Scenarios

Special Scenario Rules

Battlefield Conditions

Normally battlefields are set up as directed by the Pre-Battle Sequence and nothing out of the ordinary is in effect for the ensuing battle. However sometimes various conditions may affect a battlefield, either as indicated by a specific scenario, by a gang such as the Ratskins, by an Arbitrator, by a Tactics Card, or by player agreement. The standard Battlefield Conditions that may be applied to a battle follow; however others might be introduced by an Arbitrator or by player agreement to customize scenarios or increase the challenge of a battle.

Threats

As if enemy gangs and the hostile environment of the underhive itself weren't dangerous enough, sometimes other threats are also present on a battlefield. Many-tentacled sewer beasts, giant spiders, treacherous mutated Scaavies, and other exotic dangers abound.

Hive Tremors

Tremors shake the hive, causing unstable footing. But it's not all bad news; often such seismic activity reveals long lost treasures.

When Hive Tremors occur several things happen, in order:

NOTE: If Hive Tremors are caused by a player (such as by playing a Tactics Card, or by a Ratskins player exercising their option to trigger Hive Tremors), that player is considered to have priority while the Hive Tremors are resolved.

For the remainder of the battle, each Round at the beginning of the Priority Phase (before priority is determined), the player who currently has priority must roll a D6 to determine if the Hive Tremors continue to have an impact on the battle. If a 1 is rolled, an aftershock shakes the battlefield further and every Active fighter on the battlefield must make an Initiative check or become Pinned; Ratskin fighters may gain a +2 bonus to their Initiative checks to avoid becoming Pinned.

Ash Storm

Plumes of dense and toxic ash inundate the battlefield.

At the beginning of each turn, visibility for the turn is reduced to a maximum of 5D6''. Additionally, all movement is reduced by 1'' per action; fighters with a Respirator or Filter Plugs (who choose to use them) and all Ratskins and Ash Waste Nomads are immune to this movement reduction.

Bad Air

The air in the area of the battlefield has become nearly unbreathable, particularly for the weak and injured.

At the beginning of each End Phase each fighter in the affected area with a modified Toughness of 3 or less takes a Flesh Wound. Abilities and equipment that apply vs the Gas trait can be used to resist this effect. Fighters reduced to 0 Toughness by this effect are taken Out of Action and are Out Cold; they will be available for their gang's next battle. All Ratskin and Ash Waste Nomad fighters are immune to this effect.

Relics

Sometimes a gang relic is present during a scenario. A gang relic can take many forms, but each represents something of great symbolic importance or sentimental value to a gang. A gang relic always belongs to one gang or the other; if the scenario has an attacker and a defender the relic belongs to the defender. In other cases more than one or all participating gangs have a relic present. Otherwise roll off before the battle begins to determine which gang owns the relic.

A relic counts as a piece of scatter terrain that provides cover, but cannot be targeted or moved.

A relic starts undefiled but a fighter in base contact with an enemy gang's relic can defile it by making the Defile Relic action.

When members of a gang that have a relic on the battlefield must make a Leadership, Cool, or Willpower check, they gain a +2 bonus if their relic is undefiled, or a -2 penalty if their relic is defiled.

Home Turf

Some scenarios take place within the territory of one of the gangs. While a gang is fighting on its own Turf, its fighters are more likely to stand and fight. As such, the gang gains the following advantages:

Whenever a Bottle Test is made for the gang the controlling player rolls one more D6 and may discard any one of the dice rolled before determining the result.

The gang's fighters add 1 to all Leadership, Cool, and Will tests they make during the battle.

If the gang has Hangers-on, some types of them may participate in the battle as described by individual Hangers-on descriptions.

If a gang loses a battle where this special rule is in effect, the gang usually loses Turf at the end of the battle or suffers some other undesirable outcome. However the specifics of what happens are left to each scenario to describe.

Gangs that currently have no Turf cannot have Home Turf advantage.

Reinforcements

In some scenarios, a gang's Crew does not include all of the gang's available fighters at the beginning of the battle, but remaining fighters might join the battle in later rounds. In scenarios that allow Reinforcements, a player may choose to hold on to Tactics Cards that are normally played on a fighter at the start of a battle and instead play them later when a fighter joins the battle as Reinforcements.

Once a fighter has joined a battle as Reinforcements they are part of the Crew and are given a Ready marker in the next Priority phase. They are counted when determining the outcome of Bottle Tests made after their arrival. The gang's Crew Rating includes the fighter's Rating in its total after they join the battle (but not before). In all respects, from the moment they join the battle until the end of the Post-Battle Sequence, the fighter is counted in the same way as fighters who started the battle.

Scenarios that use this special rule will detail how Reinforcements are determined, under what circumstances Reinforcements are allowed to join the battle, and how Reinforcements deploy when they do join the battle. Some of the more common deployment options for Reinforcements are described below, but some scenarios describe custom options.

Deployment Edge

When this style of Reinforcement is used, when Reinforcements arrive they are placed with the back edge of their base touching the edge of the battlefield on the side that the gang's Crew deployed from at the beginning of the battle.

