Eternal Carnage version 08.24.01

Code Name: The 4k/5k Timed Carnage.

My friend Owen and I plan on pitting 2x 2000pts armies against each other in an Eternal Carnage game. We discussed some tweaks and I put them down into text and shared the rules with the Eternal Carnage group.

We should be throwing down on the 31st of August!

I will be using around.... 2/3 of this awesome army:

Introduction

Massive battlefields of the 41st Millenium roar with the din of battle. Masses of infantry and formations of tanks are the backdrop to every tactical game the core rules of Warhammer 40,000 are based on. Those missions represent a specific clash of a partial army matched against one another to fight over a specific set of objectives that is part of a larger conflict, an Eternal Carnage.

Eternal Carnage is a special scenario for Warhammer 40,000 that allows you to play a game with a lot of models. Generally the concept is to play with everything in your collection (that is painted!), allied with some friends against either another team or someone who has a large collection.

It is a fun exhibition game that allows you to start playing very fast compared to other large battle game-types. To achieve this, Eternal Carnage uses two rules to speed up the game and allow you to get a lot more done in a game: Vanguard Deployment and Escalation.

NEW - Vanguard Rule

A Vanguard Force is either a patrolling army, seeking out the enemy or it represents a part of a larger warfront, a dug in position that is being held. Larger Assets or long ranged weapons may be present on the battlefield but it will take some time for the artillery and massive systems to come online.

These Vanguard Forces begin the game outside of engagement range of an enemy but within sight. Once these Vanguard Forces have seen one another, they call for backup, which brings other resources to bear. Thus only certain units can commit certain actions in the 1st turn.

This gives the battle a logistical aspect as you will to start the game in a different manner than a regular Warhammer 40,000 game. You will need to plan troop movements to bring them to bear on the enemy and plan the way your reinforcements are made.

All models are considered “Vanguard units” and can behave normally in the 1st turn with the following exceptions:

-Ranged Weapons or other abilities that allows them to deal damage at a distance greater than 48” cannot be fired on turn 1.
-Aircraft may start on the board in Hover Mode. Otherwise they are in Reserve with a movement value of M20-60”
-Towering and Titanic units may be deployed but are powering up and may not move or shoot in the 1st turn. Because no weapon can fire that far, as long as these Titanic units are not deployed right on the edge of the Deployment area, they would not be under threat of 1st turn shooting. Nor are they in danger of 1st turn Charges.
-The number of units that may be deployed as part of the Vanguard is determined by the deployment time. Once the time is up, the remaining units are placed into Strategic Reserves.
-At least one unit from either side MUST start the game visible to the other army.

NEW - Strategic Reserves and Deep Strikes

Units with Deep Strike that are in Strategic Reserves may arrive on the battlefield using Deep Strike rules but may not arrive in the opponent’s Home Zone.
Units with Infiltrate and/or Scouts may walk in on any board edge except for the three edges of the Home Grounds of the enemy army. These units will need to roll a dice to see how successful their Infiltration or outflanking manoeuvre was with the same rules as Deep Striking units vs the Objectives controlled.

All other units that do not have Infiltrate and/or Scouts that are in Strategic Reserve can arrive from the board edges on the friendly half of the board. All three of these situations use the usual Deep Strike and Reserves rule and units must arrive outside of 9”.

Should there be an enemy model inside your Home Grounds, these units do not have to stay outside of 9” of an enemy model, you may move close to them and stay outside of 1” Engagement Range.

NEW - Deployment Rules and Objectives

The total board area of 12 foot x 4 foot, In inches this is a battlefield 48” wide and 144” Long from end to end.
Deployment Style: Hammer of War
Home Ground is the first 24” on the owning faction’s board side. In this area the owning player may move terrain around freely and even bring terrain specifically made for this area. This represents any structure that was built or reinforced on the battlefield far away from enemy lines. Enemy units may never Deep Strike or use the board edges of the Home Ground for Strategic Reinforcements.

