Cultwar battle report

So we'd already played two games of Shadow War and Lee had taken a beating in both. Despite this he had still got a fair few advancements and the support of a Deathwatch Marine so its not all bad. He still wanted to stamp out the Xenos Cult they had discovered.

Of course he would be playing game three without his Inquisitor who had somewhat suffered at the hands of the Ochre Prince, the Purestrain Genestealer I had taken as an operative who had actually been a bit crap at combat. Still, he'd done enough to ensure the Inquisitor's absence and that gave me the idea for a nice narrative scenario. Although Lee had failed to access the data in the last mission I decided that he had managed to access SOME of it (remotely or something, I dunno, Machine Spirits are inscrutable things) and they were now retreating with the data and the wounded Inquisitor. This would be a simple get three models off the far board edge mission, with Lee having to traverse about 30" in total. My Cult would be trying to stop him and I wouldn't have the whole team at once, I would have a reduced starting force and more would turn up later.

Lee had added a Squat to his warband (another suspiciously diminutive model) and I had added a Seismic cannon to mine (scavenger FTW)

Lee would start just between the two small buildings on the right. 

Lee deployed everyone except his Injured Inquisitor:
Deathwatch Marine: Death's Head
Savant: Andrukas McCuan
Imperial Guard Veteran: Lt Dolf Luminak
Squat: Grummond ‘Tinpot’ Drakkensson
Short Range Pug Mutant: Ulo
Long Range Pug Mutant: Ulk
Crusader: Aurelius Leuker

My force was split up into 5 teams:

Tarn with his Seismic Cannon and Larz with a Heavy Stubber.
My Leader Skarn and the Flamer Karll
The two Autogun Toting Cultists Brothers Lek and Hesh
The two with Lasguns Brothers Cid and Jaq
and The Ochre Prince, a Purestrain Genestealer.

I'd start with D3 of these on the board and naturally rolled a 1. Great. I decided on the heavy weapons as I didn't want them moving anyway. We decided to roll for deployment. 1-3 they would set up behind Lee at the far table edge 4-6 they would be ahead of him. I rolled and duly set them up in firing positions ahead of his fleeing  tactically withdrawing force.

Turn 1:

My remaining groups would come on each turn if i rolled a 5+ 4+ 3+ and so on, you get it.  I went first as I was doing the ambushing, and with a lucky roll got both Skarn and Karll AND the Ochre Prince, who's claws were sharp and ready to rend.....

I set them all up in cover and hiding (GSC can do that) close to Lee's units. Hopefully I could stop him in his tracks here and with some supressive fire stall him before he started making headway towards the escape point.

Sneaky Genestealer Cult being Sneaky. 

The only real action of the turn was Tarn putting Down Mutant Ulo with a seismic blast. Larz couldn't really see much with his Heavy Stubber so bade his time (I completely forgot about the Overwatch rule)

Lee's turn 1:

Lee started off with a fairly cautious advance, I think I would have chanced it and run the gauntlet while most of the opposing warband were not on the table. At least then he would have got the -1 to hit.  His Deathwatch Marine aimed his Boltgun at Tarn but the cultist spotted the red dot and dodged to the side. Sadly he moved right into the dot of Long Range Pug Ulk who luckily inflicted nothing more than a flesh wound. Tarn was still in the fight, but pinned.. Elsewhere Lee had got a bit close to the Hidden and skulking Ochre Prince, that was going to cost him. Grummond had also wandered in view of Larz and failed to hit the Heavy Stubber toting cultist. Looked like I wouldn't need the overwatch after all.

Turn 2:

The Lasgunners Jaq and Cid turned up and took up firing vantage points. With a malevolent hiss the Ochre Prince pounced from cover onto the hapless Guard Veteran, I knew from experience how dangerous he could be and he was a priority target. Larz sighted the diminutive Grummond gunned down the Squat in a hail of Stubber fire. Skarn looked to Web Aurelius, another dangerous foe but missed the Crusader! That could be very bad. Karll was advancing towards the Deathwatch Marine and Pug with his Flamer. They were already causing me problems and I wanted them on Fire, people on fire cause less problems on the whole.

