So this is going to be an experiment on a major scale.
Before I even begin I have to give a large shout out to Mr Wargamer at The Joy of Wargaming YouTube channel who has provided the inspiration for me to start this. Check out his channel and his humour, they’re great!
The plan is to run a campaign between myself and my brother but with the possibility of others joining in due time…now me and my bro we live in different countries and so this is the first challenge. The second is that as with all people, we have lives outside of this (sadly) and historically making time to come together and actually play is difficult.
For that reason this going to have to be a hybrid of solo play, head to head or cooperative play when we can and online/remote management.
I want each person to be able to continue their side of the campaign when they like and then when they come together have that fit seamlessly in each persons campaign arc.
The plan is to use loads of different rules sets…so some of the ones I have planned are Necromunda, 40k, Gorkamorka, Aeronautica and Im sure I’ll add more as we go along (I’d love to try some Indy rulesets such as This is not a Test and Space Combat so we’ll see how it goes.)
The actual campaign rules are evolving and what I want to do with this is go on a journey in to campaign play and how and if it’s possible to run a campaign like this, so the actual rules may shift fairly seriously over the course of the campaign.
The basic idea is to have a grand strategic campaign map, probably played on hexes but I have a few other ideas for that. All of a players assets are on the campaign map. When 2 units meet depending on the type of unit and the size of the force we break down in to the tactical map, which is where we’ll be playing Necromunda, 40k etc…often solo, but with the ability to play PvP if the option is available.
The idea is the strategic campaign has a huge effect on what happens on the tabletop, deciding terrain, attacker and defender, fog of war effects, flanking, defensive installations, preparedness and the forces present, rather than scenarios simply being played in a bubble.
I would also like to have it work the other way around as well (encouraging more of an RPG stye play) where our plucky band of heroes can undertake missions at the tactical scale which then have an effect on the strategic campaign map.
So they might make a commando raid on an enemy supply depot, wipe out a command post or blow up an aircraft hanger, all of which have an effect on the campaign game at the strategic level as those assets are no longer in play.
The other goal is to keep this as simple as possible but not any simpler.
I will not be using balancing mechanisms, so it’s entirely possible for our poor band of plucky heroes to be ambushed by an entire Ork Waaagh…such is life and war. If someone is getting wiped out, as Kirk said..”let them die.”
I mainly want to do this to eventually encourage alliances to be formed and re enact that great and time honoured tradition of ganging up on someone…a mechanic which with our modern day “everyones a winner” mentality seems to have been forgotten…but can often be a lot of fun.
I have to stress at the moment this is all just ideas and a few random scribblings so expect to see this all evolve over time but this is the eventual goal.
I’m sure it’ll be messy, I’m sure we’ll have setbacks and have to get creative and most of the videos I release on this will not be too polished (my brother is the brains of the operation and his videos are likely to be much more beautiful!) but if you fancy coming along for the ride, I’ll be documenting it all here on the blog and on our YouTube Channel
The campaign itself is going to be set on a world called Midgard in a forgotten and long ignored part of the 40k universe .
So that’s the goal, if you want to join me for the ride the best way to keep up to date is to head over to our YouTube channel and subscribe if you click the bell you’ll receive notifications whenever we release a new video on this as well.
So I’ve played a lot of 40k this last fortnight and have come away with very mixed feelings…
On one hand…
I played a tournament last weekend at Gibraltar Warhammer Club, I spent the whole week leading up to it studying the rules, playing solo with my army vs my army, learning the stratagems and painting my figures as fast as I could to build a 2000pt list (if you want to see the list I played I’ve linked it here >>)
Gibraltar Warhammer Club
The result…
I lost every single game but absolutely loved it, I got so excited I’ve spent all this week planning lists, painting models, playing tactics over in my head and learning stratagems..
On the other hand…
I played again last night thinking, ok this time I’ve got it, I and while I didn’t expect to win, I at least though I’d give my opponent a run for his money…I charged my shock troops off into what turned out to be his most elite troops, watched as they bounced and eventually got tabled by turn 2…
And it’s left me with a curious feeling towards the game.
