The chase is on….

They’d been found. Months of meticulous planning had gone up in smoke due to bad luck. Equipment failure had taken out two of the field dampening generators that had been masking their presence. They weren’t down long but sadly long enough to mean detection.

The subsequent assault was expected and Luna Wolves had put their contingency plans into action withdrawing quickly and quietly after the first wave of assault troops had retreated. Taking the dampening field generators with them to hide their departure the entire force slid into the night.

The contingency base was not as secure as the underground complex being little more than a staging post but it would have to suffice whilst the new situation could be assessed and a new strategy drawn up.

Stealth tech and heavy foliage is good for hiding a base but not enough to stop a ground patrol blundering upon it and it became apparent as they approached that this had happened. This mission seemed cursed with poor luck! The area was laced with caches of equipment, supplies and weapons.

The reserve site was already lost due to its discovery by the Iron Warriors but those supplies were essential and had to be recovered if there was any chance of pulling any hope of withdrawal from the rapidly worsening situation. The base must be taken back, albeit briefly, to get to the cached 

equipment.

Breaking from the surrounding jungle the Luna Wolves barrelled forward into the base, dashing to cover as much ground as they could before their arrival was noticed however it didn’t take long…

The Iron Warriors had the advantage of cover but the Luna Wolves pressed the attacked gunning down one heavy support squad of Iron Warriors whilst they tried to position their Las-cannons. (1)

A Luna Wolves breaching team drew the fire of a heavy bolter team perched on the base superstructure and their heavy shields stopped most of the shots but increasingly the powerful explosive rounds got through.

Catching the beleaguered marines in a cross fire, an advancing Iron Warriors squad gunned down the last of them leaving crumpled bodies and dis-guarded shield littering the open ground between buildings.

Unseen by the newly arrived Luna Wolves, Iron Warriors within the complex began to move through the buildings keeping themselves sheltered from the firefight raging in the compound outside.

The counter attack had left the Iron Warriors left flank dangerously exposed. A tactical flaw that did not go unnoticed and with massive strides the huge form of a Contemptor dreadnought forged across the courtyard raking the enemy positions with a torrent of fire from its assault cannon.

With practiced efficiency the Luna Wolves capitalised on the moment, rising from their cover and pouring fire into the Iron Warriors. Plasma fire and bolter rounds tore through them. There was only one option left for the survivors of the unit and the last few fell back.

Trying to seize back the initiative, heavily shielded Iron Warriors broke forth from the building hoping that attack from a different direction would stall the Luna Wolves assault and give the iron Warriors a chance to remove the threat of the plasma gunners whose fire had proven so devastating.

All the Luna Wolves were familiar with the base and as such this manoeuvre was fully anticipated. The Iron Warriors were met with a storm of fire as they left the safety of the building and many were cut down as they closed for hand to hand combat. They pushed on hoping the momentum of their charge would carry them to the enemy.

The charge faltered and the comms were alive with the roared orders from command…..(2)

But it wasn’t enough as the last of them were seared and blasted by the combined horrors of explosive rounds and blazing plasma bolts. (3)

The last of the Iron Warriors patrol force were beaten back and the Luna Wolves began to retrieve the much needed caches. Time was against them and they would need to move quickly to cover enough ground to have a chance of evading the inevitable Iron Warrior re-enforcement's.

Solid Win 8-3 to Junta and his Luna Wolves using the tactical objective cards.

TTFN

(1)    Bugger. I needed them to stop the dreadnought!

(2)    Bugger. Ah well, I can use some re-rolls.
(3)    FML.

Game 31

Game 31 was also AoS

Silverfox's Skaven joined my Seraphon to battle Gareth's Skaven and Junt's undead.

The deployment was on the diagonal and there were lots of Skaven....

Filthy little blighters. Apart from Silverfox's ones who were nice. Well they were on that day.

The seraphon and chaos had an aggressive plan pushing forward in the middle...

..holding the left flank....

and Steaming the right with MONSTERS!!!!

It sounded better than how it actually happened. The Undead and Skaven mobbed the big Dinos and dragged them down. The Rotters!

It didn't do so well in the middle either.

Silverfox lead a solid counter attack with a chaos deamon thingy kicking it on the left flank but I don't recall it being enough to hold the day.

TTFN

Game 30

I've fallen behind with posting the games that we are playing. The enthusiasm levels are high in the group and the new edition of 40K has spurred this on further!

