This scenario is from White Dwarf #68, published in May 2015 to help introduce the Adeptus Mechanicus.  We did make some changes.  The idea is our battlefield is a site littered with lost high technology or perhaps some sort of forgotten base.  One side is attempting to explore and uncover the technology while the defenders try to prevent them from doing so.

Objectives: Take turns placing six objectives using normal rules for doing so.  Each objective is worth 3 points at the end of the game.

Deployment: Vanguard Strike.  Note that an easy way to do this is to measure from one corner approximately 35.5″ along the short edge and 50.25″ along the long edge.  Place a marker at each of these locations.  Now connect those points with a line of markers forming a triangle.  You may deploy your forces within that triangle.

Stubborn:  Units from both sides have the Stubborn special rule when within 3″ of an objective.  This was a slight departure from the rules as presented.

We played the rest of the scenario as a standard mission, i.e. normal secondary objectives and so on.  The scenario as presented in the magazine gave the exploring player some advantages, which we chose not to use or ameliorated.

The meat of this scenario is instead of Mysterious Objectives the players roll on a special archeotech chart.  I don’t want to list the rules verbatim because of copyright considerations.  I think it will be fun to make up one’s own lost technology devices as well in order to keep this mission interesting.  In any case the choices presented were:

• Icarus lascannon array.
• Ammo Cache that makes your shooting attacks stronger.
• Teleportation device.  We ran it so it worked on any unit, including vehicles!
• Night fighting.
• Field that makes enemy shooting attacks weaker without stopping them outright.

There was also the usual “Nothing of Note” but we decided this was no fun, so I made up my own option instead — a void shield generator that doesn’t always work as intended.  Perhaps it was cobbled together by orks?  It had to be since you roll on a chart.  For anyone reading this who isn’t in the know, a “void shield” is essential a force field.

Malfunctioning Void Shield Generator.  The controlling unit can activate the generator at the end of its movement phase.  It remains active until start of the activating player’s turn, after which the shield goes down and the generator can be activated again.  When activated roll on this table:

• 1. D6 strength 4, AP — hits against the activating unit.  Owning player allocates wounds and no cover saves may be taken.  Vehicles are hit on their side armor.
• 2-5: AV 10 Shield, which goes away after it takes one glancing or penetrating hit.
• 6: AV 12 Shield, which goes away after it takes one glancing or penetrating hit.

I’ve played this scenario twice now and found it quite entertaining.  I’ll put some links here when I write some battle reports about this mission.  In the meantime:

Our Archeotech Hunt Battles

Play Testers (thank you!): Commissar Alex, Ethereal Mark.

    Khorne Daemonkin, Orks and Necrons versus Imperial Guard.  For this game we replaced the lascannon array possibility with a “time distortion field” that gives the unit controlling the objective initiative ten.  A close game won by the imperial forces with the game ending by die roll on turn five..

  Orks versus Imperial Guard (1000 points, June 2015):  No additional house rules this time.  Simply a big mek and imperial forces clashing over lost technology.  As it turned out three of the six objectives were the Night Fighting one!  The orks managed a resounding victory.

  Orks versus Orks (1000 points, May 2015):  The story we used were two rival big meks in the same Waaagh.  Both wanted access to this valuable site and ended up battling over it behind their mutual warboss’s back.  We introduced some further house rules for our battle of the greenskins.  Not surprisingly the orks won!

1. The warlord must be a big mek.
2. A warboss cannot be fielded by either army.
3. Big Meks and meks have the Objective Secured rule themselves, but they do not confer OS onto other members of their unit.

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