of models gives you one VP.
 1 victory point is awarded for each turn you occupy the shrine.
 1 victory point is awarded for each wound inflicted on the Emperor or Horus. 5 points for reducing the Emperor or Horus to zero wounds. I.e. killing one of them is worth 4 VPs for the first 4 wounds, then 5 VPs for the last wound.
 3 more victory points are awarded to everyone on the opposite side if Horus or the Emperor finally dies (fails the ‘get up’ save).
 Lose half your victory points (round halves down) when you recycle.
 The winning player is the one with the most victory points at the end of 2 hours.
 Ties will be broken by removing all other players and the two winners will continue to play until one is defeated.



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Q&A

MeanGreenStompa wrote:Sounds great! Not got any chaos or imperial 40k myself but will be watching keenly.

Don't let that stop you, I'd rather have more players than exclude somone for 'historical accuracy'. Besides the fact that most of the Imperial forces in the game technically didn't exist at that point (all 2nd founding+ marines, most of the Imperial Guard, the Inquisition, the assassins, the Battle Sisters...), and the minor detail that it's just a game, I know for a fact that no one has ever said Horus did NOT have Ork allies.

WarOne wrote:So does that mean we can take all the 25 point Inquisitor HQs from the Grey Knights codex that we can fit into the army?

Why yes. Yes it does.

Or all assassins.

Or all Daemon Princes.

mikhaila wrote:

MeanGreenStompa wrote:Sounds great! Not got any chaos or imperial 40k myself but will be watching keenly.

pffft!! don't let that stop you. Just borrow some of my stuff from one of the display cases. There's even a certain "Alpharius Legion" with a heaping helping of chaosy goodness. Or the Games Day stuff I'm working on. Might have the 15 FW Nurgle Terminators done by then.)

Or buy a single Abaddon or Draigo model. That single blister will suck up most of your points. It doesn't say so explicitly in the rules Kid Kyoto but can you bring *LESS* points than 300? If someone who only plays xenos wanted to join in, could he or she do the above without spending $100 to get the army?

warboss wrote:

mikhaila wrote:

MeanGreenStompa wrote:Sounds great! Not got any chaos or imperial 40k myself but will be watching keenly.

pffft!! don't let that stop you. Just borrow some of my stuff from one of the display cases. There's even a certain "Alpharius Legion" with a heaping helping of chaosy goodness. Or the Games Day stuff I'm working on. Might have the 15 FW Nurgle Terminators done by then.)

Or buy a single Abaddon or Draigo model. That single blister will suck up most of your points. It doesn't say so explicitly in the rules Kid Kyoto but can you bring *LESS* points than 300? If someone who only plays xenos wanted to join in, could he or she do the above without spending $100 to get the army?

Huh, you're right. Obviously the rules should read 'bring up to 300 points'

Kid_Kyoto wrote:
Huh, you're right. Obviously the rules should read 'bring up to 300 points'

Cool. I ask because that's what I would bring if I were local to the event (90% of my old 3rd edition chaos army is sold off and I'm left with an Abaddon conversion that I never painted and a few scrubs).

Would there be anything stopping soemone from bringing an IG blob squad and a PCS to throw orders around?

& finally part 3/3 the Emperor and Horus!

HORUS



WS8 BS5 T5 W5 I6 S6 A5 Ld10 Sv2+/4+


Equipment
 Talons of Horus – Master-crafted Lightning Claws with built in Storm Bolter.
 Immortal – Horus is immune to instant death, all attacks (including force weapons and strength ‘D’ weapons) do just one wound.
 Wardrugs – At the end of his turn, if Horus was is not in assault, he regains a wound (up to a maximum of 5)

Special Rules
 Intimidating – All friendly units within 12” become fearless. Horus is also fearless.
 I… Live… AGAIN! – If Horus is killed by any means, place him on his side. At the start of the next turn he rises with one wound on a roll of 3+. If he is killed by something that destroys terrain (i.e. orbital decay) he is placed in the nearest safe spot. Victory points for killing Horus should not be awarded until he is finally dead.
 Blessings of Chaos – Any turn that Horus is in assault, roll a d6 at the start of Horus’ turn to see how the whims of chaos reward him. Rewards fade at the end of his turn:
1 – Cursed: Lose 1 wound, no save
2 – Blessed by Khorne: Gain +1 strength
3 – Blessed by Nurgle: Gain +1 toughness
4 – Blessed by Slannesh: Gain +1 attack
5 – Blessed by Tzeentch: Invulnerable save boosted to 3+
6 – Eye of the Gods: Gain +1 attack, strength and toughness and a 3+ invulnerable save. At the end of the turn lose a wound


