The Hit
Eliminate High Value Targets (2-4 Gangs)
Objectives
A vicious battle between two or more gangs, with each gang trying to take out a secretly determined fighter on each of the opposing gang Crews.
Each player will secretly select a single enemy fighter on each opposing gang's Crew (detailed below). At the end of the battle, each player gains 1 Victory Point for each Wound inflicted on their target(s) -- regardless of how or by whom those Wounds were inflicted.
Note that players get Victory Points even for Wounds they did not inflict and for fighters they did not take Out of Action, thus in battles of three or more gangs players may want to be selective who they attack to avoid unintentionally giving Victory Points to their opponents.
Attackers
In this scenario, all of the gangs are considered to be attackers.
Type of Battlefield
The players should agree whether they will fight this battle using the Zone Mortalis or Sector Mechanicus rules or optionally fight on a hybrid battlefield.
If the players cannot come to an agreement, roll a D6. On a 4+, it's a Sector Mechanicus battle, otherwise it's a Zone Mortalis battle.
Set up Battlefield
Determine Priority
Regardless of the type of battlefield being fought over, priority is determined now prior to setting up the battlefield. A new priority will be determined when the battle starts and only then will players select their deployment zones.
As players do not know which side of the battlefield they will deploy from while setting up the battlefield, they are incentivized to be even handed when placing terrain.
Zone Mortalis
In priority order, each player places a Zone Mortalis tile onto the battlefield until each player has placed a number of tiles equal to the total number of players.
For instance, in a two player battle each player will place two tiles while in a four player battle each player will place four tiles.
Each tile after the first must be placed so that at least one of its sides is flush to an existing tile, corner to corner and edge to edge.
The final shape of the battlefield should be squared off (2 x 2 or 3 x 3 or 4 x 4).
A tile cannot be placed if it would make this impossible.
Each player is responsible for setting up the walls, doors, ductways, scatter terrain, and so forth on each tile they place.
After all tiles have been placed, the player with priority will point out each door and another player will roll a D3.
On a 1 the door is opened, on a 2 the door is closed but is unlocked, on a 3 the door is closed and locked.
Whenever a door becomes locked, including now, it should be marked. When a locked door is unlocked, the marker should be removed.
Unlocked doors can be opened and closed but not locked by adjacent Active fighters using the Interact (Simple) action.
Doors can be closed & locked or unlocked & opened by adjacent Active fighters using the Access Terminal (Basic) action;
there are no modifiers or consequences for failure other than a wasted action.
Interact (Simple): The fighter may interact with or otherwise operate a console, device, or object within 1'' of the fighter for
an effect dependent upon the item interacted with. This can be used to close doors, open unlocked doors and loot caskets, flip switches, and so on.
Access Terminal (Basic): The fighter may make an Intelligence check to access or otherwise operate a terminal, console, device, or object within 1'' of the fighter.
This can be used to unlock & open or close & lock doors and loot caskets, activate scenario or tile specific effects, and so on.
In some cases (where noted) a modifier may apply, and / or there may be a consequence for failure.
Sector Mechanicus
The size of the battlefield is determined by the number of players, but it must be arranged as a square.
For a two player battle, the battlefield will be at least 18'' x 18''.
For a three player battle, the battlefield will be at least 27'' x 27''.
For a four player battle, the battlefield will be at least 36'' x 36''.
It can be useful to measure this out and place indicators for the corners or edges.
Alternately a battlemat of the appropriate size can be used.
The square area of the Sector Mechanicus battlefield is split into four equally sized square quadrants, like a cartesian grid.
The upper right corner is Quadrant I, and in counter-clockwise order the upper left corner is Quadrant II, the bottom left corner is Quadrant III, and the bottom right corner is Quadrant IV.
In priority order, each player selects one Quadrant that has not been set up yet and then each player simultaneously sets up their chosen Quadrant using whatever terrain is available.
If a dispute arises between multiple players wanting to place the same piece of terrain, the disputing players should roll off to determine who gets to place the piece of terrain.
Quadrants I-IV diagram
Each section must have a minimum of one large piece of terrain or three medium pieces of terrain, and no section should have so much terrain or be arranged in such a way as to be unplayable.
Terrain should be relatively stable and resistant to falling over if the table is bumped; anything too likely to fall over during the course of play can be vetoed by the other players.
This repeats until all four Quadrants have been set up.
Then, still in priority order, each player may either reposition a piece of terrain anywhere on the battlefield or place a walkway, gantry, or similar piece of terrain to connect structures located in different Quadrants.
After each player has had an opportunity to do this, this process is repeated until a player passes, after which the other players can each go once more.
Choose Crews
In this scenario all gangs use the
All Eligible Fighters
method to choose their gang's Crew.
Determine Crew Rating & Underdog Status
Crew Rating and Underdog Status are calculated considering all fighters selected for Crews.