Game 30 was a AoS game with Junt & I pitting our Undead & Seraphon against Urn and the Silverfox with their Chaos and Gobbo armies.

This was quite a few weeks ago now so I can't remember what the mission was (if any?) but we got stuck in soon enough!

The Seraphon and chaos clashed heavily and the Undead and the Gobbos got caught in a lengthy drawn out melee.

Sheesh big gobo units are hard to kill but the undead keep coming back to finish the job!

Eventually a win for Undead and Seraphon as we pushed back the chaos and gained control of the field. Or at least I think that is how it ended. Errr Yeah we'll go with that.

TTFN

Behind with my blogging....

..but not my games! Still ahead on the objective to make sure I play 52 games in a year.

Game 23

Junt and I had another bash at Epic with not dissimilar forces facing off. However he won the artillery battle early on so I struggled to pull it back from there.

His predators also fared well holding one flank pretty well having mauled my new unit of Land Speeders.

I did get to bloody his nose on the other flank with some mainly infantry on infantry action.

A win for Junt!

Game 24

It became apparent early on that Urn and I, with our marine and chaos marine lists, were going to struggle against Junt and Gareth’s combined force of Space Wolves and Imperial Guard. Junt had brought a super heavy unit, a full unit of Leman Russes and a horrible battery of manticores. Ouch!

The early shots from the rocket battery knobbled my Land Speeders and caught a unit of Urn’s infantry in their transports.

Sadly Urn’s attempts to charge the Guard tanks…….

…. Were as effective as my attempts to win a Land Raider battle vs the Wolves.

It was all over fairly quickly. Not a good day for chaos!

Game 25

With the appearance of Shadow War: Armageddon we decided that it would be rude note to give it a try especially as we have all the figures and plenty of scenery to use. Unfortunately I got so caught up in the new game that I forgot to take any photos. My first game was vs Junt and his Tau. I had my mob of Yoofs armed with shootas and applied a subtle mix of cunning and strategy……oh no hang on, I just charged him.

It worked well up to a point. I had downed a load of his guys, one of mine was sat on the objective and we still had enough boys to carry the fight. Sadly we had taken enough losses that I was making break bottle tests for my mob. Luck can only go so far and sadly one failed roll was enough to give Junt the game. Still it was lots of fun to give the Tau a bop on the nose. Ask Junt about the super-duper rail rifle…….with one round of ammunition. J

Game 26

Next game was vs Silverback’s lovely Skitarii. Oh my they are a bit shooty and their boss man is nails. Still all those Yoofs came in handy to overrun the Martian’s position but not without casualties…….which led to bottle tests……..you see where this is going? Yup. Holding objectives and still numerous but I bottled it again. A well fought win for the Silverback.

Game 27

16 Orks vs 6 misguided chaos chaps. This was quick as, given the weight of fire the Yoofs put out, it was only a matter of time before even power armour would fail under such a barrage.

A win for the Orks! Huzzah!

Game 28

Junt and I finally got round to the next game of our Undead vs Seraphon AoS tree campaign. The Undead were winning after the first round in the Verdigris Plains but the Never-dying were now fighting on the Seraphon’s home ground. We played the Revenge at the Blackblood Weald next which is an interesting scenario. The defender takes and initial hammering under the scenario rules to represent the fighting rear-guard action. After that the attacker has the potential for a sluggish start as units can stall for the first round.

The Seraphon started well and used the opportunity to down the Undeads giant and then their cavalry. After that the lizards pushed forward to take the fight to the undead. The massed skeleton units proved too much and whittled the lizards to nothing. The Undead hadn’t fared well with only their archers remaining at the end.

A sort of win to the undead whose archers were a little more potent than they should have been. J

I’m loving the narrative tree campaign. If I had a bit more time at the moment I’d pen a more prosaic batrep like the last one.

Game 29

Silverfox (and all his dice rolling skill) with BFG vs Eddy and Junt

Sigmar vs bad lizards and their undead mates!

Oh the ones. Sooooo many ones. It’s alright tho’ It was the Silverfox throwing them and he was on the other side! This still didn’t prove enough to save us from the wrath of Sigmar. Man they are tough!

The Lizards and Undead pushed towards them early on with the Sigmar archers trying a few rounds of ranging shots with their archers :-P.