THE EMPEROR




WS8 BS5 T5 W5 I7 S5 A6 Ld 10 Sv2+/4+





Equipment
 Eagle’s Talon – Master-crafted power sword
 Eagle’s Claw – Master-crafted power fist
 Immortal – The Emperor is immune to instant death, all attacks (including force weapons and strength ‘D’ weapons) do just one wound.
 Regeneration – At the end of his turn, if the Emperor was is not in assault, he regains a wound (up to a maximum of 5)

Special Rules
 Inspiring – All friendly units within 12” become fearless. The Emperor is also fearless.
 I Shall Return! – If the Emperor is killed by any means, place him on his side. At the start of the next turn he rises with one wound on a roll of 3+. If he is killed by something that destroys terrain (i.e. orbital decay) he is placed in the nearest safe spot. Victory points for killing the Emperor should not be awarded until he is finally dead.
 Master of Mankind – The Emperor has had millennia to develop his psychic powers. He may use one per turn of his choice. The power must be declared at the start of his turn. The Emperor’s powers do not require a psychic check.
Protection: All friendly models within 6” gain a 5+ invulnerable save (or +1 to an existing invulnerable save). The Emperor is not affected.
Foresight: The Emperor may reroll one of his own save, hit or wounding rolls this turn.
Beacon: One Imperial unit recycling into the game may be placed within 6” of the Emperor.
Phoenix: Shooting attack, inflicts d6 wounds on a model within 12” with no armor saves allowed (invulnerable saves allowed). The Emperor then takes 1 wound.

NOTES – GW has long refused to give any stats for the Emperor or the Primachs. No doubt they remember the days when TSR gave stats for Zeus and Thor and the rest so PCs when out and killed them.

Some players have looked at the fluff and said that these legendary characters would need stats of 10 in everything and would automatically kill anything. However I disagree. The background for the Primarchs has them being wounded and even killed by ordinary mortal foes. Even the Emperor was once saved by Horus from Orks. And does anyone really think the Emperor could rip apart a Wraithlord or Titan? That he’d be tougher than a C’tan?

So I used the Space Marine hero profile, added 1 to everything and then added some special rules.

If you think these two are still too weak, then remember neither was at his peak. They were in the middle of a battle for the future of humanity. Their mental and physical powers drained and pushed to their limits. As they fight this physical battle there is also a psychic battle occurring in levels of reality we can only dream of!

Either that or Kyoto nerfed them to make the game playable.

Take your pick.

As far as powers, I wanted Horus’ to be random and to have a downside. I wanted the Emperor’s to be less destructive but more subtle. So Horus has the higher weapon skill (hits the Emperor on 3s) but the Emperor has a higher initiative and can choose between a power sword and power fist. As the good guy the Emperor has powers that aid his allies while Horus’ powers only benefit himself.

NOTE - the figures are NOT mine... alas.

Wasn't Angron stated at one point? Otherwise, pretty awesome I'd say. Puts them in the realm of playability while still retaining some flavor.

Happygrunt wrote:Would there be anything stopping soemone from bringing an IG blob squad and a PCS to throw orders around?

He's got a 25 model limit on your "army". It wouldn't be too much of a blob to handle at 20 guys plus the 5 man PCS.

warboss wrote:

Happygrunt wrote:Would there be anything stopping soemone from bringing an IG blob squad and a PCS to throw orders around?

He's got a 25 model limit on your "army". It wouldn't be too much of a blob to handle at 20 guys plus the 5 man PCS.

Well, shows how well I can read.

Actually Happy Grunt raises a good question about IG and platoons.

 There are no additional restrictions, you do not need to take an HQ, you may take as many elites as you can fit. You may ignore 0-1 restrictions on units and wargear items.

