Tag: Scenario

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New Scenarios for MartyCon 2025

Martycon 2025 starts today! This is a mini weekend long convention of my friends involving lots of game playing and enjoying rural Western Australia. This has been running for three years now and last year was a blast! As with last year I have volunteered to run another multiplayer Space Weirdos game for the crew. My mind is always full of scenario and campaign ideas so instead of one scenario, I’ve dreamed up two. One longer and more involved, while the second is a quicker more brutal affair. I’ve also made sure to tie them narratively into my Mordax Prime setting.

As always these are multiplayer affairs and I try to include a mix of immersion, differing objectives and emergent play. I really want to maximize the engagement of the players, giving them fun and different experiences each time.

Scenario 1: Void Ship Boarding Action

For my main scenario of the weekend I wanted to continue one of the more recent Mordax Prime narratives; the manifestation of a Saint on Helios Magna. Additionally, I wanted to replicate the tight confines of a boarding action in a 40K setting. We pick up the story where the villainous Ferrymen seek to escape the system in their ship, only to be boarded by the pursuing Imperials.

Setting the Scene

With a roar of void engines the Revenant bore away from the world of Helios Magna. The blighted Ferrymen and their cargo were safely on board, and it was time to strike for home. Mad Claw stalked the bridge nervously, the authorities would be on to them soon enough and he needed to escape fast. Raiding in the heart of an Imperial system was decidedly not his style, he preferred isolated settlements or orbitals. But the rewards offered by the Ferrymen were too good to be ignored and worth the risk. So, he had thought at the time.

Klaxons screeched over the vox system, enemy ship closing. But from where? The adversary must have been jamming his sensors. Mad Claw realized that his pursuers had much faster ships than anticipated. Though hardened and battle tested, the Revenant was no speedster. Intrigued, he squinted at the viewing screen pausing as what he saw sank in. Chilling his blackened soul. While not large, the enemy vessel was painted black and red with the stylized I emblazoned on its foredeck. Inquisition. With a roar Mad Claw bellowed commands, sending crew and servitors alike scurrying to position. It would take all his guile and cunning to escape this trap.

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Aboard the Strike Ship Purgator’s Blessing Inquisitor Jaegermann watched the pirate vessel draw closer. His teams failure in the Drula Sector of Helios Magna had enraged him. But on reflection, fighting a three-way battle to the objective had been his error. Hurriedly he made amends with the understandably angry Prioress of the Veiled Light.

A team of Lancet marines and Battle Sisters supported by a contingent of Inquisitorial storm troopers stood by as the Purgator’s Blessing closed the distance. They could not let these foul heretics escape with the so-called Saint. Who knew what the Ferrymen had in store for the poor unfortunate. A green globe flashed rapidly on the control slate and Jaegermann smiled grimly. Time to bring these wretches into the Emperors Light.

With a lurch the boarding torpedoes released, speeding towards their prey.

Objective

This will be a team game, fought under time pressure. The Imperials have two objectives:

  • Capture the “Saint” and get them off the enemy vessel within 4 turns
  • Damage the Geller field generator to provide an additional 2 turns of game time

The Chaos players must prevent this from happening, allowing their ship and it’s cargo to escape the system.

Each team will have a secret objective as well, to add a little spice to the game.

Teams

The game will revolve around two teams of three players.

Imperial

  • Inquisitorial Lancet Hereticus space marines intent on getting revenge on the Ferrymen
  • Sisters of Battle team tasked with retrieving the “Saint”
  • Imperial naval troopers tasked with knocking out the Geller Field Generator

Chaos

  • Ferrymen Plague marines who need the “Saint” to enact a terrible ritual
  • Captain Mad Claw and his pirates who wants his ship kept in one piece
  • First Mate Chaos mutant Head Bustin Billy who wants to destroy as many Imperial boarders as possible

Set Up

The board will be relatively small and full of tight corridors with lots of twists and turns. I want it to feel like the claustrophobic interior of a sprawling spaceship. The Imperials will deploy in the upper right of the board while the Chaos pirates can deploy anywhere else.

Not only that, but the Chaos players will get two objective tokens representing the saint, one real and one false.

Imperials go first.

Sisters of Battle intent on getting their Saint back!

Scenario 2: Under Hive Raid

The second scenario is based more along the lines of the inter gang conflicts of the underhive. It is an asymmetric scenario that should last for just over an hour. I have just finished painting my Adeptus Arbites kill team and wanted to use these 40K lawgivers in a game. The key here was to have an asymmetric game. The outnumbered lawmen on one side and the chaotic, are they allies are they not, gangers on the other.

Setting the Scene

The under-hive gangs of Kasanaan Tertius in the southern hemisphere of Helios Magna are revolting. The Adeptus Arbites have sent enforcers to stamp down on this insurrection. We are playing one such encounter. A small team of Arbites attempts to capture/kill crews of gangers hoping to make their escape from the kill zone.

