Beyond the Veil: Cities of Death Narrative Campaign

[Expendable_Aquanaut]

Hello All,

I will be posting updates to a narrative cities of death campaign that I am running with a few friends. There will likely be long chunks of text here and there but I do promise to include as many action shots as possible. Feel free to scroll ahead to them if that's more your thing.

For a little bit of background, I am running scions as requisitioned by a radical inquisitor, there is a genestealer player, a sisters player, and a Salamanders player.

Enjoy!

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Death was inevitable. In fact, he was already dead. Isn’t that what countless instructors over the years had (sometimes literally) beaten into his skull? Tempestor Lucius Dekker had been around long enough to know that he likely wasn’t going to be around much longer. Although, to be fair, time often had nothing to do with it. Two new recruits bought it on the last drop. They barely even made it out of the valk. He tried to remember their names but got distracted, his mind slowly meandering, browsing through still images of the last few weeks. Lights were streaked and blurry, sounds muffled. He closed his eyes. Shards of metal, torn flesh, tortured faces. His ears rang with tinnitus.

He took a sip of recaf. He was freezing - but after hours of sitting out, this murky brown liquid was still warm.

“How do they do it?” He thought. He diverted his mind to a more amusing topic: imagining the countless mechanicus drones undoubtedly assigned to the project of eliminating recaf heat loss. “I bet there’s a hymn for that…” He took another sip. It was like drinking stale electricity. The tingle that hangs in the air after a lightning strike, the feeling right as the volley guns go quiet. It was like that but almost as if it was filtered through a cigar: the thunder to the lightning, the smoke to the fire. And the dry, chalky taste it left in his mouth made it tough to ignore what it was probably doing to his soft tissues. It’s a good thing he was already dead.

Ekhter and Willem were their names. He remembered now. Willem’s carapace armor was perforated with tiny spines, his bone-colored fatigues dyed blood-red. Most of Ekhter’s lower body was missing, torn apart by high-explosive rounds. Strips and strands of the man lay all around him but Lucius was not bothered by this. Not anymore. He had steeled his resolve. In a universe that continuously defies expectations, the only real certainty is death.

He finished the cup. It was terrible, but at least it was warm.

-- -- -- -- -- -- --

Lucius Dekker and his team:

Mission 1: “Rescue” the VIP

Tempestor Lucius Dekker and his team have been sent by inquisitor Nera Urbana to the planet of Innayus: located just beyond the veil of the Segmentum Pacificus. Largely unexplored, this section of space is rumored to house an advanced human civilization with vast stores of archaeotech weaponry. Inquisitor Urbana has made contact with the planetary government on Innayus through one of the rogue traders in her employ. However, as the larger Imperium frowns upon this type of exploration, a contingent of Salamander space marines have been tasked with shutting down Urbana’s operation. Further complicating matters, a conclave of sisters of battle have been discovered planetside, defending the populace from an ever-worsening genestealer insurrection. Dekker hopes to make contact with the planetary governor, find the location of some valuable archaeotech weapons, and lose his pursuers in the chaos that is overwhelming the capital city.

Deployment and Overview:

Sisters deployed in the cemetery, genestealers in the back right corner. The salamanders took cover in a blue building just off the screen and to the left and I was forced to deploy on flat ground on the right. Most of the boys deployed on the ground as you have to actually roll for reserves in cities of death. That said, Dekker and one squad were set in deepstrike.

The first few turns were spent sprinting to and from cover, taking potshots where we could. The ratlings manage a wound on the salamander librarian but not much else. As a scion squad runs to take cover behind a shipping container, they are fired on by salamanders from the second story of a building and take a couple of casualties. The scions return fire to no effect.

The scion breaching team (crusaders) decide to charge the genestealer goliath rock grinder. With a little help from a cannoness the vehicle is destroyed.

On about turn three the sisters rescue the planetary governor and begin the long walk to the board edge.

Unfortunately for everyone else, the salamanders had snuck in a squad of reivers in this building on the left. As the sisters get closer the reivers take aim and a squad of plasma scions tries to stealthily drop in behind the graveyard fence in the background.

