Saw the new Battle Missions book today


Image from Games Workshop

Just came back from my FLGS (Game Vault) where they have a copy of the upcoming Planetary Missions book. While I'm not in the rumor business or keeping up with the latest news, I thought I might share some of my thoughts after taking a few minutes to thumb through the upcoming book.

Let's see, where to start...

If you are a "competitive" player and like a good, fair fight between armies, this book may not be for you. If you're looking for more of a story or narrative approach to your games and don't mind one side having a distinct advantage or two, this book is for you.

If you're looking to see how your army stacks up to other forces, these missions are not the ones to play. I can see where they slant to one side sometimes. There's nothing wrong with it, you'll just need a certain mindset to really enjoy this book.

That being said, here are some of the things I noticed:

There are 30 "Army Specific Missions" and 3 additional "Special Missions" at the end of the book.

1. Picking Missions
They give you a couple ways to choose missions. If you can't figure out how to do it on your own, they outline a few different ways to go about it. It's broken down into a chart that can be rolled on for ease.

2. Deployment
There are a handful of new deployment layouts. Some of them use the short edges of the table too, not just the long edges. A feature I noticed right off the bat was that they clearly define the "table edges" for each army in their respective deployment zones.

3. Length of Game
Nothing new here, it looked like most games had the random length just like the standard missions do now.

4. Special Rules
There are a few in each mission. Like I said before, if you're looking for an even fight, these missions may not be for you for this very reason. I can see some of these making it a real challenge to play. These are NOT crazy new rules, but things like granting Fearless, Stubborn, Night Fight, etc.


Image from Forge World

And wouldn't you know it, one of the Space Marine missions allows the Marine player to field a Thunderhawk as part of his force.

And then there are the 3 Special Missions in the back.

1. Kill Team (200 point armies)
This is a chance to really get in there and convert that squad of unique models that you always wanted to build. They give you the FOC and all that stuff to play squad on squad.

2. Linebreaker
Designed to allow one player to take a single Apocalypse formation and play against another player fielding equal points of regular (non-Apoc) models. They use 3 Baneblades in the example mission, but you can substitute anything you want in there.

3. Clash of Heroes
Hero vs. Hero. You get points for each enemy model your Hero kills. The player with the most points at the end wins. Only a Hero can kill the other player's Hero, so your Commander will not die unless it's at the hand of the other player's.

All in all, it looks like a really nice book. I know that I'll be picking one up for myself as I've come to enjoy the story and narrative type gaming more than the standard battles. Don't get me wrong, I actually like those, but I like some of the unfair fights I can see coming out of these missions.

Additional related links:
Games Workshop Battle Missions archive


Ron, From the WarpIf you've got any questions about something in this post, shoot me a comment and I'll be glad to answer. Make sure to share your hobby tips and thoughts in the comments below!