The Battle for Armageddon Scenarios
Contained within the 2ndEd 40K boxed set was a black and white booklet detailing 3 scenarios which were designed as an introduction to the game, featuring just a few squads on each side as the Space Marines tried to purge the ork threat. With the introduction of 3rdEd the basic rules were made redundant but I reckoned that converting them to 3rdEd would be worth the effort. This document details the approach I took, and so is as much about forming campaigns as it is about the specific battle for armageddon.
Starting Position
Converting the mission forces directly to 3rdEd would have involved nothing more than looking up the appropriate units in the codex section of the 3rdEd rulebook. However, rather than reproducing the scenarios to the letter, I wanted to take the basic idea behind each and translate this into the new 40K. As such, I decided to set points limits rather than list specific forces, and used the various scenarios to capture the basic idea behind the scenario.
Mission 1: Against the odds
Originally, this mission pitted a 5-man combat squad of marines against 30 gretchin, the aim being for the marines to break the 3 grot mobs before they themselves took heavy casualties. The basic storyline was that these gretchin were causing disruption to the blood angels positions and so a small squad had been dispatched to cleanse the area.
Forces
Looking up the Blood Angels force in the Codex section showed that the squad was worth 96pts, whilst the gretchin are worth 90. I originally decided to therefore restrict each player to 100pts of troops, to allow different weaponry or a slaver to be taken. However, 3rdEd is now really designed for slightly larger scale skirmishes, so I increased this to 150pts. As for the forces themselves, I felt it would be best to restrict the forces to troops choices only. This meant that the Space Marine player could now take a couple of basic tactical squads, or alternatively go for scouts- their description seemed appropriate to the role the Blood Angels would be performing. Careful points juggling meant that if they wanted to, a Space Marine Player could take a Rhino and a small squad of marines, or max out on weapons options or veteran seargeants. The Ork player, meanwhile, could either take a couple of big Grot mobs with a Slaver, or instead go for some of the more hardy but expensive boys. This still seems fair, as there were options in the orginal for replacing grot mobs with 5-strong bands of goth orks. Again, despite the low points limit the Ork player has several options, more than the Marine Player due to the low cost of troops- they might consider taking Nobs for each mob, or going for one huge mob, or taking a mix of grots and boyz.
Mission
This bit was easy- the blood angels mission equated well to a basic Cleanse mission, although the force organisation chart is unnecessary. This also fits in with the original aim of the Battles of Armageddon- to teach players the basics and get progressively harder- well, they don't come much simpler than a cleanse!
Terrain
In the original, all the terrain was represented by the cardboard ruins provided with the game. To keep with this feel, terrain features should ideally either be ruins or jungles/hills. Fortunately, all of these are readily available from GW or you can make them yourself fairly easily.
Summary
Orks Vs Space Marines Cleanse- ignore force organisation charts- instead, each player may take up to 150pts of troops chosen from the relevant codex section of the 3rdEd rulebook (I haven't seen the BA codex to know whether it would be suitable)
Mission 2: High Ground
This mission involved a Tactical Combat Squad with Missile Launcher holding a firing position against Goth Orks in order to provide covering fire against heavy support items such as Dreadnoughts which would otherwise reinforce the Ork Battleline.
Forces
Again, this mission featured 5 Marines, only with a missile launcher rather than flamer. With a difference of only 4 points, it seemed sensible to maintain the limit at 150pts a side chosen purely from the Troops options as before.
Mission
The original mission was for the missile Launcher marine to survive long enough to prevent ork war machines moving in. The closest approximation I could find would be to use the Take and Hold mission. However, the defending forces were all congregated around the objective, so I decided that the SPace Marine player, as the defender, should always choose the objective and position all forces within 12". This means that the battle could be somewhat quicker if the chosen objective is close to the Attacker's board edge (these should be chosen as normal for retreating purposes). The random game length rule fitted well, suggesting the marines didn't know how long they had to hold out for.
Terrain
Once again, the scenery should be made up of jungle trees, hills and ruins. In particular, a large ruin placed on a hill would be perfect for the firing position which the marines must hold.
Summary
Orks (attackers) Vs Space Marines (defenders) Take and hold- ignore force organisation charts, instead each player may take up to 150pts worth of models from the Troops section of the 3rdEd Codices. Defender always choses objective but must place all troops within 12", no reserves allowed.
