At this stage of the campaign it is needed to look upon a seemingly small skirmish, yet one that held itself of utmost importance in the scope of the battle. Indeed, it was here where many major players took the field and a rather important moment happened in the course of the conflict.

As with so many such momentous moments in the campaign, the doughty efforts of Captain Harry ‘Flash’ Paget were, as usual, in full display. Indeed, there was little question that with a field operation of such import that only the most trusted and able agents would be sent. The records of this encounter may be found in full within the text of another of the participants, one known, I am certain, to our readers as the famed ‘Lady of Iron’ General Eppledorfer, who at this stage in her career was a simple Lieutenant Adjutant. Her career would often cross paths with that of then Captain Paget, and their reputations seemed to build off each other, as the saying goes, steel sharpens steel.

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Excerpted from ‘Foehammer of the Faithless: The Life and Times of The Iron Lady, General Linda Eppledorfer

Harry Paget was exactly as you would expect him to be. He wore finely worked armor of utmost quality, but you could see the small scrapes, nicks, and dents upon it even through the heavy polish. It was the armor of a warrior, a warrior too often at the front to be allowed a simple parade uniform to clutter his closet. I would take this lesson to heart in my later years, never bothering with too much pomp and circumstance, the armor of the battlefield is the ultimate in fashion, and if some uppity Hive Lord wants you to wear silk underwear then he better get his thoughts straight quick about his priorities.

But, Harry Paget, he was a big, bluff, broad shouldered fellow. With fine black whiskers and a charming smile if slightly haunted eyes. How I wish I could have found out whatever lurked there so that I could have offered him some comfort, but I suspect old wounds like his never fully heal. He’d seen much in his career at that point, and there I was fresh out of the Scholia and assigned as aide-de-camp to him. I’m still not sure what he saw in me, pride prays that he saw a future greatness in me, but I suppose the reality was that he had just considered my files and had decided he wanted someone with him on this mission who had grown up on Pingtass and knew the Hive.

Our job was to travel down to a lower level of the Hive with some Inquisition agents and arrange a strategic meeting with a xenos witch who claimed to have information about the enemy dispositions and logistics. Our mission was simple enough at the face value. But, as Harry often said, ‘no mission is ever simple, someone will always frak it up for you, be it the enemy or your allies.’

He was, as usual, proven right in this matter. In our case, both points…

Necromunda Mission.
4 ‘gangs’ in play.
The 3 smaller sized yet more elite gangs are allied versus the single largest gang.
The mission is to escort the Farseer model from one side of the board to the exit point.
The Chaos team wins if the Farseer is taken out.

Special Rules
I didn’t tell the other players (my niece and nephews…well, officially cousins, I suppose, but there’s enough of an age difference that I’m ‘Uncle’ Thor in any case) but the results of the game hinge on more than just getting the Farseer off;

If the Farseer model exits the board the storyline will be affected by whichever model is closest from her escorts;
IG – Flash will arrange a meeting in good faith, the Eldar will ally with the humans and traps will be laid for the forces of Chaos and Eldar will actively support the war effort.
Inquisition – The Inquisition will “question” the xenos in the way they know best, the Dark Eldar will take some exception to this.
Eldar – Diyneer’s plans come about due to her own actions, as such she’ll go through with her plan to use the mon’keigh as patsies for the most part.
Slaanesh – needless to say, if the Farseer is downed than Chaos gets a leg up, they’ll use the Farseer to influence the Dark Eldar to attack the humans and also will get a leg up in the quest for the Elendil Thrakul…also, fluffwise, Diyneer and her recaff might be…*gasp* gone!

Let’s see which happens

The Inquisition

Inquisitor Luthor Dominatus – Wielding a power sword and Incinerator and covered in carapace armor, Luthor is one of the single most heavily armed agents on the field. He is on this mission as a favor to Inquisitor Delenthos, it is his job to keep the Farseer safe and, if at all possible, arrange for her to come see his master as opposed to the fools at the Imperial Guard command station.


Nero Jaxx – duel wielding a pair of needle pistols, Nero also has a special bodyguard rule, wherein if he is within 6” of Ekatarina when she is wounded he may redirect the wound to himself. Nero is a loyal Inquisitorial henchman, who is tasked with protecting Ekatarina in the field to allow her to use her potent psychic powers without interruption. He grew up a ganger in the depths of a Hive, but chooses to present himself as noble born.


