Shadow War: Brind's World Weekend Campaign (Part Two)

Saturday Morning we gathered together again to play some more Shadow War: Armageddon Brind's World. If you haven't checked out Part One (it has all the background details) you can find it here:

Shadow War: Brind's World Weekend Campaign (Part One) 

John and Christian couldn't make it in the morning so Paul, Amanda, Finnegan, Other Tim, The Girl, and myself carried on...

SATURDAY MORNING - ROUND THREE

My first game was against The Girl and her so-far-undefeated Harlequins. As I played them earlier in the week, I knew I had very little chance against them... Then we rolled for scenarios...

We rolled up a Hit and Run Scenario... with ME being the attacker! Oh and I only got to play with FIVE of my guys... Oh, and my special mission...? Yeah, that was to assassinate the Troupe Master... Fun times... AT least I rolled "Quiet" for my subplot - The Girl rolled "Indomitable", because, like she needed any help with her leadership!?

The Harlequins started with two on the table (Nasty Lady and Purple Cloak - neither were my objective!) and the rest would test to come on each turn.

I got the first turn...

ROUND ONE - Astra Militarum Turn

Word came down from on high that there were Xenos scum occupying one of the lower levels of the cavern. Eldar, it seemed. Harlequins. Sgt. Kassab was tasked to select four of his best to go down into those caverns and take out their leader. He was told it would be easy. The Harlequins are just musicians and dancers, not fighters, they said. They wear fancy bright clothes, they'll be easy to find and easier to shoot, they said. Their leader will be the most brightly dressed of all of them - and not even a dancer... more like a choreographer... a dancer that had seen his day and was old and feeble, they said... If Sergeant Kassab had learned anything in his years of soldiering, it was not to believe one damned thing that "THEY" said... 



Kassab selected Muktar, Zakariya, Hamid and Wajdi. He knew this could very well be a suicide mission so he left and the special weapon operators behind -that they may better serve the emperor in a mission where they had SOME measure of success...

Delving deep into the caverns the team swiftly moved forward. Regardless of their chances of success, they had a job to do and would try their best to achieve it. Surprise might be their only hope. 

ROUND ONE - Harlequins



Stabpants and Misty Cloud arrive!



Nasty Lady and Purple Cloak move to intercept the Astra Militarum intruders.


ROUND TWO - Astra Militarum Turn

As the team moved forward, a flash of shimmering light danced across the passage ahead of them. They all started shooting! Then there were two of the dancing lights. More shooting! the things just seemed to dance away from their shots with the greatest of ease! 

I actually scored two hits - which actually wounded!! Both saved.

ROUND TWO - Harlequins.



...and then the Troupe Master arrived..



A frightful apparition of the malevolence arose behind them and Cut down Hamid before he had a chance to run. Wajdi let out a shrill scream as he broke and ran - past his squad, and past the shimmering lights before them! 



Turning to see what was there, Kassab saw a vision of absolute horror! It was as he always imagined a daemon from the void would appear and he lost all control of his faculties. His base animal instinct for self preservation kicked in and he turned an sprinted past what was left of the team and followed Wajdi past the other apparitions! 



The shimmering apparitions were not content to let them just pass though. With blinding swiftness they were upon the fleeing - crashing into them and throwing them both against the wall with incredible violence. The pair slumped to the floor like sacks of mukaali dung. 

ROUND THREE -  Astra Militarum

The others threw down their arms and vainly pleaded for mercy to an enemy from whom they should have expected none... but they stopped. The terrifying apparitions simple stood and watched as they collected their wounded and dragged them off back the way they entered this blackest cavern of  horrors.... 

POST GAME

Yeah, I voluntarily bottled at that point... that last harlequin turn the Troupe master charged Hamid and Wajdi - both failed fear checks - Hamid was cut down with his free hack for leaving close combat and was knocked Out of Action. The Sergeant failed a break test - for Hamid going down within 2". The other two Harlequins charged the Sergeant and Wajdi - as they were already broken, they didn't take fear tests, but fought with WS 1. So both scored SEVEN HITS against Wajdi and Kassab - taking Wajdi out of action and the Sergeant was downed (5 down results, 2 Flesh Wounds!)

The Sergeant luckily wasn't put our of action at the end of the game. Wajdi recovered from his wounds, but Hamid suffered a serious head wound and would take longer to recover (and gained the Frenzy ability).

