Scenario Table!

So I've been keeping this news pretty close to the chest for a while to make sure that it was actually going to turn into a reality first: my girlfriend and I will be making a scenario table for Templecon!  If you don't know what I'm talking about, let me explain.  At Templecon, in addition to all of the tournaments that are going on, there will be a collection of various independently-crafted tables.  Each table will have a unique scenario for it, and you can earn bonus Iron Arena points if you play on different scenario tables.  An example of one of these scenario tables is called Low Tide and it was made by a local PG Lonelymonk.  Here are some pictures of me playing on it:

It looked really great!

And it came with destructable terrain!

And it had an awesome crane!

So this year, my girlfriend and I are making our own table, and we decided that it should be Halloween themed!  Templecon is the first weekend of February, so it will be dark, dreary, and likely snowy, so a Halloween table should catch some attention.  I have taken the opportunity to try and create a very rough picture of what the table will look like using Vassal here:

So the idea is that the table is an old graveyard.  The little token markers everywhere indicate graves, and the buildings will be locations for crypts.  The scenario is that while caster-kill is still allowed, another way to win is by either exhuming or protecting these graves.  Grave markers will be the size of a small base (30 mm) built into the table itself.  These markers will count have the same rules as flags and are incorporeal models that cannot be moved or placed and don't take any damage from attacks.  Crypts will be buildings built into the table that will count as 3 grave markers for victory purposes, and are structures that cannot take any damage from attacks.

We will be using Games Workshop's AWESOME
Garden of Mor terrain set!

The idea here is that each faction will have some justification for disturbing the dead - either by looking for artifacts, gathering corpses, reclaiming equipment, etc.  Player 1 has the goal of protecting the graves - by placing traps or magical runes - while Player 2 has the goal of exhuming the corpses.  Naturally, you cannot exhume a protected grave, and you cannot protect an exhumed grave.  From the end of Player 2's second turn, if either player has protected or exhumed 12+ graves and at least 3 more than his/her opponent, then they will achieve a scenario victory! 

The table will use the SR 2011 rules for radial deployment, where Player 1 has an 18" radius to deploy from and Player 2 has 20" for deployment, with +6" for advance deployers (the sides are irrelevant, as you can see) and the game is recommended for 35 or 50 points.  Beyond that, I think that the armies will be too big and will clear out each grave marker too quickly.

How do you protect or exhume said graves?  Each warcaster, solo, and models with at least one open fist gains:

Protect/Exhume (*Action) - this model may immediately protect or exhume a grave marker or crypt that it is in B2B with.  A model cannot protect or exhume a grave marker or crypt more than once.

Similarly, units gain:

Secure that!/Dig it up! (Order) - If this unit is in formation, models in this unit may protect or exhume a grave marker or crypt that it is in B2B following a normal advance.  A model cannot protect or exhume a grave marker or crypt more than once.  Models that receive this order but cannot protect or exhume a grave marker must run during their activation.

The balance here is that while some infantry-heavy lists might be great at digging up lots of graves, they have to sacrifice their hitting power to do so.  A player will ultimately have to decide whether it is worth giving the order to the unit if they would rather go for the kill.  I think this will provide for some interesting choices for players as they will have to decide whether they want to go for the scenario or go for the kill, as it will be difficult to do both.

I also realized that a neat side effect to this is that certain warcasters will have some big advantages in this scenario because they can prevent infantry from taking ground (Old Witch, Harbinger), while others will completely neuter an opponent from being able to claim any graves for a turn (Zerkova).  In each case, I think it's kinda neat how the fluff actually justifies why these particular casters would be so effective at doing so.  I especially love the image of Zerkova leading her forces to securing some old Orgoth artifacts while holding the enemy at bay!

Whaaaat?!  Who would play with Zerkova!?

I have attached the Vassal file here for you to play around on to playtest if you'd like (make sure to download a copy since GoogleDocs can't really preview it).  I'm really eager to hear some feedback, as I know that the table will look pretty awesome anyway, but I want to make sure that this is a fun and balanced scenario too!  Please post any feedback into the Disqus comments below.