by War Budgies
AdeptiCon 2024 has come and gone, and for about four hours on Saturday afternoon, the main ballroom echoed with the shouts of “Charge your models!” and “This is my moment!” followed by the clatter of dice and cries of victory and/or despair. This was ground zero for the “Off the Rails” scenario, a seven-player clash from this year’s Warcaster: Neo-Mechanika narrative event. And with a record-breaking 8,000 attendees at this year’s convention, this was our first sold-out Warcaster event—we crowded seven valiant players around the tables to rob a train in the most chaotic and explosive way possible.
The scenario revolved around a cargo train arriving at a sprawling depot, with the armies intent on the time-honored tradition of ransacking the train for lootable commodities. The depot and the train were provided by TinkerTurf, making for a gorgeous eight-foot-long battlefield that could be set up from scratch in only about half an hour. Our players were split into two teams, with mixed forces of the Iron Star Alliance and the Aeternus Continuum, who deployed along the long board edges and then waited patiently for the train to arrive.
I am, of course, kidding—the shooting commenced immediately.
When the train finally arrived, full of valuable crates and dueling passengers, it literally shocked the assembled armies by discharging its Arc charge into the station with a flash of energy! The units crowded around the station platform were forced to either absorb the charge with their armor’s capacitors or suffer the painful consequences of Arc overload. Undeterred, the players leaped onto the train cars from all directions, trading shots as they stole away the precious cargo and made the sprint back to their board edge.
To add to the chaos, each player was given a “five-chit” coin from the mining companies of Jericho Reach, which they could cash in once for a Heroic Moment™. As you might imagine, this required holding the token high and screaming “This is my moment!” for the room to witness, after which the player could attempt some narrative action outside the normal rules. Just a few of these moments saw Baron Mooregrave ambush an Alliance regulator straight out of a void gate, a squad of Tracers push their little engines to the limit to make that last desperate inch, and a Scourge warjack leap from a scaffold to annihilate Jax Redblade below!
Finally, as the battle unfolded around it, the train’s rails failed, providing only a brief warning klaxon before it violently derailed, rolling off the tracks and crashing into the combatants beneath it. For the players, however, this meant that the moving target was just easier to ransack!
With the train properly looted and the wreckage still smoking, we closed out an amazing AdeptiCon with a phenomenal crew of gamers. Huge thank yous go to Philip, Erick, Ashton, Nate, Chris, Mannashiim, and Noel for the greatest cauldron of Warcaster chaos to grace AdeptiCon!
So far, at least.
And yes, that was an outright challenge to top it next year.
In the meantime, you can find the “Off the Rails” scenario described below for use at your local gaming club nights. It is designed for two teams of players, so wrangle your gaming friends together and try your hand at robbing the train yourselves!
| Team Play
For this scenario, we divided the players into two teams that functioned as one force. If you play this way, the turns work as normal, and each team works through the phase of their turns together. Everyone on the first team charges a model, then they each play one Cypher card, then do their activations, and so on. When there is a conflict, such as two players firing at the same target, take turns as decided by the active team. Abilities that affect “friendly models” do not affect other members of the same team, so you can’t sacrifice your buddy’s Hero Solo to summon your Divine Tempest. Sorry, Aeturnus players. |
SETUP
“Off the Rails” is meant to be played by two teams of up to four players each, across a 48″ × 96″ board. Draw a line from one short board edge to the other centered between the long board edges—this represents the rails. Assemble some large terrain pieces, roughly 12″ square, at the center of the board to represent the station platform, and scatter a dense variety of crates across the battlefield.
Each team’s deployment zone extends 6″ in from their long board edge.
Place four train cars, approximately 8″ × 4″ each, along the sideboard. Place at least one crate or scatter terrain on each car. At the beginning of Team One’s second turn of the first Pulse Round, randomly determine one train car to arrive and place that train car at one end of the rails in contact with the board edge. At the beginning of each subsequent Team One turn, advance the train car forward by its length and add the next train car behind it.
SPECIAL RULES
Only warrior models may carry or score objectives.
Loot Train: When a warrior model is on board any train car, that model gains Special Action: Loot. This action generates a portable objective, which that model immediately counts as having picked up. A unit may only carry one portable objective at a time.
All Aboard! Before deployment, each player may choose one Solo from their army to begin play on board the train. Randomly determine one of the four train cars for each Solo and place that Solo on the appropriate car. These Solo models are not in play and may not be activated until their respective train car arrives on the board.
Cargo Chaos: Crates may be targeted by any model’s attacks and have DEF 3 and ARM 3. Crates may be damaged for purposes of abilities such as Winch but may not be destroyed. Small crates count as 30 mm models, Medium crates count as 40 mm models, and Large crates count as 50 mm models. Models which have a crate Slammed into them take collateral damage appropriate to the size of the crate.
Arc Overload
As the train approaches the station, bright flashes of Arcanessence leap from the lead train car to the station platform, equalizing the charge before the train cars dock. Without any crew to safely dissipate the gathered energy, it builds into a furious storm before erupting in a nova flash, overloading nearby Arc capacitors!
At the end of the first Pulse Round, before scoring, every unit with a model within 6″ of the central platform is struck by the Arc overload. The controlling players must immediately charge each of the affected units with one Arc or that unit immediately takes a POW 4 Energy damage roll.
Derail!
The warning klaxons are almost lost beneath the cacophony of battle, but the angry red warning lights cannot be mistaken. The rails ahead of the train have failed! Emergency brakes squeal a banshee shriek, and the first car begins to roll to one side!
At the end of the second Pulse Round, before scoring, the train begins to derail. Roll a 6-sided die: on a 1–2, the leading train car falls to the left of the track; on a 3–4, it falls to the right of the track. Place the train car on the appropriate side of the track, moving any models that would be caught under it to the nearest open space. Each model moved in this way, and each model on board the train car when it derails, takes a POW 4 Kinetic damage roll. On a roll of 5–6, the train car stays on the track.
After advancing the train as described in Setup, roll to derail the next car, and repeat this process on subsequent turns.
SCORING
Players score victory points at the end of each Pulse Round for each objective that is within 6″ of their board edge and held by a friendly model.
VICTORY CONDITIONS
After the third Pulse Round is scored, the player with the most victory points wins the game.
