The Battle of Nittin

So as you'll know, I travelled up to Scotland to visit some mates (which actually turned out to be less mates than expected, but that's another story but also the reason we only ended up playing one game. ) and we had a game of rogue trader on Saturday. As my host doesn't play regularly (he is one of the guys who I played with as a kid and he's being lured back in mwahahaha!) I provided the majority of the scenery, this was obviously limited by what I could squeeze into a backpack as I was flying sleazy jet and didn't want to pay for extra baggage.  After I dug around in the garden for some bits and bobs we ended up with the above set up. 

The human members of the chaos renegades Warband were outside, guarding the entrance to the catacombs.

In the caves below the surface the rest of the Warband were in prayer to dark gods or contemplating their navels.

We randomised the entry points for the Sensei's Warband. Gerson Graniteheart, Emderly Sumpton IV and Griff Dander came on to the right hand corner of the cave mouth.

Zander van Zant came on alone in the left hand corner.

And Barns Hunt and Yardymiel sneaked on behind. We decided that if we killed one of the humans, on a roll of 4,5 or 6, the commotion would be loud enough to alert the rest of the Warband underground. This neatly balanced the numerical short comings of the Sensei.

We also decided that it was a dawn attack so we rolled for the distance everybody could see to spot approaching enemy. Only the guards in the path on Van Zant saw the approaching figures and opened fire, missing both shots. Van Zant fired his plasma pistol back and fried one of chaos warped lackeys.

Most of the guards wandered around blindly in the pre-dawn gloom. 

As the dawn broke the other guards reacted to the noise and to the sight of strangers wandering around their holy place.

The two guards at the rear opened fire on Yardymiel and Barns.

And the remaining two open up on the group at the right of the entrance wounding Gerson.

The Sensei band answered in kind and 3 more of the guards fell in messy pools of their own blood.

As van Zant advanced on the left he weathered the incoming fire. The Sensei Warband had taken down four of the guards quietly enough not to alert the renegade and his minions ( Neil was rolling more 3's than are strictly healthy!)

The returning fire reduced the guards down to only two and the noise was still not enough to rowse the slumbering monstrosities underground. The guards ran to the entrance and fled into the catacombs to alert the renegade and his followers.

The Warband sprung into action and headed towards the cave entrance, deciding to take the fight to the enemy rather than allow them to enter the sanctum of the dark gods.

Filled with new bravery and fervour (thanks to the psychic Rally from Farlg the Zoat) the guards returned to the cover of the entrance and begun blasting at the oncoming enemy.

The Sensei moved in for the kill. 

Farlg the  Zoat used his Teleport power to appear behind one of the fungoid mounds on the surface.

And Vlag the renegade and his traitor brethren mustered their strength, ready to burst out of the entrance to the cavern

The guards did a much better job at holding the Sensei band at bay, killing poor Gerson.

Farlg the Zoat burst from his cover and fired his living bolter, wounding Yardymiel.

Due to his multiple gifts from his gods (he gained growth x3 at the start if the game, giving him crap ws but his movement was 12! He also had a really high toughness as well as being semi mechanoid giving him an extra attack) Vlag the renegade burst from the cavern at frightening speed and charged Van Zant.

The rest of the Warband moved towards Griff and Emderly the Psyker.

While Yardymiel charged Farlg taking a wound from him and starting a mighty combat lasting a silly number of rounds.

The guards pressed towards to the two heroes and some very lucky dice rolling left Griff as a singed mess on the ground.

Emderly answered back with his pistol doing nothing but then used his powers to crush the mind of the pursuing marine who fell, headless, into the dirt. 

Van Zant and the Vlag  traded blows like gods of ancient times but neither could gain an advantage.

More of the traitors turned on Emderly and wounded him.

And the third dithered as he tried to decide whether to assist in the combat between his master and the Sensei or the between the eldar and the Zoat (who had been joined by Barns who wasn't making much of a difference and left the combat after a couple if rounds narrowly escaping injury)

As their titanic struggle continued both the van Zant and the Vlag began to land blows that counted and they both began to accumulate wounds. The fight was long and hard but spectacular (think of a couple of super heroes battling it out and you'll get the idea!)

 

Emderly bravely fought on blasting the remaining guard and using the last of his psychic strength to boil the brains of another traitor astartes.

Finally Yardymiel bested the Zoat, his hammer hand power finally battering the centauroid to the ground.

Van Zant called on the power of the starchild to fill his blows with cosmic strength and he reduced the renegade to his final wound.

Emderly, exhausted and powerless, backed away from the fighting leaving the marines to return to their masters side.

Yardymiel and Barns tried in vain to take the marines down with shooting only for the eldar to be torn to shreds in the returning bolter fire.

Fearing for the life of their exalted champion the traitorous marines charged into the mighty combat hoping to distract the Sensei long enough for their master to land the final blow.

Fighting with trebled fury van Zant dispatched one of the venomous traitors.

But that was all the space that Vlag needed to crush the life out of the Sensei, ending the titanic combat!

In his blood lust the Vlag  used his astounding speed to charge Barns.

Who escaped from combat and fled the field.

Along with Emderly. The only survivors from the proud band if adventurers. Ending the game.

We had a great game. The splitting up of the forces at the start really helped overcome the numerical inferiority of the Sensei and the titanic combats really were the focus for the second half of the game. We both thought initially that we would end up fighting it out in the tunnels but Neil's decision to hold the entrance until he could amass the renegades and burst out worked massively to his advantage. The teleporting Zoat also helped to split focus and at one point he was tying up half my Warband. We had fun with the Psionics and we both noted that we hadn't used them much when we were kids. Using steal mind or mental bolt on the eldar was a tough decision but as he failed the test anyway it was a moot point. My Psyker used mental bolt plus psychic points to great effect and he may have to be my man if the match!

Hope you enjoyed reading it as much as we enjoyed playing it.