What Dies Beneath: Imperium vs Tyranids

Pict images flickered over the antique monitors. 

"The strike team has entered the complex," intoned the data-serf. "Watching their progress."

"Keep me updated," replied its master. He stared into the screens, their light reflecting from the lens of his bionic eye. 

"What are you thinking, Lord?" asked his adjutant, Ketch. 

"That they don't have much time," the master said. "The upper levels are still infested. It's going to be difficult for them to reach the lower levels."

"Then their mission will fail?"

"Almost certainly, Ketch. The Imperium stands in grave peril. Their success or failure will determine the fates of millions of lives."

The two of them stared at the grainy images. White armoured Scions moved in tight fire teams down the claustrophobic corridors on one monitor. Another showed hulking Crypt Angels marines, silently covering each other as they moved deeper into the tunnels. 

Ketch shivered. Those troops were the Emperor's finest. If they couldn't succeed, nobody could. His fingers reached out to clutch the silver amulet round his neck, a filigreed letter I emblazoned with a skull. His master seemed so calm. How?

"Have faith, Ketch," the Inquisitor said, stretching a hand out to calm his nervous acolyte. "His will is being done, never fear."

Ketch nodded, knowing the Inquisitor spoke the truth. And yet he still felt deeply afraid.

Time to find out what lurks in the Deep Research Station on Zamaroon!

It's the last part of the campaign, and it's a special narrative mission to finish on. What will Badger and his troops discover?

Mission

Time to put my Games Master face on - I've clearly lost this campaign, so the last match is mostly for fun. I mean, the whole thing was for fun, and has been! But this is a bonus round, so I'm mixing it up a bit. 

I took the GW Big Survey the other day, and it made me think a bit about the game and what I like most about it. Narrative! And it was, back in the day at least, really designed to do that. So this mission is going to have a few roleplaying elements in it. 

Badger and his men are here to get to the bottom of whatever went wrong in the Deep Research Lab. To do that, they need to get to the lift on the other side of the map (they start in the top right, the lift is bottom left. Those red lines are sealed bulkheads. At T8, W4 and a 4+ save, they'll not be easy to get through. But the coloured dots are terminals - if the Imperial forces hold these at the end of a Tyranid turn, they'll be presented with various options, including opening and closing the relevant doors. 

My guys are predeployed on the two zones of the board. Although I'm not explaining this to Stylus (it would spoil the surprise!), I won't be using or moving the ones nearer the lift until the second zone is open. And the ones in the first zone will be behaving in set ways - they're a leaderless remnant, after all. 

If they get to the lift, there is a lower level to investigate. As they arrive, of course a massive klaxon starts sounding and a countdown begins - the sooner they can reach the lift, the sooner they can find out what it all signifies!

Armies

Although it's a narrative game, we're still using points to keep it somewhat balanced. Stylus gets 600 points, I'm dividing my Tyranids into two 300 point blocks, one for each half of the map. Because I've got the home advantage here, and because the close ranges favour the Tyranids pretty heavily, I'm not going to use any Command Points. 

In the outer zone, a Patrol of Gorgon Tyranids:

• Tyranid Prime with Deathspitter, Lash whip and Bone Sword, Warlord Trait - Toxic Miasma
• 4 Tyranid Warriors with Deathspitters and Bone Swords, one with Rending Claws and Barbed Strangler
• 19 Termagants, 10 x fleshborers, 9 x Devourers

These guys won't move or charge, just stand and shoot, although the Prime has license to change his mind and attack if need be.

In the inner zone, a second patrol, this time of Kronos types:

• Neurothrope with Smite
• 3 Hive Guard with Impaler Cannons
• 5 Genestealers

The Neurothrope will roam and smite at will, the Hive Guard can shoot round corners but not through sealed bulkheads. And the Genestealers are going to sneak about and ambush whatever they can, but they're starting in a rather distant part of this hulk.

