Looking for Clues - Blackstone Fortress

After completing the DEATHMAZE - the final Stronghold - I realized we needed four more clues to go after the Hidden Vaults... So, Sunday afternoon I set up a regular expedition into the Blackstone Fortress to LOOK for some more clues. (actually, the Ratlings had ONE Clue, squirrelled away amongst their stuff, so we really only NEEDed THREE more...).

As ever, Amanda took Amalyn Shadowguide, Aeldari Ranger and Pious Vorne, Missionary Zealot, I played Espern Locarno, Imperial Navigator, and the Ratling Twins, Rein and Raus. We also brought along Dorg "The Wall" Brogan as a Retinue Character.

Exploration Round One: Combat



Wow... it's like ALL the Traitor Guard... Good thing I finished up the Servants of the Abyss this week! Though the card said one Spindle Drone, we actually got two - because of the Heightened Threat Level!



It was an interesting set up... some nice corridors to bottleneck the enemy and let them come to us and take them down as they come.

Vorne went first...



So much for letting them come to us... Vorne charged out and started Burning Traitors!



Burning...



Whoops! One survived...



Dorg went out the other way to block the other Traitor Guard from getting at us...



End of the First Round.



Starting off the second round, one of the Spindle Drones advanced on Vorne and caught on fire. The other, sensibly, decided to stay put!



GAH!!! The Traitor Guard overwhelmed Dorg and took him OUT OF ACTION!?



Shadowguide also took a few wounds and was looking like she might be overrun... and THEN two more Spindle Drones arrived as reinforcements right next to her! AT this point I think she had four wounds! But then spend a few actions recovering and managed to power blade these to death... or... to bits, if they're not really alive...?



We did clear out the Traitor Guard and searched all the discovery areas...



And made out way to the maglev exit - which had just showed up on its own as one of the events at the end of a turn... Unfortunately NO CLUES were found here - only Archaeotech...


Exploration Round Two: Challenge



Failures happened... cards were discarded... no one wanted to take their luck with the Blackstone die!

No Clues...

Exploration Round Three: Challenge 



The traitorous bastards attacked us.. just can't trust ANYONE in the Grim, Dark Future...

At least they were only regular wounds...

and No Clues...


Exploration Round Four: Combat



This looked like it'd be short and sweet... but only TWO hostile groups also meant only two discovery markers and two chances to possibly find a CLUE!



The Guard had all gone first, which, in some ways was handy, as they'd all charged up close and we didn't have to go far to start with he killing... On the other hand, they'd all spread out and weren't in convenient batches of three for Vorne to burn up in an efficient manner...



But burn them up she did, just the same...



Whew... that went so quickly, I barely even got to take any pictures..



Exploration Round Five: Combat



Another smallish encounter - at least there were three Hostile Groups/Discovery Locations.



Shadowguide charged out and started power-blading Traitor Guard!



I'm starting to wonder if she walked the Path of the Harlequin at some point - she is DEADLY in hand-to-hand with that Power Blade now!



Locarno Leap-frogged past here and dealt with most of the Spindle Drones. He has the Spindle Drone Amulet, so when they attack him they ALWAYS count as being Threat Level One and have to re-roll any SUCCESSFUL attacks!



Other ran around the other way and cleared that section and searched all the Discovery Locations.



A couple of Traitor Guard reinforcements came out of the portal just as the Maglev chamber doors were closing... they couldn't really do anything... but Rein and Raus were on overwatch and shot them down anyway, just for good measure. If they didn't take them out here, they'd probably just show up somewhere else...

Well... actually... they'll show up somewhere else, regardless... but I had Overwatch dice, so...


Exploration Round Six: Combat



Four Discovery Locations



On turned out to NOT be a Hostile Group, but added a Condition: Endless Hordes. When rolling for reinforcements, if any failed to turn up with the first roll, we had to re-roll!



The Nega-Volt Cultists went first - three charged forward... and one remained, guarding... whatever it was they had at their location.

Vorne then charged out and lit up the Ur-Ghuls.



Then parked on the discovery location (for searching in a future turn) and laid down some flames for he Traitor Guard to charge into!



Dorg moved up to be a big meatshield for everyone else... Because he only gets TWO actions each turn and can never use Destiny Dice to do extra moves or attacks or other activations, we generally just try to keep him moving to the exit and just him as... well... a meatshield!