I can see why people love it and I realise that given time I will almost certainly love it too…
But that’s just the problem.
The thought of how much time I’ll have to spend just to get to a point where I actually understand the game and therefore really start to enjoy it ,is really quite off putting.
That Tank wiped out my entire force in two turns
I’m realising that not only do I have to learn what my army does but what each unit in my opponents army is roughly capable of (so that I can avoid sending off my troops into what look quite harmless models on the tabletop and turn out to be absolute blenders like I did last night). And then have at least a passing familiarity with the different factions and flavours that army can come in.
Now when you consider there are 10’s of units in each army and probably around 30 different armies, each with the ability to utilise very different play styles within the individual army itself the task is fairly epic.
Until I do understand these I probably wont really enjoy the games I’m playing, as I’ll really have no idea what the army facing me is capable of and so can’t really make any intelligent decisions on the tabletop.
At the moment the mountain of learning I have in front of me seems massive and I have to say if I wasn’t so incentivised/desperate to play I would most likely at this point just give up.
I eventually brought Morty down, but at what cost
So let’s talk about why I’m going to carry on.
I think, in some ways, this complexity may not be a bad thing…anything worth doing has a bit of pain at the beginning. This is something often forgotten in wargaming and gaming in general where companies are simply looking for the quickest way to get people hooked…which often results in fairly shallow experiences. I fully realise that once I do understand it all, I will be in, probably for life, and for that a little pain is worth the effort.
40k is also the main game played at the club where I go and I simply love wargaming and will keep playing just to feed my obsession.
I LOVE the universe in which it is set…ever since reading through 40k Rogue Trader (1st edition) when I was about 9 I have been in love with the 40k universe and all its grim darkness (though it was a little less grim dark back then)
So I will persevere…but I’m getting comfortable with the fact that I probably won’t start enjoying the game for a long while and won’t win my first game for even longer.
So here for anyone who cares are the main problems I see as a beginner coming into 40k.
Mental Overload.
There is just so much to remember and again so much of that which is not visual meaning you have no visual reminders.
This means you have to have so much in your head that a game of 40k is possible the most intense mental exercise I’ve done for years,…which in itself isn’t a problem I’m up for a challenge but it often means he who knows the rules best wins…which might be your thing, its not really mine, I prefer to get the rules out of the way and allow player skill (and obviously Lady Luck) to determine the winner.
10 seconds later the Terminators and the Dreadnought were gone
Rules Bloat
I’ve already talked about the amount I have to learn to even start enjoying the game and this is from someone who has more than a passing familiarity with the 40k universe…I imagine for someone coming in fresh who has no idea even what a tactical squad space marine or Ork basic profile is, it would just prove way too much.
Add to this all the aura, effects, relics, stratagems and crazy overlapping effects which I can’t even see on the tabletop and are often situational even within the unit itself (in that one game the unit may have that ability and the next game a totally different ability dependent on which power, relic etc its taken) and the task feel insurmountable.
For this reason It feels like playing in a void. Where I’m playing one game, my opponent is playing a different game on his side of the table and then just telling me what is happening and why he’s hitting on 2+ re-rolling 1’s (because of this aura, and that stratagem and this effect…none of which I can actually see happening or had any idea about) and I’m nodding and removing guys from the board.
Inability to Learn
Probably the major issue for me at the moment is that I don’t feel like I’m actually learning. Most of the time I don’t even understand why I’ve lost. When I try to look back and analyse a game afterwards I cannot remember all these unseen effects and tend to just focus on my movement on the board often surmising that what I actually did was a fairly solid plan…leaving me asking “where did it all go wrong?” Blissfully unaware of the fact I actually charged in to a unit of killers buffed by multiple auras and effects on turn 1.
Selection of the weekends tables
This is combined with the fact that 40k is a long game, (not as long as it used to be for sure) but long never the less. So to ask every time I have a question would make a long game longer.
