Necromunda Campaign Week 2, Phase 0

Week 2:  Selena and her Crimson Raiders (Kendell's Gang) having defeated one band of Chaos Cultists last week was full of confidence as they made their way into the underhive and encountered Murdoc and his Chaos band.  Selena and her crew were forced to retreat and lick their wounds.  Lost deep in the underhive with nowhere to go, Selena swore revenge against the Chaos Gang, and then encountered the Steel Brotherhood led by Brother Corbin.  Selena convinced the Steel Brotherhood that they were agents of the Imperium, and that the Warp Storms have lifted and they were here to save them (of course this was all a lie).  The Steel Brotherhood formed a loose alliance with Selena and the 2 gangs quickly made their way to where Selena believed that Murdoc and his gang were holed up.  Selena would have here revenge.

What Selena thought would be an easy raid however turned into a major engagement as a group of Chaos Cultists worshiping Khorne were found to be allied with Murdoc's band.

Battle in the underhive ensued, and the combined might of the Steel Brotherhood and the Crimson raiders chased off the chaos cultists leaving the spoils to the victors.

 Above we have the Ratskin scout of the Crimson Raiders taking the high ground

 The Chaos Magus was put down quickly by heavy fire power as he tried to respond to the sounds of gun fire in the Khorne camp

 a Ganger in the Steel Brotherhood quickly dispatches one of the Gangers of Khorne.

 Members of the Crimson Raiders providing cover-fire as the Steel Brotherhood advances

Murdoc and his boys move in, making an effort to support the surrounded Khorne gang.

When the smoke cleared, the Chaos Gangs fled to lick their wounds and return to fight another day leaving the territory free for the taking.  It was then that the true colors of the Crimson Raiders shown through as they turned on the Steel Brotherhood.
This territory would be theirs...

A second game was played as well, this time Chaos won out.  Things so far have been pretty even up.
My gang had a tough week.  I didn't win either game, and while I did get some pretty decent advances, one of my heavies died...
Oh well there is always next week.

Here is where things are standing after week 2:
Crusade of Fire: 3
Prophets of War: 4
Servants of Ruin: 3

Next week we have lots to do.  I still have 2 gangers held captive by the Sisters, Matt has one held captive by those bitches as well.
Kendell and Matt also have to duke it out over the territory from the game they won this week.
On top of all that, I'm sure that the newly formed Khorne cult gang is not happy with getting their butts whipped and will be looking for revenge.
Ah, life in the Under-Hive...

Necromunda Campaign Week 1, Phase 0

Well yesterday kicked off the first day of our Necromunda Campaign, and I do think it was successful.

We had six players, playing in one on one games on two tables, playing in a round robin style of play, this gave people a chance to take a break, work on models, update their rosters and so on...

Above you can see a shot of the main board, the Under-Hive in the ruins of Hive Primus, on Corvus Majoris in the Corvus Sub-Sector.

A world still ravaged by Warp Storms and separated from the Imperium for 1000 years.  Plunged into Civil War, small pockets of survivors make their way in the world, hoping that the Warp Storms will abate and that the Imperium will return to the sector and save them.  Others are trying to further the cause of the Dark Gods and have joined one of dozens of Cult groups, summoning Daemons, practicing dark magics and worse.

This is where our gangers live, fight, and die...
Below we have a couple of shots of the action,

 Above you can see my Son's Chaos Cultist gang advancing on the descendants of the Sisters of Battle that once protected the Shrines of Corvus Majoris.

Above we have the Heavies of Murdoc's Marauders of my Gang, taking the high ground with back up from a Chaos Sorcerer (Wyrd) and a couple of Gangers.
Below, Murdoc and his bodyguards advance under the Cover-Fire provided from above.

No one likes to be on the receiving end of my Heavies!

Taking the Bridge!

I didn't get a lot of pictures of the other players gangs this week, as the majority of them are still not painted.  Rest assured though, in the coming weeks I will post some full battle reports of the actions.

