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The new Gorechosen game got me interested, as the idea of a literal handful of models fighting in an arena is really appealing to me. So I decided to make a Scenario specifically to emulate it in 40k. I'm fairly certain I'm not the first and the name is probably taken but I still wanna throw my hat into the ring, so to speak:

Hero Hammer 40k: A Scenario for Single-Combat

Hero Hammer 40k is a scenario for playing with characters in the 41st millennium. Unlike normal 40k, Hero Hammer 40k is designed to be played with a single customized character in an arena-like challenge rather than grand armies clashing in the fields or skirmishes between combat patrols. Because of this, some rules are changed:

Army/Hero Selection: Each player is allowed up to 200 points to select their character with the following restrictions:


- No model with the Unique rule. This is suppose to be about a hero of your own making.
- No Ordinance Weapons. These are more for big battles. Note that upgrades that come with Ordinance is allowed, but the Ordinance Weapon itself cannot be used (such as in the case of the Chapter Master upgrade)
- No Movement Modifiers; unless a model comes with a movement modifier as standard (Such as Slaaneshi models or Tau battle suits), you may not purchase a movement modifier for your model. This means no FMCs, no Bikes, no Jetbikes, Jump Packs, chariots, etc. This is because the arena is quite small and it's fairly easy to catch your opponent. Note that this is only for the purposes of Hero Selection; you are free to cast psychic powers that modify your movement or activate some other special rule during the course of the game and purchase such items. You're just not allowed to permanently modify your movement from the get-go.
- One Relic per model; regardless of your codex's permissions, each hero may only take one Relic from the armory, if they have access to it. If your hero comes with a relic as standard, it does not count towards this limit if they can take another one.
- Only models that can be taken in units of 1 and have the Character Rule. Sorry Broodlord, but your posse isn't allowed.
- No Super-heavy Vehicles or Gargantuan Creatures. As of this writing there are no models with this rule and under 200 points, but this is suppose to be about the small heroes, not a kaiju battle, so in the event that (god forbid) they do release a Super-heavy or Gargantuan creature in the future that fits under 200 points, this rule is to prevent their inclusion.
- No Formations/Command Benefits: While extremely rare that a single model can fulfill this, in the event that it is possible, no model may gain the benefit of a formation or command benefit special rule during Hero Hammer.
- No other models may be selected. Even models that may come as "wargear" may not be selected. This only includes stuff that actually has a profile of their own; stuff like Squigs and Grots that are more like counters than actual models do not count against this rule.



Model Special Rules: There are a number of special rules for Hero Hammer to ensure that the game does not turn into "who gets the first charge" and end up basically just taking turns rolling the dice thereafter, as well as to help heroes come back and get their "heroic second wind" as well as giving players more control in how their heroes fight:

Knockback: Heroes can often make a bull-charge against an opponent, knocking them aback. Declare you are performing a Knockback right after you declare a charge. In addition to the normal charge, at the end of that turn's close combat phase, you and your opponent roll 2D6 and add it to your respective Heroes' Strength; if your result is higher your opponent must move his model directly away from your model by the difference in inches. If you lose, your hero is considered to have suffered a Concussive wound (but you do not lose a wound for this) as he tumbles to the ground or hits a nearby rock. Use the strength your heroes used during combat; Powerfists will totally send someone flying. You cannot declare a Parry, Dodge or Hit and Run move in the same turn you perform a Knockback. If the knockback would push the enemy model into terrain non-impassible, they must take a Dangerous Terrain Test. If the Knockback pushes them into Impassible terrain, they instead take an additional hit at the strength used for the Knockback with no AP.

Parry: Heroes can often decide it'd be more prudent to make a defensive move for now to move into a better position. A hero declaring to make a Parry move will add his unmodified Initiative Value (the one that appears on his profile with NO UPGRADES OR SPECIAL RULES) to his Weapon Skill for that turn, but cannot make attacks at all for that Combat Phase.

Dodge: A Hero can make a Dodge move in lieu of making Armor Saves during either the Shooting Phase or the Combat Phase. In both cases, the Hero must pass an unmodified Initiative Test. If successful, all wounds for that phase are considered "saved". Regardless, the following penalties apply:
- A model that makes a Dodge in the Shooting Phase cannot make one in the Combat Phase and vice versa.
- A model that makes a Dodge move in the Shooting Phase counts as having gone to ground but do not gain any benefits of cover.
- A model that makes a Dodge move in the Combat Phase cannot do anything else that turn.
- You cannot make a Dodge move two turns in a row.

Hit And Run: Heroes need to avoid getting locked in combat or this is going to be one hell of a boring game. All heroes are considered to have Hit and Run special rule. Models that actually has the Hit and Run special rule may disengage without the initiative test; they're even more slippery!
Heroic Willpower: Most heroes don't have a lot of wounds, and instant death is common. So all models are considered to have the It Will Not Die special rule and any Instant Death hits instead inflict D3 hits as oppose to killing a model outright. If a model actually has the It Will Not Die rule then it will pass the test on a 4+ instead of a 5+. Models with Eternal Warrior instead take a single wound as normal.

Eternal Challenge: Since this is about two characters dueling it out, all combats count as Challenges. Models that "must accept challenges" must pass a leadership test to use Hit and Run (even ones that have the rule normally). For Chaos Space Marines, they gain a roll on the Table whenever they inflict a wound in close combat rather than a kill. Any results of Spawndom or Dark Apotheosis are discounted.

