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!

Blood Rain - Part 3

 Part 2 here.

Brasalion checked his chronometer. It was still three hours until the Thunderhawks would arrive to take them to orbit to the fleet. The extraction was supposed to the previous day but a second Imperial armada arrived in system and had forced the Black Storm cruisers to the other side of the planet. "Get yourselves to these coordinates," Helixian had transmitted, "and hold off until we get there."

"Easy for him to say," muttered the Chaos champion. The location used to be a mechanicus building of some import but had been reduced to ruins and rubble. There were no clear fire lines and the strongholds doors could not be secured.

He looked to the top of the ruins, where he saw an early dawn light glint off the barrel of a reaper chaincannon. Jogcest's enhanced ocular implants saw him in return and the half marine - half machine nodded. On the level below him Mardil's fingers played with blue warp fire with his eyes closed while he muttered extolations to their goddess. Elsewhere he heard the fidgeting of other marines eager for the waiting to be over. They were all warriors of action, not patience.

"I see a drop ship approaching," Jogcest reported on the comm link. "Imperial," he added after a moment. 

All around Brasalion he could hear bodies moving and weapons being checked. Mardil opened his eyes and dismissed the warp flames with a wave of his hands. "No quiet day in the legion, right my lord?" 

Brasalion nodded and grabbed his daemon sword. "Look lively men, and spare the trigger. We're running low on rounds and I hate to have to wade through a lake of gore to get to my ride!"  The men gave a cheer and shouted as one over the roar of the approaching enemy, "For Quintara!"

* * * * * 

Tinqiu and I got together to finish our mini campaign today, partaking in mission 3B Airborne Siege, even though I won 2B and 3C was supposed to be the final mission. We thought that 3B looked like a more interested 2B which was very slanted to the defenders.

I deployed in a mega stronghold with lots of shooting up on the vantages and the Chosen and Annointed holding the fort in the lower levels.

The Tempestus Aquilons, of course, did not deploy a soul to start. The goal for the attackers was simple: take the strongholds.

The imperials wisely dropped and rushed into cover. With all the marines on conceal there was little point in trying to stick a nose out of cover.

Tinqiu went for an enveloping attack, trying to use the ruins to approach as close as possible and deliver a one two punch. We are using the dataslated 1.1 rules so the legionaries are more vulnerable to piercing weapons.

On TP1 I had moved the Annointed out into the street with an eye to charging and killing up the middle to split the imperials up, but the once a game bombardment hit him for 9 damage while everyone else took some minor scrapes. And everyone was -1 APL. 

I was able to use the heavy gunner's reaper chaincannon to severely damage the heavy weapons turret machine, and a bolt pistol shot to finish it off. 

The Aquilions followed up with some las fire to finished off the daemon marine before he could try to power up or get healed.

In return, the balefyre acolyte used Life Siphon to drain the killer and give some health back to the heavy gunner who was coming under fire.

His commanding view of the street and 2+ Warded Armour made him a constant concern to the imperials. The plasma gunner landed and sent some plasma fire into the hardened positions of the enemy. Then, was covered in obscuring smoke the Tempestor threw before he advanced.

The melta gunner landed, took one look at the Icon Bearer with his double shooting bolt gun, and said "you must go."

"I mean, really really get gone." At Devastating 4 and piercing 2 (which is unmodified in the dataslate rules now) that was an impossible request to ignore.

The Chosen decided to run out and shoot the meltagunner with his plasma pistol but completely whiffed! In exchange, the grenadier whipped a melta bomb that failed to denotate properly. The Chosen was injured, but still alive with 5 wounds left! 

In his counteract, he charged the grenadier to avoid more shooting and hopes of healing himself later.

On both flanks the Aquilons go for the rear.

In a counteact shooting the reaper chaincannon removed the threat of the meltagun at the end of turning point 2.

At the beginning of turning point 3, the Legionaries win initiative and the Chosen begins to make up for his earlier misfire and begin to turn the tide. First he fights and obliterates the grenadier, heals himself a bit to 6 wounds left, and then uses the plasma pistol to shoot the Precursor with much better accuracy. 