I, Stylus, have the more conventional approach - if you can call two Patrols and a Vanguard detachment of Imperial Soup conventional.

Following the narrative, I went for the heroes of this campaign. There was the Badger, naturally, plus a couple of his trusty Scions squads. For the Crypt Angels, Intercessor Squad Fortuna and Aggressor Squad Exustio have had a good war, so they're coming along, led by a Lieutenant, so that Badger can remain top do in the chain of command.

And a new entry - but narratively appropriate, given that Zamaroon was an Inquisition mess - my old pal, Inquisitor Hurous de Vaulot and very modest retinue of Acolyes.

Crypt Angels: Adeptus Astartes - Salamanders

• Lieutenant Segrasso - Primaris Lieutenant (HQ)
  Power Sword
  Relic: The Salamander's Mantle
• Squad Fortuna - 5 x Intercessor Squad (Troop)
  Bolt Rifles, Auxiliary Grenade Launcher, Sgt with Power Fist
• Squad Exustio - 3 x Aggressor Squad (Elite)
  Flamestorm Gauntlet

9th Hagan Lampreys: Militarum Tempestus

• Colonel Bunny 'Badger' Crossley-Blythe - Tempestor Prime (HQ)
  Chainsword, Tempestus Command Rod
  Warlord Trait: Implacable Determination
• Squad Rogers - 5 x Militarum Tempestus Scions (Troop)
  1 x Hot-Shot Lasguns, 2 x Hot-Shot Volley Guns, Sgt with Chainsword and Bolt Pistol
• Squad Tyneberry - 5 x Militarum Tempestus Scions (Troop)
  1 x Hot-Shot Lasguns, 2 x Flamers, Sgt with Chainsword and Bolt Pistol
• Beef - 1 x Ogryn Boduguard (Elite)
  Bullgryn Maul, Slabshield

Hurous de Vaulot: Inquisition

• Hurous de Vaulot - Inquisitor (HQ)
  Power sword, Flamer
  Psychic powers: Dominate, Smite
• 2 x Acolytes (Elite)
  Bolt pistols, Stormbolters
• 2 x Acolytes (Elite)
  Bolt pistols, Stormbolters
• 1 x Acolytes (Elite)
  Bolt pistols, Chainsword

Points: 600 | Level: 38 | Battle-forged + Patrol + Patrol + Vanguard: 4 CPs

Deployment

Here's where we all pick to be at the start of the game. It's going to be fast and furious stuff - we're all close together, it's a 3'x3' map. Can Stylus get to the lift, or will he run foul of the vicious barrages of short range firepower that await him?

Having read the scenario, I now understand that I was supposed to flood into Zone 1, kill everything in there, and head into Zone 2. But I'm a simple man: show me a locked door, and I want to bash it in.

Accordingly, I put all the Primaris against the sealed entrance to Zone 2 (let's just say I was playing tactically and wanted to rush the scoring objective), while the Scions went towards the open corridor to Zone 1. Flamers up from, followed by Badger and his Ogryn, then the Volley Gun squad, and finally the Inquisitor crew at the read.

I have no idea what to expect, but I've brought a few flamers, and no shortage of melee punch, so I should be ready to take on the bugs!

Badger's Boys - Turn 1

++ Excerpt from "Through the Green: Campaign Memoirs of Colonel Bunny 'Badger' Crossley-Blythe. Chapter XIII - Zamaroon.++

++It was a deuced close-run thing, but we'd swept the planet clear of the little blighters and I got myself a brand new pair of bionic legs into the bargain.++

++Before there was time to hit the drinks cabinet, I get a closed-channel vox from the top brass telling me to pull together a fire team and make ingress into the compound itself.++

++ took a couple of my best lads, some of those dash-useful Primaris marines, and an Inquisitor, who turned up out of the blue and said he was the only one qualified to deal with the situation. Bloody cheek.++

Oh my, that is a lot of gribblies. Fully expecting to get overwhelmed (like a true GM, Kraken hadn't told me about the no-move rule for the Tyranids), I set out the Flamer Scions as a screen and brought up the rest of the crew behind them (but out of Overrun range).

