The current Gang Rating for each gang participating in the battle is determined now. Gang Rating is the total rating of all fighters on a gang's roster.
Compare the Gang Ratings of each gang participating in the battle to determine their order from highest to lowest. Ties between gangs with the same Gang Rating are broken by comparing number of battles fought, then Reputation. If there is still a tie, the tied players should roll off with a D6, with the "winner" being considered to have the lower Gang Rating in the upcoming battle. The outcome of this comparison is applied hereafter in the Pre-Battle Sequence whenever the rules refer to the gang with the higher Gang Rating or the gang with the lower Gang Rating.
The gang with the lowest Gang Rating participating in a battle is considered the Underdog for that battle. Each scenario will indicate what benefits an Underdog gang gains (if any) when fighting a battle of that kind.
Random Determination
Roll a D6 on the Scripted Scenario chart below to randomly determine the scenario.
Scripted Scenarios
1
Battle Royale (2-4 Gangs)
2
Blind Box Looting (2-4 Gangs)
3
Race to Acquire Archeotech (2-4 Gangs)
4
Take and Hold (2-4 Gangs)
5
Eliminate High Value Targets (2-4 Gangs)
6
Small Crews Bump Into Each Other (2-4 Gangs)
Priority
The selected scenario will indicate when and how priority between players is determined, which should be followed. In some cases priority is determined before battlefield set up, in others it is determined before deployment, and in others it may be determined multiple times over the course of set up, deployment, and beginning the battle.
Type of Battlefield
If the selected scenario dictates that it must be fought as a Sector Mechanicus or Zone Mortalis battle, then that is the sort of battle it will be. Otherwise the players should agree whether they will fight using the Zone Mortalis or Sector Mechanicus rules or optionally fight on a hybrid battlefield containing elements of both styles of play. If the players cannot come to an agreement roll a D6; if the result is a 4+ it will be a Sector Mechanicus battle otherwise it is a Zone Mortalis battle.
The selected scenario provides explicit battlefield setup instructions, which should be followed.
If one gang's Crew is significantly weaker than the other gang's Crew, the weaker gang is the Underdog and may benefit from some compensatory benefit; whether a gang is the Underdog or not for the upcoming battle is determined now. Some scenarios describe a specific way to determine Underdog status for that scenario, but the default method in a two player battle is to subtract the lower Crew Rating from the higher Crew Rating to determine the difference. For instance, if one gang's Crew Rating was 1500 and the other gang's Crew Rating was 1000, the second gang is the Underdog with a Crew Rating difference of 500 points.
For each fighter that was excluded from Crew selection because they are in Recovery, clear their Recovering box on their gang's roster now. These fighters are able to take part in their gang's next battle. They are also able to take part in Post-Battle Actions after this battle.
The selected scenario provides explicit deployment instructions, which should be followed.
The
Battle Sequence
begins with the player who has the priority marker activating an Active fighter.