Any simpleton can fend off the enemies of man with the aid of a swarm of mindless minions. It takes a real hero to stand alone and brave wave after relentless wave of insatiable foes. Fame and Glory are offered as a prize to those who are not to be found wanting on this field of battle. Race is of no consequence in this arena, only strength of character. Champions of all ilk are invited to test their mettle by participating in the 40k Last Stand Tournament!
This scenario is based on DoW2's last stand game mode. For those of you not familiar with The Last Stand or DoW2, it involves a team of three 40k characters each controlled by a single person battling wave upon wave of enemies. These rules are an attempt to create something similar in tabletop form.
Selecting Characters:
Each player selects a character and wargear from any legal 40k codex. ‘The Last Stand’ uses 3 heroes but this tabletop version allows for any number of heroes. The following restrictions apply to character selection
- Any named character or HQ choice from any army list is acceptable. For example, an Ork Warboss (HQ choice for Orks) kitted out however you want is acceptable as is Mephiston, Lord of Death (Blood Angels special character).
- Similarly, characters who are not HQ choices but are named are also acceptable. For example, Brother Corbulo or Boss Zagstruk
- There is no points limit for selecting characters; however you must comply with whatever restrictions are imposed on them from the codex they are listed in. For older codices this means that if you select an unnamed HQ choice, your champion has a 100point wargear limit. For newer codices this means you are limited to the specific options listed next to the character entry.
- Characters are not permitted Retinues. In most situations this means your character will be fighting as a single unit in his/her self. Exceptions to this are units that are compulsory or may be purchased as wargear. For example, Ghazghkul Thraka may purchase ammo runts, Chaplain Grimaldus must take a retinue of cenobyte servitors, Inquisitors from Codex: Witch Hunters are required to take a retinue of henchmen, Tau battle suits may take a drone controller.
Scenario Special Rules:
To make the scenario last longer than the first round I have added/removed a few special rules that I think aid the enjoyment and longevity of the game. The first four of these rules are simple adaptations using rules already found in 40k, and will hopefully be easy to grasp. The rules concerning wound regeneration and abilities are ones that I have devised myself and may take a little more effort to grasp.
1. All Characters lose the 'Independent Character' rule, meaning they cannot join a squad with other characters
2. All Characters gain the 'Eternal Warrior' rule meaning they cannot be instant killed.
3. All Characters who do not have an invulnerable save or who have an invulnerable save that is worse than 4+, gain a 4+ invulnerable save.
4. All Character gain the ‘Inertial Guidance System’ special rule, as listed in the drop pod entry. This means they are unable to perish from deep striking.
Wound Regeneration
1. Characters regenerate a wound after every round. This regenerated wound cannot bring them above the wound statistic listed in their character entry
2. Should your character perish, but at least one ally manages to survive the current wave, your character will return to play at the beginning of the next wave with a single wound remaining. This means that in order to lose the game altogether, every character must be dead at the same time. Characters held in reserve are counted as dead for these purposes
3. Should a model accompanying a character die (e.g. an inquisitorial henchmen) they will not return to play. However, at the end of each wave when a character regenerates a wound, they may choose to allocate this new wound to an accompanying model that has lost a wound. If a character chooses to do this then they themselves do not regenerate a wound as they have donated it to another model.
4. Characters may not donate a regenerated wound to another player’s character or accompanying model
Abilities
1. Characters that possess abilities that are usually allowed to be used once per battle, may instead use these abilities once per wave. Similarly, abilities that are normally used up during the course of a battle are refreshed at the beginning of each wave so that they may be used again. For example, an Ork Waaagh!, Orbital Barrage, Dark Eldar Shadow Field
2. Characters that possess abilities that affect all friendly models in the same squad or all friendly models within a certain range instead affect ALL friendly models (characters AND any accompanying models) regardless of these factors. For example, a Blood Angels librarian that uses the psychic power Unleash Rage, usually grants his squad the ‘Preferred Enemy’ rule, in these rules however, all friendly models would gain the ‘Preferred Enemy’ rule. Similarly, Inquisitor Lord Karamazov usually allows all friendly models within 12” to reroll failed morale and pinning tests, in these rules, all friendly models would be able to do so regardless of how far away they are.
Set-Up & Terrain
‘The Last Stand’ is played on a 4’ x 4’ board with as much or as little terrain as those involved desired. Terrain can be placed in any manner deemed fit by those involved. As with any 40k game, players should agree which items of terrain are impassable, difficult and dangerous as the terrain is set-up.
Characters deploy before the waves begin and may start anywhere on the game board. During the game, Characters take their turns simultaneously, but follow the normal 40k structure.
Waves
-Each wave follows the normal rules for a 40k battle except that there is no set number of turns. Each wave ends after either all enemies or all champions are defeated.
-At the beginning of each wave, enemy squads enter play from a randomly determined board edge. This move is treated exactly as if the squad had just entered play from reserve, therefore the squads may shoot and assault as per normal.
