A Prison For Gods - Part 4 'False Prophets'

TRIGGER WARNING: MOBILE PHONE PICTURES MAY BE OFFENSIVE TO SOME


Brother Zaitus walked amongst the dead. Bodies torn and ruptured, entrails and viscera stained the ground. He had seen it a hundred times but each and every time it pained him. Humans, his own species turned from the light, spurned on by falseness and lies. Taking a xenos life was a thing to be celebrated, enjoyed, relished... the taking of a human life was a grave task and not one he took lightly. Brother Volo of Squad 16 had rode in on the drop pod, he stood vigil over a pile of burning corpses solemnly like the grim reaper himself. There were no celebrations, not hollering and chanting... only silence... and prayers for those who had fallen from the Emperor's light and followed that fool into battle.

----------------
10 minutes earlier
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 Zaitus crept through the ruins, inching ever close to the open ground in front of the power generator. He could hear the loud booming voice of Preacher Hopkins. He recognised the voice. The Emperor's Vessel he'd called himself. The Voice of the Emperor. The Vessel through which He speaks. It was blasphemy. It was dangerous. It was false! Hopkins had called for the destruction of the fallen Black Scorpions. 'The blessed sons of the emperor had forsaken their duties' and so on. 'A fool' thought Zaitus. The preacher had riled up the local populace. The local militia and PDF had taken up arms and began patrolling dangerously near the Scorpion lines. 'A dangerous fool indeed' thought Zaitus, as he levelled his scope and saw the shapes of the Krieg, PDF and the famous Preacher in the distance. Zaitus heard the familiar sound. Screaching drop pods plummeting through the clouds. Death comes for them all!


FORCES:
 1500 pts - Maelstrom - Deadlock (6 objective cards going to 5,4,3,2,1 as the turns proceed)
Rottimus - Black Scorpions 

Scorpion Battle Line

Thomas - Imperial guard 

Turn 1

Amongst them! Shock Combat!

The Black Scorpions won the roll off to go first and promptly moved into the ruins. A baneblade superheavy loomed in the distance and was a primary target. The first turn saw a brutal assault.
2 drop pods entered the fray and roasted 3 heavy bolter teams and the platoon command squad. First Blood. The thunder fires opened up and destroyed the command chimera, pounding it to pieces.

Drop pods come crashing down!

The two scout landspeeders moved forward pumping heavy bolter shots and blinding missiles into the enemy lines killing several more troopers.

Wrecked command chimera

Quad mortars targeted the bane blade and removed a hull point. A strong opening turn. A shock assault. I scored 7 victory points due to good card drawing + stealing an objective from Thomas.

It was now Thomas' turn to fight back. The brave (but misguided) guardsmen took aim. Sabotage, poor maintenance and lack of prayers to the ommnissiah resulted in a shocking turn of shooting.

Thomas' Plasma gun roll! (he died)

Misses, failures to wound and some decent saves from me resulted in 1 dead scout from a flamer, a hull point from a land speeder, a wound on a thunder fire. The baneblade had yet to fire!....The Baneblade! It slowly swung it's turret around, it targeted the space marines that had newly arrived and.... scattered into Thomas' own lines killing two guardsmen and 1 space marine.

Not enough forces free, and terrible rolling meant that Thomas only scored 1 out of 6 objective cards.

Turn 2

The Spacemarine vicious assault had clearly left the guardsmen rattled. The two scout squads pushed forward. The tactical marines (who were all still alive) pushed into the lines. The fireraptor entered the fray and lost a hull point to the Quad Cannon interceptor fire. A drop pod that was luckily empty scattered off the table!

The shooting began. The scouts killed everyone in the command squad except the Colonel. He was on his own. Zaitus and his sniper scouts took aim, 12 sniper shots viciously gunned down the Colonel with pure nastiness. Slay the Warlord.

Take Aim!

Colonel 26143 stands alone.... and died alone!

The Tacticals flamed many guardsmen to death again. The artillery opened up on the bane blade. Quad mortars and Thunderfires stripped 4 more hull points from the bane blade.

