The Battle of the Necropolis, Imperial Year 2480
Count Schuvaltz, one of the border princes, heard tale of the fabled Land of the Dead which lay across the sea to the south. Most interesting to him was the rumour of great treasures heaped up in the ancient tombs, just waiting to be taken. The Count was badly in need of funds to raise an army and fortify his castle, so he decided to send a small expedition to seek and bring back treasure from the necropolis of Zandri, the pyramids of which were spied by one of his ship's captains, whilst he sailed along the desert coast.
The force which the Count sent was fairly small and is likely to have included mercenaries. Only one survivor returned to tell the tale. They had indeed found tombs, full of golden artefacts, but their desecration had awakened the long dead dwellers of the necropolis. The expedition was attacked by overwhelming forces of skeleton soldiers led by their mummified king, and wiped out. Their bones remained among the sands to slowly bleach in the sun.
Overview
In this scenario the attackers must sweep aside their opponents to break through to their objective.
Armies
Both armies are chosen using the Warhammer army lists to an agreed points value. The players have to decide which army will be the attackers and which will be the defenders.
Battlefield
Much of the battlefield is littered with scattered walls (linear obstacles), and the odd ruin or dune (difficult terrain). This serves to reduce some of the lines of advance available to the attacker.
Deployment
Both players roll a dice, the player who scores highest may choose which side of the table to deploy on.
The players roll a dice, the highest scorer may choose whether to start deploying first or second.
Taking it in turns, each player deploys one unit at a time, no closer than 24" to the enemy and 12" from the neutral table edges.
All war machines are deployed at the same time, though they can be deployed in different parts of the battlefield.
Champions are deployed with their unit, all other characters are deployed after all other units, each player deploying their characters all at the same time.
Scouting units are not deployed with the rest of the units. Instead they are placed on the table after all units in both armies have been deployed, as described in the rules for Scouts.
Who Goes First?
Both players roll a dice, the player who finished their deployment first may add +1 to their dice roll. The player who scores highest may choose whether to go first or second (re-roll ties).
Length of Game
The game lasts six turns.
Special Rules
There are no special rules in this scenario.
Victory Conditions
At the end of the battle, each attacking unit in the defender's deployment zone is worth its points value in Victory points. Units that are fleeing, monsters and characters do not count cowards this total. No other Victory points are used. The attacker wins if they can score a number of Victory points equal to a third or more of their starting points value (rounding fractions down). For example, a 1,500 points attacking force must have 500 points or more of units in the defender's deployment zone to win.
Historical Re-fight
The Battle of the Necropolis took place between an attacking Empire force and a Tomb Kings of Khemri army. To represent the soft, shifting sands of the desert, any war machine that tries to move must first roll a 5 or 6 on a D6 or can do nothing that turn.
In addition, attacking troops wearing heavy armour (including Knights) roll 1D6 less than normal for Flee and Pursuit rolls to represent their exhaustion under the blazing sun. In the defenders' deployment zone is the treasure-filled tomb of Prince Anera-kotrak, the objective of the Empire army.