The Rabid Experiment: A Warmachine/Hordes Mk III Solo Scenario

A Rabid Experiment: A Solo Scenario for Warmachine and Hordes MkIII

Warmachine:
An experimental steamjack has gone haywire, and now the warcaster overseeing the testing has to try and salvage the prototype without doing too much damage to it… of course, this also means the warcaster must actually survive the attempt.

Hordes:
When training a new warbeast, all manner of things can go wrong – the runic configuration of a Circle blackclad’s wold construct could be flawed, the brain surgery a Skorne trainer has inflicted on their subject could have gone awry, or a new training method has yielded unexpected result. No matter what exactly has happened, it is imperative the warlock must bring in the rabid warbeast for further examination.

Deployment:
-1 warcaster or warlock
-1 prototype warjack or warbeast
-3 light warjacks or warbeasts in the warcaster’s or warlock’s battlegroup. Upgrade one warjack or warbeast to a heavy warjack or warbeast if the prototype is also a heavy warjack or warbeast
-1 minimum-sized unit of troops

Setup:


The prototype warjack or warbeast is set up in the centre of the battlefield. The warlock or warcaster is placed at least 10” away from the prototype, but may be placed inside the 24” diametre exclusion zone centred on the prototype. All other models must be set up outside of the exclusion zone but can be set up anywhere.
An obstacle that the prototype cannot cross is placed between the prototype and the warcaster or warlock (e.g. deep water, a deep pit, or a building or forest that blocks line of sight). Up to 3 additional deep water areas or pits may be placed touching the edge of the exclusion zone, with each of them having a diametre of up to 6”.
After setting up the scenery and models, the prototype receives the result of one roll on the Imprint table (if it is a warjack) or one roll on the Behaviour table (if it is a warbeast). Results that are inapplicable (e.g. rolls that affect ranged combat for a prototype without ranged weapons) are re-rolled.

In addition to an Imprint or Behaviour, the prototype receives the following benefits:
Rabid Fury: The prototype gains +1 to all attack and damage rolls. At the beginning of its Control Phase, the prototype receives 1 focus if it is a warjack (As usual, warjacks that have been disrupted or have a disabled cortex do not gain this focus), or reduces its current fury by 1 if it is a warbeast.
Uncontrollable: The prototype is an enemy model but it is still considered to be a part of the warcaster’s or warlock’s battlegroup, even if its actions cannot be controlled by the player. The player may, however, give the prototype additional focus, force it, or leach fury from it (see Research Points).

Target Priority: At the beginning of the game, roll 1d6 for the prototype’s target priority:

1-2 Petty and Cowardly: The closest model with the smallest base becomes the prototype’s target priority. If no models with a smaller base than the prototype are in play, the prototype begins to flee.
3-4 Noble but Erratic: The closest model with the same base size as the prototype becomes its target priority. If no model with the same base size as the prototype is in play, roll for target priority again at the beginning of the prototype’s next activation. If the result is 3-4 again, the prototype flees in its current activation, but must re-roll its target priority again at the beginning of its next activation.
5-6 Grandiose and Vainglorious: The closest model with the largest base becomes the prototype’s target priority. If no models with a base that is at least as large as the prototype’s is in play, the prototype begins to flee.

Turn order:
The prototype always gets the first turn, and may have focus points allocated to it by its warcaster or fury points leached from it by its warlock (see Research Points). The prototype’s subsequent behaviour is determined by going through each step as follows:

1. Shaking Effects: The prototype attempts to shake having been rendered stationary or knocked down by spending focus or gaining fury. If the prototype cannot spend enough focus or gain enough fury to shake both being stationary and being knocked down, it tries to shake being stationary first.

2. The Prototype is Fleeing: If the prototype is fleeing, it moves towards the edge of the battlefield closest to its current position. The prototype will spend focus or gain fury in order to run if it can, but apart from not avoiding other models in its path the prototype will always move along the shortest possible route, it will leave melee combat, and it will be subject to free strikes if it leaves other models’ melee range (though the player may decide not to make free strikes against the prototype).

A Note on Focus and Fury Use
If the prototype is attacking a model with a DEF of 14 or less (including modifiers), it will attempt to boost damage rolls. If the prototype is attacking a model with a DEF of 15 or more (including modifiers), it will attempt to boost attack rolls. If the prototype has made all its initial attacks and still has focus points or fury capacity left, it will attempt to make additional attacks, starting with its most powerful weapon.

