A derelict science cruiser has been detected near the asteroid belts, its registered cargo including samples of an experimental superfuel. As a result, the megacorporations have rushed to lay claim to the ship's contents before it heads into the asteroid field. Once in the asteroid field, it is not likely to last long, and extraction of the away team sent on board to retrieve the fuel would be tricky at best. Not only the megacorporations are interested -- a faction in the Cartel has sent some special agents, and some Brotherhood observers from a nearby outpost have decided that this fuel is too dangerous to fall into the hands of anyone (else). As if that were not enough, several Dark Legion forces have learned of the derelict, and are anxious to obtain it for their own ends. There's no time to make deals or alliances -- only to charge in, grab it while you can, and get out.

This scenario is for 3 or more players on an "interior" battlefield consisting of multiple tiles that spell out the layout for the inside of a ship. Care should be made to ensure that the layout is fairly evenly distributed, so that no one player is going to end up "land- locked" and unable to get into the action ... or put right between two opposing forces who will blow his unit to smithereens on Turn 1.

(For large floor tiles, I found it very handy to go to the craft area of a local department store and get a bunch of black cross-stitch grids. The plastic is fairly easy to cut into various sizes, so I can have big rooms or narrow corridors, or elbow corners and the like if I please. Plus, the excess material is nifty for incorporating into battlefield terrain.)

OBJECTIVE

The objective is to have as many fuel cannisters in your possession at the end of the scenario as possible. If one of your models carrying a cannister can reach the table edge in your deployment zone, the cannister can be "deposited" safely, taking it out of play, and removing any chance of it being taken by someone else or destroyed.

Victory is determined by which force has the most cannisters in his possession at the end of 8 turns. (The exact number of turns, of course, may be modified to fit your needs. If you have a lot of players, you may want to drop it to 6 turns.) If two or more players have tied in the number of cannisters they have retrieved, then determine which player with the most cannisters suffered the least points' worth of casualties. If THAT yields a tie as well ... then you're just stuck with a tie.

There are no victory points to be gained by destroying enemy units. Regardless, anyone can attack anyone in this scenario.

FORCES

Each player may put together a single squad from a single megacorporation or from the list of a single Dark Apostle, with a maximum of 300 points. This means that if you're going to have a Dark Legion force, your force will be entirely made up of Algeroth, or else of Ilian, Demnogonis, Semai or Muawijhe, not some combination of the above.

Seconding is not allowed, and there are no individuals or Personalities, with the exception of Dr. Diana and Corporate War Medics. A squad may have one Corporate War Medic or Dr. Diana, but this model is treated as another member of the unit, not as an individual, and cannot be assigned special equipment or Heroic Abilities.

In the case of units with MV greater than 3 (such as any Mishima force), you can buy "Long Legs" (2 pts.) for the War Medic to help it keep up. If for some reason it's applicable, you can also buy "Jungle Training" (3 pts.) for the Medic to accompany a unit with that skill. (Maybe there's an Arboreum.) If you have a unit of Martian Banshees, a "Banshee War Medic" can have a flight pack as well for 10 points.

Special Squad Members (Medic, Crack Shot Specialist, Close Combat Specialist, Scout) are allowed, but the Special Squad Member must be separate from the squad leader or heavy weapon carrier. (You also can't make a War Medic or Dr. Diana the "special squad member".) A Crack Shot specialist is allowed to have a sniper rifle, deviating from the normal restrictions.

A Cartel force consists of a squad of Agents, optionally led by a Special Agent. The unit is allowed to have one heavy weapon (most likely the Gehenna Puker). Since the Cartel force does not contain any squabbling megacorporate squads, it does not suffer the -4 to Initiative that a Cartel force normally would.

TERRAIN

Any area of the table that is not covered by a floor tile represents a wall, and is impassible. (Shadow Walkers cannot walk through walls here.) For all intents and purposes, the ceilings are as high as need be. It is possible to have flying models in this scenario.

Teleporting is only possible to locations within the caster's line of sight. There's simply too much chance of teleporting oneself into a solid wall otherwise.

If grenade or explosion attacks deviate, they cannot pass through walls. If the direction of the deviation takes it toward a wall, the furthest it can be moved is so that the center of the blast touches the edge of the wall. For this reason, if you fire a blast into a narrow corridor (especially if there's a dead end), it's entirely possible you'll still catch someone with the blast even if it deviates.