In the combat phase, despite a few deft parries, the Guardsman was taken down by the Ochre Prince who stayed crouched over him ready to finish the veteran off. (I messed up the rule that said it would have been OOA and thought that the Stealer had to stay there another turn to take the Guard out.)

The Ochre Prince vs Dolf

Lee turn 2:

We decided that Lee was immune to Bottle Tests, after all he was already running away. He started the turn by pinning the Ochre Prince with the Deathwatch marine. This actually lead to a bit of a conundrum. The rules for Purestrain Genestealers say that they are immune to pinning from all but High Impact weapons. Problem is none of the weapons in Shadow Wars seem to be High Impact, certainly not in the summary or weapon profiles. After a bit of discussion we decided that a Boltgun WOULD be a high impact weapon. After all it is technically a miniature rocket launcher so the Ochre Prince was duly Pinned.  The Savant went to shoot Skarn but missed.

Still, Mutant Ulk did Down Tarn, who had just got to his feet so it wasn't all bad. His Squat had had enough though and went Out of Action.

Turn 3:

Time to twist the Knife. My Autogunners Lek and Hesh turned up and deployed where all the action was going on. They managed to pin the Andrukas and Aurelius with accurate but weak shots. Karl, who had obviously remembered to fill his Flamer took down both the Marine AND Mutant Ulk. Lee's rolls were pretty bad at this point and his entire remaining warband was pinned or down.

Lee Turn 3:

Lee spent his entire turn getting to his feet. Well Ulk didn't, he went out of action.

Burninating the Inquisitors lackeys.....

Turn 4: 

The Ochre Prince was free to murder again but instead of finishing off Dolf I charged the Crusader, he was the only real threat left and I wanted him out of the way. I had completely failed to web him so I would have to Rend him asunder instead. Most of the rest of my turn was relocating, or getting up from being pinned, though Karll did douse the Marine in Promethium again for good measure. Larz dropped down from his perch, he couldn't see anything and I honestly didn't see Lee making much more progress towards me.  The Ochre Prince managed to get ONE hit on Aurelius and Lee managed to fail his 3+ Invulnerable save! The Crusader went OOA and Lee's bad luck continued. Still,, Tarn went OOA so there was one silver lining for him I guess.

Lee: Turn 4:

Not. Much. The Savant Pinned the Stealer, the rest of his Warband were very very still.

Turn 5:

I think this was about it to be honest. Karll Charged his burning Marine and it was night night yes?
Lek took Andrukus Out of Action with a precision shot between the eyes and with the Prince Pinned Skarn Shivved the Guardsman, taking him out.

We called it there. It was all over and all that remained was the aftermath.



The Savant Andrukus DIED. apparently having a hole burned through your brain is fatal. Who knew? Dolf suffered a head wound and would miss the next game. I was happy about that. Everyone else was fine and Ulk had the cheek to learn a lesson! On top of that he was really the only one who achieved much so we decided he could be MVP and Level as well. So he ended up with Nerves of Steel and Iron Will. For me it had to be Karll with his flamer. Karll became a medic which was handy. Lee could have used one of those for his Savant.

The last game we played was a straight up Gangfight scenario as Lee looked to regroup and have one last crack at the Brotherhood of the Yellow King before we move on to games of 40k. Look out for that report soon!

Cult War month 3

Aaah month three: At the mid point –ish of the month my completed models? Three. And they were all neophytes.

Yet I wasn't perturbed by this. Why? Well, there were a few reasons actually.

Firstly, although only three Cult models were completed there were a LOT that were half completed. In fact only about 30 out of the original 168 are now bereft of paint beyond primer. Many are at that annoying ‘almost finished’ stage and indeed it very much looks like I might be left with nothing but Acolytes (shudder) to paint in the latter stages of this project.

The second reason for my lack of concern is that I had been painting some other stuff basically. A world away from the dingy cult I have been painting some Silver Tower Models, particularly the heroes that myself and my Girlfriend are using as we work our way through the Gaunt Summoner’s trials. I have to confess though, these also are half painted. I am VERY unused to painting over white undercoats, in fact i hate it.

The third reason for the complete absence of any consternation is that Lee and I actually played a couple of games! Officially launching the Cultwar! We played two games of Shadow War, the first being an Ambush as the Inquisitor and his forces infiltrated the Brotherhood’s territory.

