Warhammer 40K: Unique Missions For Specific Terrain – Good or Bad?
Should more terrain in Warhammer 40,000 have unique missions tied to them or do you prefer your terrain to remain as just terrain?
Yesterday, Games Workshop showed off how the statue in the new Kill Team box would have some extra game play elements. Personally, I thought this addition was a great idea for Kill Team. But that got me thinking: how would that work in 40k? Furthermore, is that even a good idea for the game in general?
On a really high level, I don’t think the current edition would really benefit from actual unique missions tied to specific terrain features. With the missions and terrain maps (thinking specifically of competitive Matched Play here) having yet another thing to mess with missions seems like a step too far. On the other hand, for more casual or narrative games, these features can really take your games to a more cinematic level.
That’s one of the reasons I think that these types of unique terrain-based missions or rules work for games like Kill Team. Could the same rules work for 40k? Probably! It would need some tweaks. The whole Praise/Blaspheme and Hallow/Defile mechanics allow for card discards and re-draws. If you’re doing random missions, well, fighting over a point for extra draws/redraws could be worked into the mechanics of the game. It would just take a bit of rules writing to get it to fit.
But that’s more of a bonus mechanic. I’m thinking bigger. What if the terrain features actually had unique missions tied to them directly?
Unique Missions Based On Terrain
I’m not just limiting this to terrain giving bonuses or some in game mechanic. I’m wondering if it’s possible to make the terrain features integral to the missions themselves. See that Forgeshrine on the tabletop? It’s not just for cover or elevation — that’s the mission objective. Take it, hold it, and keep the enemy off of it. Or maybe you need to destroy it. Or perhaps the enemy just needs to end the game in base-to-base contact with the terrain feature. Things would be a lot less ambiguous if your models had to physically be touching it to contest, right?
The above were just a few ideas I’m tossing out there. I’m sure the design team at GW could brainstorm-up a dozen more options. And there’s loads of terrain kits that GW has that could get a similar treatment. But, again, I don’t know if the current competitive environment could really support this big of a shift. At most, I could see these terrain features having additional rules — similar to the statue from Kill Team. But maybe that’s the starting point.
Objection: No Thanks!
If you’re playing in a non-competitive environment I think it would be easy and fun to come up with some homebrew rules for this exact thing. Heck, I know it’s doable because I’ve done it. It can be a simple “you gain an extra VP if you’re holding this terrain when we score” type of thing. But it’s something both players agree on before the game and we do it because it’s fun. But I fully acknowledge not everyone wants to play with “extras” in mind. In fact, this concept of “unique missions for specific terrain” also has a pretty big flaw: you have to have access to the unique terrain feature to begin with.
I can also tell you what I don’t want to see: Games Workshop putting missions for Match Play behind specific/unique terrain features. That would be bad for the players, bad for the Tournament Organizers, and just bad for the game in general. Please, let’s not go there.
It would also be bad if these terrain features gave bonuses to or benefited specific armies above others. This is where the play testing and revisions to rules would come in handy. It’s also why I think I’d be more okay with these rules as part of the non-competitive scene. At most, I think they should be optional. If you don’t want to use them, then you should not be required to.
Cool Missions, Cool Terrain, Fun Times
At the end of the day I’m really just looking for an excuse to have some fun. I like to see a cool looking board and miniatures duking it out on the tabletop. It’s even better if the players are actively using the terrain and “fighting” over it instead of just shoving it to the sides and ignoring it. That’s why I liked games like City Fight or Apocalypse (the old version — not the one with movement trays). I want my games to have cool story happening because those are the games I really remember the most. I think optional unique missions based on specific terrain can make that happen. Until GW starts doing it officially, I’m just going to keep making up my own missions for terrain. I encourage you to do the same — just check with your opponent first!
Do you want to see GW make unique missions for specific terrain pieces for 40k? Or would you prefer to not have them or relegate those rules to side games like Kill Team?