As a recommendation to make the deviation a little more fair, you might want to try using a "scatter die" rather than rolling on a chart to determine the direction. This would be a die an arrow marked on each side (in an arbitrary direction), which is rolled, and then the direction the arrow points is the direction the attack deviates.

NO TALL GRASS

Optional variation:

There is no "tall grass" to be found inside this ship. Only models who have Commando Training, "Scout" ability, Stealth, or a Chameleon Oversuit (if applicable)) can Hide or Infiltrate. (Models which start the game Hidden can still do so, but, unless they meet the previous requirement, cannot Hide again, and cannot Infiltrate from their initial positions.) However, if you have any areas of terrain, such as rubble or jungle which would provide any cover, then any model CAN Hide in this area or infiltrate through it normally.

SUPERFUEL

The Superfuel is represented by multiple "drums", perhaps painted with radioactive warning labels. The following rules apply:

• Each cannister has an Armor of 26, and 1 Wound. If it is destroyed, it will cause an explosion that uses the Explosion template, doing DAM 12 (x4). Any model in base contact with the cannister (or carrying it) will take the "Max" damage. It is possible for the cannister's explosion to detonate other cannisters around it, causing a chain reaction.

• Cannisters do not count as members of a "unit". If you can see a cannister, you can shoot at it, even if there is a closer cannister to shoot at. However, if a cannister is within 6 inches of an enemy unit, you cannot shoot the cannister if there is a closer enemy model -- unless you have a sniper rifle.

• Close combat attacks against barrels work on a roll of 19 or less, regardless of CC skill, but you still roll in order to see if you fumble or make a perfect success. Armor must still be rolled normally, unless you make a perfect success. You do not have to "charge" a barrel -- but you can if you so desire.

• A flamethrower attack or Shrieketh attack on a cannister will automatically detonate it. There is no need to roll for armor.

• Gas attacks, "Pain", "soul-shearing", "Wind of Insanity", the Tzoteth, disease, and other attacks that do not cause physical damage have no effect on the barrels. (Note: "Foul Wind" specifically can cause damage to AIs, so it can affect a barrel, but you won't be turning the barrel into a Blessed Legionnaire, of course!)

• An action may be spent to "pick up" a barrel. (Keep it in base contact with the model carrying it.) A model may only carry one barrel at a time. It may still move at full speed, but can take no action other than to move, until the barrel is set down. The barrel may, however, be set down at any time. If the carrier is attacked in close combat, for instance, he can drop the barrel immediately so that he may make a parry attempt. However, it will take another action to pick up the barrel again.

• The barrel cannot be "stolen" from a model. A model may spend an action to "hand off" the barrel to another model in base contact with the barrel or within an inch of the carrier.

• Any ranged attack against a barrel-carrying model has a chance of hitting either the barrel or the carrier. Roll 1d20. On a roll of 10 or less, you hit the carrier. On a roll of 11 or more, you hit the barrel. If the carrier is a Large Model, then you hit the carrier on a 12 or less. If you score a perfect success, you may choose whether you hit the barrel or the carrier. Template weapons hit both the carrier AND the barrel. (In the case of shotguns, roll separately for the barrel and carrier, as if they were two separate targets.)

• For purposes of "possession" of a barrel, you must meet one of the following criteria for each barrel:
  1. The barrel is being carried by one of your models. If your model has been Corrupted, turned into a Blessed Legionnaire, subjected to Capture Dead, or if your model is dead or permanently possessed by the enemy, it does not count as "yours" anymore.

  2. The barrel has been deposited off the table through your deployment zone. To do this, a model must be in base contact with the table edge (or the end of the passage, if your tiles don't reach to the table edge) and dropped the barrel (which does not take an action). It is then out of play, and in the possession of whatever force this deployment zone belongs to, even if the model doing the depositing is not a member of that force. (i.e., Possess, Dominate ...)

  3. The barrel is in your deployment zone, and you have at least one living model still in play. (Even a drooling Undead Legionnaire will count for this.)

  4. The barrel is in base contact with one of your models, and is not in an enemy deployment zone, and is not in base contact with an enemy model.