I also don’t feel the answer would necessarily help answering my question of why did my best unit just get unceremoniously removed from the board,
“Oh, because I’ve chosen this faction they have this ability, which when stacked with this characters aura, and the fact they are in this doctrine, and I’ve played these 2 stratagems makes them invincible killing machines for this turn…”
“oh right”
As I look at my prize troops lined up against them, failing to cause a single wound and being wiped out to a man in turn.
So as I say I will continue with 40k and I have prepared myself for a lot of pain, I figure the best way through is to simply play as much as possible so that’s what I’m going to do.
I do however worry for the future of the game as any casual gamer would quite simply not bother.
When any game stops bringing in new blood it’s a major problem. In fairness to GW I do think they recognise this and fully expect 10th edition to address many of these issues…here’s hoping!!
I’m recording this for me as much as for anything else but here is the very first 2000pt list I took to the Dark Horizons 3 tournament at Gibraltar Warhammer Club. As you can see it’s far from optimised and was simply built from the modes I had available and painted tat the time. I lost all 3 games but had a great time.
Before I start this isn’t just going to be me bashing 40k (I actually have a sneaky suspicion I’m going to grow to LOVE this game) but I want to give my impressions as a newbie getting into it and what I have found.
My army awaiting the firing squad
I’m well aware that there are many, many nuances and aspects of the game which I simply don’t get. This is also why I want to write this article now, so as I develop as a 40k player I can watch how these unfold infront of me.
The BIG gripe I have with 40k at the moment, is that, to me, it seems more akin to a card game. In that what actually happens in front of me, on the board, has very little bearing on the result of the game.
Huh…what do I mean? Well…
Given the fact that:
Cover has no great effect on the game
There are really no advantages for outflanking
Height gives no advantage and
Facing is simply not a thing
Much of what you do on the table doesn’t seem to actually matter…or at least matters a lot less than the spectacular stratagem combos you can pull off and how well you understand the way these stratagems interact with your and your opponents army.
And that last part for me is crucial…I don’t have time, the desire or the cash to study each codex in detail and remember all the data cards, special effects, specific abilities, traits and stratagems. Yet at the moment every game I play, I pull off what I think is a good move on the tabletop, only to watch as my unit of Vanguard Veteran Assault Marines simply bounce off my opponents 4+, re rollable, invulnerable and instant counter strike mortal wound unit of neophytes…neophytes!
Literally the last man standing…on turn 2!
Well, maybe not quite that but I’m sure you see my point.
I’m used to playing Blood Bowl, Aeronautica, Necromunda and while I know this is not that, in those games, generally, what you see on the table is what there is. You know, more or less, what each model does and its capabilities in their entirety, so you can plan your strategy around what you see in front of you.
40k on the actual table top feels very much to me like line up your guys and charge. With very little nuance in the actual movement and positioning as it’s all superseded by the killer stratagem combo.
And it’s this which makes 40k feels like a card game to me. My stratagem X beats your stratagem Y so die.
Now as I start to understand the stratagems and gain more experience I’m sure this will change, but as a newbie who doesn’t have the time to actually STUDY the rules I find myself increasingly hating this hidden, gotcha element of the game. (I always HATED Tactics cards in Necromunda and never use them in my games for this exact reason)
This only gets magnified with the fantastic amount of rules in 40k. Yes the base rules are simple (though the terrain rules still leave my head spinning) but the rules introduced in the codexes and additional supplements (none of which I have) just boggles my mind. So when my opponent starts quoting rules at me which I have never even seen it leaves me feeling a little cold.
After 5 games with my vanilla Space Marines I can honestly hand on heart say I still haven’t got a clue what’s going on for most of the battle After having invested 10 hours of playing time in any other game I would really expect to feel like I had a grasp of the rules and maybe even an outside chance at winning…as it is I haven’t taken a game past turn 2 yet.
