Battle 4: The Hit
This is the campaign finale, the last chance for the Escher gang known as 'The Spyders' to win back control of the town Rad Peaks from the Redemptionists lead by Elijah Flames.
As Elijah Flames prepares to give his first sermon to the populace of Rad Peaks, the Spyders attempt to assassinate the preacher. It's all or nothing!
Elijah Flames preaches to the townsfolk of Rad Peaks from his pulpit
For the campaign finale we chose the outlander mission 'The Hit'. It fits the story perfectly as it represents Toxic's last ditch assassination attempt on Elijah Flames. Using an Outlander scenario shows the desperate measures they are now employing.
The scenario is simple. Take the enemy leader out of action to win the game (and of course if he rolls dead or captured, it's a campaign victory for the Eschers too... that's the best odds we have now!)
We set up the terrain to represent a large pulpit in the centre from which Elijah Flames is about to deliver his sermon preaching of a new era to the townsfolk. Of course Toxic is hoping to interrupt that with a bullet to the preacher's head.
Deployment
The defenders are split up into 4 groups, the first consisting of Elijah Flames and his bodyguard Luther Purge are set up on the pulpit in the centre.
Now the Eschers get to see how many of their gang is available: I roll a 7! (All of them).
I set up the Heavy, Switch on the tower to the north with a clear view of the pulpit. Plug is deployed close by on ground level. Nearby in the ruins I set up the rest of the gang, with Switch and Raina being placed on overwatch (a special rule for the scenario).
The rest of the Redemptionists are now rolled for: my brother rolls two 6's in a row meaning another 5 are set up around the priest. The last group (Brother Ash and Brother Combustus) are set up as snipers on the high buildings.
Those were quite jammy rolls by my brother. That extra ring of bodyguards around Elijah Flames will make him tough to get to, (we are staunch players of 90* fire arcs and closest target rules).
We roll for first turn and the Redemptionists win.
Switch ready to blast the Redemptionist congregation with her Heavy Plasma gun
Toxic and her Spyders are ready to ambush. Death or glory!
Two Redemptionist snipers watch over the town, looking for any sign of trouble
Raina ready to take a crack shot at Elijah Flames
Turn 1
The game begins with me declaring my Overwatch shots. Raina misses but Switch hits true with her Heavy Plasma gun blowing up the novice Bunsen Burn with a giant explosion of plasma.
Hearing the sound of gunfire the Redemptionists scramble to retaliate
The whole of Rad Peaks goes wild with the sudden arrival of gunfire. Elijah Flames is ushered off the pulpit, flanked on either sides by his bodyguards. Johnny Rage and the Deacon charge down the gangway towards the heavy up in the tower. Johnny Rage has learned the "Disarm" skill and my brother is determined to use it on my Heavy Plasma gun (as that's what brothers are for!). Toxic puts a stop to this with a full power plasma pistol shot from her vantage point in the ruins as the novice runs past. The shot takes him down. Seconds later Switch fires her second blast of heavy plasma this time taking the Deacon, Luther Purge, down.
Elijah Flames is ushered to safety as shots fire in all directions
Raina shoots the last Redemptionist up on the pulpit and gangway, Brother Torch. The shot fails to wound but he falls off the edge and gets a flesh wound. With destruction wrought in the centre of the board things are going very well for me so far!
The two Redemptionist snipers dash across the high buildings to get a better vantage spot while the Zealot runs towards the Escher in the ruins somehow avoiding autopistol fire from my juves.
The first casualty of the game is Bunsen Burn who drifts out of action with severe plasma burns!
An overview after the first turn
Turn 2
Near the ruins the Zealot, Ol' Jebodiah, gives a frenzied howl and charges Flick. Chopping wildly with his massive axe and taking her out of action.
Elijah Flames continues to flee from the battle with his escorts, while up on the gangway Luther Purge recovers to a flesh wound.
Switch shoots him again. The plasma blast takes him down once more, but that's the last shot she'll be able to make as it runs out of juice.
