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Okay, so I'm putting some thought into a scenario for a campaign I'm involved in. The background story for the mission is: A Dark Magos has managed to sumon a Greater Daemon Lord and has bound it to the body of an STC titan (basically an example of the Original master-class titans that the Emperor Class of Titans are imitations of). Now the Dark Magos' enemies want to destroy the Titan. They have gathered together to destroy this avatar of destruction as it marches to join up with other forces in preparation for a large scale battle. The idea is that this will be a precursor to an Apoc game. If the Titan is not destroyed then the attacking forces in the ensuing Apoc game will have access to a special "Daemonic Bombardment" stratagem that can be used during the game.Basically once per turn the attacking team in the Apoc game will be able to make a special attack that is S10 AP2 Massive Blast, but following the fallout of the blast 2D6 BloodLetters, Plague Bearers, Pink Horrors or Daemonettes are summoned onto the board using the location of the blast as their deep strike point. Basically it's a free-summoning psychic power.

So it's extremely doubtful we'd be able to put together a game large enough to put something on the scale of a super-emperor class titan into play and have it be anything more then painfully one-sided. But I think I've got a better idea that will add more drama to the game. Here is my thought for the scenario:

We set up a series of 3 2x2 boards. The first board would be a city-fight board. There will be 4 entrances on the lowest level of the board, door ways large enough to allow infantry (and by infantry I am referring to stuff on 40mm bases or smaller) passage.

The second board will be made up of a series of space-hulk style corridors and will be used to represent the utility levels of the inside of the Titan. The objective here is to get to the center 4"x4" section of the board so that the attacking forces can move to the lowest level where they will find the control center and the Power generators for the titan. By attacking the generators and the control center they will destroy/disable the titan.

So now for the rules:
Right now I'm thinking I'll be using a rule set based on the Zone Mortallis rules with the following modifications:

The attacking forces can only make use of units that can deploy via deep strike. The defending force can only make use of Infantry type models that are on bases of 40mm or less. The Attacker can only deploy units to the first board. They have to hoof it down to the bottom level. Which means only stuff that is infantry and on 40mm bases or smaller are really of any value in the mission over all. JetPack/Jump infantry can also enter, but they will be unable to use their Jetpacks/jump packs once inside the 2nd level. If you want to deep strike a dreadnought onto the top level you absolutely can and it can be used to clear the way or stand guard at an entrance way or something, but it won't be able to move the 2nd board and likewise can't come down to the third level.

So there will be 2 per turn rolls made as outlined below:
Void Shields are up!
At the beginning of each turn, prior to the movement phase and before any reserve rolls are made the defender rolls a D6. On a 5+ the titans Void shields have been restored if perhaps only temporarially. The attack may not bring on any units from reserve this turn.


The battle Rages on
At the end of each turn the attacker and defender each roll a D6 and add the results together. Then consult the table below. The effects are put into play for the following turn.
2D6 Effect

2-4 Impact Quake: The Titan rocks as it is hammered by the attacks being levied at it. Each unit that wishes to move must roll a D6. The result is the distance in inches that unit may move that turn.

5-6 Power Surge: Either the generators have spiked or the bound Daemon is raging resulting in lights going out or arcs of energy leaping from terminals and lum globes. Any units on boards 2 and 3 are under the effects of nightfighting rules for this turn.

7-8 Daemonic Roar: The Daemon Lord rages as, but weather in anger from being assaulted or from being bound to the machine is unclear. Any unit that has the Daemonic Instability Special rule must
make a Daemonic Instability test at the begining of the next turn. All other units suffer a S3 AP- hit, normal saves allowed.

8-11 Nothing notable: While the sounds of the war being visited upon the exterior of the Titan ring loudly, they have no notable effect on the battles taking place inside the titan or atop it's body.

