Void Station Ambush - a Rogue Trader Battle Report

Well then, you wait two years then two battle reports come along at once! Following last week's game, where Gadge's Sensei warband captured the coordinates of the 47 Tucanae Passage, a warp route leading out of the galactic disk to a dense cluster of Slann homeworlds, he's arranged to link up with some compatriots, including a Navigator and a Piscean Tracker, at an outlaw void station. An as yet unidentified rival has hired a local gang of degenerate techno-punks to ambush the Sensei and stop him reaching the planets of gold!

For this game we decided to use a Forge World Zone Mortalis board to represent the shabby interior of the void station. Gadge took his Sensei from last week, plus the Navigator, Piscean and an Eldar free trader they were linking up with. I took a gang of techno savages (the old Mark Copplestone Future Warriors miniatures) plus a converted Hasslefree barbarianette armed with a force sword. Both sides came to around 450 points and each had a level two psyker.

The Sensei warband

The techno-punk kill-mob, led by Boss Hamm and the deadly Grammatrix, Gayle.

The field of battle. The Sensei enter at the top centre in order to link up with their compatriots in the middle of the board. The techno-punk kill-mob enter from any board edge.

The Mission

We decided between us that the mission would be centered around the Sensei meeting their associates and then exiting the area by way of one of the two large access points (one on the southern edge in the picture above, the other on the western edge). The kill-mob would be attempting to stop them.

As the Zone Mortalis board includes movable doors, we decided that an Intelligence Test taken in the shooting phase instead of firing a weapon would open or close a hatch, and that this could also be done using the Telekinesis power. 

Action!

The kill-mob deployed in four groups. One squad came in from the south, one from the west, while the Grammatrix Gayle infiltrated from the north and Boss Hamm came in from the south west. There was much hiding in the first few turns, leading to a tense stand off which lasted until Gadge's two units had linked up. Then, it all kicked off!

Here are a few highlights...

Enter the Sensei...

 

The Navigator, Piscean Tracker and Eldar Free Trader wait nervously for the Sensei warband.

More punks advance along the southern tunnels.

One group of techno-punks move in from the west, using the cargo crates as cover.

The Sensei use a Blind grenade to block the punks' flanking move.

The Piscean Tracker detects an approaching punk and charges, killing him after a turn, only for Boss Hamm to counter-charge and avenge his fallen minion.

The Sensei's trusty hound points the way to the meeting area!

Boss Hamm and the Sensei engage. The Navigator subsequently chased off five punks, before the lone survivor rallied, turned and struck him down.

Meanwhile, the door slams in the flanking party's face (thanks to a Telekinesis power) and they fail three turns worth of Int tests trying to get it open again!

Having stalked the Eldar Free Trader through the dark tunnels, Gayle finally makes her move, charging in and using her force sword to fell the Sensei and his minion. That frees up Boss Hamm and they both close on the only survivor, capturing the Free Trader to hand over to their employer.

The Aftermath

For most of the game it looked like Gadge's Sensei would slaughter the punks and escape, but it suddenly turned. In a single turn the Navigator was killed and Gayle struck from behind, switching the result to a victory for Boss Hamm's techno-punks. We rolled to see what happened to the main characters, and the Sensei survived, albeit with serious injuries and awakening in the depths of the void station having been captured by Boss Hamm's gang. 

So, next time we'll be running a prisoner rescue game, fought across several levels of the station as the Sensei call in a favour to extract their hero.