Rules
Horror Scenario: Lurking Terror
Battle Report 1: Veteran squad verse Lurking Terror
For this report I made my group based on veterans with the forward sentries upgrade. My model count was 13 rather than 10 (Ox would counts as a whole weapon team) so I placed my base cost at 130 points. I then outfitted the group with equipment. When assigning wargear I used the price when listed for other items like Marbo’s poison blade I guessed the price. The team seemed a bit understrength at 221 points, so I grouped them with a Deathwatch Veteran using Sternguard rules. The game uses the suggested creature as the lurker.
Deployment: Ox, Rocket girl and Fingers, and Scope where made stationary with Rocket girl and Fingers taking position in the tower. I formed the following scout groups Animal and Warrior Woman, Grease Monkey and Demolition Man, Brains, Shiv, and Hero, and Schaeffer with the Deathwatch Marine. The creature placed its at the corner of a table edge electing not to deepstrike and risk detection, (A mishap creates a Point of Interest). Remember I am playing the Last Chancers as a veteran squad – I just like the narrative that is created by using their names.
Patrolling 1:1: Creature moves toward the table’s midline leaving the concealing trees while the Chancers begin scourging the terrain.
Patrolling 1:2: Units continue their scouting.
Patrolling 1:3: Creature ducks back into woods begins stalking Warrior Woman and Animal group who are wandering closer to the predator.
Patrolling 1:4: Warrior woman and Animal continue in their search and approach an opening in a rock wall. The creature darts out and prepares its attack. An eight-inch distance separates the creature from the group – the monster is hovering just outside the two imperials perception.
Patrolling 1:5 (Creature): Creature advances and detects the two veterans and is off patrol. It leaps at the two remaining utterly silently until the last moment of its pounce, the creature favored Animal over Warrior Woman recognizing the threat of his melta. The man brought up his weapon and managed send a glancing beam across the creature’s side before it was upon him (creature was wounded by Animal’s melta). There was a struggle between the two combatants Warrior Woman placed an ineffective laser shot at the creature while her companion struggled for his life. Right when it looked almost hopeful for Animal’s survival a stray talon punctured his side. The organic blade retracted, eviscerating the poor man (Animal suffered 2 wounds one in which he saved, one he didn’t). The sight of her friend’s demises was too much for Warrior Woman who fled from the creature.
Patrolling 1:5 (Protagonist): The sentries hear the shots fired and the three scout groups pursue towards the noise (A point of interest on a 4+ was created due to the noise). Warrior Woman stops and looks around in her panic and rationalizes that she is safer with her cool intact and goes back to being on patrol.
(Both sides are off patrol) Turn 1 – Sergeant and the Marine detect the creature. Schaeffer screams out the creature’s location and several groups leap into action but are unable to get a bead on the creature (Reaction roll was a on a 2D6 was 6. With their twelve-inch reaction range the squad could see the detecting group but not the creature) The Marine uses Vengeance rounds and blows a noticeable hole in the creatures abdomen. Sergeant chokes and only manages to scold the air around the creature’s head with his plasma pistol. Creature flees from the protagonist regretfully abandoning his kill.
Turn 2 Creature ducks behind the woods bleeding from its injuries. The reaction distance roll was not adequate to maintaining the creature’s exact location and the squad loses sight of the monster. Creature decides to sneak back into the terrain in the hopes of looping away from its pursuers. The squad members investigate the last know location of the creature (Creature Evaded and an Auto Succeed Point of Interest was placed at its last known location). The sergeant pauses for a moment and looks back at Animal’s Remains – He is unsure about whether to destroy the body to prevent the creature from feeding off his man, or to continue his hunt? He decides to continue pursue the monster responsible for the corpse leaving the body behind.
On Patrol 2:1: Creature loops around the woods and heads for the stationary units. Warrior Woman reaches the Point of Interest and all investigating units go back to normal patrol movement. The group with Demolition man and Grease monkey destroy Animal’s body depriving the lurker its meal.
Patrol 2:2: Creature enters a patch of woodland and continues its creep towards the stationary units. Shiv imagines that he hears a noise and breaks off from his group to search out a new location leading him off the creatures trail.
Patrol 2:3: creature leaves the trees and turns it attention to Ox. The big man looks like he would be a mighty fine meal to the wounded beast. The space marine breaks from the sergeant seeing a shift in shadows by the fort.
Off Patrol Creature: Creature detects Ox and pounces on the big man. The fight was quick and messy with Ox suffering 3 hits from the creature’s talons. Only the group of Demolition Man and Grease Monkey hear the big man’s dying gasps, and move to investigate.
On Patrol 2:4: The creature feeds on Ox’s body taking two wounds worth of food (Ox counted as a whole weapons team) While the monster feeds, the investigating scout group nears.