While you're capped at 25 models you don't have to worry about other restrictions like needing to take a platoon and 2 squads to get special and heavy weapon teams.

So you can take 4 IG special weapon teams (24 models) or maybe 3 special weapon teams, a CCS, Marbo and a primus psycher for a high firepower unit.

So 3 normal demo charges, 1 Marbo demo charge, 10 plasma guns (4 at BS4) and psychic lightning. Now to check the points...

MeanGreenStompa wrote:Hmmmm.................................................................

Grey Knights at this will cause my fluff gland severe irritation.

Grey Knights? I believe you mean Custodes.

Ummm....How the heck will an IG player be able to fit less than 25 models into their list at 300pts?

If we can bring other armies, I could bring my orks. They are blood axes, so I guess they'd be chaos mercs or something.

Or maybe I can get away with some of my chaos whfb models... ?

OK family stuff on Friday and Sunday (sigh) so this will definitely be Saturday afternoon some time.

Brunius wrote:Ummm....How the heck will an IG player be able to fit less than 25 models into their list at 300pts?

Company Command Squad with 4 plasma guns 110 points
Special Weapon team with demo charge and 2 plasma guns 85 points
Special Weapon team with demo charge and 2 plasma guns 85 points

280 points, 16 models

20 points for a power fist or bodyguards maybe.

MeanGreenStompa wrote:If we can bring other armies, I could bring my orks. They are blood axes, so I guess they'd be chaos mercs or something.

Or maybe I can get away with some of my chaos whfb models... ?

Orks are fine, or Chaos WHBF can easily become daemons.

HAHA I cant wait to try this my 300 points is gonna be drago hahah

OK, quick question, one of the victory conditions is 1 VP per 50n points killed that turn.

When I first worked on these rules in 4th most models had a set price but the current round of codexes does not.

You can usually work it out but it ain't easy. So would it be OK to say something like 'the value of a model is unit cost/number of models'?

The rules seem to be very balanced - you cannot quote the fluff so heavily ingame and with that I agree - Magnus did crush an eldar phantom titan in one of the novels with his psychic might for example and his power is but a fragment of that of the emperor (but that would seem too overly powerful ingame) As for victory points - the total death of either one of them would spell the defeat of the side that it belongs to would seem fair for me for ex.

Well we did it Saturday and I'd call it a success.

7 players, IG, Daemons, Grey Knights, Chaos Marines and Orks (why not!) all took part.

On turn 1 one of the Daemon players decided to crash the ship into the atomosphere. Although it seems it was mostly because the player didn't realize he was supposed to be cooperating with the others, but I think he was perfectly in character for demons.

My GKs burned up fighting his great unclean one. 3 plasma gunner =I= henchmen survived and run from the line of death with the Orks right behind them. Eventually one Gunner got shot at Horus, rolled two 1s and blew himself up. Hurray!

Scarbrand (under the control of Mean Green Stomper) took the Emp to 0 wounds (but he made his get up save) and a Commissar Lord with some Ogryn took down Scarbrand.

The Emperor (with only 2 wounds) went toe to toe with Horus and was killed (but got up again) leaving the brave Commissar and his Ogryn facing Horus when 2 hours were up and the game ended.

Winners were Horus and Skarbrand!

Since I was playing and running it I didn't take as many photos as I wished but some are here.

http://www.dakkadakka.com/gallery/images-518-18157_Emperor%20Vs%20Horus%20July%202011.html

We'll get you next year!

Now to order some of Creative Dreamscapes space sets...

This looked so awesome! The layout of the tiles / space set / whatever it was was sweet . I would love to do this near DC sometime if you'd like to run it again, I think there are enough of us in the area to get interest

I'd love to run it here, maybe at Eagle and Empire or Victory Comics. Dream Wizards is also cool.

I wish I'd had more time in PA but oh well.

Wow.....awsome job, my Horus Clone would have looked great in that battle with a few Sons of Horus Termies

Anyone interested feel free to use these rules.

I'll turn them into a nice article soon.

I go to Dream Wizards fairly often, I'll have to look up the other two and see how far they are. Perhaps we can take it to the DCM forum in a bit and see if some of the other local chaps are interested