The Inquisitor doesn't need line-of-sight to cast Dominate, but he can't get past the Shadow in the Warp to overwhelm the Tyranid Prime's mind.

What shooting I could bring to bear was ineffectual, so the greatest impact I had was against a door. My trio of Flamer Aggressors melted the steel barrier to slag, and then raced into the adjoining room to secure the computer terminal (we agreed the terminals could be 'charged' as if they were enemies).

I thought those bulkheads would be fireproof! Who built this damn complex?

Hive Fleet Afanc Remnants - Turn 1

"There, master!" Ketch said, pointing to a monitor nervously. 

On the screen was the dark mouth of a fan shaft, the ancient rotor blades furred with rust. Between them, scaled creatures squeezed forth from the tunnel below, clawed fingers slipping in and out of the damp orifices of their bioweapons. Ketch had seen them so many times before, but they always made him shudder. 

He could see the feed from the leading Scions fireteam. The sound was muted, but he could see whoever had the camera suddenly topple sideways. The Tyranid bioweapons didn't flash in the darkness, so you couldn't see them firing. But Ketch knew what was happening even before the field of view was blocked by the dead face of a fallen comrade. An ambush - the smaller tyranids had distracted the fireteam by moving into view, then larger Warriors had fired from behind cover. 

"Clever," mused the Inquisitor. "And there, Ketch, see? The marines have breached that bulkhead, thinking it unguarded."

"Isn't it, Lord?" Ketch asked.

"Oh no, Ketch. It's a trap. And they're walking straight into it."

Well, I didn't expect them to try and flank me quite that fast! As the marines enter the corridor, their leading Aggressors get caught in a blast of fire from the Hive Guard, killing two of them. Handy being able to fire your killer fly swarms round corners! Although I quickly realise this is going to be a little OP for this situation - they could sit back and pick off most of the Imperial troops from back here, so I decide I'd better stick to LOS after this. 

The Gants are doing their job well. Stylus isn't likely to want to run to the nearby terminal in front of all that firepower, so his Scions are caught in the open. He does throw the Take Cover strategem out on them and a lone flamer trooper makes it through, somehow surviving all three barrages of fire from Warriors, Prime and Termagants!

I then use the Fight To The Death stratagem to ensure he passes the Morale Phase. I usually wouldn't spend a CP on a single Scion - but, in this scenario, every man counts!

Now that's plucky!

At the end of my turn, Stylus holds the first terminal, and gets his first set of doors open - the vital ones to the lift ahead. But he also gets a second option - there's time for him to either Open All Emergency Bulkheads or Activate Psychic Dampeners. 

Not wanting his own psykers damp, he chooses the first option. Immediately, the remaining small bulkhead slides open - the genestealers (that he can barely see over Skype) now have a free path to his men!

Badger's Boys - Turn 2

++ Well, this was shaping up to be a right dog's breakfast, and Zamaroon has seen a few, I can tell you. The Primaris had gone off on their own adventures, and were having a rough time of it, judging by the screams. I'd lost my first squad - expect for young Tyneberry, stout fellow - and we'd run headlong into another nest of bugs.++

++Luckily, my trusty abhuman bodyguard remembered who signs his ration chitties and charged headlong into them, crushing their biggest bug and holding the rest off with that monstrous shield of his.++

++It was following this battle that I made my historic recommendation to field Ogryns as prop-forwards in our regimental Ovalball tournaments.++

So much for my flamers. All the same, I make reckless use of the ones that did survive: the sole flamer Scions jogs up to face the Termagants and act as a speed bump, in case they do charge.

