{"id":2607,"date":"2014-12-22T07:47:05","date_gmt":"2014-12-22T12:47:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/?p=2607"},"modified":"2017-05-14T19:40:49","modified_gmt":"2017-05-14T23:40:49","slug":"40k-the-cataclysm-on-caldor-iv","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/2014\/12\/40k-the-cataclysm-on-caldor-iv\/","title":{"rendered":"The Cataclysm on Caldor IV"},"content":{"rendered":"<blockquote><p>With the idiot Magos Ferdinand safely locked away in temporary quarters where he couldn&#8217;t\u00a0affect any important decisions, Adept Kain signaled the fleet that\u00a0only expendable resources remained below. Immediately the giant cruisers could be seen through the viewscreen moving into position to begin bombarding the planet <em>in extremis<\/em>. Let Chaos take the world, for all it would be worth broken in half! But then, from behind the second moon and hurling by directly under the Imperial ships, a bevy of dark, rounded ships became\u00a0silhouetted in Caldor IV&#8217;s\u00a0reflected light. For a momentum Kain was terrified&#8212;Tyranid! But then he realized the bioships had not stopped to engage in battle,\u00a0instead moving directly to perilously low orbits and were launching spore pods at the besieged planet, streaming down even alongside the torpedoes and\u00a0plasma of the Imperial barrage. \u00a0Even better, he thought&#8230;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>On Saturday\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/pagegaming.com\/\">PAGE<\/a> wrapped up our November and December\u00a0tournament\/campaign series at <a href=\"http:\/\/www.redcapscorner.com\/\">Redcap&#8217;s Corner<\/a>\u00a0with <em>The Cataclysm on Caldor IV<\/em>. The day consisted of two parts: Four rounds of Recon Squad followed by a Cataclysm game. Our Recon Squad format is a 200 pt Kill Team-style skirmish variant in which each model acts independently. Cataclysm is our framework for multiplayer, Apocalypse style games, in this case\u00a0a\u00a0mini-Apocalypse with 500 pt armies.<\/p>\n<p>We\u00a0had eight players, organized into two alliances: The Legions of Discord, and the Spoilers.\u00a0The Spoilers handily won the first act of Recon Squad games. Discord redeemed itself with a strong victory in the Cataclysm. Individual awards\u00a0went to:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Overall Winner&#8212;Spoilers:<\/strong> Justin M, Tyranids (75\/100 points)<\/li>\n<li><strong>Overall Winner&#8212;Discord:<\/strong> Colin K, Chaos Daemons (72\/100 points)<\/li>\n<li><strong>The Artist:<\/strong> Jason W, Imperial Fists (10 votes)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Full details, including the mission pack, campaign mechanics, and other rules are up on the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.pagegaming.com\/index.php?n=Warhammer40k.20141220Tournament\">event webpage<\/a>. Full results with breakdowns are in the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.pagegaming.com\/uploads\/Warhammer40k\/20141220-results.xls\">final spreadsheet<\/a>. More photos are up in the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/tjkopena\/sets\/72157649849576431\/\">Flickr gallery<\/a>.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_2620\" style=\"width: 540px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/IMG_9319.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-2620\" class=\"size-large wp-image-2620\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/IMG_9319-1024x768.jpg\" alt=\"The Spoilers arrive.\" width=\"530\" height=\"397\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/IMG_9319-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/IMG_9319-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/IMG_9319.jpg 1600w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 530px) 100vw, 530px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-2620\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Spoilers arrive.<\/p><\/div>\n<h2>Background<\/h2>\n<p>As developed in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/2014\/11\/40k-the-debacle-on-caldor-iv\/\">last month&#8217;s campaign<\/a>,\u00a0Caldor IV is a former Knight world ravaged by infighting and strife eons ago.\u00a0Several decades ago the\u00a0Mechanicum began resettling the planet as cover for an expedition\u00a0searching for <em>The Scythe of Unbound Light<\/em>, a long lost relic weapon. All manner of xenos, heretics, and\u00a0traitors eventually learned of the true motivation\u00a0for this effort and recently descended on the planet. In the outcome\u00a0of last month&#8217;s campaign, the Forces of Order located and evacuated Magos Ferdinand, head of the Mechanicum expedition. The Legions of Discord located <em>The Scythe<\/em> but did not manage to retrieve\u00a0it.<\/p>\n<p>Still convinced\u00a0<em>The Scythe<\/em> is a myth\u00a0and unwilling to continue wasting resources defending the planet, Order has abandoned\u00a0Caldor IV and declared it <em>Exterminatus<\/em>. With the relic actually located though, the uneasy Discord alliance has fractured in a bitter struggle to secure it before the end. Working quietly amidst the planet-wide conflict, one band of Chaos Daemons has pinpointed the\u00a0remaining pieces of\u00a0<em>The Scythe<\/em> on Apollon, the primary continent. Broken\u00a0into\u00a0several major pieces long ago, a shanty town has grown up around the mostly buried wreckage, no one aware of what lies just below. With the larger Discord alliance fallen apart, the Daemons have tricked and co-opted several groups of stragglers from the departing Imperial forces\u00a0to help them strike for the ensorcelled relic and\u00a0secure the components before it&#8217;s truly\u00a0destroyed with the planet.