Showing posts with label Ebony Vipers Genestealer Cult. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Ebony Vipers Genestealer Cult. Show all posts

Tuesday, December 28, 2021

Kill Team: Relic Recovered

 Finnegan and I FINALLY got back to playing Kill Team on Monday this week. 

The story here picks up from The Aeldari Assault on the Genestealer Cult stronghold in a cave system under the jungles of Xoxigar Tertium. Farseer Thymiltelyir lead a Beil-Tymm Combat Patrol (including Maesenir's Rangers). The attack was an utter debacle. The Assuryani were surprised and overwhelmed by the unexpected numbers of cultists they faced and were unable to recover the ancient Aeldari artefact they had gone there to recover. 

Kill Team Coranos has been operating in the region, under the direction of Lord Inquisitor Drusilla Kyros and monitoring both the Aeldari and Genestealer Cultists. The sudden appearance of the full combat patrol tipped off the Deathwatch Kill Team that they were after something very important. In the immediate aftermath of the battle, Sergeant Laescos Coranos led his battle brothers into the cavern to take advantage of the cultists while they were still reeling from the violence of the aeldari attack. 

We just made up our own scenario here, and ignored Tac Ops. It was simply whoever controlled the artifact at the end of the fourth Turning Point won. 

Both of these forces are Finnegan's (through I painted both) and I have to admit, I wasn't really familiar with all the Genestealer Cultists tricks and probably didn't play them... optimally...? (It's also been three months since we've played this relatively new game and we kept confusing rules - "Is this a thing..?" - "No, that's Necromunda...")

All ready to go. 

Kill Team Coranos enters the Caverns...  

Brother Icasos Scamedes, Brother Nasirdan Cannistus, and Brother Borealis Issolis advancing on the Deathwatch's left flank report the first contact with sentries in the cavern complex. 

Sergeant Laescos Coranos and Brother Benatos Diodexious on the right also encounter sentries. 


Turning Point One

The alarm is raised and panic spreads through the team guarding one of the cults stashes. 

Before the cultists could react, Brother Icasos Scamedes, formerly of the Thunder Chickens Space Marine Chapter, charged at the first barricade, blasting the sentries behind it with his Deathwatch Shotgun. Bother were grievously wounded.

Despite their injuries, the cultists answered with their own shotguns... injuring The Thunder Chicken, slightly. 

Brother Nasirdan Cannistus, of the Silver Skulls, followed his Battle Brother down the tunnel. As Scamedes peeled away, drawing the sentries fire, Cannistus finished off the both of them with a double tap from his Stalker Pattern Bolt Gun. 

The Cultists sentries on the other flank were terrified by the sudden appearance of Brother Scamedes in the side tunnel and the violence of the Deathwatch's assault on their compatriots. One blasted at Scamedes with a shotgun and the other fired on the advancing Sergeant Coranos. 

Brother Borealis Issolis having no immediate targets, moved up to join Scamedes and Canistus. 

Targets would present themselves soon enough - more cultists came running down the tunnel to see what was the cause of all the ruckus. Spotting the Marines advancing thought the gloom, they immediately opened fire. Brother Cannistus was peppered with shot and bullets. One of them found their mark and wounded him slightly. 

Brother Benatos Diodexious advanced past his sergeant blasting at the sentries before them. One was taken out, the other lingered, briefly. Sergeant Coranos charged past Diodexious and finished off the filthy xenos-tainted cultist behind the barricade. 

A cultist carrying a special weapon moved up to the barricade on the left and fired it at Brother Cannistus. Canistus was able to duck the relatively slow moving blast of sticky goo meant to entangle slow it's target. 

The rest of the cultists repositioned themselves to try and get cover and good sightlines to defend their stash. 


Turning Point Two

Situation at the beginning of the second turning point. Four of the Cultists were taken out, but ten more remained! Cannistus and Scamedes had both been injured but the ceaseless firing of the defenders, but not terribly so... 

The Battle Brothers resumed their assault - The two cultists that had rushed to regain the barricade on the left went down in a hail of rounds from Brother Issolis' Infernus Heavy Bolter. Issolis, himself, then rushed forward to take cover behind the sentries barricade. 

Other Cultists ducked and took pot shots at the Deathwatch marine, but whether it was the Cultist's own Barricade, the Marines Mk VIII Power Armour, or Brother Borealis' unshakable faith in the Emperor... no bullet could harm him. 

Brother Cannistus moved forward past Brother Issolis tracking targets, but was unable to bring fire on them 

Brother Cannistus drew some fire from the defenders, but was unscathed. 

Brother Scamedes followed Brother Cannistus and took another of the cultists down with a single blast from his shotgun. 

