Battle for Armageddon Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Summary of Play
• Components
  • Game Board
  • Cards
  • Reference Sheet
  • Counters
• The Game Rules
• Setting Up
  • Hive and Factory Areas
• The Sequence of Play
  • Stacking
  • First Turn Surprise
  • The Strategy Segment
• Action Segments
• The Victory Segment
• Action Phases
  • Movement Phases
  • Combat Phases
  • Retreats
  • Build Phases
    • Imperial Build Phases
    • Ork Build Phases
  • Supply

Summary of Play

The game begins at the start of the campaign, with the three Ork tribes poised on the border of Armageddon Secundus, and all hell about to break loose! One player takes the side of the Orks and the other of the Imperium. Cardboard counters represent the military units that make up the huge armies. Each counter is printed with a name and picture to show what type of unit it represents, and the three numbers at the bottom rate how good the counter is at attacking, defending and moving.

The game is split into eight turns, each of which represents about three months of the actual campaign. At the start of each turn you decide on a plan for your army to follow by picking two strategy cards and placing them in a stack in front of you. The cards list what you may do when the card is revealed. If, for example, you had a 'movement & combat' card, you can move and then attack with your pieces. Once both players have chosen their strategy cards, they each roll a D6. Whoever scores highest wins the initiative and goes first, flipping over the top card in his stack of strategy cards and carrying out the two phases listed on the card in the order shown. His opponent then flips over his top card, and so on, with the players taking it in turn to reveal a card and carry out the phases.

Victory is determined by the number of hives you control at the end of each turn. The Ork player must attempt to capture as many Imperial hives as possible, so as to fatally undermine the Imperial war effort. The Imperial player must desperately defend his hives, and attempt to recapture and rebuild those that fall into Ork hands.

Components

In addition to this rulebook, Battle For Armageddon includes the following components:

• 1 Game Board
• 145 Counters
• 24 Cards
• 1 Reference Sheet
• 2 Dice

Game Board

The game board shows a map of Armageddon Secundus. It is divided into a number of different sized areas to help regulate movement. A key describing the different types of terrain shown on the map is included on the reference sheet. The game board also includes tracks that are used to record information needed while you are playing.

Cards

There are four sets of cards included with the game: a set of Ork strategy cards, a set of Imperial strategy cards, a set of Ork special cards and a set of Imperial special cards. The strategy cards are used to determine which plan your army will follow during each turn, while the special cards allow you to make special attacks or actions not normally allowed by the game rules.

Reference Sheet

The reference sheet includes various charts, tables and special rules that you will need to refer to during play, so keep it handy!

Counters

Each counter is printed with a name and picture showing the unit it represents, and three numbers at the bottom. These show the counter's attack value, defence value and movement value, and the higher they are the better! All of the Imperial counters are printed on a blue background, while the Ork counters are printed on a green background. The Ork army is divided into three tribes that are shown by the central band of colour on the counter. All of the counters with a red band belong to the same tribe, for example.

The Game Rules

Setting Up

Before you start, it's a good idea to read through these rules at least once so you get some idea of how the game works. They aren't complicated, and reading them won't take very long. Once you've done this, clear a large space on a table and set up the board. Place the build points counter on the '20' space on the Imperial build points track, and the turn counter on the '1' space on the turn track. One player takes all of the Imperial counters and cards; the other player takes all the Ork counters and cards.

Hive and Factory Areas

The Hive and Factory areas printed on the game map represent the vast industrial complexes for which Armageddon is famous. The larger hives are picked out by having their name printed in their area (Acheron, Hades, Tartarus, Hellsreach and Infernus). Both types of area are called industrial areas on the Terrain Effects Chart, and have the same effect on movement and combat. However, only hive areas are used to determine who has won the game.

The Imperial army is set up first. The counters that make up the Imperial army at the start of the game are shown on the reference sheet, as are the instructions telling you where to place them on the map. Sort out the starting counters and set them up, but be careful not to break the stacking rules described on this page. The remaining Imperial counters are placed to one side for later use.

After the Imperial player has set up, the Ork player may set up his army. All three Ork tribes are set up in full at the start of the campaign - in other words the Ork player gets every single Ork counter! The land the Orks occupy is called Ork territory and runs along the northern edge of the map; areas in Ork territory have dashed boundary lines. The Ork player may set up his counters anywhere within Ork territory, subject to the stacking rules.

Finally both players sort out their special cards. Shuffle your own deck of cards, deal yourself two cards at random, and place the remainder near at hand. The two cards you dealt out make up your starting hand of special cards. When each card may be used, and what effect it has on play is written on the card itself. However, you may only use one special card per action segment, and you must discard the card after you have used it.