The fireraptor, diving down from the skies targeted the baneblade and its avenger bolt cannon ripped apart two Sentinels in true A10 BRRRRRRT! fashion. It then fired 4 missiles right into the baneblades flank. 3 hit the mark. 'I only need 5's and 6's' I said.... 5 5 6 was the roll! Three more hull points stripped!

The assault phase saw the utter destruction of Thomas' right flank as Commissar richter was slain and his squad cut down by scouts. The preacher Hopkins was viciously cut down by the tacticals along with his squad. The hammer blow came as my other tactical squad scrambled onto the baneblade. A well place krak grenade wrecked the mighty baneblade!. Luckily I rolled a 1 on the catastrophic damage table resulting in a small blast that didn't kill anyone.

Commissar Richter, laid low by the scouts.

Preacher Hopkins, disembowelled by the sergeant!

An unamed sergeant, who valiantaly slew a marine! before running away and getting cut down.

In two turns the Imperial lines had been utterly demolished. Thomas accused me of worshipping Khorne... I dismissed his claim yet... I'd scored 8 victory points... 8....the sacred number of Khorne! *denial intensifies!*

Thomas, with a brave face brought in his vendetta and tried to shoot down the fireraptor. He took a hull point off it, a last ditch attempt to salvage something.

At this point, we were hungry and ate pizza instead of playing on. There were 2 heavy weapon teams left on the table.


Result:
Black Scorpions: 15
Krieg Guard: 1

Black Scorpion Casualties: 3 men + 1 drop pod

The Krieg Casualties: LOTS!

Conclusion

Games like these happen sometimes. Everything that can go wrong goes wrong for one player and everything that can go right goes right for the other. I mean, his lascannons missed their shots. Those that hit ones to wound, his plasma gunner rolled two ones, frying himself. His baneblade killed more of his own men than mine. Truly this was evidence that the Emperor is with me... surely? Thanks to Thomas for hosting and being a great sport. At least the game was comical! Though I fear the Krieg will return for revenge soon!


Man of the match? For me, the fireraptor was epic. It came in and did a full on airstrike strafing run killing two sentinels and stripping 3 hullpoints off the baneblade.

A Prison For Gods - A Serpentine Bargain

The battlemasters of the Black Scorpions sat and watched through the viewing glass. The sparring robot was set to maximum capacity. The plain, metallic arena in front of them was a swirling melee as the marine fought bare-chested, sword in hand, against the flurrying robot. Their movements were a blurr, inhumanly fast. 

The robot hacked and slashed, methodically. It's programs running the numbers, calculating each and every possible move, learning and updating with each parry and miss. It seemed to be gaining the upper hand over the novice marine. It slash downward, shockingly, the marine leapt into the blow on purpose allowing it to land squarely on his shoulder. The blade crunched through bone and bit deeply. As the robot struggled to pull it's blade free the raging marine brought his own sword down, splitting the robot's head in two. He kicked the robot away and it fell clanking and grinding into submission. The marine, barely out of breath, turned and faced the masters, he knelt without so much as a groan. The bloody wound already clotting and healing.

Surgeon Gratus stood up and addressed the battlemasters. ''As you can see, after administering the stimulant, even a newly initiated brother shows increased speed, perception and strength. The healing factor is increased dramatically as is endurance and pain management''
''Are their any adverse effects?'' queried one of the masters
''Some dependence issues but no interference or adverse effects. It's perfect''
The battlemasters each perused the box of plant material in front of them. Gratus continued ''The process in creating the substance is relatively easy, the difficult part of the equation is acquiring the ingredients. The will not grow here, nor can they be synthesized. The black markets have proven....unstable. We must find a viable source. We have several agents on the lookout already''
''Gratus, this a grave violation of the tenets of the Astartes. Their form is pure and should not be tampered with!''
''You are a fool if you believe the seed to be undiminished in 10 000 years. The emperor created perfection. That perfection has, slowly, over the years been diluted by superstition and impure methods. The feckless idiots at the adeptus mechanicus rely on chants and ointments and machine spirits. The Emperor was a man of science... we should follow his example'' The leaders of the chapter grumbled and muttered amongst themselves. Chapter Master Kaine had sad in silence throughout the whole display. He rose ''Gratus.... proceed with caution.... but proceed''

