Our fantasy world

The "Big Picture"

   Long ago, the gods and the dragons were of equal power.  Where the gods used their powers to create a playground and fill it with friends and distractions, the dragons used it to corrupt and to claim dominion over.  This led to conflict and the war was devastating- so much so that the highest of the gods and the great creator, Ao, intervened and meted out punishment to all parties.  The dozen gods were banished to their mortal realm as Avatars, with their powers diminished and only limited access to their sphere's power.  The five dragons were each imprisoned across the mortal realm, put to sleep for eternity, and the avatars would guard against those that would threaten the development of their world.  

by Pavel Atanazov

  Ages passed and knowledge of these "god-dragons" passed from all but the elves, and the even some of the Avatars began to forget their missions and meddled in the affairs of mortals.  While they never influenced major events, they nonetheless enjoyed their friends and took for granted that this existance wasn't supposed to be a vacation.  Eventually, certain of these avatars forgot their oaths altogether and hatched plans that caused big problems.  The avatar of knowledge, disguised as a rogue named Pete, stole a Wand of Cosmic Forces from the avatar of trade and luck.  He then hid it in a place that was later found by a human and used to escalate a war with the goblins.  When Pete tried to intervene, the wand disappeared and he was killed.  His final curse was the knowledge of the artifact and its hiding place shall be lost to the world.  Another avatar that slipped from the path was the avatar of magic, disguised as a mercenary named Mikel.  He went to the oracles and received a prophecy that led him to relations with an elf to create another avatar that would prevent a war between the Fey and Shadow Realms.  Instead, it led to his death by some adventurers and the fall of the Feywild to the Shadow Dragon Lord.  

  Even with the machinations of the avatars, waxing more ignorant to their true purposes, the world still continued.  Eventually, the humans spread and began colonizing the lands abandoned by nature and the elves.  Dragons (the lesser kind that men speak of) had warred with the elves even as their kind slowly died away for both sides.  The dwarfs long retreated west under the mountains and set up ancestral trade agreements anywhere they could.  Society advanced until the world was filled with legends and wanderers.  Today, a few groups of adventurers range the surface of the world, trying to solve the mysteries of their age and enrich themselves while doing it.  One group, in particular, has a unique perspective as they go through their journey.  Equally, they will be the cause of the end of their world and the force that will defeat it.  

   

Chaos vs. the Lion!

   Finally!  I finished painting the Lion and we had an opportunity to put him on the table.  I am going to use my Chaos Space Marines, but this time with less emphasis on the Dark Pacts for previously mentioned reasons.  My son was using a '-wing' army led by the Primarch himself.  Most of our forces weren't painted, but we just had to get our 40k on and let the Lion do his thing.  I wasn't looking forward to this, but I had a plan...

The Scenario

  Using the Leviathan cards, I drew the "table quarters" deployment and the 'Supplies' (Lines and Drop).  This is easy- capture the objectives in No Man's Land and hold your own to get that extra Command Point.  Now on to the table setup:

"fun" view

overhead view

  This wasn't a heavy-cover table, as we wanted to focus on getting to each other and kicking some enemy rear-ends.  Placing the objective markers in each quarter and the center, the buildings were added to trace the tablemat's design and get that maximum immersion (ignore those Christmas trees set up in the corner).  

The armies

  Now it was time to reveal our forces.  For my Chaos Space Marines, I still wanted to bring some of the 'ol standby's, but I went a different direction in a few cases.  First, I had to bring the Lord with the Thunderhammer, leading a squad of Chosen.  I really, really wanted to take advantage of the Warmaster's Gift- the only reason I have this model and play this detachment!  I also took a Dark Apostle leading another squad of Chosen and riding in the Land Raider, all specifically for the firepower to kill a Primarch and the +1 to wound on those already beastly veterans.  Then I had to return to my trusted Master of Possession and his posse of Possessed.  Sticking with more of the tried-and-true, I also brought the Winged Daemon Prince with a couple units of winged Warp Talons.  But I had to mix it up some more, so I brought a Helbrute with Plasma Cannon for the double-Dark Pact bonus, gave him a walking Daemon Prince as a buddy to give the aura of cover, and backed all that up with a couple of Predator tanks- one to kill a Primarch and one to kill his bodyguard.  There are five characters and six monster/vehicle units, meaning that I was offering up a lot of points to my opponent.  But I have a plan...

  He brought quite a bit of '-wing' elements in the form of Terminators and bikes all over.  It was worrisome to my small, very elite force.  The Primarch was joined by his sword-wielding Deathwing Knights as a bodyguard.  Asmodai attached to a big squad of Inner Circle Companions and Belial came with his Deathwing Terminators.  And, of course, the two venerable Dreadnoughts had to come to add that firepower with their twin Lascannons.  The Ravenwing was made up of a full Outrider squad and their ATV, while the rest of the force added some Heavy Intercessors, a full unit of regular Intercessors (buffed with that new rule from the recent FAQ), and a mob of sneaky Reivers.  The chosen detachment allowed everyone in the force to 'advance-and-charge'...  great.  This was going to be a tough and fast force for the Chaos Marines to deal with.  