The Aggressor Sergeant marches forward to try a long bomb charge on the Hive Guard. If I'd advanced, I would have been in flamer range, but I fancied my chances with his power fists.

Everything else just moved forward - the Intercessors and Lieutenant jumping into Zone 2, the Volley Gun Scions taking up position over their fallen comrades, and the Inquisitor squad finally making it into Zone 1.

While keeping himself at a safe distance, Badger sent the Ogryn Bodyguard forward, since he stood a decent chance of damaging the Tyranids (I'm really thinking I should have split up from the Space Marines...)

In the Psychic phase, I Smite a few wounds off the Tyranid Prime. In Shooting, the Volley Gun Scions chip a couple off the Tyranid Warriors and the Flamer Scion burns down four Termagants all by himself.

It's the Charge phase, and my decision to hold back the Aggressor Sergeant massively backfires when he fails his charge and gets pasted by the Overwatch.

With rather more success, the Ogryn makes it in against the Tyranid Prime and squashes him. His remaining attacks fail against the Tyranid Warriors, and he take five wounds from their counterattacks (and the deceased Prime's lashwhip), but he's still on his feet!

Hive Fleet Afanc Remnants - Turn 2

The Inquisitor watched impassively as the Ogryn bodyguard smashed one of the hulking warriors aside with its shield, then smashed a second one in the mouthparts with his crackling stave. 

"Impressive specimen," he observed. "They might make it through yet."

Ketch shook his head doubtfully. 

"No, my Lord," he said. "Look there."

The Inquisitor looked - a monitor showed a darkened access tunnel running parallel to the Imperial's route. Shapes went flitting past the camera, almost too fast to be seen. 

"Ah! Genestealers. I hadn't realised there were any left. Well spotted, Ketch. Yes, that does put a different light on things. Are they still stuck in the main chamber?"

Ketch looked. Yes, they were - a second troop of Scions attempted to form a perimeter and start firing with their heavy weapons. But they went down in seconds, shredded by an absolute hail of fire from the seething pack of Termagants.

There was no way the Imperials would get through. Their mission was doomed. 

It wasn't looking at all good for Team Imperium - the sheer biomass in their way was looking daunting. When the second Scions squad Took Cover and I managed to only get seven wounds through, I thought they'd be okay. But Stylus managed a particularly horrendous set of saving throws, and all five died on the floor. 

I couldn't see the Marines, so I left them be for now, but my newly freed Genestealers did what Genestealers do best - lurked out of sight in a passageway, ready to ambush later. 

Another terminal was in Imperial hands after this (barely - it was the surviving Flamer, behind whom Badger was heroically cowering). And another option - as well as opening the remaining bulkheads, Stylus could pick to Activate Emergency Ventilation or Release Automated Servitor Clearance. 

The former sounded a bit dicey, so the servitor it was, and a Heavy Bolter Servitor popped out of the floor nearby. It was a dodgy old one, and to represent this, on each players turn they could control it on 4+. A small and mixed blessing - if only he'd picked the Ventilation! It would have activated the floor fan under the Termagants, causing anyone touching it to take mortal wounds on a 2+! 

Badger's Boys - Turn 3

++ My command has dwindled to one young lad and his flamer, but that doesn't cow the Badger! Luckily, that Inquisitor chap brought his retinue forward, and they proved to be a handy bunch of lads with stormbolters.++

++Fair wiped out the smaller critters, they did, before dashing in to save my trusty prop-forward from the remains of the big ones.++

++From what I could tell from the vox, the Primaris were making similar gains, and had taken control of the compound's automated defences ... at least I hope they had, because a rusty-looking combat servitor popped up out of the floor and started spooling up its cannon in an alarming way.++

It's not looking good for me - Kraken's voice that that tone GMs get when they realise they may have accidentally set up a Total Party Kill.

But despair not - the Acolytes have arrived! I put these guys in to soak wounds from the Inquisitor, but it turns out that Ordo Xenos with Stormbolters are astonishingly effective at clearing out bugs!