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Solius Gink was a scoundrel, a dashing pirate, a con-man, a grifter, a heartbreaker. At least that's what he told himself. In reality, he was a cunning slave trader. He sat quietly by the bar. This asteroid space station was a filthy mess. All manner of aliens and strange things roamed the market stalls and ship repair yards. The bar was busy with bargaining and gambling. This was the furthest out Gink had ever been. Beyond any semblance of Imperial Control. The local 'governor' was literally a brainless servitor chained to desk, dressed in a stolen golden cloak. A mockery of the Imperium's lack of control out here. Gink's employers had been very specific and they knew Gink was amongst the few who could accomplish it for them.

Gink's employers remained anonymous so far. They promised great things. Beasts, monsters and creatures of all shapes and sizes. Countless slaves on offer. Their only rules? no humans. Strange thought Gink. Humans made the best slaves.

The tall thing entered the bar precisely on time and sat next to Gink. It was slim. impossibly slim. Lithe and graceful. It lifted it's hood and revealed an impossibly beautiful face. The pointed ears pierced with sharp objects and evil symbols, it's almond eyes black as night. Dark Eldar. Gink swallowed his terror. ''You have your list?'' it asked in a sultry voice. Gink handed it over, trying his best to hide his trembling.

The thing looked over the list of available creatures carefully. It's eyes bulged, a look of surprise.
''Is this accurate? Can you truly deliver such creatures to us?'' The thing pointed towards an entry on the list that gave him chills.
'Genestealer'
''And this?''
'Ork nob'.
The thing laughed with evil glee. Such creatures could fetch extreme prices on the fleshmarkets of Commoragh ''and this even?'' It tapped furiously and gleefully on the list:
'1000 Tau civilians'
Gink replied carefully. ''Yes... every last one. If you can provide me with what my employer wants.'' He handed over his second list.
'Grave Lotus, Hypex, Wiltflower, Dreadleaf, Soulstems, Lance weaponry, Anti-grav systems'

The thing grimaced. "My lord Ozzy can provide such things, in vast quantities, but he requires something other than slaves and mewling beasts. He requires something of a more... direct nature." The thing slide a dataslate over to Gink. It was a star map of the Faustus sub-sector.

The Battle of Haken's Drift - 3000 pts Space Marines vs Necrons!

The Mission: Spoils of War (where you can score each others objective cards)

Evodius had, reluctantly, followed the advice of the captured necron lord. He was still disturbed that his Chapter Master had kept such a secret. Conversation, parleying with a foul xenos? It left a bad taste in Evodius' mouth but alas the information given by Ahun-sakh was undeniably useful. His force had brought terrible weapons with them, ancient and forbidden. The flux-arc tank! The emp missiles! The thermite artillery shells! The list went on. Tactics, movements, anecdotes. Ahun-sakh's hatred of Hautsi burned with a fierceness. Evodius knew Ahun-sakh had no soul but he could feel the rage... feel the betrayal. A need for revenge emanting from the captive overlord, a need that had burned for eons. Now, at least partly, some of that would be fulfilled.

The Armies:

Rik's famous Bone-crons!

Standard decurion with 80 warriors, 20 immortals, Canoptek harvest and 2 night scythes. 20 flayed ones creepin' in the background too. Hautsi and lychguard were the HQ. A Ctan hovered in the background too.

Rottimus' Space marines of Glorius Glory!

1 Baal strike force consisting of Evodius (Astorath), Death company, Sanguinary Guard with a priest and 2 drop podding tactical squads, a demios vindicator, fire raptor gunship
+
1 CAD Space Marine formation consisting of Telion, 20 scouts, thunderfires, quad mortars,  and 3 stalker anti air tanks. A lord of war joined them, a Knight Cerastus!


Turn 1

The Bone-crons got first turn, deploying in typical fashion: Ultra horde.

