Five Parsecs. Campaign Game 15. Death in the sump

INQUISITION CASE FILE 496:35-H:9-THETA-8:EPSILON-23

+ ORDO XENOS +

+ SECURITY PSALM RECOGNISED +

+ PROCEED +

+ My master, Inquisitor Kalot of the Ordo Xenos, continues to work against the genestealer infestation of Hive Primus. We operate outside the knowledge of the local planetary authorities to prevent panic in the hive population. +

+ A local merchant, Gallius Marbec, has come to our attention. His trading misadventures have brought him into contact with the cult both here and on Hydresar X [Noospheric inload links embedded]. The fool has decided to pry further. +

+ Archival pict. Marbec stumbles on cult activity. +

+ Our pict-feeds relay his latest folly deep in the toxic environment of the hive sump. +

+ No enemy in sight, but they know they are near. +

+ One group covers the left. +

+ One group advances through the gunk. +

+ Movement on the right! +

+ The crew reposition in the toxic swamp. +

+ The ogryn blasts one and the other skulks away. +

+ Movement on the left! The cult knows they're here. +

+ Movement ahead! The ogryn and the noble
position to take out a heavy weapon. +

+ Flame envelops their rookie. +

+ The ganger shoots the flamer. +

+ Pistol fire hits Marbec and he stumbles-
the toxic sludge overcome him. +

+ The heavy stubber strikes the ogryn-
weakened by fumes it goes down as well. +

+ A coordinated strike takes down the rest of the crew. +

+ Intelligence suggests that Marbec survived. However, he knows too much and must be eliminated. +

++Thought of the day++

++The reward of tolerance is betrayal.++

+ REPORT ENDS +

Whew! What a nasty firefight! I rolled a toxic environment, which was a great excuse to pull out some gunked up tiles. Stunned figures are at risk, and that was what happened to Gallius and Chugger.

Due to pre-game shenanigans, the hybrids started off board and trickled in randomly with added reinforcements. There were twelve of them in the end, and it felt like a shadowy ambush.

Gallius got lucky- he rolled a 99 for his injury and shrugged it off. Corvin made a mysterious full recovery. Chugger, however, died in the toxic sludge. D-E-D dead.

Gallius Marbec mourns Chugger.

Chugger's greatest hits. In memoriam

Rescued from slavery

His first firefight!

Pounding on squats.

Smashing mutants in the dark.

Blowing apart heretics.

Stomping gang scum.

The Emperor protects!

Just as I was about to draw a sad curtain on this sorry tale, I realised I can use a once-per-campaign imperator ex machina to allow Chugger to miraculously survive! His plot armour was too strong. Dry your cheeks, he's still alive!

So. Phew. I am trying to get to twenty missions. The plot thickens. Will Gallius survive to uncover a nest of genestealers? Will the Ordo Xenos intercept him with extreme prejudice? Is Corvin really that useless, or is he a cult infiltrator?

It does sound like it will end badly! I can hardly wait!

Five Parsecs. Campaign game 14. Chugger vs. the Iron Hounds

Gallius cautiously welcomes a new member to his depleted crew: Corvin Akenz, a former trading ship crewman who is between jobs. He brings a servoskull that can scout ahead as the crew traverse the underhive.

Corvin Akenz and his servoskull

Corvin joins the depleted crew of the Innominate

It is lucky he did- the crew is being stalked by the Iron Hounds, a gang which Gallius has fought before. Today, the Iron Hounds are back in force and are narked up on 'Slaught, a combat drug.

The 'Slaught-fuelled Iron Hounds

Forewarned, Gallius spreads his crew out to catch the 

doped-up gangers in a deadly crossfire.

Venda, Chugger and Lady Heldycryn cover the centre

"Get in cover- here they come!"

The Iron Hounds rush toward the centre.

Chugger's opening fusillade goes wild.

A vicious firefight erupts.

Lady Heldycryn calmly shoots the Orlock leader.

Chugger blows another away- this is almost too easy.

Ambush! With a warcry, the rest of the gang bursts from cover!

Caught between two fires, Venda goes down!

"Chugger! Get out of there!"

Chugger is pinned! He throws his last grenade
but only takes down one of the 'Slaught-fuelled gangers!

A raging ganger charges the stunned ogryn and lands a hit!

Gallius and Corvin are fending off the drug-fuelled gangers
as Lady Heldycryn lines up another shot...

Blam! Her custom las rifle snipes the reckless scum.

The other gangers rush the dazed abhuman.
Chugger's armour barely saves him from a vicious blow.

With a howl, Chugger pulverises one of them.

Lady Heldycryn cooly shoots the last ganger.

"Is it always like this?" asks Corvin, as Venda's wounds are dressed. He didn't land a single shot during the desperate firefight.  Gallius doesn't answer as he views the busy sickbay. At least the Iron Hounds have been decisively removed from his list of enemies.

Chugger was in real trouble! I randomly rolled a surprise ambush, and they kept hammering him with shots so he couldn't both move and fire. The drugged-up gangers actually had an advantage over Chugger in melee, and only his phenomenal grit and armour kept him alive. It only takes one bad roll to take him down...

Corvin Akenz after his baptism of fire.

Corvin Akenz is a multipart plastic piece from GW's 'Hive Scum' box. The vibrant cloth is Army Painter 'Highlord Blue' Speedpaint. The servoskull is a 3D print from The Makers Cult. It has no tabletop presence, but I thought it would be fun to represent the 'Scanner Bot' I rolled up for Corvin.

Servoskullz

How I painted liquid hot magma

I 3D printed some vats from Stellarscapes (PLA Ender 3 0.12mm). They had a textured content, which I wanted to paint like molten metal. I thought I would paint it fiery colours on a white undercoat, then drybrush black over the top for a magma-through-the-cracks effect like my balrogs.

I started with a white Vallejo primer, then used Army Painter Speedpaints. I used the dropper bottles for a few drops of Fire Giant Orange and Blood Red onto a still wet Zealot Yellow base. The colours bled into each other in a very satisfying tie-dye fashion, and I let them dry. I was so happy with the effect I decided not to add a dark drybrush layer.

Texture is nicely visible

Zealot Yellow

Five drops of Fire Giant Orange

Two drops of Blood Red
It spreads out more and lightens as it dries

Ready for last week's battle

The texture helps the effect. You could probably get some cool effects with other colour combos- greens and blues for examples.

I had these sitting on the kitchen bench. The Skirt Swisher came past and did a double take of amazement and disappointment when she realised I had not, in fact, whipped up some crème brûlées.