Into the Lungs of Hell
A lot of this I put down to my inherent stupidity but I have to say I step up to the table and my head just goes into meltdown with all the things I have to remember.
The traits,
the one off special rules,
the overlapping aura’s,
the weapon effects,
the exceptions to all the above,
the keywords
and the god damn stratagems.
And that’s just for my army…to realistically stand any chance of winning I need to have at least an idea of what my opponents forces are capable of as well. And that mainly comes down to what hidden (to me at the moment anyway) aura’s exist, what stratagems he has, what abilities his army has. None of which I can actually SEE IN FRONT OF ME…I just see a line of guardsman and think weaklings.
Now if this was any other game I would have simply given up and walked away…but I do feel there is some magic to this game, some genie itching to be released from its bottle.
I’ve had glimpses of it when watching Auspex Tactics on You Tube, when planning my list, when setting up my forces…it’s just when the first dice are rolled it all gets blown away in the first turn!
Some might say I’ve just had the wrong opponents but my opponents have actually been very good. Attempting to point out things I could do and reminding me of abilities my guys have…it just seems so much to remember, none of it seems to stick in my frazzled brain.
Don’t get me wrong I don’t want to shit on this game that I know so many love, and I’m pretty sure as I get up to speed and actually start to have some guys left on the table after turn 1, I’ll fall madly in love with it. It’s just as a newbie, it’s AMAZINGLY hard to get into (and I’m only a newbie to 9th edition I’ve played 40k up to about 3rd edition and a lot of other tabletop games since then)…something which worries me for the future of the game.
Anyway I’ve got a tournament this weekend so hopefully that might start to ease the genie out of his bottle!
This was definitely proving harder than it was supposed to be…
The mission had been simple, The Inquisitor or Corvin as most of his acolytes called him, had briefed them himself, and while the briefing itself had lasted more than an hour, the 5 second version was basically…
Go to the Worldspine, find the Ork command location, call in the Talon and extract.
Simple…
Having finally noticed this planet, following Corvin’s dispatch of couriers to the closest planets on the other side of the Null Zone, word had arrived back a few months ago that the Imperium had dispatched the Dark Wolves Space Marine Chapter to bring about Midgard’s compliance with the Imperial Creed.
The Dark Wolves were well known for having a preference for surgical strikes based on complete intelligence rather than the brute force assaults favoured by so many of their brother chapters. As a result they liked to amass as much intelligence as they could on a potential war zone before committing troops to it.
For this reason they were a favoured tool of the Inquisition, as they could be relied upon to make minimal mess whilst still achieving the required result.
Corvin who had been on the planet for the last 2 years studying the strange effects which had kept it out of Imperial sight for so long, wanted to make sure he had as much intelligence as he could to give them when they arrived.
Which they would in just a couple of days.
This was why Midan and his strike team found themselves out in the Worldspine Mountains in such a mess.
As is so often the case, once on the ground, things hadn’t been as simple as they seemed in the briefing room…
The problem itself was straightforward enough to define…
There were bloody Orks everywhere, the place was teeming with them.
Midan and his crew had been stopping every few minutes (or so it seemed) to avoid another group of them and so were well behind schedule.
It also seemed that rather than being a united group as Corvin had hoped, the Orks of the mountains consisted of so many different tribes that finding one central strong hold seemed slightly optimistic. Added to that, what little intel they had been able to gather from an overhead sweep upon insertion, pointed to the probability that the damn thing was underground, so wasn’t exactly obvious to the eye and they could hardly ask anyone for directions.
Or could they?
It actually seemed that the only way they were going to actually achieve this was to capture one of the green skins and do just that…
Just as they’d made the plan however things had gone ploin shaped. They’d been tracking an Ork patrol and were just preparing to ambush when a particularly nasty looking fellow decided to take a leak right on Electra’s position. Her response had been predictable, brief and brutal but the result was they now had god knows how many of the angry, green brutes bearing down on their position.
On the bright side if they could capture a few of them surely one of them would be able to give them some information.