Deployment
  The problem with deployment phase is having to plan for going first AND second because there's no way to control it.  And the Dark Angels are set up to be in my face immediately, so I had to think about my table quarter and taking advantage of anything that could slow him down and give me the initiative.  I put all of my Possessed, the walking Prince, and winged Prince and one of his units of Warp Talons on the flank so I could take advantage of their speed while also staying just far enough away to react.  The center was held by all the vehicles, with every big gun aimed in the direction of the loyalists.  

  The Dark Angels kept the Lion and his bodyguard in reserves, had the Reivers sneak around the battlefield to arrive at a key moment, and deployed everything else in the center to push into the Heretic lines.  Leading the charge were the Dreadnoughts, hoping to provide that wisdom through vehicle-shredding cannons and fists.  Belial and his Deathwing, followed by Asmodai and his companions, held the building that guarded their flank, seeing the Possessed lined up that way.  Seeing the armored fist facing them, all the forces took advantage of ruins where they could, while still ready to press the center.   

Ready for battle!

Round 1

  The game started with the Word Bearers winning the roll-off and taking full advantage.  The Possessed rushed by the statue and ruins to try and gain control of that table quarter, Belial's unit couldn't respond as the Helbrute and Destructor crept up and unleashed on them.  Some Dark Pacts and very poor dice rolls led to all the Deathwing falling and Belial wounded.  This allowed the Daemon Prince on foot, following the Possessed, to blast him down and get the points for Assassinate and Engage on All Fronts.  The other unit of Warp Talons fled to some ruins, claiming another quarter and ready to countercharge.  In the rear, the Lord and his squad spread around their home objective, trying to prevent the loyalists from getting behind them, and ordered the Dark Apostle's Land Raider to kill a Dreadnought.  It did, with a Command Reroll.  The Chaos Marines had begun their strategy- wiping out a couple key units quickly and spreading into other quarters to slow the arrival of reserves.  

No More Belial!

  The Dark Angels were caught completely by surprise at the furiosity of the Word Bearer's opening moves.  But they weren't slowed and commenced to returning the favor.  The surviving Dreadnought stomped forward and unleashed his fury on the Annihilator but failed to do any damage.  The Intercessors moved into position with the battleline version noticing the Warp Talons and emptying their bolter magazines, wiping out all but one.  It should be noted that the new update rule on Intercessors makes them very dangerous!  Finally, the Ravenwing revved their engines and zoomed straight at the Possessed trying to flank around, firing their guns and charging with chainswords (buffed by another new rule!) and dropping two.  The mutated Possessed struck back and killed four bikers in return.  

End Round 1- Word Bearers 6, Dark Angels 0

Round 2

  It was a good start for the heretics, but this was the turn that the Lion and his reinforcements may arrive, so they had to keep the pressure on.  The armoured spearhead moved up to engage with the Intercessors but failed to do any damage as the last Warp Talon from that unit moved behind the ruins to farm victory points without being threatened.  The Winged Daemon Prince and his Warp Talons moved to help the Possessed against the bikers and countercharged to finish them off.  Bolstered, the Destructor and Helbrute unleashed on Asmodai's companions, wiping them out and leaving the Interrogator wounded.  That gave the opportunity for the walking Prince to stroll past the Possessed scrum and decapitate Asmodai himself.  With all of the deployed characters dead and most of the table secured, the Word Bearers definitely had the upper hand.  

No more Asmodai!

  The loyalists were watching their forces disintegrate under the furious assault, but they still had their ace- the Primarch.  A flash of light saw the unit of Deathwing Knights appear in the corner of the battlefield and the Lion simply materialize from the fog-of-war nearby, making the arrival very obvious.  The Chaos Marines had their complete attention drawn on the demigod of war while the Reivers appeared behind their lines and charged the Chaos Lord and his bodyguard.  With Precision and purpose, they cut down the Lord instantly, stunning the Chosen as they watched their leader be deleted.  Taking advantage of the ensuing chaos, the Intercessors squads and venerable Dreadnought charged the Annihilator and Land Raider to lock them down and reduce the firepower targeting their gene-father.  The regular Intercessors were highly motivated and punched the Predator to death, while the Dreadnought just wasn't as excited and only inconvenienced the massive Land Raider.  But it was locked and wouldn't be as effective going into their turn.  

"Where did they come from!?!"

No more Annihilator!

