Alpha Hunt
Rumours of a rare Malstrain Alpha are spreading around town, whoever can bring it down and haul it back to market will certainly be able to find a buyer.
Setup
Battle Type
Sector Mechanicus
Battlefield
3x3 4x4
Crews
Random (5 + (D3) (Roll once for both players))
Deployment
Standard
Battle
Malstrain AlphaA rare breed of Malstrain is stalking the battlefield. At the start of the battle the Alpha will be in hiding and is not deployed on the table. The Alpha uses the following profile:
| M | WS | BS | S | T | W | I | A | Ld | Cl | Wil | Int |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6” | 2+ | 6+ | 5 | 5 | 3 | 2+ | 5 | 6+ | 4+ | 5+ | 10+ |
Skills: Dodge, Evade, Nerves of Steel
Wargear: Bio-booster, mesh armour
| Weapon | Rg S | Rg L | Ac L | S | AP | D | Am | Traits |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rending Claws | - | E | - | S+1 | -2 | 2 | - | Melee, Rending |
The first time blood is spilled, the Alpha may show itself. Whenever a fighter, in either player's gang, suffers a Flesh Wound, takes a Serious Injury or is taken Out of Action, the player whose fighter was injured rolls a D6. If the result is 5+ then the Alpha appears and is placed randomly at one of the Roaming Horror spawn points. Each additional time the roll is made in the same round, add 1 to the dice result. Once the Alpha has appeared, do not roll for it again to appear this round.
Apex PredatorThe Alpha activates once all players have had an activation, however, after activating, it will generate another ready marker so it may activate again on a subsequent turn. If it loses a ready marker due to flash etc. then it simply skips a turn before generating another ready marker.
If Roaming horrors are in play they treat it as one of their own and will never attack it, nor will the Alpha attack them. The Alpha will always activate in addition to the usual Roaming horror activation.
If the Alpha is Webbed, it will take 2 activations off, after which it will remove the web and activate normally.
Unlike Roaming Horrors, the Alpha doesn’t go out of action as soon as an injury dice would be rolled.
Back to the ShadowsIf the Alpha takes a model Out of Action during its activation, and there are no other fighters within 6" of it, it will drag its prey off into the shadows, removing itself and the fighter from the table.
In addition, if the Alpha is wounded by an attack, after making a save for it (if any), but before applying damage, make an Initiative roll for the creature. If successful, the Alpha suffers a single wound, ignoring Weapon Traits, and is removed from the battlefield.
Finally, if there are no fighters within 24” of the Alpha after activating, it will also return to the shadows and is removed from the table.
In all cases, it will not appear again this round, but may appear in later rounds as detailed above.
Bigger ProblemsWhile the Alpha is within 12" of a fighter, they can only choose it as a target for their attacks.
Ending the Battle
The game ends when one or more of the following conditions are met in the End Phase
-
There is only one gang remaining on the battlefield
-
The Alpha is taken Out of Action.
Victory
The side that took the Alpha Out of Action is the winner. If the battle ended because only one gang had fighters on the battlefield and the Alpha was still at large then the battle is a draw.
Rewards
DomeboundThe winner gets first pick of the reward cards.
Standard rewards for winning a: 1 free doc visit (that can’t fail), you may bank this for later as well. You earn no Credits, or Rep. Your fighters gain exp as usual.