Scenario: The Crucible (Necromunda 2017)

A Sector Mechanicus battlefield should be between 24" x 24" and 36" x 36". In either case, no obstacles or scatter terrain can be set up within 6" of the center of the battlefield at this time.

Each player starts the game with no Tactics Cards. Each player should remove from their Tactics Card decks any card that is normally played at the beginning of the battle. Each gang shuffles their remaining Tactics Cards to form their Tactics Card decks.

This scenario allows the Reputation or XP Underdog Options (player's choice).

In this scenario each player should sort the fighter cards of their gang's available fighters into two smaller decks. The first deck should contain Juves and ordinary Gangers (not Specialists). The second deck should contain every other type of fighter in the gang (Leaders, Champions, etc). The Juves and ordinary Gangers deck should be shuffled. Now each gang should use Random Selection (3) to choose their crew from the deck of Juves and Gangers.

If a gang has fewer than 3 Juves and Gangers who are available for the battle, all available Juves and / or Gangers are chosen and then the gang randomly selects additional available fighters by shuffling the available Fighter cards together and drawing the necessary number of cards until either the crew has 3 fighters or no more fighters are available to the gang.

A gang's remaining fighter cards from both decks (if any) are then shuffled together to form the player's Reinforcements deck. A player may choose to exclude some or all of their remaining fighter cards from their Reinforcement deck at this time.

Players should determine priority normally. The player with priority should select a spot within 6'' of the center of the battlefield, and then set up their first fighter at that spot. The next player does the same, but their fighter must be no closer than 6'' and no further than 9'' away from the enemy fighter. In a multiplayer game each player does this in priority order until every player has deployed their first fighter.

After every player has placed their first fighter, each player deploys the remainder of their gang's crew, such that each fighter deployed is set up within 1'' of the fighter from their own gang that was first placed upon the battlefield.

Continuing in priority order, each player may now choose to either place up to two pieces of scatter terrain anywhere on the battlefield, or to draw a Tactics Card from their deck. Scatter terrain placed in this way must be reasonably sized, such as a barricade or a guard rail, or something similar.

In this scenario all gangs uses the Random Edge option for Reinforcements .

At the very end of each End Phase (after everything else has been resolved) each player rolls a D6 and adds the number of rounds that the battle has been waged. Consult the table below to determine how many Reinforcements the player may draw and deploy that round.

Reinforcements enter the battlefield from a randomly determined edge, in priority order. Place all Reinforcement fighters entering the battle so that the edge of their base is touching the edge of the battlefield they enter from. In Sector Mechanicus, Reinforcements may enter play on raised platforms whose edges are touching the edge of the battlefield the Reinforcement enters the battlefield from.

If a player has no more Reinforcements remaining, they may draw a Tactics Card from their Tactics Cards deck.

It is very dangerous to encounter enemies while unprepared, and these poor sods have done just that. The goal for each player is to keep the unlucky fighters from their starting crews from going Out of Action.

Taking an enemy fighter from an opponent's starting crew Out of Action gains a Victory Point.

The Charge action is unavailable during the first round of the battle.

Bottle tests are not made during this battle.

Any Active or Pinned fighters within 1'' of an edge of the battlefield at the start of the End phase may escape the battlefield. Escaping fighters are removed from the battlefield; their fighter cards are shuffled into the player's Reinforcement deck and the fighter does not count as being Out of Action.

At the end of the End Phase, if any of the players participating in the battle no longer have any fighters from their starting crew remaining on the battlefield, the battle ends immediately.

Taking an enemy fighter from an opponent's starting crew Out of Action is worth 1 Victory Point. The gang with the most Victory points wins. If there is a tie for most Victory points, the battle ends in a draw.

If the battle has ended and none of the fighters in any gang's starting crews were put Out of Action, there is no winner; the battle is a draw.

Standard XP for taking fighters Out of Action applies.

Every End Phase, each fighter from a gang's starting crew gains 1 XP if they are still on the battlefield, up to a maximum of 5 XP each.

Each fighter who joined the battle as a Reinforcement gains 1 XP.

If there is a winning gang, that gang's Leader gains 1 additional XP.

If there is a winning gang, that gang gains 1 Reputation.

Each gang gains 1 Reputation for each of the opposing gangs that they have never fought a battle against.

Each gang gains 1 Reputation for each other gang that departed the battlefield before their own gang did.

If all of the fighters of a gang's starting crew were put Out of Action, that gang loses 1 Reputation.

If none of the fighters of any gang's starting crew were put Out of Action, all gangs participating in the battle lose 1 Reputation.

Variants

The basic template of this scenario can be modified, allowing for variants with slightly different stakes or different tactical options.

The Boss Meet

Doomed Negotiations variant (2-6 Gangs)

In this variant, the bosses of two or more gangs have decided to meet to discuss policy, settle a beef, conspire against some other gang, or whatever.

In this scenario each player should secretly select from their available fighters their Leader or a Champion to serve as their boss for the meet. Next each player should secretly select from their available fighters a Champion or a Merc, or up to two other fighters to form the boss's entourage. The selected boss and entourage form the gang's starting crew for this battle. For each gang, the fighter cards of all remaining available fighters should be shuffled together to form a deck which is then set aside to form the gang's Reinforcements.

Ideally, the bosses would discuss whatever matter concerns them and then part ways...but that's boring. So when things inevitably don't work out, each boss and their entourage must do their best to survive.

Players should determine priority normally. A spot near the center of the battlefield should be chosen as the meeting place by consensus among the players with the player who has priority breaking any ties; a token or small object should be placed on the battlefield to mark the selected spot. Then in priority order each boss must be set up within 2'' of the selected spot. Finally, still in priority order, each player must set up a member of their entourage within 3'' of their own boss and no closer than 3'' to an enemy boss until all fighters in each gang's staring crew have been set up on the battlefield.

At the start of the battle conflict has not yet broken out, and the bosses conduct their business. During this phase of the battle only bosses receive Ready markers, each boss activates in priority order until no Ready markers remain, at which point a new round begins and each boss receives a new Ready marker.

When each boss is activated, they may either Negotiate or Attack.

If the boss chooses to Attack they may make a single Shoot (Basic) action targeting a single enemy fighter in their line of sight. The boss may not use a Grenade, Special, or Heavy weapon for this attack, or any weapon that has the Blast or Template traits. After this attack has been resolved, the current round ends, the gang whose fighter was attacked gains priority, and violence erupts!

If the boss chooses to Negotiate, their controlling player rolls a D6 and adds 1 for each round that has passed thus far, then compares the result to the Boss Negotiations chart to determine the outcome.