Objectives

The game lasts for 4 rounds with the players split as follows. Two Arbites players working together, each with a team of 2 stronger operatives. Four or more gang players working individually, each with a crew of 3 weaker gangers. Scoring will work differently for each.

Arbites (collective points)

  • 1 point for each ganger taken out of action by Arbites personnel

Gangers (individual points)

  • 2 points for each crew member escaping off the opposite side of the board
  • 1 point for each Arbites taken out of action by your team
  • 1 point for each opposition ganger taken out of action by your team

Set Up

The battlefield will be set up to represent the warren of industrial tunnels that make up the under hive. Gangs will set up on the right hand edge, hoping to escape from the left side. The Adeptus Arbites will set up in the left hand half of the board ready to capture as many gangers as possible.

To add additional flavour the players will name their gangs and Arbites fire teams.

For those who play space weirdos the stats for this game are as follows:

If an Arbites moves next to a downed/staggered model and takes an action – it is manacled and considered out of action

Final Thoughts

I’m really looking forward to running both of these new scenarios at Martycon 2025. They are both filled with opportunity for emergent narrative to explode. Faction rivalries and player inventiveness is bound to make for memorable games.

Once the dust has settled I will report on how they went and any lessons learned.

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Saints Fate: A Three Player Skirmish Report

In last weeks post I described a recent three player skirmish scenario I designed. You can check out the details here. A couple of friends and I played it through one evening the other week to see how it actually worked. In short, it was amazing fun. But I’m always interested in what I can learn from the experience to take into future games.

The Scenario

A miraculous manifestation has occurred on the planet of Helios Magna. A Saint touched by the power of the God Emperor, has manifested among the ranks of the Adepta Sororitas, but her fate is uncertain. The Inquisition, ever wary of uncontrolled power, has dispatched a team of Lancet Hereticus Space Marines to capture her for interrogation. Meanwhile, a force of Chaos Plague Marines, the Ferrymen, seeks to claim the Saint for a dark ritual, hoping to summon a daemon of the Warp into realspace.

The Sisters of Battle, unaware of what forces are closing in, have fortified their shrine compound to protect the Saint. What follows is a brutal three-way battle where each faction must act quickly to achieve victory.

The protagonists included:

Order of the Veiled Light: crack team of battle sisters tasked with protecting the Saint at all costs. Comprised battle sister and flying assault troops. (Played by Marty)

Lancet Hereticus: Inquisition sponsored space marine fire team sent to capture the Saint to check for heresy and research. Comprised regular marines and a heavy weapons specialist. (Played by Sean)

Ferrymen: Small plague marine raider unit intent on capturing the Saint for the nefarious aims of the ruinous powers. Comprised plague marines and a mutated brother twisted by the rot of Nurgle. (Played by me)

The battlefield from the Battle Sisters side of the table.

How it Played Out

The aim of the three player skirmish scenario was to get the action happening quickly and make sure all three players were engaged throughout. All three factions entered the fray on turn one with frantic positioning as well as shots being exchanged. Initial casualties were quite light.

There was some difficult decision making for all players around how aggressively to go after the scenario objective vs protecting your team. Excitingly, all three factions had control of the Saint at one point in the game only to lose her to an opponent. This meant that the outcome of the game was always in question.

A cinematic brawl involving all three leaders culminated in the Ferryman captain sneaking the Saint away at the last minute to claim victory at the start of turn 6. A win for the nefarious forces of chaos!

Lancet Hereticus gunner observes the battlefield.

What Worked?

We used the One Page Rules skirmish ruleset: Grimdark Firefight, and it worked a treat. Fast, simple gameplay that had all three of us in the swing of things after the first move. With each player taking it in turns to activate a model this kept the game moving fast with no downtime for participants.

The victory conditions and time limit forced all three factions to engage with the objective pretty much immediately. It also kept each player battling on two fronts, no one was left out or ganged up on.

Finally, emergent play. All three players have some understanding of the 40K lore and got behind their faction and it’s aims. This definitely added to the immersion and I think colored some of the decision making as well. The cinematic three way duel by the captains at the end occurred completely emergently adding an awesome conclusion to the battle.

Mad scramble to secure the Saint in the alley next to the shrine compound. Marines, Plague Brothers and Battle Sisters all in attendance.

What Could Have Gone Better?

To be honest, not much. The battle flowed well and kept everyone engaged. The one thing I could have explained better at the start was the victory condition. There was a little confusion about how we achieved the win. We smoothed it out after turn 1, but clarity on this before we started would have helped.

Final Thoughts on Three Player Skirmish

All in all I succeeded in my goal of creating a fun, engaging, equal sided three-person skirmish scenario. The most important part was that we had fun playing. But I’ll be looking to see if I can come up with more three player scenarios in the future.

Of course, this battle now forms part of the Mordax Prime canon, my narrative setting for my 40K inspired gaming. With this victory for the ruinous powers, how will the Imperium authorities react? Will they mount a rescue mission? Or will the Saint become a tool of Chaos? We’ll find out in the next instalment…