12 Critical shot: Weather the result of a lucky hit or concentrated fire against a selected target area on the titan, the attacking forces have landed a major blow against the titan inflicting major damage.
Divide boards 1 and 2 into 4 1'x1' sections and then roll a scatter die. Assume the Scatter die comes to rest at the exact center of the board. Which ever quadrant the arrow is pointing to has collapsed. This effects the quadrant on both Boards 1 and 2, but not on board 3 (Though for thematic purposes it can be assumed that it cuts teams off from their planed escape routes). All units in that quarter suffer a number of S9 Ap4 hits equal to the number of models in the unit. Any surviving models count as being in dangerous terrain until they make their way out of that quarter of the board (meaning they must make a dangerous terrain test every turn until they leave the quadrant). If there was an entrance in that quarter of board 1 is is treated being blocked and can no longer be used to descend to board 2. The entrance to move from Board 2 to Board 3 is unaffected.


Destroying the Control Center:
The Control center is represented by a large room (probably going to be a 6"x6" room from the Space Corridors set from Dark Lance designs). In order to destroy the control center, the attacking teams must plant detonation charges around the room to destroy the systems. This is done during the assault phase following the removal of any Defender units form the room, either by shooting attacks or by assault. Once the room is cleared one model must come into contact with each of the three walls that is not the entrance to the control center and remain there until the end of the following turn. Once this is accomplished the team may leave the room and the control center is considered destroyed at the end of the current player turn.

Destroying the Power Generators: The power generators are large constructs pulsing with energy, both electrical and daemonic in nature. But they have changed and are themselves constructs of combat, growing massive arms covered in spikes and blades to attack those that seek to eliminate them.
There are 2 Power generators. Each are treated as being a dreadnought with WS 3, 2 Power fists with a single heavy flammer, and can not move more then 6" from where it began the game. If the Generators are reduced to 0 HP or suffer a Explodes! result on the Vehicle damage table it is counted as destroyed.

The Attackers objective is to destroy the 2 Power Generators and the Control center and to do so in 8 turns or less. Anything less is considered a win for the Defender.


So thoughts from anyone about this set up?

I like it. I don't know what armies you have or how balanced it'll end up being but I do know that it looks awesome (far off of the usual 'run around killing things for six turns and whoever's sitting on the thing at the end wins' missions we're stuck with most of the time in 40k).

Sounds fun and interesting.

The attacker could get easily overwhelmed if they get a couple of turns without reinforcements.

Every model in a unit being hit on a critical shot is really painful. Perhaps roll 2D6 and have that be the number of models in the units affected. That way the survivors could have gotten lucky with cover, etc.

I wish i had that kind of money and free time.

Javin wrote:Sounds fun and interesting.

The attacker could get easily overwhelmed if they get a couple of turns without reinforcements.

Every model in a unit being hit on a critical shot is really painful. Perhaps roll 2D6 and have that be the number of models in the units affected. That way the survivors could have gotten lucky with cover, etc.

The idea is that section of the superstructure is collapsing. So imagine being in a building and that building is now collapsing on top of you. Sure you may survive the actual collapse, but chances are very high that you'll be pinned under debris, trapped in a space, cut off from a way out, or in some form cut off from taking further actions in the immediate term. Rather then trying to do funky stuff with dangerous terrain rules and dealing with units being pinned and not pinned and others being able to help their squad mates or not being able to help them.... It just gets complicated for little benefit. But rather then tring to make new rules to deal with models being trapped it just seems easier to say if the model is killed it can be considered to have been trapped by collapsing debris rather then killed out right. But in game terms, particularly at this scale there is no appreciable difference.

Filch wrote:I wish i had that kind of money and free time.

What do you mean?


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 AnomanderRake wrote:
I like it. I don't know what armies you have or how balanced it'll end up being but I do know that it looks awesome (far off of the usual 'run around killing things for six turns and whoever's sitting on the thing at the end wins' missions we're stuck with most of the time in 40k).

That's my main objective. There are so,many tournamentplayers in this area that anything mission wise that isn't from maelstrom of,war is ignored. So for something like this, I want something that is very thematic and still limiting. Put the emphasis on the grunts of the army. Forget the monstrous creatures, and the flyers, and the bikes. They can't win the day on this one. You need to get boots on the ground and into the tunnels in order to win this battle.

i like the sound of all this, mind doing a batrep?

 SirDonlad wrote:
i like the sound of all this, mind doing a batrep?

When I reach the point in the campaign that this mission will be played, I'll talk to my opponent about doing a Bat Rep.

This sound's awesome man! Good luck with campaign!

