Battle Report - 28/3/15

Hello all,


I have been a bit slow in getting things updated here, but I have decided to make more of an effort in getting the blog back up to speed. I'm going to be trying to add all the previous entries that were deleted in the last great purge.

It's a very Blanchean image - the idea that all the great works of the blog have been lost to the ages - and sustained by that guttering legacy held in the mind of those few that continue to visit, it creaks onwards...

Still, I will be trying to get that posted soon, and will be doing what I can to continue posting, even in times when my output is minimal (or not entirely INQ28 related.) Part of that will come in showcasing the work of others, or asking others to write posts for the blog.

Today's post is cribbed from MasterBuilder, a relatively new poster to the INQ28-verse, but one who has firmly gotten to grips with the community and is even now in the midst of planning a INQ28 game day in Stockholm this year. He is perhaps the INQ28 community's first travelling missionary.

At the end of March, just before my birthday, I made the annual pilgrimage to Warhammer World in order to get a couple of games in against PDH, my long-time compatriot and nemesis. MasterBuilder's puritan Inquisitor was there to get in the way (and his ragged band of zealots made quite the speedbump!)

Over to MasterBuilder for the pictures and the write-up.

The board we ended up on was The Hobbit's 'goblin king' board, which was absolutely ideal for its multi level, narrow corridor approach. This worked really well, and made the games of the day very dynamic, as all three of us had to consider our actions carefully (or not in my case...)

As I didn't have a pic of the board sans minis, here's one I borrowed from teh internetz:

So, as mentioned previously, here is the Dramatis Personae:


Mistress-Szlachta Salia Veeta accompanied by her warband (PDH)

From Left - Right: Einz, heretic-prisoner Dwimmer-Craft Izsefin, Mistress-Szlachta Salia Veeta, Haigtesse, Dreii.

Inquisitor Gilliam Harrow accompanied by retinue (Commmisar Molotov)

From Left - Right: Gunner 'Banner' Cobb, Cyber Mastiff "Terror", Servo Gun-Skull, Inquisitor Gilliam Harrow, Stormtrooper Drexler, Pyremaster Korbin, Trooper Drexler

Inquisitor Dobros Malik, accompanied by Penitentia cult militia (Masterbuilder)

From Left- Right: Tybalt Voss, Jeremiah Aspen, Inquisitor Malik, Yameck Baral
So, our first game consisted of all three warbands being deployed in full strength at various points on the board. Each member had both a primary and secondary objective, and were clearly at odds to have a monumental conflict.

The chaos champion, Salia Venta had broken into an inquisitorial facility on a remote asteroid, and had broke out a prisoner being held captive by Inquisitor Harrow, in this case this was the Sorcerer Iszefin. He was fairly weak at this point after suffering a prolonged interrogation by Harrow, and had to hold onto Venta in order to move. They entered the board on one edge. Salia's objective was to cross the board to an exit and get the sorcerer to safety, while avoiding the attentions of both Harrow and Malik, who were in the vicinity.

Inquisitor Harrow had the objective of recapturing the heretic prisoner, and possibly to kill or wound his nemesis Salia Venta by whatever means necessary. He was placed across the other edge of the board, ready to stomp across and block their way.
Inquisitor Malik was tasked with several objectives, to subdue/capture any heretics for information and subsequent execution, and to humiliate Inquisitor Harrow, who had recently scuppered the purges of an inquisitor Malik had sponsored and supported. Malik and his militiamen retinue were placed close to Salia's entry point, but at this point no warband was truly aware of where the others were located. Obviously... carnage was soon to erupt.
Deployment for the encounter

Turn one - a tense undertaking:Following deployment, all warbands began to move through the area with caution, looking out for any other parties. Harrow stomped over to the central spur of the asteroid sending his cyber-mastiff out to look for the escaped prisoner. Salia Venta cautiously sent her minions Eins and Dwei forward to scout while she and the sorceror advanced behind. The Haegtesse trailed them, again vigilant for any signs of movement or activity, and readying her staff for any psychic force she may need. Malik began by sending Aspen along one route to the central spur, walking behind and following him. Tybalt Voss and Yameck took a different route, the zealot Yameck choosing to jog along and reach the ladder and climb it nearby, readying his autopistol for any action. Poking his head above the level of the ladder, Yameck sights Salia's group, particularly Eins, though had no actions left to shout out and alert anyone. Voss followed behind, autogun at the ready and scanning for any indicator of movement, though could not be alerted to the presence of a powerful chaos champion and her warband several paces away from him!
Turn two - first contact:

Turn two underway, and contact is made in true action packed Inquisitor style! Salia's renegade Dwei moved along the right hand route , shotgun up and safety off. The warband were alerted to the presence of Malik's zealot Yameck climbing the ladder, and Eins took a run along the boardwalk, opting to kick him in the face and swing with his sword. His initial attempt to kick Yameck off the ladder through hot boot-to-face action failed, with him missing, however his sword swing hit. Unfortunately this was parried by his autopistol, which Yameck retaliated by firing up at his surprise assailant, knocking Eins down prone. 