Their first turn was relatively tame. They all moved forward, eager to close the distance and get withint that 24/12 inch rapid fire range.  I'd deployed mostly out his deadly 24'' range. An infiltrating land speeder storm was shot down. First Blood!. Some pot shots removed a few scouts that spilled out of it and they ran for their lives. Rik scored two objective cards

My forces sallied forth! Sanguinary guard, Death company and the knight cerastus moved forward. A land speeder storm moved forward too. Two drop pods with tactical flamer squads came down on riks left flank amongst his immortals and canoptek harvest.

The space marine artillery opened up. Thunder fires and quad mortars rained down killing a fair number of warriors. The relentless pounding was a sight to behold (and a tedious weapon to fire) 24 small blast markers per turn!

Bolstered ruins!

Deployment!

more deployment

Beasts and Monsters

My first turn was a bit of a nasty one. The artillery took its toll. I think I killed about 10-15 warriors and 4 of Rik's lych guard. The drop podding flamers killed a whole bunch of scarabs, bathing them in flamey death.

The stroke of genius/doucheness came from firing a large blast marker of blinding missiles into the massive horde of warriors. The 3 units were hit by the large blast causing a blind test on each of the 3 units. Rik failed all his blind tests due to low initiative. (a hammer blow. That was 60 warriors now at WS and BS 1)

Battle-surgeon Gratus marched forward. A cluster of missiles screeched overhead landing in amongst the inexorable horde of necrons. The missiles didn't explode but erupted in spray of sparks and electrical arcs. The necrons ahead of him juddered and lurched as if being electroctued. Sparks flew out of eye sockets and joints. The intel had been solid. These weapons worked well. The disoriented warriors barely reacted as his men set about them, chopping, hacking and smashing the foul robots to smithereens. 

The sanguinary guard and the priest charged headlong into a warrior squad. Their decades of war, sheer rage and skill was too much. The 20 man warrior unit, blinded and disoriented was cut down! A harsh blow to Rik's forces. The knight titan failed against the wraiths. He killed one but took 2 hull points back in damage. Locked! I scored two objectives:

Rottimus: 2
Rik: 3

Centre field!

The Knight charges in and the drop pods come down

Charging forth!

Massacre!

Death!

Slicey slice!

 Turn 2

Rik rolled for his reserves. The 20 man flayed one unit came in, outflanking on my left side. The nightscythe with immortals came in too, landing behind my knight, trying to take on my death company!

The remaining scarabs moved to try and nom nom the knight. Shooting from Rik's forces was again, mostly out of range. My 3+ saves actually worked this time and saved most of the shooting aimed at my tacticals that had dropped in. I took a few casualties.

The sanguinary guard shrugged off all the wild, blind shooting from the 3 necron units losing only 1 man. The Ctan moved in as did 20 warriors and the Overlord Hautsi. They charged in. The ctan failed to make it, the rest did but WS1 against sanguinary guard didn't do much. The overlord killed 2 of the proud warriors. locked!

Rik's immortals charged into the tacticals and as usual it was boring, too evenly matched and stayed locked, struggling to do damage to each other.

Rik scored 1 objective.

Immortals beam in!

The mighty knight!

Flanking flayers!

My turn 2 went ahead. The fireraptor entered the fray. Unleashing its payload on warriors killing 7.  The landspeeder storm turn around and unleashed the scouts at the flayed ones. The blinding missile fired again, blinding the flayed ones. Artillery concentrated on the flayed ones and killed a whole lot. My stalkers blasted the nightscythe out of the sky with ease.

The scouts charged in and killed 4, losing 4 in return (we forgot that the flayed ones were blinding and should have been hitting on 5's. my mistake) locked.

My knight did badly again but this time it managed to stomp around a bit and killed a few nearby immortals. The Death company aided the knight and killed a few wraiths. Slowly I was grinding Rik down.

The sanguinary guard were slowly being overwhelmed by the sheer numbers and the overlord's 1 remaining bodyguard refusing to die. The guard lost a few more men and were beginning to look like they'd die soon.

I scored 4 objectives this time. 2 secured and one d3 which was a 2.

