Necromunda: Kebab Takeout

 

The Underhive beckons once more! 

It's the third part of our Necromunda mini-campaign. As the Assault on Precinct 17 continues, this time the Palanites find themselves in abrupt darkness. The attacking gangs have cut the power and are sneaking into the complex, aiming to take out the enforcer's support team in the ensuing confusion. 

This is the Infiltrators mission and it uses the Sneak Attack rules. The entire board is in pitch black, meaning vision is restricted to 3" unless you've invested in dark vision goggles (which only two of my policemen had the budget for). 

So it should look like this...

...but for accessibility reasons, we're leaving the lights on.

I'm also stuck in sentry mode to begin with, meaning random movement. With that in mind, I deploy everyone around my two remaining rally points, gazing into the darkness and worrying. I've got to protect my hangers-on, the Rogue Doc, Ammo Jack and Slopper, but my Leader, Captain Aces, is also worth bonus points to the attackers. They need at least two of those first three down for a win.

Deploying round the rally points means I'm visible from further away and thus easier to snipe, but our last few games have been rather protracted affairs, and a quick hit seems like the fun option tonight. 

The attackers deploy close up, just behind a barricade and ready to jump out and shoot, with Van Saar leader Arvin backed up with one of his gangers and the Orlock Harpoonist Dougal to hand. 

Nearby, the Delaque boss Savalas has brought a spare ganger and a Goliath with him, hoping to either pick off stragglers or scrag my captain if the opportunity arises.

A Light in the Darkness

The attackers deliberate for a while about whether to immediately jump me, or wait for a better opportunity. 

Helverson, the Goliath, finds he's got the opportunity to pick off a stray policeman, but after weighing up his options (and his massive spanner) decides not to risk it, and moves for a flank attack instead. The Delaque move deeper into the shadows, my guys shift about aimlessly. 

But then Frontline, the rookie, happens to get just close enough to spot the Van Saar in their ambush position!

Immediately, the guns start going off. Coolly picking off their vital targets and ignoring the nearby Subjugator and his shield, the Van Saar leader hoses the area with plasma and instantly knocks down the Rogue Doc, but somehow only scores a pair of flesh wounds on the Slopper. Luckily, there's gun to spare, and Dougal at his side lines up a harpoon, which lances through the Slopper on the floor for a third and fatal flesh wound, and follows through to stick the Ammo Jack to the wall. 

However! This means that the ambush team is temporarily lit up, and there's an entire gantry of Enforcers standing just above and behind them. The shooting gallery is open!

As the rest of my team move into position, I land choke and frag bombs on the ambushers, and leave them all on the floor. One of the Van Saar succumbs to the gas, and the Delaque will need to beat a hasty retreat to avoid being swept up by the advancing riot squad. In fact, Clove Tree is instantly overrun and floored by one of the shield subjugators, so it's been a rather short game for the Goliaths!

As the Ammo Jack pulls himself free of the wall with a flesh wound, I'm already losing this match. But I have a great opportunity for revenge - the more gangers I can kill here, the fewer I'll face later on!

Exit, Stage Dead

After this, the attackers basically try to escape through the nearest door. It takes the Van Saar leader a bit of time to crack the lock on this, and they're under a lot of fire in the meantime. 

In the meantime, however, Captain Aces has left himself open for targeting, and the Delaque leader Savalas and his boltgun spot an opportunity. Only the sheer thickness of the rozzer's shield saves him, whereas the Delaque not only runs out of bolt ammo, but gets set upon by angry riot cops moments later. His companion is gunned down by suppressing fire from above, and it's not looking great for the attackers' retreat. 

Because Aces is now standing on the edge of a gantry, there's an obvious play to hand! Dougal bangs another harpoon into the toughened veteran, knocking him down and wounding him. But he doesn't quite manage to pull him off the edge. Instead, as he struggles to reel in his catch, one of the other Enforcers tags him with a choke grenade, and down he goes.

At this point, the attackers nerve starts to fail. Which they're delighted by! They'd rather run than stay and see this rather one-sided shoot out continue. Savalas is locked in combat with a hulking Subjugator, with a second one looming nearby, and when he fails his nerve check, tries to run. 

Cheese it! It's the cops!

He's in luck, because moments before I managed to hit this subjugator with my own misplaced Stun grenade. He's not pinned, merely disorientated, but in the confusion, Savalas slips away into the darkness. 

Half a Doughnut Shop is Better Than None

The ambush is complete, the attackers achieved their goal, but at least it's cost them this time. Both Helverson from the Goliaths and the Van Saar ganger Derevco are left dead, although Dougal was merely out cold and escapes unscathed. 

Likewise, with all the medical attention from my team, the Rogue Doc is none the worse for wear. The Slopper has lost a hand (which goes in the soup), but he was hardly my best combatant anyway. 

My losses aren't measured in people, though, they're measured in how much of my base I can hang on to. The attackers chose to overrun the vital entrance they launched their attack from, which contains a direct access gantry to the central tile. It's a great firebase to have, and one I'll have to protect carefully (or attack immediately) in future games. With only one more fight before the final assault, I'm running out of precinct fast! The good news is that I've plenty of gangers up and rested, so I can restock on mines and barricades for the next fight. 

Worth noting that I could have spread my gang out in the dark, leading to a deadly game of hide and seek in the the corridors, and that's probably the most fun way to play this scenario. Not that this wasn't fun, but sometimes a quick and dirty hit job is what you're looking for!