Five Parsecs. Campaign game 13. Assassinate

The battered Innominate emerges from the warp and limps into the polluted home skies of Necromunda. The chirurgeon-servitor has managed to keep Gallius' wounded crew alive, but they are not able to go out in full strength. Gallius spends valuable credits to partially patch the ship, and looks for a job with his two able companions.

The Innominate's depleted crew

He finds one- an agitator has been stirring up trouble in the refineries. If he can be killed, there will be a good reward.

The agitator and his lackeys

The agitator is at the far end of the refinery hall.

There are glimpses of the enemy through the machinery.

They advance cautiously into the heat.

Shots are exchanged without effect.

More lackeys begin to swarm.
Lady Heldycryn's rifle jams and she pulls out her pistol.

Chugger shrugs off a grenade blast and Gallius
backs off with Lady Heldydryn.

They don't realise they've been outflanked!

Lady H takes him down with a risky charge.

Chugger blasts the minions and Gallius sees an opening-
the enemy agitator goes down!

The minions keep coming, and the trio head for the blast doors.

A lucky shot wounds Gallius! He is dragged to safety.

Gallius removes his cloak- miraculously, he is unharmed. The credits are a welcome relief, as is the reputation gained by eliminating the agitator. A potential recruit arrives, looking for employment- with several of the crew still recovering from the battering on Hydresar X, Gallius can't turn this down.

It's been a while since I blogged- I entered a bit of a hobby slump and loss of my painting mojo. It is many months since I last Five Parsec'd and I was a bit rusty. The adventures will continue!

Assassinorum Battle Report: Phase 2

Phase 1: Infiltration

Phase 2: Assassinate the Sorceror Lord

++ Click to embiggen ++

*Culexus died, not the Callidus

Oof. I got through the teleporter with many turns to go and all my Assassins unwounded. Things then went downhill fast as I got surrounded by Traitor Marines, who are both harder to take down and harder-hitting than cultists. The Eversor used up all his luck in the doorway and went down, as did the Culexus. Full frontal assaults aren't a good idea! I got hit hard by event cards which reduced my actions on multiple turns.

But the Vindicare and Callidus kept my hopes up. The Vindicare is, sadly, the weak link in this team- short-ranged indoors environments aren't his forte and he consistently underperforms. But today he held his own against multiple Traitor Marines for many more turns than he should have! This distracted multiple guards allowing the Callidus to take her polymorphine and shapeshift into a cultist- I was really happy with the miniature I chose for this deception- and sashay up to the Big Bad.

Cultist femme fatale or disguised assassin?

She got in two of the three wounds needed to take down this armoured beast, and then survived the counterattacks. She went for the third- failed- used her last poison blades for a reroll- also failed. On literally what would have been the last turn of the game, she desperately went in again but fell in a hail of fire.

The Big Bad and his lieutenants

The Chaos minis are showing their age, but the Assassins are lovely, even if I'm not a fan of the extravagant scenery bases following them around. I like how the little Familiar is used as an on-table turn marker. The boards are gorgeous, almost too glossy, but unfortunately there's only one way to set up the map. The automated enemy rules are really good. I used some Mines of Moria columns for a bit of pizzazz.

Execution Force Designate BarksAlphaKillSkullRaptorMax.
Status: Missing

Assassionorum: Execution Force is well out of print, but if you can find it, I'd recommend it.

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Thought of the day:

Victory requires no explanation.

Defeat allows no explanation.

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Made with Comic Life 3 and LensFX

Assassinorum Battle Report: Phase 1

++Inquisitorial Report++

++Ordo Sicarius Eyes-only++

++Unauthorised access is a sin++

++ The High Lords of Terra duly authorise a Level Delta Assassinorum mission against a Sorceror Lord beholden to the Ruinous Powers. Stop him before he completes his unspeakable ritual.++

++ Execution Force Operatives ++

Callidus Assassin

Eversor Assassin

Culexus Psychic Assassin

Vindicare Sniper

++ This will be a two phase mission. ++

++ Phase 1: Infiltrate the renegade base. Locate, activate and utilise the Teleportarium to gain access to the Sorceror's profane temple. ++

++ Phase 2: Assassinate the Sorceror Lord. Failure is not an option. ++

++ Phase 1 pict-report ++

++ Click to embiggen ++

So, I got Assassinorum: Execution Force to the table. What a little gem of a game this is! Perfect for solo play, you control four assassins sneaking into a Chaos base looking for a Teleportarium and its Control Room. There are sentries, who follow predetermined but slightly random paths printed on the board. Staying out of their line of sight isn't necessary, but they will swamp you if you are incautious- or unlucky. Random event cards spice things up (usually badly)- and the more alerted guards there are, the more cards come out.

Should you split up or stay together? Incautiously race to find rooms or risk running out of time? Slip past the guards unseen or take them out? All up, it is a fun puzzle with simple mechanics that tells a tense story. The automated sentry rules are simply excellent.

I think I'm going pretty well here. Luck has been with me: I've found the necessary rooms and eliminated thirteen of fourteen guards so far. I'm coming through the teleporter with three Assassins simultaneously and I haven't taken a single wound! Time is ticking, however...

Next week: The gripping conclusion!

Made with Comic Life 3 and LensFX

40K Imperial Assassins

I have finally finished the miniatures from the atrociously named Assassinorum: Execution Force. I got this game second hand, already assembled and undercoated, several years ago. I very carefully removed mould lines and then put the figures away to mature. I painted the Vindicare and some of the baddies in 2018, and have now completed the other assassins and all the cultists.

Assassins

The Vindicare is a sniper with specialised weaponry and ammunition. I never had a metal Vindicare, but am pretty happy with the plastic one. It was tricky getting around the back of the preassembled model.  I painted him in 2018 for the Analogue Challenge 'BFG' theme round.

Vindicare

I'm not a huge fan of the dramatic-scenery-base for gaming purposes, but I grudgingly tolerate it for display purposes. The Eversor looks like the psychotic rampage beast he is.

Eversor

The Callidus can shapeshift to infiltrate her way amongst the Imperium's enemies. Her synskin gave me anxiety, but I got there in the end with blue-black washes over blue-grey highlights .

Callidus

The Culexus is a psychic assassin who terrifies you to death. His Giger-esque helm looks like it would give massive neck strain.

Culexus

As a bonus for you, I dug up my old 1997 metal Eversor and Callidus. I have to respect the 2015 plastic updates which keep so much of the old design. I'm pretty happy with the old Eversor and its paintjob from 20+ years ago! I still haven't finished the old Callidus and probably never will...

Eversors old and new

Callidi old and new

1997 Eversor

Finally, here's all the baddies from the game- one Terminator sorcerer, three Marines, one familiar, fifteen cultists. I will get a game report up on the blog at some point.

Skull-o-meter™:

• Vindicare 10
• Callidus 5
• Old Callidus 6
• Eversor 8
• Old Eversor 5
• Culexus 4
• Baddies 22