The Harrowing of Tephra part 2

At the end of the first few turns Fulgrim's Inq agents had secured the Southern entrance to the facility. Overwatchfull eyes scanning for their fugacious quarry ..

To the West , now split into two distinct groups Thistles Yelping users were a duet of delinquents down thanks to the martial Mercy. Three still lickers were pinned behind flammable cover, whilst the ambulatory alembic headed towards the ebullient elixir at the heart of the refinery .

The Nor-east saw PDH's somnolent soldiers fighting on two fronts.. Giant tunnel spiders to the east and Thistles hopheads to the west..

The Harrowing Part 2

The compound lights felt direfully absent as ancient generators sat in a silhouette of silence.

A smother of smog made murk of distant enemies - gunfire creating fatal flashpoints in a shadow puppet theatre of war.

II

Fulgrim's Marionette mouthpiece, mind scans the "01Hamm10" a deep psychic
probe revealing the anguished history of the  pitiable former adeptus mechanicus sole. 
Unfortunately for him the scan reveals nothing about the location of Myron.

Frustrates with the lack of information , the Inquisotrix bound baby orders the 
engine room activated before dispassionately granting the abomination the Emperors piece.









Outside the facility lights flicker to life lifting the fog of war.
A keen eyed agent seizes his chance to turn the tide in his cohorts favour , 
launching a barrage of mortar rounds towards the distant Mercy.


 

With newly acquired information on Myrons whereabouts , and a cover of ash thrown up
 by a reawakened turbine.The calculating carayatid and co, circumnavigate the fighting
 and slink north towards their objective. An erroneous  toot of its trumpet broadcasts their intentions to a lone spider who fails to find the trio in the pyroclastic cloud.





















Bolstered with energy at the thought of a fix , the juvenile junkies, overtake the stillman, falling over the silo control panel and themselves in anticipation. The syphon hose is fixed and the vernal votarists
begin to crank the lambent liquid into their errant cistern. Howling in exultation they forget to cap the 
tank before hooking them selves up and turning about..

As the leaping Stillman leads the pack toward its goal, he is abruptly mindjacked by an unseen force.
The psychic assault ransacks his memories of Myron, tumbling him into the sacrament relay pipes .

Anguished by the unwarranted attack and concerned for his kin, the brewing hoplite
vaults the pipes towards the engine room and is granted an inquisitorial pardon.

 

Tanked up !

Betraying an incendiary trail to the seraphic Silo.
 The zoned out handcrankers head back towards their pack.

Meanwhile to the North...



Making light work of forcing the spiders back into their skull laden generatum lair. 
The Mercy fall foul of a savage attack by the still ravaged remaining  hyenas , before a bewildering mortar bombardment ensues..

The stoic stuntie nonchalantly shrugs off the salvo 
before a second volley bursts upon the spiders lair. Scurrying
the octadic predators back into the open.

Indirect fire indirectly killing the captain..!

vs

The arachnids sensing victory renew their attacks on the oppressed mercenaries,
 downing another privateer in a toxic show of fangs.
Incandescent with rage a flamer equipped Veteran enkindles the remaining spiders,
who scuttle away permanently






Jubilant with pride the inexperienced shield-maiden recollects the minutiae of the
 fight to her allies, ( the Battle servitor pointing out the fact that he told her to use the sharp end of the lancet ) whilst the vocoderlyte replays the battle sounds for dramatic effect !

As the din of battle begins to subside , the recently powered block house blast door hums open
 to reveal Myron's latest acquisition  .. the head of the infamous Space Minotaur Asterion Brox. !

..Interval..

I thought i would use this break to highlight the wonderful accessories and other bits the group brought for the game.. First up John's wonderful Mediaeval and Napoleonic Bone dice,  , inspired by Tim's modern Bone dice .

John's Curio Box painting..and his 20 years service Golden Aquilla pin badge.. not sure what the coins are..?


The larger Mediaeval die looks Roman to my eyes .. Whilst the Napoleonic Die are scrimshaws
apparently .. cool eh. ! 


I thought i would add this image as I failed to get a decent group shot of John's Clowder in the game.

Harrowing of Tephra continued..




III






Shrewdly avoiding any combat , the Inquisitorial trinity successfully
arrive upon the block house . Of the two life signs blipping on the diminutive sprites auspex
One is most definitely Myron !

The domineering Puppet Mistress gives orders to take the racketeer alive.
The Inquisitorial Instrument dutifully obeys, successfully psi-jacking the roof dwelling Xeno's mind..

