B: The Battle at the Farm
An examination of Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader rulebook scenario. Spoilers ahead!
The situation. You are Commander Pedro Cantor - and also tired, hungry and somewhat dispirited. Of your originally awesome command only fifteen warriors remain. Since the disaster at your base you have been making your way towards New Rinn City, travelling at night to avoid the numerous patrols of Orks.
I expect this scenario would be many players introduction to Rogue Trader.
☠ The Scenario
The Space Marine and Ork players get separate briefs. The Crimson Fist player have 3 squads of 5 Space Marines led by major hero Pedro Cantor. The Charadon invasion force player have 4 squads of 5 Orks led by minor hero Thrugg Bullneck. One of Thrugg's squads is led by champion Hruk.
A subset of the available weapons and profiles are used. The small scale and the limited rules in play make this a good tutorial game. There were counters to cut out of the rulebook if you didn't have any models or just liked cutting up rulebooks like a savage.
☠ Farmers
| Quantity | Model | Equipment |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ork (Thrugg) | Bolt pistol; plasma pistol; chainsword |
| 1 | Ork (Hruk) | Bolt gun; bolt pistol |
| 19 | Ork | Bolt gun |
| 1 | Space Marine (Cantor) | 2 bolt pistols; power glove |
| 1 | Space Marine | Missile launcher (plasma missiles); bolt pistol |
| 14 | Space Marine | Bolter; bolt pistol |
Each side was split into five model squads and a hero.
☠ Terrain
Ruins; hill; orchard.
☠ Comments
This is a tutorial game intended to introduce players to the game mechanics. The model count and small battlefield work in its favour.
For players new to this style of game I would not include equipment with exceptional rules, like the plasma pistol with following-fire and special cooldown rules. The same goes for the missile launcher with its movement, slow, and area-effect rules. These things needlessly complicate the experience for first timers. They'd be good additions for a follow-up game.
☠ Secret Objectives
It is important that players remain unaware of the details of their opponent's brief. If players have any questions the GM can answer them now, before the game starts. It may be necessary to take players aside to answer any confidential questions.
I dislike secret victory conditions. Players knowing how to counter their opponents is often as important as knowing their own objectives. In this case what players are told should lead to the desired confrontation. I guess the GM can provide hints if things are not playing out as expected.
☠ Thrugg's Communicator
Thrugg can communicate back to base - it takes an entire turn to do this followed by a D6 roll of a 6 for success.
The Orks can force the Space Marine player's hand by hanging back and radioing for help. This sets a (D6+4) turn count before the Space Marines are surrounded and destroyed by off-table reinforcements. Thrugg's chances of getting through are slim, conflict with the Ork win condition, and having a major asset doing nothing else for an entire turn is boring.
Forcing players into action can be a good thing but the mechanism in this scenario is too weak.
☠ Victory Points
The victory conditions are clear-cut but optional victory points are provided. These can be used to determine a victor in the case that a game cannot be played to its natural conclusion due to time limitations.
Good fallback to avoid inconclusive games.
☠ Force Disparities
The odds favour the Space Marines. Not necessarily a problem if the aim is to learn game mechanics. The Realm of Zhu blog discusses balancing Battle at the Farm. It's worth reading the comments for other opinions.