Round 4 – Control The Gate – War of Maleficus

Defender – After discovering a powerful artifact, the sky thundered, the land tore asunder, and a portal broke open to places unknown. You can clearly make out members of your forces on the other side. You’ve found even more missing brethren. You must hold the gate long enough to get them through!

Attacker – You failed to secure the artifact. After retreating to lick your wounds, the air around you sparked with energy. Suddenly an explosion could be heard in the distance. You race to follow the direction of the sound. As you come to a clearing of fallen trees, buildings, and flattened land, you see a portal of immense size in the middle of enemy forces. Far into the portal you can see allies fighting a force. You must capture the portal and retrieve them at any cost!

This round runs from June 9th to June 22nd.

PAIRINGS

Player A / Attacker	Player B / Defender	Assigned Store	Victor
David Rodridguez Genestealer Cult	Jacob Coleman Astra Militarum	Dragons Keep in Spanish Fork	David
Brian Johnson Deatchwatch	James Poulsen T’au Empire	Dragons Keep in Provo	James
Jonathan McCarl Craftworld	Randee Shirts Orks	Dragons Keep in Lehi	Draw
Andrew Buhler Adeptus Mechanicus	Nick Stratton Chaos Space Marines	Dragons Keep in Spanish Fork	Andrew
Anthony Long Imperial Knights	Taylor Holman Necrons	Dragons Keep in Orem	Taylor
Chris Prue Necrons	Brent Smith Astra Militarum	Blakfyre Games in PG	Brent
Brandon Hardy Orks	Trevor Smith Space Wolves	Dragons Keep in Spanish Fork	Brandon
Preston Brimley Adeptus Mechanicus	Robert Graham Chaos Space Marines	Dragons Keep in Provo	Draw Unconfirmed
Brett Egbert Harlequins	Max Riley Death Guard	Game Grid in Lehi	Brett
Kevin Prue Craftworld	Dale Pane Adeptus Custodes	Blakfyre Games in PG	DNP
Charles Metts Ynnari	Evan Hansen Iron Hands	Blakfyre Games in PG
Jason Prue Death Guard	Claude Matherne Tyranids	Game Grid in Lehi	Jason
Aaron Taylor Dark Angels	Kamin Huffcutt Tyranids	Game Grid in Lehi	Draw
Dave Graham Adeptus Custodes	Kyle Dickson T’au Empire	Game Grid in Lehi	Dave
Diego Soto Chaos Space Marines	Lathe Larson Adeptus Mechanicus	Dragons Keep in Spanish Fork	Lathe
James Davis Orks	Tyler Probasco Salamanders	Dragons Keep in Orem	Tyler
Richard Knudsen Blood Angels	Dan Bryson Tyranids	Dragons Keep in Provo	Richard Unconfirmed
Brian Prue Grey Knights	Spencer Goodman Drukari	Dragons Keep in Provo	Spencer
Michael Crespo Orks	Wes Hall Raven Guard	Dragons Keep in Lehi	Michael Unconfirmed
Scott Knudsen Raven Guard	Randee Shirts Orks (bonus)		Randee
Kevin Prue Craftworld	Jacob Coleman Astra Militarum	Make up game for both players	Kevin

The assigned store is optional but suggested.

The basis of this mission is Crucible of War: Control the Gate on pages 128 & 129 in Imperium Nihilus: Vigilus Ablaze. If all players in the game agree, players can use different point values and army composition rules for their mission but still need to use this mission for the game to count as the league game.

USE MATCHED PLAY RULES

Though the mission we are building this custom mission from is meant to follow the Narrative Play rules, please use Matched Play rules as we’ve done in the league. This includes no reserves units being placed on the table during turn 1 (either via the unit’s reserve rule or the mission’s reserve rule). The only exception to the Matched Play rules we are making is that a player does not need to use Reinforcement Points to bring units back in the game using the “Sustained Assault” rule.

THE ARMIES

Each player musters a Battle-Forged army up to 1,250 points in size. Players can use up to two Factions in this game but the largest detachment, based by point value, must be of the player’s LEAGUE FACTION. Players should use the limitations for a 1,250 point game defined in the Organized Events table in the latest Warhammer 40K Rulebook FAQ. All detachments must originate from the Warhammer 40K Rulebook.

Forge World units are allowed to be used. Players need to have the rules printed off for any Forge World unit to present to their opponent(s) since many players may not be familiar with them.

Players have access to bonus Stratagems as defined at the bottom of this page.

Players have been preassigned to the roles of Attacker and Defender. The players listed in the left column in the pairings table above are the Attackers. The other players are the defenders.

THE BATTLEFIELD

Create a battlefield using the deployment map below on a 6’x4′ table and then set up terrain. A gate dominates the center of one long edge of the battlefield (see below), and ruined buildings surround it. If either player has a Webway Gate, this model makes a perfect representation of the gate. If not, mark an area that is 14″ wide and 2″ deep or find a similarly sized structure, shrine, etc; this will represent the gate. The gate must be centered along the long table edge of the defender’s deployment zone.