The gunfire was heard by Tybalt Voss, who quickly got himself into cover, and fired off a torrent of full auto fire above the ladder. On the other side of the spur, Inquisitor Malik, now hearing the gunfire and frustrated at not being close to the action, pulled Jeremiah Aspen past him on the walkway and ordered him up the stairs with some choice language. Aspen climbs the ladder and sights Harrow's Pyremaster Korbin advancing towards him with pyrestaff in hand. 

Harrow by this point has advanced to the front of the central rock spur and broadcasts 'Halt - in the name of the Inquisition'. Salia's warband respond by the Haegtesse attempting to affect Harrow with a psychic power, which does little more than leaves a frosted coating on his armour, and obviously causes his annoyance! Harrow's other members of the warband, Gunner Cobb and the Stormtrooper Drexler, advance across another route to the side of the central spur, in a bid to block another potential exit. Harrows cyber mastiff is ahead, advancing behind Pyremaster Korbin at this point.

Pyremaster Korbin aims his pyrestaff with a threat at Jeremiah Aspen. Inquisitor Malik cannot get up the ladder as Aspen is currently at the top, and decides to spend his turn shouting insults at Harrow. Though initially frozen by the threatening Pyremaster and Harrows demand to halt, Aspen, like a true zealous militiaman backs off from the Pyrestaff and reaches for his autopistol (he's currently unarmed). As a result, Pyremaster Korbin unleashes a torrent of flame at Aspen, setting his legs and face on fire and he falls to the floor screaming as he dies.

Inquisitor Harrow commands his cyber mastiff to 'fetch', and the faithful mechanical hound obeys, charging forward to savagely chew up the now burning body of Aspen.

On the other side of the fray, while on the ladder the militiaman Yameck decides to ready and toss a grenade (with precision accuracy, indicated by the white dice in the pic!) over between the now prone Eins and the rest of the Salia's band. This goes off, though it only causes light damage to Eins' leg, however the concussion of the blast knocks down Salia and the Sorcerer, though the damage is little more than cosmetic. Tybalt Voss decides to get up from his position in cover and heads over to Malik's position, hearing his leader shouting and cursing and the screams of Jeremiah Aspen as he is barbecued in the name of the Inquisition.

The Haegtesse while on the first bridge decides to spend her turn concentrating and attempting to enfeeble Harrow's mind, but this fails.

Over on the far side of the central spar, Cobb and the Stormtrooper Drexler are making their way along the walkway to cover the potential exit, and reinforce the central crossing area, which is about to become the site of a very violent altercation between the three parties...



Turn Four... time for a spot of ultra-violence!
Salia manages to get up from the explosion and hauls up the sorceror, heading down the walkway with him, the better to make their getaway. Salia makes a couple of hasty shots with her pistol at Harrow but these miss.
Sighting the chaos champion Salia, Harrow jumps down to the walkway below to engage the group, landing in very close proximity to the renegade Dwei. Dwei then unloads his combat shotgun into Harrow, the shots that hit bouncing off his heavily armoured body. The benefits of being more machine than man I guess! You just know Dwei is about to experience a world of pain any second now...


Hearing the screams of his loyal militiaman Aspen as he was torched to death angered Malik even more. Seeing the cybernetic hound at the top of the ladder and knowing it was heading over to chew up Aspen's burning corpse, Malik charges up the ladder, determined to kick the dog or hammer it off the walkway. Being encased in an archaic suit of relic armour, Malik is rather heavy and snaps the final rung of the ladder, falling flat onto his front in front of the charging dog and the pyremaster, who is still aiming his staff in the direction of his charred militiaman. It's obviously going rather well for him, and to make matters worse, the dog savages his leg, doing little more than scratching the armour but humiliating the proud puritan inquisitor further.

The conflict between Salia's warband and the zealous militiaman Yameck Baral is about to hot up even further. The renegade Eins manages to stand up and advance towards Yameck, determined to finish off this annoyance and make him suffer in the process. Yameck, noticing that Tybalt Voss has abandoned him, and noting the heretic leader and her lackeys getting away, decides to charge suicidally at the warband with a crude bomb he has prepared earlier, determined to martyr himself for the Emperor and rid the Imperium of these heretics. In his zeal however, he trips on the ladder and manages to spring forward far enough to tackle the renegade Eins. The bomb goes off and rather than a glorious charge of Imperial Martyrdom, Yameck manages to kill Eins, turning himself into little more than a bloody pile of rags and an inglorious memory, while Salia and the sorceror sneak past.