2. Priority target is in prototype’s front arc but not in melee range:
Prototypes with ranged attacks: Prototypes that have the target in range forfeit their action to make an aimed ranged attack. If the priority target is not in range, the prototype advances directly towards its target and then makes a ranged attack at the priority target. If the priority target is still not in range, the prototype makes a ranged attack against the closest model, if it is in range.
Prototypes without ranged attacks: If there is no terrain between the prototype and its priority target that prevents a charge (e.g. deep water or a pit), the prototype charges directly towards it priority target. If there is terrain between the prototype and its priority target that prevents a charge, the prototype attempts to run towards its priority target, using the shortest route possible.

3. Priority target is not in prototype’s front arc and not in melee range:
Prototypes with ranged attacks: The prototype turns to directly face its priority target. If the target is in range, the prototype then makes a ranged attack. If the priority target is not in range, the prototype advances directly towards its target and then makes a ranged attack at the priority target. If the priority target is still not in range after the prototype has moved, the prototype makes a ranged attack against the closest model, if it is in range.
Prototypes without ranged attacks: The prototype turns to directly face its priority target and then advances towards it. If this takes the prototype into melee range, it will then make its melee attacks normally. If there is terrain between the prototype and its priority target that prevents the prototype from advancing into melee range with its priority target, the prototype attempts to run towards its priority target, using the shortest route possible.

4. The Prototype is in Melee but Not Fleeing
If the prototype is in melee with its priority target, it will turn to directly face its priority target and direct all its melee attacks against that target. If the prototype is in melee with other models, it will directly turn towards and attack the models that are the closest matches to its target priority first. If multiple models match the prototype’s target priority, it will turn towards and attack the model first that it needs to turn the least distance to attack; otherwise, the target is determined randomly.

Research Points:
When the prototype performs an action that benefits from its Imprint or Behaviour, the warcaster or warlock gains 1 research point if the prototype is currently in their field of vision. If the prototype destroys a model in a round in which it gains the benefit of its Imprint or Behaviour, the warcaster gains an additional research point per destroyed model, as long as both the prototype and the destroyed models are in the warcaster’s field of vision.
Special: It may be beneficial for the warcaster or warlock to cast spells on the prototype, allocate focus to it or leach fury from it in order to help the prototype perform actions that will grant research points – even if this will place the warcaster or warlock at significantly greater risks.

Victory:
The warcaster or warlock achieves a partial victory if the prototype is completely immobilised (e.g. by pushing a warjack into deep water or a deep hole in the ground (but watch out for falling damage that could destroy the prototype!), or by achieving weapon locks on all of its weapons and the prototype failing to break any of them in its next activation), or if the prototype is destroyed after 6 or more research points have been gained. If the prototype has both been immobilised and 6 or more research points have been gained, the result is a complete victory instead.

Defeat:
The warcaster or warlock loses the scenario if the warcaster or warlock is destroyed, the prototype leaves the battlefield, or if the prototype is destroyed without having collected at least 6 research points.

Comments welcome, as usual.

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One comment I would add is that there are no longer arcs and facing, so you’ll want to adjust that part in the actions rules.

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Yeah, I know this, but apart from that little tidbit I’m not up to date on the WarmaHordes rules any more (I’ll add the MkIII reference to the post). Though that being said, the scenario would probably benefit from using facing rules as well as the MkIII suite of power attacks.

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Out of curiosity, has anybody else written or thought of writing any solo scenarios?

Back in MK I & 2 a friend and I made quite a few. We did a few battle sieges , where a defender had castle walls and the attacker a larger force.

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Do you still have any notes on what kinds of force compositions and rules you used?

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We were doing Legion vs Skorne.
The attacker had twice as many points as the defender, but the defender had fortifications on about 1/4 to 1/3 of the table, on their side.
The Defender was able to deploy further upfield to be on the walls and such.
There were 2-3 gates, depending on terrain available that day, that the defender could open and close, or the attacker could bust through.
Winning conditions varies. We started with having it be caster kill, but that favored the Defender quite a bit. We then said if the attacker can get all the gates destroyed and ‘x’ models/units through.

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