Once you've both set up, you're ready to start the first turn of the game. Good luck!

The Sequence of Play

Battle For Armageddon is played in a series of game turns, each of which is divided into six segments. All activities may only take place in the correct segment, and each segment must be finished before the next can be started. What you do in each segment is described below and explained in the rules that follow.

1. STRATEGY SEGMENT. Both players secretly choose two strategy cards as explained below, and then each player rolls a dice. The player who scores highest has won the initiative for the turn. Finally, both players draw a new special card.

2. FIRST ACTION SEGMENT. The player who won the initiative reveals his first strategy card and carries out the two phases shown on the card. He must then check to see if any of his counters are out of supply.

3. SECOND ACTION SEGMENT. The player who lost the initiative roll reveals his first strategy card, carries out the two phases, and checks to see if any of his counters are out of supply.

4. THIRD ACTION SEGMENT. The player who won the initiative reveals his second strategy card, carries out the two phases revealed, and checks to see if any of his counters are out of supply.

5. FOURTH ACTION SEGMENT. The player who lost the initiative roll reveals his second strategy card, carries out the two phases, and checks to see if any of his counters are out of supply.

6. VICTORY SEGMENT. Check the victory conditions printed on the reference sheet to see if either player has won.

Stacking

When you have more than one counter in an area, they must all be placed on top of one another in a single neat pile called a stack. With the exception of the counters listed below, you may never have more than three counters in a stack. The Ork player suffers from the additional restriction that he may not stack counters from different tribes together. The central band of colour shows the tribe that an Ork counter belongs to on the counter. If you break the stacking rules and your opponent spots the mistake, then he may choose which counters you have to destroy to make the stack 'legal'.

Some special counters do not count against the stacking limit, and may be included in a stack in addition to the three counters you are normally allowed. These counters are Warlord Ghazghkull, Commissar Yarrick, Space Marine Commander Dante, Fortifications, Factories and Hives.

First Turn Surprise

The Orks' attack caught the Imperial forces almost completely by surprise. To represent this, the following rules apply on the first turn of the game:

1. The Ork player always receives the initiative on the first turn.

2. The Ork player receives a +1 bonus to any attacks he makes on the first turn. This bonus only applies if the Orks are attacking, not if they are defending.

3. The Imperial build point total is halved in any Imperial build phases taken on the first turn of the game.

The Strategy Segment

Each player has a hand of 6 strategy cards. In the strategy segment you must select any two cards, placing them in a face down stack in front of you. The order that you stack the cards in is very important, as it determines the order in which the cards will be revealed. The top card in the stack is always revealed and carried out first, as explained below.

Once both players have chosen their strategy cards, each player rolls a D6. Whoever scores highest wins the initiative and takes the first action segment.

Finally, each player may draw a new special card. Take the top special card from the deck and add it to your hand of special cards. You can have any number of special cards in your hand. If the deck is exhausted, shuffle any discards and draw your card from the new deck.

Action Segments

Each strategy card has two action phases listed on it. These two phases must be carried out in the order shown on the card; you are not allowed to move on to the second action phase on the card until you have finished the first action phase. How you do this is described on the next page in the rulebook.

The players take it in turn to reveal their strategy cards in the action segments. The player with the initiative goes first, flipping over the top card in his stack of strategy cards, carrying out the two phases listed on the card in the order shown, and finally checking to see if any of his counters are out of supply. His opponent takes the second action segment, flipping over his top card, carrying out the action phases in the order listed and then checking supply, and so on.

The Victory Segment

At the end of each and every turn you must check to see if either player has won. If neither player has won by the end of the 8th turn, the game is a draw. The two sides have their own set of victory conditions:

The Ork player wins by capturing any three of the five Imperial hives. A hive is considered to be captured by the Orks if it has been flipped to its 'smoking ruins' side and it is stacked with an Ork counter in the victory segment.

The Imperial player wins if he is in control of all five of his hives and the Warlord Ghazghkull counter has been removed from play. The Imperial player is considered to control a hive if it is face up, or if an Imperial counter is stacked with its smoking ruins in the victory segment.

Action Phases

Three different types of action phase can be carried out in an action segment: movement phases, combat phases and build phases. You may move your counters when you have a movement phase, attack with your counters when you have a combat phase, and build new counters when you have a build phase. Exactly how you do this is explained in the rules that follow.

Movement Phases

In a movement phase you are allowed to move any or all of your counters. The number of areas a counter may move is shown by its move value (the third number on the counter). You may move as many of your counters as you wish: all, some or none.

