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Covert Operations (a kill team remake)

Started by Mabbz, December 19, 2012, 09:02:56 PM

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Mabbz

Due to the fact that Kill Team is already a name GW has used on numerous occasions, including a new release this christmas, I am going to rename this project. Henceforth, this shall be...


Warhammer 40,000: Covert Ops

Narric

I likey the new name ^_^

If I play this irl, I'm going to use my Black Ops Exo-lords exclusively :P

Mabbz

Right then, I've been working on the next update, and there's only a couple of things that need doing. The main thing is working out exactly which missions to leave in. I want 6 missions, and here are the ideas I have so far:

1: Sabotage (blow up the objective)
2: Assassinate (kill the objective)
3: Hit and Run (reach the objective, then escape)
4: Reconnaisance (circle around the objective)
5: Rescue (reach the objective, then escort him/her/it from the board)
6: Extract (one kill team model starts on one side of the board, the rest starts at the other. Get the loner across the board safely)
7: Diversion (give the defender as many klaxon counters as possible to win)
8: Hold the Line (kill team has to defend something for a change)

So far, only the first four have been playtested (actually, I'm not sure we've done assassinate). The top three will probably stay in no matter what which leaves the question of which of the others to use. Thoughts?




I'm planning on adding a quick reference page and a back cover next update, but there's some other things I'd like to add. The first is a proper front cover, with some kind of artwork. Sadly I can't do art, so I'll probably have to get someone else to do that.

The second is fluff. I have quite a bit of white space that needs filling, probably mostly with short fluff snippets (at most one side of A4). I could also use more artwork for these gaps, or even some nice photos of some models trying to be all sneaky. I can do some fluff myself, but I have no camera and as I said art is beyond me.

Lastly, I would like to include a sort of battle report. Nothing massive, just something like that two page snapshot from right near the front of the main rulebook.

I'll probably post some of these requests in other parts of the forum to get more responses.

Narric

I can think of a few names on DeviantART that do some pretty good 40k Artwork. However I'm not sure if they would do it on request. I can note you their accounts on DA if it helps, and you can contact them directly. it'll be much faster than me acting as middle man ;)

For fluff, we need more Bat-Reps by narrative Bat-Rep writers :P I think only more exposure would help with that ^_^;;

You and I have both done Bat-Reps for this, however I don't think they'd be as good as an actual Tabletop Bat-Rep.

With Regards to the Missions, I think you/we should playtes them first before throwing out longer standing ones. I personally do not like Recon, but thats probably my playstyle showing :P

InsaneTD

Recon is from the original rules. Diversion sounds very fun in theory, wouldn't mind playing that, just need someone to play it with. :P

I might have a try at a bit of fluff if that's cool. Just a couple paragraphs.

Mabbz

#35
Quote from: Narric on January 09, 2014, 11:28:46 PM
For fluff, we need more Bat-Reps by narrative Bat-Rep writers :P I think only more exposure would help with that ^_^;;

You and I have both done Bat-Reps for this, however I don't think they'd be as good as an actual Tabletop Bat-Rep.
I've tried to adapt one of our batreps into a fluff piece, so that might show up next update. More would be nice though.

QuoteWith Regards to the Missions, I think you/we should playtest them first before throwing out longer standing ones. I personally do not like Recon, but thats probably my playstyle showing :P
I'm not throwing any out yet, just noting down what missions there are. Nothing will be thrown out until every mission has been tested. And to be honest, I'm not keen on recon either, even if it is the only one the kill team has won so far.

Quote from: The Doctor on January 15, 2014, 12:25:19 AM
Recon is from the original rules.
Yes, recon is from the original, but that doesn't guarantee it'll stay in. It's a bit fiddly remembering how far around the objective each model has gone and it's also probably one of the hardest missions. I only won because I took vespid and could simply Hit and Run my way around it. Even then I think I lost all but one model.

QuoteDiversion sounds very fun in theory, wouldn't mind playing that, just need someone to play it with. :P
If you have VASSAL then I'd be happy to give you a game at some point. Just let me know when you're free and we can organise something.

QuoteI might have a try at a bit of fluff if that's cool. Just a couple paragraphs.
Awesome. Either post it here or post me a link when it's done.




For playtesting purposes, I'm going to post the newer missions here:

Rescue
Setup: The Defender must place a model anywhere on the board to be the prisoner. The Defender may not deploy any of their models within 3" of the prisoner. The prisoner has the following profile:

   WsBsSTWIALdSv
Prisoner
3
3
3 4 2 3 1   9   -

Unit Type: Infantry      
Equipment: None
Special Rules:
  • Independent Character

The Prisoner may not be attacked or perform any actions until a member of the Kill Team moves within 3" of him. After that he counts as part of the Kill Team in all respects.

