Have you heard about our Saviour, alien hivemind from beyond the stars?
It's the last of the Easter run of Jimulthuan Quadrant games. JhnLk has sent the Xenos to assault Gauntlegun, and it's up to me (Kraken) as the Imperium to resist. The Twist on this planet is that you aren't allowed to settle your differences by 40k games, so we're doing some Necromunda instead!
Baby It's Cult Outside
The Genestealer Cult are going to try and seed themselves into the local hive. JhnLk got all the way to the finals in last year's KnockroMundout, and now plays Orlocks locally, so he knows what he's doing. As much as anyone playing Necromunda can, anyway.
These guys are cheap but reliable ganger types, on the whole. Good mental stats (their faith keeps them fighting) but poorly armoured, although their hazard suits let them ignore fire and radiation.
- Clive Tyrant, Cult Alpha with an extra arm, two autopistols and a needle pistol, Gunslinger
- Göran Thrope, Cult Adept with laspistol and Mind Control
- Arnie Fex, Aberration with power hammer
- Chompy Chappie, Early Hybrid with rock saw
- Harry Dann, Neophyte with shotgun
- Terry Nid, Neophyte with autogun
- Norma Gaunt, Neophyte with autopistol
- Jean Stealer, Neophyte specialist with webber
- Gary Goyle, Neophyte with an extra arm, power pick, laspistol and combat knife
Wasted Opportunity
The Ash Wastes Nomads weren't ready for the tourney last year, so this is their first chance to get out there and take some names.
Interesting gang! Best out in the ash, which we aren't tonight. They can take a selection of giant bugs as pets, most of which I don't have in the stable. The only one I do have is their biggest one, the Arthomite Duneskuttler, which is a massive great Brute. Tough, armoured and lethal in melee, it will definitely cause someone problems.
I'm also taking the handler for it, who is really a hanger-on and won't usually fight. Most of what he can do is train the big beetle between fights and stop it dying if gets wounded, which doesn't help me much here! That's not a problem though, the mission we're playing uses Random Selection for the defender (me), and that means non-coms might turn up. I've only got a gang of nine, the mission says take ten, so he'll be out there with his sharpened stick hoping for the best.
Like the Cult's hazard suits, all of my guys come with Ash Cloaks and Sky Mantles. These make them more resistant to gas and environmental damage, as well as letting them hide in the open ash drifts. They are totally useless to me here, there's no gas, nothing to cause environment damage and no ash to hide in!
- Wilf of the Wastes, Kha'tragi Chieftan with long blade, venom caster, Medicae and mesh armour
- Warwick of the Wastes, Naku'tari Watcher with heavy blaster and precision shot
- Wilberforce of the Wastes, Tarn'runi Specialist with long rifle
- Willy of the Wastes, Tarn'runi warrior with blast carbine
- Wodger of the Wastes, Tarn'runi warrior with blast pistol and long blade
- Wang of the Wastes, Run'taani Dust Runner with blast rifle
- Werner of the Wastes, Run'tanni Dust Runner with scavenged autogun
- Wally, an Arthomite Duneskuttler
- Wanda of the Wastes, Arthomite herder with a polearm and mesh armour
Mission, Terrain and Deployment
I love a good hive set-up, and I've just been to Ikea. A big patch of fake mossy stuff has made it home to the terrain pile, and it's going right in the middle, surrounded by assorted industrial clutter and ruins.
Most of the tall stuff is going up the top end, away from the camera so JhnLk has a better chance of seeing the board, but as ever, there's lots to hide behind and fall off.
The plastic plants are going to be Gauntlegian Phantasmoss, which as all keen xenobotanists know exudes a dense green hallucinogenic mist. If you're in the plants, you're effective invisible (Pitch Black 1" for Necromunda rules people), but you'll have to make a WP test at the start of an activation or go immediately insane.
We are playing a ten-round game called Takeover. There are three objectives (O on the map). They're all portals of some kind and if the Genestealer Cults have more models within 3" during the end phase, they capture them and can start flooding Fistol City with crazed cultists. If they can capture all three or drive me off the table before the end of turn ten, they win, otherwise I do.
Here's how we end up deploying - both split into small groups of roughly three. I'm on the west side, he's on the east side, time for some gang warfare.
Turn 1
The Cult has priority. As it starts rolling up the table, JhnLk plays an early tactic card to give his rock saw wielder an extra two inches of movement. They rush up the table, take cover behind some oil barrels and promptly get shot through the neck by the sniper I've got covering this approach.
The dead guy's pal sprays my tower with autoguns until the sniper falls off it, but it's more of a strategic dive for cover than fatal floor crash, and he uses up the whole clip doing it.
Elsewhere, I'm sending my Chieftan forwards with a bodyguard in the middle but staying back in cover on the rearmost objective. That's the one that's going to cause the Cults problems - they're slow, like Goliaths or Van Saar, and if I can make them struggle to grab the middle there's a good chance they might not make it to the last objective before the end.
With that in mind, the big beetle and its handler head for the moss, looking for a showdown with the pack of neophytes doing the same.
Turn 2
The rock saw might be down, but there's plenty of nastiness heading along the south side. That multi-armed Alpha for one, and his massive Aberrant pal for another, both hopping from cover to cover carefully.
Most of the rest of the cult is mustering in cover, but a pair of them run into the psychoactive moss to grab the middle. That means I can't just sit back, I'll have to send warriors in to contest it, so they all take deep breaths and sprint in, apart from the big beetle, which is fast enough to pop up on the bridge in the middle.