Game played using the Necromunda Solo Rules which can be downloaded here >>
Contact report to Inquisitor Corvus, ref:145987nt.
Sender: Strike Team Talon.
Location: The Worldspine, Midgard.
The Orks advanced, in what would have been a standard sweep and clear pattern, except that I imagine the Orks had no idea what a sweep and clear pattern was, and were simply moving towards where they thought we were. This suited me just fine as they were clearly unaware we were positioning to deliver a powerful left hook.
At this point several things happened at once. One of the Orks obviously tripped a sensor and a Perimeter alarm starting ringing (Joker Flipped – Complication : Perimeter Alarm). We all immediately hit the deck more out of instinct rather than because we perceived any real threat from the alarm.
Upon hearing the wailing alarm the orks suddenly powered forward (King Flipped – Whole Enemy Crew Activates), charging towards our position at a speed which quite belied their huge, ungainly frames.
Despite having seen the brutes move like this on several occasions their agility continues to surprise and scare me in equal measure.
I was picking myself up when Atarine calmly updated me over the noise of the alarms that the Orks numbers had increased (or more likely her scanner had been picking up ghost returns). Her Bio Scanner was now reading one additional Ork out there (Joker Flipped- Complication – Deploy Specialist).
“Great ,” I mumbled to myself, “just what we need.”
Out on our right flank, there was a sound like a grenade going off (Ace flipped : Battlefield Event – Fumbled Grenade) but when I looked over I could see nothing which could have actually caused the noise (blind revealed as a Blind).
Were we being flanked?
I got Electra on the vox, she’d infiltrated forward as soon as it became obvious we were in for a fight (or as soon as she’s brutally taken care of the first Ork and started the fight!) and was taking up position on the old shack in front of us and had much better lines of sight than the rest of us. She confirmed there had been an explosion but likewise could see no movement out there…I put it out of my mind, I was sure we’d find out either way soon enough.
End of Turn 1
Turn 2
“Boss they’re really close…” said Atarine, the ping of her bio scanner clearly audible over the vox.
“I know” I replied,
“I mean it…”
“I know.”
And I did, the Orks were really close to us and we still hadn’t managed to spot a single one. This didn’t bode well.
I enjoy shooting Orcs as much as the next guy but usually like to do it from a distance, getting up close and personal with them wasn’t my idea of fun.
Well, it wasn’t going to be my day.
Just as the vox bead clicked off in my ear an ear splitting howl rent the air and three orks emerged from the bushes right in front of me. Again moving at that impossible speed they caught me completely flat footed and before I even had a chance to react they were upon me, snarling and biting.
One brute armed with a massive stubber type weapon swung it at me as if it were an axe. I twisted at the last minute and it deflected off my armour. His mate, another pig ugly brute, dropped the ridiculously oversized gun on his shoulder instead coming at me with his teeth and claws. Luckily for me he was in such a rage he forgot to draw the knife at his belt as if he had I’d be dead. As it was my armour was more than proof against his teeth.
As he bit into the armour on my arm, I brought my bolt gun up one handed and blew his guts out even as his jaws remained closed about my vambrace….I had to shake the damn thing off even after it was good and dead.
There was still one boy left, slower than his 2 mates, but with the greenskin still stubbornly refusing to let go of my arm no matter how hard I tried to shake off his dead form, I couldn’t get out of his way.
I heard Liwanu on the vox, “Werowance…down” I threw myself to the ground again and the third Ork boy suddenly disappeared in a hail of las rounds.
Despite following our chief scouts instructions to the word many of the las bolts passed just a few inches over my prone form. I decided to have a few words with Liwanu after we got out of this mess and just double check his sights were properly zeroed.
When I looked up I saw the boy hideously wounded, rolling around on the floor in agony. However I knew from bitter experience how quickly these brutes recovered and put all my focus back into finishing off the one still looming over me.
