Tomb World

If you wish, one player can be the game master. They will manage the NPOs – move them, roll dice for them, etc. – while one or more other players control a kill team. The game master will still control the NPOs as the rules in this mission pack specify, they just take the pressure and decision-making away from the player(s) so they can focus on their own operatives and having fun!

Here you will find six missions. There you will find mission generator with six killzone maps that can be used with any of the missions, increasing the variety each time you play it. You can randomly determine a map and mission by rolling, or by selecting the one that interested you most. When setting up the battle, don’t set up objective markers unless you are playing mission 3: Recover Transponder.

The player(s) use one kill team. If you are playing solo, simply select your kill team as normal. If you are playing cooperatively, either select a kill team as normal and split the operatives between you, or take half of any kill team each. If it’s an odd number, round up (or down for more of a challenge). If you’ve taken separate teams, remember that some rules specify certain operatives through keywords, so one kill team’s rules won’t necessarily interact with another’s.

Your kill team will fight against procedurally generated non-player operatives (known as NPOs). Unlike your highly trained operatives, NPOs are more basic Necron sentries, tasked with defending the tomb against any aggressors. As such, you don’t select a kill team for them. Instead, you use the appropriate datacards here and don’t select equipment for them.

Strategy Phase

When rolling off to decide who has initiative, roll one dice for the NPOs and one dice for the player(s). If the NPOs win the roll-off, they will always choose to have initiative. NPOs don’t gain any CP, but do use STRATEGIC GAMBITS as detailed below. NPOs will always pass after all their required STRATEGIC GAMBITS have been used.

Tomb World Event Cards

As an NPO STRATEGIC GAMBIT in each Strategy phase after the first, if the threat level is grade 3, randomly draw a Tomb World event card. If the NPOs don’t have initiative, or the threat level is 15, do this twice per turning point instead.

Tomb World event cards provide additional rules to add variety to the battle and increase the challenge – imagine them as NPO strategy ploys. Some apply rules that are resolved when the card is drawn, otherwise they apply rules that last until the end of the turning point (as specified on each card).

In the Ready step of each Strategy phase, shuffle all Tomb World event cards used in the previous turning point back into the deck.

NPO Reinforcements

As an NPO STRATEGIC GAMBIT in each Strategy phase after the first, after resolving Tomb World event cards, set up a number of NPO reinforcements equal to the grade of the current threat level. For each NPO reinforcement:

• First determine the type of NPO – roll 2D6 and consult the table here.
• Then randomly determine which hatchway it phases in from (there are six hatchways, so assign each a number and roll one D6 – it doesn’t matter if the hatchway is closed).
• Set that NPO up with a Conceal order so the access point of that hatchway is within its control range (if this isn’t possible, then set it up as close as possible).

NPOs can be set up within control range of player operatives, but if possible they won’t be so they can better perform the Shoot action. We recommend limiting the number of NPOs in the killzone at once to 10 – don’t set up any that would exceed this limit.

Dormant NPOs

Whenever the threat level is 0, the player(s) automatically have initiative and all NPOs are dormant. Dormant NPOs are expended and cannot be readied. When the threat level is no longer 0, all NPOs are readied and no longer dormant.

Behaviour

Each NPO’s datacard has a behaviour that determines what they do. Each behaviour will specify what order they have when activated. Whenever an NPO would perform an action (including when counteracting), perform the first action it can do from its behaviour. If it cannot do any, it’s expended (or pass, in the case of counteracting).

Difficulty

If you want to increase or decrease the difficulty of the missions, here are a few methods:

• Change the number of NPOs being set up. Start with one more (or less), and whenever you set up NPO Reinforcements each Strategy phase, set up one more (or less).
• Change the type of NPOs being set up. Whenever you determine which NPO should be set up, roll an additional D6 and select the two results that are worse (or better!).
• Increase or decrease the number of Tomb World event cards each turning point, or remove some from the deck to increase the likelihood of ones that threaten your kill team more. These cards add an element of unpredictability to the game, therefore the player(s) may need to be more defensive to account for them, or can be more free if the threat of event cards is reduced.

When making decisions for NPOs, use the threat principle: go with the option that’s worst for you. This can determine which ready NPO activates, how an NPO moves, shoots and fights, how to resolve their dice, etc. There are a few examples below (containing decisions in order of priority) that you can use as a guide, but if one option feels worse for you – in particular to stop you winning the mission – go with that. If you still cannot decide, randomly choose one.