Finally with his third APL he retreats into the stronghold to defend against flankers.

The aquilion plasma gunner shoots at the legionary plasma gunner and he becomes wounded, but the blessings of Quintara (aka Nurgle) keeps him on his feet. An activation later the legionary would fall to lasgun fire.

The reaper chaincannon takes down another Aquilon. They were not flashy kills but he's very consistent.

Finally the Tempestor tries to charge the Chosen in the stronghold through a doorway fight. He desperately needed one crit to kill the marine as the model inside the stronghold gets to fight first against those outside. But the Tempestor did not have luck on his side and he died while the Chosen still had a bit of life in his veins. 

With the Aquilons running low on models and the marines still having three models including two mostly uninjured, Tinqiu ordered the general retreat.

A great game and fun mini campaign, but definitely needs some work in the balance of mission. 

Blood Rain - Part 2

 Part 1 here

"Hold him still."

Brasalion's eyes popped open as a surge of pain ra through his body. Over him loomed Mardil with blue warp fire coursing over his arms and flowing into Brasalion's body while two other marines held him down.

"There," the sorceror muttered, "that should do it." He held out his hand to Brasalion as the other two let go and pulled him back to his feet. 

"Report."

"We have secured the area around the power conduits and the guns remain operational." Brasalion could hear the thump of the guns' firepower in the distance as confirmation. "But Lord Helixian has sent ordered for us to move west to fortify the high ground there. It appears the Aquilons have not abandoned the fight and are going to try and land there to use the high ground to launch SAMs at our fuel transports."

Brasalion frowned at their audacity. "They will not be landing in good order. We'll move double time to get there first. Can everyone keep up?"

Mardil sighed. "Your injuries were easily healed by Quintara's graces, and Jogcest needed only mechanical repairs," he said as he indicated the heavy gunner holding the reaper chaincannon. "But Nadum was truly nothing but ash, not even the geneseed could be retrieved."

Brasalion picked up his weapon and started moving to the west. "No matter, contact Davok and tell him to send us some backup." He climbed up and over some rubble. "Squad 3, move out!"

* * * * *

Tinqiu and I got together for the send mission of the three part narrative campaign from the Hive Storm dossier, Scrambled Drop.

The mission map combined with the rules looked like a really tough one for the Aquilons on offence, but I was prepared for surprises.

I set up primarily in the central stronghold with 4 marines, and only two near the top stronghold, with minefield and razor wire making the approach of the main one difficult and under fire.

These three with the heavy gunner on the high vantage. The Chosen lord is ready to go out the door and remove heads from shoulders.

The Aquilons had only 2 drops they controlled out of 10, and most of them landed in zone 1, the farthest from the action. Not to mention a few got the injuries on the way down. Terrible luck for Tinqiu.

Landing in cover far from the action.

The death corridor.

The Aquilons try to form up in cover under the watchful eye of the reaper chaincannon and the Balefire Acolyte.

The Chosen moves out of the stronghold to kill a human with plasma fire that had the audacity to move too close.

Using cover to keep out of line of sight of the firebase, the Aquilons take down the plasma gunner and butcher that charged forward to clean up the top sector.

The Chosen comes under fire but does not die. Not good for the imperials.

The combined firepower of the marines is daunting to overcome.

The Chosen charges, kills two humans healing all his damage. Then he gets charged by two more, eventually kills them and heals a lot more damage. Healed something like 20 points of damage. Insanely OP. 

With the Chosen having dispatched half the Aquilons by himself and still going, they had one operative securing the top stronghold but was alone in facing down four marines. 

This mission is unbalanced a thte best of times, but with the currently overpowered Legionaries defending and some bad drop rolls, it made for a massacre. We had fun, but definitely agreed some balancing issues need to be addressed. To finish out our little narrative campaign, we agreed next time to do 3B which seems more equal instead of 3C which seems to be another turkey shoot.