Hi Drawbridge gamers! So my last post teased that at Drawbridge Games in Pittsburgh, PA we’re doing a big map campaign to re-fight the Siege of Terra, and that I was recruiting “Leads” to organize the various factions. This post has the first battles that we’ll arrange, as well as the guidelines for what makes this a campaign not just for the store (the progress over the map), but for each participant. Get ready to forge your own Legend of the Siege of Terra: whether one of the Emperor’s staunchest allies, or one of Chaos’ most deadly warriors.
First Phase Battles
Given the Factions that we have represented and the Chaos plan to take at least one Space Port to begin landings of forces in earnest, the following types battle sites are up for conflict in the first window of play. Players can arrange games using any of the types of forces present as listed in each conflict during this point of the campaign (and you’ll see it’s a pretty wide array in most cases). When players submit results that will affect the overall progress in each zone based mostly around what they are fielding in the game–this represents the fact that battles were flowing all over Himalaysia and the varied sites of the palace in the Chaos (pun intended) of Horus’ first landings. The results will affect the first advances on the map. There are some special mission parameters you’ll note as part of these first games, based around some of the initial battles of the Siege of Terra: wave attacks under bombardment cover against air defenses, drop groups of assault troops trying to take Space Ports, and conflict over the Third Wall trench emplacements at the very edge of the Imperial Aegis. Players should choose one of the three types of encounters, and build their scenario based around the very loose requirements as listed below. If anyone is interested in including a game of Aeronautica Imperialis let me know and I’ll do up missions for those (and play them with ya).
Rushing Air Defenses: Can be 40k, 30k, or Legions Imperialis. Chaos are engaging in massed assault and wave attacks to try and strike under cover of their bombardments (orbital and artillery) to take out even just one air defense emplacement to help them gain a better foothold.
For games of 40k, use the Leviathan deck with the following set-up:
The primary mission is Purge the Foe, but only the “In Every Battle Round” portion–there are no primary vp scored for objective control in this battle. The Mission Rules of Scrambler Fields applies to both forces in this battle, and the Minefields Mission rule applies to the Chaos side. The Chaos Attacker uses the Fixed Secondaries rule and must take Behind Enemy Lines and Storm Hostile Objective. The Imperial Defender uses the Fixed Secondaries rule and uses Assassination and the Defend Stronghold (yes, Defend Stronghold is not normally a fixed objective.. and in this case it scores 3vp at the end of each opponent’s turn after the first battle round–ignore the “or at the end of the battle” line). For deployment use the following layout. The two buildings in the Defender’s deployment zone each should have one objective marker placed at the center of them (for purposes of the Attacker scoring Storm Hostile Objective and the Defender scoring Defend Stronghold).
For games of 30k or Imperialis, do your best to replicate these sort of conditions for the battle using the rules for those systems.
Drop Group Assault: Kill Team. Peturabo’s careful calculations revealed a weakness in the Aegis shields covering the grounds of the Palace, and found ways to overload sections–and deploy aircraft into that space in the moment when it was lifted. This mission represents a group of Chaos attackers who were dropped off by their force landers to cause havoc, and in particular interfere with Imperial command-and-control signals.
This battle should be done with regular industrial Kill Team terrain (representing the access area alongside a relatively open site where the Chaos transport could have landed to drop off the force). It should use Mission 3.3 Master the Terminals from the Core book.
Third Wall Trench Fight: Can be 40k, 30k, Legions Imperialis, or Kill Team. Chaos are engaging the outermost defenses of the Imperial Palace fortifications and are fighting amidst a battlefield tangled with trench lines–trying to grab just as much terrain as they can from each other. The board for this mission should include as much trench-like terrain as can be managed, including lots of line-of-sight blocking elements to simulate attackers making their way through damaged areas.
For games of 40k, use the Leviathan deck with the following set-up:
The Primary Mission is Priority Targets. Both Chaos Attacker and Imperial Defender have the Fixed Secondaries rule, and both use the Engage on All Fronts and Behind Enemy Lines objectives. The Deployment card is Dawn of War.
There is no Mission Rule, but there is the special condition that units with any version of a “sticky objectives” rule (retaining control of an objective after the unit has moved away) do not have that rule for purposes of this battle. You’ve got to cling to the terrain you’re capturing in the trenches.
Again, 30k or Imperialis games should be made similar to the above as best you can with those system rules.
Kill Team battles should be done with the Into the Dark rules (tunnels amidst the trench works). Play mission 2.3 Maze Breakout, with Chaos as the Attacker (they’re trying to break thru the lines).
When you’ve completed one of these battles
Please take a minute to fill out the Drawbridge Siege of Terra results form (I’ll circulate the link on all our channels we communicate with, or just text me and I’ll send it). That will list which mission was played, which factions were involved, which side won, and then any Legends of the Siege information… which if you’re interested in what that is read onward!
“Legend of the Siege” System
The Siege of Terra focuses on the characters at the core of the story, from greats like the Primarchs, Fafnir Rann, and Ezekyle Abaddon, to the most humble or low warriors who yet make a difference, such as Katsuhiro the Guardsman or Azmedi the Beastman. In addition to the battles affecting the map, you can select up to three models that you are seeking to create as Legends of the Siege. They can be named characters (including Primarchs on either side) from the lore or characters of your own invention: in which case they need to have a specific name you’ve given them for your own story purposes. Each player can have at least one of their “characters” be a squad as well to tell that sort of story. Each time you play a battle where that rising Legend is represented (only one per game can be “present”), keep track of the following: whether their force wins or loses, whether they were removed from play as a casualty or ended the battle still on the table, and what all units they engaged in combat with (shot at, was shot by, melee’d with, or otherwise faced off in dramatic way). I’ll be circulating the link to all players to use for submitting battles (as listed above), and at the bottom you will see the spot to record these details. Once a rising Legend has participated in three battles, we’ll arrange to take a good photo of the model and they join the Legends of the Siege proper. For every two subsequent battles where they have a notable moment (group gets to decide if so) they will then unlock a special ability to affect games representing their mastery of the battlefield. There will also be special missions to have the dramatic personae of our stories face off. We’ll have a dedicated page on this blog detailing every Legend of the Siege, a little backstory and in-campaign history, attribution to you as a player, and notes about what their special abilities are for our campaign games. I’d strongly encourage doing up one for each Faction you’re playing in the campaign, and seriously–they can be anything from Primarch to Skitarii Team #294C21.
My hope is that this system gives us good incentives for playing the games and telling the tales of our battles together, and building a shared narrative for the Drawbridge community about some of the most notable Legends to walk these tables. If we like this system, after the Siege of Terra concludes in September/October, I’ll cook up a similar galaxy wide thing where we use a Rising Legends system for all factions writ large (to allow our Xenos fun too!).
And when we’re done, if people really put time and effort into this one, we’ll get a big printed poster made to display at Drawbridge with all the details of the Legends of the Siege to commemorate them there too!
Red Ones Go Faster 