From the ruins Toxic and Tint charge the Zealot, Ol' Jebodiah, but neither manage to wound him. Nyro and Raina provide covering fire whilst on the flank Plug moves out to ambush the novice Ducius who is running down one of the far walkways towards the tower Switch is in.
Close quarter combat in the ruins
Turn 3
Ducius decides to take a short cut, a leap of faith from the walkway to the bottom of the tower. The 5 rolled takes him over, on the otherside he draws his autopistol and blasts Switch off her ledge on the tower. She plummets to the ground and goes down. Plug climbs up onto the walkway to seek revenge but the shotgun shell fires wild.
Ducius's "leap of faith"
The two snipers on top open fire onto the Escher in the ruins. Brother Ash hits Nyro and takes her down. Brother Combustus decides to shoot into the swirling melee but hits his fellow Redemptionist, the Zealot, taking him out of action.
Despite the pleas of his followers, Elijah Flames turns and advances straight towards Toxic. His bodyguard Invictus is gunned down straight away by Tint. Elijah Flames has his nerve tested and he would have failed if not for the "hatred" he felt towards the Escher, (a Redemptionist special rule), as a 10 was rolled!
The first chance for me to win the game is here as with cinematical awesomeness Toxic raises her Plasma Pistol and fires full power at the priest. In typical Necromundian fashion the scene doesn't end cinematically at all as the shot whizzes past.
Toxic gets a chance to take out Elijah Flames but misses
Up on the walkway the Deacon recovers to a flesh wound again (this guy can really take a beating!)
Turn 4
Over on the far flank Ducius squares up against Plug and shoots her down. The only Escher standing now are in the ruins, Tint, Toxic and Raina but with Elijah Flames right in the thick of it there is a chance for the Spyders still.
Elijah Flames is desperate to close in on Toxic himself and snaps at his men to take out the intervening juve, Tint. Both Brother Ash from up top and Brother Torch from below rain fire at the juve but only manage to pin her in place. In fury Elijah Flames levels his Meltagun at the juve and blasts her at close range taking her down.
Toxic loses her nerve and stumbles back across the ruins (rolling snake eyes on her flee roll). Leadership falls to Raina who coolly passes the bottle test. I have another chance to take a shot upon the priest. Raina raises her Autogun and hits! Sadly the shot fails to wound, but pins Elijah Flames in place.
Raina hits Elijah Flames and pins him in place as Redemptionists close in all around
Spurred on by this Toxic recovers her nerve from behind the ruins.
Turn 5
The Redemptionists rush the two remaining Escher. Shots are fired at Raina from all directions but with a stroke of luck (and thanks to her "evade" skill) she dodges them all.
Toxic moves out next to Raina and together they make their last stand. To take another shot at Elijah Flames I need to take out the Deacon first who is now the closest target. Raina hits the Deacon but only pins him! Toxic is forced to shoot in that direction too but misses.
Turn 6
The final turn of the game was quick and brutal.
One of the snipers, Brother Combustus hits Raina and takes her out of action immediately (with me shouting "NOOOOOOOO!" in the background).
Elijah Flames steps forward and guns down Toxic with his Meltagun (no doubt screaming "RAD PEAKS IS MINE!" at the same time).
With Toxic lying crippled on the dome floor every other Redemptionist takes a shot at her and she is wounded several more times.
Toxic and Raina battle on till the bitter end before being gunned down from all directions
Thus ends the game and the campaign!
Aftermath
I have to say that was the most exciting game of Necromunda I have ever played and truly a fitting ending for our mini-campaign. There were lots of twists and turns and despite the odds I thought I had a good chance to win but in the end the Escher were gunned down to the last.
With this victory Elijah Flames takes control of the settlement 'Rad Peaks' and the Spyders are kicked out into the wastes. To represent this I applied some modified 'outlaw' rules to the Spyders. They get kicked out all their territories but one, and have an 'outlaw price' to pay to restore their status. But as they are not real outlaws (Redemptionists are considered dangerous criminals after all) I decided no bounty could be collected on them and that their outlaw price would not raise after each battle (unless of course they really do find themselves on the wrong side of the law in future). As such the outlaw price represents the funds they would need to get set up again, as they have lost all their territories, contacts and their home.