 Whilst unsuccessfully trying to shoot at the relic hunters, the vaporous  Xenos is overcome with 
desire to call out his Master Myron Jubalgunn , unable to resist the scrubby turncoat - sends the 
message " all is clear.."

 






As the duplicitous =I= coven takes care of business to the north
the Clanking Gasguzzlors pick up their stragglers and prepare to make home..

 Confronted seconds later by a bellicose Bovine.

The walking still deflects the Minotaur's MiniGun 
But the hooked up Hyena's fair less well.
The tanked torero's are Gatling gored .

Coetaneous to the Bullrun ,In the centre of the refinery complex The remaining
 Mercs  find themselves in a stand off against the  dogmatic Stormtroopers.
The soldiers of Fortune unwilling to assault  the Inquisition for fear of reprisal.
And the Troopers Outnumbered, facing not only the veterans but also a bestial gun drone.

In a uncharacteristic show of unity the archeohunters decide they have had enough excitement for one day , the  hardware would have to wait.. Cleaving a leg off the spider carcass to prove her prowess , the shield maiden and her fellow srcimmagers  head back to the main road and home..












Panicked into a canter by the hail of bullets  Jockeyman ploughs the volatile Vault
 headlong into the meandering pilgrims and the waiting minefield

 





The resultant explosion killing the relic hunters, destroying the promethium laden Still, 
and setting a Fuse the leaked propellent..

The merciless Myron,

Worthy to be a rebel, for to that

The multiplying villainies of nature

Do swarm upon him, from the Western isles

Of kerns and gallowglasses is supplied

Sprinting from the Bunkerhouse Laspistol & sword in hand
The leather clad Myron is shocked to discover the battle far from over.

Loosing a lasbolt towards a hulking Cinderman , Myron flees the ambush, 
failing to notice the bloodhound until its too late.

Snapping at his heels the masticating mastiff is skewered by his deft swordplay

 " Ha ha take that mut "
 

Realising far too late his mistake a rueful sidekick attempts 
to kill the axe weilding brute.. with expected results..

 



His escape slowed by the Canine Lex Imperialis
The lumbering Luddite closes in ..

Just as Myron is about to deliver the coup de grace to the weighty ash-worker
He feels a psychic assault , Unprepared for such cowardly behaviour ;-)
Myron fails to resist.. dropping his beloved pistol and sword to the compacted clinker...

" why you drop weapons Moron "

 The  Mammothman reels back in astonishment rubbing his snakeyes and fumbling his attack .

Myron seizes his chance to duke out the giant but he too spectacularly misses the mark

 " You only get one chance to capture me  "

A  savage right hook knocks the Bulkyman  flat on his back

 " Its cinders for you fool ! "

sprinting back to the bunker Myron is accosted by the final member of the
 Inquisitorial triumvirate a trumpeting Cherubim ..

"In the name of the Holy Emperahhh....."

 " Stick that in your trumpet Imperial Puppet !"

As the Cherubym gasps its last breath
Myron looks into its angelic face




" Your just a puppet.. marionette if you will .. but relay this to whoever is controlling you .. "

 "My Name is Myron Jubalgunn , Fugitive , Hero , scoundrel of the nine ports ...Imperial Thorn. "

 " Next time bring more trumpets ! "

Summing up

This was such a fun game .
There is something magical about wargaming in this way i think ..its analogous to life ..


the random dice rolls make for a unbelievably interesting
 outcomes with no staging whatsoever.  the fact that Myron survived shocked me as much as
Tim I think.. I had no plans of bringing him out of the bunker..  although he did have the stats of a ratskin chief !

btw we used Necromunda rules in general with a few random die100 percent rolls

I have no idea what happened to the refinery after the game maybe it exploded or maybe the
 mercs put out the fuse..









I just wanted to add a great big thank you to these fine artists who's models have been
featured in this battle report  :

 Cedric Lurkin for building his amazing biped Still and the Vocoderlyte

Weirding Way for the characterful Sheildmaiden

Kari Hernesniemi for his original Evicorators

PDH for his fine Mercs

 Fulgrim for his Inquisitorial agents

John Blanche of course..

Jes Goodwin for the inspiration

Phiq of Gothic punk and the Imago blog

 Bruticus  who helped inspire this board.



and everybody who has taken time to read the thing ;-)










Finally  because it always nice to get a treat after the credits have rolled ..

Character shots taken before and after the game .. along with the Aquilla lander pilot ( shackled and unshackled ) that nobody saw.. :-(

Spider !