NH2016 - WH40K - Mission 1: Break Through

[Primarch]

+++Enemy presence detected+++
+++Enemy numbers unknown+++
+++Enemy position unknown+++
+++Deploy a small recconaissance force to penetrate the enemy lines and provide actionable intelligence+++

Force Selection
>500 Points<
Compulsory
1 Fast Attack
Optional
1 Fast Attack
3 Troops
Additional Restrictions
No Flyers
No Flying Monstrous Creatures
No Unit of more than 200 Points

Scenario Rules
All forces must be deployed at the start of the mission, no units may be held in reserve.
Infiltrators may only deploy in your half of the table.
Starting from turn 4, your units may exit the table from the enemy board edge during the movement phase. (No running, turbo boosting, or movement conducted in any other phases can take your unit off the enemy board edge).
At the end of the game, players get 1 Victory Point for each of their units which left the table from the enemy board edge. The 2 players with the most VP win the scenario. The 2 players with the fewest VP lose the scenario.
There are no additional objectives. (First Blood, etc.)

Any units which successfully left the table are to be put to one side. Casualties are NOT replaced. These units will form a reserve force for Mission 3.

[job]

This looks really cool with the alternative force organization chart. Reminds me of 3rd Ed. I hope I can play.

[me_in_japan]

What size will the tables be?

[Primarch]

Same as usual, 6 by 4. So assuming you deploy as far forward as possible, you'll need to cover 3 feet in 6 turns to score. Shouldn't be a problem for the more swooshy armies or if you have a transport or two to give you a boost. There should be 4 players to a table, all moving in different directions while trying to stop 2 of the other players.

[me_in_japan]

Aha - that 4 players to a table is important. I had been thinking along the lines of "what if...I took all jetbikes, bunkered up in a corner as far away as possible from the opponent's 500pts (thus unlikely to be able to cover all 6ft of their table edge) and then on turn 3 just zip right across, ready to waltz my whole army off on turn 4. For added lulz I could take as many long-ranged guns as possible in the hope of knocking some of em out before I went."

Not that I'd ever actually do such a thing, but I do tend towards identifying breakables in scenarios. Fwiw, eldar jetbikes can move 48" a turn, although 36" of that is turbo boost so can't be used to exit the table.

[Miguelsan]

Cannot do Prim. The compulsory part breaks the scenario for me. Some armies have many options for fast attacks but others struggle to put a decent unit there.

Let's say I want to use my IG this time. IG has 5 fast attack options. You discounted the most popular ones due to being flyers. So they are left with the horrible, horrible roughriders (that are oop btw), Hellhounds or Sentinels. I do have neither and my interest to buy some from GW is between zero and none, and I wouldn't get some roughriders even if they were free. What I'm supposed to do in that case?

I think limiting some options is nice and I agree there but making something compulsory might make some armies a no go.

M.

[Miguelsan]

That me Mr I ignore what GW has to sell refuses to even use alternate figures for IG Fast attack should tell you guys what I think of it. In a pinch I could go proxy an armored car for a sentinel or use Krieg FW list but frankly my idea of IG refuses to recognize that the Fast Attack slot even exists.

M.

Edited b/c I was responding to a message Prim deleted.

[Primarch]

Cannot do Prim. The compulsory part breaks the scenario for me. Some armies have many options for fast attacks but others struggle to put a decent unit there.

Let's say I want to use my IG this time. IG has 5 fast attack options. You discounted the most popular ones due to being flyers. So they are left with the horrible, horrible roughriders (that are oop btw), Hellhounds or Sentinels. I do have neither and my interest to buy some from GW is between zero and none, and I wouldn't get some roughriders even if they were free. What I'm supposed to do in that case?

I think limiting some options is nice and I agree there but making something compulsory might make some armies a no go.

M.

Sentinel proxies are easy to come by in Japan.

Note that while you are limited to one codex per army, you don't have to use the same army from game to game. So, you could use your Eldar for game 1 with their superior fast attack choices and then switch to your IG from game 2.

The alternate army selection is meant to encourage people to try out different things and new tactics. Rather than sticking with the tried and tested army you usually bring, try mixing it up. I'm hoping (though I figure it won't happen), that people DO bring along units that they wouldn't otherwise consider, just to try them out.

[me_in_japan]

Hum. I wrote a big long post about my thought on this, but on re-reading it it came across as a bit negative, and I appreciate Prim is putting a lot of time and effort into this. *MiJ nods respectfully towards Prim*

Basically, what I'm thinking is: it's very hard to build a balanced scenario. I think this one maybe isn't. What do folks think about this? I have ideas, but I don't know if they're wanted or not. T'aint my event, after all, and I don't want to step on Prim's toes as I understand the effort he's putting into this.

[Primarch]

The scenario offers equal victory conditions for all players and you have 6 months to think about how to achieve them. That's about as balanced as you can get.
Different armies will find it easier or more difficult to achieve the objectives, but this is true for every scenario.

An Eldar force can quite probably zoom 5 units of jetbikes over the table and score easily.
An IG force can march/run 10 plus units across the table and beat the Eldar player on VP through weight of numbers.
An Ork player can take a bunch of Warbikes and charge into either the IG or Eldar and smash their units before blitzing through and off the table.

Warhammer is not and never has been a balanced game, there are simply too many variables in the lists and units available.

If people would rather just play 1500 point pick up games with the regular missions from the core book, that's fine too. It saves me a bit of effort. All you have to do is ask.