-Enemies capable of deep striking are free to do so as per the normal 40k rules.
-No reserve rolls are necessary for any enemy squads as they all enter play on the first turn of the wave.
Wave Control and Composition
Wave Control
Who controls the waves is a very flexible thing. This may be done by a single person, who takes on the role of controlling all the enemies in each wave. Whilst testing these rules I found that a designated enemy controller is not really necessary. Players are more than capable of rolling dice for the enemies as well as their own characters. When it comes to moving, shooting and assaulting with enemy models, players were quite happy to take it in turns to move a squad. I guess it’s a case of whatever works for your group.
Wave Composition
I feel that the contents of the waves should wary from game to game so it should be up to the players involved to work this out for each game. I find that designating a point limit to each wave is slightly inefficient; instead players should use their own discretion when creating waves. However, the following should be kept in mind:
-Each wave should be harder than the one previous
-Every fourth wave should be something unique. In the games I tested this was achieved by adding an HQ unit to the line up every fourth wave, whereas all other waves were devoid of HQ choices.
If you decide upon using a designated enemy controller then it may make things more interesting to keep the contents of each wave hidden until the players are about to battle them. As a general guide, I have posted below the composition of the waves that I used when testing the game.
Example Waves
Wave 1:
Inquisitorial Stormtroopers x5
Plasma gun, Veteran
Inquisitorial Stormtroopers x5
Plasma gun, Veteran
Inquisitorial Stormtroopers x5
Plasma gun, Veteran
Wave 2:
Ork Boyz x10 (shootas)
Big Shoota, Nob
Ork Boyz x10 (shootas)
Big Shoota, Nob
Wave 3:
Blood Angels Assault Marines x5
Plasma Pistols, Sergeant, Plasma pistol
Blood Angels Assault Marines x5
Plasma Pistols, Sergeant, Plasma pistol
Blood Angels Assault Marines x5
Plasma Pistols, Sergeant, Plasma pistol
Wave 4:
Ordo Hereticus Inquisitor
Null Rod, Con Bolter, Psyocculum, Power Armour
Vindicare Assassin
Vindicare Assassin
Wave 5:
Space Marine Tactical Squad (10man)
Plasma gun, Missile Launcher, Sergeant, Power Weapon
Space Marine Tactical Squad (10man)
Plasma gun, Missile Launcher, Sergeant, Power Weapon
Space Marine Tactical Squad (10man)
Plasma gun, Missile Launcher, Sergeant, Power Weapon
Wave 6:
Sisters of Battle x10
Meltagun x2, Imagifier, VSS, Book of St Lucius, Eviscerator, Rhino, Extra Armour
Sisters of Battle x10
Meltagun x2, Imagifier, VSS, Book of St Lucius, Eviscerator, Rhino, Extra Armour
Seraphimn x8
Infernus pistols x2, VSS, Book of St Lucius, Eviscerator
Wave 7:
Ork Boyz x10 (Sluggas)
Nob, Power Klaw, Trukk, Red Paint, Grot Riggers
Ork Boyz x10 (Sluggas)
Nob, Power Klaw, Trukk, Red Paint, Grot Riggers
War Buggy
Deffkoptas x3
Buzzsaw, Bigbomm
Wave 8:
Death Company Tycho
Astorath
Death Company Marines x5
Power Weapon, Power Fist, Infernus pistol, Jump Packs
Death Company Marines x5
Power Weapon, Power Fist, Infernus pistol, Jump Packs, Chaplain Lemartes
Death Company Marines x5 (bolters)
Death Company Dreadnaught
Talons
Wave 9:
Blood Claws x15
Meltagun x2, Power Fist, Lukas the Trickster
Wolf Guard x5
Terminator Armour, Wolf Claws x1, Assault Cannon, Mark of Wulfen, Frost Axe x1, Arjac
Lone Wolf
Stormshield, Mark of Wulfen
Lone Wolf
Stormshield, Mark of Wulfen
Long Fangs x5
Plasma Cannon x2, Missile Launcher x2, Plasma gun
Wave 10:
XV8 Battle Suits x3
Burst Cannons, Missile Pods, Multitrackers
Fire Warriors x12
Photon Grenades, Shas’ui, Markerlight, Drone Controller, Multitracker, Gun Drone x2
XV88
Multitracker
Hammerhead Gunship
Ion Cannon, Smart Missile System, Target Lock, Decoy launchers, Disruption Pod, Flachette Discharger
Skyray Missile Gunship
Smart Missile System, Targeting Array, Multitracker, Flachette Discharger, Disruption Pod, Decoy Launcher
Wave 11:
Monolith x3
Warriors x10
Warriors x10
Warriors x10
Warriors x10
Warriors x10
Warriors x10
Scarab Swarms x5
Scarab Swarms x5
Scarab Swarms x5
Wave 12:
The Nightbringer
