Nido de Plaga IV: Breakthrough

 ***Priority Transmission***

From Captain, Marauder Assault Cruiser Mandrake
To Assault Commander, Ground Forces, Nido de Plaga IV

Commander Bolts,

Whilst you have been underground the Asterians have launched a massive attack on the ground base of operations. The fragments of messages we have received indicate an attack with overwhelming forces has wiped out the forces defending the base. We can only assume that the Asterians have somehow brought reinforcements onto the planet without us spotting them.
In order to safeguard Subject F and ensure we do not lose the information gained from the lab you are to lead the forces from the lab to a nearby LZ we have identified for extraction. The Asterian forces are sweeping the area in an attempt to find you so you should avoid becoming engaged in a protracted battle and should move at your best speed to the LZ.

Captain T.

The scenario for this battle was Breakthrough 2.0 with the Marauders aiming to break through the Asterian cordon and make their way to the pickup zone. They had Subject F in tow and would gain 2 Victory Points for getting him off the opposite board edge. VP's where also awarded for getting other members of the Strike Team off the opposite board edge or killing enemy troops.

The Marauders had managed to patch themselves up from the lab fight so went in with the same roster as last time:

1 * Bolts - Commander

3 * Marauder Commando

2 * Mawbeast

1 * Marauder Commando Specialist with HMG

1 * Ripper Rainmaker

1 * Ripper Mauler

1 * Gruntbot

The Asterians took advantage of the influx of new troops onto the planet to bring in a Spectra giant robot:

1 * Marionette Prime

4 * Marionette

1 * Kalyshi

2 * Marionette with Grenade Launcher

1 * Matsudan Inashi

1 * Spectra with Micro Fission Beamer

The game started with 10 Plague victims out on the table all of whom died during the first turn as both sides moved up into cover. The Spectra drew first blood when it smoked a Mawbeast with a shot from it's Fission Beamer, it may only be a pistol but it's a damned big one.

During the second turn both sides got sucked into surprise melees. The Spectra was engaged by the second Mawbeast who took a wound but managed to tie it up and Bolts was charged by the Inashi. Once you've pushed up a bit even a charge of 2 squares can be hard to spot and stop from happening and with the Mawbeasts charge of 3 squares that is extra difficult.

Turn 3 saw the Marauders move first and the Gruntbot join the fight against the Spectra, the Spectra survived the combats but some bad rolling meant it lost it's Energy Shield. The shield is used to block incoming damage but if you roll more 1's than successes it fails and cannot be used again for the rest of the game. 

The fight between Bolts and the Inashi continued with neither side gaining and advantage. 

The next turn was decisive with the Marionette Prime popping up onto the purple building to kill both the Commando Specialist and a normal Commando before falling to returning fire. Bolts was also killed in the same turn along with the Spectra and a couple of Marionette's. Once the shield is stripped from the Spectra it's pretty squishy so it was fairly easy meat for the Mawbeast & Gruntbot.

The exchange of kills left the Marauders in a better position with the Asterians having lost their most powerful piece in the Spectra and now only rolling 3 command dice due to the loss of their leader.

The Asterians did however notice that Subject F was unattended so made a last-gasp effort to secure the win by seizing it.

Some good shooting and then the intervention of the Ripper Mauler saw the Asterian forces further depleted and the Marauders managed to secure the win (18 VP's) by killing the last of the Marionette's leaving only the Inashi standing.

So what was a really hard fought and bloody game came to a close with the Marauders breaking through by virtue of almost total annihilation of the opposing force.

So we just have one more mission to play out in which the Marauders will attempt to escape the planet with their prize and hopefully their lives.

Nido de Plaga IV: Subject F

From Captain, Marauder Assault Cruiser Mandrake
To Assault Commander, Ground Forces, Nido de Plaga IV

Commander,

Our analysts have deciphered the data you managed to retrieve on your last mission have obtained several valuable pieces of intelligence.
Firstly, the artefact you observed being studied is believed by Mazon Labs to be of Asterian manufacture and to be some sort of biological weapon system.
Secondly, shortly after the discovery of the object a Subject F was also found and taken to a secure underground location to be studied. Subject F seems to have some way of controlling the biological agent released by the object which Mazon Labs was investigating.
Thirdly, some sort of catastrophic event took place in the research facility shortly before the planet went silent and the 'plague' started to spread. From the fragmented messages you where able to retrieve we believe it may have been a Veer-myn attack. As you know the Veer-myn are found on many planets in the outer spheres and tend to remain hidden deep beneath the surface. We suspect they must have realised what the Mazon Labs had discovered and tried to seize it themselves.
Our deep surface scans have pin-pointed the research lab and found an area that looks to still be securely contained. You should make your way to the lab and secure any information and samples you can find with Subject F being your top priority.

