Varanite Delve Special Rules
Those who seek to claim the varanite delves must be both cunning and possess exceptional skill at arms. The greatest warriors know how to turn these environments into a weapon - and, equally, how to avoid falling prey to the myriad hazards found within their bounds.
The Varanite Delves terrain came with the Red Harvest box, but could also be bought separately.
Varanite Delve Battlefields
If a terrain card with the Varanite Delve runemark is in play, a Varanite Delve battlefield mat must be used. The Varanite Delve battlefield mat has two sides. One side features molten pits (shown below), whereas the other does not.
The side of the battlefield mat being used must match the side shown on the terrain card that is in play. If the side featuring molten pits is being used, the Molten Pits rule must also be used.
Molten Pits
Industry has sundered this land with cracks and fissures that reveal chasms of molten varanite below.
One of the sides of the Varanite Delve battlefield mat has areas that are molten pits. These are outlined by a dotted yellow line in the image below left.
When a fighter moves across the battlefield floor, the centre of their base cannot pass across a molten pit. Likewise, a fighter on the battlefield floor cannot jump over a molten pit, but fighters that are 2" or more vertically above the battlefield floor can do so. Fighters with the Fly runemark () can fly across molten pits without restriction.
At the end of an action, if any part of a figher's base is on a molten pit, they are immediately taken down.
The edge of a molten pit is treated the same as the edge of an open platform. This means that if an attack action targets a fighter that is within ½" of the edge of a molten pit and scores any critical hits, the target fighter must take a falling test after the attack action has been resolved. If the target fighter falls as a result, they are immediately taken down. Fighters with the Monster runemark () or the Fly runemark () do not have to take falling tests due to being within ½" of the edge of a molten pit.
Varanite Delve Terrain
The hellish delve-engines employed in the hunt for varanite are deadly in their own right. To fight amongst such bloodforged machinery, a warrior must remain vigilant or risk being crushed, incinerated or mutated beyond all recognition as they fall victim to corrupting effects of the extracted realmstone.
If a terrain card with the Varanite Delve runemark is in play, the following terrain rules are used in addition to the standard terrain rules.
Delve Engines
The Pit Dredger and the Varanite Syphon are special terrain features refrred to as delve engines. During a battle, delve engines can be turned on and off. Delve engines start the battle turned off, unless otherwise notes in the rules for the battle.
Parts
Each delve engine terrain feature is made up of the following parts:
The wooden support struts are obstacles. Fighters can climb the struts to reach the upper platforms and fighters can receive the benefit of cover from them.
The wooden platforms are, unsurprisingly, platforms.
Each delve engine has an operative mechanism. For the Pit Dredger, it is the pushwheel, and for the Varanite Syphon, this is the valve. The operating mechanisms are unscalable, meaning that fighters cannot climb them. Fighters within 1" of the operating mechanism can operate the delve engine (see Operating Delve Engines).
Lastly, all other parts of a delve engine are referred to as machinery.
Moving Parts
While a delve engine is turned on, there is a chance that fighters may be knocked or pushed into its moving parts and meet a grisly end.
To represent this, if an attack action targets a fighter that is within ½" of the machinery of a delve engine that is turned on and scored any critical hits, after that attack action has been resolved, the player controlling that fighter must roll a dice. On a 1, allocate 2D6 damage points to that fighter.
Operating Delve Engines
If a fighter is within 1" of the operating mechanism of a delve engine, they can turn it on or turn it off by using one of the abilities below.
| DELVE ENGINE UNIVERAL ABILITIES |
|---|
| [Double] Turn Delve Engine On: A fighter can use this ability only if they are within 1" of the operating mechanism of a delve engine that is turned off. That delve engine is now turned on. Roll a dice. You can pick a number of sluices equal to the roll to become hazardous. Each sluice picked must either be connected to the delve engine or connected to another sluice that has already been picked. Allocate 2D6 damage points to eah fighter on any hazardous sluices. In addition, allocate D6 damage points to each fighter that is not on but within 3" of any hazardous sluices, excluding the fighter using this ability. |
| [Triple] Turn Delve Engines Off: A fighter can use this ability only if they are within 1" of the operating mechanism of a delve engine that is turned on. That delve engine is now turned off. You can pick up to six hazardous sluices to no longer be hazardous. Each sluice picked must either be connected to the delve engine or connected to another sluice that has been picked. |
Sluices
Sluices are a type of special terrain feature that can be connect to delve engines. The channels are considered to be flat platforms rather than troughs. This means that when a fighter moves across a channel, you only need to measure the horizontal distance from edge to edge; you do not need to measure down the side, across the base and up the other side of the channel.
The outer edges of the channels and the wooden support struts are obstacles. A fighter touching the outer edge of a channel can begin to climb even if they are not next to a support strut (the fighter is considered to be hoisting themselves up onto or lowering themselves down from the sluice).
In addition to the standard cover rules, the target fighter of an attack action gains the benefit of cover if a straight line drawn between the closest points on each fighter's base passes through or beneath a sluice. This means that fighters do not need to stand behind the support struts to gain the benefit of cover.
Hazardous Sluices
If a fighter begins their activation on a hazardous sluice, immediately allocated D6 damage points to that fighter.
In addition, if a fighter does not begin their activation on a hazardous sluice but moves onto one during their activation, immediately allocate D6 damage points to that fighter.
Lastly, if a fighter ends their activation on a hazardous sluice, allocate D6 damage points to that fighter.