A counter may be moved a number of areas equal to or less than its move value. It may be moved in any direction or combination of directions, as long as it does not enter a Sea or Mountain Area, or enter an area occupied by an enemy counter of any type (including special units).

Counters are moved one at a time, and you must finish a counter's move before you move another one. Once you have started to move another counter, you may not change a previous move, no matter how much you want to!

The stacking limits described earlier only count at the end of the movement phase, so while you are moving you may over-stack. For example, you can move a counter through an area which already has three counters in it, or you can move a counter into an area with three counters, and then move one of those counters out. However, your opponent is allowed to choose which counters are eliminated if you end up with more than three counters in a stack at the end of the movement phase.

Which Counters Have You Used? With so many counters in the game, it is very easy to forget which counters have moved or fought during a phase. To help you remember, flip the counters over or turn them through 180 degrees as you use them. Then turn all of the counters back round at the end of the phase.

Example of Movement: It's the start of the Ork movement phase in the second turn of the game. The Orks have blown a hole in the Imperial lines and are now ready to exploit the gap they have made. The Gargant Big Mob moves first. It only has a movement value of 1 (Gargants aren't noted for their speed), so it moves one area across the Diablo river to occupy the smoking ruins on the other side. The Nobz move second. They have a movement value of 2, so they can move 2 areas. The Ork player moves them into the area with the Gargants and then onto the ash wastes just beyond. From here the Nobz threaten to outflank and surround the 6th Guard army. Finally, the Ork player moves his Bad Moon battlewagons. These move 2 areas to join the Nobz. Although they have a movement value of 3, they have to stop here, because a unit must stop moving when it enters an ash waste area.

Combat Phases

In a combat phase each of your stacks is allowed to make one attack against an enemy stack in an adjacent area. Note that attacks are made by and against stacks, not individual counters. If one of the counters in a stack makes an attack, then all of the others must take part in that attack as well. Similarly, you are not allowed to pick out one enemy unit in a stack and only attack that one, you must attack the whole stack.

It's up to you in what order you make your attacks, but you must finish one attack before you are allowed to move on to the next one. In addition, you are not allowed to attack the same enemy held area more than once per combat phase. If you don't get it the first time you have to wait till your next combat phase!

You are allowed to make combined attacks where two or more of your stacks attack the same enemy stack, just so long as all of the attacking stacks are adjacent to the stack being attacked. The only exception is that Ork stacks belonging to different tribes may not attack together.

Attacks are resolved by using the Combat Results Table printed on the reference sheet. To resolve each attack you must follow this simple 5 step procedure:

1. The attacker adds up his counters' attack value.

2. The defender adds up his counters' defence value.

3. The two are converted to a ratio by dividing the attacker's total by the defender's total, rounding any fractions down. Some examples of how to work out odds ratios are shown below. The ratio determines which column is looked up on the Combat Results Table.

4. The attacker rolls a D6 and the score is cross-referenced with the odds ratio to determine the outcome of the battle. Sometimes modifiers are applied to the dice roll (-1 for attacking across a river for example). However, the dice roll can never be modified above 6 or below 1.

5. Look up the result under the Combat Results Table and follow the instructions there. Note: On results that call for 'one counter' to be eliminated, the player who controls the counters is allowed to decide which is removed.

Working Out Odds Ratios. Working out the odds ratios may seem difficult at first, but you'll very quickly get the hang of it. Here are a few examples to get you started: Assume the attacker has 12 points and the defender has 4 points. 12 divided by 4 is 3, so the odds ratio is 3 to 1. If the tables were turned and it was the attacker who had 4 points to the defender's 12, then the odds would be 1 to 3 instead of 3 to 1. If the attacker only had 11 points to the defender's 4, then the ratio would be 2 and a bit to 1, which is rounded down to 2 to 1.

Example of Combat: At the start of an Ork combat phase the Ork player has decided to attack the 3rd Guard Army and the 2nd Brigade of Rough Riders with the Goff units shown, led by Ghazghkull himself. He can't use the Bad Moon hordes as well, because counters from different Ork clans are not allowed to combine to make an attack. The two defending Imperial counters have a combined defence value of 2+4=6, while the Orks have a combined attack value of 6+5+6+6+6=29. 29 divided by 6 equals 4 and a bit to 1, which rounds down to 4-1 on the Combat Results Table. If the Ork player had been able to scrape together just 1 more attack point to bring his total up to 30 points he would have had a combat ratio of 5-1. The Ork player rolls the dice and scores a 2. No modifiers apply to the dice roll (the -1 modifier for a river only applies if all the attackers are coming across a river). A roll of 2 at 4-1 odds is an EX or Exchange result, which means that both the attacker and the defender must lose a counter from each stack, and then the defender has to retreat. This is just about the worst result the Orks could have got, so the Ork player decides to use Ghazghkull's special ability to reroll the dice. This time he rolls a magnificent 6 and gets a DE or Defender Eliminated result. This wipes out both the Imperial counters, and the Ork player can now advance into the area with any units that have a movement value of 2 or more.