After a full day of fighting, seven games took place.  Grudges, enemies, plots and schemes have all been made.

Campaign Status? here is where we stand so far
Crusade of Fire: 2
Prophets of War: 3
Servants of Ruin: 2

I managed to play 2 games myself, and while I won both games, I feel I have not done much to further the cause of my Faction (the Servants of Ruin). 

I did manage to sway a Chaos Sorcerer to my cause, but failed to capture a Warp Gate which was to be used for future Daemon Summoning.  Kendell's Land Pirates, the Crimson Raiders also failed to take it though, so I still have a chance.

Those blasted Sisters of Battle (Escher) captured not one but two of my Cultists!  surely they will be tortured for information before being put to death, I must launch an offensive in an effort to rescue them, not because they cannot be replace, but because I don't want them divulging my evil plans to those pathetic servants to the Emperor, holding on to lost hope...

Good news and bad.  Good news is everyone is pumped to get our campaign rolling, and the terrain is coming along nicely.
Bad news is, GW still hasn't gotten Chris his Escher gang.
That means we are going to push the campaign start back a week.  This is not such a bad thing, as this Sunday we are going to take the opportunity to run through some one off games to get our heads wrapped around the game system, its been years since I've played Necromunda, and I am very rusty on the rule set.

It also gives me another week to push out some terrain, as I already mentioned things are coming along.

Above is a snap shot of the table (well the left side where most the painted stuff is anyway)
Below is another view with a rough layout set up just to see where I am at.

And it just isn't quite a Necromunda board without some sort of sewage entry...

You don't realize how much terrain is needed for a good Skirmish game board till you start putting it all together. 

I am hoping to have enough done by Sunday that our dry runs will be on my new board, lots of work ahead of me today, and a quick run up to AC Moore, and Jesters Playhouse for more supplies.

Maybe someday I'll even get to work on a new gang of my own but in the mean time my Chaos Cultists will be assisting the Dark Gods in attempting to ensure that the Corvus Sub-System stays lost to the Warp, so that the Powers of Chaos can rule the system for all eternity

Necromunda, the count down begins...

Well, in two short weeks, our adventures in the Corvus Sub-Sector will begin.  I am officially calling our Necromunda campaign Phase-0 this represents the time period that the campaign will take place. 
The Crusade of Fire book breaks the 40k campaign down into 3 Phases, with Phase 1 representing when the Warp Storms engulfing the Corvus Sub-Sector have abated.  In our Necromunda Campaign, the Warp Storms are still raging and the Corvus Sub-Sector is still separated from contact with the rest of the Imperium.
Corvus Majoris is the planet that our campaign will take place, below is a snap shot, and a brief background to get our players started.

 Our campaign background being set, our players choose their gangs.  Right now we are sitting at 6 players for our campaign.  Each player has chosen a gang that they would like to play, and a faction from the Crusade of Fire campaign book.  Players can choose to belong to the Crusade of Fire, the Servants of Ruin, or the Prophets of War.
1. the Crusade of Fire: those who belong to this faction still believe in the Word of the Emperor, and firmly believe that the forces of the Imperium will come to deliver them from this Hell, and restore their system to its former glory.
2. The Servants of Ruin: Worshipers of Chaos, those who belong to this faction are Cultists of Chaos, who wish to see the entire system taken over by the powers of chaos and have the system plunge into the depths of the Warp forever
3. the Prophets of War: those who do not believe that help from the Imperium is ever coming, or have lost their way.  Some are trying to forge their own Kingdoms amongst the ruins, and seek power and glory,others are simply trying to survive in this harsh world.

