I was searching for something else and noticed there was a runewars article that had not been posted on the forums:

https://www.fantasyflightgames.com/en/news/2018/8/20/defend-the-pass/

Nothing crazy, but it reveals the objective that comes with Baron and with Vorenthul.

Not sure I understand how defended pass works, what does the objective token on the unit card do? I suspected that the unit carrying it had to reach the "goal" objective card, but scoring just talks about being in range.

I'm guessing you can score points for being in range of the unit that has the objective token on its card.

Also, what the heck is Aliana fighting in that first image? Looks like a bone horror that's carrying the herald?

4 minutes ago, Xquer said:

Also, what the heck is Aliana fighting in that first image? Looks like a bone horror that's carrying the herald?

It looks like a single tray of Reanimate Archers with the heraldry upgrade surrounded by Aliana and a single Leonx figure.

22 minutes ago, Budgernaut said:

I'm guessing you can score points for being in range of the unit that has the objective token on its card.  

Thats what we thought. Also the escort unit is in range of itself, so the escorter doesn't need to hang 2 units back.

The real question for me is if the interceptor runs to the token on the board and the escorter holds back and guards the unit with the token wouldn't you have 8 rounds of turtling with both players scoring 75 pts/rd? Then the unit with the bid wins. I guess I'm not understanding how this incentivizes action.

18 minutes ago, Budgernaut said:

It  looks like a single tray of Reanimate Archers with the heral  dry upgrade surrounded by Aliana and a single Leonx fig  ure  . 

Ah! Now I see it, I recognized the heraldry and the lone leonx but my eyes blurred the archers into a blob. For a moment I had gotten excites that they leaked the new seige super early. Thanks!

3 minutes ago, flightmaster101 said:

I  g  uess I'm not understanding how this incentivizes actio  n  . 

Yeah the scoring just doesn't make sense to me the way it's worded. Seems like it's suppose to be like the normal escort mission except the defender doesn't score and the attacker gets to switch up the carrier.

I would have thought it be the unit with the objective has to be range 1 at the end of the round to score. At the end of the game if that did not happen, the defender scores the 75 pts.

1 hour ago, Xquer said:

...

Yeah the scoring just doesn't make sense to me the way it's worded. Seems like it's suppose to be like the normal escort mission except the defender doesn't score and the attacker gets to switch up the carrier.

I would have thought it be the unit with the objective has to be range 1 at the end of the round to score. At the end of the game if that did not happen, the defender scores the 75 pts.

From what I read, you want to get your units mixed together, to play a kind of keep away.

Escorter starts with and objective, Interceptor needs to go collect one on the first round.

If there are no opposing units within range 1 of the objective tokens, the side that has the token scores 75. So it's kind of a scramble to try to keep units within range 1 of the opposing objective token to keep your opponent from scoring 75pts, and the reverse so that you can score 75. That's 150 points possible swing each round.

I'm just cringing at the notion of an Uthuk player parking their whole army at one end of the table, then sending a 9-tray unit of Flesh Rippers to contest the other token. Sure, it's a boatload of points you're sending on a suicide run, but the 72 wounds will probably take most of the game to just chew through, preventing 4-5 rounds of 75 point scores before giving up sixty points or whatever.

I realize that at that point, you throw the objective to something that isn't engaged and try to run it away from the fight, but... With the mobility of rippers and sheer footprint of the unit that still seems like an uphill battle.

3 hours ago, Aetheriac said:

From what I read, you want to get your units mixed together, to play a kind of keep away.

Escorter starts with and objective, Interceptor needs to go collect one on the first round.

I'm not sure the objective token that starts on the battlefield actually gets picked up. I think the Interceptor player needs to go and camp by it.

Basically, the Escort player gets a head start by having an objective token on the unit. The Interceptor has two goals: 1) go claim the other objective token, and 2) get a unit at range 1 of the Escort player's unit with the objective token. This is why the blue player is the Interceptor: they have a lot of marching to do.

TheEscort does have a 75 point lead after the first round, unless the Interceptor has some crazy maneuverable units that can make it to the unguarded token in round 1 (like Flesh Rippers). Because of this head start, they can have a more measured, deliberate approach. They should be making liberal use of skill modifiers to keep their token out of reach of the Interceptor. If the Interceptor prevents their points for two rounds, the Escort will need to run the gauntlet to prevent the Interceptor from continuing to score from the day objective token.

I can see @flightmaster101 's concern about refusing to engage, but I don't think that most games will end up that way.

5 hours ago, Parakitor said:

I'm not sure the objective token that starts on the battlefield actually gets picked up. I think the Interceptor player needs to go and camp by it.

Basically, the Escort player gets a head start by having an objective token on the unit. The Interceptor has two goals: 1) go claim the other objective token, and 2) get a unit at range 1 of the Escort player's unit with the objective token. This is why the blue player is the Interceptor: they have a lot of marching to do.

TheEscort does have a 75 point lead after the first round, unless the Interceptor has some crazy maneuverable units that can make it to the unguarded token in round 1 (like Flesh Rippers). Because of this head start, they can have a more measured, deliberate approach. They should be making liberal use of skill modifiers to keep their token out of reach of the Interceptor. If the Interceptor prevents their points for two rounds, the Escort will need to run the gauntlet to prevent the Interceptor from continuing to score from the day objective token.

I can see @flightmaster101 's concern about refusing to engage, but I don't think that most games will end up that way.

You are right. After reading it again (while not at work), I grok that the objective token by the interceptor just sits there.

Parakitor has the gist of it.

The only adjustment I'd make: The Interceptor probably should have a unit that can make the token on the first round. We're talking a cav unit (Flesh Rippers have already been mentioned, but the other cav have a move-2 beyond their basic speed 3/4 move. From there, you've got a distance 1-2 of the token. The two deployment areas are a little over 9 apart, but you really only need 7 to be within 1-2. So that's saying you could nearly cross from one deployment area to the other. If the opponent tries to set the token as far from the deployment areas as possible before knowing where the Interceptor has deployed, it should be between distance 4-5 march away from one of the deployment areas to the requisite distance 1-2.

I think the Escorter is the one that is forced in this scenario, as they really should want to cross the field. The Interceptor really has an incentive to come after them, because so long as they hold their own, a good turn or two of denial could create a big score. That to me, is why this scenario looks like an escort, with the escorter wanting to get across the field and toward the opposite side, because it is the only way that they can play for a big win. In this respect, it really does the opposite of a drawish tendency: the interceptor can play for a big win by trading evenly on units and attempting to point deny on the objective, because even one turn is decisive. The escorter really has to be prepared for the Interceptor to come after them, while also wanting to take out Intercepting units as best as he can while reaching the other side of the map and perhaps point denying a bit on his own. I'm not quite sure I'd call it balanced for tournament play. Seems like it would produce a lot of 10-1s, especially if two new/weak players clash on it and sort of accidentally waltzed into a 10.