Announcing the start of a new escalation league for the Horus Heresy games system by GW here at Battle Brothers. If you’ve played in the other escalation leagues here at the store the overall rules will be relatively similar however I have added a few twists to make things a bit more narrative focused.
Where to Play: Battle Brothers Miniature Wargaming or approved exceptions under extreme circumstances
Cost: $20 per person entering the league paid to the store and used as Prize Support.
Introduction: The Heresy has been raging for 2 years, after The Warmaster’s declaration of independence in the Istavaan system. With the Drop Site Massacre, and the arrival of The Ruinstorm, the galaxy has been torn asunder with it hard to tell who is friend or foe. Warp travel is perilous, supplies are low, and mistrust and misinformation are rampant. The Forge World of Angelus has become the stage for a conflict over its manufactorums and vast supplies of arms, armor, equipment, and rumored Archaeotech that will be essential in either faction’s war efforts. Magos Ygenmaw, kept ignorant of the true cause and scale of the conflict by the effects of the Ruinstorm, and his own studies into the Archaeotech on Angelus, has decided to wait things out and lend his allegiance to whoever can win his favor, through a combination of shows of force and personal errands.
Where to Play: Battle Brothers Miniature Wargaming
Cost: $20 will be used for prize support. Prize support distribution to be determined based on player count at the start of the league.
Game Schedule: Games will be assigned on the Sunday of the first week of each play period. Players will have 2 weeks to meet with their assigned opponent and play their game. Players will be awarded points as follows Wins=2 Losses=0 Ties=1. Victory will also earn your faction points to be used in the post league event (See Below).
Friendly Play: Players may play additional games during each Play Period to earn more points. The first friendly play game of a Play Period will earn you points as follows W=1 L=0 T=0. Victories in these games can also earn you additional points for your faction in the post league event (See Below)
Optional Mission: Each Play Period the Magos Ygenmaw will issue an optional secondary mission to be completed. Should you complete this mission in either your assigned or friendly play game you will earn points for your faction (See Below).
Points: The points values of games will increase as time goes on. Please see the below chart for the values based on week. For those of you who play 40k these points may seem like a lot but trust me things add up in the 31st Millenium.
Play Period 1: 1000
Play Period 2: 1500
Play Periods 3: 2000
Play Periods 4: 2500
Play Period 5: 3000
Event: 3000+ (Event/Armies on Parade)
Factions: At the beginning of the league you will be required to choose a faction to support. Be ye for The Emperor? Or perhaps you owe Allegiance to The Warmaster? Either way each side will vie for control of the galaxy as the league goes on. This will impact your ability to field certain units and equipment as listed in the various army and legion entries. This means that while you can play Loyalist Sons of Horus you cannot have the Arch Heretic himself fighting on The Emperor’s side. Efforts will be made to match players against opponents of the opposite allegiance where possible. When not possible it will be up to the players to determine who will represent the loyalists and who will be traitors. In instances where this happens this will not impact your list building, such is the chaos of The Heresy that at times armies who swore allegiance to the same master would come to blows over slights to one another’s honor, conflicting orders, or other enemy misdirection and trickery.
Players who win their assigned match of the play period will earn their faction 2 points towards their faction’s cause whereas your first friendly play victory of the Play Period will earn you 1. This means that you can play multiple friendly play games each Play Period to try and earn your faction benefits but remember, this gives your opponent more chances to earn points too. Friendly play games may also be played amongst allied players in the manner listed in the above paragraph however between those two players only one can earn points towards their factions total, there is no limit however to the points the opposing faction can earn. You will also be awarded 1 point for the completion of optional missions during a play period. The first battle each Play Period you play with a fully painted army will also earn you 1 point for your faction. These points will be used in a climactic final battle at the end of the league and will be used to gain tactical and strategic benefits in the battle. The players on each side who contribute the most faction points to their respective sides will be named the Emperor’s/Warmaster’s chosen representative at this event and lead your forces into battle.
List Building: Players will use the Core Rules for games in the Age of Darkness for army construction and list building with the following exceptions:
-Units and Army Lists from the Expanded Rules set, i.e. Legacies of the Age of Darkness, Imperial Cults and Militia ect. will be allowed along with units from the HH: Age of Darkness Fan Project (See Below).
-The Fury of the Ancients Rite of War will be banned. Why? Because Magos Ygenmaw said so.
-For Play Periods 1 and 2 Leviathan Dreadnoughts will be 0-1 and talons will be limited to 1 Dreadnought per talon. Play Period 3 onward the limitation will be removed.
-During the final event each side will only be allowed one of each unique named character. This does not limit unnamed characters like Custodes Tribunes which may be unique but of which multiple exist throughout the galaxy.
Painting: During the post league event there will be an “Armies on Parade” contest. The winner will receive prize support from the pool.
HH: Age of Darkness Fan Project:
Players can use units from the various HH: Age of Darkness Fan Dexes. As of the writing of this document this includes Libers Centura, Ingenium, Antiqua, and Imperialis. These documents add additional units and rules for the Legions, The Mechanicum, Eldar/Harlequins, and the various Imperial Factions respectively. Should more units and rules be released in the League Period those rules will be allowed. Just make sure to bring rules for these units in case your opponent has not had the chance to see these documents. The PDFs can be found at https://hh-ageofdarkness.itch.io/