End Round 2- Word Bearers 20, Dark Angels 7

Round 3

  Well...  It was time for that plan to execute for the Chaos Marines.  The forces had been deployed in counter-charge range and put pressure in all directions so they couldn't be surrounded.  The firepower was all Damage 2 and 3 or higher to ensure everything targeted died.  The units were tough, all having multiple Wounds and strong saves so they could absorb at least some of the Primarch's wrath.  And most importantly- they saved Command Point for a key moment...

  The Lord's Chosen, now recovered from their shock (and losing control of the home objective), backed up, shot, and charged back into the Reivers to exact revenge, dropping three of the loyalists.  The Dark Apostle's Chosen also wanted to get stuck in, so they disembarked from their Land Raider and charged the Heavy Intercessors, killing four.  Their Land Raider crushed the remaining one.  The Winged Daemon Prince had the opportunity to charge in and wipe out the regular Inercessors, but instead chose to move to the loyalist's home quarter and claim the objective.  Finally, under the suppression fire from the Destructor and Helbrute, the Warp Talons flew up to the Deathwing Knights to harass them- knowing they couldn't get too close or the Lion would swing through to dispatch them.  The firepower did kill two of the Terminators, but that left no room for the daemonkin to charge.  The Lion's impact was already being felt, even if it was all the Dark Angels had left.  

"FIRE!!!"

Dark Apostle and Chosen, clearing the way.

"These punks killed our Lord!"

  The Dark Angels were finally going to field their Primarch- the fearsome Lion El-Jonson!  He sent his Deathwing Knights to go mop up the Warp Talons after failing to charge into the heretic Destructor and strode forward confidently, ready to cleave through the daemonkin and their Daemon Princes.  The last battleline unit, the Intercessors, returned back toward their home objective and shot at the winged Prince but caused no damage and thought better than to charge the hulking, enraged monster.  The Reivers fought bravely against the Lord's Chosen but were wiped out instead, Battleshocking the veterans one last time on the way down.  The venerable Dreadnought continued to punch the Land Raider, but was effectively combat ineffective.  The fearsome Lion would be the only hope now.

"Let's not and say we did."

First, the successful Charge roll, with a re-roll

Each warlord's perspective

And then came the trickery

  As the Lion charged into the mob of Possessed, he noticed the Master of Possessions casting some crazy powers and used his Secrets Revealed special rule, but the psyker successfully passed his check in time.  This allowed the Possessed to activate their Unholy Bloodshed rule, take a Dark Pact (with both advantages due to the nearby Helbrute), take advantage of the 'Oath' rerolls, and finally pop the Bringers of Despair strategem to Strike First!  Because of the turn order, this means that my unit gets to attack before the Lion with every buff I could muster at that moment.  Rolling it up- 6 Mortal wounds and 11 more normal wounds, and not enough successful saves-  the Lion goes down!!!  

No more Lion!

End of the Game
  Before the Primarch even gets to attack, he his slaughtered by the Possessed!  If any single part of that series of dice-rolls would have failed, the whole thing would have been for nought and the Lion would have destroyed everything over there within the next two turns.  But everything worked.  Everything!  The Dark Pacts didn't kill me, the re-rolls for the Chaos version of the 'oath' worked, the saves worked, and the timing of rules and strategems worked!  It was all a precarious plan, and it all worked.  

  The Chaos Space Marines win with a final score, after three rounds, of 40-15.  I finally broke my curse and won a game, and won against a Primarch to boot!  It's nice when a plan comes together.  

Happy Gaming!

Battles in the Underhive don't often go according to plan.

   I feel so bad.  My life-long buddy, the one that got into the plastic-crack world with me as a youth, came down for his annual visit and only opportunity to play a game.  We chose Necromunda because that's my current obsession and that's where our history actually began.  I was looking forward to it and hoped he did too.  

  In the Underhive, there are proxies for the six 'middle' Houses in the form of gangs.  But there are other, darker and even more vicious forces down there, often not even worshippers of the Emprah (heresy!!!).  My buddy brought one of those factions- the Corpse Grinders!  These are Khorne-worshipping cultists that depend on the gory deaths of others for their enjoyment.  They aren't as tough as the Goliath gangers, nor are they as well-armed as the brutes, but they have their advantages.  The problem was that I didn't know what those were.  

  As he was setting up his forces and describing their stats, rules, and wargear, I became even more scared.  These dudes have how many attacks?!  With what?!  And they get all those special rules!?!  I continually asked him for the credits-cost and the disadvantages.  The problem was that this was my buddy's first time playing them as well, so he wasn't sure.  I was petrified and decided to bring the Escher crew so I could at least have some range and a lot of toxin/gas.  

