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Can you beat it?

The Gauntlet is a custom rule set for two players (it can be done with one, which will be explained later, but an actual person controlling the Gauntlet makes it more fun). The Gauntlet is designed to be a brutal course of consecutive matches nearly impossible to beat, but it is doable. The aim is more of a method to improve your skills at list-building and tactics. Before running the Gauntlet, take the following steps:

1. Assemble an army of 2000 points as per normal 40k rules. This army can be from any Codex and allies may be taken. Fortifications are off-limits though.

2. Assemble your 'Strike Team'. The 'Strike Team' is a small party of single-model infantry or walker units with a collective points cost of 1500 or less points. This team may be taken from your chosen Codex or any allied Codices, and ignores all normal rules for taking an army, as it is a surgical assassination squad a la Kill Team.
For example, Fred has chosen Space Marines as his army. For his Strike Team, he takes Marneus Calgar in Terminator armour, a rifledread, Mephiston from Blood Angels, Crowe from the Grey Knights and a Dark Crusaders Reclusiarch with a jump pack, Psypistol and melta bombs. The total comes to 980 points and this is his 'Strike Team'. The Strike Team plays an important part in multiple stages of the Gauntlet.

3. Pick a Gauntlet to run. I'll post these later, because each Codex has a Gauntlet. Regardless of which Gauntlet, you'll have to face a series of battles and conduct assassinations with your Strike Team. Sounds simple, but there's one little catch.
Any casualties you sustain in a battle carry over to the next one, until further notice. This may and probably will end up with you facing three-to-one odds. This doesn't affect your Strike Team though - we can assume that it gets rapid medical attention in between missions. The same goes with your Warlord - he's present all the time! If he is killed, though, roll a D6 and consult the Injuries table below.

Injuries Table
1 - Bullet to the Knee: Your Warlord's movement is slowed by 1" for the next battle.
2 - Lost an Eye: Your Warlord suffers -1 BS for the next battle.
3 - Haemorrhage: Every time your Warlord is dealt an unsaved Wound, he takes an extra D3 Poisoned 4+ AP- hits. This effect lasts for the next battle.
4 - Mentally Tortured: Your Warlord suffers -1 Leadership for the next battle.
5 - Broken Arm: Your Warlord suffers -1 WS for the next battle.
6 - Miraculous Recovery: Your Warlord recovers from his injury. Disregard this roll.


Thoughts? Any glaring oversights? I'll post the different Gauntlets one at a time, because there are quite a few. Don't be afraid to run through it and post your results!

Here's the first Gauntlet. In this one, you face off against the Dark Eldar, and it's not going to be pretty. This is only the first half because that's all I've come up with so far.

Overview
Your army has been lucky enough to second-guess a Dark Eldar raid on one of your planets. Your fleet intercepts theirs, and you are shocked to find that it belongs to the infamous Duke Sliscus. Without wasting time, you engage in a space battle to decide the fate of the planet.

Stage One
The first and easiest stage. Your 2000 point army battles Sliscus' 1000 point raiding force. His list is as follows:
HQ
Archon with Agoniser & Shadowfield (110)

Elites
5 Kabalite Trueborn with Shardcarbines (85), in a Venom with dual splinter cannons (65)
5 Incubi (110), in a Raider (60)

Troops
5 Kabalite Warriors with a Blaster (60), in a Venom (65)
5 Kabalite Warriors with a Blaster (60), in a Venom (65)
5 Wyches with Haywire Grenades (60), in a Venom (65)

Fast Attack
3 Reavers with 1 Cluster Caltrops (86)

Heavy Support
Ravager (105)

Total......................996

The army benefits from Sliscus' Contraband special rule and the Trueborn squad from The Serpent's Venom.
Mission: Custom
Deployment: Board edges
The board itself is comprised of two halves with an impassable gap in the middle. The two halves represent your ships. The aim is to destroy your opponent's ship, which is done by taking control of 3 objectives inside your opponent's ship. Since there's only space between your ships, the only way to get across is by firing the Grappling Cannons in your ship. This will create a line between the ships which any unit can move over as if it is normal terrain. Fairly simple there.
When you take control of an opponent's objective, remove it from play. When a ship has no more objectives on it, it is destroyed. Boom! You've passed the first stage. Don't get cocky.

