Mysterioulsy Acquired Crazy Syndrome!

So then, we had a get together and some pizza last night to talk about the mass of rules we use in our gaming, as they've evolved over the last couple of years from 'counts as Necromunda' to 'almost Rogue Trader'. Below are the principles and house rules we decided to settle on, and we hope they might be of use to others doing something similar.

Gripped firmly by MACS, we've decided to go over to the core Rogue Trader rules, with the following House Rules...

Movement
As a matter of convenience, Reserve moves should be made as per the Run move rule from Necromunda.

Climbing, Jumping and Falling rules from Necromunda will be used.

The Stand and Shoot charge reaction may only be made if the charger is visible to the charged model at the beginning of the move, and over half his charge move away.

Chargers who wipe out their opponent in one move will be able to make an Overrun move.

Shooting
All of a player’s shooting attacks should be declared before any dice are rolled, as per the commentary in the GM section.

Overwatch may be used in small scale games, and at the GM’s discretion. To do so will require a successful Cool Test.

Ammo Checks may be used in small games, when the GM rules they are necessary, perhaps because the scenario suggests it or one side are true irregulars with no steady resupply chain.

In small scale games, the Necromunda Injury system will be used.

The ‘Duck Back and Shock’ advanced rule will be used.

Shooting at a Pinned target incurs an additional -1 to hit.

Flak armour will gain +1 Save vs Blast Weapons as per Necromunda.

Psykers
A psychic power may be generated or chosen as a mutation.

Mutations cost no points, but all those generated must be applied.

Psykers will take Perils of the Warp tests as per Necromunda rules when their psi-points drop below their Willpower score and they have to start rolling the use their powers.

Psykers specialising in esoteric disciplines (Pyromancy for example) or from primitive worlds may generate spells from 3rd Edition Warhammer Fantasy Battles (to continue the Pyromancy example, taking fire-themed Elementalist spells), as the two systems are compatible.

Vehicles
The vehicle rules published in the White Dwarf Compendium are to be used.

Players designing their own vehicles should be mindful of the high Toughness value many of the pre-generated vehicles have, and limit Toughness to around 6 except for true armoured vehicles.

Robots
The Robots rules published in the White Dwarf Compendium will be used.

In small scale games, the rules programs will be used, but in larger games players should use the rules for issuing Specific Orders.

Players should limit the Toughness values of their robots so that small arms have a chance of damaging them.

Campaigns
In small scale games, warbands may be selected using the Rogue Trader rules for generating personalities, up to a total warband starting value of 500 points.

Any equipment may be chosen, as we trust each other not to take the Michael.

The Rogue Trader Injuries in Campaigns rules will be used.

At the end of a campaign game, whoever is GMing will award Advances to each side, which count as ‘Advance Points’ as detailed in the Rogue Trader Personalities section. A character may advance any one characteristic by +1 per game, up to the racial maximum (remember to recalculate the characters’ points values, as the other side may be a one-off warband made to an equal points value for just one game). The GM will also award Points to spend on equipment, new warband members etc, as befits the scenario.

GMs may use and award any of the skills from Necromunda, but should be mindful that characters don’t get too unwieldy or overly powerful (Space Marines should always have Rapid Fire for example, but most of their power is derived from their stats and equipment). Players wishing to give such skills to their characters as advances will have to clear it with the group.

Aside from pistols and grenades, all weapons etc should be represented on the miniatures.

New old content!

 One of our readers (Doom on You I believe) asked me a while back about the content of the old Jericho Reach blog - well, I've just worked out that it's possible to import posts from one blog to another, so all the old Jericho Reach posts are now on this blog. I'm not sure the tags have survived the process, but the posts themselves appear to be there for those willing to dig for them, so as I get the chance I'll update the tags.

Space Slann vs Deathwatch Old School vs New School battle report

On a backwater wilderness zone world somewhere on the Eastern Fringe, a transmat portal blinks into life, and a group of aliens, their kind not seen in the galaxy for aeons, emerges. The Slann have travelled from the past to scry what the 41^st Millienium portends for their kind, and are horrified at what they find. Their world, so verdant and pristine when they left its pastures, is now a blasted wasteland, stained by the tread of base mortals. Evoking the transmat portal to return to their time, the Slann prepare to depart.