So was doing some back and forth with a friend and found that there was some stuff that could be spelled out for the mission in terms of special rules and how things work. So I revamped some of the rules and expanded on some stuff that I didn't originally think needed to be expanded on. So, here we go. New rules:

DEPLOYMENT
The players must first determine their Warlord Traits. The Defender deploys first, placing his units anywhere they want across the three boards so long as the 2 Power Generator monsters are placed in separate rooms on board 3 and no more than 30% (rounding up) is deployed on board 1. The Attacker does not deploy any units.

THE BATTLEFIELD
Divide a tablet into 3 2’x2’ sections. Number each board 1, 2, and 3 respectively. Board 1 should be setup as a city fight while boards 2 and 3 setup using the Space Hulk Corridor sets. The corridors on Board 2 should be set up with a central space of 2”x2” that will act as the elevator to move from board 2 to board 3. There needs to be 4 doors or entries on board 1 that are large to allow infantry on 40mm bases through but nothing larger. These should be marked and agreed upon between both players. Deploy one objective marker, or suitable piece of scenery on board 1 to represent the Shield Generator.

GAME LENGTH
The mission lasts for up to 10 turns or until the Attacker destroys the Generators and Control center.

Hot Drop Deployment
Due to the unique nature of the battle field (The top and insides of a titan), the attacking forces cannot deploy their forces in the normal way. The attacker can only deploy units that can do so via deep strike. This includes options for dedicated transport that deploy via deep strike, such as drop pods. The attacker begins rolling for reserves starting turn one. He may only deploy units to board 1. Units may charge on the same turn that they arrive from reserve unless they have used a weapon that would prevent them from charging, such as a heavy weapon or Rapid fire weapon.

Raise the Shields!:
At the beginning of each turn starting with Turn 2, prior to rolling for reserves or movements are made, the defender rolls a D6. On a Result of 5+ the Titan’s void shields are restored or remain up if they had been restored in a previous turn. This roll is reduced to a 6+ if the shield generator is destroyed. If the Void shields are raised, the attack cannot deploy any units from reserves this turn. Any flyer that leaves the board during a turn when the Void Shields are raised is considered to have crashed into the shield and been destroyed.

Shield Generator:
One building or other piece of suitable terrain on Board 1 is designated as the Shield Generator. So long as this objective/building is intact the Raise the Shields! Roll is considered to be successful on a 5+. If it is destroyed, the roll only succeeds on a 6+. The shield generator is a small building, with Armor Value 13 on all facings, 0 Transport Capacity and 3 Hull Points. It can be destroyed by reducing it to 0 HPs, or by inflicting a Total Collapse, or Detonation! Result on the building Damage table.

Air born assault Waves: The Attacker may choose to re-roll his reserve rolls, but does not automatically receive all remaining reserves in Turn 4. He continues to roll for reserves arriving every turn that he has units that are still in reserves.

The battle Rages on
At the end of each turn the attacker and defender each roll a D6 and add the results together. Then consult the table below. The effects are put into play for the following turn.
(2-4)--- Impact Quake:[/b] The Titan rocks as it is hammered by the attacks being levied at it. Each unit that wishes to move must roll a D6. The result is the distance in inches that unit may move that turn.
5-6)--- Power Surge: Either the generators have spiked or the bound Daemon is raging resulting in lights going out or arcs of energy leaping from terminals and lum globes. Any units on boards 2 and 3 are under the effects of nightfighting rules for this turn.

(7-8)--- Daemonic Roar: The Daemon Lord rages as, but weather in anger from being assaulted or from being bound to the machine is unclear. Any unit that has the Daemonic Instability Special rule must
make a Daemonic Instability test at the begining of the next turn. All other units suffer a S3 AP- hit, normal saves allowed.

(8-11)--- Nothing notable: While the sounds of the war being visited upon the exterior of the Titan ring loudly, they have no notable effect on the battles taking place inside the titan or atop it's body.