The momentary distraction of seeing his two mates felled at his side gave me all the opportunity I needed. My earlier movement avoiding the fire of Liwanu had fouled his incoming attack and once again my armour saved me. This allowed me the opportunity I needed and, springing up once more, I managed to put a metre or two between us…it was more than enough.
I swung up my weapon and unloaded the rest of the clip into the beasts midriff. Despite the incredible stopping power of the self propelled bolts I succeeding only in blowing chunks out of the green skin and forcing it back into cover, but it remained breathing and a threat.
Still, at least there was now some distance between myself and it.
Turn 2
Atarine came onto the vox again and said in her clipped ganger accent, “Seems our flanks are secure, I’ve just cleaned up the signal on this piece of crap scanner and it was just signal interference.” (2 blinds revealed as Blinds).
“What the…”
The transmission ended abruptly in a hail of gunfire and another mass of howls as another mob of orcs even bigger than the brutes who had just charged at me, burst out of cover. At almost point blank range they emptied their rapid fire pistols into a horribly exposed Atarine.
She stood shocked and looked down at herself in surprise.
Not a single shot had found its mark. Whilst Atarine was still trying to comprehend the fact she was still alive, a single shot rang out from behind her and one of the boys who was charging down on her was blown backwards with a gaping hole in his chest.
“Velcome you are, little one”, came Electra’s voice over the vox.
Rather than slowing the orks down, this simply seemed to enrage the other 2 and they put on a sudden burst of speed bringing them even closer to the stunned hackers position.
Turn 3
Start of Turn 3
Atarine finally came to her senses and looking up at the approaching orcs, did the most sensible thing she could in my opinion…she legged it. Firing a few shots over her shoulder as she went but more for effect than because she had any chance of hitting anything.
Denied their first target the orks spied Coranna nestled behind a rock in front of them and spurred forward desperate to engage something. Leaving themselves dangerously exposed to enfilade fire as they did. As they did so the ork to Coranna’s right emerged from his hiding position desperate to trap the Eldar in a deadly crossfire.
Coranna simply rose up from behind the rock majestically, his two pistols held out at right angles.
His las pistol sent a beam of super heated light towards the emerging ork boy on his right sending him scrambling for cover and the Ork boss, a huge example of his species, simply crumpled as the toxins from the needle pistol in Coranna’s left hand got to work. Out of ammo on the needle pistol he smoothly holstered it, drawing his other las pistol before stalking off in the direction of the madly thrashing ork boss. Determined to finish him off before he could recover from the toxins flowing around his system.
End of Turn 3
He would be denied his prize however by an orc boy moving in from his right under the escarpment, who unleashed an incredible amount of surprisingly accurate firepower in his direction and forced our xenos back into cover.
Back on our left flank, Vor saw the ork Liwanu had winged earlier and moved into finish him off, the last I saw of him he was charging in, his sword raised high, berserker expression on his face, after that I heard a grunt and no more.
“Vor” I barked, “Vor answer me,”
Silence…
Shit…
Unfortunately I didn’t have time to check what was going on as there was an ork boy still skulking behind the escarpment, readying himself to rush in on our close to overloaded right flank. I swung around the shack and took him completely by surprise, again my bolt gun barked and the ork literally disintegrated in front of me as the explosive bolts got to work.
Before I had time to feel satisfaction, from behind me I heard a dismayed yelp and turned to see the ork which Vor had just charged down running for the hills, having just witnessed his companions grisly fate. What had become of Vor himself, I still had no idea.
Over the roar of the firefight I heard Electra gasp and wild cheers erupt from the Orc boy behind the bush to my left as she went down hard under a lucky shot from his pistol.
Turn 4
Start of Turn 4
From here things really started getting interesting…
Vor suddenly announced his presence on the left flank, enraged by the injury to Electra and despite bleeding profusely from a wound in his midriff. The target of his ire, the ork by who just a moment ago had been cheering, was now looking distinctly worried as the Feral world barbarian charged him down.