Somehow the Squad found a cache of Archaeotech on the way out - the Harlequins found THREE in their search of the caverns.

The Sergeant gained the Step Aside skill (giving him 4+ invulnerable save in close combat). Purple Cloak gained the Evade skill - making her even HARDER to hit (-1 at long range, -2 at short range!)

Another replacement carrying a lasgun arrived from the depot to fill out Kassab's squad - Private Hassan.

Elsewhere on Brind's World during Round Three...



Amanda's Tau met Paul's Grey Knights in the deserted desert city...



Having some experience Fighting In Build Up Areas - Amanda deployed her team a bit more spread out this time... I didn't even make note of what scenario they played... probably Kill Team Fight or Scavengers.. The Grey Knights won.




The Orks finally had it out to determine who was Da Biggest uv da Biggest... That was apparently Other Tim's MOAR Orks...


SATURDAY MORNING - ROUND FOUR

My next game was against Finnegan and his Orks. We played ANOTHER Kill Team Fight scenario!?



The 5th Company was rotated out of the caverns and tasked with securing a deserted city in the desert that scouts had discovered and the regiment planned to occupy for it's new base of operations. The company moved in and began their sweep. It turned out the city was not as deserted as the initial scout reports had indicated. Instead it was found to be infested with Orks! The City was broken down into section and cleared out block-by-block. Second Platoon was tasked with securing section 43B and Kassab's squad was to sweep the blocks on the right flank. 

Auspex readings indicated there was much movement ahead o their position. It seemed the Orks knew of their approach and were assembling for a counter attack. There was a burst of transmissions over the vox - the other squads were meeting stiff resistance and may have been overrun. There was concern that the Orks had gotten into around to the platoons rear. Chaos and confusion reined supreme. 

(I rolled "Fear and Confusion" for my subplot - +1 to all leadership rolled for break tests and fear tests).

ROUND ONE - Astra Militarum.

 

As they approached their assigned block, Kassab split his men and flanked right with Hassan, Yakub, Daoud, and Zakariya. Corporal Talal flanked left with Nazim, Wajdi, and Muktar. 
 

Yakub and Zakariya climbed into a ruined building hoping to find a firing position where they could cover the squads advance with Yakub's grenade launcher. The Sergeant ran forward with Hassan and Daoud. 



The street was clear so Kassab, Hassan and Daoud ran out through the archway and made a dash for the building across the way. Yakub and Zakariya scrambled through the rubble of the ruined building. 


ROUND ONE - ORKS



The Orks had to be nearby... They could hear their terrible grunts and shouts as they approached.


ROUND TWO - Astra Militarum.



Cpl. Talal sent Nazim, with his Plasma gun, and Wajdi to the corner of a building and told them to watch the street ahead for the advancing Orks. The Corporal then scrambled down the alley with Muktar to take up a firing position at the opposite corner of the building.  



Yakub took up a firing position at a window in the ruined building. There was too much rubble for Zakariya to take up a position there as well, so he climbed out the window and took up a position behind a brick well. As he ran for cover there, he could see the Orks pouring though a doorway at the far end of the street. 

Kassab and the others reached the building opposite and stacked at the corner. Kassab had a look around and saw the same Orks Zakariya was observing. 

ROUND TWO - Orks



The Orks surged down the street - one group charged with reckless abandon, while others held back and moved to fire upon Zakariya! Some of their shots were low and shattered brick on one side of the well, but most went high, whizzing over Zakariya's head. 



Another mob of Orks poured through gateway at the end of the street Corporal Talal's men were observing! The horrid noises they made almost sounded like cheers and... were they... singing!? If it were song, it was of a sort that only a base beast such as the Ork could possibly enjoy. 


ROUND THREE - Astra Militarum



Kassab quickly gave orders to the other two and then charged out towards the Orks - blasting at them with his bolt pistol and then taking cover behind a heap of musty old carpets. Following their orders Hassan sprinted to cover behind the well with Zakariya. Daoud moved up to the corner and fired a blast with his meltagun at the orks but only managed to set some of the carpets on fire. Zakariya gave covering fire as these movements took place - forcing the great Orks with the larger support weapon to dive fore cover. Yakub fired a grenade down the street and sent other Orks diving for cover. 



Nazim super-charged his plasmagun and unleashed a gush of superheated particles at the Orks, unfortunately his shot went wide and blasted a hole in the building next to him. Wajdi and Muktar laid down some fire with their lasguns sending a few dashing for cover. Talal threw a grenade into the middle often hoard, which knocks a few to the ground. 