<\/p>\n<p>However, several more\u00a0factions new to the battle\u00a0have also arrived in force to capitalize on the disarray and\u00a0gorge on bloodshed while disrupting their hated foes&#8217; efforts. Most menacingly, a large group of Tyranids and Orks working together, possibly awful\u00a0mutant hybrid products of\u00a0the <a href=\"http:\/\/wh40k.lexicanum.com\/wiki\/Octarius_War\">Octarius War<\/a>, have come to\u00a0stop them.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_2623\" style=\"width: 310px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/IMG_9413-e1419251414844.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-2623\" class=\"wp-image-2623\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/IMG_9413-e1419251414844-225x300.jpg\" alt=\"Orks ride into combat, going head-to-maw with the Daemons.\" width=\"300\" height=\"400\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/IMG_9413-e1419251414844-225x300.jpg 225w, https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/IMG_9413-e1419251414844-768x1024.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/IMG_9413-e1419251414844.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-2623\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Orks ride into combat, going head-to-maw with the Daemons.<\/p><\/div>\n<h2>Mechanics<\/h2>\n<p>Starting the day, each player\u00a0chose a legacy for their Recon Squad from eight options:\u00a0Bodyguards, Excavators, Headhunters, Killers, Penetrators, Scouts, Sentinels, and Warriors. Legacies represent their squad&#8217;s path through the final fighting on Caldor IV, defined by three specific missions and roles they&#8217;re trying to fulfill from eight thematic scenarios in the Recon Squad rounds: Ambush, Assassination, Battlefield, Breakthrough, Encirclement, Excavation, Installation, and Skirmish. In the Cataclysm they then also received a personal objective based on their legacy. Achieving two of their three missions also granted a bonus in the Cataclysm. For example, the Sentinels\u00a0were attempting to defend against a Breakthrough, survive an Encirclement, and protect an Installation. In the Cataclysm they were striving to have their units in place on\u00a0each of their home objectives. The\u00a0bonus for achieving two of their missions was bolstering a piece of terrain or fortification, and their non-vehicles and walkers gaining Stubborn.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_2610\" style=\"width: 233px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/sentinels-legacy.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-2610\" class=\"wp-image-2610 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/sentinels-legacy-223x300.png\" alt=\"Legacy card for the Sentinels.\" width=\"223\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/sentinels-legacy-223x300.png 223w, https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/sentinels-legacy.png 400w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 223px) 100vw, 223px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-2610\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Legacy card for the Sentinels.<\/p><\/div>\n<p>In the Cataclysm, all the players came together for a joint mini-mega-battle. The battle was fought over six cumulatively scored objectives, two in each deployment zone and two more in no-man&#8217;s land. On top of this, each player was trying to achieve\u00a0their legacy goal.\u00a0With four players a side and 500 points each it\u00a0wasn&#8217;t actually a particularly big game, but with everybody on one table\u00a0it was suitably chaotic and bloody. Whole units were wiped out at a blow, armies\u00a0lost ground as quickly as it\u00a0had been claimed, and giant monsters did battle with brave\u00a0warriors.<\/p>\n<p>All of this was contested\u00a0among\u00a0heavier terrain than usual. Recon Squad games were on 4&#215;4 boards. Several were Infinity setups that the store uses regularly. Others used a great deal of Warhammer Fantasy and 40k terrain. For the Cataclysm we simply took two of the similarly themed shanty town boards people had been fighting over all day and put them together for a heavily terrained 4&#215;8 board.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_2622\" style=\"width: 540px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/IMG_9359.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-2622\" class=\"size-large wp-image-2622\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/IMG_9359-1024x768.jpg\" alt=\"Kingbreakers fight Genestealers and Broodlords among the corridors and laboratories of a now-abandoned research facility.\" width=\"530\" height=\"397\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/IMG_9359-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/IMG_9359-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/IMG_9359.jpg 1600w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 530px) 100vw, 530px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-2622\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Kingbreakers fight Genestealers and Broodlords among the corridors and laboratories of a now-abandoned research facility.<\/p><\/div>\n<h2>Outcome<\/h2>\n<p>The Spoilers effectively disrupted\u00a0Discord&#8217;s\u00a0forces throughout the end of the battle, with their Recon Squads winning the first\u00a0rounds \u00a090 points to 71. Discord however repelled the attack in the Cataclysm, holding the majority of the objectives for a 20 to 15 victory. With a slight lead remaining at the end of the day, the Spoilers thus achieved their goal of\u00a0general slaughter and carnage to disrupt the other armies, while Discord managed to persevere through that\u00a0affliction\u00a0and ultimately\u00a0retrieve\u00a0<em>The Scythe<\/em> before the Imperium cracked\u00a0the planet into pieces.