Bloody Sunday

 "You hear that?" 

"Hmmm? What?"

"Chanting," the soldier said lowly, "They are coming."

The second man sighed. "Did we get confirmation we can pull back?"

"No," he replied. Grimly he lifted viewers to his goggles. "I think they have an ogryn." 

"Dammit." Another sigh. "Well then.... for Cadia?" 

"For Cadia."

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * 

On Sunday I got together with Tinqiu and sent in my Blooded Traitor Guard versus his veteran Kasrkin. The board was Volkus #4, the mission, Extraction. 

The 12 members of the Blooded spread out across the deployment zone but the heavy concentration was on the west flank.

In the centre were men ready to support either side while guarding the middle objective.

The Kasrkin in cover ready to take high ground and rein down accurate Hotshot lasfire.

The board is ready.

The Ogryn rushed up the flank, forcing the sniper to reconsider his position or get charged next turn.

The plasma gunner hunkers down behind a portable barricade.

On the east flank, a trooper advances.

In the east stronghold, the Kasrkin melta gunner moved inside to get ready for turn two but the traitor Enforcer moved up and riddled him with bolt pistol rounds. He survived... for now.

Seeing an opprotunity to get first blood, the traitor sharpshooter ran up and finished him off!

The Kasrkin moved into position on the high ground for turn two.

At the start of turn 2 (on the back of some serious lucky init rolls even though the rereoll was forced), the Enforcer ran up and power fisted the trooper on the east flank.

The sharpshooters trading fire! The loyalist was a better shot but could not get the kill shot.

In the centre, the flenser searched for the objective but it was not there.... where could it be?

Back on the east flank the Kasrkin commander charged and cut down the Enforcer, and was quickly patched up from his wounds by the medic. Is this the start of the Kasrkin's turnaround?

In the west stronghold the Vox operator moved in to start the search but a tropper ran up and fired over the wall, missing his shots.

The Ogryn charged the trooper at the wall and severely wounded him but failed to kill. The Melta gunner ran up to shoot the recon operator but also failed to kill.  The traitor melta gunner was cut down! The Traitor Cheiften ran in and searched for the Objective in the west stronghold and found it, but was sniped dead for his efforts. The pendulum has swung to the Kasrkin! The Traitors are panicking as their numbers dwindle faster than the Loyalists!

(Imagine masssive explosion)
The traitor grenadier ran up and whipped his dyabolic bomb at the Kasrkin and killed two, the recon operator and the grenade launcher gunner. The traitor plasma gunner killed another. The Pendulum began to swing back.

The Kasrkin sniper has the high ground, can he turn the tide?

At the beginning of turn 3, things are desperate for the Imperials. The traitors have scored 5 points to 0 for the crit op, while the Kill Op is in their favour but not by much. Both sides have a a point or two in the tac op.

On the west flank the Butcher charges and kills the commander while the medic stocially prepares to hold his ground.

In the centre the jubilant Grenadier's armour is shredded by return fire desspite the smoke, but instead of hiding he whips krak grenades ineffectually at the high ground shrouded in smoke. The trooper makes him pay for his insolence.

The Flenser runs up under the shadow of the ruins while the Corpseman secures the objective marker.

At the end of three turns the Kasrkin were mathematically out of the chance of winning (they could not get close enough to secure the objective and even wiping me out did not get enough points to catch me if I did nothing else) so we called it there after a vicous and hard fought battle.

Death From Above

 I got together with the Lord Solar of the Tempestus Aquilons, Tinqiu, for a vicous game of Kill Team with my Blooded getting its first look at a real opponent. 

The Blooded ready for action.

The back of the Aquilons minus their Tempestor who was hiding in a bag at the desk. We found him.

The crit op was Sabotage: hold objectives for VPs, or sabotage the objective in the opponents territory for a VP.

Official Mascot of the Aquilons.

The Aquilons kept most of their models in reserve, giving me very little info to go on in TP 1.

I sent 4 Blooded to contest the big chamber, while the rest would flood in and try and hold the point 3 chamber.

Lots of barricades in the big point 1 chamber, but where are the Aquilons?

There they are, securing chamber point 2 and making sure no one opens that door.

With the sniper and plasma gunner ready to lay down supporting fire, and the Trench sweeper and Butcher ready to charge, the Aquilons avoided entering chamber 1 right away.

The servo sentry arrived ready to blast through the door into chamber 1.

Turning point 2 and the Butcher uses the portal barricade to guard the point.

The Aquilons surprise attack chamber three buy dropping directly in, the Grenadier throwing his meltabomb on the Orgryn who did not survive. The Enforcer charged the Grenadier but failed to quickly dispatch him while the Precursor then dropped in and killed the Traitor Grenadier who dyabolic bomb did not cause any harm. It took the Flenser's knives to finish off the Grenadier Aquilon.

The casualties begin to mount.

The Corpseman and the Vox operator reinforce the reeling Blooded in chamber 3.

Meanwhile, in the corridor the Aquilons debate opening the door to Chamber 1 while the Tempestor and friends secure chamber 2. The Blooded leader sliced the gunfighter stem to root as he tried to rally the troops.

More mounting casualties.

The melta and plasma gunners drop in and sabotage the point! Scoundrels! But the Enforcer survived the onslaught as he orders the Flenser to charge.

At the beginning of Turning Point 3 I could feel the tide turning against me, and I forgot to take more pictures until the end because it was so intense. 

The 4 Blooded in the chamber 1 tried to reinforce chamber 3 but the advantage of the Aquilons started to gain momentum. While many Aquilons died in Chamber 3, all of the Blooded were sacrificed.