Captain T.

This weeks Deadzone campaign game saw the Marauders venture into an underground Mazon Labs facility in search of Subject F. As the area is under ground we played all the buildings as blocking terrain which could not be climbed onto. This meant the action would be confined to the corridors between the buildings and would be a more close-quarters affair than is normally the case. I setup a research area in the middle with a couple of  1 cube buildings which had doors, these could be hacked to release the occupant(s).

The Marauders went combat heavy again with a very similar line-up to the last mission:

1 * Bolts - Commander

3 * Marauder Commando

2 * Mawbeast

1 * Marauder Commando Specialist with HMG

1 * Ripper Rainmaker

1 * Ripper Mauler

1 * Gruntbot

The Veer-Myn also went melee heavy with :

1 * Crone Mother

1 * Piper with 2 Rat Swarms

2 * Volt Runner

2 * Volt Stalker

1 * Nightmare

1 * Shocker

1 * Fuser

In order to win the Marauders needed to take control of Subject F and also have at least 16 victory points.

On the first turn both sides pushed forwards without firing.

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The second turn started badly for the Veer-Myn as a Volt Runner activated and then flipped the booby-trap object and was then blown into an exposed square only to be eaten by a Mawbeast. The Mawbeast was then attacked and killed by a couple of Veer-Myn who avenged the fallen Runner. Everyone else pushed forwards with a Commando being killed by gun fire.

On the third turn the Goblins got stuck in with their Gruntbot suits and a couple of melees that would last the rest of the game formed up, with the Veer-Myn feeding units into the Goblin mincer.

The Marauder Specialist was then committed to opening the first cell and struck lucky with Subject F being released straight away, the Marauder didn't have time to chat as the Veer-Myn also pressed forwards.

More bodies pressed forwards into the standing melees with the Ripper Rainmaker trying to help Bolt's, this however lead to it's death in the next turn.

With Subject F in tow the Commando Specialist went to investigate a containment tank only to release a Plague Victim who promptly added to the Specialists issues which got worse when a pack of rats joined the fun.

This lead to the death of the Specialist which left the Marauders on 16 VP's but without Subject F.

They then got a lucky break as Subject F frightened by the rats and Plague victim scattered in a random direction into the open arms of Bolts as the last action of the round.

This left a badly bloodied Marauder strike team licking their wounds but also victorious, they now need to get Subject F back to base and off the planet.

Hopefully we will see how that goes next week.

Nido de Plaga IV: Data Retrieval

From Captain, Marauder Assault Cruiser Mandrake
To Assault Commander, Ground Forces, Nido de Plaga IV

Commander,

Now you have a secure base of operations and have taken the time to rebuild your ground units we have identified a new target for your forces. A nearby data cluster has been detected and is showing as being powered. We believe you may be able to extract important information about Mazon Labs activity on the planet which may point towards valuable artefacts that can be recovered. In order to give your unit it's best chance of success we recommend taking at least one hacking trained soldier in your force. Recent events have made the speedy and successful conclusion of this mission imperative.

Four Sol hours ago an as yet unidentified ship of Asterian design entered the solar system and evaded our attempts at interception and reached the planets surface, we then lost track of it's location. We believe that the Asterians are also seeking to discover what is happening here and you should presume them to be hostile.

You should make your way immediately to the data cluster, our surface scans have shown that the battle to secure the landing zone and base of operations have all but removed the local Zombie threat so you should be able to move freely to the target location.

Captain T.

The Marauders fielded the following for this mission

1 * Bolts - Commander

3 * Marauder Commando

2 * Mawbeast

2 * Marauder Commando Specialist with HMG - Hackers

1 * Ripper Rainmaker

1 * Gruntbot

Whilst the Asterian force consisted of:

1 * Marionette Prime

3 * Marionette's

2 * Kalyshi

1 * Marionette Specialist Sniper

2 * Marionette Specialist Grenade Launcher

2 * Marionette Specialist Light Missile

The table was setup with four data terminals in the centre around a mysterious artefact, each terminal could be hacked once to gain 2 victory points. Hacking would take a unit with the Hacking special rule a short action, otherwise it was a long action.

The first turn saw both sides move up with the Marauders taking advantage of the high ground near their entry point to kill a Marionette who had moved into a building over-looking the central area, other than some ineffective missile shooting from the Asterians it was a turn for manoeuvre. 

The second turn saw the Marauders pile forwards with the Mawbeasts engaging and killing one Missile Launcher Marionette and the second also dying, this time to gun fire. The Asterian Kalyshi charged into combat but didn't manage to kill anything. 

Next turn saw the Marauders push forwards again with Bolts and the Gruntbot. The Marionette Prime did land a surprising effect shot onto Bolts reducing him down to only 1 wound left, only his thick armour saved Bolts from being killed. One of the Marauder Specialists managed to make it to a terminal and hack out some valuable data.