Alas, this game did not go well for Lee as his forces were shot to pieces from higher positions, (a good thing as many of his models are suspiciously small, making it easy for them to hide behind cover –scale creep he calls it, citing their age. Hmmm ) my Cult forces precision shots putting the majority of his Inquisitorial warband on the floor or out of action in swift order. One bug in the ointment was his Veteran Guardsman who managed to cut apart a couple of my cultists (including chopping down my leader!) before being felled by Autogun fire. Worse, he advanced regardless thanks to Lesson Learned on the serious injury chart making him even more dangerous for future rounds. I also had the worst Flamer in the world, either that or I had accidentally filled it with something other than Promethium, couldn't even cook a sausage with it.

His Guardsman gained +1 A as did one of my Autogun guys (helpful, NOT) and his Crusader, who I did manage to Web for the entire game got +1 movement, the irony!.My leader also learned a lesson (don't charge people with power swords) and got the skill Destined for Greatness meaning he could reroll future advances.

We decided to play a follow up game, as the first one didn’t last very long before Lee conceded. We both added specialist Operatives, Lee opting for his Deaths(head)watch Marine and my self with a Purestrain ( The Ochre Prince) putting some Genestealer into this Genestealer Cult. The Scenario was Raid, with Lee looking to steal some information from a data terminal, however the searchlights that my Cult are packing made spotting him easy work and the alarm was raised swiftly.

In addition his Inquisitor had deployed far too close to danger and found himself being leaped on by the Ochre Prince from a munitorum container!

So I shot down a few of his models. He shot a few of mine and inflicted some casualties, Thankfully none fell from their high vantage points. My Purestrain totally fluffed his rolls (seriously, VERY bad) but thankfully the Guard Veteran was too scared to charge in and help the Inquisitor, a lucky escape?

Eventually the stealer was able to wound the Inquisitor but not finish him off and was itself taken out by the Guardsman who finally plucked up some courage! I flamed the Inquisitor to put him out and with the Webbed Crusader (again) Lee Bottled. Lee’s Deathwatch marine got a few shots off but spent most of the game pinned. For some reason his rules don’t list ATSKNF! This is patently ridiculous so we decided in all future games that he would have this ability, after all if Scouts do….

I also said that Lee’s Inquisitor couldn’t die as the whole thing is kind of pointless if he does. He ended up hating my Purestrain and missing a game due to his rather non specific injuries. My leader rerolled his advance but got a skill regardless, thankfully I got Scavenger which would come in handy when it comes to reinforcing my Warband.

Another of Lees models got +1 M, he was getting swift! This may well come in handy for the scenario I have in mind for our next game.

We aren’t going to play a full campaign, only About 4 games, before we start building to full armies. We decided that any spare promethium stocks can be used for bonus points in the bigger games of 40K. At this point I have 5. Lee has one ( I presume he’ll take his DW marine again. )

So a couple of rough run ins for Lee, His Pugs sent with their tails between their legs ( im well aware they wouldn’t actually reach though) and i'm sure he will be more cautious in future for the next time he ventures into my territory. He’ll need to play one game without his Inquisitor and I have the perfect narrative for this.

***********************************************

So, back to the painting. As we got towards the end of the month it became clear to me that I was not going to hit the target i'd set myself last month. For a start I still only had about 8 models done. Secondly I had been working on some themed scenery for my cult, thirdly my work life had been turned upside down and i'd been in no mood for hobby.

Nonetheless with a last maximum effort I ended on 24 for the month and a good chunk of those were Acolytes! More to the point there were lots of models that were 'nearly finished so I have a head start for next month. I've very nearly hit 100 finished models and I estimate there are another 20 half painted so hopefully with the addition of some armour this army project will be done soon and Lee can have a chance to catch up. There is one problem though and its name is Forgebane...... I can hear the Omnissiah calling.....

This months efforts

LEE:


Grah! Another disappointing month of painting and gaming. The latter only because those insidious xeno have yet to be crushed beneath the righteous authority of the Inquisition. Shadow War has definitely been working in the Cult’s favour but from next month we will be shifting to games of 40K proper and I suspect that the extermination shall begin in earnest!

