We played a couple of games using some of our new jungle terrain. It blocks line of sight really well and we are working on a lot more pieces to create a really dense board. The jungle pieces mix nicely with the rest of our terrain which is really handy for mixing and matching and giving us more variety.
Records show that in early 008.M31 the planet of Voggo declared for the Warmaster and was rewarded with a garrison of veteran Byzant Janizars. The steamy jungles and swamps of this planet housed large raw promethium deposits ripe for mining. Voggo was therefore a strategically important world despite its size and position to the galactic north. It needed to be protected.
Shadow-captain Kraai took his talon to Voggo to distrupt supply lines for the traitors marching on Holy Terra. Their first strike destroyed the astropathic station, rendering the planet unable request help. In a masterful campaign over the next few months the Raven Guard systematically picked apart the Janizar units and forced them into an ever diminishing pocket of control. With no choice left, the commander of the Byzant Janizars decided to force a break out at what he thought was the weakest point in the Raven Guard lines. Little did he know this was all part of their plan…
Commander Mahzun ordered his less mobile infrantry and artillery to hold the line whilst the core of his infantry attempted the break out. The Janizars raised their guns and shell after shell landed amongst the Raven Guard lines. Despite the blistering fusillade, many of the shots fell wide of their mark, such was the panic of the men and women firing.
The Raven Guard moved up in response. Whilst the tacical squads took cover behind disused pipes and began targetting the militia infantry, Honoured Brother Yiraka barrelled through the undergrowth, aiming for the ostentatious plumes of Commander Mahzun. Seeing the metallic giant running toward his lines, Mahzun smiled and uttered a single word in the language of Old Byzant:
“Katletmek”
The Ogryd Arco-Flagellanti with him twitched. Stimm pipes and chem neutralisers in their bodies kicked in and these gaints sprung forward with weapons cracking and mouths frothing. Headless of their own safety, their only objective was to kill anything threatening their master. The six giants slammed into the dreadnought and, although Yiraka was able to kill several beasts, he was brought down by the great power mauls of meteoric steel grafted in place of the hands of some Ogryds.
The Janizar’s sense of victory was short lived as the dreadnought Kynaeus mercilessly gunned down the surviving Ogryds with his kheres. Just then the sky overhead seemed to blacken and, with a sound like thunder, the Raven Guard destroyers arrived.
Particularly feared on Voggo, these marines had committed several acts of virulent genocide on the workforce of the planet. Before the militia squad could even react to their arrival, the destroyers opened fire. With cold efficiency they unleashed their payload and the Janizars were left a pile of rad-sickened corpses.
Demir Umudu, the Byzant Janizar demolisher, had continued its steady advance, firing shots as it moved that knocked out the Raven Guard javelins and tactical squad. Recognising this vehicle as the real threat, Kraai ordered Kynaeus to take it out. Running forward Kynaeus shoulder barged the tank, flipping it over to expose its weak underside. Gearing up his assault cannons, he shot through the hull until the vehicle exploded in a fireball.
Watching his army fall to pieces Mahzun realised the breakout was now impossible and the day was lost. Not wanting to die in ignomy and hoping to take out the enemy leader in a last act of defiance, he lifted his ancestral axe and raised it towards Kraai. The Shadow-captain answered and, with a burst of his jetpack, charged into combat. The supernatural speed of Kraai was impossible for Mahzun to counter and he was brutally cut down in short order.
With that the battle was over. Soon after the traitor grip on this planned collapsed when the governor was assassintated by Kraai’s Mor Deythan. The planet’s supply of promethium would now be helping the loyalist cause…
We played the Noose mission from Book 6 with my militia having to escape whilst Tom’s Raven Guard tried to stop us. This was always going to be tricky as my militia are very static and immobile but it was fun watching them be on the offensive and the Raven Guard on the defensive for a change! End result was a clear victory for the Raven Guard but I’ve learned more lessons about how best to play my militia and have a couple of more fast moving reinforcements inbound.
Jamie
Mutant Snake Eyes 