Underdog Status is calculated by comparing the Crew Rating of each gang.
In the case of a 3 or 4 player battle, each gang should compare their Crew Rating for the battle to the average of the Crew Ratings of the opposing gangs to determine Underdog Status,
and subsequently there can be more than one Underdog (up to all of the gangs).
Underdog Bonus
This scenario allows Underdogs any one of the
Underdog Options
of the Underdog player's choice.
Fighters Recover
For each fighter that was excluded from Crew selection because they are in Recovery, clear their Recovering box on their gang's roster now.
Those fighters are able to take part in their gang's next battle, and are also able to take part in Post-Battle Actions after this battle.
Tactics Cards
During the Tactics Cards step of the Pre-Battle Sequence, each player may select three Tactics Cards from their Tactics Cards deck to form their hand.
Then, players of Underdog gangs may each select one additional Tactics Card from their Tactics Cards deck for their hand.
Note that Tactics Cards like Fade Away and Escape Hatch that allow fighters to voluntarily leave the battlefield do not work in this scenario, as noted in the No Escape section.
Thus, players should choose other cards for this battle.
Players then set aside all of their unselected Tactics Cards; they will not be used in this battle.
Deployment
First determine priority. Then, in the case of a two player battle, the player with priority selects one of the board edges as their deployment edge and the opposite board edge becomes their opponent's deployment edge. In the case of more than two players, in priority order each player chooses an unselected board edge as their deployment edge.
Each player has a wide deployment zone comprised of an entire side of the battlefield, from corner to corner, which is 2'' deep. In Zone Mortalis battles it is usually convenient to simply treat the first row of tiles along the deployment edge as a gang's deployment zone rather than strictly measuring 2''.
Note, in three or four player battles it is possible for two deployment zones to overlap at the corners. This is intended but the 1'' rule does apply; i.e. fighters from opposing gangs must be at least 1'' apart when set up onto the battlefield as part of deployment.
Infiltrators
In priority order, each player that has one or more fighters in their Crew that can infiltrate places a Blip marker on the battlefield at least 6'' away from the Blips of opposing gangs. Each Blip represents one of their gang's Hidden infiltrators -- but which one is unknown until the Hidden infiltrator is exposed.
It must be possible to tell the difference between Blips belonging to different gangs.
This process repeats until there are no infiltrating fighters left, or until a player has an infiltrator they cannot place due to lack of a viable location at which point no other players can place additional infiltrators either.
Hidden Infiltrators
When a player is able to deploy a Hidden infiltrator onto the battlefield, a Blip is used instead of a fighter's model.
The Blips used by a given gang should be distinct to that gang, so that it is possible to tell the difference between Blips from two or more gangs.
If a gang has multiple Hidden infiltrators, any of their Blips could be any of that gang's infiltrators. Which Blip is which fighter is revealed only when a Blip is exposed.
Blips cannot be a target, and cannot be hit by Blast or Template markers. Blips get Ready markers as if they were fighters upon the battlefield, but when activated a Blip can only Leave Hiding, or Move 8'', or Stay Put.
- Leave Hiding: expose the Blip, set up a relevant fighter onto the battlefield, and they immediately activate and take their full turn as normal.
- Move Marker: you can move the Blip up to 8'' as if it were a fighter. Blips ignore movement penalties due to climbing, Difficult Terrain, or similar, and automatically succeed on any Initiative checks made as part of movement.
- Stay Put: the Blip remains on the battlefield and nothing else happens.
Exposed
Blips can be exposed in three different ways:
- Leave Hiding: when the controlling player chooses to expose a Blip upon activation, as previously described.
- Plain Sight: when a Blip moves into clear view of an enemy fighter it might be exposed.
- Detect action: when a fighter successfully uses the Detect action to find a Blip, it is exposed.
When a Blip is exposed, the controlling player must select one available infiltrating fighter from their Crew that isn't already on the battlefield, then set that fighter up onto the battlefield where the Blip is, and remove the Blip.
Plain Sight
If a Blip enters the vision arc and line of sight of an Active enemy fighter no more than 12'' away, and that enemy fighter is not Blinded and their vision is not obscured by cover, fog, darkness, or similar, that enemy fighter can make an Initiative check. On success, the Blip is exposed. After the detected infiltrator is set up on the battlefield, the infiltrator can take a Simple or Basic action and then end their turn.
Detect action
Active and Pinned fighters can take the Detect (Basic) action in an attempt to expose a Blip.
Use this simplified table for detecting Blips in this scenario, ignoring the standard Detect modifiers.
Detect [Hidden] (Basic): When using the Detect action to Detect a Hidden marker, select a Hidden marker within 12'', and then make an Intelligence check with the following modifiers applied. If this check is successful, the selected Hidden marker is exposed.
