RETAKE AN ABANDONED BLACK TEMPLARS
KEEP
When the Black Templars return to an abandoned keep, they bring with them no mercy for those foolish enough to inhabit it in their absence.
here
have been hundreds of Chapter keeps established over the millennia,
some of which are still standing, while others have been abandoned.
However, such lonely ruins are never forgotten, and it is not unknown
for the Black
Templars to return to these keeps, much to the dismay of anything foolish
enough to have taken up residence in their absence.
– p. 8, Codex: Black Templars
The Black Templars return to their abandoned keep.
OVERVIEW
Lexmechanics in the Crusade fleet's archive ship have discovered a yellowed scroll with the location of a long-abandoned Black Templars' keep in a nearby system. The Fleet Marshal deployed a strike cruiser to check on the keep and clear it of any unauthorised inhabitants. Woe betide those fools who dared set foot in the Black Templars' sacred fortress.
ARMIES
Select your 1,000-point armies from the Standard Force Organisation Chart at as described in the Warhammer 40,000 rulebook. Alternately, if you find the table too small for an army that size, use the Combat Patrol force selection rules. The Black Templars are the attackers in this mission.
MISSION SPECIAL RULES
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A squad of Ork Boyz sneak out
from the drains beneath the keep to ambush the |
Drains & Tunnels. Like most buildings in the Imperium, the keep has drainage grates and tunnels running under most of its interior floors (the Emperor's justice can get messy, after all). These sewers are big enough for a squad of troops to move through single-file (without transport vehicles, of course). Units may move into the tunnels through the floor drains just as they would embark onto a non-moving vehicle — treat the drain is an access point. They spend their next turn navigating the tunnels. After that turn, these units may disembark from any drain on the board during their Movement phase. Note that only one unit may disembark from a drain per turn. Units cannot fight each other in the sewer tunnels — they're too dark and labyrinthine for combat. Forces in Reserve may deploy in the tunnels when it's their time.
Maintenance Servitors. Each keep is equipped with Maintenance Servitors as a part of its normal operating equipment. These Servitors are put in stasis mode when a keep is abandoned by the Chapter, to be activated upon the Black Templars eventual return. At the start of Turn 2 and at the start of each subsequent turn, the Imperial player rolls a D6. On a 4+, the keep's Servitors have been activated for the remainder of the game. Roll a D6 at the beginning of each turn the Servitors are active: the result is the number of Servitors that the Black Templars player deploys immediately. Deploy each Servitor so it is in base contact with a pillar on the table — only deploy one Servitor per pillar. Use the profile and weapons for a Technical Servitor as listed under the Techmarine entry in Codex: Black Templars. Treat each of these Maintenance Servitors as an independent character under the control of the Black Templars player.
Hidden Compartment. The inhabitants of the keep have had ample time to make themselves at home. They have even had time to hollow out a few wall sections to make secret compartments for their forces. The defender rolls to deploy his Reserves as normal. If successful, he assigns a number from 1-6 to each wall section on the table (each wall section must have at least one number assigned to it before you can start doubling up). The defender rolls a D6 — the result indicates the wall with the hidden compartment. The defender's Reserves deploy from an 8" gap centred on that wall section for the remainder of the game.
A Chaos Defiler smashes through the walls of the keep to confront the Black
Templars.
SET-UP
- Use a 4' x 4' table for this mission. Build it to match the table described here.
- The defenders deploy first, anywhere on the board, so long as they're not within 8" of a table edge. The attackers deploy second, and they must deploy within 8" of a table edge along an area of the table that doesn't have a wall section (ie, they're entering this area of the keep from a side corridor or entryway).
- Both players roll a D6. The player with the highest result may elect to go first or second.
MISSION OBJECTIVES
The defenders are attempting to defend their happy home and must wipe out the Black Templars on the table. The attackers want their sacred keep back and must eliminate the vermin who have infested it in their absence. The game continues until one side or the other is eliminated on the table — forces in Reserve are ignored when calculating victory (i.e., if I wipe out your forces on the table, I've won, even if you have 500 points waiting in Reserve).
LINE OF RETREAT
If any units are forced to fall back, they will do so towards their deployment table edge by the shortest route possible.
Related Articles:
Building a Black Templars
Keep | Fleet Crusades | Rites of Initiation
Campaign
Online Store:
Black Templars
