“Best laid plans”, Masséna mused under his breath as he thumbed through the report on his dataslate. “Sir?”, queried his adjutant warily. Masséna knew his temper carried a certain reputation. “Nothing, nothing… just reviewing the data”, he responded, holding the slate closer to his eyes. Picts showed aerial reconnaissance of where the 3rd Ventrillian Grenadiers had been tasked with establishing a DZ. Unexpected contact with greenskins had complicated things and now much of the terrain was obscured by black smoke. Firepower, much less accurate firepower, wasn’t typically a forte of this enemy, but they had downed two Valkyries since the initial tenuous insertion. Now they seemed to be holed up in some kind of ramshackle base. It had been impossible to determine how many greenskins were there, but he’d root them out. He flicked on to the casualty list. Names like De’Guerre, Laurant and Tetu caught his eye. He could feel his anger rise as he thought of the insult the foul vertpeau had levelled against the Ventrillian Grenadiers. “Sergeant. Form up deuxième platoon. We’re going to get that DZ secured. I’ll lead this assault personally.”

Game 1 of this two-game mini-campaign was a narrow win for the Tempestus Scions and they managed to alert command of the Ork danger. This game represents the 3rd Ventrillian Grenadiers command’s response and their attempt to take control of the this section of Alpha.220. The game was played using the Sweep and Clear mission from p.56 of the Core Rulebook using ~175pt Kill Teams.

The Game

In this mission VPs are scored by taking enemy models out of action (1 VP) and by scoring objectives at the end of the game (3 VPs). My game plan was simple – the Meganob was to act as a distraction, the Flash Gitz were to form a base of fire and the Gretchin would have to hide until they needed to run for the objectives!

I won the dice off for deployment and that game me quite a commanding position with some excellent places to hide the Grotz.

Here are the highlights from the game:

  • My turn one shooting was average, taking out a couple of Scions, but their response was also pretty scary, putting a wound a piece on three Flash Gitz, including the Kaptin.
  • The Meganob charged in, killing one hot-shot volley gun-armed Scion. I foolishly engaged a second Scion, which meant in turn two he could fallback…
  • The Meganob absorbed some high quality shooting, but fell in Turn 2. In response my shooting was terrible.
  • The Scions moved forward, making good use of terrain. At this point it could go either way.
  • In Turn 3, however, my shooting kicked in and the Scions started to fall and fail nerve tests. This limited their response.
  • They took out a Flash Git, but their assault had faltered.
  • My Grotz streamed forward to secure two objectives. I had done enough to win on VPs, but the Scion morale eventually failed.

Ghazbhag laughed so hard his eyes ran with tears and he couldn’t keep his aim straight. The fool Skarzghrog had charged forward into the oomies with his big shiny metal suit clanking and thudding all the way. Its terrible noise was even audible over the blasting Snazzguns. Skarzghrog had smashed an oomie with a big gun to pulp, but was then shot to pieces by a volley of heavy fire, exploding in a gout of orange flame when his Skorcha exploded. It was an amazing and hilarious sight. What did he expect? Any Flash Git worth anything knew that a big loud gun is better than a big loud suit!

The Scions have failed to dislodge the Orks. Little do they realise that this distraction is serving the needs of the Brotherhood. Their Patriarch, the Grandsire, escaped the attentions of the T’au over twenty years ago. The time wasn’t right for their rising then, but with the T’au leaving many humans have been left searching for meaning. They had a taste of a different way to live under the T’au and the imminent return of the oppressive Imperium has many people deeply worried. The Brotherhood offer a new beginning, new meaning. A signal, a psychic whisper, from the Warp has reawakened a hunger in the Grandsire. The time for rebellion is now.

Until next time,

Owen