Shield of Baal - Part II: Hunters in the Dark

   And now, as promised, the first battle in the Shield of Baal: Deathstorm campaign!

   After much painting and preparation, Jay Griffiths and I squared off for battle. Jay brought Blood Angel Terminator Squad Alphaeus and their fierce leader Captain Karlaen. all beautifully painted and thirsting for blood! (Click the links above to see Jay's excellent blog where he showcases these figures).

   Squaring off against him was my small Genestealer swarm, The Children of Cryptus. In this scenario the Terminators need to get their Captain off the far side of the gaming table, fighting storm bolter versus rending claws against an endless horde of Genestealers, (...endless, but never more than eight at a time).

   The terrain is meant to simulate an underground complex on the planet of Phodia, which has been overrun by Hive Fleet Leviathan. The Blood Angels have been sent in to locate the planetary governor, or failing that a member of his family, or at the very least a sample of his blood. In the governor's bloodline the Blood Angels hope to find a cure for their genetic curse... of Space Vampirism! 

The game table for Mission 1.

 

An awfully long way to march on foot!

 

   Jay set his marines up in close order, and seized the initiative from the lurking xenos, as is right and just for the servants of The Emperor.

The armour of their faith protects them!

 
   The marines advanced quickly, heedless of the unclean alien. In this mission both players moved and took actions with their models as individuals, rather than squads. In a sense it was a 40K version of Space Hulk, on a very very big board.

Claws in the dark!

   The Terminators pushed hard past the initial wave of bugs, but to simulate the unending tide of the Hive Mind every dead Genestealer returned to the game as Ongoing Reserves in the next turn.

 

Pushing on toward the middle of the table.

 

   My strategy was a simple one... pile on the hurt! Each returning Genestealer had a chance to Deep Strike onto the table, or come on from one of the two short edges. I positioned every Deep Striker directly in the middle of the marines. My hope was to overwhelm them with targets. A model that Deep Strikes can't charge in the turn that it lands, so every one of my bugs had to survive a hail of fire before it could strike.

   Through a combination of luck and perseverance my green monsters managed to swarm Captain Karlean. In spite of his strength of will, not to mention a big-assed Thunder Hammer, the Genestealers pulled him down. 

  

The Captain goes down swinging!

 
   This was a fatal stroke for Jay, as this meant he could not win the mission. Embracing his hate, Jay refused to surrender, and Squad Alphaeus pressed on. I threw wave after wave of bugs at him, and in the process learned just how deadly flame weapons were on Overwatch. Ouch!

Charging the flamer marine from three sides at once!

   Fire and bolter cleared the way, and the marines marched to the centre of the board. At this point my clever idea of painting my Genestealers in colours that matched the table backfired. For three turns I completely forgot one of my models, who I had placed on the balcony of a building.

Spot the missing Genestealer?!

   As relentless as their advance was, the tide of xenos was even more so. One by one the members of Squad Alphaeus went down, until only the flamer marine survived. In the end he, too, succumbed to claw and fang.

Going out in a blaze of glory!

   And so our first game of Shield of Baal came to a bloody end. This was a great scenario for getting my feet wet in the new edition of 40K. The workbench has been humming along, and my Tyranid Warriors and Carnifex(!) stand ready for the second mission -- Storm of Blood!

More soon! And, as always, thanks so much for visiting my little corner of the web.
-Andrew