  Well, it turns out that my selection was great but my impression was completely wrong.  I thought those cultists were so fast that they would be on top of me in a moment.  I thought that they had so much armor that my lasbolts and autogun bullets would fail to hurt him.  And I thought that I would lose at least half my gang just due to his Infiltrate skill.  Instead, my gang took the high ground, failed to miss with any shots and so pinned everyone that even looked in my direction, and then poisoned them to death.  

  When the smoke (green and noxious smoke, mind you) cleared, the Eschers had lost one body to a frenzied leader tired of seeing his friends get mowed down, while more than half of the cultists were dispatched or outright ineffective.  This is because the Corpse Grinders' biggest weakness is their Cool- they will break and run at nearly anything!  If they make the mistake of 'bunching up' so their banner-bearer can buff their movement, then they also make the mistake of watching one go down and the rest will scurry away like scared roaches.  It was sad.  

  My buddy gets once a year to play a game and I'm the guaranteed opponent.  I've been beating him for decades (when he beats me, though, he BEATS me) but at least it's usually fun(ish).  In this case, it wasn't.  I whined about how broken the warband was, only to watch them become broken and useless.  I overestimated them.  Worse, my buddy just got to put down models, move them forward a bit, and then remove them from the table.  I feel so bad.  

  Got an experience like that?  Drop it in the comments below so we can commiserate together (whether on the giving- or receiving-end).  

Happy Gaming!

Hive Primus heating up!

   We got together to play more Necromunda and my game group had an absolute blast!  For this battle, we had some fun setting up the terrain (three hours of fun, in fact!) and then everyone chose a faction and used all the start box for them.  There were a couple of points to all this.  

  First, I brought in the Tinkerturf terrain and the TTCombat MDF terrain so that we could have something other than the 'standard' stuff for the game.  Zone Mortalis is fun, but it really loses that '3d' element of Necromunda that kept all us old neckbeards coming back for more, while the Zone Mechanicum terrain is still only single-level and boring despite the insane detail.  How about just some hab-blocks and multi-level walkways?  The terrain and immersion part of this game is one of the largest draws.

  Then, we used the Orlock, Goliath, Delaque, and Escher (I used my wife's stuff!) to really show off the differences between the bands and their weapons.  We even went with 'custom (10)' crews so that everyone had the opportunity to try out most of the options.  This definitely created some imbalance, but it doesn't matter right now.  

  Finally, we combined the entire game- both sets of terrain and all 4 gangs- on one table so that everyone would be paying attention to everyone else.  My gaming group may be proficient in D&D, but this game is totally new and I wanted to present every opportunity to reinforce all the rules.  There's a reason...

  I introduced Tactics Cards to each of the players for the first time as well.  This gave them a chance to see even more uniqueness but to realize that they can build strategies around more than some equipment and hopeful dice-rolls.  This is where all of my cunning plans fell apart.  

  The first thing that happened as we finished deployment and established initiative for the first turn was those perfidious Delaque shut out the lights!  He found a card in his deck that I didn't even know was there (and I typically play the Delaque right now!) and popped it on everyone.  As the fighters got into their positions, the lumen-globles shut off and visibility was limited to 6".  This tactic was literally a game-changer and slowed ALL the action down to a crawl.  

  At the end of each turn, we could roll to try to get them back on, but it took three turns to get them back on.  By that point, the Orlocks realized that they were outnumbered and surrounded and used their discretion to slink away and not lose anyone.  The Escher saw that their nearest opponents were gone and began dashing across the table to engage with the other two.  The Delaque tried to stay hidden and together (they were rookies, after all), but that just gave the already short-ranged Goliaths plenty of opportunity to drop Shredder ammo and Frag grenades on the trench-coaters.  It was brutal as their lights-off trick backfired spectacularly.  However, the Delaque weren't without their small victories, taking out the Goliath leader, a champion, and another ganger for good measure on their way out.  The Eschers arrived just in time to see the Delaque bottle out and decided not to challenge the infuriated brutes that were left.  

  Even though the game only went four turns, the scoring resulted in the Delaque winning by a score of 6 to 2 (Goliath) to 0 (Orlock and Escher).  They suffered immensely for it, losing half their gang and not being in a great position for the next engagement (if we were playing a campaign).  The point, however, was really to get into the rules and repeat the game turns enough times that my game group feels confident for the next step.  

  What is the next step?  CAMPAIGN MODE!  The guys really like the game, especially the post-battle stuff and continuing action for the storyline.  Between creating memorable deaths (in the darkness!) and creating infamy for fighters (everyone knows Zed with his unerring harpoon gun!), this seems like something they'd enjoy for a sustainable period.  Plus, this gives me more time to spruce up my D&D stuff...

  Well, that's it for now!  Let me know if you're crawling through the Underhive and had the lights go out at the worst time.  As always- Happy Gaming!