DEPLOYMENT

After terrain has been set up, the Defender sets up all of their units wholly within their deployment zone. The Attacker then sets up all of their units wholly within their deployment zone. Both players can place units in Reserve (see below); they will arrive during the battle as described below.

The combined Power Rating of the units a player sets up in Reserve or sets aside for arrival mid-battle using their own ability, stratagem, etc. cannot exceed half of that player’s army’s total Power Level.

Units may also arrive during the battle using abilities defined on their datasheets, stratagems or by other means. These units do not count as being in Reserve as stated in this mission but instead follow their unit/ability specific rules and the standard Matched Play rules for arriving mid-battle.

Note: power level is used to determine the amount of units not deployed on the battlefield but not for building your army list.

FIRST TURN

The Attacker has first turn.

CONTROLLING THE GATE

At the start of the game, the Defender controls the gate. If, at the end of a player’s Movement phase, there are more models from their army within 3″ of the gate than there are models from their opponent’s army within 3″ of the gate, they gain control of the gate. Otherwise, the player who currently has control of the gate maintains control of the gate.

FROM BEYOND THE GATE

If a player controls the gate at the end of their Movement phase using the Controlling The Gate rule above, they can set up any of their units from Reserve wholly within 3″ of the gate and more than 9″ from any enemy models. Units cannot otherwise be set up from Reserve.

SUSTAINED ASSAULT

Use the Sustained Assault rules (see below) in this mission. However, the Attacker only rolls for their destroyed units if they control the gate at the end of their Movement phase (see above) and units brought back into play using the Sustained Assault rules are set up as if they were arriving From Beyond the Gate (see above).

BATTLE LENGTH

At the end of battle round 5, the player who had the first turn rolls a D6. On a 3+, the game continues, otherwise the game is over. At the end of battle round 6, the player who had the second turn rolls a D6. This time the game continues on a 4+, otherwise the game is over. The battle automatically ends at the end of battle round 7.

VICTORY CONDITIONS

At the end of the battle, whichever player controls the gate (see above) wins.

POST-GAME FORM

All players must fill out the Post Game form after the game is complete. Once all the forms are submitted, both players receive 1 raffle ticket for participating, regardless of the outcome of the game.

The below sections are copy-pasted from pages in Vigilus Ablaze for those that do not have access to that book and is here solely for the use of our league.

RULE: SUSTAINED ASSAULT

This is a direct copy-paste from the book and information here may be overwritten by information in the mission above.

If your mission uses Sustained Assault, any of the Attacker’s units that are destroyed can be brought back into play later in the battle, to represent their almost limitless supply of reinforcements. At the end of each of the Attacker’s Movement phases, roll a D6 for each of their destroyed units, adding 2 to the result if that unit has the Troops Battlefield Role. (This roll cannot be re-rolled or otherwise modified.) On a 4+, immediately set up that unit within 6″ of a battlefield edge – the mission will specify which.

The Attacker can also, at the end of any of their turns, remove any of their units from the battlefield that have a quarter or less of their starting number of models (or, in the case of single-model units, a quarter or less of its starting number of wounds). This unit then counts as having been destroyed for all purposes, and so can be brought back into play later as described above.

RULES: STRATAGEMS

In this mission, the players can use Command Points (CPs) to use the following bonus Stratagems:

RUSH THE GATE – 2 CP – Attacker Stratagem

Use this Stratagem at the start of your Charge phase. Each time a unit from your army attempts to charge this phase, you can re-roll one or both of the dice to determine its charge distance, as long as the targets of the charge are within 3″ of the gate.

CONSOLIDATE YOUR POSITION – 1 CP – Attacker Stratagem

Use this Stratagem in the Fight phase when a unit from your army consolidates. You can move each model in that unit up to 3″ towards the gate instead of towards the nearest enemy model.

BREAKTHROUGH – 1 CP – Attacker Stratagem

Use this Stratagem at the end of your Movement phase. Add 1 to rolls you make for Sustained Assault in this turn.

FORTIFIED POSITIONS – 2 CP – Defender Stratagem

Use this Stratagem after setting up one of your units. Until that unit moves (for any reason) add 1 to saving throws for attacks made by ranged weapons that target that unit.

FRESH REINFORCEMENTS – 1 CP – Defender Stratagem

HOLD YOUR GROUND – 2 CP – Defender Stratagem

Use this Stratagem at the start of the Morale phase. Until the end of the phase, you can re-roll Morale tests you take.

Question & Answers

Q: How do I determine what counts as a unit to roll for Sustained Assault?

A: For the sake of the Sustained Assault rule, a “unit” constitutes a unit as defined in the player’s original army list.

Q: If a transport and a unit originally embarked in it during deployment both die, do I roll one dice or two for Sustained Assault?

A: Unless the transport is part of the embarked unit’s datasheet, it must be rolled separately. Along these same lines, Drones taken as a part of another unit (within the same datasheet) count as part of the same datasheet for Sustained Assault and therefore must be dead or removed before the entire unit can come back using the Sustained Assault rule.