The Ratlind shot past him and took out a Nega-Volt Cultist.



Ur-Ghul reinforcements arrived!

And the Traitor Guard - in the background - they have to be the cagiest lot of Traitor Guard EVER!? Not ONE of them charged - it was all Sneak or Advance or Hold... perhaps it was the dying wails of the Ur-GHuls or the wall of fire in the corridor... They're getting wise to our antics...

vorne Just charged them the following turn and burned them all up...



Making our way to the exit - MORE Nega-Volt Cultists arrived. For once the wall-of-flame-by-the-door trick worked - FOUR of them burned up as they cam out of the portal. The last one was shot down by Shadowguide, who was on Overwatch.

I think ONE Clue was finally found here... or maybe it was the one before... Things were looking grim - we knew the last two cards would be Challenge cards, and they don't always give up Discovery Cards!


Exploration Round Seven: Challenge (but kind of a Combat... but only because I didn't read the card...) 



Only just rereading this and now as I write the report have I realized I didn't totally read the instructions...

totally missed that there are to be NO ENCOUNTER CARDS drawn... and that it was a 6+ to search.... AND that there were two additional terrain bits that would have to have been maneuvered around...

As it turns out, we STILL would have beaten this without any problem... Shadowguide can run CRAZY fast and had, I think, two sixes... and there may have been another among the Destiny Dice... so...



We played it as an encounter, which was kind of fun and different - but I drew Rogue Psykers - WITH four Traitor Guard!!!



Vorne ran out first and used her Eviscerator to take out the lead Traitor Guard.... then burned the group of three with another action...



And then burned the Psykers with another... and then she used a Destiny die to run into the maglev chamber.

Amalyn Shadowguide then RAN to the discovery Marker and did her search action and then ran back to the Maglev chamber.



By the end of the FIRST Round everyone was in the chamber, just waiting for Dorg to catch up... so...

I think this is where we found our second Clue...?


Exploration Round Eight: Challenge



We've done this one before. The last time I just happened to roll 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 on the very first roll and just had to stack them. This time I think I rolled something like 2, 3, 4, 4, and 5 and had to keep re-rolling that second 4 until I got a 1... I ended up having to re-roll it a half-dozen times, or so, and then JUST barely got them stacked as Amanda said "TIME!"... and then they fell over... She said we could count it as a win, but I drew another Archaeotech card

GAH!? We only found two more clues!? The Ratling Twins started off with one, but we needed a fourth!


Back to Precipice 

Drawing our new Legacy card....



Wait... didn't we KILL this guy!? I mean, we HAVE his THRUNDER HAMMER!?

Uggggghhhh... These Black Legion Chaos dudes are just like a bad case of Herpes...




Locarno and the rAtlings grabbed some goodies from Traveller - and actually managed to FINALLY revive Janus Drake - the Rogue Trader... mostly just so they could taunt him and tell him that THEY all figured out the secrets of the Blackstone Fortress and were about to plunder the Hidden Vaults!



Vorne and Shadowguide both went back to their own ships. I think they did pick up one item each (through Shadowguide had to discard down to TEN cards!) the MAIN reason they went to their ships, however, was to try and get ONE MORE CLUE! And Vorne DID manage to get one!

Wooo!

Looks like we ARE heading to the Hidden Vaults after all!!!


Coming Soon to Tim's Miniature Wargaming Blog:

Tomorrow we are planning to take down the Hidden Vaults - thus ending this first Quest in the Blackstone Fortress!

After that...? I don't know... More Blackstone Fortress...? But which expansion quest do we do next!? I guess we could play them in order of release - The Dreaded Ambull, then Traitor Command, then Escalation. Doing Dreaded Ambull and Traitor Command will give me time to finish up painting the Excalation miniatures. I figure I'm about half done - and that does include the ADDITIONAL Cultists of the Abyss I picked up!

I was asking if Amanda was excited about trying out some new characters - figuring she might be interested in Rogue Trader Neyam Shai Murad or a Primaris Psyker Aradia Madellan... she does like playing the bad ass chicks... But she looked at me like I was some kind of idiot when I suggested it and wondered aloud why I would think she would give up Shadowguide and Vorne - especially now that they're all tooled up with so many cool resources!?

I guess she has a point...

Maybe I'LL play Murad and Madellan!!! Girl Power, yo!