A cultist armed with a Grenade Launcher seriously damaged Sergeant Coranos with a Krak Grenade. The Deathwatch Sergeant was undeterred and charged forth and chopped a cultist clean in half .

A Cultist with a seismic cannon repositioned to get a clear shot at the invaders. 


Turning Point Three

Terrified Cultists scatter for cover as the Deathwatch Kill Team enters the cavern containing the cults stach , that they were tasked to defend. Nearly half of their number already gone! 

Sergeant Coranos pressed his attack, charging another cultist. This one was a slippery customer and ducked and dodged all of the sergeants swings of his Xenophase Blade. 

The Cultists' leader rushed to the aid of the cultists being attacked by the Deathwatch Sergeant. Springing out from his concealed position in the rubble, he drover his Power Pick into the Sergeant's side, dropping the mighty warrior!

The Cultists' Leader's triumph was short-lived, however, as he went down in a hail of Bolter fire from Brother Diodexious. Diodexious followed up his fusillade by charging the same cultist the sergeant had attacked, but he too found it hard to land a blow on the dexterous cultist!? 

Another Cultist joined the melee, only to have his head stoved in by a backhand blow from Brother Diodexious' power armoured fist. He then finished off the original target of his charge, when the cultist exposed himself while trying to land a blow on the Marine, thinking him distracted by the dead cultist's assault.

Bother Scamedes continued forward, taking down another Cultist. 

Brother Cannistus moved forward and secured the target of their adventure and prepared for extraction. 

A foolhardy cultist took shots at the marines... only to be blasted apart by Brother Borealis Issolis's Heavy Bolter when he poked his head out from cover.


Turning Point Four

The cultist with the seismic cannon finally got off a shot and slightly damaged Brother Cannistus and Bother Scamedes, as they prepared to depart with their prize. The latter was heard to moan "Oooh, right in the Neuro Glottis... that smarts!" 

Finnegan references the weirdest things in his banter between the Deathwatch Brothers. the Neuro Glottis is, apparently one of the dozen, or so, specialty organs Marines have implanted in them... Neither of us are sure what they hell it does, but it sure made me laugh when he uttered it! 

Brother Diodexious covered their extraction, taking down the Cultist with the Grenade Launcher and then charging the other cultist with the Seismic Cannon. this gave the others some time to get away with their prize and drag their fallen sergeant out of the dank cavern. 

Thanks to the many aforementioned specialty organs implanted in the marines, Sergeant Coranos survived his injuries. 

As these were Finnegan's Kill Teams, I left if for him to update fighter cards and experience and such. 

Monday, September 20, 2021

Kill Team - Aeldari Ambush

While I'm excited to play Hammer Troop and Finnegan's pretty excited to play his Ebony Vipers Genestealer Cult Team... we decided that might get real old, real fast if it were just the two teams fighting against each other all the time.... So we're each going to play a few different teams - mostly to provide Opposing Forces  for our PRIMARY kill teams!

So, for the second game in our campaign, I played one of my new Opposing Forces (Maesenir's Rangers) against Finnegan's Genestealer Cultists. 

Maesenir's Rangers, tasked with safeguarding a number of Ancient Aeldari Ruins spotted the approaching Ebony Vipers and set up an ambush to dissuade them from continuing on their current trajectory. 


SCENARIO

We used the Ambush scenario out of the Octarius book. It is very much like other Ambush scenarios in many editions of 40K and Kill Team. One side (in this case the Ebony Vipers) have to get their troops off the opponents table edge. One difference here is that they have a VERY SHORT amount of time to do so - the game is only ever played over four Turning Points. Also, the concealment rules, and the fact that they Rangers are all armed with Ranger Long Rifles that have the "silent" special rule meant it would be really hard for the Ebony Vipers to even engage their enemy - as they'd rarely have LOS to them. 

I expected the Rangers were very much suited to this sort of scenario - they will likely do much less well in ones where they need to hold objective markers. I somehow hadn't quite anticipated how VERY one-sided this action would end up being!

It was only the third game I'd played... Live and lear, I guess... 


