Klaxons suddenly blared and the lights dimmed to a muted red. Donatelus voxed the team, “Kaagus, check it out”. He has learned long ago that the Iron Hand was the best in his Kill Team for assessing complex technical situations. Kaagus ran to a nearby terminal, turning back a few moments later as he opened his vox, “They’ve turned off the gravdamper. This spaceport will collide with the planet in a matter of hours.” Donatelus gestured to the rest of the team to form a perimeter and he tried to raise the ‘Eternal Vigilance’. Static hiss was the only response. He was about to consult Kaagus when a distorted voice stuttered through the hiss. “Ki… Team Bravo… Donat… hear… spaceport orbit… seven hours… Imperial forces… surface”, was all he could make out. He turned to Kaagus, “What can we do to stop this spaceport from smashing into Srylene and our forces below?”.
This is the first battle in a three game mini-campaign. It was inspired by the campaign in February’s White Dwarf: three games that make a simple story. Phil and I have been scrapping on Syrlene XI for a little while, but only now have the Genestealer Cults’ plans become clear. They seek to use the Spaceport Final Salvation as a weapon upon the planet below. Game one (using the Scavenge Supplies mission from the Sector Munitorum killzone box) represented my team trying to manually adjust valves to change the trajectory of the spaceport’s descent.
Each skull represents a valve, with player’s scoring VPs from them at the end of the game. If the Deathwatch win they start to control the descent of the Spaceport, steering it away from the main Imperium command on the surface of Syrlene. If the cultists win their vile plan continues.
Without going into a blow-by-blow account, they Deathwatch shooting proved too much for the Cultists. By the end they were broken, with only the Iconward and Abberant left stand (albeit in a Shaken state!).
The Deathwatch have managed to arrest the descent of Final Salvation somewhat. We’ll see if they can steer it completely away from their forces on the surface.
Until next time,
Owen