Cataclysm in the Abyss

League Briefing

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Story

Continuing the aftermath of the 2023 Spec Ops league: Malik’s Damnation first appeared on the fringes of the Stygian System (Calixis Sector). Kill teams boarded, intelligence was recovered, and most never returned. The hulk vanished into the warp without warning—only to reappear three Terran years later with a sector-wide psychic pulse felt by every faction with the means (or curse) to sense it.

Now, larger forces are dispatched to gather enough intel to steer, commandeer, or destroy the hulk before it reaches Stygian Prime—while Xenos and Chaos-aligned fleets converge near the Hazeroth Abyss. Alliances will be unstable. Priorities will shift. You may not know whether your “comrades” are saving you… or using you.

Format

Campaign play using Crusade rules, unfolding across timed phases. Phase I begins as Boarding Actions to explore Malik’s Damnation and recover key assets. Later phases escalate to Incursion and Strike Force games as the system-wide situation deteriorates.

• Teams are organized per phase and may change as the narrative demands.
• Two games of record per cycle (per mission size). You may play additional games, but they do not grant XP or scenario resources.

Crusade Rules

• Use your books and options freely; Legends are allowed. If something becomes abusive, we’ll address it.
• When failing an Out of Action test: you may not choose “Devastating Blow” instead of taking a Battle Scar.
• A unit with a Battle Scar cannot be dropped from your Order of Battle to avoid consequences.
• Roll for upgrades. If an upgrade is genuinely unusable, check with the organizers before rerolling/adjusting.
• Later in the crusade, some missions may cap total Crusade points available. If you’re over, you may be required to play down points or substitute a “shadow unit” that cannot use Crusade upgrades or gain XP.
• Supply limit starts at 1000 points and automatically increases to 2000 points at Phase 3 kickoff (May 16).

Phases & Hobby

This crusade uses the club hobby standard: Bolters Ready. It’s the baseline “table-ready” expectation for models in our events, and it’s defined in our general player packet, The One Packet (reference: boltersatdawn.com/events/the-one-packet/).

Each phase below includes: points level, mission format, and the required percentage of your list that must be Bolters Ready. If you don’t meet the requirement, you can still play — but you may have to play down points.

Objectives

Mission Selection: For Phase 3, players discuss which mission to play from the Phase 3 mission list that has not yet been played. If there is disagreement, the players roll off to decide the mission. Two games per game size will count toward the crusade - two for Boarding Actions and two for Strike Force.

Primary Scoring: Phase 3 is scored through hulk and planetary control. Each world and the hulk tracks each team's score as a percentage of its total games there: 1 point for playing a game and 1 additional point for a win, measured against the total score based on the number of games played in a particular place..

Secondary Scoring: The secondary score for Phase 3 is Priority Target - enemy VEHICLE units, MONSTER units , and CHARACTER units over 10 wounds are worth one Priority Target point.

FAQ

Is it too late to join the crusade?

• Absolutely not! You'll get the 2000 point Order of Battle and the Decapitation reward of x1 that requires a win to use in Phase 3. Just let us know what your team will be striving for in Phase 3 so you end up on the correct team.

How do I handle a unit that was a valid size for Boarding Actions but invalid for other mission sizes?

• You can use the Fresh Recruits requisition to add models for Incursion and Strike Force missions or wait to play the unit in Boarding Actions missions.

Does the Increase Supply Limit requisition allow me to use more points in game?

• No. It only expands the Supply Limit for your Order of Battle. The missions are fixed points requirements.

How many Agendas am I selecting?

• Three for Strike Force missions and one for Boarding Actions missions.

Any modifications to Boarding Actions detachments?

• All the detachments are in, including those in 500 Worlds that may not have landed in our copy of the rules.
• We are NOT using the enhancements from Boarding Actions.
• If you have a unit with a model count that has been changed so as to not meet the mustering requirements, use the model count as defined in the mustering section using the points per model from the latest MFM.

When are units with Deep Strike declared to be in Reserves for Boarding Actions?

• Units with Deep Strike must be declared to be in Reserves as part of the Declare Battle Formations step.

Can I take two functionally identical Agendas from different books?

• No.

Are units that are split from a unit during a game counted individually for kill experience when destroyed?

• Yes.

When I split a unit into Boarding Squads, how do I handle XP and Out of Action tests?

• Each split unit earns XP for Agendas and kills, but only 1 XP is awarded for playing the mission.
• When either of the split units is destroyed, an Out of Action test is required.
• When both are destroyed, two Out of Action tests are required.
• This is new for Phase 3.

How are we interpreting the Renowned Heroes requistion regarding detachment-locked enhancements?

• As written, units can access any enhancements within any detachment rule they have access to. With the exception of the excluded Boarding Actions enhancements, we interpret this as written.

What about Crucible of Champions?

• Any rules that have been officially released are in, with minor exceptions as with Boarding Actions outlined above.