Mission Plans

The release of the new Battle Missions book has gotten me thinking about the differant games of 40k I typically play. Most of the time we just use the standard missions in the rule book, occasionally we play a little Cityfight or Apocalypse. Haven't had the chance to play a Planetstrike yet but we're building up our forces for it.

Also I've been re-reading Gaunt's Ghosts, all of which are excellent of course though the Saint series was my favorite so far, and some of the battles they describe are worth putting together as one off missions so here's my first one.

I apologize for the Paint table layout, I don't have any fancy-schmancy graphics editor.

Mission 1: Invasion of Cirenholm

During the Crusade of the Sabbat worlds, Imperial forces were forced to retake the planet of Phantine in order to take advantage of their natural resources. The major cities of Phantine, including Cirenholm, are located on top of mountains as millennia of pollution has forced the population to build at higher and higher elevations. These mountaintop cities are only accessible by air and so the Imperial armies are forced into a dangerous invasion. The attacking forces make drop landings on very narrow areas under heavy fire.

Defender: Deploys anywhere on their table half. Defender may not take any Heavy units. Defender also places 1 objective at the center of their longest deployment zone edge. This represents the entrance to their defended hive city.

Attacker: The attacking force begins the game in reserves. They may not take any Heavy units as their landers cannot carry vehicles for the intial attack.

The Attacker goes First.

Special Rules:

Prepared Defences: The defender has had ample time to bolster and equip their defending forces. Each Troop unit that can take heavy weapons may do so for free under the existing unit rules. (For Example: A squad of Imperial Guardsmen may upgrade two troopers to a Heavy Weapons team for free). Other squad upgrades still maintain their normal points cost.

Elite Assault: The attacker is throwing their best troops at the enemy so the normal allotment of Elite units is increased to match their Troops allotment. (For Example: An Imperial Guard army may normally take 6 Troop choices, they may also include 6 Elite choices).

Airborne Drop: All attacker units begin in reserve and begin rolling for Reserves on Turn 1 instead of Turn 2 as normal. All Attacking units gain Deep Strike. Attacking units must arrive within the Attackers Deployment Zone and may begin play normally following the Deep Strike rules. Any units that scatter outside the deployment zone into the gray areas have suffered a drop mishap and roll on the following table instead of the Deep Strike Mishap table:

Roll 1d6

1) Drop Failure: The unit suffers a terrible catastrophe. The entire squad is lost to the void.

2) Drop Missed: The drop is held up over the zone and suffers AA fire. The unit suffers 1d6 Str 4 AP - hits and may take armor saves as normal.The drop is held up over the zone and suffers AA fire. The unit suffers 1d6 Str 4 AP - hits and may take armor saves as normal.

3) Drop Missed: The initial drop is turned back. Squad may attempt to re-deploy next turn.

4) Rough Drop: The scattered drop marker is moved directly into the deploment area at the space nearest it's exit. The unit lands in disarray, suffers 1d3 S4 AP - hits.

5) Co-ordinates Incorrect: Unit drops completely off target. Defender may reposition the drop marker any where within the Attackers drop zone.

6) Overshot!: Drop marker may be repositioned anywhere within the Defenders deployment zone by the Attacker.

Game Length: The game lasts a random number of turns. At the end of Turn 5 roll 1d6. On a roll of 1 the game ends immediately, 2+ it continues. At the end of Turn 6 roll 1d6, on a 1, 2 or 3 the game ends, 4+ it continues. The game ends at the end of Turn 7 in this case.

Victory Conditions: The attacker is making a desperate push to take this beachhead so all Troop and Elite units count as scoring. Any attacker scoring unit within 3" of the objective marker at the end of the game counts as a scoring unit and wins the game for the attacker.

If the defender can keep the entry way objective clear of enemy units by games end, the defender wins.

So there it is, my first attempt at a mission. It's a bit rough around the edges but we all need some refining at some point. If anyone out there has a particular mission in mind, leave a comment and I'll try to incorperate it into it's own mission later on. Also, any comments or critiques are welcome as well. If you play this one out, by all means leave me some feedback on it!