Battle 3: Dawn Assault
A formidable attacking force means to surprise and overwhelm the enemy’s smaller defensive force. However, the defensive force is concealed in prepared positions among minefields and booby-traps. The attackers must be bold to find the defenders and overrun them before their reinforcements can turn the tide of battle.
Armies
With your opponent, agree a maximum points value limit for the battle. Then build your army within this limit.
Maps
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Standard deployment edges, but the Defender can also bring Reserves into play along adjacent edges that extend to the half-way line.
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The Defender’s deployment zone extends from their deployment edge to the half-way line.
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The Attacker’s deployment zone extends from their deployment edge to 20 cm onto the table.
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A Attacker’s deployment zone.
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D Defender’s deployment zone.
Setup
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Decide who will be the Attacker and who will be the Defender.
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Set up terrain in the standard way.
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Determine which player gets to choose their deployment edge/zone in the standard way. That player must then choose the deployment edge/zone that they prefer, and their opponent gets the opposite edge/zone (see Maps).
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Choose your objectives, as follows:
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Attacker: You must have one objective per 500 points in your army (round fractions up). You may use any objectives, except for Rescue and Cleanse. You may either choose from among those available, or pick at random.
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Defender: You must have one objective per 1,000 points in your army (rounding fractions down). You may use only Cleanse objectives.
Example 1. Number of objectivesIn a 1,500 point game, the Attacker will have three objectives and the Defender will have one.
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Place your objective markers.
You must place all objective markers in the Defender’s half of the table. Apply other placement restrictions that don’t conflict with this as normal. The Attacker places the first objective marker and then the players alternate until they have placed all of the objective markers.
Disposition of forces
Attacker: Determine the disposition of your forces.
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Place all of your Flyer detachments in Reserves.
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If you have any detachments that qualify for the Reserves rules on their own merit, place them in Reserves.
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Keep all of your other detachments at hand for your initial deployment.
Defender: Determine the disposition of your forces.
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Roll a D6 for each detachment in your army:
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1 to 3: This detachment is part of your reinforcements — place it in Reserves.
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4 to 6: This detachment is part of your immediate defences. If it is a Flyer detachment, place it aside ready to bring into play in the first turn of the game. Otherwise, keep it at hand for your initial deployment. [TODO: What if it is a detachment that qualifies for the Reserves rules on it’s own merit? Place it aside ready to bring into play in the first turn of the game?]
You must deploy at least one detachment during initial deployment. So, if you did not roll 4 to 6 for any of your non-Flyer detachments then you must choose which detachment you will keep at hand for this purpose.
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Initial deployment
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Defender: You must deploy first.
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Deploy all of the detachments that you kept at hand for your initial deployment.
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Deploy within the Defender’s deployment zone D (see Maps).
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For Infantry/Vehicle detachments, use the Hidden Setup rules.
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You may also use Fortifications if you wish.
[TODO: The original text is ambiguous — there’s the requirement to use the Hidden Setup rules for Infantry/Vehicle detachments, and then it states that "all remaining defending detachments are in reserve at the start of the battle" — does this imply that War Engine detachments, which you can’t hide, should be in Reserves?]
You may bring your Reserves detachments into play anywhere along the edges that include the Defender’s deployment edge and up to half-way along the two adjacent edges of the table (see Maps).
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Attacker: Deploy within the Attacker’s deployment zone A (see Maps). You may bring your Reserves detachments into play anywhere along the Attacker’s deployment edge.
Game length and victory conditions
Standard Army Morale win conditions apply: At the end of the Rally phase, if a player has an Army Morale value of zero or less then the game ends and the other player is the winner. [1]
If this hasn’t happened by the end of the 6th turn, or if both players' Army Morale values drop to 0 or less on the same turn, then calculate victory points as follows:
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Each player scores 2 victory points for each Take & Hold or Cleanse objective they control.
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The Attacker scores 1 victory point for each other objective that they achieved during the game.
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The Defender scores 1 victory point for each other objective that the Attacker did not achieve during the game.
The player with the most victory points is the winner.