Random Edge

In some cases Reinforcements enter the battle from a random edge of the battlefield. Roll a Scatter Dice and whichever battlefield edge it points to is the selected edge the reinforcements must enter from.

Ipick-Upick

For scenarios using this style of Reinforcements, whenever a fighter arrives by Reinforcements a D6 is rolled for the fighter. On a 3 or more the controlling player may select any point on any edge of the battlefield, but on a 1 or 2 their opponent gets to choose the point. The fighter is placed by their controlling player within 1'' of the selected point.

Stealth

Some scenarios include aspects of sneakiness, allowing assassins to lurk, saboteurs to intrude, thieves to creep, and so forth. Each scenario that does so includes specific instructions as to how Stealth is handled for itself. This usually incorporates some combination of Infiltration, the Hidden status, Sentries, and other special rules.

As always, specific instructions in a scenario override general instructions. For instance, the Infiltrate skill usually works a certain way, but scenarios commonly override that behavior and define how Infiltrate works for that scenario. Hidden opponents are usually detected using the Detect (Basic) skill, but some scenarios define alternate instructions. Fighters usually get Ready markers at the start of each round, and when activated take actions based on their status (Active, Pinned, etc), but in a Stealth mission some fighters might not get Ready markers, or might be restricted in what actions are available to them when activated. And so on.

Stealth adds a lot of fun and tension to scenarios, but it is a complicating factor with multiple moving parts. To avoid confusion or unintended outcomes, it is important that players not jump to conclusions based upon how things usually work. Instead, each player should make sure they understand the specific instructions of the scenario they are about to play, and follow them as presented.

Underdog

Some scenarios attempt to even the playing field for gangs with a Crew Rating substantially below the opposing gang's Crew Rating, as determined in the Comparative Crew Rating step of the Pre-Battle Sequence.

Mercy Rule

If a scenario indicates that a gang would lose Reputation for bottling out, an Underdog gang that managed to survive to the end of the third round of that battle before bottling out does not lose Reputation for bottling out.

Multiplayer Underdog

In games with three or more players, Underdog status is determined by comparing a gang's Crew Rating against the Crew Rating of all the enemy gangs averaged together. The difference in Crew Rating compared to this average opposing Crew Rating is what is used to determine any Underdog bonuses a gang may receive.

Underdog Benefit Options

There are a variety of Underdog options available, and it is even possible for a scenario to use more than one option or give the player a choice.

Automatic Priority

With this option, the Underdog gang automatically wins priority for the first round and for one more round for every 100 points of Rating Difference (rounded up). However, the Seize the Initiative Tactics Card and similar abilities trump this benefit when relevant.

Extra Tactics Cards

With this option, if a gang has a lower Crew Rating than their opponent, they may select / draw and keep 1 or more additional Tactics Cards based upon the differences in Crew Rating as indicated by the Underdog Tactics Cards Bonus table. For instance, if a scenario said to select and keep 2 Tactics Cards to form a hand, an Unfavored Underdog with this option would select and keep 3 Tactics Cards for their hand.

Reputation Bonus

With this option, after the battle the gang with the lower Crew Rating gains additional Reputation based upon the differences in Crew Rating as indicated by the Underdog Reputation Bonus table.

XP Bonus

With this option, after the battle the fighters in the Crew with the lower Crew Rating gain additional XP based upon the differences in Crew Rating as indicated by the Underdog XP Bonus table. Only fighters who participated in the battle gain the bonus XP.

Underdog Variety Pack

With this option, an Underdog gang gets a variety pack of cumulative bonuses based upon how much of an Underdog they really are.

Hive Scum

With this option, if a gang has a lower Crew Rating than their opponent, they may add one Hive Scum to their Crew for this battle based upon the differences in Crew Rating as indicated by the Underdog Hive Scum Bonus table.

This option is not available to gangs that cannot hire Hive Scum normally. If this is the case, the Underdog gang gains the Underdog Reputation Bonus instead of this bonus.

Gang Augmentation

With this option, at the end of the Buy Advancements and Recruit Hired Guns step of the Pre-Battle Sequence, gangs that are able to hire new fighters after the start of the campaign might gain a new fighter to help them in the following battle.

First, calculate the Augmentation Factor, which is equal to the Rating Difference / 200 (rounded up). Then, the Underdog player rolls D6 + the Augmentation Factor, succeeding on a roll of 7+.

On success, the gang gains temporary credits equal to the Augmentation Factor x 100, which they can use to hire and equip a fighter from their Gang List, observing Gang Composition restrictions as normal. Any of the temporary credits not spent hiring and equipping this fighter are lost; they do not go to the gang's Stash.

This fighter is included as part of the gang's Crew for this battle, but Crew Rating is not recalculated and the Underdog gang is still considered to be the Underdog for this battle. If the newly hired fighter survives the battle, they are added to the gang's roster in their current state at the beginning of the Buy and Hire step of the Post-Battle Sequence (at no additional cost), and are a permanent member of the gang going forward.