The ork managed a few hapless shots in Vor’s direction but due to his panic (and the fact he was an ork) they all went wide…
The ork turned to flee and ran headfirst into the tree behind it, knocking itself clean out. The impact dislodged one of the hard fruit in the trees branches which came sailing down and cracked Vor hard on the top of the head, felling him as if he were a puppet who’s strings had been cut. Both bodies lay there totally unconscious locked in a diabolical lovers embrace covered in juice from whatever fruit it was.
I just hoped the ork stayed in that state long enough for us to finish this mess and capture him and that the juice covering Vors head was from the fruit and not his own broken melon.
Turn 4
This did however leave our left flank empty of any threat and so we were free to concentrate entirely on the few orks remaining on the right. Few but stubborn, these would prove difficult to shift.
We poured a hail of fire into the crawling ork boss and the remaining boy left in the open under the archway of the escarpment…killing the ork boy in a matter of seconds but doing no appreciable damage to the boss, who was a tough brute if ever there was one.
Turn 5
Start of Turn 5
“There’s one still hiding behind the Rocks”, Atarine cried out, as the remaining ork boy, having just witnessed the last of his band wiped out in front of his eyes and now watching his boss crawl numbly towards him, threw caution to the wind and charged howling out of cover, autopistols firing…
If I’m honest I’d not been aware of this boys presence and it was only Atarine’s warning which drew my attention to him at all, so busy raking fire into the ork boss was I.
Coranna who was just standing up, recovering from the wound done to him earlier was caught in the charging orks barrage of fire and went down again, this time to a nasty looking wound in the thigh.
By this point we were all running low on ammo and I could see the crew were starting to tire. I ordered Liwanu and Atarine to resupply and they started tossing out ammo to the rest of us. We reloaded and levelled our guns.
The ork boy charged…
The ork boss looked up, the haze of toxin clearing from his eyes,
The bolter spoke, and from over my shoulder Electra’s long rifle rang out,
Both orks lay dead.
Turn 5
That eerie silence hung in the air as the light breeze slowly cleared the smoke from the scene in front of us.
Atarine ran over to check Coranna’s wounds and despite my misgivings quickly confirmed that both wounds had merely grazed him. With a bit of attention our xenos companion would be back on his feet in no time.
From behind me I heard a rumbling laugh, and I turned to see Vor, unconscious ork dragging behind him, face covered in the juice of whatever fruit it was,
“At least we’re not going to go hungry in these mountains,” he chuckled, “this stuffs really good.” Levering a large piece of the fruit into his mouth and spilling juice from his smiling face everywhere as he did so.
“I’z fed up of scrubin deze zoggin spudz,” yelled Golgofa pelting another one at his gretchin assistant Snos.
“I noze it boss, but Raklaf big nob told uz to…you shudn’t ave told im he was a zog wit.” Snos replied, deftly sidestepping the flying potato.
“I noze it, I noze it,” signed Golgofa, “but e iz just sooo stupid. I mean wot sort of idiot forgetz where dey left deyr wagon, specially wen it’s full of ladz? I’d never do dat ya now…in fact I reckon I could do a betta job dan he does o runnin dis place…I’ve got bigga brains dan im for sure.”
“Well dats true,” said Snos and to be fair it was, Golgofa was probably the cleverest ork he’d ever met.
“You no what…I’m gonna zoggin show im I am, come on, go and grab da ladz, were gonna show dat idiot who shud really be in charge round ere.”
Snos’ heart sank, while it was true Golgofa was the cleverest ork he knew, Roklaf was the biggest, and he had a crew of big, well ard boyz with him…
“Uuuuuur, boss, you sure you wanna do dat?”
Golgofa smiled…”don’t worry little un, I got me a cunnin plan.”
“I’m telling you boss, this place is perfect, fething perfect…”
“Yessss, I heard you the first time” the flapping of the tent door accentuating the staccato hiss of his words
It certainly did sound perfect
Remote location, easily defendable and as far as he could tell totally off the grid but clearly with comms to the outside world…
All in all the perfect place to set up a base camp….
