Monday, June 7, 2010

Heroic 40K - Sentries

I've decided that I'll blog away on rules as they coalesce in my head. 

Today's topic is sentries.  Every army has them and posts them to guard barracks, outposts, ammo and fuel depots, prisoners, etc.  You name it, some dude or grot is tasked with protecting something which superiors deem important.  Of course, the sentry doesn't and would rather be thinking about girls, beer, synth-smokes, or whatever else is more thought provoking than standing around guarding some dumb thing while his buddies are off having a great time.

These rules are a blend of old GW and my own.


Each sentry on sentry duty will, in his turn, potentially move.
  • Roll a D6.
  • 1-3 - The sentry player may move the model D6 inches in any direction and place it in any facing.
  • 4-5 - Random.  Roll the scatter dice.  If a hit shows, the model doesn't move, but merely turns to face in the direction of the little arrow on the hit.  Something has caught his attention like a rock, shiny bit, a critter moving around, etc.   If the arrows show, move the model D6 inches in that direction and facing that direction.
  • 6 - The infiltrator/enemy player may move the model D6 inches in any direction and place it in any facing.

Sentries may spot Infiltrator/enemy models up to double their Initiative. An infiltrator/enemy is spotted when it is in the 90 degree front facing of the Sentry model.  GM's may change this amount depending on weather, visibility (night, chem waste clouds, drunk, etc), abilities (model attributes, equipment, etc), etc. Infiltrators may be harder to spot due to skills and abilities (scouts/assassins), or special equipment (chameoline cloak) - again, its a GM decision.

If any infiltrator/enemy model is spotted, both players roll a dice and add their Initiative and the highest score wins. If the sentry's score is higher, the alarm has been sounded. 

If the infiltrator has the higher score, he may try to react to eliminate the enemy model before it gets a chance to sound the alarm.  Move the infiltrator in base to base contact and fight a round of hand to hand combat.  If the sentry is still alive after a round, the alarm is sounded. If the sentry has been eliminated, then the infiltration continues to go unnoticed.

Infiltrators can attempt to silence the sentries by taking them by suprise by moving into base to base contact with the sentry.  The infiltrator will strike first and will receive a +1 to hit and a +1 to wound and the sentry will receive a -1 to his armor roll. 

That's sentries and infiltrators for the moment.

3 comments:

The Creaters said...

great idea, love the thought of some skilled assasin sneeking up behind a sentry and dispaching him befor moveing back onto his main objective.

Fiend Without A Face said...

I always thought it was weird that Space Marine sentries were as easily distracted as a Grot. Though of course, that would make Marines more like something akin to a laser fence, rather than some guy you can sneak past when he is looking the other way.

Doing it off a Leadership test seems like a way to go, but that could lead to a lot of dice rolling just to move a guy a couple inches.

Will said...

I think giving models facing is going to cause more trouble than its worth. Just allow sentries to spot when enemies are within a certain distance. Say, I+D6. This will speed up the game and reduce LOS arguments, especially when you are using round bases and the head might be looking a different direction vs the torso. Besides, if you are a bored sentry would your head be on a swivel or glued in place?