The Mission: Seizing the Warpstone Meteorites
This is a strange mission.
The TO insisted that it’s just out of the main rule book… the big
one. I don’t actually own the big
rule book, so I’m taking his word for it.
The only other time I know I’ve played one of those back area missions
was at the Las Vegas Throne of Skulls where we played the one where the table
is divided into 6 sections and deployment is through those. That was also really weird, so I
believe this could also be mixed in there. Suffice it to say, this mission was a reader, and I heard of
more than one game where one person was thinking they were dominating (by
victory points) only to find they had a very solid loss at the end of the game.
First step – place into the center of each table quarter a warpstone
meteor. At the beginning of your
turn roll for each unit within 6” of the meteor (making the trick to only grab
on the final turn).
1:
Toxic Warpstone: The unit takes d6 s6 hits per rank with armor piercing
2:
Duh! Until the next turn, the unit acts as if it failed a stupidity test. If in combat, treat the unit as WS1.
3:
FLEE! The warpstone meteor causes a panic test, which the unit automatically
fails. (this was ruled to effect any unit, even those immune to panic)
4:
GRRR! The unit gains Frenzy unit it loses combat. If it already has frenzy, it gains +1A until its next turn.
5:
Precognition: The unit gains +1I and LD until the start of its next turn.
6:
Generous Mutations: Suffer 1d6 S4 hits, then gains +1S for the rest of the
game.
Game lasts a maximum of 8 turns.
Bonus Objectives
The Nearest non-fleeing core unit within 6” of a warpstone meteor at
the end of the game controls it.
Instead of victory points give 5 points per warpstone controlled, 3
points for killing enemy General, 2 points for killing enemy BSB and 1 point
for each warmachine or large target killed. Difference in points determines win:
Difference Win Loss
0-2 10 10
3-4 12 8
5-6 14 6
7-8 16 4
9-10 18 2
11+ 20 0
The List
Daemon Price, Mark of Tzeentch, Level 4 Wizard, Lore of Tzeentch, Chaos
Armor, Daemonic Flight, Charmed Shield, Scaled Skin, Soul Feeder, The Other
Tricksters Shard, Dragonbane Gem
Exalted Hero, Mark of Nurgle, Daemonic Mount, Great Weapon, Ironcurse
Icon, Talisman of Preservation
Chaos Sorcerer, Mark of Tzeentch, Level 2 Wizard, Lore of Metal,
Enchanted Shield, Chaos Familiar, Dawn Stone
23 Chaos Warriors, Mark of Tzeentch, full command
Chaos Chariot, Mark of Tzeentch
Chaos Chariot, Mark of Tzeentch
Chaos Chariot, Mark of Slannesh
Chaos Chariot, Mark of Slannesh
5 Marauder Horseman, Spear, Throwing Axes, Shield, Musician
5 Marauder Horseman, Mark of Slannash, Flail, Musician
5 Warhounds
5 Warhounds
8 Chaos Knights, Mark of Nurgle, Full Command
6 Skullcrushers of Khorn, Musician, Banner
Magic
My Level 2 wizard rolled up Warp Lightening and Howling Warpgale. My Grey Seer snagged 2 warpstone tokens
and got Bless with Filth, Curse of the Horned Rat, Cracks Call and Cloud of
Corruption. Not good spells for
this match up.
Larry rolled up Searing Doom, Glittering Rob and Final Transmutation on
his metal wizard with his Tzeentch getting Blue Fire, Glean Magic, Firestorm
and Infernal Gateway.
Deployment: Pick Your Deployment
The mission came with 3 options, picked in secret and reveled at the
same time.
Forced March: Battleline
deployment. Half of the units
deploy (round down). At the start
of each turn, roll the other units may come on with a 3+. All units are automatically on turn 4.
March: No units deploy, but
all come on during turn 2.
Flank Attack: Half (round
down) of the army comes on long board edge turn 2. Starting turn 3, roll a 3+ for each other unit which may
come on from your deployment edge or either short edge.
For deployment we both took March. I didn’t have any warmachines or random moves so starting on
the board wasn’t a must. The judge
ruled that if you marched you couldn’t scout and so I chose to sneaky infiltrate
all three gutter runner units. I
also put my token down at midpoint (did you know that with 3 units of gutter
runners, and a 18 man night runner unit and considering the 1” rule and
position I could cover 58 inches with my units should they all come on the
board at the same time? [That assumes a 1.5 gap on either end, all the units
strung out 1 model wide and 2.5 inches in between.] That would leave him just 15 inches to move his army
onto. Not quite blocking, but
really giving me an advantage as his entire army couldn’t come on at the same
time.