Objectives: the Kill Team must move the Prisoner off any board edge. The Defender must prevent this.

The Kill Team receives 2 victory points if at least one model moves withing 3" of the prisoner and the prisoner is still alive by the end of the game. They get a further 1 victory point if the prisoner manages to leave the board.

The Defender gets 3 victory points if they prevent any Kill Team models from getting within 3" of the prisoner, or 2 victory points if they kill the prisoner.

Extract
Setup: After the Defender has deployed, the Kill Team player must nominate one board edge to be their "Home" edge. Rather than being able to move on from any board edge as normal, all but one Kill Team member must arrive from the home board edge. The last model moves on from the opposite board edge.

Objectives: the Kill Team must move the lone Kill Team member off the home board edge. The Defender must prevent this.

The Kill Team receives 2 victory points if the lone Kill Team member escapes from the home board edge, or just 1 if it is still alive and on the board at the end of the game. The Defender gets 2 victory points if they can kill the lone Kill Team member.

Diversion
Setup: Both players set up as normal.

Objectives: the Kill Team must cause as much havoc as possible. The Defender has to drive off the Kill Team as quickly as they can.

The Kill Team gets 1 victory point for every Klaxon counter the Defender has at the end of the game, and 1 victory point if the alarm is raised.

The Defender gets 1 victory point for every Kill Team model they manage to kill.

Special Rules: If one side is completely annihilated, they do not automatically lose as would normally be the case. Instead, the game continues until the random turn limit is reached. This can result in the Defender losing a few Klaxon counters due to the Kill Team effectively "Laying Low", or give the Kill Team some time to blow up any special terrain such as an explosive for more Klaxon counters.

Hold the Line
Setup: The Kill Team player must place an objective anywhere on the board.  They may then deploy their entire Kill Team anywhere on the board.

The Defender deploys nothing, and instead may move their entire force on the board at the start of turn one (assume they won all control rolls with by rolling sixes for that turn only). None of the Defender's units may arrive within 6" of another. The Defender gets first turn and starts with 1 Klaxon counter which may not be lost for any reason.

Objectives: the Kill Team must keep the Defender from holding the objective at the end of the game, while the Defender must locate and control the objective.

The Kill Team gets 2 victory points if the objective isn't controlled by the Defender at the end of the game, and a further 1 victory point if the Kill Team is controlling it (all Kill Team members count as scoring). The Defender gets 3 victory points if they control the objective at the end of the game.

InsaneTD

#36
Infiltration.

Joe was looking through the sights of his Hellgun and watching several of the Xeno guards standing at the corner of the building his squad had to infiltrate. He hit the transmit button on his comm unit three times, listening to all the responding clicks from his squad. He looked at his chrono and clicked his comm twice, sighting down his Hellgun and firing on the Xeno guard closest to him. The three Xenos fell almost simultaneously, as the crack from the three Hellguns sounded in his ears, followed by a whip crack sound as his squads sniper fired at the camps commander.

He was up and moving, trying to stay in shadows and cover while looking for more guards. He spotted two more of his men moving towards of the objective as he heard another whip crack sound, the body of one of the Xenos falling out the shadows just ahead of him. He'd have to buy the man a drink when they got back to civilisation.

He and three of his men were standing just in front of the building now, they only had a few minutes until more Xenos arrived, in that time they had to open this building and get the Chimera Carrier out of here. He didn't know why some common troop carrier was important enough that his squad had to come and get it. He and one other trooper kept watch outside as two men went inside to get the vehicle as he heard another whip crack. The sniper picking off another of the bases guards.

There was a roar from inside as the troop carrier started, then it roared again as it slammed into the garage door and then stopped just outside, he quickly got on board with the other trooper. The Machine took off, heading to were they had left the sniper.




Ending up being bigger then I thought it would be but it was easy to write. Feel free to use it or not as you like.

Mabbz

Looks good to me. I'll almost certainly use it.

On a related note, I've asked for more fluffy stuff here. Don't want to clog up a rules thread with fluff, after all.

InsaneTD

#38
Hadn't seen that, I'll keep that in mind for future. ;)

Edit, Oh, for the credit, put me down as Tybalt Defet.

Edit the second: I changed how the characters name is spelt.