(12)--- Critical shot: Weather the result of a lucky hit or concentrated fire against a selected target area on the titan, the attacking forces have landed a major blow against the titan inflicting major damage.
Divide boards 1 and 2 into 4 1'x1' sections and then roll a scatter die. Assume the Scatter die comes to rest at the exact center of the board. Which ever quadrant the arrow is pointing to has collapsed. This effects the quadrant on both Boards 1 and 2, but not on board 3 (Though for thematic purposes it can be assumed that it cuts teams off from their planed escape routes). All units in that quarter suffer a number of S9 Ap4 hits equal to the number of models in the unit. Any surviving models count as being in dangerous terrain until they make their way out of that quarter of the board (meaning they must make a dangerous terrain test every turn until they leave the quadrant). If there was an entrance in that quarter of board 1 is is treated being blocked and can no longer be used to descend to board 2. The entrance to move from Board 2 to Board 3 is unaffected.

Destroy the Control Center: The Control center is represented by a large room (Ideally a room that is close to 6”x6”). In order to destroy the control center, the attacking teams must plant detonation charges around the room to destroy the systems. This is done during the assault phase following the removal of any Defender units form the room, either by shooting attacks or by assault. Once the room is cleared one model must come into contact with each of the three walls that is not the entrance to the control center and remain there until the end of the following turn at which point the team may, and should, leave the room. At the end of the following game turn the charges detonate destroying the room. Anything in the room suffers a S9 AP2 hit.

Moving from Board 1 to Board 2(and Vice Versa): there are a series of 4 passages connected to ladders that allow infantry models on bases that are 40mm or smaller to move from board 1 to board 2, and vice versa. The ladders are assumed to be 3 inches tall and are otherwise considered to be clear terrain. A model that starts it’s movement phase in contact with the passage would be able to move up to 3” away from the ladder on board 2 in the same movement phase. Likewise a unit that begins its movement phase in contact with the ladder would be able to move a further 3 inches from the passage in the same movement phase. Being in contact with either the ladder, or the passage offers no cover save. For the purposes of unit coherency, consider the ladder/passage to be on the same level. Meaning a single unit can be split between board 1 and board 2 so long as models from the squad remains within 1” of the ladder and the passage.
Moving from Board 2 to Board 3(and Vice Versa): The only means to move from Board 2 to Board 3, or vice versa, is by way of a large utility lift in the center of the titans body. This is a player activated transition that takes 1 movement phase to move from one board to the other. A Squad cannot be split between boards 2 and 3. Any model in the lift gets a 5+ Cover save unless it’s cover save would be better anyway. When a unit moves into the lift it can activate the lift and begin the lift moving. It will be end of that players next movement phase that the lift will finish it’s transition from board 2 to board 3, or the reverse. Once the lift has been activated it cannot be stopped, and additional units cannot embark onto the lift until it finishes its transition. During the Transition, whatever unit(s) are on the lift will gain a +2 cover save modifier.
--Example: Turn 4, Space Marine Tactical Squad Viper moves so that the forward 3 members of the squad are able to enter the lift. The controlling player elects to forgo his shooting and run to get the rest of his squad into the lift. With the Squad in the lift, he declares that the squad is descending to board 3. Chaos Squad Despoiler attempts to kill squad Viper with numerous shots from their bolters. Squad Viper is able to enjoy a 3+ Cover save (5+ for being on the lift, and +2 for it being activated) so it is unlikely they will loose any models. With the lift being activated, Squad Despoiler can only attempt to shoot at Squad Viper, as it can neither stop the lift, nor embark on the lift itself. During the Space Marine Players turn 5, Squad Viper spends it’s movement phase in the lift transitioning from board 2 to board 3. At the end of the movement phase it will operate normally, counting as having remained stationary.


Bulkhead Hatches: There are numerous hatches and door ways between various sections of the Titan. These can be used to block or slow down advancing enemies. The Defender may deploy up to 18 hatches between boards 2 and 3. These are counted as being an immobile vehicle with a single facing and armor value 10 with 1 HP. There are two status for a hatch, open and closed. Open hatches have no effect in game. Closed hatches block line of sight. When a model moves into base to base contact with the door way, they may spend the rest of their current turn opening the door, or they attempt to destroy the door way the same way they would attack a vehicle. Any penetrating or glancing hit will destroy the door way, after which it cannot be closed again. If a model moves into contact with an open door they may spend the remainder of their current phase to close it.