Settlers of Qa'Tan

An old friend from back when I first got into 40k recently invited me to join a map based campaign that starts on the 27th of December and ends in February. I agreed as its been far too long since I've played 40k with him and the custom rules they have come up with are quite interesting.

I'll start by copy/pasting the pertinent information from the rulesheet they've written up:-

Overview

This is a map based campaign where players use small armies with multiple restrictions places upon army selection but whose forces may grow and develop as different locations and resources are gained by the players.  It is designed for short snappy games and to develop or further narratives of the characters involved.  

Background

Qa’Tan is a planet on the eastern fringe of the galaxy in neutral grounds.  The reason it has never been conquered is due to a huge light bending device that surrounds the planet.  The surface of the planet is over 90% oceanic; the remaining 10% is made up of thousands of islands.  One island in particular is of interest, as there appears to have been an immensely powerful civilisation living there countess millennia ago.

 Map

The island where the battles will take place will be divided into a grid of 36 squares, 6 rows and 6 columns.  If a random square on the grid needs to be determined one d6 is used to find the x axis and another d6 for the y axis. Each square confers a special rule or force selection option.  Most are positive some are not and until a location is fully explored the rules each square gives are a secret, once explored they become fully open information.

That's the basic stuff, cut down slightly for brevity. The important bit is the army building

Army Selection

Armies start at 750 points. Apart from your Warlord, you may change your list on a game by game basis.

The detachment contents of each army must start as follows:

1 Headquarters

1+ Troops

0-1 Elites

0-1Fast Attack

0-1    Heavy Support

Also the following selection rules apply:

·         No vehicles with combined armour totalling 38 or greater

·         Maximum of one vehicle with combined armour totalling 34 or greater*

·         Maximum of 5 models with a 2+ save* (warlord does not count towards this total)

·         No template weapons bigger than large blast

·         0-3 Support weapons. A support weapons is defined as a weapon that has one of the following characteristics: AP1, Large Blast or capable of shooting 4 or more shots. If a weapon has more than one of these rules then it takes up more than one of your slots, e.g. a Doomsday Ark has a Large Blast at AP1, so would take two of your support options*

·         Maximum of three levels of psychic mastery*

·         Maximum of 1 monstrous creature*

·         No flyers or flying monstrous creatures

·         No allies*

·         No fortifications*

·         No special characters, formations or lord of war.

* donates that army selection rule can be modified by certain location abilities, if no * it is an immutable selection rule

Warlord

Initial HQ choice is your warlord.  Your warlord may not have any changes throughout the campaign to equipment or type unless the campaign rules state otherwise.  However as the campaign continues it is possible for him to gain additional rules, benefits and occasionally flaws or even die.  Before the first battle, do not randomly roll for your warlord trait, you may choose one from any table available to your warlord, but it may not be changed unless campaign rules state otherwise.  Any options bought for a warlord (e.g. gifts of mutation, daemonic rewards, etc.) stay constant throughout the campaign but things such as psychic powers are generated as normal before each game.

 So, small armies with a consistant Warlord. Sounds like it's time to build a Legend.....

Imperial Warlord, from the Cadian 2099^th

Captain Willis Finch

Celeritas

(Heirloom of Cadia)

Warlord Trait – Above the Thundering Guns (Mont’ka Cadian)

The Hero of our piece. An experienced Captain sent to claim Qa'Tan for the Imperium. He is a man's commander; adept at sitting back and using the Vox network to guide the strategic picture but perfectly willing to get stuck in with the rest of the lads. He is known to epitomise the regiment's motto of "Same mud, same blood" and keeps good relations with other Imperial combat elements at all the warzones he fights. His skill with a blade, proven at the officer's fencing academies back on Cadia, has led the Warmaster to honour him with "Celeritas" for the task of taking Qa'Tan. He does not intend on failing his orders.

He is accompanied by his usual team

Veteran Trooper Davis

Vox-Caster, communications officer for the group.

Veteran Trooper Mallard

Medi-Pack, medic.

Veteran Trooper Bethan

Regimental Standard, pledged to never let the colours drop from sight.

Veteran Trooper Thomas

Meltagun, Finch's aide and bodyguard.

Due to the exploritory nature of the mission, they have been joined by

Astropath Henry Van Dyne

On special attachment from the Navy, his mastery of Warp navigation should help with mapping the planet and he can also provide a modicum of protection from malign influences.

For this mission, I have chosen to largely run the same army all the time, unless area bonuses/negatives change things. Or the army prooves to be very sub-par...

TROOPS

Lieutenant Rogers

Platoon Command Squad, Vox-Caster, Heavy Flamer, 2 x Flamer

Sgt Abnett

Infantry Squad, Vox-Caster, Meltagun

Sgt Deaver

Infantry Squad, Vox-Caster, Plasma Gun

Sgt Wong

Infantry Squad,  Vox-Caster, Plasma Gun

ELITES

Sgt Frost

5 Ratlings

FAST ATTACK

Lt Baracus-Quinto's Forward Patrol

3 Scout Sentinels with Autocannons

HEAVY SUPPORT

Virtuous Reliability

Leman Russ, hull-mounted Lascannon, sponson-mounted Heavy Bolters 

And there it is. I'll update as the campaign progresses. My starting location gives me access to a second Leman Russ, but I don't have the model for one, nor do I actually want to spend the points. Not only would it come to a similar price as the other one, which is uncomfortably close to a third of the allowance, but it would also eat up a support weapon slot. So I'm going to stick with this, at least until I get some of the other locations;

Location Benefits

·         Here are the 36 benefits for locations but not in co-ordinate order.

·         -50 points

·         -25 points

·         Initial warlord trait may not be used

·         Warlord suffers fear of other warlords (unless immune to fear)

·         Reroll saves of 6s

·         Opposing warlords gain hatred special rule towards your warlord

·         Extra HQ & +1 psychic mastery or +1 fast attack

·         Extra HQ & +1 psychic mastery or +1 heavy support

·         +1 Elites or +1 fast attack

·         +1 elites or +1 heavy support

·         May use fortifications

·         May use battle brother allies within normal force structure

·         +1 fast attack or +1 heavy support

·         +1 fast attack or +1 heavy support

·         +1 tank (armour 34-37) or +1 monstrous creature

·         +1 tank (armour 34-37) or +1 monstrous creature

·         +1 tank (armour 34-37) or +1 monstrous creature

·         +3 support weapons (AP1, large blast or 4+ shots)

·         +50 points

·         +50 points

·         +50 points

·         +25 points

·         +25 points

·         +25 points

·         One unit gains scout

·         One unit gains tank hunter

·         One unit gains infiltrate

·         One unit gains counter attack

·         One unit gains fleet

·         One unit gains rage

·         +1 to seize the initiative roll

·         May choose if night fight is in effect or not

·         +1/-1 to all reserve rolls

·         +1/-1 random game length roll

·         +1/-1 scenario roll

·         May pick deployment zone (1^st turn rolled for as normal)

 

Hoping to get access to some extra points and the Allies location. I feel that given the other Warlords start out more powerful than mine, it might be worth calling in a hit on one or two. Not a complaint about the power of Guard characters by the way. Their strength is in coordinating the army, not seeking glourious one-on-one combat with the opposing Warlord. Not that I'm going to shy away if the enemy comes calling, I just aim to make everything my opponents gain costly.

I'll keep the blog updated with my progress