The Players:
1. Matt- chose to play Cawdor (Crusade of Fire), Matts gang firmly believes that salvation is coming and soon and are trying to see that the way is clear for the arrival of the servants of the Emperor
2. Chris-chose to play Escher (Crusade of Fire) descendants of a small Sisters of Battle Sisterhood stationed on Corvus Majoris and charged with protecting several Holy sites on the planet.  This they have done for 1000 years.
3. Mike-chose to play Orks (Prophets of War), Several thousand years before the Warp Storms engulfed the system, a small but not insignificant Ork Waaagh game to the Corvus Sub-System.  The Planetary Defense Forces were quick to respond to the threat and quickly put down the greater Waaagh, reducing the marauding Orks to small pockets in the wilds of the various planets of the system.  These Orks were hunted for sport, and as a right of passage for young nobles prior to their elevation into the ranks of the Officers of the PDFs of the system.  1000 years of Warp Storms have left the Orks to their own devices, and unmolested they have begun to once again form into bands, and raids on what is left of the human settlements on the planet has become common-place.  If one Ork were to rise above the others and gather the small bands together...
4. Kendell-is creating his own Gang using the "Unknown Warriors" article for creating your own gangs (Prophets of War), this small band only seeks riches and glory amongst the ruins of the Hive and seeks to carve out his own small private Kingdom from the ashes. 
5. Chucky- Chaos Cultists (Orlock rules) Worshipers of Chaos, this Gang seeks to help the Dark Powers of Chaos plunge the entire system into the Warp forever, although it is whispered that the Gang leader is seeking favor with the Dark Powers in an effort to gain immortality.
6. Me- I'm going to be running to Gangs as GM, a Prophet of War gang (which is more my own if I can get them together in time), and a Chaos Cultist Gang, antagonist NPCs for the gaming group.

The background is set, the players are set, now we need some cool terrain to play on.  Here is my first completed piece.

and here are some WIP shots of a couple of other pieces

My goal is to have enough terrain for a 4x4 under-hive ruins table, and enough terrain for a 4x4 City Ruins table.  This will allow me to run 2 games at a time, and with only six players in the group should help minimize the downtime for players on our game days.

Well, I've got lots of work to do, I'll be posting regular updates to our campaign right here on my blog as things progress.

What am I going to do with this?

I excitedly picked up Crusade of Fire recently.  I am a huge fan of campaigns, even if in the past my attempts at running one have been full of issues, and mixed successes and failures.  From having too many players, to having to deal with power gamers, campaigns are a difficult thing to do correctly.

This time around though I promised myself it would be different.  Instead of running the group in conjunction with a local game store supporting it, I would run it more privately, with just a few like minded friends.

So, I spoke with a couple buddies, and while we are all eager to play a full fledged 40k campaign, it's that time of year.  By that I mean 40k while played, takes a back seat for a few months while I usually get my Mordheim on (those of you may remember my past years posts with my Rieklanders and Chaos Warbands).  I have gotten in a couple of games, but have been recently side tracked with terrain building and holiday season prep work.  As a Husband and Father of three, there is only so much hobby time in a week.

I like, err.. love the skirmish games that GW has put out over the years, and I haven't played Necromunda in some time.  So, with a new campaign book in hand I thought we would do the Crusade of Fire...

Necromunda Style! Sorry, too much?

 

There, that better?

Now my thought wasn't to try and replicate the whole campaign using gangs and experience from Necromunda and try to wage such a large scale war. 
I want to use the Crusade of Fire as a source book for all of our future 40k adventures, very akin to what you might have done with Greyhawk or Forgotten Realms in your old D&D days.

The Corvus Sub-sector is the perfect place for all sorts of campaigns.  A quick read of the background and I found where our Necromunda campaign would be.
Corvus Majoris, perfect.
Given the current state of the Sub-sector, this also gives my son a chance to easily integrate his Chaos Cultists from Dark Vengeance into our games and play a Chaos Cultist gang.

So, that was all the easy part.  I have been hard at work at Aetherstorm Games painting a variety of City Terrain, and building some more traditional looking terrain for our upcoming campaign.  Look for an upcoming post featuring some cool looking tables in the near future.