Vanguard units set up at the start of the battle cannot be deployed within 24” of the centre of the battlefield. This means that from the centre of the board there is 48” space, 24” to either side that cannot have any models deployed in it. Pre-game Scout moves are still allowed into this space. Beyond the centre zone, Vanguard units may be deployed anywhere in that side of the battlefield.

There is a Battlefield set up in the centre of the field that conforms to a Leviathan Dawn of War Deployment. This will mean there is an Objective in the centre of the battlefield as well as two more in the centreline between the two boards.

The Home objective of the Dawn of War Battlefield will then be succeeded by additional Objective markers every 12”, x3 times. Thus there shall be a total of 11 Objectives. 3x in No-Man’s Land and 4x “Home Objectives” on either side of the board.

Initially, the 8 home objectives start in the centre on the board (24” away from the long board edges). When a unit from either faction takes control of the objective, this allows them to dampen the enemy reinforcements using Deep Strike or Strategic Reserves. Owning the first objective, closest to your Home Ground grants the following rule:

Enemy units wishing to Deep Strike or arrive via Strategic Reserves into the area behind an objective held by an enemy they need to roll a dice. Behind one objective under the control of the enemy, the unit Deep Striking need a 2+. For each consecutive Objective held by the enemy, increase the requirement by 1.

Eg: A Unit of Terminators arrive via Deep Strike. They roll a 3. This means that they can Deep Strike anywhere on the friendly side of the battlefield, behind the first objective held by the enemy and behind the second objective held by the enemy. Should an area become 7+ or greater, we assume that units can never Deep Strike beyond that point. (The opponent would need to control 6 consecutive objectives to make this happen!)

Additionally there is the following Action that can be performed at the start of the Movement Phase:
Units that are within control range of an objective may elect to move the objective. This unit will move with the objective as they carry it and it can only be moved towards either long board edge. Thus the objective will never move closer or further away from the Home Ground than it already is. The unit Rolls a D6 and moves the objective that many inches. This unit cannot perform Shooting, or Charge Actions.

Building an Eternal Carnage Army

Eternal Carnage allows you to play well above the limits of a regular 10th Edition Warhammer army. Eternal Carnage still uses all the conventional rules for building a force with some adjustments. These rules also allow you to field several collections together that are all on the same side of the battle, but controlled by different players.

The Following Terms are defined:
Faction - All players and forces allied together on one side of the battlefield is called a Faction. This could represent several armies working together even if they do not usually fight on the same size. (Like Blood Angels and Necrons fighting together against Tyranids. This HAS happened in the lore. We might want to encourage the use of lore-friendly armies, but you can use these rules to do what you want!)
Faction Supreme Warlord – The Elected penultimate leader of the Faction.

Battalion – Several Detachments all from the same Army. This means that all units from one Battallion are the same army faction. When building your army, you can build up to a 3000pts Onslaught army. This is a single Detachment with all the regular rules for building an army. Eg: The Detachment must have a Warlord and there is a 0-3 limit on most Datasheets and a 0-6 limit on Battleline and Dedicated Transports.
*Note: A second Battalion of the same army can be build should that Detachment belong to another player.
Battalion Grand Warlord – The Elected leader of all Detachments of this Army.

Epic Heroes: In the entire Faction, Epic Heroes that are named characters cannot be duplicated. One faction cannot field more than one Roboute Guilliman for instance. There are Epic Heroes that are exceptions to this. Nameless Epic Heroes that have no name are allowed 1x per Detachment or 1x per Battalion as their stature requires.
Example: Temple Assassins are nameless heroes under 100pts. They are Epic Heroes to prevent someone from playing 3 of the same assassin in 3000pts. But should there be a Battalion that consists of 3x 3000pts Detachments (thus 9000pts) then having three of the same assassin is allowed as long as each of those three assassins are allocated to different Detachments.
Example: Certain nameless Epic Heroes might not be permissable in such small armies. Such as the Avatar of Khaine. This is a shard of the Avatar found in each Aeldari Craftworld. For there to be a second shard on one tabletop, each would be from a different Battallion. (Or if your Battallion consists of enough Detachments, this could be allowed).