Painting wise I’ve only managed seven models. My guard veteran was the first to be completed. He is painted in his Cadian livery but with one arm kitted out in Tempestus armour painted in the colours of the Vertaxi Eagles, the regiment commonly employed by Inquisitor Quint Van Kleef when he absolutely, positively must exterminate all the xeno on a planet. I’m particularly pleased with his camo cloak which was painted, shaded and highlighted in the base green and then had splotches of camo brown added to it.

My second model was Grummond ‘Tinpot’ Drakkensson, an ab-human squat mercenary who like all the Squats in the Ferdinand Cardinal sector have a grudge against all Tyranid related organisms after the Hive Fleets all but exterminated the Holds of the Ferrous Deeps. The model is the first ever Squat produced by Games Workshop as part of their Rogue Trader preview line, quite a vintage. I’ve gone simple with the colour scheme as I was in a rush to finish him so bronze with deep green flexible parts. I’ve imagined his gun as a modified piece of mining equipment so have given it a fierce melta glow at its tip.

The final five models are me jumping ahead a bit. A combat squad of five Dark Angels based on the marines included in the 40K second edition starter set. With these five I have now painted the entire set! These join ranks with the other 15 I’ve already painted which gives me two tactical squads I don’t have to paint later in the year. Ultimately the good Inquisitor will receive forces from the Dark Angels to help fight back against whatever horrors Allen has up his sleeve.

Half painted and smothered in good intentions is my Taurox Prime. I hope to have this finished soon and start on my Scions Squad and their accompanying Commissar. Looking a bit further ahead Inquisitor Van Kleef needs to muster a force of 1000pts for our inaugural game of 40K. I had been going back and forth over what units to paint up, do I go Imperial Guard, Adeptus Mechicus or some Dark Angels. In the end I looked towards our narrative to decide for me, hence the Inquisitor shall be aided by forces provided by his good friend, the Rogue Trader Grand Admiral Luc De Havilard. Admiral Havilard’s forces contain a number of mercenary bands as well as a contingent of house militia. On the board this means several Squat units appearing along with some converted guardsmen to represent the house militia.

As at the time of writing I have received some upgrade parts for a twist in our tale I've not detailed to Allen, it's going to be a surprise. I shall be working on these units alongside my declared monthly models but you won't know what they are until they are revealed in a scenario I am writing for us to play

Brotherhood of the Yellow King: Chapter Four

IV: Into the depths.

My first impression of Endomaw mine was that it was a lot smaller than I had expected, much like the above surface complex. Whereas I had, especially given the size of the city that was supposed to only be a town, expected a vast subterranean chasm full of industry and noise, instead there was only a small chamber with a few carts of ore and a trio of tunnels with a smattering of stooped workers in mining suits processing and digging. I tried to hide my disappointment and perplexion and instead followed Jerrod as he strode down the right most tunnel. His shadowed form appeared intermittently as he passed the halogen lights that dotted the passageway and I hurried to close the distance lest I lose my guide and become lost, I noticed that there were junctions at irregular intervals but no signs for navigation and resolved to not stray from Jerrod again as i could see no markings of guidance nor direction. 

Presently, after a few minutes walking and a couple of changes of direction we came to another small dimly lit chamber. Here, Lek awaited us, somehow looking simultaneously both bored and nervous. He greeted me in his soft tone and explained that we needed to progress even deeper, that this original network of tunnels was little more than the earliest parts of the excavation, created primarily for the logistics of earth moving. A trial and error attitude towards finding the best seams and digging areas. I stepped into the small cage that he was indicating and he followed me, a heavy tread signalling that Jerrod would also be accompanying us. Lek hit a small switch by the side of the cage and with a sharp jolt and anguished squeal the cage started to descend. 

For a few moments we were surrounded by rock as the shaft the cage occupied was closed in and barely wide enough for our conveyance to pass undamaged. I felt claustrophobia closing in and gripped the rail of the cage tightly, trying to control my breathing and not think about the megatons of rock above me. Then the walls of rock gave way and we emerged into a large cavern much more in line with my expectations of Endomaw mine. Though still not gargantuan in scale there was at least a lot more activity and progress apparent. The cavern was dotted with further tunnels from which wire cables were suspended with ore being constantly moved from tunnel to tunnel. As I looked over the railing below me I could see that this mine was deep indeed, the bottom being well beyond my sight, and a sudden movement and shuffling of feet behind me convinced me to step back, even as I put the paranoia down to the remnants of my earlier feelings of claustrophobia. 

