Exfiltration

The Area of Operations - Blockhouse Delta 9.

The Swamp Tigers

Inquisitor Nix and retinue

So, we played game following on from the last, this time with myself as the GM. Pontiff was playing his Swamp Tiger renegade Guard, and Captain Jack his new Inquisitorial warband.

In the last battle, a Valkyrie arrived at the last moment to rescue the Xeno Biologis from the clutches of the Genestealer cult-infected Swamp Tigers. In this game, the Biologis has been dropped off at a guard blockhouse and is awaiting the arrival of an Inquisitor, so that he can report on his findings regarding xenos infiltration of Jeriko Reach and its moons.

I decided to give each of the players some secret info they could choose to act upon in game if they wanted to. An agent of the cult had secreted a bomb onto the Valkyrie during refuelling, and Pontiff had to tell me before the game which turn it would explode on. He choose turn 5, expecting the Inquisitors to attempt to board the ship and hoping it would explode as they lifted off.

The Inquisition have eyes everywhere though, and they got wind of that a bomb had been planted somewhere, though they didn’t know exactly where. This meant they were allowed to scan terrain features as they went along, needing an Initiative test to determine if the bomb was present or not.

There were a few more plot related points, but if I reveal them here the guys will find out and they won’t be a surprise in future games ;-)

So then, the Xeno Biologis and bodyguard started in the blockhouse, and the Inquisitor came on from a randomly determined edge. It turned out to be a bit of a slog for the (movement 3) Grymn, but they put down plenty of fire as they advanced.

The Swamp Tigers came on from the opposite edge, and were on the Biologis in short order with two Purestrain Genestealers. One of these put the poor guy out of action, but, mysteriously stopped short of biting his skull in two. It then continued across the table to intercept Inquisitor Nix, while the other purii skulked into the Valkyrie’s passenger hold.

The Swamp Tigers put down a lot of effective fire on the Grym, pinning them down for much of the battle. The force shield pylons were a nasty surprise too, as I hadn’t told anyone that they inflicted a Str 3 hit on any model passing through, as well as providing a 4+ save to any model shot through the shield by a solid projectile weapon.

Then, the Valkyrie exploded, spraying hot metal and squishy Genestealer all over those nearby. The Grymn has seen the stealer enter the rear hatch, and could only wonder why it had apparently committed suicide…

The battle reached a climax as Inquisitor Nix and the purii closed on one another. Nix judged the distance just right, luring the stealer out into the open where she could shoot it with her plasma pistol. She wounded it, and it went down. Next turn she charged in, and because it was down she finished it off with a clean sweep of her power sword.

At that, the Swamp Tigers withdrew. The Xenos Biologis hadn’t been captured, but was looking distinctly unwell following his close encounter with the Purestrain. Inquisition Nix is now aware of cult activity in the Jeriko system, so it looks like the uprising is coming to a head.

The Swamp Tigers move in on their objective.

Peakaboo!

He's behind you! The Xenos Biologis' day goes from bad to worse...

Inquisitor Nix has a word.

Incoming Battle Report

Hey all. We've just posted a new battle report on the new blog.

Regards

Colonel Kane

Recovery on the Moon of Spite

+++Posted for Captain Jack, whose cogitator terminal has run out of internets+++

Ordo Xenos Biologis, accompanied by bodyguard and Navigator

The background for this game is a continuation of a fact finding mission lead by part of an Inquisitors retinue to the Jeriko Reach moon of Spite. The set up for the Imperials had their rescue objective, three members of the Inquisitors retinue grouped in the centre of the table. An artillery dice was rolled for the direction of travel of the Scribe, which would move d6 inches per turn until contacted by the patrol. Half of Patrol Drake set up by the crashed Lander, and the second part of the patrol would turn up on a reserves roll on the opposite edge of the table. The Pontiffs’ troops were split into groups of two or three, and individual Genestealers. The pontiff had 6 D6 at the start of each turn, and one group would be set up on a randomised table edge on the roll of a 6 (this didn’t stop him getting 2 or 3 per turn).

Patrol Drakes mission was to meet up with the Inquisition, and escort them off the opposite table edge. The Pontiff had to prevent this from happening.

The first few turns saw the crashed half of Patrol Drake move towards the Inquisitorial retinue, while the Pontiffs’ troops organised themselves into good ambush positions (A lot of 6’s were rolled early on). A good rolling defence was set up by the patrol, but they ran into serious trouble when they made it to the Scribe and his two minders. The pontiffs’ troops made a good job of pinning the scribe and the patrol in the centre, and it was only the timely arrival of the second half of the patrol behind one ambush group that provided a glimmer of hope. Meanwhile in the centre two of the three Genestealers had been dealt with, but unfortunately for Drake the good camouflage of one of the Genestealers had allowed it to within striking distance of the patrol.

With a cry of ‘Where in His Name did that come from’ the first of Drakes troopers was knocked off his feet. Without hesitation the ‘Stealer followed up into more of the patrol, including the medic who followed his comrade into the dirt. All that was left in the end was for Drake to confront the beast with unsurprising results…

At the same time on the open edge the second half of the patrol had made hard work of clearing out the gangers opposite, but had prevailed. They now moved towards the centre of the table, but would be too late to have any influence. As GM I decided that on the roll of a 6 an Emergency call box carried by the scribe would call in a Valkyrie to pick up the beleaguered troops, and a 6 was promptly rolled halting the Genestealers carnage.

At the end of it all, not much of the Patrol was still standing. However much to our chagrin the injury rolls were (too) kind, with only Drake hating the forces of the Pontiff, and the rest making full recoveries.

Patrol Drake element move out from the crash site to link up with the target

Lance Corperal Kash leads a flanking attack

Firefight on the flank

Cult fire support group hold the patrol at bay

A Genestealer come out of nowhere!


Corperal Drake attacked by the 'stealer