Post by kyrolon on Mar 1, 2007 13:58:03 GMT -5
Here is the scenario we played for my Week 3 Eldar Batrep -- some others might find it useful for exploring the passages of the Plucked Eye. If anyone plays it let me know how it went.
~Dan
Through the Hulk
Scenario: Various forces that have landed on the Plucked Eye are attempting to move through the interior tunnels and embedded corridors of ancient ships in order to learn what secrets it holds. The Plucked Eye is inhabited by nesting Tyranids, as is common for such hulks. The exploring force must move from the entrance area across the board to exit the map, or destroy the hive occupying this area.
Set Up: The terrain should be set up as a maze of tunnels with a couple of fair sized rooms and areas of rocky detritus and forests of stalagmites, or as a starship interior with hallways and open rooms. This can be done in any agreeable manner. Make sure to include one room as a starting area (preferably with a tunnel running off the board edge) and 2-3 exit hallways to keep the Tyranid player from stacking up to protect only one.
Deployment: The Tyranid player can deploy his forces anywhere in the cavern complex at least 15” from the starting room, and deploys first. The Exploring player may deploy his force only in the starting room. If the starting room is too small for his forces to fully deploy he may hold as much as he wishes off table. These units can enter as they wish from the tunnel leading off of the board edge in subsequent movement phases as they arrive from reserve. Since the starting area will be rather small the exploring player can always bring on at least half of the units in his army (round up) without having to make a reserve roll. In addition, as subsequent reserves become available they can be held until later turns to continue to prevent crowding. Any units not brought on by the end of the game are counted as destroyed for VP purposes.
Example: An Eldar player exploring the caverns does not want to have his entire force crowded into a single room. He chooses to deploy 2 units of the total of 8 in his force initially. In turn 2 he would automatically get 2 more units of his choice. The remaining 4 units would then begin rolling for arrival using the standard reserves rules. If he then had all four units show up, but either had no room for them, or wished to continue spreading his units out he could choose to withhold some of them until later turns. These units would then enter at his discretion without having to roll again.
Special Rules:
Force selection: The following units are not available to any army: Monstrous Creatures, Vehicles (including Walkers), Bikes, Jump Infantry, Artillery. These restrictions are due to the tight confines of the inside of the hulk. Put simply, only models on foot can navigate the narrow passages. (Note: while this excludes Tyranid Hive Tyrants and Carnifexes, it does not exclude Tyranid Warriors, Lictors, or Ranveners—all are adept at crawling through and fighting in such confined spaces). In addition to this the Tyranid player is allotted 75% of the points value used by the Exploring player. (this is necessary as the close assault nature of the ‘Nids is considerably more valuable in such an enclosed environment)
Tight spaces: Since the confines are likely to be very tight a few movement modifications are necessary. Friendly models do not block movement, though models may not occupy the same space. This is to represent the models squeezing past one another. If doing so however the unit trying to move past must make a difficult terrain test as they are slowed by the need to squeeze past.
Ambushes: To compensate somewhat for the lack of points, and to set the mood the Tyranid player is allotted 1 ambush per 500 points played in the scenario (based on the enemies total not the reduced Tyranid amount). They work as follows. At the beginning of turn 2 and onward the Tyranid player rolls one die as if rolling for reserves. If this would indicate a reserve unit showing up then he may place an ambush. To do so roll 1d6 to determine the ambushing force. 1 is 1 Genestealer, 2-3 is 2 Genestealers, 4-5 is 3 Genestealers, and 6 is a Lictor. The ambushing unit is immediately placed anywhere on the table and can move and assault normally. Continue rolling each turn until the Tyranid player has received all of his ambushes.
Design note: This rule was inspired while watching Aliens the other night. I wanted to have the feeling of bugs coming out of the walls without making it over the top.
Additional Scenario rules used: Concealment (Tyranids only), Deep Strike (only Raveners and Lictors*), Infiltrate, Random Game Length, Victory Points.
*Use the normal deepstrike rules, with the following additions. Lictors do not need to be placed in area terrain. If they deviate into "dead space" between tunnels place them at the nearest wall along the direction of the arrow instead. This will represent the Lictor emerging from the tunnel wall where it was hiding. In the case of Raveners use Deep strike as normal, but if they end up in the "dead space" leave them there. They will burrow from that point onward. To determine distance moved roll 3d6 and take the highest as if they were moving through difficult terrain.
Initiative: The Tyranids are quietly slumbering in their “hive” at the beginning of the scenario. As such the Exploring Player gets the first turn. Once he has moved the Tyranids are alerted to his presence.
Victory conditions: Use Victory points to determine the winner. In addition to those earned by destroying enemy models the Exploring player receives VP’s equal to any scoring unit that manages to make it through the complex and off the table via one of the exits.
Game Length: The game lasts 6 turns plus the random game length. This may need to be adjusted if the terrain is expansive, or particularly twisting in nature, as the explorers need to be able to walk from entrance to exit using approximately 4 turns of movement. Any further than this, and they may not be able to achieve their objective even unopposed!
In our playing of the scenario we found that the number of turns needed to be almost waived completely. In the tunnels you end up with only a couple of models fighting at a time, and due to the Tyranids fearless nature they have to be killed 3 or 4 at a time at best. I would recommend playing based mostly on VP's for eliminating units with the Exploring player getting bonuses for actually getting people all the way through the tunnels in the original allotted time. For our game we used a special rule for the ambushing genestealers only. They were of a new breed which dampens psychic abilites within a 6" radius of them. No powers could be used in this area. This was to tie into the current Eldar plotline for the campaign.
