Corridors of Death - Blackstone Fortress Stronghold Assault

After playing a new exploration earlier this week, on Tuesday and Wednesday, Amanda was feeling inspired to push on and start assaulting some Strongholds - now that we have enough clues to do so! And so we did on Thursday evening! The Stronghold we drew was Corridors of DEATH!

As with most Strongholds, the expedition is made up of four random encounter cards for the "Access Route" followed by the Stronghold itself. Unlike regular explorations where the encounter cards are separated into Combats and Challenges and four are drawn from each - for Stronghold Access Routes, all are shuffled together and four drawn at random... so they COULD be two and two... or it COULD be four Combats... or it COULD be four Challenges!?

Access Route Encounter #1: Combat  

Amanda asked me to get this all set up while she was watching an episode of Supernatural with Kerira.



Only three discovery locations... of course that meant only three Hostile Groups... All the Traitor Guard and a Rogue Psyker.



Amanda joined me and we set off on our expedition...



Vorne started off by Illuminating some Traitor Guard - showing them the error of their ways... with fire...



She then withdrew into a corridor with Amallyn Shadowguide behind her, on overwatch, and drew all the guard in after them... burning and sniping...



Locarno raced out and took out the Rogue Psyker - but, before he could even explore the discovery marker - the Rogue Psyker returned as a reinforcement and he had to kill him all over again.



More Traitor Guard also arrived to replaced those immolated in Vorne's initial assault. Brogan and the Ratling Brothers snuck around the other way - hoping to help out Locarno and secure and escape chamber for the group.



Vorne Burning ANOTHER group of traitor Guard...



And ANTHOER!



Eventually we had the whole area just about cleared out and everyone started making their way to the exit. Picking off stragglers and snatching up Archaeotech and Clues along the way.



Brogan always slowing things up a bit...

Amanda had ended Shadowguide's move next to a portal and I warned her that reinforcements could arrive there... "what were the odds of that?' she said. "15%" I said...



The the reinforcements arrived... They did some pretty serious injuries to Shadowguide - three wounds!!! Luckily there were destiny dice she could use to limp into the Maglev Chamber to escape with the rest of the group. She also happened to have a Hospitaller Med Pack... so that was a very near thing...


Access Route Encounter #2: Combat  



Another layout with only three Discovery locations.



And again Vorne started off by racing out the being the Emperor's Light to the Dark Corners of the Galaxy... and BURN the filthy Xenos that lurk within...



And then burn their friends.



Shadowguide likewise charged out, bringing the fight to the enemy and taking out half the Nega-Volt Cultists before they could even act...



Dorg and Locarno and the Ratlings moved out a little more cautiously (largely because Vorne and Shadowguide went hogging all the Destiny Dice again!

In the Event Phase we rolled Not Dead Yet and one of the Nega-Volt Cultists popped up right next to Dorg... as the Event Phase is, technically, still part of the turn in which he had done the "Defence" action, he was allowed a to smash a hostile that moved into contact with him... and because he took it out of action, he was able to flip to his Inspired side! Woo! 2d12 Smashy-Smash!



Vorne returned to help mop up the Traitor Guard.



Dorg Finished of the last of them.



The ratlings grabbed the last Archaeotech.



And then we waited for Dorg to catch up...


Access Route Encounter #3: Challenge 



So I was the leader for this round and I chose Taitor Guard - as they seem the most numerous. Amanda guessed after ONE QUESTION.... and then we COMPLETELY FORGOT TO USE THIS BONUS during the next combat!?

Access Route Encounter #4: Combat 



It's funny, MOST of these combat had the longer corridors in their layouts...



Locarno started off by stepping from the Maglev Chamber and setting up his forcefield and going on overwatch... let them come to us...

And then Shadowguide sprinted past him and into a side corridor and power-bladed the Spindle Drone within and snatched up the clue they were guarding...



Then Vorne sprinted past going in the other direction to chase down the Ur-Ghuls... and BURN THEM!?

Locarno muttered something to himself about why he ever bothers...



Dorg Shuffled out and joined him, but the ratling Twins also ran past, in the general direction Shadoguide had gone, but heading down a different corridor...



shaodguide sprinted past the Ratlings to take down BOTH Rogue Psykers...



While Vorne started killing all the Traitor Guard.



BURN HERETICS!



Little bit of mopping up...



While waiting for Dorg to catch up, MORE UR-Ghuls arrived...



And a Spindle Drone... but there were every quickly taken care off... and we were off to our final destination!

The Stronghold: Corridors of Death! 



After we got it set up Amanda started talking about ideas for her two explorers to go sprinting off in opposite directions - as they had in all of the other combats in this game _ I desperately tried to urge caution in this one - as a few of the combatants are a little more bad-ass... and there were a few more of them... and they had a few special rules (like the Traitor Guard Snipers) and increased odds of Reinforcements arriving... and CHAOS SPACE MARINES!

I suggested we hole up in a defensible corner nearby - with lots of cover - and let them come to use through bottlenecks and take them out one at a time...



She went for it and Shadowguide sprinted off into the designated corner and cleared out the Traitor Guard Sniper that was hiding in the shadows.



Everyone else followed and took cover... vorne laid down a barrier of fire... and the Hostiles just kept coming!



Eventually we thinned them out enough to push out of our corner and make for the Ur-Ghuls lair (the objective of the mission)



Vorne, burning everything in her path.



Reinforcements arrived, but were quickly taken care of...



Dorg taking up the rear as we headed into the corridor.



More reinforcements...



After Dorg took down that Chaos Space Marine - for two turns in a row, we rolled "Not Dead Yet" and the Marine stood up again, only to have his head smashed in by Dorg again.



We waited a few turns - for the laser barrier to shut down, then rushed in and took down the Ur-Ghuls - it was none too soon, because that same turn ALL THE REINFORCEMENTS ARRIVED!?



As first one in, Vorne claimed the Prize the Dark Age Weapon - pretty nasty up close (1+) action, 2d12 at range 1!! It's her new back up sidearm for when hostiles get too close!



Everyone else piled in and off we went before the reinforcements could catch up!

Precipice

On our return to precipice, the first thing we did was draw the new Legacy card...



Well, that kind of sucks... although, it's not THAT big of a deal - most of our characters are pretty tooled up, there isn't much more they could even carry... so...




The Ratlings DID go and spend all of their archaeotech one buying EVERYTHING at Long-Hauler-Gama-3-Beta...




And Locarno did pick up a few things at The Traveller.

Neither made use of the Ship's facilities... I suppose Locarno could have rolled to revive Janus Drake... but he's a bit of a wanker anyway, so... we just left him in stasis...

Amanda did pick up one item for each of her Grrlz... I can't remember what...? Rune of the Phoenix and another Hospitaler Medical Kit, I think...?


Coming Soon to Tim's Miniature Wargaming Blog:

We're both pretty stoked to try the final Stronghold - and then the Hidden Vaults - the ultimate conclusion of this first Quest. probably won't be Friday or Saturday - as we have other stuff going on - but hopefully on Sunday!!!