FORCES

Maesenir's Rangers

  • Maesenir (Ranger - Leader - Ranger Long Rifle and Fists) 
  • Ylessar (Ranger - Warrior - Ranger Long Rifle and Fists) 
  • Aurelyc (Ranger - Warrior - Ranger Long Rifle and Fists) 
  • Klorandos (Ranger - Warrior - Ranger Long Rifle and Fists) 
  • Lechanna (Ranger - Warrior - Ranger Long Rifle and Fists) 
  • Kaedoreth (Ranger - Warrior - Ranger Long Rifle and Fists) 
  •  Tallariel (Ranger - Warrior - Ranger Long Rifle and Fists) 
  • Jairyllian (Ranger - Warrior - Ranger Long Rifle and Fists) 


The Ebony Vipers - Brood Coven Kill Team

  • Morris "the Strixx" (Neophyte Hybrid Leader with Power Pick and Auto Pistol) 
  • Escalosa (Neophyte Hybrid Trooper with Autogun) 
  • Maria (Neophyte Hybrid Trooper with Autogun) 
  • Edna (Neophyte Hybrid Trooper with Autogun) 
  • Dawn (Neophyte Hybrid Trooper with Autogun) 
  • "Madder" Gerald (Neophyte Hybrid Trooper with Autogun) 
  • "Diminutive" Jack (Neophyte Hybrid Trooper with Shotgun) 
  • "Bellowing" Fred (Neophyte Hybrid Trooper with Shotgun) 
  • Sean (Neophyte Hybrid Trooper with Shotgun) 
  • Gaston "the Guy" (Neophyte Hybrid Trooper with Shotgun) 
  • "Mad" Agness (Neophyte Hybrid Gunner with Grenade launcher) 
  • Wilfred (Neophyte Hybrid Gunner with Webber)
  • Three-Armed Pete (Neophyte Hybrid Heavy Gunner with Mining Laser)  
  • "Smelly" Percivalt (Neophyte Hybrid Heavy Gunner with Seismic Cannon)  


THE GAME

The Ebony Viper tromping through the Jungle, without a clue that they were heading towards the ancient arcane ruins of a lost Aeldari culture... 

...and directly into an ambush laid by the wardens of the ruin and the webway gate contained within! 


FIRST TURNING POINT

We both chose "Recon" for our pre-game scouting, so a roll-off determined that the aeldari would have the initiative. 

Finnegan made use the the Cult Ambush Strategic Play (allowing him to change the orders of his cultists on the first turn), and I Used Forewarned(which would allow me to re-roll one of my defence dice when shot at) and Hidden Paths (allowing all Rangers within 1" of Light or Heavy Terrain and more than 6" from enemy to immediately make a free Dash action). 

During the Target Reveal step, I revealed two Tac Ops cards; Overrun (bonus VP for having operatives in all four quarters of the table) and Triangulate (Bonus VP if different operatives do a special mission action within 3" of a table edge). Finnegan revealed Central Control (bonus VP for controlling the center of the Kill Zone) 

Tallariel started things off by doing a quick Dash within cover to get a good line of sight on the enemy leader. 

Shooting at the leader I revealed my third Tac Ops card - Mark Target (bonus VP for Marking Target - a successful shoot action against the leader that does no damage) scoring the first VP. 

Maria and Escalosa did a move and dash - just to get moving as quickly as possible towards the far edge of the table and freedom! 

Lechanna also did a DAsh action to get a better LoS on the Cultists... but did a Triangulate action for her second action. 

Morris, the leader of the Ebony Vipers, did a Move and Dash

Kaedoreth moved into a good firing position and did the Triangulate action. 

Two more Ebony Vipers went crashing through the jungle. 

Ylessar did the third Traingulate action and then took a shot at Three-Armed Pete - taking him out of action with a shot through his neck. Up until this point, the Ebony Vipers had no idea the Aeldari were even there.... until Pete just dropped dead, blood spurting out of a gaping hole in his neck (checking after the game, Poor Pete failed his casualty roll and actually DIED!) 

Panic ensued! (but just narratively... there really isn't any sort of Morale rules in this new edition! Which, for the record, I am totally okay with!) 

Mad Angus made a dash forward, just before Klorandus dropped him with a finely placed shot through the upper thigh. 

Gerald and Dawn went crashing headlong through the undergrowth and Jairyllian took out Madder Gerald. 

Smelly Richard shuffled forward... 

Aurelyc dropped... someone... with a shot through the shoulder. I mean, how could they tell, the Mon-Keigh all look alike... especially these ones tainted with the genes of the Tyranid. 

Tallariel and Lechanna feeling a little exposed with so many cultists passing right by them! 


SECOND TURNING POINT

Finnegan had the initiative, I used the Hidden Paths Strategic Play again. 

Starting things off, Edna made use of her Structural Surveyer - a piece of equipment Finnegan added to his stash after the previous battle and equipped Edna with for this game - which allows her to select one terrain feature within 6" and a fellow Brood Coven Operative within 3" and until the end of the Turning point that when that Operative shot, that terain was not obscuring and no defence dice could be retained for cover! 

Seeing the Cultist with the fancy equipment, clearly scanning the tree they were concealed behing, Lechanna shot Edna and put an end to that nonsense! 

