“One unbreakable shield against the coming darkness, one last blade, forged in defiance of fate. Let them be my legacy to the galaxy I conquered, and my final gift to the species I failed.”
The Emperor of Mankind
The Armies
For this mission, all Commanders should compose an Engagement Force from their Battle Company’s Regimental Registry, adding any additional Conscripts to their armies from the list of approved Horus Heresy publications provided by the Event Organizer (EO). The total points cost of the Engagement Force should not exceed 1,500 Points.
The Battlefield
The playable area is defined as a 4’ x 4’ square area, or a total of 9 square feet in a custom orientation. The interior of the vessel is a tangled labyrinth of passageways and chambers, and should be represented appropriately. If you are using Game Workshop’s Zone Mortalis Complex terrain boards, then they may be laid out in an agreed fashion or, alternatively, the players may take turns placing tiles and walls so that they take up the playing area, making sure that each table edge has at least one clear entry/exit point per player.
Deployment (Salvation)
The Defending side only is divided into two roughly equal groups, based on the number of units. The Defending player then decides which of these two forces is to be their spearhead and which is to be their reserve. This represents the defenders sending our search parties to hunt down the boarders and calling in other parties as they close in on their prey.
The gaming table is divided into quarters, and both players roll off to choose a quarter. The Attacking side deploys their entire force within 6” of the table edge of that quarter. The Defender then places their spearhead force anywhere on the table that is not within 12” of an Attacker.
Reserves arrive normally, each unit entering the board from any table edge the controlling player wishes.
Special Rules
Zone Mortalis, Reserves, Death of a Behemoth
Death of a Behemoth
If this mission is being fought as the final game in a Hit & Run series of games and the Attacker has the most Boarding points, the ship is in flames and already breaking apart as it spews debris, plasma and voidsmen out into space. The effects of the Catastrophic Damage special rule are in effect for the entirety of the game. When rolling on the Blood in the Void Catastrophic Damage table, add the Game Turn number to the result.
In addition, all Infantry models in the side with the highest number of Boarding points go into this mission with the Fleet and Fearless special rules.
First Turn
The Attacker has the first turn; their opponent, the Defender, may attempt to Seize the Initiative.
Game Length
After five turns, roll a D6. On a 4+, a sixth and final turn is played.
“Wipe Out!”: Regardless of any other condition, if at the end of the game your enemy has no units left on the table then you are victorious!
Victory Conditions
The Salvation mission represents the attackers’ desperate withdrawal from the target vessel. It may be that the borders have succeeded in their mission to cripple the enemy warship and must now withdraw to their assault boats or teleportation points even as the ship tears itself apart around them. Conversely, it is entirely possible that the boarding action has met with failure having been repelled or perhaps recalled by the parent vessel, necessitating a hasty retreat as the ship’s vengeful crew close in from every quarter.
At the end of the game, the Commander who has scored the most Victory Points has won the engagement. If the Commanders have the same number of Victory Points, the game ends in a draw.
Primary Objectives
The Attacker’s goal in this mission is to outrun or break through their pursuers and reach an area from which they may escape back to their own vessel. The Defender’s goal is simpler still- to run the boarders down and slay them without mercy!
At the end of the game, the Attacker gains 1 Victory point for every one of its own units that has moved off the table edge opposite its own table edge. The Defender earns 1 Victory point for every one of the Attacker’s units that remain on the table at the end of the game.
Secondary Objectives
- Slay the Warlord
- First Blood
Mission Debriefs: After you finish playing the above mission, ensure that one of the Commanders logs it in our system via the following Google form: https://forms.gle/gFNQJEq2UKnNqBV58.
