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A Matter of Honour – Act 3 – Vendetta

Scene 31. TEMPORARY MILITARY STRONGPOINT WITHIN STRIKING DISTANCE OF ST CRANIUMS: AN OLD HUMAN GRAVEYARD BENEATH WHICH THE TENEBRAINIANS HAVE SET UP THEIR HEADQUARTERS

HUSCARL MAXIMILLIAN REACTORSMITH sits at an autoscribe unit in military tent surroundings dictating a communique.

HUSCARL MAXIMILLIAN REACTORSMITH (voice over)
“To my kin, who I have failed,

“Those brothers violated by the unspeakable actions of the Tenebrainian enslavers have been psychically inoculated thanks to the services provided by Inquisitor Verhoeven and his allies. Those that have survived will fight again, although they will be forever scarred by the fratricidal atrocities they were forced to commit.  And they killed some humans too.

“The stain upon the Ursa Miners honour perpetrated by the enslavers of Tenebrainia can never be scrubbed clean.  I am responsible.  Honour dictates the only course of action available: this day ends with the death of the son-of-a-grox that shamed my kin and ruined me. Whether I survive is of no consequence but for one issue: the debt owed to Verhoeven.

“Should today be a good day to die, the Brotherhood must repay that debt in my stead. This is my final request.

“Yours in dishonour,

“Maximilian Reactorsmith”

MAXIMILLIAN REACTORSMITH stands up from the autoscribe unit, thumbs his brace of hailstorm pistols to life, engages his autoloader chassis, lights his cigar on his smouldering heat hammer and walks to his fate, faithful cyber-mastiff at his heel.

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St. Craniums Cemetery.

The final battle of our four game narrative campaign took place in a cemetery above the hidden Tenebrainian HQ.  The location was revealed by the recently freed Ursa Miner Huscarl.  The terrain used was primarily my cemetery set that I completed last year with the more recent magnetised creepy GW woods added alongside a pair of Pegasus bridges over a Pegasus river.

An indistinct photo of the Imperial force, which now features some recently un-mind contolled Ursa Miners including the Huscarl, his cyber-mastiff, a walker, a thudd gun, a couple of Steel Warriors plus Inquisitor Verhoeven and the surprisingly well recovered Assassin. PB opted to leave Rosa out of his force for dramatic reasons (a mind controlled Verhoeven shot her last time. I imagine some Coldplay soundtracked, scenery chewing scenes of an angst ridden Verhoeven staring at her on life support between this game and the last).

The Tenebrainian force in full: six Medusharks, three Tentacle Brain Troopers, an APC, two Cerebalites and a Tenebrainian Overlord.

The disgraced Huscarl, hs troopers and the Inquisitor watch Brain Troopers float and slither through the woods.

The Brain Troopers use their cereblasters in a deadly firefight with the Steel Warriors across the river. The Medusharks run interference with their ability to float over the river drawing fire.

The Assassin creeps forward over the bridge. The alien APC – top left, now filled with the Overlord and the two Cerebalites – begins redeployment (required due to some sneaky Imperial card play during set up).

The Medusharks instinctively attack the closest enemy, killing a Steel Warrior and taking on the Assassin on the South bridge. Max the Huscarl howls with grief as a Medushark kills Freeway (his cyber mastiff).

With the Assassin being held up by Medusharks the Tenebrainian commaders disembark from the cramped confines of the APC, ready to dish out mental abuse. Confident of their success, one of the Cerebalites moves to provide support to the Brain Troopers, all the while concealing itself with its mental shroud.

The Assassin Heroically Surges, unexpectedly closing the gap to the Tenebrainian command before they can blast him.

Weak in close quarters, the brains begin to experience sudden migraine from the decidedly strong in close quarters assassin. The second Cerebalite leaves the Brian Troopers to their fate and heads back towards his beleaguered Ovlerlord.

Three floating brains prove too much for even the Imperiums most highly trained killers to handle. The Overlord flexes his mental muscles and liquefies the Assassins mind with a thought. His alien shriek of triumph is interrupted by the scream of thudd gun shells arcing in, flattening (but not killing) the commanders.

The firefight over the river has gone against the evil brains, as the Inquisitor and the Huscarl pick off the last of the Brain Troopers. A parting shot from the cannon on the alien APC blasts evil psychic force at the Ursa Miner walker, smashing it to ruin with a single shot. Despite the satisfaction gained from that act of destruction the Overlord knows that the game is up and orders the APC pilot to engage the sub orbital engines on the APC.  The surviving Tenebrainians rocket away from the battlefield, leaving the Imperials victorious.

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The Imperials have won and the third continent of Marenghi IV will as a result not be atomised by an orbital barrage, although Imperial relations with the Ursa Miner Brotherhood seem likely to be strained for a few generations.

The Huscarls oath remains unfulfilled while the Tenebrainian Overlord is still at large and Max’s honour code wont allow him to return to his Brotherhood position of authority anyway.  I see Max gathering a few of his closest comrades to pursue the Tenebrainian overlord.  He may also shave his head into a mohawk and dye it orange.

Inquisitor Verhoeven can be satisfied with his work to stabilise the area being fully in keeping with his Amalathian philosophy.  Inquisitors are tough people to rattle, but his memories of pulling the trigger on Rosa, his most loyal of comrades will haunt him.  But thats life in the 41st millennium I guess.

7TV worked well as a system for this sort of gaming, with mind control helmets, teleport rings and dire dialogue being exactly appropriate for the setting.  PB and I didnt really play tournament style, although we each did try to win every scenario.  We were more interested in generating a storyline that felt like what we imagine the setting to be like, and we were not trying to lawyer the system or get hung up on tiny increments of measurement.  We did each try to win though, but not at the expense of narrative.  This sort of approach is a tightrope that can only be navigated with certain combinations of players with certain systems at certain times.  But it worked this time around 🙂

Particularly pleasing to me was the chance to use so many of the small forces that I have been painting for the last couple of years on terrain that I have been preparing for a similar period.

Filed under: Games in Progress | Tagged: 2013, 40K, 40K Skirmish, 7TV, A Matter of Honour, Inquisition, Sci-fi |