As we head towards round 3 of the campaign we also continue to progress through the classic Realmgate Wars campaign book series, so our latest mission will be adapted from book three Godbeasts:
This book was a favourite of mine since it featured Destro quite prominently. As well as giving the Spiderfang some love1, it also introduced the mighty King Brodd into the setting, all the way back in the early days of AOS1:
In fact, the mission that we’re adapting today was based on a snippet of lore whereby Brodd gatecrashed a fight between Stormcast and Nurgle, accidentally swaying things Order’s way:
Original Mission: Fleeting Fealty
This is the one we’re going to be adapting for our campaign and making it AOS4 compatible:
This is a really cool idea, but it looks like it would be abysmal to play. I reckon it goes one of two ways:
- Either the Demolisher has basically any shooting, in which case the feeble 8-wound Realmgate gets automatically shot off in turn 1
- Or they don’t, in which case both players smoosh their minis together in a massive dogpile around the Realmgate, and the army with the better stats wins
There’s not much room for decision-making or maneuvering, so I reckon we can do a bit better than that. And instead of King Brodd, let’s hail the return of an old friend from 2025’s Secrets of the Agloraxi Campaign: Welcome back, Grundle.
Round Two’s Mission of the Round
Again we’re not using VPs at all, so forget about objectives and Battle Tactics. We’re playing over 5 Rounds.
Both players here are trying to smash up the landscape to secure materiel for their behemoths. When Grundle wanders onto the scene, both players vie to recruit him to their cause.
Players deploy as normal, 9″ from enemy territory.
Nature’s Bounty
During the combat phase, both players can make Obscuring terrain the target(s) of their attacks:
- Obscuring terrain can only be targeted in the combat phase, and only with Fight abilities
- Small obscuring terrain pieces each have 6 health
- Medium obscuring terrain pieces each have 10 health
- Sturdy: All obscuring terrain has a 4+ save and ignores all rend
Each time a player destroys a terrain piece, they gain 1 Materiel.
It’s Grundle!
At the end of the first Battleround, Grundle enters the battle. Grundle uses a 130mm base and the Warstomper warscroll. We suggest using a Mega-gargant model to represent Grundle.
At the end of the first Battleround, the players roll off:
- The winner of the roll off chooses either the Western Edge or the Eastern Edge of the battlefield
- The loser of the roll off then places Grundle wholly within 9″ of that board edge, more than 9″ from all models (friendly and enemy)
- Splat! If it is not possible to place Grundle in this way, Grundle may be placed wholly within 9″ of a board edge overlapping another unit’s current location. That unit counts as slain: remove it from the game and then set up Grundle as described above.
Why Can’t We Be Friends?
At the start of each Battleround after the first, before rolling for priority, both players roll D3 and the winner treats Grundle as a friendly unit for the rest of that Battleround.
The following modifiers apply:
- Fuck you! Each player who inflicted any damage on Grundle in the previous battleround must subtract 1 from the roll2.
- Here, take this. Both players can offer any whole number of Materiel that they have earned so far. For each Materiel surrendered in this manner, add 2 to the role.
- Whispers of Glory: Both players can bid between 0 and 4 command points to bribe Grundle. Add 1 to the roll for each command point bid in this manner.
- Materiel and Command points that are bid in this way are lost, regardless of who wins control of Grundle.
- Note: Both players should “blind bid” simultaneously, and then reveal their bid, before rolling the D3. We suggest writing the Materiel offered and command points bid on paper and then revealing them, or using different coloured dice hidden under a cup. I’m sure you can figure something out. I believe in you.
Winning the Game
If one player holds more Materiel than their opponent at the end of the game, they are the winner.
If players are tied on Materiel, but one of them managed to slay Grundle, that player is the winner.
Otherwise, the game is a draw.
Again: if you do give this mission a crack, let me know how you get on. We’ll be back at the end of the week with an overview of how Round 2 of the campaign went.
As reminder, here are your Achievements for Round Three which kicks off from Monday:
Catch you soon,
~ Pete
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