Rik: 4
Rottimus: 6

Turn 3

Rik was eager to break the sanguinary guard's hold on his right flank. His left flank was collapsing slowly as the knight and the death company kept hacking away at the wraiths. His second nightscythe came in... but alas, the stalker unit was too ready. It was peppered and rocked with heavy calibre shells and fell out of the sky, exploding on the ground.

With most of his units locked in close combat his shooting was short. Two battered units of warriors was all that remained. The assault phase was a turgid affair. A few more sanguinary guard fell but not as many as Rik would have liked (feel no pain ftw!)

The flayed ones sliced and diced the last scout and consolidated dangerously close to my artillery.

Brave scout dies heroically!

The sanguinary guard bravely fight on!

 The Knight finally made some headway, stomping the scarabs and killing a wraith. The death company did the same. All that remained now was a single wraith. Rik scored zero objectives. All were contested and his others were unattainable.

Air support

 My turn 3 was similar. My artillery again, bombared the crap out Rik's forces, scoring a ton of wounds but only managing a few casualties. His reanimation with re-rolling 1's was simply too effective. In close combat things went badly. immortals vs tacticals was moot. My sniper scouts killed 4 flayed ones and they failed their leadership! Running away from the artillery.
 
The knight and the death company finally eradicated the wraiths! Rik's left flank was now doomed. The knight, with 2 hull points remaining, the death company with Evodius and two tacticals (albeit slightly reduced) faced 15-16 immortals.

The bloody tavern

My sanguinary guard was reduced to 1 man. The Overlord had cut down the priest but the fearless guard held on!

My scout

I scored 2 objectives

Rik: 4
Rottimus: 8

comin' at ya'

Sell your lives dealer!

End of Rik's turn 3.

Hero!

The landspeeder, ready to strike.

Rik's left flank collapses!

Looming death!

Turn 4

Rik drew his objective cards and got nothing he could achieve. Looking at the table... he decided to concede. The left flank was collapsed. My remaning sanguinary guard would be killed in his assault phase leaving everyone open to massed shooting.

Result: 8-4 Space marine victory.

Conclusion:

Well well well... A victory against the dreaded decurion! Last time I played against them I lost. Their resilience was too much and I just couldn't cause the casualties. This time, I brought some big guns, a knight and some extras that I didn't have before. Tactically, I'd kept his dreaded wraiths at bay, pushed right into him with sanguinary guard and death company all while my artillery pounded him.  

I'd learned a bit about the necrons too and found some weaknesses:

Ap 2 - Necrons struggle with 2+ saves. There's not a huge amount of stuff with ap2

Blind - OMGZ blind weapons are ACE against necrons. Blind weapons make you do a initiative test (roll equal or lower to pass the test) If you fail, you are blinded and have WS1 and BS1 for one whole turn. This game I managed a shot which blinded 3 units. Making 70% of Rik's army shoot at 6's and hit in CC at 5+. Scarily effective against necrons

24 inches+... Basically just stay away if you can.


The future? Well I have put my fear to bed. I'm no longer scared of Necrons. I know I can handle them now. BUT I still think wraiths are insane. They're just so hard. Hard as nails. I held them up and made sure they did no damage this game but look at what I had to do... A knight, a death company and astorath! That's 800 pts vs 240 pts and the 240 pts held up the 800 for 3 turns!

All in all, a good game! Well fought by Rik.

Man of the match? Hard to say but probably the last remaining sanguinary guard simply for holding up 15 warriors, an Overlord and Ctan to essentially win me the game.

Hydrobian 8th Reinforcements - WIP

So, having neglected my poor guardsmen for a while now I've finally gotten round having a go at filling out the troop numbers.

The plan so far is simply to make things legal and fill out the missing members of the squad.

These are all very WIP. Drilling, mold lines and greenstuffing is still missing... the jist is there though!

First up is this cool dude, Captain Harkol

Next up! The command squad. Take advatange of that BS4!

Missile launcher

Modern warfare dude!

More dudes for Squad 3

Commissar Heinrich Goetze. Used the heretic commissar body and cleaned it up. Still need to greenstuff a chaos tabard and fill some scratches and clean him up a bit. But happy overall.

More dudes!