We had a big long list of injuries to roll for after this game:
Redemptionists
Brother Inviticus -
Blinded in one eye
Ol' Jebodiah -
Horrible Scars (amusingly caused by Brother Combustus)
Bunsen Burn -
Captured
Just to continue my brother's string of luck I sell Bunsen Burn to the guilder courts for bounty and he manages to roll a 6 meaning the Juve escapes and comes back to the gang!
Escher
Tint -
Arm Wound
Flick -
Arm Wound
Nyro -
Chest Wound (she's now on T1!)
and my favourite ganger, Raina...
snake eyes...
dead!
Gang Ratings
Redemptionists 1485 vs Escher 1087
Gang Rosters
Epilogue
We really enjoyed this campaign (probably the most fun with Necromunda I have ever had). Adding the narrative over the top really helped bring the games to life, and of course Necromunda creates its own characters. Elijah Flames became more and more nasty as the games progressed and for the Eschers, Raina came to light as the backbone of the gang. We were both really sad when she died, but I wonder how Toxic will take it? Perhaps she will become hellbent on revenge or resolve to be a better leader... we'll have to play more games to find out!
Mistakes
We played a few rules wrongly. I was sure that guns with multiple damage only mattered with multiple wound targets, but I now see they get to roll as many dice to wound as their 'damage' characteristic and how many times they wound on the down/OOA chart too. Same goes for hand-to-hand, I thought the down/OOA chart could only be rolled for once. We will make the amendments in our future games.
(I imagine most people house rule that wounding 5 times in a single round of hand-to-hand only nets you +5 experience points though, right?)
What's Next?
Ideas are swimming in my head of a "Necromunda Apocolypse" battle. 2000-3000 guilder credits each for us to build massive Redemptionist and Escher gangs and have an epic battle (maybe with vehicles too??).
But for the immediate future my Spyders need to lick their wounds and rebuild some territories. I have plans for another gang, hired guns and introducing a new player to the fold. With
AoS coming Chapter 2 might have a little delay but it is certainly in the works!
Once again, thank you for reading. I hope you have enjoyed the first chapter of my Necromunda Blog, The Good, The Bad and the Deviant Scum.
- bottle
Automatically Appended Next Post:
Paradigm wrote:Awesome report once again. There's something about how short and brutal these matches are that makes for great reading, especially with the nice minis and terrain!
Thanks! I think the games are all the more brutal on account of my terrible tactics! haha
Archer wrote:Love the fight. Was really hoping that the Juve got an unlikely win over Elijah. If it weren't for the narrative of the battles I don't think the Spyders have much of a future with the kicking that they have taken.
Ah well, with reinforcements arriving let's hope they stand a chance for the showdown.
I am playing some games where a guy has about 5 Gang members with T4 and W2. They are absolutely frightening to stop.
Yeah my Escher took such a beating game after game I feel quite sorry for them! Will I ever win a game? who knows :-P
youidiotkid wrote:Awesome report, once again. I love the vibrant colors and fast pace.
Thanks! I'm trying to conjure up fond memories of classic
WD battle reports with these.
squall018 wrote:Just found your blog. First things first. BEAUTIFUL minis. Really loving the old school redemptionists.
I also like your idea of a short, story driven campaign. Can't wait to see how it ends!
Thanks! I hope you liked the ending too :-D adding the narrative really elevated the fun for us!
Wehrkind wrote:Great to see a Necromunda campaign written out like this! Sorry to see the girls taking such a beating, but I am excited to see how it works out!
Thanks for the kind words :-)
Mad Sergeant wrote:Just Great! Had to start build my own Necromunda gang... A new gang..
I don't know enough words to describe this blog! Love it! Awesome! Amazing!
Wish I could play on that board!
No way! Your table is nicer than mine :-D I would love to have a game, my Eschers taking on your Orlocks!