Multiple NPOs are ready, so the player(s) activate the NPO that:
1. Can perform the Shoot or Fight action (as determined by its behaviour), and is the most threatening to do so (e.g. is more likely to incapacitate an enemy operative, is more likely to prevent the player(s) winning, etc.).
2. Is not in cover from a player operative.
3. Is closer to a player operative.

NPOs must be set up as specified by the mission, but if there are multiple valid options, the player(s) set up each NPO so that it’s:
1. More likely to prevent the player(s) winning.
2. Better able to perform the Charge, Shoot, or Fight action (as determined by the higher priority of the NPOs behaviour).
3. Not a valid target.

An NPO performs the Fight action and multiple player operatives are within its control range. It fights the player operative that:
1. Is more likely to incapacitate.
2. Is more likely to help the player(s) win.
3. Is ready.

An NPO performs the Shoot action and multiple player operatives are valid targets. It shoots the player operative that:
1. Is more likely to incapacitate.
2. Is not obscured.
3. Is not in cover.
4. Is closest.
5. Is ready.

Whenever the mission tells you to set up an NPO, randomise which one by rolling 2D6 and consulting the NPO table below. If you don’t have a miniature for an NPO you need to set up, use the next row instead.

When all player operatives have been removed from the killzone, the battle ends. If half or more player operatives have escaped, the player(s) win. Otherwise, the player(s) lose.

If the sarcophagus (C1) has 20 or more Destruction points, the battle ends and the player(s) win.

If every player operative is incapacitated, the battle ends and the player(s) lose.

If three rooms are scouted, the battle ends and the player(s) win. Note that rooms within Player A’s drop zone cannot be scouted.

If every player operative is incapacitated, the battle ends and the player(s) lose.

At the end of each turning point, the battle ends and the player(s) win if all of the following are true of each player operative in the killzone:

• It’s wholly within Player B’s drop zone.
• It’s not within control range of NPOs.
• It’s within 3" of at least one other player operative.

If every player operative is incapacitated, the battle ends and the player(s) lose.

Tomb worlds on which the flayer curse has a grip can rapidly descend into dens of madness and butchery As the curse claims their sanity, an afflicted Necron will exhibit an insatiable desire to acquire gruesome trophies of flesh and bone. The living metal of its body becomes corrupted distorting it into a hunched and clawed abomination It even finds itself compelled to feast upon its victims the cursed being heedless of the fact that it is incapable of eating anything - meaning its exoskeleton clogs with gore, blood pooling at its feet.

While Flayed Ones typically disappear into charnel pocket dimensions and sane Necrons - fearing supernatural infection - often drive them away, there are tombs which are saturated with the curse. These haunted catacombs become littered with piles of rotten meat and disintegrating bones accumulated from the Flayed Ones’ victims You can evoke some of this grim atmosphere in your own Tomb World killzone, perhaps adding representations of flayed flesh and spatters of gore to the glyph-inscribed walls, or some skulls - maybe with gnaw marks! - to forgotten corners, all of which can show the Necrons’ descent into the horrifying insanity of the flayer curse.

The following datacard for Flayed Ones can be used in place of any Necron Warrior NPOs the mission pack calls for (including from event cards), and the Flesh Hunger event card (see card section) can be added to your deck of Tomb World event cards while playing.

The murder-madness of the Destroyer Cults fills them with a nihilistic compulsion to exterminate all life. They eschew any ambitions - both for themselves and their dynasties - beyond this, seeking only opportunities to kill and to become ever more efficient at doing so. Where this obsessive mania comes from, the Necrons do not know, though many nobles believe it may be infectious, and fear who the Destroyers will turn their murderous drive upon when all organic victims are slain. For these reasons, a tomb’s Destroyers are kept apart from other Necrons, banished to dwell in outskirt districts or isolated fortresses. There are tombs, however, where Destroyer Cults have risen to prominence, and their death- fixated nobility enforce their rule over a dynasty’s protocols.

Destroyers have no intellect or emotion to spare upon what they consider irrelevancies. Regal magnificence, gilded holo-tapestries and sculpted icons proclaiming dynastic power are deemed worthless in comparison to adapting the Destroyers’ bodies for efficient execution. You can show this in your Tomb World killzone by adding battle damage and broken trophies that have gone unrepaired, or adding gouges across some of the more decadent glyphs to represent manic outbursts of frenzied violence by the afflicted Necrons.

The following datacards for Skorpekh Destroyers and Hexmark Destroyers can be used in place of any Canoptek Tomb Crawler NPOs the mission pack calls for, and the Rewards of Annihilation event card (see card section) can be added to your deck of Tomb World event cards while playing.