Stage Two
Sliscus' flagship may be in ruins, but the xenos lord himself still evades you. Maybe he'll be in the still-intact control room...

Deploy your Strike Team on a 24" by 48" board, along the 24" edge. Your opponent places Duke Sliscus with a 5-man squad of Kabalite Trueborn - two with splinter cannons, rest with shardcarbines - at the other end. He then places 3 squads of 5 Kabalite Warriors, each with 1 Blaster, in a Venom, at any location on the table. The attacker's task is to defeat Sliscus, and Sliscus has to slay his attackers. Everything else follows normal rules.

Stage Three
Sliscus managed a last-minute escape, but he left behind a webway portal... this could be interesting...
Upon using this portal, you and your army find yourself in Commorragh. You know it's Commorragh because it's dark, and it's spiky, and you can hear screaming in the distance. The bad news is that you're not the only people that know you're in the Dark City...

Your forces suddenly come under attack by a rapid-response Dark Eldar army from the Kabal of the Poisoned Tongue. This is what it contains:

HQ
Archon with shadowfield, huskblade, haywire grenades and soul trap (145)

Elites
6 Incubi (132) in a Raider (60)

Troops
5 Kabalite Warriors with a Blaster (60), in a Venom (65)
5 Kabalite Warriors with a Blaster (60), in a Venom (65)
5 Kabalite Warriors with a Blaster (60), in a Venom (65)
5 Wyches with Haywire Grenades (60), in a Venom (65)

Fast Attack
5 Scourges with 2 Blasters (140)

Heavy Support
Ravager (105)
Voidraven Bomber with Flickerfields (155)

Total............................1237

The Dark Eldar's idea is to deal as many casualties as possible in 3 turns. The attackers only have to survive.
Designer's Note: This stage is more designed to weed down the army than actually pose a challenge.

Stage Four
The attacks have relented for the moment but are sure to start up again soon. Your Strike Team is dispatched to deal with the Kabalite threat.

Deploy your Strike Team. This mission is unlike anything else in the game.
Designer's Note: I haven't really playtested this part because it's so unique, so it may or may not be fun. Please tell me if it isn't.

You are facing a council of the four most vicious, malevolent and sadistic Kabalite Trueborn in the Kabal of the Poisoned Tongue. They are the organisers of the attacks and must be dealt with immediately. Each member of the Council has 15 Wounds (yes, 15) and are all Fearless, Eternal Warriors so assault cannons aren't ridiculous.
The Council consists of:
Lady Sathress: WS7 BS4 S3 T3 W15 I6 A5 Ld10 Sv5+
Wargear: Venom blade, splinter pistol, Kabalite armour, haywire grenades
Duke Razorwind: WS7 BS4 S3 T3 W15 I5 A6 Ld10 Sv4+
Wargear: Agoniser, blast pistol ghostplate armour
Virex the Splintered Mind: WS4 BS5 S3 T3 W15 I5 A3 Ld10 Sv4+
Wargear: Reaper (custom Splinter Cannon that wounds on 3+), ghostplate armour, phantasm grenade launcher
Yscral the Blackened Aim: WS4 BS5 S3 T3 W15 I5 A3 Ld10 Sv5+
Wargear: Blaster
Yscral rides into battle upon a Ravager with 2 Dark Lances and a Disintegrator cannon. It must be destroyed before he can be targeted.
Sathress and Razorwind attack the unit with the highest Wounds that are in close combat with them. Virex will target all random infantry and Yscral will target vehicles > infantry.
This stage doesn't even need a player controlling the Council, they all follow a fixed set of rules.

When you defeat the Council you'd think that Stage Four is over. Well, it's not!
Did you forget the Kabal's Archon?
It has to be said, Lady Malys reacts quickly to threats. Your Strike Team will have to first fight off two squads of Kabalite Warriors in a Raider, and then from a 10-man squad of Scourges, and finally from a 6-man squad of Incubi. After that, your Strike Team extricates itself from the battle scene and makes it back to your army... and the Gauntlet continues.

More coming soon...

I love this idea, although stage 4 seems a little impossible to me. 5 15 wound characters with EW against max 1500 points of units (most likely less after he other three stages) seems tipped wayyyy in favor of the gauntlet force, maybe make them 5 wounds apiece as its not the final stage, and it will most likely wipe the floor with the Strike Force.

