Since the last 'Gate' mission was pretty popular, here's another. This time the Attacker is seeking to rescue a captured Hostage as they're about to be taken by their captors through a Transit Portal.
Description
A high-ranking official from the Attacker's faction has been kidnapped. Thus far, all attempts to locate the hostage's precise location have failed. However, the Attacker has recently learned from local citizens (don't ask how) that the Defender's forces will be attempting to move the hostage off-world through a transit portal. One who's location is known to the Attacker.
A hand-picked Task Force has been dispatched to lie in wait at this portal, and ambush the Defender's escorts as they approach it. They must strike quickly, before the Defenders can reach the portal with the Hostage and crush all hope of a rescue.
Setup
Each player rolls a die. The winner of the roll will be the Attacker. The other player will become the Defender.
The Defender now chooses a long table edge for their Deployment Zone. Their DZ is 12" wide, extends 18" into the table, and is centered horizontally in the middle of the Defender's long table edge.
The Defender now places an objective marker to represent the Transit Portal. The center of the marker must be placed exactly 6" from the middle of the edge opposite their deployment zone along the center line of the table.
The marker may not be placed on or within any piece of terrain other than a bare hill. If there is a piece of terrain in the way of the marker, that terrain may be moved up to 6" in order to either place the marker on top of it (in the case of hills), or to one side of it (all other terrain).
If both players agree, a suitably thematic terrain piece may be placed beneath the marker as decoration. However, this terrain will not provide concealment, nor block line of sight.
The Attacker now selects 1/2 of their troop units, and one of their Officers, to be deployed on the table as the Ambush force. The rest of the Attacker's troops, and all other officers, will be placed in reserve (1 reserve roll on turn 1, 2 on turn 2, etc.). These units will arrive from anywhere along the Defenders's long table edge that is not within the Awareness range of a Defending model.
The Attacker now places up to 3 Point Obstacles (single based rocks, trees, etc.) anywhere on the table that is not within the Defender's Deployment Zone, or within 12" of the Portal Marker. Or within 4" of any terrain piece other than bare hills.
The Attacker next places all of the units in their Ambush Force within their 2 Deployment Zones. The Attacker's units must be split as evenly as possible between the 2 zones, such that one side has no more than one additional unit than the other side.
The Defender now selects 1/2 of their units to be deployed on the table as their Escort Force. The rest will go in Reliable Reserve (1 unit per turn no matter what). These units will enter from the center of the portal marker using either an Advance, or an At The Double Action.
The Defender then places up to 3 point obstacles anywhere on the table that is not within 12" of the Portal Marker. Or within 4" of any terrain piece other than bare hills.
The Defender now deploys both their Escort Force, and the Hostage, within their Deployment Zone.
First Turn
The Attacker goes first. The Defender *does not* count as Gone-To-Ground during the Attacker's first turn.
Objectives
The Attacker will win the mission if, at the beginning of his turn, he holds the hostage AND the hostage is not within 24" of the Portal Marker.
The Attacker will also win the mission if he destroys enough of the Defender's units to force them to take (and fail) a Task Force Morale Check. If there is no Officer present on-table to take the check, then the test will be failed automatically and the Defender's forces will retreat in shame.
The Defender will win the mission if, at the beginning of his turn, he controls the hostage AND the hostage is within 3" of the Portal Marker.
The Defender will also win the mission if he destroys enough of the Attacker's units to force them to take (and fail) a Task Force Morale Check. If there is no Officer present on-table to take the check, then the test will be failed automatically and the Attacker's forces will retreat in shame.
There is no turn limit. The game continues until one side or the other wins the game.
Hostage Rules
(Consider this an update to the Hostage Rules from the Exfiltration mission.)
To move the hostage model, it must be in base-to-base (BtB) contact with at least one model of a friendly unit, preferably two models. The hostage is too frightened/injured/weak to move very far on it's own. Or even to know where he/she/it should be going.
If the Hostage is in BtB contact with at least 2 models from a unit, that unit may perform either an Advance, or an At The Double action with the hostage. If only one model from the unit is in BtB with the Hostage, then the unit may only perform an Advance action.
EDIT: The unit containing the hostage cannot move faster than the hostage though. So regardless of the Mv of the unit itself, the unit containing the Hostage may only move a maximum of 6" in an Advance action, or 12" At The Double. Though they may move less if the normal Mv of the unit would not normally allow them to move this far.
Hold On To Him!
If not directly supervised, the Hostage is likely to run off, hide, or wander away confused. If, at the end of either player's Starting Phase, the hostage is not in base-to-base contact with at least one model from either player's Task Force (because that model was killed, for instance), then the opposing player may move the hostage model 6 inches in any direction they choose.
If the hostage is involved in a Close Combat, then the Hostage will not move at all during the combat itself (they're too busy cowering). However they will automatically consolidate along with the winner of a combat as if the Hostage were a member of the unit.
Human Shield
Since the Hostage is valuable to both sides, anyone firing in his vicinity is going to be very careful not hit him if they can. All units which fire at a unit containing the Hostage fire as if they are moving (because they're aiming more carefully), even if they are issued an 'Open Fire' order. The unit containing the Hostage will also receive a +1 Ev bonus if the firing unit moved during their action.
Units containing Hostages may also not be targeted with any blast or area effect weapon. Such weapons are simply too indiscriminate to risk hurting the Hostage. Smoke, Stun, and Gas grenades may be used as normal.
That's it. Thoughts?
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