Ekatarina Marbray, of the House of Marbray – Psyker (Telepathy discipline – basically with an amped up version of Pupper Master for this game). She has no armor or weapons other than her mind which gives her mind control, and an inherent 6+ save versus any effect representing her ability to predict it and step out of the way. A noblewoman who is tortured by the power and danger of her own mind, she serves the Inquisition in the hope that they can help her control the powers within her skull.

The Imperial Guard


Captain harry ‘Flash’ Paget – Carapace armor, chainsword, laspistol. Also, Harry has a special rule ‘Cowardly’ allowing him to redirect any successful hits on himself to any ally within 6” representing his creative use of “cover”. Despite this, Harry does still have an excellent leadership value due to how he inspires his troops, so those knowing the ‘munda rules will recognize how workable this is As far as bio goes…well, Harry is the Hero of the Imperium, don’t’cha’know?


Lieutenant Linda Eppledorfer – Flak armor, frag grenades, and an autopistol. Her personality has been somewhat shaped by this very battle report, but she’s basically a fiery true believer in the Emperor and is without fear, basically everything Harry isn’t.


Benny – Captain Paget’s loyal Ratling sniper, Benny has his sniper rifle and more underhanded know-how than most Imperial regiments combined. He is calm under fire, loves a good scrap and a good brew, and is loyal to a fault.

The Eldar

Farseer Diyneer - Singing Spear, Shuriken Pistol, Ghost Helm, Rune Armor, she is also a psyker. Arguably the most powerful model on the allied side, the catch is if she goes down then the game is over – so there’s going to be a fine art to using her correctly.


Lothfalas – shuriken pistol, power sword. One of Diyneer’s two Dire Avenger bodyguards, Lothfalas is the calm and focused one of the pair, highly trusting in Diyneer and unworried by the path he walks.


Gilgard – Shuriken Cannon. Gilgard is a Dire Avenger bodyguard to Diyneer. He doesn’t trust the Dark Eldar nor the mon’keigh and thinks she is making many mistakes in allying with both. Despite this, he is loyal, and will gladly die if needed to protect her.

The meeting will happen at the sump at the bottom right corner of the picture – the exit is behind the three story tower.


Hard to see, but if you look under the orange bridge and then down to ground level and all the way back, you’ll see the exit. So near, yet so very, very far…


In the depths of the underhive of Pingtass Prime – a portal opens.


“We will give you three on the mon’keigh’s solar cycles. No more, and no less.” Brizelya spoke sternly, her voice barely held back from a snarling yell that Diyneer had learned was her usual speaking voice. “After that time the portal will reopen. If you are not here…”

“Then we will probably be dead,” muttered Gilgard under his breath, Lothfalas shushing his brother.

“If you still live we will come find you,” finished Brizelya, a ferocious smile appearing on her face, “and we will cut apart your so-planned allies by the hundreds of thousands to do it.”

“It is unwise to injure the mon’keigh at this juncture,” warned Diyneer, “we need them.”

“Then you had best make sure they know that,” laughed Brizelya as she retreated back into the portal. “Three of their solar cycles.”

“Greetings Farseer Diyneer.” Captain Paget dipped a bow to the enigmatic Eldar as he and his fellow escorts approached. “As lovely as this location is, I think it best we retire to the Upper Hive, I promise that I have arranged a fresh pot of my personal recaff brew for you.”

“That would be most appreciated,” Diyneer nodded her head in thanks.


That was when a fresh squad of Imperial PDF troopers appeared.


“You were only supposed to have six agents here,” snarled Gilgard as he raised his weapon.
“They are not ours,” countered Inquisitor Luthor, “Captain Paget, explain!”
“Don’t look at me, who in their right mind uses PDF for anything?”


“Boss!” Benny pointed behind Paget, “there’s more of ‘em!”
“NYX, NYX, NYX!” The PDF troopers let out a warcry, claiming their allegiance to the fiendish pleasure cults that had been plaguing the system.
“Oh, fething hell,” sighed Paget as he grabbed for his laspistol and chainsword, “only six of us? Where’s a regiment when you need one?”


“Get the Farseer to safety, I’ll cover you, FOR THE EMPEROR!” Lieutenant Eppledorfer sprang forward, her autopistol rattling away.

Harry sighed, the woman was certifiable. That’s what he got for picking his adjutant by selecting whatever applicant had the largest…assets for the job.


“Stick close to me, Farseer, we’ll see you through this.” Harry decided that if the foreseeing Farseer wasn’t getting out alive than no one was, and thus decided to keep close.


Inquisitor Luthor strode towards the largest squad of heretics, unleashing the Emperor’s cleansing fire he dealt a grievous blow to their numbers.


The Eldar Dire Avengers and other Inquisitorial agents prepared themselves to face any other threats.