Now, I have to come up with some special campaign rules, paint a gang myself, paint up some NPCs, and decide upon a format for the News letter that keeps the players informed from week to week.  Easy right?

Shooting for a second week in January 2013 kick-off. 
I'm really geared up, this should be a blast, stay tuned for some WIP posts real soon!

Some WIP on my Space Marines

I've been hard at work lately on the painting front, between getting my Iron Warriors up from 1500 points to 2000 points for some upcoming events, painting terrain for Aetherstorm Games down the corner from me, and painting my as of yet unnamed Space Marine Army.

I have recently found the Space Marines to be a much needed distraction from the terrain project and the Iron Warriors.  Especially the Iron Warriors, don't get me wrong, I love them.  Fun to play, fun to paint, and while I certainly don't think it's my best painted project ever, I'm not unhappy with how they have turned out.  I just went a little to hard on them trying to get them ready for Mechanicon, and am suffering from a little burn out.  I do have to get back to them though, as I have the Colonial coming up in January, and the St. Valentine's day Massacre in Feb.  Both at 2k points.

I do have my next Land Raider for them assembled, and hit with their metallic base coat.  So that's a nice start.

Next up I have some quick pictures of my new Space Marines, some of you may remember the test models I threw up here a little while ago, some progress has been made since.

"And then there were 3" with the completion of the Sergeant, I now have a whole three marines completed!
With the list I have in mind that means I only have like sixty or so more marines to paint...

I have been using a wide variety of bits putting these marines together, using pieces from Dark Angel, Blood Angel, Black Templar, and normal Marine sprues.  The only pieces I have been staying away from are Space Wolf, as they just don't fit in with the Knightly theme I am going for. (though I usually find a way to sneak in a Wolf Pelt)

Above you can see some WIP, these guys are very time consuming.  I have been using Wolf Grey as a base coat, which seems to be working fairly well, allowing for a rich red color while allowing me to work up the white without too much hassle.  I have changed my recipe for painting the white, and while I don't think I have it down quite yet, I am much happier with the more recent results.

After receiving some comments on the red and black hazard stripes on one of the other marines, someone suggested I try a checkered pattern on some Chainswords.  Above you can see my first attempt at that.

I am still very early in this project, and am nowhere near deciding on a list, but I do think it is going to be very infantry heavy led by a Biker Captain, with a Biker unit (or two) as troop choices.

I also know I am going to be doing several Tactical squads, all with Flamer and Missile Launcher.  Other than that? I am just not sure.

Finishing up the Iron Warriors over the next couple months, I am adding the following; a 2nd Land Raider, a unit of 5 Terminators, and a Helbrute with Plasma Cannon.
While I certainly don't think they are the most powerful choices I could make, I think it will stick with my Heavy Armor theme.
That gives me 2 Land Raiders, a Rhino, Defiler, Vindicator, Helbrute, and Forge Fiend all squeezed into 2k points.  Not to mention the ten terminators.  Should be a blast!

I'll post more details on that when I have that list finalized.

Some new terrain

Been hard at work working on some new terrain.
Well, that is new to me, it seems Mike down at Aetherstorm Games has come into some used terrain from Les, from when he had GVE games.

The terrain was for the most part already assembled, but was in need of some TLC.  So me and my buddy Chris set to work repairing and repainting all of it.

We are not finished yet, but I figure at the pace we are going we should have a full 2 tables worth of new terrain finished by the end of next week.

 Here is a WIP shot, I wish I took some more "before" photos to give you an idea of the amount of work we have put in, but I was so eager to get started, I didn't get many.

Above you can see the test piece, this was the piece I did to figure out the paint scheme and over all look that I was going for with the terrain.
Below a quick shot of what will probably be an Adeptus Arbites HQ

 And of course the Fortress of Redemption!  I am pretty pleased with the way this beast turned out.

Of course there is more to come, and the gears are already turning for how to form a campaign around this stuff, and of course some Necromunda action, and then the IG army I want to do to match the new terrain set...