At the heart of each dynasty’s claimed territory ties their crownworld, a regal display of unimaginable power and influence - at least, such was the case millions of years in the past. Now, many are faded and crumbling grottos, though still redolent of eldritch might and harbouring artefacts far in advance of other species. Each crown world’s tomb is the seat of its phaeron’s power and majesty - a cosmic fortress that holds the highest echelons of the dynasty and their most trusted guards and advisors.

The crypts of crownworlds can be represented in your Tomb World killzone by emphasising the regality of details in its terrain, such as painting conduits in vivid colours to depict especially potent alien energies, or touches of unusual metallic hues. You could also remove rubble or add scuttling Scarabs onto damaged sections to represent how dedicated the tomb’s master programme and Canoptek constructs are to restoring the realm to the nobles’ ideals of domineering supremacy.

The first time you would set up a Canoptek Tomb Crawler NPO, instead set up a Royal Warden NPO and then a Lychguard NPO with either a hyperphase sword or warscythe within the Royal Warden NPOs control range. The datacards for each can be found below. Whenever the Awakened Warrior event card is drawn from the event card deck, you can set up a Lychguard NPO with either melee weapon instead of a Necron Warrior NPO. The Enforcer of the Phaerons event card (see card section) can be added to your deck of Tomb World event cards while playing.

Maps

In Tomb World Maps, you’ll find three maps to use with this mission pack (ignore maps 4–6). You can roll one D3 to randomly determine a map, or select the one that interests you most. Alternatively, you can use PvP maps designed for Killzone: Tomb World or Killzone: Gallowdark, such as those found in Approved Ops (available separately).

NPOs

Excluding rooms within drop zones, the first time each room is opened, or the first time a player operative is within it (whichever comes first), determine the NPOs within that room as follows:
1. Roll one D3 to determine how many.
2. Roll 2D6 for each NPO to determine what type it is using the table in NPO Datacards section.
3. Starting with the player that opened the room, each player alternates setting up an NPO within that room until they’ve all been set up.
4. Each NPO should be set up ready with a Conceal order, more than 2" from other operatives (if possible).

Strategy Phase

NPOs don’t gain any CP. In each Strategy phase after the first, NPOs have the two STRATEGIC GAMBITS detailed below. NPOs are first in the alternating order, and NPOs will always pass after both of their required STRATEGIC GAMBITS have been used.

Tomb World Event Cards

For the first NPO STRATEGIC GAMBIT, shuffle all used Tomb World event cards back into the deck, then randomly draw a new one.

NPO Reinforcements

For the second NPO STRATEGIC GAMBIT, the player who didn’t win the initiative roll-off sets up one NPO reinforcement. That player rolls 2D6 to determine the type of NPO using the table. They then set that NPO up ready with a Conceal order so that a randomly determined hatchway’s access point is within its control range (there are six hatchways, so assign each a number and roll one D6 – it doesn’t matter if the hatchway is closed).

NPO Activation

Once NPOs have been discovered and set up, they will activate. After the final player activates, but before the first player activates again, one ready NPO will activate. In other words, they activate last in the alternating sequence. If there are multiple ready NPOs, the players roll-off and the winner decides which will activate. When it activates, use its behaviour and the threat principle (explained opposite). NPOs cannot counteract. The turning point ends once all the players’ operatives and the NPOs are expended.

Behaviour

Each NPO’s datacard has a behaviour that determines what they do. Each behaviour will specify what order they have when activated. Whenever an NPO would perform an action, perform the first action it can do from its behaviour. If it cannot do any, it’s expended.

Threat Principle

The threat principle is used when making decisions for activated NPOs (who to charge, fight, shoot etc.). However, it differs in this mission pack from the Joint Ops mission pack, as there will rarely be an option that’s equally worse for both players. Instead, whenever an NPO activates, the closest player operative it could fight/shoot/move towards (as determined by the NPO’s behaviour) is the NPO’s target. If multiple players’ operatives are equally as close, roll-off and the winner decides. The opponent of the player who controls the NPO’s target will control the NPO for that activation, and they must make every effort to fight/shoot/move the NPO so that it threatens its target (as determined by its behaviour).

The threat principle is also used when making decisions for Tomb World event cards (setting up new NPOs, etc.). Whenever you must make such a decision, roll-off and the winner decides. If multiple decisions would be required (e.g. multiple breach points/hatchways would be closed, as per the Maze Reforms event card), alternate making the decision, starting with the player that won the roll-off.