“Succumb to Nyx!” The survivors of the large squad fire their shotguns at Inquisitor Luthor, but his armor proves impervious to their efforts.


Eppledorfer seems in a bit of trouble with her headlong charge…


…but having a Farseer who twists fate on your side is pretty helpful.


“More filthy mon’keigh over here.” Gilgard lays down some suppressing fire on the advancing PDF.


Lothfalas springs forward, eager to defend the Farseer and clear the path.


“In the name of Nyx, we shall dance!”
The corrupted PDF falls back for some cover, their shotguns managing to slightly injure Lothfalas despite his armor and speed.


“I’ll stay here and help with some covering fire,” announced Benny.

“Good man, I’ll keep running…towards the objective,” agreed Paget.


Springing forward, Lothfalas covers the ground quicker than the humans can comprehend, his sword flashes in the darkness as he cuts into both of his foes.


Luthor also engages the sargent of the squad he felled, his shotgun and flak vest proving no match for Luthor’s power sword and carapace armor.


“Stay behind me, Kat,” Nero Jaxx readied his pistols as he joined up with Paget, Eppledorfer, and Diyneer, the five of them planning to be the primary thrust towards the exit.


“You can run, but you cannot hide from the Emperor’s Hatred, heretic!”


From the shadows appear more threats, cultists of the pleasure cult, all heavily armed.


This cult leader urges on her less experienced cannon fodder Juves.


Gangers take up gun positions on the catwalks.


A second leader and a second heavy stubber appear – the cult is armed for bear…but is that enough for Inquisitors?


A bird’s eye view of the assembled allies, all looking like sitting ducks.


That’s a lot of cultists…


Another firing lane is occupied.


“We’re dog meat if those heavy stubbers get set up,” moaned Paget, “what I wouldn’t give for a few grenade launchers…”
“Do not worry, we have other means.” Lady Ekatarina Mabry stepped forward, her delicate features and slight build belying the danger she presented to their foes.


Her eyes narrowed as she considered an enemy Heavy.


As if in a trance, the Heavy turned his attention to the flank, unleashing waves of firepower down on the approaching gang.


“Works for me!” Paget leads his merry band towards a nearby walkway, still preferring to be out of sight of all the heavy ordinance.


“Right, let’s sort this…” Benny lined up a shot and popped the Heavy right in the ear, halving the heavy weapon threat on the board.


Gilgard and Lothfalas advance, the quick moving Eldar able to move much faster than the humans, they intend to soften up the enemy first so that the main force can win through.


Enemy Cultists run forward, looking to get into the fight now that they don’t have a Heavy to protect.

Ambushes are laid.


Firing positions secured.


The Cultists know that quantity is a quality all its own.


The Heavy Stubber finds a target in Lothfalas.


Though Lothfalas is taken down, the Heavy Stubber jams himself up in his overeagerness.


“Fear the Faithful!” Lieutenant Eppledorfer continues her policy of ‘charge and shoot and let The Emperor sort them out’ and, amazingly, it continues to work out for her, as she engages multiple foes once more.


Another Cultist in trouble.


“Get up, Lothfalas, I’m not putting up with you trying to die to get out of this awful assignment.”
Gilgard attempts to steady his teammate.


“Oh man, that Inquisitor is actually chasing me!”


Underhive strategy 101 – walk *under* the walkways to avoid incoming fire.


Nero moves up, his skills as a Gunfighter allowing him to outperform the two gangers opposing him.


Benny gets the gang leader pinned as he pops off shots at his exposed head.


“The name’s Benny – you’ll remember it.”


“Damn you Benny! Bane of Chaos!”


Shots are fired at Eplledorfer, but she appears to be blessed by more than just an Eldar Farseer, as she proves darn near invulnerable.


The Heavy does successfully unjam his weapon – now it’s rock and roll time!


More failed shooting – though it was a long shot with an autopistol, so…meh.


Lady Ekatarina probably makes a troll face as she targets the Heavy Stubber.
“You can’t see much,” I note.
“Yeah, but I can make him jump, right?” counters my niece.
…well…


…yeah.
The Heavy takes a short step for a long journey, and is down and out.
I think Lady Marbray is currently holding the most successfully inflicted wounds in the game, despite not actually even having a weapon.


Inquisitor Luthor, not to be outdone, flames down a second pile of heresy. “I love the smell of burnt heretic in the morning.”


“Fire in the hole!”
Lieutenant Eppledorfer figures, hey, I got grenades, might as well use grenades!