"Impressive isn't it?" Lek breathed, seemingly oblivious to my discomfort though i noticed that Jerrod suddenly seemed angry. I nodded, stepping further back from the railing and making a show of taking my communicator from my satchel. I checked the signal and was gratified that even this far down the Machine Spirit endeavoured to deliver a reasonable quality of signal, I breathed a prayer to the Emperor and subconsciously touched the chain around my neck, feeling the golden Aquila against my chest. I looked up at Jerrod who was positively glowering at me and quickly looked away, busying myself with the innards of my satchel. In silence we continued to descend, the cage juddering from time to time and preventing my fears from being completely allayed. In time our downwards journey reached its climax and the cage halted at what i estimated to be 600 metres below the entrance of the cavern. Below us the chasm yawned and the bottom of the mine was still out of sight. I saw all this through the grille of the cage floor, being unwilling to approach the railing again, somewhat perturbed by the expression on Jerrod's face. I must confess my legs were a little unsteady as I exited the cage but with solid rock beneath my feet I swiftly regained my equilibrium and started to turn my mind to work once more. 

To his credit, Lek fielded many of my questions adroitly, only a few of my queries proving beyond his knowledge. These, he assured me, another would be able to answer. To this end he led me down another tunnel, one that curved often and sharply. Eventually however, and after a slight incline which I estimated had put us about 80 meteres closer to the surface, we came to a large metal door. Activating a comm panel Lek spoke some pass phrase which was beyond my hearing and the door slid open. Stepping inside I was taken aback at the change in surroundings, metal walls and rooms surrounded me and corridors and other such familiarities of internal architecture abounded. After some time traversing rock and tunnels it was quite jarring but I quickly recovered and turned to face the tall character that was approaching me. He had thin, pinched predatory features and a high pronounced forehead which lent him a regal and imposing air. He introduced himself as Ganvan Seris, a senior figure among the hierarchy of the mine, though he neglected to divulge his exact title. 

Ganvan spoke in an almost hypnotic low and mellifluous tone, clearly enunciated and in the manner of a master orator. I found myself compelled to look at him and he had my complete attention. Unable to look away I swiftly assessed him as best as I was able. Clad in a rich yellow robe, he carried a staff of ebony topped with a four armed figure. He too wore a mining suit, though it seemed to be heavily customized, lacking many of the bulky accouterments and lights that adorned my own outfit. Furthermore his suit featured a tall cowl which only added to his stature. His face was gaunt and he was completely bald, in fact so were Lek and Jerrod, not just bald but completely hairless. It was at that moment that I resolved the nagging feeling that I had been experiencing. Every single individual I had seen in Endomaw Mine was bald, completely bereft of any hair at all. A chill ran down my spine as I realised that even back on the journey in the limousine every denizen of Endomaw I had seen had been cowled or hooded. Suppressing the tremor from my voice, I raised this point with Ganvan. His smooth answer that it was prolonged exposure to the ore seemed to ring false to my ears but his tone was soothing and I felt somehow compelled to believe him. He also reassured me, with a disarming smile, that I was safe and it took many months continuous exposure to see any effects. I queried if the hair grew back once the individual was removed from proximity to the ore and Ganvan airily replied that he didn't know. Thinking back to Geriok and citizenry of Endomaw it seemed unlikely but even as my brain tried to work through the sudden haze it was experiencing to argue that the citizens I had seen had surely had minimal, if any, exposure to the ore, I found myself unable to reason or cogitate and indeed the fog became denser the longer Ganvan spoke to me. 

Desperately trying to regain some sense of control and mental faculty I took a Stimm pill from my satchel and swallowed it. Maybe I was just tired and needed to clear my head. I started repeating my earlier questions to Ganvan, more to break his monologue than anything else, and he answered them immediately and to my satisfaction, though again I couldn't profess to having any real capacity of clear thought at this time. Ganvan gave me a short tour of the facilities, speaking at length about what had been accomplished in Endomaw. The Stimms had perked me up enough that I was at least able to make notes based upon his words and I trusted that they would make sense to me later when it came to preparing my report. After a few hours I was fatigued and requested that the day's activities ended and I be allowed to return to my guest quarters to absorb and compile the data I had captured and more importantly rest. Lek and Jerrod accompanied me and I barely noticed their taciturn silence on the ascent so tired was I. As we approached the room I was occupying I noticed them talking but couldn't make out their conversation as they were a good few metres ahead of me. I had no idea of the route back to my room so was allowing them to lead me though I must confess I was actually ruminating on the days events rather than focusing on navigation. 

