Month: March 2023

This is the seventh and final week of the Moon of the Mad Magos Necromunda campaign being run at Asgard Wargames.

Weekly event: They look like us now

The plan of the mad Magos is revealed. The finest fighters of Helicon have been replaced with gene-hanced replicas of themselves. Perfect Skitarii infiltrators with subdermal implants, lightning reactions, and the memories of all those who have died and been reclaimed by the moon. They can’t be reasoned with, they don’t feel pity, or remorse, or fear. And they absolutely will not stop, ever… until you are dead.

All scenarios contain a Murder Cyborg hidden among the fighters. 

Additionally, the strange devices previously ransacked by gangs turned out to be atmospheric stabilisers. The Badzone effects from the previous week are still in effect. You may permanently eliminate these effects from your settlement by removing a Xenoculum, Archeotech Device or Malefic Artifact from your gang list.

The Murder Cyborg

The Murder Cyborg does not begin on the board – it is revealed part way through the game.

When any fighter suffers a wound, roll a D6. On a 5+, their flesh peels away to reveal they were a Skitarii infiltrator all along! Immediately roll a mission directive for the murder cyborg on the table below.

The Murder Cyborg has its own stats and special rules, but uses the weapons of the fighter it replaced. It is extremely difficult to kill, see Terminating the Cyborg.

For all game rules and effects, the original fighter never participated in the battle.

Mission Directives

1-2 Extermination: If Engaged, the cyborg must make the Fight (Basic) action. If a fighter is visible, it must target them with a ranged attack. If multiple targets are visible, it must divide its attacks as evenly as possible. If no fighters are visible, it must move towards the closest fighter.

3-4 Decapitation: As above, but the cyborg focuses on gang Leaders. It may only attack other targets if they are Engaged with the murder cyborg, or are between it and a gang Leader.

5-6 Self-preservation: Once revealed, the player with Priority picks a battlefield edge furthest from the cyborg as its extraction point. The cyborg must always make at least one Move (Simple) action towards the extraction point, and may use the other action to make a ranged attack at the controlling player’s discretion. If the cyborg ends its activation within 1” of the extraction point, it is removed from play.

Cyborg behaviour

The cyborg is controlled by the gang with Priority, taking an activation as if it were a friendly fighter. It is, however, anything but friendly. It must always follow its mission directives, and is never counted as a friendly fighter.

Terminating the Cyborg

The Murder Cyborg cannot be taken Out of Action by any usual methods – it always treats Out of Action results as Seriously Injured, and is immune to Coup de Grace.

The only way to take the cyborg Out of Action is to reduce it to zero wounds, then cause enough Flesh Wounds to reduce it to zero Toughness. It can then finally be finished off with a Coup de Gras. (This is the only exception to being immune to Coup de Grace)

Pitfalls, such as crevasses or open furnaces, are effective (and appropriate) ways of terminating the cyborg assassin.

Operating system

The cyborg assassin uses the weapons of the fighter it replaced, but has the following statline:

M	WS	BS	S	T	W	I	A	Ld	Cl	Wil	Int
4″	3+	2+	4	5	3	4+	3	8+	3+	5+	8+

Equipment

• Subdermal implants (4+ armour save)
• Displacer field (4+ field save, if successful, scatters distance equal to the attacking weapon’s Strength)
• Photo Goggles (can see through smoke and targets within 12” while in Pitch Black)

Skills

• Fast Shot: The cyborg treats the Shoot (Basic) action as Shoot (Simple)
• Iron Jaw: The cyborg gets +2 Toughness when being hit by unarmed close combat attacks

Special rules

• Cannot be Pinned.
• Immune to Coup de Grace (unless taken to zero Flesh Wounds), and immune to Flash, Gas and Toxin traits.
• If subject to Blaze, the cyborg takes the automatic hit as usual, but may otherwise act normally.
• When rolling for Injury, treats any Out of Action result as Serious Injury.
• If Seriously Injured it does not roll for Recovery in the end phase. Instead it checks Toughness, recovering and gaining a Flesh Wound if it passes.
• Once on zero Toughness, the cyborg can no longer recover (but may still take the Crawl and Blind Fire actions) and is no longer immune to the Coup de Grace action.

To the victor, the spoils

Any fighter that inflicts a wound on the murder cyborg gains +1 XP.

The gang that performs the killing blow on the murder cyborg gains +D3 Rep and 3D6x10 credits.

This is the sixth week of the Moon of the Mad Magos Necromunda campaign being run at Asgard Wargames.

Weekly Event: No Place Like Home

Storm clouds gather overhead. Settlements are plagued by swarms of cyber-flies and sentient oozes, while crushing winds and unpredictable night cycles disguise the moon rebuilding itself into new and terrifying configurations.

All settlements are affected by a permanent Badzone Event. The particular event is determined by checking the scenario’s defender and their settlement starting location. The event affects both defender and attacker.

