He could feel the massive psychic entity
that was the Hive Mind. It’s tendrils of
conscious thought extending out to touch the Tyranid synaptic creatures. The runes that covered the floor around him
began to glow as the ritual progressed. The hundreds of pacified psykers chained to
the altars began to thrash and scream as their life force was drained from
them.
If this ritual was successful, Veritas
would be able stretch a strand of his own consciousness into the rivers of
information that flowed from the Hive Mind and gently manipulate certain
Tyranid creatures.
As the ritual grew in intensity a whirling
gust of power formed with Veritas at the center raising him into the air. The power surged through his body, blood
pouring from his nose and eyes, an inhuman shriek of power and pain erupting
from his throat only to be cut off by bloody phlegm and vomit spewing
forth. As the ritual reached it’s peak,
the chained psykers exploded with a shower of gore and Veritas dropped to the
ground and was still for a long time.
Veritas opened his eyes to see the scarred
face of Proelium, the veteran of his chosen guard. Veritas whispered only two words before a fit
of coughing seized him, but Proelium knew what to do. He rushed to prepare the army to fight, his
own stimulant injectors pumping him with adrenaline, the words “It worked”
echoing through his mind.
So the above little story should give you
an idea as to how this game went, or at least how it started. Mike and I both got Puppet Master.
Here is the deployment.
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| The poor quality picture is due to poor lighting conditions of an unfinished lighting situation. |
Mike and I got turn 1 and we both moved up
being careful to stay far enough away to not get assaulted right away. Mike’s shooting was a little lackluster
killing a couple hormagaunts with his vindicator. Mine was far better. I was able to use my oblits to pop the truck
that had the meganobs in it, and I successfully used Puppet Master
to shoot the Exocrine into the side of the
Battlewagon and kill it.
So essentially I almost totally neutralized
the Ork army for at least a turn as all of it’s mobility was gone and it didn’t
have any ranged shooting.
Their turn was spent moving forward as fast
as possible. The Hive Tyrant moved up on
top of the “skyshield” in the middle of table and it had lost a wound to the Warp
Table. It was able to shoot up the side
armour of the Vidicator and wreck it.
Our turn again and Mike sets up his
cultists to shoot at the Hive Tyrant hoping to ground it so we can Puppet
Master it but fairs way better and kills it with his cultists. Yep you read that right. Mike’s 20 odd cultists manage to inflict 5
wounds on the flying beast and Lance has the decency to fail 3 of them. I get my Sorcerer within range to use The
Last Memory of Yuranthos on 3 units and kill around 20 models. Mike’s 2 units of marines move up, bail out,
and shoot the shit out of Lance’s big Hormagaunt squad. Things are looking pretty good for us right
now.
I make a monster of a bone head play and
charge my Maulerfiend into the battlewagonless Orks hoping to get into base
contact with the Warboss so my Lasher Tendrils can deny him 2 attacks and I
could win on combat rez. Well that does
not work and the Warboss punks the Maulerfiend hard.
I’ve never used the Maulerfiend before and
now have a slightly better understanding of what he can and can’t do. Thanks Rob!
The cavalry arrives for Lance and Rob in
the form of both Dakka Jets that come on and almost annihilates a whole squad
of marines.
The Exocrine shoots up my rhino and I have
to bail out which allows Rob and the battlewagonless orks make a decent charge
and get in my face. I challenge with my
Lord and he accepts with his Warboss who proceed to slap each other around and
do nothing. I do, however, kill the rest
of the squad making him fall back but I fail to sweep him.
The rest of the game goes like this…
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| Except they weren't cute puppies. |
…with the exception of these 3 spectacular
things that happen. First, my warlord
dies to a dangerous terrain check and Perils of the Warp. Second, Mike uses Puppet Master to shoot the
Exocrine at the Warboss who just re-grouped.
And lastly, the very last bullet that was shot in the game killed the
last cultists who just happened to be holding on to the relic, and it was shot
by an Ork Nob.
So, the game ended a tie, as the Relic
usually does I find. We managed to keep
one of our warlords alive and kill both of theirs but still cough up enough
faction points to make it 8-7 for Chaos.
The fancy warp storm chart didn’t really
come into play except when it put the wound on the Hive Tyrant on the first
turn. After that it killed 2 or 3
hormagaunts, made my Chosen squad stubborn and
gave the Champ Shred, and it did NOTHING for 5 rolls.
Had a good time and other than a long drive out to Rob's place it was a pretty quickly organized game, considering needing to get 4 players on the same schedule.
Thanks to Lance and Mike for making the long trek and thanks to Rob for hosting and supplying beers, although it was just me and him drinking them.
Happy gaming til next time!