Letting rip, I tear down a dozen of the Termagants, with the survivors fleeing into the shadows. the whole Inquisitorial team then rushes in to help the Ogryn and rips apart the remaining Tyranid Warriors.

Badger remains at the back, applauding politely.

In Zone 2, I finally start to make some progress. With the aid of a Krak grenade and some lethally accurate shooting, my Intercessors take down two of the Hive Guard.

The path to the service elevator is almost clear!

Hive Fleet Afanc Remnants - Turn 3

"They've nearly made it, Lord!" 

"Remain calm, Ketch. 'Nearly succeeding' is of no use to anyone. Ah!" The Inquisitor winced. 

"Lord?" Ketch watched him anxiously. The Inquisitor gritted his teeth and rubbed his brow.

"Feedback. One of the Tyranid Neurothropes is attacking the Marines. I can feel it from here."

Ketch could see it, too. A pair of Intercessors were flung backwards by a sizzling bolt of warpfire, one slamming into a wall hard enough to crush his helmet. As the other tried to get up, he was skewered by buzzing projectiles from a Hive Guard. There wasn't much movement left on the monitors otherwise. Most of the Scions were already dead. 

"There are so few of them left, Lord!" Ketch said. 

"Perhaps," the Inquisitor said. "But do you see there?" He indicated a feed showing a group of robed men with stormbolters advancing through a doorway. In their midst, holding up a sputtering flamer, was a man in a long leather coat and tall hat whose style Ketch knew all too well. 

"An Inquisitor!" he gasped. 

"Yes, Ketch, one of our own. As long as they don't fall foul of that genestealer ambush, they should be just fine."

Without much left on the board, I was pinning a lot on those Genestealers. Parked just out of sight, they were ready to pounce on whoever went to the lift first. Or if I was lucky, an unguarded character! Come on, you Imperials, get a little closer...

Badger's Boys - Turn 4

++I knew that combat servitor was defective! Took a volley of shots at me, it did! Luckily its targeting bionics were just as defective as its logic centres.++

++Anyway, we had oblierated the foes, so with encouraging shouts, I drove our little expedition forwards to the lower levels.++

Zone 1 is cleared, and since I am technically ignorant of the Genestealers, I only have two xenos standing between my team and the final level!

All the humans (and Ogryn) race around the corner to join the Astartes, sending a Smite in the direction of the Neurothrope for good measure.

Meanwhile, the Primaris Lieutenant and his three remaining Intercessors charge both Neurothrope and Hive Guard, bringing them down with power fist and sword.

Hive Fleet Afanc Remnants - Turn 4

"They haven't seen them, Lord!" Ketch said, gripping the edge of the control panel. Sweat ran freely down his brow. "The genestealers are going to take them!"

"I can see that, Ketch," the Inquisitor said. "Please calm down."

With unbelievable speed, the clawed creatures burst out of their concealment. They swarmed past the marines, and although they managed to turn and start firing, the ambush was just too quick. 

The screens became a mess of flashing claws, the blaze of the other Inquisitor's flamer and spurts of blood. The images were black and white, it was impossible to tell whose. 

One screen was suddenly filled with the alien maw of one of the beasts, tiny eyes glittering with cold malice. Its tongue, tipped with a stinger like that of some overgrown wasp, lashed towards the camera, and Ketch pulled back instinctively. Then there was a flash of light, bright enough to temporarily craze the camera. 

As the image cleared, Ketch could see the grim-faced Inquisitor staring down. The field of his power sword flickered and spat as the blood of the xenos boiled off it. 

"De Vaulot," breathed Ketch's master. "It's you, isn't it?"

"My lord?" Ketch said, uncertainly. His master's eye held an almost manic intensity. 

"They've made it, Ketch. They've made it to the lift!"

"Yes, my lord!"

"Arm your brothers. We must ensure their mission fails ourselves!"

