We’ve seen a lot about the gorgeous miniatures inside the Kill Team: Ashes of Faith set coming to pre-orders this weekend, but we can’t forget the Ashes of Faith campaign system you use them with. It’s a thrilling back-and-forth narrative which gives players the opportunity to scheme their way to victory over unique territories, either to dominate the world of Exhalus or cut out the rot festering at its core.
Each Ashes of Faith campaign starts with an Inquisition player and a Chaos Cult player, and though the experience is designed for the miniatures included in the box, you can actually use the same mechanic with whichever kill teams you like on either side.
Whoever you choose, the campaign plays out in the same way. A battle is played, after which players bid for control of territories and trade blows behind the scenes. Complete the round six times and you can move onto the finale, but beware – there are two ways to win in this campaign, and dominating the backstreets of Exhalus’s sprawling city of Deepwell will only get you halfway.
Each time you begin a round, one player picks a territory to battle over. You can play any mission you like, and there’s a special first-round The Cult Revealed mission to set the scene. Just remember to keep track of the Victory Points you earn – you’ll be needing them later.
The territory – chosen from the 15 cards included in the Ashes of Faith box – imparts a special rule on the mission, and also grants a unique boon to whoever imparts the most persuasion upon its denizens between rounds. The claustrophobic warehouses of Storage Macro-Fane Alpha-Six, for instance, provide additional cover to dug-in operatives, and an extra cache of equipment to the lucky winner of the Scheme stage.
Once each kill team has left the field to rest and repair, the information game begins. Each player gets two Ruse cards and between one and four Conspirator cards depending on their Victory Points in the last mission – more on what those do later. Then, they choose which of their Schemes to play on each available territory.*
Players have a choice between Control, Persuade, and Investigate. Control is a vital part of the endgame, as whoever has control over the most territories after the final mission wins one of the two victory conditions. Persuade, meanwhile, has a more direct impact on your operatives, as the most persuasive player gains the powerful Persuasion Benefit in perpetuity.
Finally, the first player to gain four Investigate points in a territory gains a special Investigation Reward card, which can be played during missions to do anything from automatically claiming the Initiative to giving fallen heroes a last-ditch attack against those that have wronged them.
Players bid Conspirator and Ruse cards face-down next to one of their Schemes, then when all bidding is done the cards are flipped upright and the highest total wins the day. Conspirators and Schemes are worth one point each, but the dastardly Ruse is worth zero – perfect for baiting an opponent into spending more of their resources than they want to, or distracting them from the Scheme you truly want to succeed.
When the dust has settled, and each team has battled their way through six bloody rounds of gunfire, back-stabbing, and back-room deals, there’s one final mission – the Ritual. Even players far behind can eke out a partial victory by succeeding in this most important of battles, chosen from one of four scenarios.
The Chaos Cult player must complete the Ritual to seek aid from the Dark Gods, while the Inquisitorial kill team desperately tries to disrupt their plans. Whether it’s suppressing an empyrean leyline or halting a sacrificial offering, the Inquisition are on the offensive, and they’re fighting an uphill battle.
Ultimate victory is not just for bragging rights. If played as part of a wider Spec Ops campaign, Ashes of Faith awards a bounty of rare equipment, Requisition points, and other rewards to both players – with each victory condition granting an extra bonus. With only seven games to play, Ashes of Faith is a great way to shake things up in the middle of a long-running campaign, or even give flagging players a boost to get them back on level-pegging.
Kill Team: Ashes of Faith goes up for pre-order this Saturday, so let us know how your own campaigns go on our Facebook and Twitter pages.
* The campaign starts with just one territory, and one is added each time you play a mission.