Returning to the Cantwara sector after a long absence

 

Returning to the Cantwara sector after a long absence.

Time has a habit of going by far quicker than one expects, I can hardly imagine that I have let this blog lay fallow for so long.  But absence they say makes the heart grow fonder and I have the urge to try and resurrect the blog.  Since my last post I have been wargaming, but like many practitioners of the hobby I have been flitting from one project to another.  I have recently turned to my pile of 15mm Sci-Fi lead, mostly from Ground Zero games, which brought me back to the Cantwara sector.  I plan to morph the blog to not only include my Rogue Trader era miniatures but also all of my Sci-Fi projects.  The narratives will be grounded in the Cantwara sector, but it will take on a less grim dark look.  I hope by opening things up to various other scales, theatres, backgrounds I can post semi-regularly.

So, what have I been working on?  After a bit of thought, and needing a change from painting 20mm Napoleonic infantry, I decided to work on some of the terrain pieces that I have.  The more terrain that I have, the more varied I can make the battlefield and with that the different types of scenarios that I can fight.  Here are the pieces that I have finished so far, the colonial settlement of Keithstown is slowly starting to come to life.

Vehicles from Ground Zero Games - 

These sculpts were a real pleasure to paint and being made of metal they have some real heft to them.

Scatter terrin - Ground Zero Games

Most of the scatter terrain came as Christmas freebies with an order.  They will either serve as terrain or objective markers. 

Mines -  Ground Zero Games (I think)

The mines will do service as terrain, objective markers, and spawn points.  I have one more to paint.  I think that I got these from GZG, but I cannot find them on the website, so I could be wrong or they may no longer be available.

Colonial settlement buildings -  Ground Zero Games

These wonderful buildings make up the colonial settlement pack from GZG, they went together really easily and the painting was a joy.  

 Ambuscade in Repair Bay Astor

Clearing the Docking Bay access port, the crew of the Belgrave dived deeper into the guts of the space hulk.  An eery silence pervaded the corridors, the only sound coming from the movements of the crew.  After what seemed like hours Shino S spotted a flickering sign indicating that they had arrived at Repair Bay Astor.

A dim light emanating from a fusion reactor lit the repair bay as the crew entered, their eyes struggling to adjust to the gloom.  Wells raised his hand signalling to the rest of the crew to be on their guard, his keen ears picking up the sound of soft padding footsteps.

The bark of Wells` autogun sounded as he located the shape of a deformed mutant trying to sneak up on Shino S.  The high-powered bullets sent the pulped mutant`s body flying, but a few stray rounds fractured the fusion reactor.  Alarms in the bay sounded as the ancient reactor suddenly went into melt down.  The sparking and spluttering from the reactor revealed the presence of three more mutants.

The filth encrusted mutants hissed as they charged towards the crew of the Belgrave.  Okunishi Blue stepped forward opening fire with his las-pistol drawing the mutants away from Shino S and DCL-74 as they tried to stabilise the reactor.

Sweat dripped from DCL-74 as he worked on overriding the safety switches of the reactor, one false move could blow himself and his crewmates to pieces.  The surgeon was so focused on the task at hand that he failed to notice the mutant as it raised its weapon to cut him down until the purple light of YT-75`s laser sword flashed out and the mutant`s head rolled onto the floor.

Okunishi Blue feinted away from the first mutant, twisting on the spot and catching the second mutant with a reverse slice.  Too late, he realised that he was wide open to the first mutant and his luck had finally run out.  A wave of heat spread towards the first mate as he waited for the killing blow that never fell.  Looking up he saw that the Bosun, Hanley had set the mutant alight with his underbarrel flamer.  Okunishi Blue nodded his head to Hanley in appreciation.

