Hobby Table I

The Hobby Table will be a continuing post dealing with the sides of 40k that don't happen on the battlefield. These discussion will deal with the topics mostly found outside of battles such as the painting, mission creation, and other miscellaneous topics that don't fit in battle reports. Enjoy.

Mission: Meat Grinder

So today I ventured down the the keep where a Joe and a Sabo were in the midst of a battle. After a short conversation, Sabo agreed to come over and play again at the house. I decided when I got home that I wanted to have a little more fun with this game than a standard mission. My first thought was to try out the Evacuation mission from the back pages of the BRB. After Sabo showed a little hesitation due to the harsh environment rules... I decided that perhaps it was a good opportunity to dust off the old mission I had come up with while coming up with unique missions for a prior tournament event.

This game is a little more interesting than a usual mission and is suppose to simulate the very heart of a major battle. These fights generally consist of two major objectives, 1. Claim vital intelligence points on the battlefield which could be key to holding the field after the struggle has begun. 2. Destroy the enemy down to the final grunt.

Of course a battle depends on the ability for an army to tactically respond to every situation and to do this an HQ must be in the area to help maintain a sense of order.


Objective
The goal for both armies is to hold the majority of the objectives by the end of the battle; in addition they must also have more kill points than the enemy.


Set Up
The Table is split into 6 equal 1 foot wide sections along the length of the long table edge. Once done, both players roll a dice and the winner chooses a section closest to one of the short table edges. The opponent then takes the opposite section. 6 objectives are to be placed on the board (one in each section), but must remain more than 12" from another objective. Players set up objectives in the half of the board closest to their deployment zone, starting with the section closest to the board's center working out. Each player sets up one, then the opponent sets up one, until all are objective markers are placed.


Deployment
Both armies are to be set up in the far sections (the two closest to the board's short table edges) and the two armies take it in turns to set up one unit at a time until all units are deployed. All units must be placed in the section closet to the army's respective board edge. Units with the "Fleet" special rule, and all units purchased in the "Fast Attack" slot may be placed in the first or second sections.

Please note that units fall back towards the short table edges in this game.


Reserves
Both armies may use reserves as normal.


Victory Conditions
The mission calls for the armies to have nothing less than a merciless victory. In order to win, a player must hold the majority of objectives, and have more kill points than the enemy. If one of these requirements is not met, then the battle is a draw.


Special Rules

Meat Grinder: All non-HQ units have this rule. So long as a friendly HQ remains on the table, units that are completely destroyed (including any dedicated transports purchased for that unit) must return to the battlefield from reserves as if they had been placed there and return in the following controlling player's turn.

If there are no friendly HQ models left on the board, units that have been completely destroyed must roll to see if they can continue to come back into play. On a 4+ the unit will return as normal, but on a 3 or lower, the unit has been lost in the insuring chaos brought on by the lack or organization and are no longer in play.

Please note that units yield kill points as normal every time they are completely destroyed.


Objective Secured: If either player has a scoring unit within 3" of an objectiveat the end of their turn, then the objective is said to have been "secured". A secured objective counts as being controlled even if the unit that secured it moves off.

The only way the objective can change hands is for an enemy scoring unit to secure it themselves (just as described above).




The game uses standard mission length, and allows any and all standard rules to be used (i.e. Deepstrike, Outflant, Scout, etc.)



I hope you enjoy the mission as much as we did. and there will be a picture based battle report soon to show you how the game went. Until then...

Cheers!