(lots of hits... and pins... NO WOUNDS... damn I hate Toughness 4)

ROUND THREE - Orks



The Orks charged around the burning carpets, two of the massive beasts attacked the Sergeant from either side, a third barrelled down on Daoud at the corner. The one charging Daoud caught the trooper in the side of the head with his massive fist - throwing Daoud's limp body against the wall like a rag doll. They Sergeant dodged one of his assailants attacks, but was cut down by the other. 



Under the withering fire from Talal's team, the orks at the end of the street crawled back through the doorway to regroup...

ROUND FOUR - Astra Militarum

Hassan and Zakariya poured lasgun fire down on the advancing orks that had overrun the Sergeant and Daoud. They scored hits that would kill any normal man, but the Orks just kept coming. Yakub fired more grenades, but his shots went too high and burst on buildings further down the street.

Nazim supercharged his plasmagun again and incinerated one of the few Orks left, the only other in the street broke and ran for cover through the doorway. The others continued to pour lasgun fire down at the street hoping to at least keep the Orks pinned. 


ROUND FOUR - Orks



The Orks stormed forward, oblivious to the fire Hassan and Zakariya laid down on them. 



They swarmed Hassan and Zakariya and beat the two savagely and shot them repeatedly with their crude but menacing pistols. 



The other works regained their nerve and came pouring out through the doorway again! 

ROUND FIVE - Astra Militarum

The remaining members of the squad panicked and ran hoping to link up with other elements of their platoon or company. The Orks followed, leaving the Sergeant and the others bleeding in the street. Another company was committed to clearing the city and reinforcements were finally brought up. The sergeant and a couple of the others had holed up in one of the buildings for a few days - totally surrounded by Orks. One night, under the cover of darkness, they slipped out and made their way back to friendly lines. Hassan had bled out and they'd left him behind, his body was never recovered. 

POST GAME

Totally bottled...

The Sergeant turned out to be okay. Hassan died. Daoud and Zakariya were grievously injured and would take a long time to heal from their painful injuries (gaining a special hatred for that great Ork that just couldn't seem to die - he had two wounds...)

Somehow in all this we still managed to collect another cache...? I didn't take note of how many the Orks recovered or what happened to their injured.

Private Nassar was send up from the depot to replace Hassan. Corporal Talal gained the Fast Shot skill (his lasgun basically now had sustained fire - could take up to d3 shots per turn!)


Elsewhere on Brind's World during Round Three...



Other Tim's Orks faced the might of Paul's Grey Knights.



They played the Ambush scenario in the jungle ruins



I forget who this guy was exactly, but I'm pretty sure a promethium cache was expended to bring him out for a game...



Not sure who was ambushing who here...? The Grey Knights ultimately won, though...



Amanda's Tau took on The Girl's Harlequins in the Caverns.



The played the Scavengers scenario.



Took them quite a while - lots of shooting back and forth at each other in cover. No one able to claim a majority of the loot markers.



In the end I think the Tau bottled...




Standings at the end of Round Four:

The Girl - Harlequins - 9 Caches - 4-0
Other Tim - Moar Orks - 9 Caches - 2-2
Finnegan - Orks - 5 Caches - 1-2
Myself - Tallarn - 4 Caches - 1-2
Paul - Grey Knights - 4 Caches - 3-1
Amanda - 4 Caches - 1-3
John - Skitarii - 3 Caches - 0-2
Christian - eldar - 1 Cache - 0-1

As we were playing to 10 caches it seemed pretty clear that we'd get in two more rounds. Other Tim and The Girl would each get at minimum one cache and then play each other in a sixth and final "Championship" Round. There was no one else even close - other than Finnegan. If he hadn't had to start his Kill Team over again after the first round...

So with those wrapped up we all went for a late lunch at Park Cafe - where we met Christian and John. On the walk back to our place I spotted a couple guys playing 40K at the Mana Bar, and I popped into King Me Boardgamery and picked up a copy of Castles of Mad King Ludwig off their 50% off table...


Coming Soon to Tim's Miniature Wargaming Blog: 

Shadow War: Brind's World Weekend Campaign (Part THREE) - wrapping up the report of the weekend campaign.

Flowing that should be a report of the game of The Pikeman's Lament that Paul and I got to play on Sunday.