On the last turn the Marauders started by hacking another terminal so the Asterians sacrificed a Marionette Specialist to ensure they'd hacked at least on terminal. It got the hack but was then shot down as was the Sniper. The remaining Grenade Launcher specialist was chewed up by a combination of the Gruntbot and then Bolts.

The Kalyshi did manage to kill a Mawbeast and a Commando but by this time it was too late and the Marauders had gained 16 VP's to end the fight but most importantly gained the information they required to dig deeper into what had happened on Nido de Plaga IV.

I've also been busy at the painting this week and with an eye on an upcoming D & D campaign I've painted up a Mantic Ice Queen model to use as a Sorcerer. I altered the painting technique on this one by going with a back undercoat and then dry brushing cream then white over the top before using contrast paints. It gives a different finish to just contrast over white with the darker areas being more pronounced.

Nido de Plaga IV: Capture a Base of Operations

From Marauder Central Command
To Commander, Marauder Assault Cruiser Mandrake

Captain,

Following your successful mission to secure the landing zone Marauder Intelligence has identified a nearby building complex which will make an excellent base of operations for your force. We have authorised the landing of a Mule transport to help with the movement of the supplies necessary to support your mission on the surface. Planetary scans show no current evidence of organised military forces in your area but further encounters with the 'Zombies' you identified is to be expected. We would recommend including at least one person with engineering experience in your escort team in case of issues with the Mule. Once you have the base of operations secured you can start our mission on the planet.

Gen. Radgrad.

Acting on his further orders Marauder Captain T. deployed a ground assault team lead by the Goblin Bolts. The strike team make-up was :

1* Bolts
2 * Gruntbot, 1 with flamer
1 * Boomer, engineer and grenade specialist
3 * Commando
2 * Mawbeast
1 * Ripper Rainmaker

They also had a Marauder Mule stacked full of supplies to escort up the table to the enclosed compound, we assigned this as having 2 armour and 4 health with a defence of 5+.

The Plague side started with the following on the table:

1 * Aberration
1 * Stage 3A General
6 * Stage 3Z Zombies
2 *  Plague Victims (from the Mazon Labs list)

The advantage of playing an umpire led narrative game is that I could mix up the forces as I liked and also feel free to bring on extra troops as I wished. I also put out two spawn points for the Plague, the Marauders had discovered in the last game that these points could be liable to being destroyed by fire if attacked. I gave them 1 wound with a save of 7+.

Things didn't get off to a great start for the Marauders as the Rainmaker leapt up onto a building to grab the closest supplies cache for it to be the only booby-trap on the table, this did no damage to him but did blow him off the building into the path of the Mule, meaning it wouldn't be able to advance.

Elsewhere the Marauders pushed up and killed a couple of Zombies and the Plague also advanced to try and block the Marauders from accessing the truck which was blocking the advance of the Mule. The Flamer Gruntbot also managed to remove the closest Zombie spawn point.

In the next round the Marauders continued to push forwards and the Rainmaker recovered enough to get a solid shot off on the Aberration causing two wounds, this forced it to take cover behind a handy building. Bolts and the Gruntbots assisted by the Mawbeasts continued to slaughter Zombies and the Plague side was running low of mobs to through into the meat grinder. At the end of Turn 2 I brought on some additional Zombies and Plague Victims to help turn the tide.

Turn 3 saw Boomer jump start the blocking truck and move it out of the way, this allowed the Mule to advance. The Aberration killed a Mawbeast and further Zombies and a Plague Victim fell as the Marauders continued to advance and the Plague reinforcements pushed forwards.

The game then devolved into a series of viscous melee combats as the all melee Plague clashed with the by now mostly melee Marauders, two of the Commando's fell to the Plague as did the second Mawbeast and one of the Gruntbots. But Bolts and flamer Gruntbot as well as the Rainmaker still pressed on. 

At this point the Marauders had the mule one move away from the secure area (they just needed to move it up to win) and the Plague had the route blocked so a grenade from Boomer was thrown but only managed to knock the Plague Victim onto the bonnet of the Mule.

When Boomer fell to the Plague that left only Bolts, the flamer Gruntbot, and the Rainmaker left to see out the mission. Fortunately the Gruntbot was up to the task as it managed a flame and melee combo that set the Aberration on fire and when it activated it tool the one wound it needed for it to be killed.

The three remaining Marauders then managed to clear out enough of the Plague to see the Mule to the objective. It had looked like the Marauders would easily win the game early on but adding in the reinforcements made it a much tougher proposition for them and it turned out to be a very close game in the end.

Next time the Marauders will be having a look around on the planet to try and extract some data on what has been happening.