The Stormraven’s descent had been astonishingly quick. As a Reiver of the 4th ‘Knights of Baal’ Company, Fulgur was used to rapid drops, but this was quite extreme. Flak boomed all around as the one-minute warning came from Raphan. They were being ground deployed with Intercessors from their Company and some of these Brothers looked a little uneasy, unused to the severe grav forces of a banking and weaving Stormraven. Still, he had to admit, the manoeuvring was a little extreme.
They were here on a prisoner snatch mission, ordered to get in and out quickly and to retrieve some suitable interrogation subjects. Some of these Xenos had indoctrinated human traitors into their ways over the last 20 years since this planet, whatever it was called – he only knew it as Alpha.220, had fallen to the alien.
The Intercessors were to provide a base of fire while he and Ajir, a Reiver Sergeant, infiltrated the enemy line to grab a prisoner. “10 seconds”, voxed Raphan as he signalled the team to stand. The Stormraven decelerated quickly and banked hard, the side doors sliding open at the same time. In moments they were all out of the flyer and it was away. “Hostiles at axis-45 one hundred metres. Fulgur, Ajir – go. Remainder – form up on me and saturate the target area with fire”, barked Raphan.
Fulgur was already moving left, while Ajir went right. In seconds they were amongst the enemy, energy blasts exploding around them as they sprinted, grapnel launcher in hand to propel them over any obstacle. The reassuring thuds from mass reactive rounds responded to the enemy fire. Fulgur ran, occasionally glancing at his auspex to guide himself into the enemy. He caught several enemy by surprise, dodging and smashing past them – taking whatever option was faster. “Target acqui…”, called Ajir, his vox suddenly becoming static hiss. Fulgur kept moving, steering towards the point Ajir had marked on the auspex.
He crashed through the window of a destroyed Imperium administratum building. The preliminary bombardment had instantly turned this restored sector of the city into a warzone. A shocked looking human in Xenos armour, backed away from him while Fulgur swung his combat blade at hovering mechanical discs that moved in to shield the target. He obliterated them, but it gave the traitor time to flee. “We’re under heavy fire and will need to pull back”, voxed Raphan. Ignoring the vox, Fulgur kept his eyes on the target and pursued, trying to suppress the rage forming in his chest. Rage at what the Xenos had done to this planet. Rage at this traitor. He shoulder barged two enemy that attempted to intercede and dove at the human, bringing him violently to the ground. The bearded human was unconscious. Fulgur shot the grounded enemies, threw the human over his shoulder and started back towards the team.
The enemy fire had diminished under the assault, but so too had that of his Blood Angel brothers. If the pursuit had been a reckless thrust, then the return was a exercise in stealth. He dodged from corner to corner, pistol in hand and the traitor hanging limply over his shoulder. Fulgur arrived back to the team as they were gathering their wounded and the distant drone of their means of extraction came closer. “Any sign of Ajir?”, he called to Raphan, who was tending to a fallen Intercessor. “No, nothing since just before the extraction call,” Raphan shouted not looking up. “His suit is no longer sending a signal”, the last part was drowned out by the returning Stormraven. They had been on the ground for less than five minutes, yet even this short encounter had proven costly. The rage in Fulgur’s chest turned to sorrow for his fallen brothers. He hoped this prisoner was worth it.
That more-or-less sums up the game (mission: Assassinate) Colin and I played last week. The T’au shooting was really impressive. I lost two marines in the first turn. I was playing recklessly – trying to get to the enemy leader (Ni’loc from previous battle reports), but it meant my guys were falling fast. Fulgur was relentless. He made insane advance moves and charges to get deep into the enemy line. Thankfully the game went to a sixth turn, as I needed it to take Ni’loc down. Fulgur was the sole survivor from my Kill Team! We also played a Take Prisoners game, but it was a stale mate. I got into his lines, but I wasn’t able to get an isolated kill to pick up any VPs.
Two good games that set the scene for a campaign. The Blood Angels have come to the world the T’au know as Ur’veil and they want to restore its name and restore it to the Imperium.
Until next time,
Owen