<\/p>\n<p>Among the squad legacies:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Though tragically working\u00a0for the dark side, a\u00a0squad of the Sentinels of Terra lived up to their name, successfully defending an\u00a0important communications facility, living through an encirclement, and successfully\u00a0organizing the defenses around\u00a0the Discord home objectives.<\/li>\n<li>A small force of Imperial Guard fought desperate battles throughout the day against Tyranid\u00a0monsters\u00a0towering above them, but eventually had\u00a0their due when they assassinated their foes&#8217; Brood Lord warlord in the\u00a0Cataclysm.<\/li>\n<li>Horribly lead astray in the fog of war and Chaos trickery, Kingbreakers and Raukaan wound up at each other&#8217;s throats, with heroic but misguided sergeants oathing crusades against their own battle brothers and plunging forward in their transports\u00a0toward mutual annihilation in the closing moments.<\/li>\n<li>Despite the loss of their Brood Lord, the Tyranids managed to swarm the Imperial Fists leading the Discord defense and eat their Sergeant whole, consuming his biomass and assimilating his traits.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Over the course of the whole Caldor IV campaign then, each faction (Order, Spoilers, Discord) won one of the three acts. Order secured the Magos Ferdinand in <em>The\u00a0Debacle<\/em>, the Spoilers had their fill of hand-to-hand combat and biomass consumption in <em>The\u00a0Twilight, and\u00a0<\/em>Discord retrieved <em>The Scythe of Unbound Light<\/em> in <em>The\u00a0Cataclysm<\/em>. With that the story of Caldor IV and the planet itself ends, but there&#8217;s little\u00a0doubt these\u00a0elements\u00a0will appear\u00a0again.<\/p>\n<p>Again, there are lots more photos are in the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/tjkopena\/sets\/72157649849576431\/\">Flickr gallery<\/a>!<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_2624\" style=\"width: 540px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/IMG_9343.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-2624\" class=\"size-large wp-image-2624\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/IMG_9343-1024x768.jpg\" alt=\"Sentinels of Terra defend a research facility... at the orders of a pack of Daemons...\" width=\"530\" height=\"397\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/IMG_9343-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/IMG_9343-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/IMG_9343.jpg 1600w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 530px) 100vw, 530px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-2624\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Sentinels of Terra defend a research facility&#8230; at the orders of a pack of Daemons&#8230;<\/p><\/div>\n<h2>Next Up<\/h2>\n<p>Our\u00a0next Redcap&#8217;s event is set for\u00a0January 24th. It will almost certainly be more conventional, 1500 or 1850 points with new missions but using the same basic mission format (primary\/secondary\/tertiary objectives, superheavy debuffs, etc.)\u00a0we rolled out <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/2014\/11\/40k-the-debacle-on-caldor-iv\/\">last month<\/a>. In the Interim we&#8217;ll be tweaking the Caldor IV missions and campaign and then putting out a PDF for other groups to make use of. Come join us next time, it&#8217;s quite different from standard 40k and tournaments, and does a good job of combining tournament play with a narrative campaign!<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_2621\" style=\"width: 540px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/IMG_9387.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-2621\" class=\"size-large wp-image-2621\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/IMG_9387-1024x768.jpg\" alt=\"The Cataclysm!\" width=\"530\" height=\"397\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/IMG_9387-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/IMG_9387-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/IMG_9387.jpg 1600w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 530px) 100vw, 530px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-2621\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Cataclysm!<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>With the idiot Magos Ferdinand safely locked away in temporary quarters where he couldn&#8217;t\u00a0affect any important decisions, Adept Kain signaled the fleet that\u00a0only expendable resources remained below. Immediately the giant cruisers could be seen through the viewscreen moving into position to begin bombarding the planet in extremis. Let Chaos take the world, for all it &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/2014\/12\/40k-the-cataclysm-on-caldor-iv\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2620,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[411],"tags":[272,269,257,274,98,29,45],"class_list":["post-2607","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-campaigns","tag-40k","tag-caldor-iv","tag-featured","tag-miniatures","tag-narrative","tag-page","tag-redcaps"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2607","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2607"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2607\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3594,"href":"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2607\/revisions\/3594"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2620"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2607"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2607"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2607"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}