At the end the Aquilons held the field and sported a dominating 17-8 victory.

Lessons Learned: 

I should have tried to use guard more to prevent the Aquilons from dropping in and toasting so many of my guys, and my failure to kill them as quickly as they dropped in meant I fell behind quickly, I also had my melta gunner way out of useful position and he did nothing, while my four guys in the chamber 1 were also overcommitted preparing for an attack that did not come. 

Next time there will be (more) blood!

Battle of the Evil Guards

I don't get out to play Kill Team as much as I would like, other activities that I want to also do take up time in my life so playing the NPOs at home when i have a quiet morning or evening realy helps me test out teams and get a feel for them without embarassing myself on the table against someone else.

The problem with playing the NPO missions is that you quickly learn that the NPOs are a bit like a logic puzzle; if you move here, that NPO will expose themselves and you can get a favourable trade in damage or position.  Some missions are tough and fun but its always the NPOs doing the defensive approach and the player on the attack. They lack the tools in special rules and strategic thinking to push an objetive properly like a player would.

With that in mind, I decided to do the ultimate nerd thing and play both sides of a normal match as if I were playing a regular game against someone else. An experiment to see if its even possible.

I wanted to take the newly painting Blooded kill team for a run to see how they work and feel. 

I decided to match them up against the Brood Brothers because both teams have similar feel to them and I'm pretty familiar with the Broody Boys in this edition.

The board was ITD with three obective represented by the consoles in the centre of the big and small rooms and bomb in the middle.

The teams both set up some light barricades for cover, and the Blooded added a minefield in the small room to make it harded for the Brood to assault.

The Blooded decided to make a big push for the centre and small room objectives, and delaying sniper and trench sweeper on the large room.

The Brothers decided to try and assault all sections equally, with krak grenades to help deal with the Ogryn.

Here we go!

The familiars raced ahead to get ready for turning on the objectives (Crit Mission was Transmission) while the Brother Sniper covered the room from the hatch.

The central corridor was going to be a tough fight so the demolitions expert, vetern, and vox operator supported the powerful Primus.

In the small room, the Blooded quickly established a presence, with guarding plasma gunner ready to fire upon anyone opening the far door.

The Brood prepare their assault on the small room in turn 2.

In the large room the Blooded sniper also took up opposing position, ready to shoot anyone going to the console objective (since it was supposed to just be a marker, we are treating the consoles as insignificant for cover).

In the centre, the mountain of muscle moved quickly, followed by the commander, corpseman, and meltagunner. The Brood prepared to fight!

At the start of Turning Point 2, the familiars raced up and activated the transmissions, hoping to keep the Blooded from turning them to their own frequency.

The Blooded meltagunner runs up to absolutely wreck the Brooded demo man...

But the Brood Veteran with his shotgun quickly avenges his brother.

The Ogryn charges the veteran and familiar, his mountain of muscle killing the familar and his rusty power maul smashing the veteran.

IN the small room, the Brood knife fighter opened the hatch and charged in to tie up the grenadier, but the butcher counter charges and a fierce melee sees the alien hybrid fall.

The Brood squad commander charged, and threw his claws into the face of the grenadier, and turned to the butcher.

But before his could issue his challenged the dying grenadier activated the dyabolic bomb and it exploded! The butcher took the brunt of the blast, and the Brood commander was near death's door.

The Blooded flenser rushed in and finished the job.

Back in the centre corridor, the Primus decided to risk it and ran up with toss two krak grenades at the Ogryn. The first bounced wildly and explored against the wall in no harm, but the second flew right into the open maw of the beast and exploded, taking his head clean off.

But it did not prevent the Blooded commander from flipping the transmission on the bomb.

Back in the small room, the Blooded Enforcer dispatched the Brood Icon bearer who had sacrificed himself to start the third transmission.

And the Brood meltagunner made the Enforcer  pay for his exposure, but...

... the Blooded plasma gunner finished the killing in the small rooom of death.

Back in the large room, not much happened until the advanced Brood Agitator was charged by the Blooded Trench Sweeper and they locked in a duel to the death.

Finally, the Blooded sniper killed the second familiar to end the turning point.

After two turning points the game is all tied up at 6 each, with the Brood Brothers earning 2 VP for the Crit Op but the Blooded having killed enough for 3 VP on the Kill Op.

So many dead models.

At the start of turning point 3 the Primus tried to turn the tide of the battle by charging both the Corpseman and the Commander, and while the Corpseman was cut in twain the Commander parried and sliced the heart from the Primus and the hopes of the Brood.

The Blooded commander then began a new transmission and shot the Vox operator. The central coordidor is secure for the dark gods!

In the large room where the Brood still had the advantage, the Agitator focused the swarm's rage and struck down the Trench Sweeper and yelled a challege at the enemy sniper.

But the Blooded sniper is no full and used his accurate shot to put a hole in the plasma gunner's head. 

To end the turning point, the Blooded plasma gunner began the second transmission from the small room.

After three turning points, the score was only 11 to 9 in favour for the Blooded, but the Brood only had two model left (one severely wounded) while the Blooded still had three. Sensing no hope, the Brood conceded the day.

Conclusion:

That was a lot harder than I expected! Having to try to keep remembering the different ploys and that are available and which ones were activated was super difficult, and often looking up operative's rules every activation. When playing another person you can only worry about your own rules and look up things when they are moving. Not sure I'd try this again, maybe the NPOs with their simple decision trees are the way to go for solo games.