Lothfalas springs over the barricade, cutting down another Cultist as Gilgard offers him fire support. The Eldar are back in the brawl.


“Shouldn’t we go help the others topside?”
“No, no, m’ladym your safety is of our upmost concern.”
As an interesting aside I asked one of my nephews why he was keeping Paget so close to the Farseer. His answer was ‘well, he’s a coward, and she has really good armor for his coward ability’ Which, oddly, despite not being a good move for the game mission, was rather fitting in how to play Paget.


A wailing screech of violin music and upraised singing/screaming voices heralded the arrival of more intense minions of Nyx, daemonettes and a Fiend of Slaanesh – things just got serious.


Oh, and look, some Eldar to go snack on!


Inquisitor Luthor continues his solo rampage along the northern flank.


Heck, *I’d* almost forgotten about this ambush, but now it looks like Paget’s luck has run out, as he’s wandered into the remnants of one of the gangs that the allies have forgotten about.


A heavily armed Ganger and a Juve also appear.


Eppledorfer’s luck finally fails her as she charges forward but doesn’t manage to kill her foe.


Nero and Ekatarina are still backing her up though.


Ekatarina continues her rampage, taking control of a shotgunner’s mind and having him lay out his lasrifle toting ally.
“I am glad you’re on our side,” notes Nero pointedly.


Benny moves up to help out the others.


“I’ll hold them off here, you go on ahead!”
Paget takes up a firing position, hoping the gangers will pursue the Farseer and leave him alone.


Gilgard and Lothfalas take up defensive positions, readying themselves for the daemonette’s charge.


The Fiend clambers through the ruins with ease, heading towards the two psykers, wanting to weaken them as soon as possible.


“Come, dance with us!”
The daemonettes fall just short of getting to the Eldar, though evade the overwatch fire.


The Alluress waits at the exit in all her mini-boss fury.


“Ladies, I’m sure we can work this out!” Paget’s plan’s go awry as the cultists charge him anyway.


The large Cultist attacks Eppledorfer with his chain, trying to smash her head like a melon.


“Stay out of my mind!”
A Cultists fires a solid slug down at Ekatarina, he has her dead to rights but Nero steps in, quickly spinning her aside as he takes the round meant for her.


“I’m with ya, Cap’n!”
Benny leaps into the assault with Paget.


Farseer Diyneer also steps in to help Eppledorfer, between the two of them they easily down the chain wielding ganger.


“She Who Thirsts has no place in this realm.” Lothfalas moves forward, dancing in movements of blinding speed as he duels with a daemonette. In a blink of an eye it is over, and Lothfalas has downed the fearsome she-daemon.


The other two daemonettes are…not pleased. One springs over the barricade, leaping upon Gilgard and smashing him to the ground with brutal blows of her scythe-like hands.


Lothfalas fares little better as her sister comes for him. He swears his soul in service to the Farseer as he attempts to hold off the brutal assault, but this time it is the daemonette that emerges victorious.


“Know no fear human, for the ways of the daemon are the ways of fear.”
“The Emperor protects, get out of her xenos, we’ll deal with this!”
The Fiend lurches forward, giggling merrily as it engages Eppledorfer, who blocks its path to Diyneer.


Diyneer beats a retreat towards the exit as Nero and Ekatarina move up to help fight the Fiend.
“The things I do for a pretty face,” sighs Nero as he readies the bayonets on his pistols and charges.


It involved a bit of hair pulling, biting, and low blows, but Benny and Paget emerge as the winners of their scrum.

Inquisitor Luthor appears from the shadows to engage the Alluress, the power of Imperial faith versus a dark manifestation of Chaos.


The fate of the Farseer may hang in the balance…


Eppledorfer’s luck holds out, and she and Nero defeat the Fiend.


Paget, meanwhile, goes against his better judgement as he appears to help out Ekatarina with her Daemonette problem…

However, the match is decided as Luthor fells the Alluress after only taking minor injuries. Farseer Diyneer rushes to his side, and he escorts her through the exit…to Inquisitorial care.

Pretty fun afternoon with the kids, and I hope I did them well in their desire to play with Uncle Thor’s toys. I can only offer apologies to my own Uncle, as there were some questions from the kids about getting their own models to play with. Pony up time, dad!

The sides really were not as one sided as it sort of appeared, by the gang ranking system I actually had the more powerful gang (albeit not on the table all at once) but some dice (especially from the theoretically suicidal Eppledorfer) really sang, and that did in Chaos pretty well…I’ll also admit I may have been soft playing a bit, but my pride was trying to down a few more of their models, and I just couldn’t seem to do it!