I decide not to do that though, and put my token farther back. The odds aren’t high enough to make the
try, and it assumes I go first (50% chance of going first, plus 50% chance each
unit will come on, plus 50% chance or so that the Night Runners won’t drift to
a place I don’t want them to be or 1/64 times for those keeping track).
I also put both assassins into the stormvermin (no surprise, but gotta
be complete right?)
We roll off and I go first.
Sucks because that will limit my shooting and magic. Would also mean that Larry would have a
turn to respond to my last turn objective grab but not me to his.
[I like this mission; with the exception of the warpstone table (skaven
should be immune!). I think most
armies would choose march, unless you or your opponent has warmachines, in
which case Forced March is the obvious choice. I don’t see much reason to choose Flank Attack, as it means
you can’t charge until turn 4, best case.
I suppose if you are playing a avoidance army, or want to hide a
specific unit from your opponent, but really March would cover that as
well. I suppose Flank Attack would
let you get to every objective with a core unit easily.]
Turn 1 – Skaven
Nothing to do.
Turn 1 – Warriors of Chaos
Nothing to do.
Fastest round ever.
Turn 2 – Skaven
And what do you know… they all come on and the Night Runners even role
a bull’s-eye. I don’t block him
off much, but do give myself the left corner (there are two objectives there!)
and much of the center (to limit what can move into the left corner, figuring I
can clear it or pin it).
I think Larry was upset that I chose to limit his deployment even the
little bit that I did. I tried not
to be too much of an ass, but by controlling 2 objectives I made sure I wasn’t
going to be able to get any big losses (could still lose if I lost BSB or
General).
Fellblade does a wound.
Turn 2 – Warriors of Chaos
Larry paused a little before bringing on his units. He seemed unhappy that I had blocked
off any of his deployment zone, even though I left him gaps in the center and
an entire flank. He deployed
protectively of his easy targets and big ticket Daemon Prince. In the left side gap he brought on a
chariot to clear the left unit of gutter runners and his skull crushers to take
out a center unit of gutter runners.
On the left he brought on the warriors to face the last unit of gutter
runners and then placed everything else with the knights and chariots in front.
Larry rolled up a 7/5 magic phase, a started with a 2D blue fire on the
gutter runners which I allowed. He
kills 3 and I pass my panic. He
then 5D gateways the other center unit of gutter runners which I dispel. The hit unit of gutter runners fails
his T test, but makes the one wardsave required.
Turn 3 – Skaven
I move the gutter runners to try to delay their deaths, after all I
want to keep his flanks open for my stormvermin. The fail the march tests with the center units. In the center I move up, and on the
right and left I pull back to avoid charges.
I roll a 6/5 magic phase.
I throw a 2D Bless with Filth on the gutter runners I’m sure will be
charged. I then cast howling warp
gale. He allows both. I don’t bother with the last 2 dice as
he is still holding 5.
In shooting I put 2 wounds on the left chariot and 1 wound on the
center chariot.
Turn 3 – Warriors of Chaos
Larry starts off by charging all three gutter runner units. On the left the chariot fails, but
makes 6 saves from the stand in shoot.
In the center the skullcrushers take 2 wounds and the tree kills the
model off. The warriors lose
1. Both in the center are
automatically in thanks to the fail marches.
Larry rolls a 7/3 magic phase thanks to channels. He 3D glittering robes on the warriors,
which I allow. He then 4D gateway
on my stormvermin which I fail to dispel.
Thanks to the MR3 in the unit I only take 4 from the 10 S6 hits.
In combats both GR units fail to push through the armor. One unit loses 2 and the other 9. Both flee and get away.
Turn 4 – Skaven
No charges to start the turn.
The larger center gutter runner unit rallies and the solo runner fails,
runs through a building, fails his dangerous terrain and then also his ward
save and then dies due to wall.
Hilarious.
My gutter runners on the left back up and the center moves
forward. The night runners reform
to limit charges from the chariots.
The darts get in position as much as possible.
I roll a 7/6 magic phase.
I start with a 2D warp lightening on the daemon price with the goal of
just knocking off the charmed shield.
I do that but don’t get any wounds through. I then 2D howling warpgale again. I then decide not to throw my last 3D to his 6… my spells
were that bad.
The gutter runners kill the left chariot and claim the flank.