But not before Gaston though he saw something lurking in those trees and rushed Tallariel's position and blasted the Ranger with his shotgun, point blank! 

YIKES! 

Bellowing Fred also found one of the Rangers hiding spots and blasted a hole in Jairyllian, who fell into the underbrush and crawled off undetected to join Tallariel at the Emergency RV point where they staunched their wounds. 

GAH!!!

At this point, it became clear that if Finnegan had made all the Brood Coven simply rush the smbushers positions on one side - rather than try to keep to the middle - he could have taken a bunch of them out AND had a significant amount of cover between him and the ambushers on the other side of the Kill Zone - which would necessitate repositioning with more than dashes - meaning entire turns that Rangers were not shooting and taking out enemy (the Ranger Long Rifles are "Heavy" and can't be fired if the Operative does a Move action - 6" move - but can if they only do a Dash - 3" move. Ihad to hope he would continue to feel the pressure of the time ticking and just keep moving full-tilt towards my table edge! 

Klorandos had eyes on the Leader and Marked Target. 

Maesenir shot Maria and incapacitated her. 

Morris made his move, ducking and diving trying to keep out of the line of fire! 

Kaedoreth shot Jack and then quickly dashed out of the way before other Cultists came berreling through her position! 

Bellowing Fred spied one of their assailants and blasted at her with his shotgun - scoring a crit and two regular hits... it looked like it might be all over for Lechanna, as the Rangers are very lightly armoured only saving on 5+... 

Two saves and a critical save... Lechanna ducked, i guess...!? 

Aurellyc made a quick Dash and took out Gaston. 

The Rangers scored another VP for the Overrun Tac Op.


THIRD TURNING POINT

Kaedoreth shot Jack, finishing him off. Surrounded by fleeing cultists on all sides, it was clear her position would be compromised and she moved around the ruins 

Dawn took a shot at Kaedoreth seriously injuring her! Then moved to try and make it to the cover opposite. 

Lechanna shot Dawn in the back as she ran... but the Cultist did not fall! She was seriously injured, but not down yet! So close to escaping the Kill Zone, she was determined to make it! 

Vlessar repositioned. Still no targets... he started searching downed cultists for anything that might identify these interlopers or provide any intel on their intentions or reason for their presence here. 

Ummmm... I must have stopped takng notes for a moment here... There seems to be two Cultists still out there on this edge of the battle, but I have no notes about them making it off... or who might have taken them out...? 

Like this guy... who is that!? Bellowing Fred...? I think so... I really need to do a post for this Kill Team - take pictures of them all and have Finnegan help me label them so I have something to refer to when I'm writing up these game reports a week after the fact... I think Maesenir might have taken him out... but I have nothing in my notes about that... Or maybe it was Kaedoreth at the beginning of the Fourth Turning Point....? 

Morris "The Strixx" made a run for the boarder, screaming past Kaedoreth, and made it off my edge of the table - scoring 2VP. 

Smelly Percivalt was the last to escape! Scoring the Ebony Vipers their last 2 VP.


FOURTH TURNING POINT

I apparently stopped taking pictures at this point... and the only note I have is that Lechanna finished off Dawn and that was the end of the game... 

The Aeldari won the game with a Devastating 25-7VP! 


POST GAME

Checking on their two injured warriors Jairyllian was okay - nothing so bad the near magical abilities of Aeldari Medicine couldn't heal up in a jiffy. Tallariel didn't fare so well - they were seriously injured which would leave them permanently Sapped of Strength (Weapon Skill reduced). It's really too bad these Compendium Kill Teams don't have access to medics and the like! I guess I can get a Med Bay for their Base of Operations whenever I get to spending some of the requisition points.

All of the Rangers gained experience points - two (Maesenir and Lechanna) even made it all the way to Veteran in ONE GAME!? Maesenir chose the Marksman specialism and gained the Calculated skill (Ballistic Skill does not worsen when firing Overwatch) and Lechanna chose the Scout specialism and gained the Picket ability (allows her to be set up within 3" of the Drop Zone - i.e. potentially BEYOND what would normally be their Drop Zone!) 

The Ebony Vipers did not fare so well... Most were able to crawl away to cover and were later patched up. Maria was a little more seriously injured and will have a Lingering Ailment (Movement reduced), and poor, ole Three-Armed Pete DIED of his injuries. 

Only four of them gained any experience at all - and only one or two each. But Morris, "The Strixx", did become a Veteran and went with the Combat Specialism, gaining the Duellist Skill (reduces enemy's Weapon Skill when fighting against him!) 

Of our next game, I'll be returning to Hammer Troop and Finnegan is going to put together an Additional Opposing Force - probably an entire Kill Team of Purestrain Genestealers!