Pitched Battle

Scenario by Tim Barton

Introduction

One of the best bits of the Epic 40,000 system is that mass of scenarios that came with it. From Gogard’s Last Stand to the Fog of War, each has a set of different challenges to it, and each requires different tactics to win. However, whilst Fog of War can be played almost indefinitely, there are only so many variations on these and the other scenarios. This article aims to help solve that, providing a new scenario for Epic 40,000 players: The Pitched Battle.

Scenario

Two opposing armies have ground down to a stalemate opposite each other in no man’s land. Evenly matched, with no time to dig in, both need to inflict a defeat on the enemy here and both have decided to attack immediately and, as dawn breaks, the scene is set for a truly epic clash.

The following special rules are used in this scenario: War Engine Missions, Victory points [VPs], Reserves

Setup

1. Set up the terrain in a mutually agreed fashion and pick armies to an agreed points total.
2. For each 500 points or part of 500 points in each player's army, draw one objective counter at random and deal a Fate card, giving both to that player. The player with less fewer points in his or her army also gains an extra Fate card.
3. Place all objectives. The rules for using the objectives are slightly different to normal and are given later. A note should be made of who placed each objective.
4. Deploy forces in the zones shown on the map [Map]. Each player should deploy in a different zone.
5. After objectives have been deployed, each side should deploy its war engines, starting with the side with the lowest strategy rating. After all war engines are deployed then other troops should also be deployed, again starting with the army that has the lowest strategy rating. The Fate card Brilliant Strategy can be used to gain the advantage of deploying second, and any detachments may be kept in reserve using the usual rules.
6. Fight the battle as normal for between 4 and 6 turns. I've found that less than 4 turns gives too short a battle, and more than 6 turns gives too a long a battle. If you can't decide on a game length then roll a D6: 1–2 gives four turns, 3–4 gives five turns and 5–6 gives six turns.

Map

Objectives

Objectives are placed before deployment and can be placed anywhere in the battle zone, subject to the following rules:

1. No objective should be closer than 15cm to another objective.
2. No Take and Hold, Capture or Rescue objectives should be within 30cm of your deployment zone.
3. None of your Cleanse objectives should be closer than 65cm to your deployment zone.
4. Your Bunker objectives must be within 15cm of the enemy's deployment zone.

In battle, the following objectives can be taken by either player, regardless of who placed them: Take and Hold, Capture and Rescue.

Bunker and Cleanse objectives are only applicable to the player that placed them.

Victory points [VPs]

At the end, count up victory points as described below and the player with the most victory points is the winner. If players are equal on points then the battle has ended in a draw.

There are two methods of gaining victory points. The first is to damage your opponent’s force and the second is to secure objectives.

Victory points gained for causing casualties are worked out in the following way:

• Detachment at half strength/Damage Cap: Add detachment's morale value to your Victory Points total.
• Detachment wiped out or destroyed: Subtract detachment's morale value from your opponent's Victory Points total.

Note that detachments which are broken at the end of the game or retreat off the table whilst broken count as being wiped out for the purpose of victory points. Also note that victory points for casualties are cumulative. When you wipe out a unit in one go then add the unit's morale value to your VP total and deduct it from your opponent's VP total.

Victory points are awarded for objectives as follows. Note that 'you' refers to the player that placed the objective. This is why it is important to remember who placed which objective.

Objective Victory Points table

Objective	Victory Points
Take and Hold	If you have a unit within 15cm when victory conditions are checked and there are no enemy units closer to the objective then you have the objective and gain 1 VP. If the objective is under your control at the end of the battle then you gain 5 VPs.
Rescue	Moving onto the objective picks it up, and it moves with the unit from that point on as described at Objectives. If a player has a unit carrying the objective when victory conditions are checked then 1 VP is awarded. If a player can get the objective off-board then 5 VPs are given to that player. Note that the unit that took the objective off the board may return in the next movement phase and measures its movement from the table edge and, if a player gets a Rescue off the board, then they can no longer count the 1 VP per turn for possession.
Capture	If either side has a unit in base-to-base contact with the objective when victory conditions are checked, then 5 VPs are awarded to that side and the objective is removed.
Cleanse	As long as the enemy has no troops within 15cm of the objective when victory conditions are checked then you gain 1 VP per turn. If the objective is clear at the end of the battle then 5 VPs are awarded.
Bunker	Destroying the Bunker (which uses the rules described at Objectives) gains you 5 Victory points.

War Engine Missions

When a detachment of War Engines is committed to battle, it usually has a specific objective in mind, and is not just along for the ride. To represent this, each War Engine detachment is given a mission at the start of a battle, which it can gain extra victory points for completing.

There are two ways of determining missions. One is to go through each detachment and randomly assign a mission. Many players like doing this because it provides a challenge, but it can throw up some near impossible tasks. The alternative method is to determine enough missions for your war engines, then assign missions from that selection yourself. This represents you being told what has to be done and what is available to do it, then being given free rein to get the job done. This is a matter for agreement, but use the Hand of Fate if you can't. Either way, the missions are determined randomly, so the table below will be needed. It also shows what has to be done.

War Engine Missions table

D6	Mission	Mission Goal
1	Engage and Destroy	The detachment gains double victory points for each detachment it reduces to half strength.
2	Delaying Action	If the detachment ends the battle at more than half its total damage capacity, you gain its worth in VPs. If it survives completely intact, you gain 5 extra VPs.
3	Blitzkrieg	If the detachment is in the opponent's half of the table by the end of the battle then 5 VPs are awarded. Get to the enemy deployment zone and 15 VPs are awarded.
4	Guerrilla War	The detachment gains triple VP value if it reduces a detachment to half strength or less in a close combat or firefight.
5	Take and Hold	Randomly select 1 Take and Hold objective. If the detachment ends the battle in control of the objective then an extra 10 VPs are warded. Re-roll this if there are no Take and Hold objectives present.
6	Hold the Line	If there are no enemy troops present in your deployment zone at the end of the battle and the detachment has not been wiped out, then 5 VPs are awarded. If there are no enemy troops in your half of the table and the detachment has not been wiped out, then take an extra 10 VPs over and above this.

Variations

1. The armies could have dug in, allowing the use of Fortifications [Fortifications]. Alternately only one could have dug in. Both of these provide a situation reminiscent of the 'Over the Top' battles during World War I.
2. Altering the points available to each side (which don't have to be the same — all is not fair in love and war) or the game length can provide a different set of challenges, as does restricting the objectives available. This also allows for more detailed briefings, such as bailing out spies, recovering plans, capturing fire positions and so on.
3. I left out Gav Thorpe's rules for secret objectives and scouting but you can include them if you want to. They can be found in the article Mission Briefing (White Dwarf 196).
4. Play down the length of the table to give more effectiveness to long ranged units such as siege artillery and missiles such as the ones mounted on Ordinatus Golgotha, rather than the assault style battles that the standard setup tends to produce.
5. Alter the victory point values given for the various objectives and War engine missions if you think that the rewards are insufficient compared to the difficulty of the objective or mission.

[Extras]

The articles that the author mentions above relate to the edition of Epic that preceded Epic 40,000. Mission Briefing introduced varied types of objective to that edition — and that idea formed the basis of objectives as we know them in Epic 40,000. I include the text that pertains to "secret objectives and scouting" below. The Reign of Fire article reported on a battle in which the players used these objectives; Adrian Wood's Orks suffered a crushing defeat (Space Marines 81 VPs; Orks 10 VPs).