DEPLOYMENT

Roll for who gets to pick what entrance they place their units in. For purposes of speed and balance, a player immediately places his entire unit as soon as he selects his entrance into the playing area. (There should be several passages going out to touch the table edges. It should be possible for every player to be able to deploy his forces so that no enemy has line of sight to him immediately, and vice versa -- with the exception of forces like Free Marines, that is.)

The force should be deployed within 6 inches of the table edge, rather than the usual 12. Otherwise, the outer edge of the table is likely to become dead space, since everyone is aiming to rush toward the center.

As each player places his force, he also gets to place one barrel anywhere on the table on the OPPOSITE half of the table from where he is deployed, not within 6 inches of any table edge, not within 6 inches of any enemy deployment zone, and in an area that is accessible to non-flying, non-teleporting models, at floor level. (Putting the barrel up in a tower or "inside a wall" is not acceptable.) If there are fewer barrels than players, then once the barrels run out, that's just the way things go.

Airborne deployment and "Wheel" deployment (for Templars of the Triangled Wheel) is not allowed in this scenario. However, Free Marines and units with similar placement rules may still deploy anywhere on the table so long as they are not in an enemy deployment zone, and not within 6 inches of a barrel at the start. They must still pick a "deployment zone" for purposes of a spot to return to in order to deposit barrels. If there is a War Medic with the group, for the purposes of this scenario it can and must be placed with the unit, and also in Hidden and Waiting status.

In order to make up for Capitol's loss of Airborne Deployment and Airstrikes (Sorry, no airstrikes allowed here...) the Capitol player has his choice of where in the Deployment order he goes -- whether first or last or whatever. He gets to choose after the rest of the turn order has been determined, but he must announce his decision BEFORE anybody starts placing.

TURN PROGRESSION

If you have more than 3 players, then have each side roll for Initiative. The highest roller (or Bauhaus using "The Moment Has Come"...) wins. The second-highest roller gets to choose whether turns will progress around the table clockwise or counter-clockwise. Order is based on the position of each deployment zone -- in case you have players who move around the table. The initiative winner has the option of either going first, or else nominating someone else to go first. Otherwise, no player can nominate anyone else to take his place in the turn order, and no player can "pass", except to forego his chance to use any actions entirely.

OTHER SPECIAL RULES

• Muawijhe's Screaming Legionnaires don't work very well in this scenario with the new rules for compulsory movement. Therefore, a player who wants to field Muawijhe can choose to field a unit of Screamers who are not subject to the compulsory movement rules ... but they are also not allowed to make the Whirlwind of Insanity attack. They would just be a normal unit (which can still function even if the Soulslayer is killed) with some interesting weapons.

• Templars of the Triangled Wheel would be in a similar bind. An Ilian player may field a unit of Templars of the Triangled Wheel who are not subject to compulsory movement into close combat, but these Templars only have 1 Wound each, not 2.

• You may find that, especially with the Dark Legion, even by maxing out with everything you can load on your troopers, you can't reach 300 points with a single unit for some troop types. For this scenario, a unit can be allowed to have up to 4 more members than are normally allowed for the squad as listed in the book.

SCENARIO VARIATIONS

This scenario was mostly designed for demo games I've run with really new players. A lot of the rules won't be of any importance to the players since the army lists are pre-generated before the battle. I generally attempt to keep each unit very simple, and perhaps avoid introducing the Art or Dark Gifts at all in order to leave out that area of the rules for starters. (That may seem to rob Cybertronic of a nifty ability, but they're still formidable anyway ... and I'll often put a unit of Mortificators on the board, who, when you give them Violator swords, can be pretty nasty in close combat, Art or no!)

If you've got a mixture of new and experienced players, one option might be to divide the force into Dark Legion vs. Corporations. All Dark Legion forces are allied with each other, and all Corporate forces (including Cartel and Brotherhood) are allied with each other, hopefully with an even number of units on each side. You are still competing against the other players, but the difference is that you cannot fire upon anyone who is on your side, and it's not just a matter of which individual player wins, but you also calculate which overall SIDE wins. (It is quite possible for an individual player to be the overall winner, yet be on the losing side.)

You can still take unnecessary RISKS (such as targeting a Soulslayer with a Southpaw, when he's in close combat with some Samurai) that could put your "allies" in harm's way, but you can't specifically attack them. This may allow for some infighting and rivalry, but hopefully would allow some new players to get some assistance from some more experienced players so that they can at least try to be on the winning SIDE if not being the overall winner.