All Other Fighters
Next, and still in priority order, each player takes turns setting up one remaining fighter from their Crew onto the battlefield such that the fighter's base is entirely within their gang's deployment zone. This continues as necessary until all fighters in all Crews have been deployed.
Target Selection
Players should now review each others rosters or fighter cards and then secretly choose one fighter from each other gang's Crew to be their target, secretly writing the name of all the opposing fighters they have selected on a slip of paper, concealing what they are writing so that the other players do not know who they have chosen.
After each player completes this step, they should fold their paper to hide their selections, write their gang's name on the outside of the folded over paper slip, and drop the slip into a communal receptacle such as a cup or bowl. This process should have a time limit imposed of no more than 15 minutes.
Players cannot access these slips of paper during the battle. At the end of the battle, all of the slips will be opened at once and revealed to everyone to determine victory.
For instance, in a four player battle the first player would write down the name of one fighter from the second player's Crew, the name of one fighter from the third player's Crew, and the name of one fighter from the fourth player's Crew onto a slip of paper. They would then fold their paper over such that none of their selected fighter names are visible, write the name of their own gang on the outside of this folded over slip of paper, and then drop it into the common receptacle where it will remain until the end of the battle.
Starting the Battle
Ready markers are distributed to the fighters on the battlefield, a new priority is determined,
and the player with priority starts the battle in the usual way by activating a fighter.
During the battle, fighters should pursue Victory Points by attempting to inflict Wounds on the fighters they selected as their targets.
Blips During The Battle
If there are any Blips representing Hidden infiltrators on the battlefield, remember that they move around and may become exposed during the battlefield, as previously described.
No Escape
In this scenario, the only way fighters can leave the battlefield during the battle is by being taken Out of Action by injury or Coup de Grace.
Skills like Exfiltration skill, and Tactics Cards such as Escape Hatch do not work during this scenario.
Fighters cannot leave the battlefield by moving off of the battlefield's edge (voluntarily or involuntarily).
If a Broken fighter would run off the battlefield, they instead stop 1'' away and Rally.
If a fighter would be knocked back or thrown off the battlefield, their movement stops at the edge of the battlefield as if they struck a wall.
Bottle Tests
Bottle Tests are not made during this battle.
Ending the Battle
There are several ways for the battle to end, determined precisely in the following order at the very end of each round of battle:
Prior Lots Cast
If it was determined the battle would end when Lots were cast in the previous round, the battle ends immediately.
Massacre
If no fighters remain on the battlefield or all fighters remaining on the battlefield are Broken or Seriously Injured, the battle immediately ends. All the gangs lose a Victory Point.
Supremacy
If only one gang still has Active, Pinned, or Hidden fighters remaining on the battlefield, the battle ends immediately. That gang receives 1 Victory Point and all of the other gangs lose a Victory Point.
Lots
If this is the first or second round of battle, the battle continues. Otherwise, all players that still have at least one fighter upon the battlefield in any status must cast lots.
Each participating player takes 1 dice into one or the other hand behind their backs or under the table, and then extend one closed hand that secretly either holds a dice or is empty.
On a count of three all players open their outstretched hand. If two or more players are holding dice the battle continues, otherwise the battle goes one more round and then ends.
The battle continues if two or more players reveal a dice.
Victory
When the battle is over, the slips of paper upon which players wrote down their targets are collectively opened and read by all of the players.
For each fighter that was chosen as a target, determine their maximum Wounds and their current remaining Wounds. An Out of Action fighter is considered to have 0 Wounds remaining.
Each of those fighters is worth a number of Victory Points equal to their maximum Wounds minus their remaining Wounds. For instance, a fighter with 3 Wounds maximum with 1 Wound remaining at the end of the battle is worth 2 Victory Points. Meanwhile, a fighter with 2 Wounds maximum that has 2 Wounds remaining is worth 0 Victory Points.
Rewards (Campaign Only)
Experience
Participation
Each fighter who participated in the battle gains 1 XP.
Standard XP
Fighters gain the standard XP awards for taking opposing fighters Out of Action.
First Blood
The first fighter in the battle to take any enemy fighter Out of Action gets 1 additional XP.
Winning Leader
If a gang Wins the battle and that gang's Leader participated in the battle, they receive 1 additional XP.
Reputation
Each gang gains 1 Reputation per opposing gang.
If there is a winner, that gang gains 1 Reputation.
Each gang gains 1 Reputation for every 2 Victory Points they earned.
Gangs that have 0 Victory Points lose 1 Reputation.
Diversity Incentive
For each of the opposing gangs that a gang has never fought before this battle, a gang
can gain either D3 Reputation or a pool of D3+1 XP to distribute amongst the gang's participating fighters.
Post-Battle Sequence
Proceed to the Post-Battle Sequence.