But then a rule which had always served him well was it something seemed too good to be true…it often was.
Their insider was a grade delta shift worker at the place and so while his clearance didn’t allow him access to most of the complex what he had seen so far was certainly encouraging. It was a pity the brotherhood hadn’t managed to place anyone higher up in the hierarchy but the fact they had anyone on the inside was damn impressive given the ridiculous amount of screening each applicant went through.
And that was the rub…somewhere which took security that seriously wasn’t simply going to roll over and open the doors to his ragged band.
Still it couldn’t hurt to take a little look could it? Maybe they could ‘convince’ some of the guards patrolling the perimeter to join them? That way later on they may well be able to just walk up and open the doors.
It had to be worth a look. It had to be better than this damn tent.
The player deploys his forces on a table edge of their choosing no more than 6” from the table edge place the Enemy according to the Sentry Sneak Attack rules.
Enemy Forces
7 gangers with las/auto/shot gun (as wielded by the model), mesh armour , combat knife and las pistol.
The player must infect at least 3 guards, guards may be infecte3d by performing a silent takedown on them.
Silent Takedown (Double)
Perform a move action but the model may come in to B2B contact with an enemy model as long as it is approaching the model out of its LoS. Once in B2B make a normal WS attack at +1 to hit and if you take the model SI or OOA the model is taken down silently and the alarm is not raised.
If the model is not taken OOA the model automatically raises the alarm.
To say it had been a strange day would be an understatement…
He’d been at The Scrum talking to a seller about procuring some off world goods when she’d just walked right over and started chatting up the fethwit he was talking to. He’d been pissed, I mean she was acting like he didn’t exist, it wasn’t as if he really cared….she wasn’t even really his type.
Dressed as though she was a ganger from some bad holo pict movie…all ripped t shirt, blue hair and arms full of tats.
He’d been about to walk away when she’d turned her attention on him…and he was lost.
She was funny, quick and charming and surprisingly (as he found that most women who looked the way she did were bat shit crazy) really easy to talk to.
Looking back on it now he realised he’d been played…no one is that nice down here, but he had enjoyed the way she played him and she was damn good at it. By the end of it he’d almost been convinced and he knew most men would be falling over themselves to say Yes to her, like love struck 15 year olds…
God you could be her dad old man.
Those same idiots would be doubly likely to say Yes when they heard the job she was offering…
Plant a device at the Headquarters of the Iron Collective in Aire, make sure no one tampers with it for a few minutes once it’s in position, extract and collect 300 Credits. Sounded easy.
Fortunately he was no fool, born yesterday. He knew 300 was way over the top for what she was asking in the first place, so why then, on top of the 300 Credits, had whoever was actually hiring for the job sent someone as…persuasive as her…why not just the usual hard nosed thug?
The only answer was, whoever was asking, wanted whoever took the job, to have a bit more skin in the game.
What she was asking was obviously a lot harder and a lot more dangerous than it seemed.
Thank God he was no fool, he’d seen this deal for what it was from the moment the words spilled out of her pretty mouth. Yup he wasn’t born yesterday…
He looked down at the small package in his hand.
300 credits was 300 credits and he had mouths to feed and ammo to buy and besides it would be good to see the smile on her face when he told her the job was done.
Time to find out why whoever wants this job done would send such a classy agent to broker the deal.
The player gang must choose a model from their crew to be carrying the package. That model must move to a location in the centre of the board but 12” away from the enemies deployment zone and spend Double action to place the package. The Gang must then prevent any Enemy models from reaching the package for 3 turns.
As soon as the package is placed The Enemy AI switches to Aggressive using The Package as their target.
If the model carrying the package is taken OOA or SI or if you want to swap who is carrying the package you can move another model into B2B contact with the model carrying the package and perform a Basic action to transfer the package to the new model.
XP
For every enemy model taken OOA +1
To the model who plants the Package +1 XP
To the Leader of the winning gang if the Victory conditions are met +1 XP
