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RULES FOR FIGHTING IN WARP SPACE

Taken from “The Cerberus War, Scenario 2: Warp Space” by James Parry & Friends, originally published in BFG Magazine #14. Condensed and re-written by Andy Rucker.

Forward

The following is the essence of the special rules that were published in BFG magazine for representing a battle in Warp Space.  I have not yet played this scenario, but it does look like a lot of fun. I’m not going to re-write the article verbatim here, both because of time constraints and because I don’t want to go stepping on toes as far as copyrights are concerned! Here is a printer-friendly Word version of this article: warpspacebattle.doc

 

Background

Basically, the fluff is that this scenario is based on the description of warp combat found in Gordon Rennie’s novel “Execution Hour” and involves two opposing fleets rushing towards the same objective who unexpectedly encounter each other in the Warp. Both sides must now contend with two adversaries: The enemy fleet and the hostile environment of the warp!

 

Forces

The original scenario calls for 1,000 point fleets, although there is no real reason why a larger game is not possible. Similar to the Escalating Engagement scenario, each player divides their fleet into 5 divisions and assigns a contact marker to each.

 

Battlezone

Terrain is placed as usual and has its usual effects, but represents different phenomena as follows:

Gas Clouds & Asteroid Fields = Dense & Super Dense Warp Rifts
Small Planet = Inert & Stationary Space Hulk
Warp Rift = Gateway to Real Space

Note: Any special racial abilities, crew skills, or refits that affect Celestial Phenomena do not apply in this scenario due to the hostile environment.

 

Special Rules

  1. Nova Cannon/Armageddon Gun: Need a 4+ to fire, much like in low orbit. Additionally, shots of over 30 cm are also subject to the Targeting Difficulties rule.
  2. Targeting Difficulties: For targets over 30 cm away, roll a D6 for each weapon system. If anything less than a 4+ is rolled, the shot is considered to have been blocked by a suddenly shifting warp current and has no effect on the enemy. If you are using two different batteries at once (such as dorsal and side), then roll a D6 for each one.
  3. Hostile Environment: Warp space makes ships more vulnerable to fire at close range, so shift two columns to the left instead of one when firing at targets closer than 15 cm.
  4. Ordnance Limitations: Crewed ordinance (fighters, bombers, boarding torpedoes, etc) is not allowed as these small craft lack Geller Fields to protect their crews from warp daemons (Demiurg ordnance is exempt, as it is automated). Additionally, unmanned ordinance is quickly destroyed by the hostile environment, and so is removed at the end of the ordinance phase of the turn it was launched (thus torpedoes effectively have only a 30 cm range).
  5. Shields Collapsing, Captain!: If a ship suffers a Shields Collapse critical, than a D6 is immediately rolled. On a roll of 1, the ship’s Geller Field has collapsed along with the shields and the ship is immediately destroyed due to the warp daemons devouring the souls of its crew. For the Necrons and Eldar, if a 9 or 10 (respectively) is rolled on that race’s critical damage table, it will have the same effect as the Shield Collapse critical on other races.
  6. Warp Storm!: This optional rule uses the Solar Flares and Radiation Bursts rules from the BBB to represent destructive warp turbulence that effects the entire table. The Signaling Problems sub-plot is also applied to both sides. Eldar and Necrons are not immune from the effects of warp storms, as they are not accustomed to fighting in the Immaterium. However, the Necrons retain their saving throw against Solar Flare hits.

 

Set-Up

Similar to Cruiser Clash, the two opposing fleets set up within 15 cm of opposite long table edges. A D6 roll to determines which player goes first, then the players take turns placing one contact marker at a time in their set-up area. Once all contact markers are placed it is revealed which ship is associated with each marker. The ships are then placed within 10 cm of their contact marker with any facing desired.

 

First Turn

The winner of a D6 roll can pick first or second turn.

 

Game Length

After eight turns, warp turbulence increases significantly, forcing both sides to disengage.

 

Victory Conditions

Calculate victory points as normal, except that no points are awarded for “Holding the Field” as there is no time to recover hulks following the battle.