The Sludge Flood
≠ : Sector Mechanicus Only
Rising Sludge Royale (2-4 Gangs)
Objectives
Two to four gangs clash for control of a Sector Mechanicus industrial apparatus, but a pipe bursts and a rising flood of toxic sludge forces gangs to ascend to escape.
At the start of the battle, the objective is nominally to do battle against opposing gangs.
But, oh no! A pipe bursts, flooding the battlefield with toxic sludge from the bottom up.
Then the real objective becomes ascend and escape, or be submerged in the rising tide of goo.
The Fallen
At the end of the battle, the gang with the fewest Fallen wins.
In this scenario, fighters are counted as being Fallen if they are taken Out of Action by an Injury roll, an attack or Coup de Grace, a Tactics Card or ability used against them, dropping to 0 Toughness, or by being submerged in the rising flood of toxic sludge.
To avoid argument at the end of the battle, players should collectively keep track of all the Fallen as they are taken Out of Action.
Attackers
In this scenario, all of the gangs are considered to be attackers.
Type of Battlefield
This scenario may only be fought on a Sector Mechanicus battlefield with multiple levels.
Set up Battlefield
The battlefield should be at least 9" per side multiplied by the number of gangs (for instance a 4 player game should be played on a battlefield that is at least 36'' x 36'').
Players will cooperate to set up the battlefield as described below. Players will be assigned a deployment zone randomly after the battlefield is set up, so there is incentive to keep things fair.
Verticality
The battlefield must have at least two distinct levels of verticality above ground level with usable platforms.
Bridges, connecting gantries, and jumpable gaps should be well proliferated to allow the battlefield to be traversed above ground level.
Quadrants
As indicated in the adjacent diagram, the battlefield is split into four Quadrants (A, B, C, D). Each Quadrant should have a roughly equivalent distribution of verticality and above ground connections between platforms and gantries.
Exit Zone
The center of the battlefield is reserved for a terrain piece with a reachable platform or gantry at least 10'' above ground level, which will serve as the Exit Zone (E) for escaping fighters.
Conceptually, a means to ascend further into the rafters of an underground vault allows escape.
But for game purposes, fighters exit the battlefield by moving into the designated area on the highest level of the central terrain piece.
Ascenders
For the purposes of this scenario, ladders, ramps, stairs, elevators and other such mechanisms allowing vertical movement are referred to as ascenders.
For each level of terrain in a Quadrant, there must be at least one ascender allowing upward movement to it from a lower level.
Additionally, all Quadrants should have approximately equivalent means to ascend to higher levels so that no Quadrant has significantly easier access to the Exit Zone.
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 eligible fighters.
Underdog Status is calculated by comparing the Crew Rating of each gang against the average of the Crew Ratings of all opposing gangs.
In battles between more than two gangs, there can be more than one Underdog (up to all of the gangs).
Underdog Bonus
This scenario allows Underdog gangs to gain the
XP Bonus
Underdog Option.
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
Each player may remove up to 15 Tactics Cards from their Tactics Cards decks and put them aside (those cards will not be used in this battle).
Each player shuffles their remaining Tactics Cards together to form their gang's Tactics Cards decks, and places their deck face down near the battlefield for later use.
Deployment
Ground Floor
In this scenario, all non-infiltrating fighters must be set up on the ground level of the battlefield.
Infiltration
During deployment, a fighter that is able to infiltrate is limited to the same deployment area as the rest of their gang,
but can be set up on any level of the battlefield within that area, not just the ground level.
Priority and Set Up
Priority is rolled for now, with roll offs in the case of ties.
Then, players are ranked in priority order from highest to lowest.
The player with the highest priority is Player 1, the next highest is Player 2, and so on.
Quadrant A is Player 1's deployment zone and Quadrant D is Player 2's deployment zone, Quadrant C is Player 3's deployment zone, and Quadrant B is Player 4's deployment zone.
In priority order, each player sets up onto the battlefield one of the fighters in their Crew
such that the fighter's base is entirely within their quadrant, no further than 4'' away from an edge of the battlefield, and at least 1'' away from opposing gang fighters.
This repeats until all fighters have been set up onto the battlefield.
Starting the Battle
The battle starts and the first round is fought normally using the Battle Sequence.
The Sludge
At the very end of the first round and each round after that, immediately before the next round begins,
toxic sludge seeps upward a number of inches equal to the number of the current round.
I.E. by 1'' at the end of the first round, by 2'' at the end of the second round, by 3'' at the end of the third round, and so on.
It should be imagined that the entire battlefield is becoming submerged by a rising surface of a thick but slippery liquid.
For each fighter on the battlefield, if at any time the current height of the sludge is higher than that fighter stands, they are taken Out of Action immediately and a Lasting Injury roll is made for them.
Fighters that are partially submerged suffer a -1 penalty to all Initiative checks.
Fighters that are at least chest-deep in the sludge are considered to be in Difficult Terrain.
Draw Tactics Cards
After the first round, during the Ready Fighters step of the Battle Sequence, each player may choose to not give one of their fighters a Ready marker to instead gain a Tactics Card.
If they do, the player draws up to three Tactics Cards from their deck and keeps any one of them for their hand, returning the remainder to the top or bottom of their Tactics Cards deck in any order.
Exiting The Battlefield
After the toxic sludge has started to rise, fighters exit the battlefield by moving into the designated Exit Zone, by any means.
Fighters that do so are removed from the battlefield and are unharmed.
Bottle Tests
Bottle Tests are not made during this battle.
Ending the Battle
The battle ends when there are no more fighters remaining on the battlefield.
Victory
If there are no Fallen, the battle ends in a draw for all gangs.
Otherwise, the gang with the fewest Fallen wins, and all other gangs lose.
If there is a tie for fewest, the battle ends in a draw for the tied gangs and a loss for any other gangs.
Rewards (Campaign Only)
Experience
Standard XP for taking fighters Out of Action applies.
Each fighter who exited the battlefield by moving into the Exit Zone gains 1 XP.
If a gang is the winner, that gang's controlling player may grant 1 additional XP to any fighter of their gang that participated in the battle.
Reputation
A gang with no Fallen gains 1 Reputation.
A gang that had no fighters escape the battlefield by moving into the Exit Zone loses 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.