My Chieftan moves to intercept the elites along the south, the gun line at the back stays put and the sniper darts back up into the tower and spangs a round off the autogunner's cover, keeping his head down. He reloads, pops up and fires, discovers he didn't quite put the clip in properly. It falls out and hes out of ammo again.
Turn 3
We're both in charging range now, so whoever gets priority is going to get an advantage. It's the Cults! The Aberration charges into my Chieftan, hammer crackling with power.
Whack! I'm out of wounds, but I stagger back to my feet with a flesh wound. This is a miracle. I poke the big guy a bit with my sword, then the sniper aims carefully and shoots it in the back. That's two nasty threats out of the way, but more closing.
In the middle, history somewhat repeats itself when the Arthromite pounces off the bridge onto the neophyte with the webber. Trying to find him in all the moss must be too hard for the big tick - no wounds are caused. Instead both of us have to cross our fingers as we stagger about in the gas cloud, unable to see or shoot. Nobody goes mad yet, but it's surely a matter of time.
Various shots go in various directions in the background, all to no avail. Behind the barrels, that cult autogunner is still trying to fit the clip back in his gun, but he's got it upside down.
Turn 4
I've got priority this time, and immediately use the Chieftan's venom sprayer to hose the Cult Alpha and his autogun mate with a nice mix of agricultural pesticides. Both his the deck, choking on poisons. It's clearly spraying season, though, as the neophyte in the middle manages to dodge out of combat with the Arthomite and then web it (and the guy behind it). That's not good! The Cult are going to nab the middle here, unless I flood more bodies in.
I just manage it, more by luck than design. First, an attempt to move a shotgun up to get covering fire goes south when my heavy sprays it with electro-bullets. Then, the pick-armed neophyte charges the handler, misses and takes a sharp stick to the face. We're tied, which is fine for now, and one of my guys in the fog manages to break out of his webs for next time.
Alas, the Arthomite isn't just webbed, it's also insane now. I knew someone would be before the end.
Turn 5
That warrior who broke out of the webs runs for the backline, ready to bolster my number there, and the handler runs towards the cult backline. On the way in, she cops an autogun shot to the leg and rolls into the massive pit just next to her.
My Chieftan finishes off the last injured cultist in his region, and everyone else pulls back under covering fire to keep the cult off the backline. I'm doing well so far, they're several members down, but it just takes one bad turn for them to pinch the last objective, as they're now holding the middle.
The Cult Adept is also moving up in the mist, and their higher-than-average WP scores are really helping them here. As the Arthomite chokes out in its webs, he is now in range to start trying to turn my own guns against me...
However, the casualties are piling up. JhnLk fails his Bottle check, so his gangers might start running off after this.
Turn 6
Still proving immune to the insanity gas, the Cult move up to the edge of the moss. The Adept is keeping them all in line, too - as long as he doesn't bottle, neither will they.
Webber fire takes down both the warriors I have guarding the last objective, using the last of his juice to do it. I'm running out of targets to shoot at, so my team rushes back in what force I can muster.
The Adept reaches out with his mind, hoping to get my shooters to turn on each other. Instead, he blows his mental gasket and gets Perils instead! It's not the moss that snaps his sanity, it's the warp, but the end effect is similar.
Turn 7
There's only three cultists left. Surely I've got this!
I can't see two of them, but my beefy heavy can probably duff a mere neophyte up in combat. He charges in and messes it up, taking a webber butt to the forehead for his pains. That's the worst kind of butt.
The Adept masters his psychosis long enough to manifest his psychic powers. Against his will, one of my covering shooters turns his gun on the heavy, taking careful aim with a blast carbine at close range (lots of bonuses to hit).
He misses anyway! Phew. I keep swarming the point. My Chieftan will be back any second, I just need to keep going. Alas, an attempt to break one of the webbed warriors out of his cocoon goes awry when someone puts his knife in the wrong place, and I'm another man down.
Turn 8
The Cult Adept shrugs off his insanity, realises that more than half his gang is down and he's standing in a psychoactive quagmire and makes the right choice - he's running for home.
I have one warrior left on the point, the sniper is miles off and my Chief is sprinting through the hallucinogens to try and floor that last cultist, who's having quite a run of things.
Turn 9
I need priority now, before the last neophyte breaks through. I get it, which means I also need to make a WP test to avoid my Chieftan going moss-mad.
Luck is with me, I'm still not loopy. The Chieftan dashes in, runs the tiresome cultist through - and it's only flesh wounds! The dogged little bastard even returns the favour, giving me a slash that is also luckily not too serious. I've still got a spare juve, though, and he is the one to finally dart in and, with a couple of quick stabs, down their last hope.
Game!
Locker Room
That had me sweating and no mistake! Despite having a good first half, I very nearly let the wrong 'uns in at the last minute. It more or less came down to a priority roll on the last turn. If JhnLk had gone first, I'd have had to shoot him off the objective using a single un-aimed sniper shot, something I'm horribly sure I'd not have managed.
 |
| Victorious (barely) |
Great fun, though, and even if I wasn't really using the Nomads in their home environment, they still made for a formidable team. A good mix of powerful shooting (their blast weapons in particular are good) and decent combat presence.
Props to JhnLk for playing out what seemed like a bad situation to the bitter end. That last acolyte took down three times her weight in Nomads before she gave out. Good run!
This was representing a planetary assault, and I've beaten it off. The Xenos fleet is now in Disarray, and I punt it into Drawbridge. I'm sure that won't cause anyone any problems later.
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