Settlement Location	Badzone Event
Factorum Runoff	Sludge jellies
Boneyards	Critter swarm
Ghost Town	I’ve got a bad feeling about this
The Depths	Labyrinth
Edge of the Hive	Howling Winds

Factorum Runoff: Sludge Jellies

Vile predatory sludges hide within vents, drains and ducts, waiting to envelop and consume the unwary.

Nominate at least six pieces of liquid terrain such as barrels, vents, puddles, or pipes (players can pick two each). If a fighter ends their movement within 1” of these terrain pieces, roll a D6. On a 1, they are attacked by a sludge jelly!

Check Toughness. If failed, the jelly paralyses them and they become Seriously Injured – mark the fighter to show they have been jellied.

• If a jellied fighter receives assistance during the Recovery phase, they remain Seriously Injured but remove their jelly marker. They may attempt to recover as normal next turn.
• If a jellied fighter receives no assistance, they automatically go Out of Action. Roll for lasting injuries as normal.

Boneyards: Critter swarm

Swarms of cyber-flies burst from vents and grates, creating a crawling and biting carpet beneath the fighters’ feet.

At the beginning of each End Phase, roll a D6 for every fighter. On a 1 they have been attacked by the critter swarm.

Check Strength. If failed, what happens next depends on their current status:

• If Standing, they become Pinned.
• If Pinned, they make an armour save. If failed, they suffer a Flesh Wound.
• If Seriously Injured, they make an armour save. If failed, they go Out of Action. Roll for lasting injuries as normal.

Ghost town: I’ve got a bad feeling about this

The grind of machinery falls silent and the local wildlife scuttle back to their holes. Even the sound of footsteps on the settlement thoroughfare are silent, as though the moon is holding its breath, waiting for something terrible to happen…

All Nerve checks are at an additional -2 modifier. 

If a Hive Scum, Bounty Hunter, Hanger-On (including Brutes) or Delegation fighter becomes Broken, they flee the battlefield and count as having gone Out of Action. No lasting injury is rolled for them, they are simply removed from play.

The Depths: Labyrinth

The under-moon is a maze at the best of times, but here it seems to have taken on a life of its own. Fighters find themselves easily separated as the walls shift around them.

When a fighter activates, if they cannot draw line of sight to another fighter (friend or foe) they must check Intelligence. If failed, they are lost in the labyrinthine depths.

The opposing player repositions the lost fighter anywhere within 12” of their original location (but not within impassable terrain or within 1” of another fighter).

Edge of the hive: Howling winds

The settlement is blasted with a storm gale. Fighters battle the winds to keep their footing and find their targets.

• Ranged attacks made at Long Range suffer and additional -1 modifier to hit.
• Blast markers always scatter an additional D6” (so they scatter 2D6” if they miss).
• When a Gas weapon is used, roll a D6 before resolving its effects. On a 4+ the gas dissipates in their air and the attack has no effect.
• When a Smoke weapon is used, roll a D6. On a 4+ the smoke is swept away by the winds and the marker is immediately removed.
• Fighters who become Prone within 0.5” of an edge must re-roll successful Initiative checks to prevent falling.

This is the fifth week of the Moon of the Mad Magos Necromunda campaign being run at Asgard Wargames.

In addition to the weekly event it also signals the beginning of the Expansion Phase of the campaign, where gangs can actively attack each other’s settlements.

Expansion phase

This phase sees settlements going to war with each other, while also charting the benefits of having now fully-functioning outposts on Helicon. Gangs receive their weekly XP and settlement benefits as usual.

Gangs may now raid each other’s settlements. The Settlement Raid, Market Mayhem, and Stealth Attack scenarios can now be played.

Weekly Event: What are they?

The dead are dug up and settlers go missing in the night. Reports of grotesque things moving in the dark and dragging away bodies of the recently fallen.

After board setup and before deployment, alternate placing 6 tech-scavengers (these use the Necromunda Giant Rat stats, Book of Peril or p750). 

At the beginning of the End Phase they charge any fighter within 8”, otherwise they move 2d6” in a random direction, ignoring impassible terrain (they scamper, burrow, and use hidden tunnels to move about unhindered). 

If a fighter goes Out of Action, the owning player places a tech-scavenger anywhere within 6” of where the fighter when Out of Action. 

You get no XP for taking out tech-scavengers, but gang that kills the most tech-scavengers during the scenario gets +D6 Salvage. In the event of a tie, nobody gets anything.

Tech-Scavenger

M	WS	BS	S	T	W	I	A	Ld	Cl	Wp	Int
2d6″	4+	–	3	3	1	3+	1	10+	8+	10+	9+

Chittering Jaws: Strength 3, Damage 1, Backstab (+1 Strength and -1AP if attacking from rear arc)

Small target: Ranged attacks suffer an additional -1 to hit, and Tech Scavengers can never be hit by Stray Shots.

Nimble: 4+ armour save that can never be modified