With the threat of the mutants finally dealt with the crew were able to turn their attention to the fusion reactor.  The rapidly pulsing reactor was on the brink of detonating when it was finally brought under control by Mandrake.  He was able to locate the emergency cooling valve controls and flooded the reactor with coolant.  Audible sighs of relief could be heard from the crew members as the emergency sirens cut out.  Another danger averted; they could continue with their exploration of the hulk.

Plunder at Peverell

 Plunder at Peverell

Standing outside the Docking Bay access port, YT-75 smiled to herself as she remembered the image of the space hulk appearing on the scanners.  Fresh salvage, probably enough archeotech to clear their debts and see them sitting pretty for the foreseeable future.  Best of all, the Belgrave was the first ship to come across the hulk, and they were not going to waste this opportunity.  YT-75 broke out of her moment of introspection as Shino S opened the internal bulkhead doors, releasing a cloud of hydraulic fluids.

The atmosphere of the Docking Bay access port was thick with ion and the floor crackled with sparks of electricity.  Shino S turned to the rest of the crew and said “watch where you stand, the floor is live.  I should be able to isolate the issue from one of these maintenance ports.”  The engineer set about trying to cut the power from the live conduits but in her efforts, she set off the security system.  The lights in the Docking Bay access port changed to red, and six ancient security droids appeared from lifts in the floor.

The security droids moved slowly forward on their creaking millennia old servos.  YT-75, and Wells, the Master-of-arms, opened fire with their autoguns.  The sounds of the shots  rebounded off of the walls of the chamber but the bullets could not penetrate the armour of those ancient weapons of war. 

Frustrated at their inability to move, the first mate, Okunishi Blue, and the Helmsman, Mandrake tore open other maintenance ports looking for a way to cut the power that was coursing through the floor, only for both of them to be electrocuted for their efforts.  Okunishi Blue slumped to the floor almost losing consciousness.

Whirling and clicking sounds came from the security droids as they tried to fire their malfunctioning guns.  Stepping out from their pointless cover, Wells and YT-75 unleashed a fusillade of bullets at the droids, taking two out of commission. 

On the opposite flank the second group of security bots bounded towards the waiting crew members of the Belgrave.  DCL-74, the ship`s surgeon, ignored the pain of the electricity as he moved to help Okunishi Blue. 

Shino S shouted to her crew mates “I think I`ve got it!”, and the electricity coursing through the floor ceased.  Hanley, the Bosun, let out a roar and charged towards the axe wielding droid, firing his las-gun on full auto.  The beams of light burnt holes through the chassis of the ancient robot and it collapsed, the light in its photosensors dying out.

Being free to move without fear of being electrocuted, the crew members of the Belgrave quickly dealt with the remaining security droids.  The final one`s body collapsed to the floor as a shot from Okunishi Blue`s las-pistol tore through its CPU.

Looking at the display terminal that Shino S had managed to bring back to life, YT-75 sighed, the ship was much bigger than she had first thought.  The only way to deal with a problem this big was through a strategic plundering of the ship.  They would have to choose the highest value areas to loot first.  Turning to her crew YT-75 barked out an order, “we are heading to the repair bay.  We should find some items of value there.  Check your weapons and stay frosty people.”

 

Now for something different.

I have set up a game of Horizon wars based on the Charles Grant scenario `Action at Sawmill Village`.

I randomly generated deployment and initial battle plans. The VFS is going to push its heavy mechs in the centre, while sending their light mechs out on the flank. The GDL are going to clog the centre with their infantry and swing their armour around the flank.

Turn one, saw the light mechs surge far forward, threatening the GDL flank.

The GDL light infantry reacted, and scored a critical hit on the Arbalest. Sensing an opportunity the Striker turned from its flanking manoeuvre and opening fire on the Arbalest. The SRMs blew out the core of the Arbalest sending it crashing to the ground.

The dispositions after turn 1

Turn two, the VSF won the initiative again and the Hatchet man charged towards the infantry. Multiple rounds hit him as he ran in, but nothing could stop him from trampling the infantry.