Onwards!

So far, so good, although that's a lot of casualties! 

As the lift activates, the remaining heroes find themselves on a lower sublevel. Down a darkened passage, the red flashing beacons and sirens of the klaxon continue, entering the final stages of a countdown. 

There's a terminal at the far end - if they can seize it, the day can be saved. But between them and the terminal lies the true enemy. Another Inquisitor and his warband! 

"This is Inquisitor Gryu vaan Kloees. My voice recognition code is Purity Through Purgation. Activate Nega-Flagellants one through four. 

"de Vaulot, if you survive our forthcoming encounter, know this. Your reckless adherence to your xenophobic doctrines has already cost the Imperial dearly. The nascent hive I had cultivated here would have pulled Hive Fleet Afanc light years away from vital systems abutting the Nachmund Gauntlet. Your meddling will instead allow it to all but destroy logistical support for several key defense fleets. 

"I cannot be allowed to fail. I have therefore activated firing of the volcanic launch tubes. I pray to the Throne that I delay you long enough to allow them to fire. The seeding projectiles that are launched will establish new hives all across the Rylstone system, more than you can possibly hope to root out. 

"You should have left Zamaroon alone. Now, an entire system will have to perish instead of this one remote planet. If I do not defeat you, this will be to both of our eternal shames, and I trust you will let our masters in the Inquisition know of it. 

"I will see you shortly, you mindless fool. vaan Kloees out."

Yes, this one's a Recongregator (for those of you who didn't play Inquisitor back in the day, they want to destabilise the ancient and weak establishments of the Imperium, hoping to replace them with newer, better ones). This one has deliberately let the 'nids loose on Zamaroon, hoping that the resulting psychic beacon will divert the rest of Hive Fleet Afanc from the Imperial worlds otherwise in its path. 

Speaking as a former Recongregator, I think it's an excellent plan and I am only sorry that I have to try and foil it.

Were you? Wait, let me check some fluff. 

*checks fluff

Ah yes - sorry, de Vaulot is indeed a Recongregator. Right, this guy had better be an Istvaanian instead, one who hopes to strengthen the Imperium through adversity. Was not the hour of Mankind's greatest glory the one when they faced their greatest foe, after all? And what better than the sudden arrival of a whole hive fleet in an otherwise quiet backwater system!

After 4 turns, the game may end. Not long is left on the clock...

Deployment

Roughly matching the surviving power level of the incoming troops, Inquisitor vaan Kloees has a decent number of bodyguards to protect him:

• Inquisitor Gryu vaan Kloees - bolter and force sword, Smite and Terrify powers
• 6 Acolytes - Mostly with chainswords and laspistols, one with a flamer
• 6 Acolytes - Same as above, but there's also a power sword and a plasma pistol in there
• 4 Negavolt Cultists - Fresh from the Blackstone Fortress! Heresy! And tonight playing the part of the Inquisitor's modified arco-flagellants

These guys are all Specialist Inquisitor types, which means they get their rerolls against characters. Watch yourself, Badger!

My truncated forces are as follows. And, in true adventuring style, it's getting pretty rag-tag by now:

• Colonel Bunny 'Badger' Crossley-Blythe - Tempestor Prime (HQ)
  Chainsword, Tempestus Command Rod
  Warlord Trait: Implacable Determination
• Lieutenant Segrasso - Primaris Lieutenant (3 wounds) (HQ)
  Power Sword
  Relic: The Salamander's Mantle
• Hurous de Vaulot - Inquisitor (HQ)
  Power sword, Flamer
  Psychic powers: Dominate, Smite
• Squad Fortuna - 3 x Intercessor Squad (Troop)
  Bolt Rifles, Auxiliary Grenade Launcher, Sgt with Power Fist
• Squad Tyneberry - 1 x Militarum Tempestus Scion (Troop)
  1 x  Flamer
• 2 x Acolytes (Elite)
  Bolt pistols, Stormbolters
• 2 x Acolytes (Elite)
  Bolt pistols, Stormbolters
• 1 x Acolytes (Elite)
  Bolt pistols, Chainsword

