OK then – I previously covered how I set things up for game three – and in this post I’m going to attempt to recap the game itself. So I’ll begin with a bit of background information…
After his previous expedition ended with the death of most of his small retinue, Jops Van Jools (a minor noble from a Rogue Trader dynasty) was a little hesitant to test his luck by entering ‘the hollow’ (as it’s quickly becoming known) for a second time – at least not without a sizeable force.
However, as the days passed, the horrors began to fade… and he realised that he himself hadn’t actually fared too badly (he’d escaped with only minor injuries)… and if he did bring in a larger force – that would likely attract unwanted attention (which wouldn’t be a great idea – what, with the inquisition sniffing around)… and after all – doesn’t fortune favour the bold?
So perhaps it wouldn’t be such a bad idea to explore the place a little more – I mean… now he knew what to expect – so things should go better the second time around (a fairly logical assumption).
As such, he assembled a similar sized bodyguard as before… and instructed his men to bring a flamer with them this time – as that would likely prove useful if they ran into similar trouble again.
So it was that, through his contacts, he learned that the local enforcers had been attempting to clear out a specific area – to see if they could get an old generator back online. If this could be done, it might be a section of the ‘hollow’ that could be fortified, and thus, allow the local lawmen to gain a foothold. Having power restored (even residually) might also open up other sections of the ‘hollow’ – and maybe even allow for those areas to be more easily explored (and plundered). But the enforcers had failed in their mission.
However, our young ‘hero’ was of the House of Van Jools… and his men were well trained, well equipped, and well paid (not a bunch of street scum turned enforcer thugs); and since the area had already been partially cleared out, he could perhaps kill two birds with one stone.
All he had to do was succeed where the enforcers had failed – thus placing them somewhat in his debt… while at the same time, this mission had the potential to open up new avenues for exploration – ones likely to have been sealed off for centuries.
And so the mission began...
Game System: StarQuest (from one page rules)
Primary Objective: Investigation – Make a Dex check in rooms 1 and 5 to ‘awaken the cogitators’
Secondary Objective: Safeguard – Make three successful Dex checks in room 4 to make sure the generator comes online
TURN 1
The small force entered the abandoned complex, treading carefully as they observed the damaged caused by the recent small arms fire. Making sure to be as quiet as possible; Servitor CF-HB-1 and the sergeant watched over the first dead-end passage (where one blip was registering on their auspex), while Jops and the flamer squad approached the first doorway.
Unfortunately, it would seem they had not been quiet enough, as the blip in the passage began to advance, and was quickly joined by another (i.e. I rolled a six on the reinforcement die… and randomly determined where it appeared – which happened to be here).
TURN 2
With no signals inside the first room, the troopers moved to open the door and made way for the young rogue trader to (attempt to) awaken the cogitator. However, the room was filled with noxious fumes from toxic sludge seeping out of an old pipeline (i.e. dangerous terrain) – which caused Jops to cough and hack… leading to his failure (despite spending ‘two stress’ to make a second attempt).
Meanwhile, outside in the passage, more of the blighted undead put in an appearance… lumbering down the hall with murderous intent.
TURN 3
Inside the room, Jops continued to struggle with the fumes (causing another 2 wounds – for a total of 3), but managed to awaken the machine spirit despite this… before quickly exiting the room to join his retinue in the corridor outside.
Speaking of which, in the passage outside, two of the poxwalkers were slain by the sergeant and servitor (initially from range, and then as ‘strike backs’ in close combat)… and everyone regrouped and made ready to fend off more of the foul creatures (as a similar thing happened with my reinforcement roll – and another blip appeared at the far end of this passage).
Note that I made an error here – I think you can only move and shoot – not shoot and move… but I did the latter, and might have done similar later in the game).
TURNS 4 - 8
Thus began the fight in the hallway…
...as more and more creatures were attracted to the sound of battle (i.e. a blip was revealed to be cultists arriving at the party’s rear, and yet more blips kept appearing in the same ‘dead end’ passage)...
...but luckily, the one moving from room 3 to 4 turned out to be a false reading (little more than a mutated rat fleeing the disturbance).
Though one of the troopers were lost in the exchange with the walking undead.
And then, just when all the visible enemies had been dealt with, a demon appeared!
Note that I made another mistake here, as I must have had my screen scrolled up a bit – so that when I counted down to number 4 on the visible part of the list, I read it as being a plague bearer – when in fact, that creature should have been represented by the ‘6’ blip – but never mind – I later realised my error and swapped the 4 and 6 listings around.
TURNS 9 - 13
And so, the battle in the corridor continued – with the (depleted) squad of troopers and the heavy bolter servitor attempting to hold off this new threat, while our brave rogue trader and sergeant hurried off to awaken the second cogitator bank.
Not surprisingly, things didn’t go well for the remaining troopers, and by the time Jops had got the cogitator up and running, it was only CF-HB-1 that had survived the demonic encounter (which slowly made it’s way to rejoin what was left of the group).
TURNS 14 - 22
With residual power restored, the doors were opened into the generator room – uncovering another wave of ambulatory, pox-ridden corpses. These rabid ‘things’ took down the servitor with little trouble, and put up quite a fight (dealing several wounds to Jops) before they themselves were put down.
The young rogue trader then got to work on the generator while the various ‘blips’ all seemed to converge on their position (i.e. at this point, rather than rolling randomly, I simply had any blips that came into play converge on room 4).
TURNS 23 - 27
Unlike the cogitators, this was taking much too long… so much so that Jops was barely two thirds way through the procedure when more gun-toting cultists appeared in the doorway…
...and by the time this latest threat was dealt with, the sergeant lay dead in a pool of his own blood – and Jops himself could barely stand (but luckily, an approaching blip turned out to be little more than a glitch on the scanner).
TURN 28 ONWARD
So it was that, alone and badly injured, Jops staggered back over to the generator… this time managing to complete his task without any further disturbances… thankfully.
AFTER ACTION REPORT
As with my last mission, I will be rolling a d6 for each unit that was taken out during the game – with the result being the number of games that these particular ‘models’ will have to sit it out (while repairs and purchases are made, allies and replacements arrive on the scene, and so on). And, luckily, my habit of rolling low actually worked in my favour this time:
Sergeant: 1 mission before a replacement arrives
Flamer Squad: 2 missions before replacements arrive
Heavy Bolter Servitor: 1 mission before a replacement can be acquired.
That being said, it does mean that I will need to use another group of models in my next mission (as everything other than my ‘hero’ is currently awaiting replacements/reinforcements)… but I have more painted… so it shouldn’t be a problem just yet.
I also feel that the appearance of a demon (albeit a minor one) would ramp up the tension somewhat, and be something Jops Van Jools would (at the very least) pass on to the ‘higher ups’ within the family (perhaps even to the Inquisitorial agents present in the hive).
So I’ll have to figure out how that will play out – but for now I think it’s time I brought this blog post to a close :)
Anyway, before I go I do just want to quickly say that I hope a few of you are enjoying these solo bat-reps – because, even though they are mainly just serving as a journal of sorts (to help me keep track of things), I think it’s good to see some of my terrain ‘in action’ so to speak (as I always forget to take photo’s when playing games with other people).