Imperium MVP
I think Ekatarina Marbray holds this one. She took out, functionally a Heavy, a Gang Leader, two Juves, and three Gangers (and also a daemonette…who she charged with the other daemonette…ouch!)…also known as “basically an entire gang”. This was really partly because she couldn’t whiff a leadership test no matter what, and also just good strategy in how she was used. I never really had a way to stop the tricky mind witch, and I paid for it.

Imperium WTF
Sadly, Paget I think. Though he was played very Paget like, he was actually one of the better equipped units on the board, and spent most of his time whiffing shots or getting tied up in a minor side combat.

Chaos MVP
Hard to say here, probably that Juve who basically couldn’t lose to Paget or maybe the ‘Nettes who took out Gilgard and Lothfalas. But, really, I never got a lot of juice going with my team, so it’s hard to say. The Juve, I guess.

Chaos WTF
My Heavies. One shot apart my own men, then was one-shotted by Benny, and the other managed to wound an Eldar, then jam his gun, and then self-suicided. Those Heavy Stubbers were my equalizers against the better armed and armored team facing me, and yet I just couldn’t get anything going with them, and I think that made a big difference in the game.

“Tell the Locust we have the Eldar witch in hand and are transferring her to his facility.” Inquisitor Luthor spoke into his comm bead as he and his retinue rode on the shuttle back to his ship.

“Is that wise, lord?” Ekatarina had been fussing over Nero’s wounded shoulder but now looked up, her wintery white hair hiding her eyes somewhat, but the concern in her voice was clear. “She came to us in good faith.”

“The only good faith a xenos knows, in the faith of the faithful as they burn them, the xenos should be thankful that my brother Inquisitor wants her alive, else I would have happily burnt her to ash then and there.”

“I suppose so, lord,” Nero glanced up, straightening his glasses as the medicae worked on binding his wound. “But, what about the Guard? They were expecting us to get the Farseer to them.”

“I wasn’t aware that any of us answered to the Imperial Guard.”

“We don’t, naturally, but…”

“Listen, both of you,” Luthor sighed, “this is a dangerous matter and it involves issues far more important than this simple system. I will agree that, in the immediate, our actions have a chance of harming the war effort and costing lives. But I have seen The Locust’s reports, and I am convinced, as is he, that what we are doing will be more likely to win us the war in the end.”

“If Luthor says it, I believe him,” offered Ekatarina, “his thoughts always sound like church bells.”

“Far be it for me to argue with that,” replied Nero, “I’m just a hired gun.”

“Good,” answered Luthor with a wry grin, “I’m of the belief we’ll still have quite a need for those skills soon enough.”

===========================

Gilgard’s eyes opened slowly and he winced, feeling his breath hissing raw and painfully across his ribs. He glanced down and noticed the gruesome wound causing the pain.

“You’re awake, good.” A large figure stood over him, backlit by the flickering luminors above it, but it was broad shouldered, tall, and clearly a woman. Gilgard blinked as he looked upon it, his vision finally adjusting enough to notice the figures standing nearby. Dark Eldar, many of them.

“Lothfalas?”

“Your battle brother lives.” Brizelya glanced at a gaunt figure standing next to her who said something softly, and gurgled with laughter. “He is in a lot of pain, but should survive…if I wish it.”

“Diyneer, the humans and Diyneer got through.”

“They did.” Brizelya leaned down, grabbing the armored collar of his battlesuit and lifting him up like a child’s plaything. “However, your foolish child of a Farseer has been captured by the humans, and taken elsewhere. My sister has made it clear it is my job to reclaim her, so you’re going to tell me everything you can about the mon’keigh that took her.”

“And then what?”

“And then?” Brizelya laughed, a throaty purring laughter. “Then, if you amuse me, I’ll allow you to live and witness us teaching the mon’keigh why they should never betray their betters. I’m going to make their entire world burn, because they need to know that one Eldar life is worth more than their entire, pathetic, race.”

“But Diyneer said-“

“DO YOU SEE HER HERE!?!” Brizelya shook him like a ragdoll, and it was all Gilgard could do to stay conscious. “SHE PLAYED HER GAME AND SHE HAS LOST, NOW IT IS MY TURN TO PLAY, NOW IT IS TIME FOR THE ELDARITH YNNEAS TO PLAY, AND WE DON’T WORRY ABOUT BREAKING A FEW TOYS!”

She flung him aside into the waiting arms of her Haemonculous surgeon as she turned back to her troops.

“Mount up! We hunt!”

The Dark Eldar cheered, and Gilgard knew that the only way this would end would be with the blood of countless humans.