Then then the Sigmarites hit. Talk about Hammertime! First the giant fell, then the Kroxigor started to get whooped all whilst the lizard men infantry got bashed about and shot horribly! We didn’t see much from the skeletons on the flank as the chariots had raced away and stalled the enemy advance before being smashed to pieces.

We had to call the game early as it was getting late but it was a definite win for the bing boys of Sigmar. Despite Silverfox’s dice. Tee Hee.

TTFN

Game 16 - The Verdigris Plains

The winds screamed across the Verdigris Plains as if the sky lamented past horrors witnessed on the ferrous dunes. The Dead had come back. A column of the soulless, returned upon the whim of the Dark Heart that led them. The shifting sands churning as the debris of the past stirred at the presence of such malevolence and the Dead came back.

A brilliance burst over the scene. Pure light from above. Not sunlight piercing the brown clouds of dust but light spilling forth from heaven. A hated light that caused anger to rise within the Dark Heart.

With the eye-aching rays gleaming from spear tips, scale and totems, the Seraphon stepped upon the plains with claws biting deep into the particulate remains of whatever doomed past had been ground down to form the rolling dry vista between the two forces. Given the isolation of the place, it was clear that the appearance of the Saurus was no coincidence and neither side paused to ready themselves for what was to come.

Moving at speed the long legs of the Lizards drove into the metallic dust that whipped around them as the wind gusted and rolled clouds of stinging brown filings into the air hiding the enemy from sight but they ploughed forward with intent.

Bursting through the ferrous curtain, the dead hooves of fleshless horses carried their riders into the lines of the advancing Seraphon. Skulking at the front of the lizard lines was the low barbed shaped of a spiny Razordon which bristled in defence and braced itself to meet the charge but it was not enough as lances splintered against scale and the lizard joined the dead of the dunes trampled under the impact of the Dark Heart’s cavalry.

In the confusion caused by the swirling cloak of dark cinders the battle lines started to merge with hulking Kroxigor smashing into the all but blinded skeletal archers holding the Undead’s right flank. Mighty overhead strikes shattered skulls and long-bones alike before the largest of the mighty lizards swept his heavy-headed club through the front ranks flinging fragments of their opponents across the filthy battlefield. But the Dead came back

Gaining traction on the sliding ash and wastes, both sides surged into a swirling melee. The spears and claws of the Seraphon met the hoof and lance of the Undead knights as the Seraphon tried to dispatch the riders before skeletal reinforcements could arrive. But the Dead came back.

The Dark Heart sensed he had the measure of what he faced and set his standard in the ground confident in the forces under his thrall. The unholy banner radiated its necromantic power quickening the pace of the massed reanimated dead. His mark made, the dark armoured form swept from the dune tops to support the beleaguered archers and to taste the life essence so evident in the Kroxigor. Streaking from cover a previously unseen Salamander sprang towards the Dark Heart as if driven by some unseen will. Its distended maw open as it charged disgorging venom and acid bile over the material form of the Dark Heart. Staggered and reeling the Necromancer had no defence against the Salamander as it leapt upon him shredding the still dissolving form with its claws and pulping it into the dunes.

In the grand melee the silence of the dead was lost under the roars of the Saurans as lines of infantry ground together, each struggling for footing on the never-still drifts they fought over. Hoping to break the wall of un-living bone, the Seraphon pushed forward with the thrust being dominated by the juggernaut form of a Bastiladon shooting searing beams of etheric light which obliterated the skeletons. But the dead came back.

As the Undead reformed they managed to slowly surround the increasingly outnumbered lizards. With the archers and Dark Heart now gone the Kroxigor and Salamander struck the horde that was clubbing and stabbing at the mighty dinosaur.

Despite their arrival, the enormous shell of the Bastiladon was not enough to shield it and the massive form slumped to the ground with the skinks riding aloft soon meeting their end as they were dragged from their perches and dispatched.

The enraged Kroxigor waded through the remaining skeletons roaring is defiance. At last, thinking his work done, his guard dropped. The howling wind and driving ash had blinded him to the last of his quarry until they lurched once more from the obscuring clouds of dust. The dead had come back.

Hollow eyes betrayed no emotion as the lances of the corpse riders pierced the armoured flank of the mighty lizard. His death rattle was lost to the storm, whipped away leaving no way on knowing if the mysterious forces that had sent them had achieved their goals or not.

With the surrounding tempest still unabated, the dead came back.