Stage 4's Council thing would actually be really easy. 1 character in Terminator armour and watch them bounce off live severed heads hitting a wall. Hardest part would be dealing with the Ravager *cough* rifledread *cough*

Oh, and more!

Stage Five
Battered but still fighting, your army continues its push into Commorragh. Hey, we're here already, why not go on a killing rampage?
You come in direct contact with the Haemonculus Covens, and a bunch of them decide to work together to deal with a bigger threat. In this instance, you. Enjoy.

HQ
Urien Rakarth (190)
Haemonculus with venom blade (55)
Haemonculus with venom blade (55)

Elites
4x Grotesques (140) in a Raider (60)
4x Grotesques (140), in a Raider (60)

Troops
5x Wracks with a Liquifier (60), in a Venom (65)
5x Wracks with a Liquifier (60), in a Venom (65)
10x Wracks with 2 Liquifiers (120), in a Raider (60)
3x Wracks (30), in a Venom (65)

Fast Attack
5x Scourges with Haywire Blasters (130)
5x Scourges with Haywire Blasters (130)

Heavy Support
Talos Pain Engine with chain-flails (115)
Hyperios Death Engine (105) - Counts-as Ravager
Hyperios Death Engine (105) - counts-as Ravager
Atlas Sky Engine (155) - counts-as Voidraven

Fortifications
Gnarlskin Barrier with Quad Gun (100) - counts-as Aegis Defence Line

Total..............2000 points

This mission is just a normal battle. This time, however, you'll certainly be outnumbered unless you somehow took no casualties at all the past four stages.
Still, it is a Coven list.

Stage Six
The Coven has been defeated and your path is now clear to assault High Commorragh. This won't be an easy task - luckily, 500 points of reinforcements have come in, but you'll be facing the pinnacle of the Dark Eldar force... Asdrubael Vect's Kabal of the Black Heart.
Dun-dun-duuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuun.

HQ
Asdrubael Vect (240), in the Dais of Destruction (200) with 9 Incubi (198 points)
Archon with a Blaster (75)

Elites
The above-mentioned 9 Incubi
4 Kabalite Trueborn with Blasters (108), in a Venom (65)

Troops
5x Kabalite Warriors with a Blaster in a Venom (125)
5x Kabalite Warriors with a Blaster in a Venom (125)
10x Kabalite Warriors with a Blaster and Splinter Cannon in a Raider (175)
10x Kabalite Warriors with a Blaster and Splinter Cannon in a Raider (175)

Heavy Support
Ravager (105)
Ravager (105)
Voidraven Bomber with Flickerfields (155)
Razorwing Jetfighter with Flickerfields (155)

Total......2006 points
Hint: Watch out for Vect's Dais and the unit in it, because that will cut through everything, up to and including Terminators.

Assuming you win that rather brutal battle (seriously, venomspam with fliers and a lethal assault unit. Ugh), there's one last end to tie up...

Stage Seven
With the destruction of Vect's Dais and a good portion of his force, it's time to take on the Supreme Overlord himself. So after sending your Strike Team into the palace and shooting your way through guards, assassins, traps and concubines, you finally confront him.

For this mission, Vect's sceptre becomes AP2 and he gains Eternal Warrior (seriously, why doesn't he have it anyway?). All other enemy Dark Eldar gain the Bloodborn special rule, which gives them Fearless, Hatred and Counterattack.

So, Vect is ready for you and he's brought company. Namely:
-10x Kabalite Trueborn with Splinter Rifles
-4x Kabalite Trueborn with Blasters
-3x Incubi plus a Klaivex with Demiklaives
-1x Ravager with 1 Disintegrator Cannon and 2 Dark Lances

Fortunately, you don't have to kill all of these people or even kill any of them for that matter. The aim for this is to get Vect down to 1 Wound, when he'll run away... I mean, make a strategic retreat...
Of course, that's easier said than done. Fortunately, you've got your full Strike Team for this. Good luck!

***
Assuming you manage this, you've completed the Dark Eldar Gauntlet. Quickly, you extricate the remnants of your army and Strike Team, leaving Commorraghian politics to kill everyone you didn't.

So there ya go. The first Gauntlet, ready for playtesting. I think I'll do Chaos next, because I have quite a few ideas for that...