The salamanders, sisters, and scions all start shooting at each other. When the dust settles there are no sisters left standing. The scions make a beeline for the planetary governor but the Salamander librarian has been waiting. After a brutal psychic phase, the entire squad of scions lay lifeless around the governor. The scion breaching squad had been delayed cutting through some genestealers and were just out of charge range.

Dekker and the remnants of Remus’ Alpha squad look on as their comrades are torn apart by the librarian’s psychic powers. They are able to take down a salamander or two but the rest of the marines are able to successfully escort the governor off of the board, winning the game.

On the upside, my ratling squad managed to pull off an 11 inch charge into a squad of intercessors. They tied up the squad for a turn and actually managed to do a wound, with only one casualty in return. Not bad for a bunch of abhumans.

Anyway, thanks for reading this far! Until next time.

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[ScionOfCorlesia]

I am absolutely in love with your take on Crusaders. I hope you don't mind but I'm totally stealing that idea going forward. Also jealous of your gameboard!

[Captain_Krash]

Can't wait for the next report! Sounds like a fun time

 

Krash

[Expendable_Aquanaut]

Thanks for reading! Hopefully the next report will be up sooner rather than later.

 

Also, Scion of Corlesia please steal the crusader idea. It would be super cool to see a similar unit being played on someone else's table! Just don't forget to send some photos. I'll try and remember to take a couple good shots tomorrow but I had a ton of extra med pack arms that I turned into the shield carrying arms. If you're careful cutting the med pack off the fingers should be relatively intact and only need a little TLC. Then you basically have a hand that is holding what looks to be a metal handle. The real kicker is that it also fits perfectly with the piece that holds the energy part of the shield.

[Harrowmaster]

I have to ask, was it easy to get the coat on with two weapon arms?

[ScionOfCorlesia]

@ Already got a couple ideas using it, wouldn't just directly steal but I've had a couple Shields from my own Van Saars going spare for awhile now. Expect an update in my thread on them in the coming weeks ;)

 

Looking forward to the next part of the campaign.

[Expendable_Aquanaut]

Hello all, it certainly has been a while...

Harrowmaster, sorry for the delayed response! I put the greatcoat on first and then the weapon arms second, I believe. The sword arm isn't actually the whole arm: I cut the hand off and it just fit nicely where it is without too much trouble. That said, I've never loved the greatcoat and have shamelessly stolen a conversion idea from the internets. I will post a WIP shortly.

And Scion, I just want to reiterate that it is pretty cool seeing a similar crusader unit on your table!

Without further delay, here is the next bit of our campaign...

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Iron.

Dekker could smell it in the air, taste it on his tongue. It was just about all that remained of Beta squad. Within seconds, a team of soldiers who had trained for their entire lives had been turned into little more than particulate matter. There was the odd gob of melted bone and tendon, slowly solidifying on the scorched concrete, but for the most part it was as if the squad had vanished; their armor and weapons lay on the ground, more or less intact, marking the last physical locations of their owners.

They were supposed to hold back in cover until he and the breaching team could make it in to support them. But that didn’t happen. “The best laid plans…” he thought. All Dekker could do was watch as the scions charged the librarian and were liquefied by the power of the warp.

He had lost an entire squad and the planetary governor but when the smoke cleared he held the battlefield. There was something to be said for that. Remus signaled from his left.

“Perimeter established sir. We’ve got the ratlings scouting ahead and my squad is watching the main road. I’ve taken the liberty of sealing the manhole covers as well. We don’t want to leave any way for those genestealers to sneak in close.”

“Good.” Dekker shifted his weight from one foot to the other. His carapace armor seemed heavier, more cumbersome now than it had in years past. “Get the wounded ready to move. We’ve got new orders.” Dekker hit a few buttons on his wrist computer and a holographic display flickered to life. An image appeared: schematics for some kind of automated weapons system. “Inquisitor Urbana sent me coordinates for where we might be able to find this.”

But before Remus could ask for an explanation, a warning light angrily flashed red and the schematic abruptly closed. Dekker’s vox hissed in his ears.

“Insertion team, this is Honorbound.”

“Honorbound this is Dekker. What’s going on?”

“We’ve picked up energy readings from an old planetary defense system. It looks like the weapons systems are coming online. It’s targeting your current position.” The Salamanders must have convinced the governor to hand over the firing codes.