Returning to my room I removed the heavy and now dusty mining suit with some difficulty and locked the door, once again bolting the door as well as an afterthought. I spent a few hours or so working on my notes and recording observations and submitting a short Vid-report to Narthley before sleep took me into its comforting embrace.

My dreams were most discomforting though, as my unconscious mind attempted to sort and process the days experiences. Twisted dream logic aside the sequence of events were largely accurate (reality contains less bubbles and spiders). As I descended down to the mine in the cage I could hear guttural snarls and sibilant hisses behind me, getting closer and closer. I leaned over the rail looking into the darkness below and recoiled as yellow tentacles rose from the depths, undulating and writhing as they reached for me. I stepped back, but suddenly Lek and Jerrod were either side of me gripping me firmly by the arms prohibiting my retreat. I struggled as the tentacles approached but could not move in their vice like grip. The tentacles reached my face as Lek urged me not to resist. Within seconds my head was enveloped and I was suddenly pulled over the railings my captors released me. Falling down into the depths, my scream was muffled by the oily grip of the yellow tentacles as I was dragged into the darkness. 

I awoke with a start, sweat pouring from my body despite the relative coolness of the environs. All was still, silent. No. There was something, a quiet shuffling and scraping, i strained my ears to pick out more but struggled with the competition from my hammering heart. Then I felt the cold all too well as the door handle scraped and turned and the door was tried. There was some muttering and then I heard the shuffling and scraping recede until it passed the reach of my hearing. I listened for a while but heard nothing else before sleep once again overtook me and I fell into a thankfully dreamless slumber for the few hours I had till first rise. 

The recording ended once again, and Carn opened his eyes. Though far more detailed the logs were proving less insightful than he had hoped. That there was something untoward was clear but the only one that could provide the information he needed was locked in an asylum and far far beyond any use. He rubbed his face and reached for the bottle of Skee on his table before remembering it was empty. Damn, perhaps some still remained in his hip flask. Just as he got up to rifle through his overcoat's pockets he noticed the wall comm flashing red. He didn't remember muting the chime but it was easily enough done and he'd probably done it without thinking. The insistent red pulse continued and he walked over to it, shaking the worst of his fugue off before hitting the acknowledgement rune.

"yeah, who is it?" His throat was dry, his voice hoarse, Throne but he could use a drink! Besides, he knew who it was going to be. Exactly who he didn't want it to be...

"Carn? Where the hell have you been, do you have any idea for how long I've been trying to contact you? What are you playing at? Throne, you'd better get your arse in gear, I've been voxing you for hours!"

The words came in a torrent, Ralscon's reedy yet bellicose tone bleeding into Carns ears, far more than he could take, especially in his current state. He only heard half of his supervisors rant, tuning out the rest as white noise. He blearily interrupted Ralscon with an irritable growl.

"Ralscon, in the Holy Emperor's name, what do you want? It's late and i'm tired. It can't be that important"

"Oh? How would you know Carn? I'm surprised you are aware of anything at the bottom of that bottle of Skee. Now shut up and listen. It's Endomaw. They've started responding to our communications, said they've had technological problems which they've now sorted. I though YOU should know this as it might help you with your half arsed investigation, Emperor knows why I bother though."

Carn's eyes widened as the salient information from Ralscon's diatribe filtered into his brain. This was the last thing he had expected. He shut Ralscon off with a terse thanks, advising he was coming back into the administratum, He fumbled for his flask, feeling the cool metal at his fingertips. He pulled it out and was gratified that it seemed at least half full. He allowed himself but the faintest of sips though. He needed his head clear and he would also need to save what was left for later. There was one other place that he could get the answers he needed and he could return Larkarsky's charm at the same time. Besides, he was almost out of logs and definitely out of options. There was nothing else for it, he was going to have to go to Endomaw.