Monday, October 18, 2010

Battle for the Cave Multiplayer Warhammer Scenario

This scenario is the second part of a two-game mini-campaign. The first part is the Clash of Scouts scenario I posted previously. In our case, the Dwarf player won the first game, so the scenario is written with that taken into account, but it should be easy to figure out how to make it generic, giving whoever won the first game the bonuses I give to the Dwarf army in this scenario.

The Dwarf scout force has driven off the scouts from the other armies and is the first to discover the secret location of the cave that is rumored to contain a great treasure. The scouts of all armies have sent messengers back to their main forces with word of the location of the dwarf scout force. Now all three armies converge on the cave to battle for control of the treasure.

The Armies
Each player selects a 1500 point army using the normal army selection rules. Any models that survived the first battle can be taken for free and can be combined with other models or units in any way that results in legal units, but only include the points of the models you are adding. All percentages are calculated for the new part of the army and don’t include any point values for things you are taking for free. So if you add 150 points worth of models to a surviving core unit, that’s 150 points counted towards your core allowance for the army. Just make sure the 1500 points of new stuff you are adding follows all the percentages and rules for a legal army.

The Battlefield
The battlefield will represent an area in the foothills of the Grey Mountains. In the exact center of the table will be the cave rumored to contain the treasure. The cave can only be entered from the direction of the cave opening, and only one unit can occupy the cave at a time. To enter, the unit must move into contact with the cave opening. At the end of the movement phase, it occupies the cave. A unit can assault an occupied cave, but only one at a time and only through the opening. The units fight as normal, but the defenders always count as steadfast and the attackers will never count as steadfast. If the defenders lose the combat and break, they are wiped out as they are assumed to have fled deep into the cave system and gotten scattered and lost in the dark. The attackers can then occupy the cave if they wish to, or they can reform. If the defender wins, the loser takes a break test as normal. If there is a draw or neither side breaks, the combat will continue in the next turn. The attacking unit stays at the cave entrance and can be assaulted by other units as normal. The unit in the cave can be shot at as normal if they can be seen through the opening, but since there will be many places to hide they count as in hard cover.

Deployment
Deploy as in the Battle Royale scenario in the rulebook (page 406), except that there will only be an army deploying in the middle if there are 5 players. Also, units can’t be deployed within 12” of a table edge that is not their own. If there is no player in the middle of the table, then armies deployed on the short table edges can deploy 12” on instead of 6”. Since the Dwarfs won the first game, the Dwarf army will have first choice of deployment zone and will go first. The other players roll off as normal.

(To summarize the Battle Royale deployment rules: Each player rolls a die (roll off ties). The person with the lowest score sets up his entire army in a 16”x24” section in the middle of the table. Then go in descending order with each person picking a free table edge and deploying their army (except for anything kept in reserve) within 6” of their table edge and more than 10” away from an enemy unit. As noted above, I’ve made some changes to this.)

Since the Dwarfs were first to discover the cave with their scouts, any units made up entirely out of models from the Dwarf army that survived the first game can deploy at the beginning of the game. Everything else will deploy differently depending on how each of the armies chooses to approach the battlefield. Each player will secretly select one of the following deployment options (meaning you will tell me which deployment option you choose, but do not tell the other players):

Forced March: By marching day and night the army is pushed so its forward elements will arrive upon the battlefield very quickly. The player may deploy up to half his army (by number of units, rounded up) at the start of the game. Remaining units will enter play on a roll of 3+ at the start of each following turn, entering using the rules for reinforcements.

March: The army advances as a whole, but maintains regular speed. The entire army can enter play from anywhere along its deployment board edge at the start of Turn 2. Units that enter play in this manner do so using the rules for reinforcements.

Flank Attack: The player can move up to half of his army (by number of units, rounded up) onto the table anywhere along the table edge of his deployment zone at the start of Turn 2. At the start of each subsequent turn roll for each remaining unit. On a score of 3+ the unit can come in from either their own table edge of either flanking edge. Units entering play in this manner use the rules for reinforcements.

First Turn
The players move in the order in which they choose deployment zones. The game will use the turn sequence from the Battle Royale scenario in the rulebook. To summarize: In the movement phase each player completes all their movement in turn. Then there is a combined magic phase. The player who went first rolls 2D6 for the Winds of Magic, and all players use that roll for magic and dispel dice. (you should all bring at least two different colors of dice with so that you can have your magic and dispel dice in front of you, since it will save a lot of time if it is completely clear how many power and dispel dice everyone has left) In the shooting phase, again each player in turn does all of their shooting. Then there is a single close combat phase where everyone fights.

Game Length
The game will last 8 turns.

Victory Conditions
The army that has a unit occupying the cave at the end of the game is the winner.

Secret Rules
Unbeknownst to the players, there was a dragon inside the cave guarding the treasure. The first unit to attempt to enter the cave discovers this, and must fight the dragon exactly as if they were fighting against an enemy unit already occupying the cave. Since the dragon is unbreakable, someone will have to slay it before any other unit can occupy the cave.

In addition, I came up with the following army specific special rules for each army, which were told to that player but kept secret from the other players.

Elves: Your army’s goal is not to capture the treasure for yourselves, but to prevent the lesser races from getting any of it. If there no enemy unit in the cave at the end of the game, it counts as the Elves controlling the cave.

Dwarfs: One unit of up to 20 miners may be selected to tunnel into the cave. If the cave is unoccupied when they arrive, they occupy it. If it is occupied, they automatically count as charging the occupying unit in the rear. The combat will be resolved as described for the rules for the cave, except that the defenders do not count as steadfast, and should they flee they will flee out the cave mouth. Should the attacking miners be forced to flee, they will scatter into the depths of the cave and be lost. If neither side flees, then the combat will continue the same way in the next turn.
Also, because the Dwarf scouts got the better of the scouts of the other armies, the Dwarf army will know which deployment option the other armies have chosen before they choose theirs.

Warriors of Chaos: One of your heroes has made a pledge to the dark gods he will capture the great treasure in the cave for them. You may choose one of your heroes to have made the pledge. At the end of each movement phase, if that character is closer to the cave than at the start of the movement phase, or if he occupies the cave, he may roll on the Eye of the Gods table. However, if he is ever farther from the cave at the end of his movement phase than at the start, he must take a leadership test. If he fails, he turns into a chaos spawn.

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