Dekker tried to calculate his chances.

“How long do we have?”

“It’s going to be close but you should make it. There’s a bird in the sky en route to you now.”

“Affirmative. We’ve had some casualties on our end. I’m going to need Gamma squad suited up and waiting at the following coordinates.” Dekker swiped right on his wrist computer to send a copy of the data back to the ship.

“Received. Good luck. Honorbound out.”

Dekker looked at the remains of Beta squad and turned to Remus. “Call the ratlings in and get your squad over here. It would be heresy to leave these plasma guns sitting around like this.” Out beyond the veil they didn’t have the luxury of extra supplies. They would have to salvage what they could. He hesitated. “And some of this armor is still good. Grab as much as you can. We’re going to need it.”

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

After the defeat at the hands of the salamanders last mission, our heroes were forced into a glorious backwards advance. Receiving coordinates from his inquisitor, Dekker and his team began a search for a lost piece of technology that would allow them to harness the power of an ancient weapon. However, the Salamanders had acquired the launch codes for the orbital defense system and were firing vortex missiles rather indiscriminately. This was represented by large blast markers being placed by the Salamanders player each turn. They scattered 2d6 and disappointingly didn't kill anything all game. Oh well.

The mission was "narrow the search." An objective (a white d3) was placed in the middle of the map - in one of the graveyard sections. This represented the mysterious piece of technology that our factions were searching for. The player with the most models within a predefined radius of the objective would score one point at the end of each round. Round one, the radius was 15 inches I believe, and the distance shrank 3 inches each turn.

Here is a photo of the general setup:

Turn one:

The genestealer player basically null deployed using some fancy genestealer shenanigans. My scions deployed in a building directly to the right of the Salamanders player, and the Sisters of Battle player deployed across the table and to my left. Not much happened this turn as most everyone started moving towards the objective in the center. I did take a casualty to a genestealer mortar team, but that was about it.

Turn 2:

Everyone kept advancing towards the center. I believe this is when the genestealers came in. A big squad dropped into range of the objective, scoring them the point this round. The Sisters player dropped some seraphim down and shot up the genestealer mortars and whatever HQ he brought. I'm not super familiar with their HQ choices but he seemed rather squishy and was regenerating command points if that helps.

Turn 3:

Angered by the loss of their HQ, the genestealer player brought in a kellermorph and nuked the Sisters player's cannoness. It was pretty brutal and took something like 3 command points to pull off. There was definitely some bad blood on the opposite side of the table, which meant less heat one me! A squad that I held in reserve dropped onto the objective and I took some half-hearted potshots at the salamanders to my left. I wounded a single primaris marine and he returned fire, knocking out two hotshot lasgun-toting scions. Unfortunately, this was all he needed: after dropping in a squad of reivers, he managed to bring the most units into the scoring radius this round.

Salamanders:1, filthy xenos: 1, Sisters: 0, and Scions: 0.

Turn 4:

Things started to get pretty bloody here. I castled up close to the objective and warmed up those plasma guns. I took out 3 of 5 primaris marines that were threatening the objective. Unfortunately, I was unable to shoot the reivers that had dropped in last turn so the salamanders had a pretty good hold on the objective. After removing 3, I was still down by one model. The Sisters player charged the beat up salamanders squad that I had been shooting and the genestealers and one squad of remaining scions charged the reivers. If one Salamander died, I would score this turn. My scions valiantly managed a wound but the Sisters and the genestealers couldn't get through the armor. The genestealers were summarily eviscerated and the Salamanders scored again. So close!

Turn 5:

I fell back from combat with the reivers and consolidated on the objective. Most of the salamanders were still in combat and I sent hot plasma at anyone who wasn't. At the end of the shooting phase, the board was looking pretty empty but I held the objective, finally putting the scions on the board! Unfortunately the game ended here and even with a controlling presence, I still only had 1 point. The game went to the Salamanders again! Definitely a well fought match: it really all came down to a single wound on that one reiver in the fight phase of turn 4. Probability says that he should have died but I guess that's why we play the game! A bitter defeat for me but a pretty thrilling victory for the Salamanders I would think.

As always, thanks for reading!