Wednesday 6 April 2016

Warhammer 8th Edition Scenario: Ambush!

Another scenario that was hurriedly laid out on the day, and which was used for Game 2 of the campaign between Warriors of Chaos and Vampire Counts.

Ambush!

The attacker seeks to use the element of surprise to compensate for the enemy’s superior numbers.

The Battlefield
Terrain can be set up however you like. In our case the setting was a swamp, so the table was scattered with swamp-like terrain. 

Armies
This battle uses uneven army values. The Defender’s army should be 1.5x the value of the Attacker’s army. For example, if the Attacker has 2000 points, the Defender should have 3000 points.



Deployment
The entire Defending army deploys first. The deployment zone is anywhere at least 18” from any table edge. On a 6’x4’ table, this will leave an area 36” long and 12” wide down the centre of the table. Once the Defending army is completely deployed, the Attacking army is deployed anywhere within 6” of any table edge. This will put the forces 12” apart.

Who Goes First?
The players roll off to determine who gets the first turn, with no bonuses for finishing deployment first.

Duration
The battle lasts for 6 turns.

Victory Conditions
The winner is determined by calculating Victory Points at the end of the game.

8 comments:

  1. Shouldn't the attacking army get the first turn there if its an ambush? Otherwise a 1000pt deficit would be lot to make up for, even with the starting advantage.....

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    1. The defender does have to set up first and let the opponent respond. The random result for the first turn was to at least some uncertainty in the attacker's mind when setting everything up only 12" away. Otherwise it would really be one-way traffic.

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    2. That makes sense, but I still think 1000pts is a LOT to make up, especially when they are all nice & bunched up getting leadership bonuses etc.

      Ambush scenarios work really well if you force the defending army into marching columns (2 or 3 wide) meaning it will take them a turn or 2 to really get themselves organised. At least that way the ambushers get a couple of free hits in before the battle turns against them! :D

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    3. If I'd had the 6th edition book with me, I would have seen that they gave the defender an extra 50% like I did, however the attacker only deployed on the short table ends, which allowed them to be further from the defender (18" instead of 12"). That makes it much easier to give them the first turn. It still sounds like a situation that advantages the defender, however. Weather a single turn and you can then get on with focusing on destroying half of the separated attacking force.

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    4. I think the biggest issue is that things like being caught in a crossfire aren't really reflected in the game. If you're being shot at by 2 units, it doesn't matter where its coming from. There's no advantage there.

      You want a little chaos (no pun) & panic in the defending army to start off with (like they would when being ambushed), and its a good test for the player to try and get their lines organised before they take too many losses. That's where the marching columns comes in.

      Love the campaign so far though. It's made me dig out my old Dark Shadows book for some ideas.....

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  2. Having played this scenario, I can reveal that the attacker, being undead, was also given a bonus to summoning to counterbalance the 1000 point difference. Also, he went first. Although I think we did the '6+ to steal the first turn' thing for the defender. Mayhap the mighty memory of the Hoodling is faulty. Mayhap mine is. Mayhap I am a giant squid. One of those is probably true.

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    Replies
    1. We rolled off for first turn, but you were generous enough to roll a 1 Owen. :)

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