Mabbz

Version 1.4 is here! Sorry it took forever, university was distracting me from the important things in life :P

V1.4 change list
- Changed name to Covert Operations
- Fixed contents page
- Fortifications are now placed by the player's that bought them, rather than all being placed by the defender
- Shield generators can now be destroyed
- Added more scenarios
- Added reference page
- Added back cover
- Added long narrative piece (Blood in the Night, by Narric)
- Added three short narrative pieces (two by Tybalt Defet and one by Chris)
- Added a random quote in the vehicle section
- Template weapons grant a klaxon counter on a 4+, not a 5+
- Template weapons are restricted for kill teams the same way as high strength weapons or weapons that can fire more than three shots

I'm still looking for stories, and I now have an official thread requesting photos and artwork for the book. Also, what do you think I should add to the summary section? It's a bit empty at the moment, as I couldn't decide what needed to be in there.

InsaneTD

I had a minor SQUEE moment when I got to my first piece. :P


Mabbz

So I got bored and started thinking about this again. My MLP RP is nearing an end (might even be done in a month or two :P) and I've often considered starting a roleplay with the Covert Operations rules. With that in mind, I've decided to cobble together some possible rules for such an RP. Incidentally, if someone else wants to start an RP with these rules, that is more than fine by me.


Making a team:
First come, first serve, perhaps with a points limit for individual characters (50 points max?). Admission ends when the standard points limit (200 points) has been exceeded. No need to worry about going a bit over; injuries will likely ruin the advantage anyway.

Narrative Points:
Ignore the usual rules, instead everyone starts with 3NP each (not automatically replenished between missions). Gain 1 per win. Composition rules are still used for the enemies NP pool, and may carry further penalties.

Injuries:
TPK in mission has some negative effect, perhaps?








2Dead
3Eye wound (-1Bs, permanent)
4-5Blood loss (miss next game)
6-8Flesh wound (no effect)
9-10Concussion (-1I, next game only)
11Leg wound (can't run, permanent)
12Arm wound (-1Ws, permanent)

Special talents:
Maybe a points cost for these? Lost if the character dies.
-   Driver. Can drive any vehicle without penalty. Everyone else can only move or shoot with the vehicle unless it's from their codex.
-   Medic. Everyone else may re-roll on injury table provided he wasn't injured himself, gives +1 to feel no pain rolls to his unit (6+ basic).
-   Leader. Counts as the Team Leader (rolls on traits table).
-   Scout. Gives estimate of enemy forces.
-   Sentry. Gain first turn against camp raids

The Campaign:
A world/system/sector is embroiled in a war. The players make up a small group of independent operatives that will assist their side however they see fit (and inquisitor and warband, a techpriest and friends, a rogue trader etc.). GM gives an idea of the war's situation; players choose where to go. Oh, and sometimes enemy patrols will find you, resulting in a pitched battle to escape.

For example, the GM could say "the Tyranids are pushing outwards from a series of spawning pools to the southwest. Strangely, they seem to be focusing on an uninhabited area of low strategic value. In addition, a lunatic to the east has been preaching that the xenos are our saviour and that we should submit to them. He has been stirring up the local populations to sabotage our forces."

The players could then choose to destroy the pools (sabotage mission), investigate the area the Tyranids are heading for (reconnaissance mission) or kill the cult leader (assassinate mission). These missions might have a useful impact on the war, or they might not (the low value area might be important, or not). Either way, you might stumble across some useful items or information.

From there, the world evolves with the primary objectives altering the state of the war, while optional secondary objectives to give ideas for later missions (stumble across some secret plans, rescue prisoners with intel, capture and interrogate enemies etc.). All of which leads up to some grand finale mission.

There would be things to do between mission, like interrogating prisoners, dealing with requests from your allies or requesting things from them and the like. These would be done in character, so you get a chance to actually roleplay outside of combat.

Missions:
The player's decide what they're going to do in their turn (movement, shooting, psychic and assault phases), then the GM plays it out, followed by the enemy's turn. Players aren't limited to actions described in the rules; the GM would make up rules for performing unusual actions as and when they're needed (eg: if a player wants to push over a ladder, that could be a strength test that uses up your shooting phase). Some special actions may cost Narrative Points.

Narric

I like the of these rules :D though maybe have the RP rules as a Separate thread to avoid confusion with the Tabletop Rules ;)

Would be interesting to see how a Wargame RP would play out. I vaguely remember someone doing a literally RP with their Models once :P

Mabbz

If you want to separate them out, that's fine by me (or I suppose I could have these rules posted in two places at once...)

I believe it happened twice, once with marines and once with tau (I was an uber sniper in the tau one, that needed 40 turns to take out a single drone in melee :P). Also, if/when I actually do this, I'll make models specially for everyone.