Badger's Boys - Turn 1

++So THAT was the secret of Zamaroon! I expect this will all get redacted by the Terran johnnies, but it turns out                                       Inquisition                                                         hadn't been playing with a straight bat                             the entire planet                   and then                   the                             would                             before you could say 'whiskers!' Now, what do you think of that?++

It's a corridor, there are bad guys in my way - light 'em up!

And so it goes - my two flamer guys (de Vaulot and Trooper Tyneberry) bring down most of the antagonists before the bolters have even begin to speak. 

It does make me realise that I've left my Inquisitor out in front, but what could go wrong?

True Villains - Turn 1

"Can you hear me, de Vaulot? Do you truly think you can stop me now? Do you truly think you can stop the will of the Emperor? Perhaps you tell yourself you do his bidding too. But you're blind! You cannot preserve every tiny outpost, every far-flung colony. You must sacrifice such trappings to preserve the Imperium's beating heart!"

Wow, those early acolytes didn't prove much of a speed bump. Well, no point sending the rest to die to quickly - the Negavolts lurk in the corridor, having learnt from watching the genestealers earlier. All I really need to do it stall for time, after all!

Badger's Boys - Turn 2

++Not that crawling through dark corridors with foes behind every corner and red flashing lights awooghing ominously is enough to put fright into Your Correspondent. But someone had to stay behind and keep their thumb on the elevator door button.++

I can't see anything yet, so it's just a case of hauling ass down the corridor. I do try a cheeky Dominate on Inquisitor vaan Kloees (I can sense his presence), but it's not happening.

True Villains - Turn 2

"I brought the Tyranids here! This entire complex was built through my will. Of course they escaped! That was always the plan! From the first capture of their seeding organisms, right down to the containment breach in Oscar Lab. It was never realistic to think we could control or weaponise them. 

"The Hive Fleets follow their offspring, but not blindly. Seed a world, and they'll come to it, but you can't trick them for long. I needed a planet that had value, just less value than the agri worlds lying in Afanc's path. The research world of Zamaroon made the perfect sacrifice, and you're a fool if you can't see that."

Well, that's probably close enough. 

Round the corner we go, targeting the rival Inquisitor and if I lose one of the cultists to overwatch from his flamer, it's my own fault for trusting in their saves too much. 

Once in combat, though, it's short and bloody! Three of them is more than enough to score an absolute landslide of wounds, easily enough to kill the Inquisitor. 

But blast it, he's still got his acolytes. All but one of them under the electro-bludgeons of the Negavoltists, and Hurous survives, merely lightly bloodied. Then he cuts them all down, with a little help from the loyal flamer-butt of Tyneberry. 

Badger's Boys - Turn 3

++One more corner to round and we found the blighter at last! The Primaris had the matter well in hand, but young Tyneberry did want to dash forward and be a hero. Stupid boy.++

More sprinting down the corridor, but it does at least bring my Scion into flamer range (the one time I don't equip my Intercessors with assault weapons!). Trooper Tyneberry brings down two more Traitor Acolytes, like the hero he is.

Badger and the Primaris Lieutenant, having no ranged weapons of any use, hang around the back and share a packet of Woodbines.

True Villains - Turn 3

"Children! Infants! You don't understand what you're doing. The worlds of Alathex and Mustakar will be overrun, the xenos will devour them and leave them bare. And our fleets will run dry as a result! 

"See! I bear the authority of the Inquisition! Fall back or feel my wrath!"

The Inquisitor comes forward, ready to take the brunt of the Imperial charge if he can't blunt it, and then deal it out backwards to his minions, who can help from behind the barricades. 