But others have noted their coming, and even as the Slann retreat, the hunters are closing in…

This game was fought using the Necromunda rules, but with psychics as described in Rogue Trader (Necromunda psychics rules are a bit mundane for our tastes!). The Space Slann force was devised using the profiles and points values in Rogue Trader, and these were multiplied by 10 to get an equivalent  Necromunda gang rating. The Deathwatch Kill-team was put together using the stats, skills and gang rating of a Chaos Space Marine from the Outlanders supplement as a basis. The Deathwatch Kill-team came to a gang rating of 2500 with just the gear the models were carrying, so the Space Slann had to be loaded up with lots of exotic equipment to match, which was a bit of a balancing act as I didn’t want to overload the Slann player with unfamiliar rules. The Space Slann had a psyker, and the player would choose one power of each of the four levels.

In this scenario, the Space Slann deployed first, no model nearer than 8” from another (as they are still exploring the area). The Deathwatch then deploy onto a board edge of that player’s choice. To determine who goes first, the Slann each roll 2d6+Initiative; if there is a Space Marine within this distance, the Slann would go first, if not, the Kill-team went first.

The Space Slanns’ objective is to escape the ambush, and they must do so via the transmat portal. This will appear on a secret dice roll made by the GM, and would scatter 2d10” from the centre of the table. This the Space Slann player knew, but he didn’t know that once the portal had appeared he would have to keep it in place, by the nearest model making a Leadership Test – if failed, it would scatter again.

The Deathwatch Kill-team player knew only that he would be facing some form of alien, and wasn’t told anything about his foe or allowed to see their list once the game had started. His objective was to catch at least one alive.

So here’s the highlights of what happened...

Turn 1: The Deathwatch move in from the east, but the Slann psyker envelops three of their number in a Ectoplasmic Mist, slowing them down, and blocking the otherwise dominating position the heavy bolter had gained. The mist would stay in place for a random number of turns known only to the GM, which turned out to be seven.

Turn 2: The Deathwatch struggle through the mists, bolter and plasma round flying back and forth.

Turn 3 and 4: The Slann redeploy in the face of the Kill-team’s advance, and a shot from the heavy bolter causes a Displacer Field to kick in and displace the Slann right into the open.

Turn 5: The transmat portal appears, scattering just behind the Slann psyker (and almost taking him through it in the process).

Turn 6: The Slann suffer their first casualty, the Slann who was displaced into the open. The Assault Marine charges the isolated Commander Xix. The combat result was a draw, but Xix’s Initiative was higher, granting him a hit on the marine, who failed his save and died!

Turn 7: The Slann nearest to the transmat portal fails his Leadership test and it displaces, further to the east, meaning the remaining Slann have further to travel to reach safety. But, two Slann, including the psyker are near enough to flee, and they exit the table via the portal.

Turn 8: The Ectoplasmic Mist dissipates, opening up the heavy bolter’s field of fire. Wasting no time, the heavy bolter downs a Slann while another Battle-Brother captures himself a Slann (the Slann was down, so while the marine remained in base contact he had him subdued).

Turn 9: The transmat portal displaces again, this time ending up inside the giant skull, and closer to the remaining Slann.

Turn 10: The Slann pass their Leadership test to keep the portal in place. The heavy bolter wounds Commander Xix.

Turn 11: The heavy bolter continues its rain of death on the battle field, displacing another Slann in to the open.

Turn 12: Commander Xix guns down the Kill-team leader with his plasma pistol.

Turn 13: All the Slann make a bolt for the portal, and the heavy bolter slays Commander Xix.

Turn 14: Two more Slann escape, the Deathwatch close in a capture another.

The game ended with the Slann getting the majority of their war party away, but two of their number have been captured. Clearly, the next battle will see the Slann attempting to rescue their fellows from the alien autopsy tables of the Ordo Xenos!