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Welcome to our latest campaign, Shadow of the Hive Mind, loosely based on the Anphelion Project by Forgeworld.

Background
The Mechanicus Biologus station on the moon of Remuera Majoris IV has gone silent. An Inquisitorial taskforce, led by Inquisitor Iniquitous, is en route to investigate this troubling turn of events.
But in the void, cold alien eyes are watching and even within the taskforce itself, not all is as it seems….

Dramatis Personae


As the taskforce enters orbit around the moon of Remuera Majoris IV, surface scans show little through the roiling clouds in the sulphur rich atmosphere. No transmissions are detected from the Mechnicus facility. Taking the initiative, Gordus Maximus leads his terminators down to the main control and command base structure, as Inquisitor Iniquitous prepares a mission to reactivate the base power plant…

The battlefield

The base sits silently, seemingly devoid of life…


Sulphur clouds reduce visibility to a dim twilight on the surface (night fighting rules apply)


The Salamanders deploy, close to the base


The hab blocks and command modules are connected by a series of raised tunnels


The Sons of Gord, accompanied by Gordus Maximus, move in


It’s quiet, too quiet…


“Target reached, breaching now” The Salamanders prepare to breach the sealed base


Contact Xenos! The Sons of Gord find an open door to a hab unit – along with uninvited guests


The marines go noisy, purging the Tyranids with fire and bolter, before finishing off the survivors with power fists


The Salamanders are not so fortunate. Penned in by the buildings, they are caught in an ambush by hordes of Genestealers lurking in the tunnels and hab units


Casualties mount as a Brood Lord joins the fray


The Sons of Gord consolidate, but begin to pick up movement from all sides


It’s a Twap! Scores of Tyranids come boiling out of hab units and the surrounding jungle


The Salamanders take terrible losses as they thin out the Genestealers and battle the Brood Lord


Om nom nom – stealers everywhere


Gordus Maximus takes the fight to the Xenos – for the Emperor!


I don’t think we have enough Tyranids – send more!


Great is the slaughter of the alien as the Sons of Gord fight for survival


Terminators fall wounded all around, but still their brothers fight on


Finally, only Gordus Maximus still remains as the Hive Mind’s forces are depleted


At the last, Gordus Maximus stands wounded but victorious


Marine victory!

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Tough game – Genestealers ambushing out of cover and getting the assault made it hard for the marines. Luckily for Gordus Maximus, the hab-block his unit investigated was open (random die roll). 40 genestealers, 20 gaunts and a Brood Lord took a lot of killing, with Gordus performing a truly heroic stand (and some blazing armour save rolls) to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Gordus Maximus hauled the wounded terminator to his feet and looked around. All of his veterans were wounded – some would take weeks to be combat-ready again. It was even worse for the Salamanders - two of their Firedrakes would never rise again.

The Xenos had been waiting for them, suggesting a malign intelligence directing their actions. The marine captain had fought the Great Devourer before and had no illusions about the task they faced.

Low overhead, a flight of Valkyries headed to the next objective. Gordus activated his comm-link to the orbiting cruiser.

“The area is secured inquisitor. I hope what you have come for is worth the sacrifice made today. Advise the Cadian units that we have encountered Tyranid vanguard organisms and to be on their guard. Maximus out”

He watched the Valkyries disappear into the low clouds and hoped they would find resistance lighter at their objective.
Somewhere out in the surrounding jungle, something howled with hunger.

Next game, the Cadians land at the power genetorium and find an unpleasant surprise waiting for them….

I think this was God telling me, "Play tyranids, your friends need to add some bugs to their diet... now go forth and spend 300-400 dollars on your new army"

Great match, lovely narrative, thoroughly enjoyable

.......or did he say Chaos daemons? DANGIT!!! (I wants to start one or the other... having an incredibly hard time picking XD)

wicked awesome pix, nice too see all painted terrain/models.

Another inspiring batrep with great models and a thoughtful and interesting scenario/table set-up..

Love the story driven play; wish we saw more of this tbh...

Great start to the campaign. I loved reading the last one and I'm looking forward to more to come!

Awesome so far!

This campaign seems very promising! I may have been inspired enough to start one of my own

Fantastic pics, and what a great setup!!

great rep! very enjoyable

really nice batrep!!!
by the way, did you know that "Gordus Maximus" sounds like "extremly fat boy" (said in false latin) in spanish?

This is awesome! One of the best Batreps I've seen in months. I agree with CT. These batreps are more interesting than the Gunline, no terrain, spamfests. I can't wait for the next game.

Excellent campaigneering!
"Fully painted armies, terrain and lots of pics" = Gold

Very cool pic and report ! Keep it up . Thx for posting

I love the background and set up. Simply beautiful!

Sometimes with the trials and tribulations of real life, I'll not have a game of 40k for a while, perhaps Im tired, demotivated or just too busy.

And then I read batreps like this one and it ignites that firey passion I have for 40k again and I think "Wow, I could try a game like this!".

Absolutely stunning as usual Gordy.

Great report. I like the Space Hulk feel combined with 40K play; Night Fight, random locations for the bugs to emerge from. At first I wondered why such a huge table, but realized the bugs randomly came out in close proximity.

Thematic terrain is another great addition to the game. I read a blog article recently comparing FoW and 40K and the lack of cohesive, thematic terrain was an area they disliked about 40K. Great to see it can actually be set up this way.

Reading a campaign unfold definitely is inspiring to develope and actually build terrain for. Thanks for sharing.

So when can we expect the next set of games?

Thanks for the comments guys. We are actually up to game four next week, but I'm behind on the batreps!

I should have game two up by next week

Sweet.

Very good stuff. Thanks for posting.

Beautiful! Loved reading the report and loved looking at the images too. Both armies are painted exceptionally well.

Excellent battle report! These narrative-driven batreps are always my favorites.

Nice report and great pics! I'm curios where you got those hab block units from? Or how they were made...

yeah,
great Battle Report!
Lovely photos of lovely models.
It was a good Idea on using space hulk tiles to make the terrain of the Anphelion Project.

Panic...

What rules/system did you use for this game? I'd love to try something like it.