ItEN Campaign: Month 1 Update and Mini-Battle Reports

So far, four warbands have met in the clash to locate and seize the Malegaunt Standard Template Construction Device. The photo's aren't great: the lighting in our whole isn't the greatest but the lads did what they could with mobile phones and the like.

Battle 1:
Amidst the ruins of the Adeptus Arbites Precinct, the Death Guard  of Papa Nurgle met and engaged the Ork's of Craigs's as yet unnamed Ork warband. Though the mighty war boss managed to find and recover a data-slate listing the Arbites Guard Rota, the cost was grim and terrible. Caught up in their unholy battle-glee, the Death Guard marines completely disregarded their mission in favour of inflicting calamitous casualties on the Ork warband, made all the more vulnerable by the absence of any Squigs or gretchin meat-shields on the battlefield. In the end, the green-skins managed to escape with their valuable data via a handy broken window, yet seven of their number bled their last on the gore-soaked rubble. Papa Nurgle and his small band sustained no casualties.

(I'm still waiting on photographs of this scrap being emailed to me. There aren't many. In the heat of the battle, about six turns went by before anyone remembered to take any).

Battle 2:

The second battle of the Malegaunt STC was a bloody green-on-green affair.  The Orks of Graeme and Nick met in a raging battle in the Adeptus Mechanicus district. Atop a mighty Ziggerut in the main Biologos facility, Graeme's warboss held the pinnacle long enough to download the senior Magos Biologis' research data, though Ork's were blown apart around him by a rain of grot-thrown stikk-bombz. The climax of the battle came when his Rival Boss met him choppa-to-choppa atop the steps, but Graeme's powerful Boss threw down his enemy. Now there is talk of the two warbands combining their might. Is this the beginnings on a new Waaargh? Will Graeme's war boss succeed in recruiting Boss Craig to his side also? Or is all this talk of an Ork alliance merely scurrilous rumour? Who knows, but who better to teach them pansie oomies and pointies a few new tricks than the might of three Ork warbands?

Graeme's Boss and Mek Boy weather the grenade storm to seize the Ziggerut.

With just two turns remaining till the data is downloaded, Nick's Boss makes his challenge in the formal manner: "Ere grot-bags, yer maw wuz a space marine!"

Graeme's Ork of the match: the gunner who took down most of Nick's Boyz.

After-Battle

As previously mentioned, Craig lost seven of his Orks who failed their after-battle Grit rolls to recover from wounds. The second battle saw equal carnage, yet through some extremely jammy rolling most of the casualties made their grit rolls, for a total of just three deaths despite fierce fighting.

Both Craig and Graeme's retinues managed to pass their investigation rolls (surprisingly, especially when you consider that neither have a single model with the Investigator skill). Following the clues will lead them both to new objective locations to be decided when the remaining battle results are in.

In the Emperor's Name Campaign Update

We've had a few delays, but finally we're about to begin our Wh40K In the Emperor's Name campaign. We have a good selection of forces, with the Imperium so far being somewhat under-represented in comparison to the Xenos and Traitor retinues. Given that there were be limited opportunities to receive reinforcements during the campaign, it's perhaps not surprising that most of the players have chosen forces with good grit values. It remains to be seen whether this will be a wise choice. After all, with such expensive figures, one or two casualties failing to recover from wounds after a game can be crippling.

We have ten confirmed players and 1 referee (me). Most of the retinue lists are in but one player signed up late and has still to finalise his.

So far we have:

Imperial Retinues:
Ordo Xenos Warband
Space Wolf Warband

Chaos:
Chaos Cultist Warband
Night Lord Warband
Death Guard Warband

Xenos:
3x Ork Warbands
1x Harlequin Warband
1x Eldar Pirates Warband.

The first campaign month runs between this coming Tuesday and the second Tuesday in April. I'll be listing the match-ups for the first month's compulsory games on Sunday, once I've received the final warband roster.

Edit: The final warband is in. Another Ork mob leaving us with three orc players.

In the Emperor's Name: Campaign Proposal

Over at G3, my local gaming group, a bunch of us have been looking at starting up a short narrative campaign for "In the Emperor's Name". There's been a lot of humming and hawwing over it, given that the campaign model provided tends to assume that one players warband (normally an Inquisitor's) will take on the central role in the narrative. This model, which I'll be proposing to my fellow gamers, gives everyone a central role. Read on:

The Malegaunt STC:

For six thousand years, the Malegaunt system and it's Standard Template Construction device -one of the few intact STC's left in the known galaxy- has been interdicted from normal space by a colossal warpstorm.

Until now. Three days ago, warpstorm activity in the system abruptly ceased. Orbital scans from a passing Inquisitorial ship reveal hundreds of relatively intact yet deserted settlements below. If home's and buildings have survived the mind-rending effects of the Warp intact, then chances are good that the STC has survived also. Alas, your not the only warband to learn of this opportunity. Dozens of warbands from Imperial and Alien factions alike are converging on the system and it's single inhabitable world.

Who will find the STC first and claim the prize?

Victory Conditions: 
Be the first warband to successfully investigate all five objectives for clues and thereafter capture the STC from it's inhuman defenders.

Premise:

• Every player begins with one 500point warband. He must complete a roster of all members of his warband and provide it to myself (the DM).
• Every player will be allocated to one of the five available objectives at the beginning of the campaign.
• The five objective sites are: The Adeptus Administratum district, the Inquisitorial Forces, the Adeptus Mechanica district, the Librarium of the Planetary Universitat and the Adeptus Arbites Precinct House.
• Every month, each player will play  one game against all the other players at his clue site. There will be only one battle per clue site per month, so these games will often involve multiple warband's fighting against one another. 
• The player can fight as many additional battles each month as he wishes. Just bear in mind that any losses incurred in optional games will count. But then, so will any character advancement gained. I imagine the most common reason for such a game will probably be to steal a the location of an objective from another player (I'll devise a scenario for this) or else to rescue a captured member of your warband.
• The warband (or allied warbands) left in control of the objective at the end of the game may each use the investigation rules to obtain a clue to the location of the STC. A successful investigation will also identify the location of another (randomly determined) objective. The player may move their warband to the new objective and take part in the next battle at that location. If the investigation is unsuccessful, the warband must fight to retain control of the same clue site again next month.
• The player may select up to 250pts from his warband list for each game.
• Casualties may be recovered as normal. However, no reinforcements are available to any player unless he can capture an opposing model and convince it to change sides. Yes, this means a warband may be eliminated from the campaign through sheer attrition. 
• When a casualty result determines that a model survives being removed from play, the model may not be fielded again until after the rest of the warband has participated in it's next monthly objective battle.
• The first player to obtain all five clues will earn the right to try to claim the STC for himself by playing against a very powerful NPC warband. If he captures the STC, he wins the game. The defending NPC warband will also begin with a set number of points which can be whittled away by multiple attacks on the STC and by guest appearances in other games. The player is allowed to field his entire remaining force in this game and enlist the aid of any allies he wishes in order to secure the STC (assuming the player is willing to share the Glory).
• Note: this defending force or other native gribblies might make occasional unwelcome appearances in random battles throughout the campaign. In such instances, the DM (that's me) will play the NPC forces where possible.
• In order to form an alliance, both warbands must be compatible allies in accordance with W40K canon. While a radical Inquisitor might be able to justify allying with Chaos forces,  a Sister's of Battle or Space Marine warband never will.