Turn 4 – Warriors of Chaos
The turn begins and Larry has left 2 units within distance of his right
warpstone. His knights gain
frfenzy and the marauders take a wound and get +1S.
The knights charge the weapons team which flees and then redirects into
the night runners, which also flee.
The warrors charge the rallied gutter runners, which makes their
saves. The Skullcrushers hold from
charging.
Larry rolls a 12/6 magic phase.
He starts with a 3D glean magic, which I dispel. I then dispel the 2D blue fire and
scroll the 6D final transmutation.
In the combat, I lose 1 gutter runner and flee. He restrains to stay away from the
stormvermin.
Turn 5 – Skaven
Due to my charges I now have 2 units near the right warpstone. The night runners gain frenzy. The weapons team takes a bunch of hits,
which it lives through and then gains +1S (worthless as its weapon
overrides). Both rally but the
gutter runners don’t.
I move up, putting a dart just outside of 6” on the far left (and
therefore in striking distance of 3.
I move up more in the center and launch the cloud of engineers.
I roll a 6/4 magic phase.
I go first for Howling Warp Gale but roll 2 1s. I then roll 6D (using tokens) at Curse
of the Horned rat, get no 6s and a 30.
He hits 6s with his 4 dice.
Turn 5 – Warriors of Chaos
The knights now being the only unit with 6” of a token gain +1S and
fail to take a wound. He then
makes 5 charges. The only one to
fail was the chariot on the right trying to cross over to charge the night
runners. The 4 that make it are,
right chariot hitting weapons team, marauders charging giant rats, center
chariot charging an engineer and the daemon price charging the left unit of
slaves.
Larry rolls a 4/2 magic phase and fails a 4D final transmutation at the
Stormvermin.
In combat the chariot kills the engineer and overruns into the Stormvermin. The giant rats and marauders each do 1
wound to the other, but the horse does another and I flee. He holds. The weapons team dies bloody to impacts and the daemon price
kills 8 slaves.
Turn 6 – Skaven
We talk about if this will be the last turn as time is getting
short. Larry decides that if he
wants to win we need at least 7, so I don’t move my darts into position to
score.
I now only have the frenzied night runners near a token. They roll and get another frenzy (well,
+1 attack). They then charge the
flank of the chariot that just killed their weapons team.
The gutter runners rally and the giant rats don’t.
I roll a 10/6 magic phase.
I 2D to give my stormvermin poison. I 4D cracks call, only killing 1 warrior. I again end the phase with extra dice
just because my spells are bad.
The left gutter runners do 1 wound to skullcrushers.
In combat the Night runners only manage to do 1 wound to the
chariot. They take 1 in
return. The chariot in combat with
stormvermin dies.
The fellblade does a wound to me.
Turn 6 – Warriors of Chaos
Larry starts off with the chariot charging the night runners and the
warriors charging an engineer.
He then gets a 6/4 phase, throws them all at final transmutation and
kills my level 2 caster and 10 stormvermin. I failed to dispel.
The night runners die.
Turn 7 – Skaven
Turn 7 and my darts run onto the three objectives. The one on my near right are being
stared down by 2 chariots and a unit of knights. I push the far right dart in front of the marauders to
prevent them from also charging.
The gutter runners move up to block the skullcrushers from charging the
unit on the back left.
I also charge a weapons team and dart into the marauders trying to
sneak through the center to get to the far back left objective after the
skullcrushers clear off the dart.
I skip my magic and shooting phase to ensure Larry gets his turn
7. The marauders die, killing the
weapons team and the dart overruns into the crushers, saving the gutter runners
and ensuring I control at least 2 objectives.
Turn 7 – Warriors of Chaos
Final turn due to time and Larry is looking at a tie. I have a dark on the left objectives
and he has one with his back right objective. Generals and BSBs are both alive. He just needs to clear off the one rat dart (which is on top
and therefore closest) and move on a chariot. To do that he has knights and 2 chariots. Each however has to roll on the
warpstone table. First unit,
chariot, rolls stupid, and stumbles forward. Second unit, chariot, rolls fear and runs away. Third unit, the knights (note, that
stupid chariot is only an inch or so off the objective and the requirement is
unbroken so can still score)… The knights, the knights, which can easy clear
off 5 rats and a packmaster roll stupid, stumble forward and leave my dart on
the objective.
Larry’s last hope is the magic phase, for which he gets 7/6 dice. He throws 6 at gateway but fails to
reach his requirement and makes me the victor because against huge odds he
fails to push off that rat dart.
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