Alas, despite smiting poor old Tyneberry, it's a very disappointing round of shooting. vaan Kloees neither hits nor wounds anyone, and the Acolytes attempts to provide fire support are equally embarrassing. This is going to be settled up close and personal!

Badger's Boys - Turn 4

++And if all this wasn't enough, it turns out there was a ticking clock to content with! I'll tell you this, it was starting to occur to me that Zamaroom may not be the milk run we first anticipated.++

After this turn, we start rolling the dice to see if I auto-lose - I need to reach that terminal!

Everyone move forward, warming up for the charge. Before that happens, Inquisitor de Valuot reaches out with his mind and Dominates Inquisitor vaan Kloees. I make him crank up his combi-plasma and open up on his own troops (hee hee hee). Sadly, he fails to blow himself up, but does at least smoke a couple of his own Acolytes.

"My lord?" Ketch said, staring in horror at the bloodied crater in his chest. "Why?"

In the Shooting Phase, the Intercessors and my Acolytes open up on vaan Kloees, who isn't as good at shrugging off wounds to Acolytes as you'd expect. I then charge, using my last command point to ensure that Inquisitor de Gautet, the three Intercessors and the last Acolyte make it into combat.

Inquisitor vaan Kloees is duly run through with a power sword, but he and his last few Acolytes are battered down by the Sergeant's power fist.

With all the enemy dead, this leaves the last Acolyte to pile in, then consolidate (i.e. 'make a heroic cinematic leap) towards the console and hit the kill-switch!

Result: Victory to the Imperium!

Escape Pods

What an epic finish! At one point, I was getting concerned that we'd have to start throwing Fate Points at my team just to get them to the final level (it was very reckless of me to throw down against both packs of Tyranids simultaneously), but we made it through and Badger gets another medal for his overstuffed greatcoat!

I was very impressed at how the 40k rules scale down to this level (essentially the appeal of Kill Team, I guess). It's great to have a scrap where even one extra guy can tip the balance in a fight. The Ogryn was a rock, the Intercessors bossed it, poor Trooper Tyneberry avenged his squad - lots of epic moments.

So was I! Rogue Trader, back in the day, was all about this kind of scenario play. There was a great chapter at the back containing story hooks for all sorts of games (my favourite was the one where the important plot gadget had been swallowed by a Catachan Devil, that's the original creature not the trooper named after it, and was rampaging somewhere out in the jungle unless you could kill it). Playing like this was a lot of fun, and I hope we can do it again. 

Some wider thoughts on the campaign - I think the story and the settings made it work, as well as the spirit in which it was played. I don't think we needed the unit experience and upgrades, nor the character's special abilities - I forgot about them most of the time, and eventually dropped them altogether.

I think that kind of escalation works if you play a sequence of games with the same army, but when we mix up our forces for every encounter, it becomes redundant - and I think mixing up the forces does a lot to keep the scenario fresh.

Agreed - good rules, but probably not really right for our sporadic playstyle either. Not that I got to try them out, mind you, and it was very sporting of Stylus to forget his advantage every time!

The combination of three 'playing fields' worked to the narrative, and helped when we superimposed scenarios on top of them. I'm not sure these need to have campaign points attached to them, or give extra bonuses for past victories - I quite like just using them to tell the story.

Yup. The intention was good, but as with all campaigns, you become prey to a developing advantage of one side over the other. Early wins tend to create better odds for more wins later, and few campaign games by GW I've ever played quite manage to deal with this problem in a handy way. Take original Necromunda, for example - the Underdog Bonus was a good idea, but wasn't much compensation if you'd just had your entire gang wiped out by tooled-up Van Saar!

Brilliant campaign in all (and I'm not just saying that because my side had the rub of the green), and thanks to Kraken for taking on hosting duties. The lavish scenery and models made it all come alive (even when it was being killed).

You're very welcome! And once I deliver your new terrain, I look forward to whatever we can cook up on it next!