Retreats

Several results on the Combat Results Table call for one player's counters to retreat. Retreating counters are immediately moved one area by the player that controls them. They may move into any area that they could enter using the normal rules for movement. Counters may not retreat into an area if this would cause over-stacking.

If the counters cannot retreat for any reason, then they are eliminated instead. Note that this means that pieces with a movement value of 0 are destroyed if forced to retreat, as they are not allowed to move.

Sometimes a counter that has already retreated will find itself in an area that is attacked later in the same combat phase. If this happens, then any counters that have already retreated are treated as having a defence strength of 0, may not be used to satisfy combat losses, and will be destroyed if forced to retreat a second time.

Build Phases

In a build phase you are allowed to add new counters to your army. If you don't have a build phase, it is assumed that your workers are being used to make extra supplies to cover the extra combat phase(s) you will be taking, instead of making tanks and guns to equip new units.

Imperial Build Phases

The Imperial player uses build points to buy new counters, or to rebuild counters that have been destroyed. The number of build points is recorded on the build point track on the gameboard, and depends on how many hives and factories are still intact. Each hive or factory produces a number of build points equal to its defence value (the second number on the counter). Whenever a hive or factory is reduced to smoking ruins, move the marker on the track down a number of spaces equal to its defence value. When a hive or factory is rebuilt, move the marker back up.

The number of build points it costs to build each counter is shown on the reference sheet. If a counter is not included on the reference sheet, like the Space Marine Chapters, then it cannot be rebuilt. You can choose which counters to build from those lost so far, or from any that were set aside at the start of the game. Although counters of the same type have different combat and movement values, they all cost the same number of points to build. For example, if you built an Imperial Guard counter, you could choose to take the 1st Army (a 4-5-1) or the 20th (a 2-3-1) - I know which one I'd choose! Any build points that you don't use are lost, so you should try to use them all up if possible.

Once you've selected all the counters you want to build, place them on the production track on the game board in the space marked with their name. Next you must move all the counters on the production track one space to the right, towards the 'ready' box. Any counters that are moved into the 'ready' box can be transferred to the game map. Note that you move all of the counters on the track, including those that you have just built; this means that Hive Gangs are placed on the map on the same turn that they are built. New counters must be placed with a hive or factory, subject to the rules for stacking. If you can't fit all of the counters onto the map, then any excess must stay on the production track.

Ork Build Phases

The Ork player may rebuild one counter for each two smoking ruins he controls. A smoking ruin is controlled by the Orks if it is stacked with an Ork counter. For example, if you control five smoking ruins, then you could only rebuild two counters; the fifth smoking ruin is not part of a pair and does not entitle you to another counter.

You may choose which counters to return to play freely from those lost so far, apart from the Warlord Ghazghkull counter, which may not be rebuilt. The counters may be placed on a garrisoned smoking ruin or an Ork supply area, subject to the rules for stacking.

Supply

In order to keep your armies fighting you must supply them with food, ammunition and fuel. After you have completed both of the phases listed on your strategy card, you must make sure that your counters can trace a supply line back to one of its own side's supply areas.

Supply lines are traced along a path of areas from the counters back to the supply area. The path may be of any length but may not enter a) an area occupied by enemy counters, b) a mountain area, or c) a sea area. Supply lines can be traced through ash wastes.

Counters that are out of supply are destroyed, unless they are in a stack that includes a hive or fortification. If a stack does include a hive or fortification, then it is only destroyed on a D6 roll of 1-3. If a stack includes both a hive and a fortification, then roll the dice twice, and the stack is only eliminated if you fail both rolls. Note that you roll for the entire stack, not for each counter in the stack.

Example of Supply: The two Hive Gang units are out of supply, as they cannot trace a route to a supply area that does not pass through areas occupied by enemy units. Because of this they will be eliminated at the end of the Imperial player's turn unless he can open up a supply line to them. Note that the units in Helsreach are in supply, because Helsreach is a supply area itself (it was a major port and supplies could be brought in by ships and submarines).