Tybalt Voss over on the other side of the spar, sights the two troopers advancing towards the bridge between the two spars. He quickly aims and fires his remaining rounds on full auto into the Stormtrooper Drexler, felling him with a beautiful headshot. In reply, the similarly armed Gunner Cobb gives a similar reply, and peppers Voss with rounds, felling him in a haze of bloody mist. These militiamen are clearly fitting the profile that Molotov gave me earlier which read 'The militia are all dispensable'. It's a shame that wasn't actually an objective, as I would've fulfilled it beautifully by this point.

Turn 5. It's all going on at the bridge!
Harrow is first up, and in reply to the barrage of shotgun fire by Dwei, neatly draws his chainsword and decapitates him with a contemptuous first sweep of the game. He then blocks the way of Salia, who takes some shots at him with her pistol while advancing down with his former prisoner.

Back on the top level, Inquisitor Malik manages to haul his bulk up and manages to smash Harrow's fetch hound with his hammer, though manages to damage the external armour, exposing the fragile workings within. One more blow should finish it off. Keen to assist, the Pyremaster Korbin cautiously advances on the Inquisitor, jabbing with his staff at a safe range. Enraged, Malik manages to turn the blow aside with a backswing from his trusty hammer. 

The hexagrammic wards on Maliks armour, etched with loving care by the Ordo Malleus' artificers on Hyades begin to glow - what could happen next?

Turn 6 - Chaos unleashed...
Down in the whirling melee on the bridge leading to the central spar, Inquisitor Harrow is pinned to the wall and falls to the floor by psychic energy while the sorcerer as a daemonhost rips forth into being!

Sensing this new turn of events - the staunch daemonhunter Malik breaks off from the combat with the cybermastiff, barging it out of the way and jumps down into the melee. Unfortunately this jump lands his considerable bulk down onto the decapitated body of Dwei, crushing the already dead renegade trooper into paste. Seizing the golden opportunity, Mistress Salia and the sorcerer barge past the two downed inquisitors.



Turn 7 - The chase is on!
Noting Malik's eagerness to throw himself into lethal combat with the wretched daemonhost, Inquisitor Harrow quickly gets up and launches his every effort into chasing the Mistress and his former prisoner, though they do manage to take full advange of their headstart running away from him and nearly reaching the final walkway to their exit.

Back on the bridge, Inquisitor Malik leaps up, swinging his blessed Terran hammer round in a number of fierce attacks on the daemonhost, which manages to dodge all of them. In reply, it manages to open up a small section on his chest armour, though at this point a little light damage does nothing but incense Malik even more.

Turn 8 - Hellshrieks and Hammerblows.
Pursued by the relentless Inquisitor Harrow, Mistress Salia unleashes her hidden weapon - a hell shriek of epic proportions. With the presence of the Daemonhost, and the sorcerer by her side, this blast of psychic force sends waves radiating from her golden armour, buffeting Harrow, who manages to take several painful steps forwards towards her. She manages to reach the top of the stairs, tantalisingly close to the exit. She pushes the sorcerer towards the doorway while her power radiates through the cavern, drawing her pistol and aiming it at her nemesis Harrow as they face each other.

Back on the bridge, the combat between Malik and the daemonhost continues. The host manages to rend another opening in Malik's armour, however this does no damage to the veteran daemonhunter within. 

In reply, Malik swings several wild blows at the daemonhost, missing with two, but with his final weary, double handed backswing he manages to knock the daemon to the ground with a blow to the chest, glowing ichor spraying across the floor and smoking on his thrice blessed relic plate.

Turn 9 - an ending... of sorts!
Standing over the shattered body of the daemonhost, Inquisitor Malik dedicates a prayer to the Emperor as he swings his hammer round once more.

The weapons head, formed of marble claimed to be from ruined statuary of the Imperial Palace, falls onto the abdomen of the screaming chaos construct. The daemonhost, though already re-knitting its injured form simply cannot withstand a blow from such a weapon and the vile creature implodes, the glowing ichor sucked back into the form and dissipating, leaving little left but a shrivelled, shattered husk.

On the other side of the caverns. The duel between Harrow and the heretic champion is far from over. In a feat of sheer will and unimaginable pain Inquisitor Harrow wades through wave after wave of continual psychic force, while the Mistress Salia fires her pistol with contempt at him as he advances. Several rounds strike his armour, though leave little mark.

Reaching Salia, Harrow sweeps his chainsword around, aiming several blows at her with all the force and tortured anger of a man who by force of will refuses to be beaten by his nemesis. One of these blows strikes home, forcing Salia to cry out. 

Summoning her pain into a final blast of psychic force, Salia pushes Harrow backwards several feet, pushing the gibbering sorcerer back through the exit to the cavern and making good her getaway, while clutching her bleeding wounds.

The aftermath...
Mistress Salia managed to escape with her prisoner, completing her primary objective. Inquisitor Malik and Harrow both managed to fail to prevent her from escaping, which will obviously have serious repercussions in time to come. It almost appears as if the Prince of Excess has a plan for Mistress Salia, but only time will tell...