Precision Shot: Since Precision shots don't work here anymore, any character that has this rule instead counts any precision shots made to be AP2 (representing them hitting a chink in the enemy hero's armor). This basically turns it into 4th edition Rending rule in the shooting phase.

Fast Shot: A Hero may decide to let it rip Rambo style against the enemy in the shooting phase; you may reduce your heroes' BS for the turn to add 1 shot to any ONE weapon during this shooting phase; the new BS is used for all shots and you must declare this before rolling any To Hit rolls. Note that it's 1 shot, not extra shootings; a Rapid Fire Weapon therefore will roll 3 dice when in rapid fire range at -1 BS, not 4 dice. Note that if you reduce your BS to 0, all of your shots automatically miss, even if they would normally automatically hit regardless of your BS (such as Template Weapons). This cannot be used on a weapon that has the One Use rule (no matter how fast you shoot, the thing only has one bullet in it).


Scenario Special Rules: These are the rules that govern how the scenario plays out:

First To Fight: Instead of deciding randomly who goes first, the player with the lower initiative must place his model on the board first. The player with the higher Initiative model then places his and gets first turn. Other player may still Seize the Initiative as normal (multiple people trying to seize the initiative results in everyone who successfully passed the roll to roll another dice; highest of these results is considered to have seized the initiative. keep rolling among the highest if it's a tie).

Deepstrike, Infiltrate and Reserves: These rules are not used during deployment. Models with these rules (or rules affecting these) gain no compensated benefit from them. Note that models that can "leave" the board and then deepstrike back or move "using deepstrike rules" can still do so normally. Just no models may deploy using these methods or be held in reserve.

Single Combat: No models may be conjured or summoned during the course of the game, either by psychic powers or by a special rule (this includes most Khorne relic weapons and the Blood Tithe rule, if you somehow get that working). Each player gets 1 model and 1 model only.

Tailor-Made: Each model may select a Warlord Trait from any table they may normally select from. Psychic Powers are still generated as per normal.


Deployment:

For small games (roughly 2-4 people) use a 2'x2' board and each model must deploy no closer than 12" from each other. For 5-8 people, use a 3'x3' board with the same deployment restrictions. For 8+ people, use a 4'x4' board or greater, depending on your discretion (although do know that this means some players might not even make it across the board fast enough during the time). Roughly 30% of the board should be covered in some kind of terrain (again, at player's discretion).


Game Duration: 6 game turns (12 player turns in total, 6 per player)

Victory Conditions: Obviously if you kill your opponents' heroes, you automatically win the game regardless of anything else. If a model is removed and cannot come back with a special rule (such as running off the board or being removed to summon another model), then the model counts as being "killed". In the event that 6 game turns isn't enough to beat your opponent's face in, here are some victory points (note that you do not need to use them all based on the Heroes, such as two Tau Battlesuits will unlikely be getting "Master Swordsman". Similarly a Warboss VS a Khorne Lord will unlikely even understand the concept of "Master Marksman" or "Master Psyker". Discuss with your opponent beforehand.):

- First Blood: Whichever player inflicts the first Unsaved Wound gets 1 Victory Point
- Most Blood: Note how many wounds you inflict over the course of the game; whoever inflicts the most gets 1 victory point, even if he has less wounds overall at the end of the game. If there are any ties, no one gets a VP.
- Resilience: Whichever model has the most remaining wounds at the end of the game gets 1 VP. If there are any ties, no one gets a VP.
- Master Psyker: Used only when there are more than 1 Psyker in the game. Whichever Psyker manifests the most powers (note these during the game) gets 1 VP. A tie results in all psykers that are tied getting a VP. If no Powers were manifested at all (by anyone), no one gets a VP.
- Master Swordsman: Whichever model has the most hits in close combat gets 1 VP. A tie results in all models that are tied getting a VP. If no hits were made in close combat at all, no one gets a VP.
- Master Marksman: Whichever model has the most hits with ranged weapons gets 1 VP. A tie results in all models that are tied getting a VP. If no hits were made with ranged weapons at all, no one gets a VP (template weapons count as hits).
- Devious Plan: You get 1 Victory Point for Seizing the Initiative. Only the person that actually Seized the Initiative gets this Victory Points (not everyone who seized but tied).
- Champion among Champions: You get 2 Victory Points for each model you kill. This is only applicable in games with more than 2 players for obvious reasons. You only get a victory point for inflicting the last unsaved wound on a model or using a special rule to remove another model; models that run off the board or implode due to their own rules do not give this VP away.


I also intend on adding faction-specific Victory Conditions and special rules (the Chaos Space Marine one up there is a preliminary of this) so they can go towards new playstyles. Plus I'm pretty certain most of these rules are kinda unbalanced as it is (most of them heavily favour Close Combat) so it's still a work in progress, so please point out inconsistencies, unclear sections and things that I might have overlooked that could give an easy technical win (I really wanna cut down on things that can just result in one model being "poofed" in one turn). I'm aiming for an average playtime of about 1/2-1 hour (having 1 model per person really cuts down on the time).

Also I intentionally did not restrict heroes from being selected from outside the HQ section, as there are some non-HQ characters out there that operate alone (the assassins being the first that comes to mind) but if they get out of hand I can re-restrict them again.

Anyways, all feedback welcomed.