Mission 3: The Battle for the bridge
This was the biggest of the lot, involving almost all the models in the box! The Blood Angels had to defend the Bridge to the death against vastly superior numbers or Orks or else the battle for Armageddon could hang in the balance for years.
Forces
The Space Marine playe had 4 tactical combat squads this time, so I could have simply set the limit to 600 points. However, I decided that each side should be considerably bigger for this encounter and so I raised it to 750 points, still chosen from the Troops sections only. However, I wanted to tie in the idea that in the previous mission whoever held the Firing Point would have a massive advantage, and I also needed to somehow include the Dreadnought (a heavy support choice). As such, I came up with the idea that if the Orks won, then up to 100 points of their force could be chosen from the Heavy Support section, but if the Marines had held on to the objective then any attempt to bring in heavy gear would have been unsuccessful as the Missile Launchers tore transports apart. In this case, all the Ork choices would have to be from the Troops section as before. Note that the Ork player doesn't have to take Heavy Support, and that they can take Big Guns rather than a Dread if they prefer. The Marine player shouldn't struggle too much against such devices, as they now have the points to choose Razorbacks or Veteran Seargeants with powerfists/weapons.
Mission
I knew straight away what mission this should be- a Meat Grinder. This would represent the Mariens holding out for as long as possible against wave after wave of Orks as they tried to take the bridge. The sustained attack and random game length rules perfectly capture this idea, and also gives the Ork player a few tactical issues to consider- do they go for a powerful dread, or spend the points on troops which can be recycled? Are Grots worth taking when Boyz can return? Should a battery of ZZap guns be taken instead to guarantee a few kills against the well armoured marines?
Terrain
Again the terrain should be made up of jungles and ruins. However, you should ensure that there is plenty of cover- should the marines be in the open too much then they won't stand a chance, whilst their extra firepower will rip through any Orks without sufficient protection in terms of solid walls and hills!
Summary
Orks (attackers) Vs Space Marines (defenders) Meat Grinder- ignore force organisation charts, instead see above for rules on army choice.
Carrying on the campaign
One of the great things about the battle for armageddon pack was that it included rules for carrying on the action through reinforcements and injuries. The new mission selection system meant that this could be managed with ease, but a system of representing the same forces building up slowly was needed.
I decided that each side should therefore start out with the 750 point army they used in the battle for the bridge, written up on army roster cards. These units may not be changed except for being upgraded (see below). In addition to this core army, each player should make a roll on the reinforcement table below and make another after every third battle, as suggested in the original BFA rules. When choosing an army, you may only choose units currently in the army. This means that the force organisation charts cannot be used, at least to start with- instead, ignore minimum restrictions but stick to maximum ones, eg you don't have to take an HQ choice for a Cleanse, but if you do then no more than 2 can be taken.
Reinforcements: Roll a D6-
Orks:
1-2 150 points of Troops.
3 150 points of Heavy Support.
4 150 points of Fast Attack.
5 150 points of Elites.
6 150 points of HQ.
Space Marines:
1 150 points of Troops.
2 150 points of Heavy Support.
3 150 points of Fast Attack.
4 150 points of Elites.
5 150 points of HQ.
6 150 points from ONE category of choice.
These points may be spent on purchasing new units. Alternatively, they may be used to upgrade existing units from that category, but you may not replace equipment- for example, a 5-Man Tactical squad with Missile Launcher could be given a Meltagun, but if they already have a plasmagun then this may not be replaced with a Meltagun. The same applies for wargear- a character who has not had all his wargear slots filled may take additional items, but once maximum has been reached these items can't be swapped for others. HQ choices are awkward as you can't really afford a character with retinue for 150pts. As such, if you already have a character and roll another HQ choice, you can spend all the points on a retinue for that character, and if you roll another HQ choice then you can add even more to the retinue, but you cannot choose to take the retinue for a different character- eg, if you have taken 2 warbosses so that for each battle you can choose the one that is most appropriate, then only one may be accompanied by a specific retinue. Vehicles may have sponsons added a later date or in the case of wartrukks have shootas/rokits added as part of your Fast Attack or Heavy Support expenditure. Seargeants can be upgraded to veterans or boyz to Nobz as part of troops expenditure. Finally, there is nothing wrong with splitting points between upgrading and new units, so you could add a heavy weapon to a tactical squad and buy some scouts from the same set of reinforcements.