~Dan
Through the Hulk
Scenario: Various forces that have landed on the Plucked Eye are attempting to move through the interior tunnels and embedded corridors of ancient ships in order to learn what secrets it holds. The Plucked Eye is inhabited by nesting Tyranids, as is common for such hulks. The exploring force must move from the entrance area across the board to exit the map, or destroy the hive occupying this area.
Set Up: The terrain should be set up as a maze of tunnels with a couple of fair sized rooms and areas of rocky detritus and forests of stalagmites, or as a starship interior with hallways and open rooms. This can be done in any agreeable manner. Make sure to include one room as a starting area (preferably with a tunnel running off the board edge) and 2-3 exit hallways to keep the Tyranid player from stacking up to protect only one.
Deployment: The Tyranid player can deploy his forces anywhere in the cavern complex at least 15” from the starting room, and deploys first. The Exploring player may deploy his force only in the starting room. If the starting room is too small for his forces to fully deploy he may hold as much as he wishes off table. These units can enter as they wish from the tunnel leading off of the board edge in subsequent movement phases as they arrive from reserve. Since the starting area will be rather small the exploring player can always bring on at least half of the units in his army (round up) without having to make a reserve roll. In addition, as subsequent reserves become available they can be held until later turns to continue to prevent crowding. Any units not brought on by the end of the game are counted as destroyed for VP purposes.
Example: An Eldar player exploring the caverns does not want to have his entire force crowded into a single room. He chooses to deploy 2 units of the total of 8 in his force initially. In turn 2 he would automatically get 2 more units of his choice. The remaining 4 units would then begin rolling for arrival using the standard reserves rules. If he then had all four units show up, but either had no room for them, or wished to continue spreading his units out he could choose to withhold some of them until later turns. These units would then enter at his discretion without having to roll again.
Special Rules:
Force selection: The following units are not available to any army: Monstrous Creatures, Vehicles (including Walkers), Bikes, Jump Infantry, Artillery. These restrictions are due to the tight confines of the inside of the hulk. Put simply, only models on foot can navigate the narrow passages. (Note: while this excludes Tyranid Hive Tyrants and Carnifexes, it does not exclude Tyranid Warriors, Lictors, or Ranveners—all are adept at crawling through and fighting in such confined spaces). In addition to this the Tyranid player is allotted 75% of the points value used by the Exploring player. (this is necessary as the close assault nature of the ‘Nids is considerably more valuable in such an enclosed environment)
Tight spaces: Since the confines are likely to be very tight a few movement modifications are necessary. Friendly models do not block movement, though models may not occupy the same space. This is to represent the models squeezing past one another. If doing so however the unit trying to move past must make a difficult terrain test as they are slowed by the need to squeeze past.
Ambushes: To compensate somewhat for the lack of points, and to set the mood the Tyranid player is allotted 1 ambush per 500 points played in the scenario (based on the enemies total not the reduced Tyranid amount). They work as follows. At the beginning of turn 2 and onward the Tyranid player rolls one die as if rolling for reserves. If this would indicate a reserve unit showing up then he may place an ambush. To do so roll 1d6 to determine the ambushing force. 1 is 1 Genestealer, 2-3 is 2 Genestealers, 4-5 is 3 Genestealers, and 6 is a Lictor. The ambushing unit is immediately placed anywhere on the table and can move and assault normally. Continue rolling each turn until the Tyranid player has received all of his ambushes.
Design note: This rule was inspired while watching Aliens the other night. I wanted to have the feeling of bugs coming out of the walls without making it over the top.
Additional Scenario rules used: Concealment (Tyranids only), Deep Strike (only Raveners and Lictors*), Infiltrate, Random Game Length, Victory Points.
*Use the normal deepstrike rules, with the following additions. Lictors do not need to be placed in area terrain. If they deviate into "dead space" between tunnels place them at the nearest wall along the direction of the arrow instead. This will represent the Lictor emerging from the tunnel wall where it was hiding. In the case of Raveners use Deep strike as normal, but if they end up in the "dead space" leave them there. They will burrow from that point onward. To determine distance moved roll 3d6 and take the highest as if they were moving through difficult terrain.
Initiative: The Tyranids are quietly slumbering in their “hive” at the beginning of the scenario. As such the Exploring Player gets the first turn. Once he has moved the Tyranids are alerted to his presence.
Victory conditions: Use Victory points to determine the winner. In addition to those earned by destroying enemy models the Exploring player receives VP’s equal to any scoring unit that manages to make it through the complex and off the table via one of the exits.
Game Length: The game lasts 6 turns plus the random game length. This may need to be adjusted if the terrain is expansive, or particularly twisting in nature, as the explorers need to be able to walk from entrance to exit using approximately 4 turns of movement. Any further than this, and they may not be able to achieve their objective even unopposed!
In our playing of the scenario we found that the number of turns needed to be almost waived completely. In the tunnels you end up with only a couple of models fighting at a time, and due to the Tyranids fearless nature they have to be killed 3 or 4 at a time at best. I would recommend playing based mostly on VP's for eliminating units with the Exploring player getting bonuses for actually getting people all the way through the tunnels in the original allotted time. For our game we used a special rule for the ambushing genestealers only. They were of a new breed which dampens psychic abilites within a 6" radius of them. No powers could be used in this area. This was to tie into the current Eldar plotline for the campaign.