The pilot of the Flea realised that he could not win a shooting dual with the Striker and decided to try stamping on it.

To the north of the village the Vulture and the Challenger blew holes out of each others` armour.

The dispositions after turn 2.

Turn three, the GDL won the initiative and the Challenger scored multiple hits and criticals on the Vulture, almost knocking the heavy mech off of its feet. The Hatchet man reacted to the danger to the Vulture and charged towards the rear of the Challenger. The Hatchet man`s weapons were blown off as it approached the Challenger and was finished off by an SRM from the light infantry.

To add insult to injury the Flea went down to multiple hits from the Striker`s SRMs.

The pilot of the Vulture decided to preserve his mech and left Sawmill village in the hands of the GDL forces.

Post battle notes
The blog has been dormant for a while as I was distracted by other projects. I think that I will take it into a more general hobby direction, which will allow me to post more often. I hope that does not disappoint anyone who has followed the blog up to now.

 

Misdirection at Monins

The opulent throne room of the governor’s palace was silent as Baron Ironblood sat deep in contemplation.  The inquisition was digging too deep into his business interests.  If they continued with their investigations, it would not be long before they started to uncover some of his more serious transgressions and that was something that he could not allow.  The inquisition was not infallible, though, their obsession with the ruinous powers could be used against them.

The baron smiled to himself as he ran through the plan in his mind, he would allow the Volkstan tribes to acquire the ruinous sword that Red Jackal had recently brought to him and through it the tribes would be slowly corrupted.  The inquisition would then turn their attention towards the Volkstan tribes and destroy that thorn in his side.

Black Major felt a cold shiver run up her spine as she instructed her patrol to advance through the plains of Monins.  She been given an assignment that reeked of subterfuge, to escort a research-tech and his research through the lands of the Volkstan people, it was madness.  Why weren`t they using an atmospheric transport?  What had she done to fall out of favour?  Still, she could not go against the wishes of the Baron.  Her troops could take the lead they were expendable after all.    

As the Red Shadows cautiously advanced through the plain Red Laser spotted a group of tribesmen up ahead.  Without waiting to find out what the tribesmen wanted Red Laser ordered his men to open fire.  The sounds of the auto-guns shattered the silence on the plain as their deadly munitions shattered the bodies of three of the Volkstan people.

The survivors of the unprovoked attacked could not contain their rage and charged the Red Shadows.  The Volkstan warriors fought valiantly but the red mist that engulfed them was more of a hinderance than an aid and they were quickly chased down and slaughtered by the Red Shadows.

Tears ran down the faces of the second group of the Volkstan as they saw their friends being killed, but they held their fired  Taking careful aim with their muskets the tribes men opened fire into the unsuspecting backs of the Red Shadows killing two of their number.

The sounds of gunfire had alerted the tribesmen in the vicinity and as the Red Shadows engaged one group in a firefight a third group of Volkstan warriors arrived on the scene. 

The newly arrived warriors did not wait to assess the situation they let out a terrifying war cry and ran headlong towards Black Major and her charge.

The Volkstan warriors were temporarily held in check by Black Major as she fought like a fury.  Her power sword lashed out parrying blows from one warrior, then stabbing at another, finally cutting one of the warriors in twain, but slowly she was pushed away from her charge.  The research-tech looked back at the major his eyes wide with fear but before he could drop to his knees to surrender one of the Volkstan warriors smashed him in the temple with the butt of his musket knocking him unconscious. 

Black Major quickly surveyed the situation her forces were depleted, and the enemy would soon be reinforced.  Shaking her head, she ordered the retreat; she did not know how she would explain her failure, but she had no intention of dying on a fool’s errand.

The guttural voices of the Volkstan warriors sang a lament as they carried the unconscious research-tech and his research off the field of battle.  The elders would be able to determine what it was these men of the city had been trying to smuggle through their lands and whether it was worth the price that had been paid in blood for it.