Off Patrol Creature: Creature scales tower and emerges behind Rocket Girl and Fingers. With a sudden pounce the creature strikes out with jaws fully dislodged, Fingers attempts to throw himself in front of Rocket girl but it is a futile gesture as the monster simply swallows both of them in a single bite. The investigating group move away from the tower traveling to Ox’s last know location unintentionally turning their back on the creature who just feasted heavily on their friends. All they find are a gore-splattered location.
Creature Disappears - The monster slinks off and leaves the squad to regroup and attempt to regenerate from its wounds, with the four wounds it digested, the creature regained its 2 lost wounds. The defender lost Animal, Ox, Rocket Girl and Fingers to the creature so far.
Setup: Scope was placed on the tower, with all the groups the same with Warrior Woman joining Grease Monkey and Demolition Man. Creature comes in from table edge shielded behind an outcrop of trees.
Patrol: Creature attempts to approach protagonist using the woods for cover. Squad continues to hunt for the creature. Schaffer moves away from the marine to examine the wreckage of a space vessel.
Patrol: Creature leaves woods, Warrior Woman, Grease Monkey, and Demolition Man detect the creature and Demolition Man throws his Demo-charge at the monster. The creature is wounded and pinned by the blast (error on my part, I though demo-charges were pinning). Grease Monkey and Warrior woman pour their fire into the creature but fail to wound. Many groups can detect the the spotting group but none has sight of the creature – they advance to attack the monster.
Off Patrol Turn 3: Creature is pinned, protagonist moves in to corner beast. Scope takes a shot but the creature’s hide deflects it. Sergeant fires at the lurker but his shot is blocked by wreckage. Warrior Woman, Demolition Man, and Grease Monkey attack the creature with the attempt to hold it in place until help arrives. Creature lashes out with its claws but finds them deflected by the squads’ armor, the Warrior Woman manages to put her knife between the monsters ribs (wounded the creature) and caused the beast to break and flee from the group.
Turn 4: Creature regroups and attempts to hide behind the woods, but it looks like the imperials have the monster boxed in. The same team moves to assault the creature again this time demolition man is cut in half – Warrior Woman and Grease Monkey flee.
Turn 5: Completely trapped the creature tries a desperate attack on the sergeant. Schaffer attacks the creature with his power weapon, but the blade was not strong enough to injure the serpent who responds by swallowing the man whole.
Turn 6: Both Warrior Woman and Grease Monkey regroup and prepare to take vengeance on the creature for slaying their commander, but their fire does not harm the lurker. The deathwatch Marine hits the creature with two burst of hellfire rounds and manages to bypass its hide on both accounts. Grease Monkey in a rather heroic/stupid gesture leaps at the creature bellowing a battle cry – the creature plucked him out of the air and swallowed him in mid-flight with only a few futile kicks to its epiglottis on the way down in retaliation.
The creature charges the deathwatch marine recognizing him to the most threatening enemy on the field. The marine fire off an ineffectual Vengeance round before getting reacquainted with the sergeant. The models within 6 inches of the marine pass their leadership test despite his ignoble death and prepare to finish off the lonesome beast.
Turn 7: Warrior Woman is reinforced with the arrival of Shiv, Hero, and Brains. The four hose the creature with fire but fail to inflict any significant damage. Scope, perched in his tower, grateful for a clear shot puts a round through the creature’s mouth and out the back of its head. The monster falls to the ground with Shiv pouncing on it and stabbing once through the neck with his poisonous blade to ensure the monster is truly dispatched. (I played out the combat just for fun of it).
Conclusion:
Shiv, Animal, Brains, Hero, Warrior Woman and Scope are the only survivors out of the thirteen strong force.
The game can play very quickly depending the size of the table and the point value of the forces involved. The game took me an hour and a half but that was with the interruption of documentation. I know rules can sound intimating, but once you get them down of the game moves with fluidity. I wanted to play a fairly straightforward game without any of the Extras or Special Missions this game was played to get the basics down.
I wrote the battle report as a narrative because that is how I want the game to play out – like a cliché monster movie. I am planning on playing another mission this time with the 3rd edition rules for the Last Chancers as I originally designed the game for. I will also try to play a game in which 3 small squads of zombies as the creature, and I planning on picking up the Marbo model so I can reenact Rambo: First Blood with conscripts as the protagonist.
Major Error on Protagonist Part: Placed stationary models too far apart from each other. This allowed creature to have a buffet. I should have placed the models within 6 inches of each other so they could respond when on of them is attacked. Or have a bodyguard/sacrificial unit(s) standing in front of them. They way they were setup and with all the sentries investigating the woods in the opposite corner of the table Ox and Rocket Girl where practically offered to the monster.