Well that’s Round One wrapped up on the tabletop: we’ll be carrying out the map phase in our Discord over coming days, as teams take turns to claim resources that they will put towards customising their behemoths. So keep an eye out for a full recap later this week.
Today we’re presenting our second Mission of the Round, this one adapted from Balance of Power, the second entry in the (excellent) Realmgate Wars campaign book series from the early days of AOS1:
Original Mission: The Dilemma
This is the one we’re going to be adapting for our campaign and making it AOS4 compatible:
Round Two’s Mission of the Round
This one is fully asymmetrical and does not use VPs at all, so forget about objectives and Battle Tactics.
The general gist of it is that The Besieger is making a lightning raid on enemy territory: they are trying to find an important artefact, and make it out of the Realmgate, before their enemies sound the alarm and stop them. They start in the blue territory and have to make their way across the board to The Realmgate to escape, ideally having secured the hidden treasure by searching the various Obscuring terrain along the way.
The Relief Force is scrambling to stop them: they largely start off the board and rush on via the board edge to try and block The Besieger – or cut them down where they stand – to protect their assets
Northern edge
Southern edge
Any large terrain piece can represent The Realmgate.
Attacker and Defender
Before the game starts, the players roll off. The winner chooses whether to be Attacker or Defender. The Attacker begins deployment:
- The Attacker is The Besieger
- The Defender is The Relief Force
Deployment
When the Besieger uses Deploy abilities, they cannot set up any units in Reserve. All units must be deployed wholly within their territory (but do not need to be more than 9″ from enemy territory).
During the Deployment Phase, the Relief Force cannot use any Deploy abilities other than Deploy Faction Terrain and The Bomb Squad:
Ability: The Bomb Squad
Target: Pick your entire amy to be the target.
Effect: Set up one unit from that army within The Realmgate’s combat range. Then roll a dice for each remaining unit. On a roll of:
- 1 or 2: they are set up in Reserve
- 3 or 4: they are set up wholly within 9″ of the northern table edge, wholly within your territory and more than 9″ from enemy territory
- 5 or 6: they are set up wholly within 9″ of the southern table edge, wholly within your territory and more than 9″ from enemy territory
Keywords: Deploy
Ability: Late Arrivals
The Relief Force must use this ability at the end of each of their first three movement phases.
Effect: Roll a dice for each unit in Reserve. On a roll of:
- 1 or 2: They remain in Reserve
- 3 or 4: They are set up wholly within 9″ of the northern table edge, wholly within your territory and more than 9″ from enemy territory
- 5 or 6: They are set up wholly within 9″ of the southern table edge, wholly within your territory and more than 9″ from enemy territory
Any units from The Relief Force’s army that are still in Reserve at the end of the third battleround are immediately set up wholly within 9″ of any board edge.
Ability: Ride The Realmgate
The Besieger may use this ability at the end of any turn.
Target: Pick a unit within combat range of the Realmgate that was not set up this turn.
Effect: That unit is removed from play and is Riding the Realmgate.
Ability: Ransack
Once per Turn (Army)
The Besieger may use this ability at the end of any turn.
Declare: Pick a friendly unit within combat range of an Obscuring terrain piece that has not yet been ransacked.
Effect: That terrain piece has now been ransacked. Roll a D6. Add 1 to the roll for every piece of ransacked terrain that is on the table. On a 6+, you have located the Artefact.
Campaign Rewards: At the end of the game, if the Besieger has located the Artefact, their team is rewarded with a Golden 6. If the Besieger has not located the Artefact, the Relief Force’s team gets that Golden 6 instead.
Winning the Game
If at least half of the units in their starting army have used the Ride the Realmgate ability, the Besieger wins the game.
Otherwise, the Relief Force wins the game.
So if you do give this mission a crack, let me know how you get on and we’ll be back at the end of the week with an overview of how Round 1 of the campaign.
As reminder, here are your Achievements for Round Two:
Catch you soon,
Pete
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