“How you like that heat,” asked Sr. Sgt. Penny to no one in particular.
“Hot and sticky, just like me mam’s home baking,” replied Sgt. Pound.
“Tell me more about your mother’s buns,” replied Penny. “I’ve always wondered about…”
The conversation was cut short by Capt. Penzance. “COMPANY HALT! The grave of the unknown marine has been located. Let’s dig the bastard up and get back ship-side. I’m already sick of this lump of dirt.”
A not insignificant part of the Zenobian 7th had been handed over to a Rogue Trader - rumour has it was the result of game of poker one night - and since then they’d been running all kinds of errands across the sector. This most recent jaunt to a backwater planet to recover the alleged remains of an alleged marine seemed like a fairly simple gopher job. The local population had regressed to primitive levels of technology. Given the lack of a planetary governor, the current expedition was likely the first Imperial contact the planet had seen in many centuries if not millenia.
“Nice and easy” reflected Capt. Penzance mere seconds before the comm link crackled “IN THE NAME OF THE EMPEROR! YOU ARE TRESPASSING! PREPARE TO BE EXTERMINATED!”
“What are you talking about,” the captain replied. “In the name of the EMPEROR and his exceedingly holy throne, this planet has been duly claimed by the rogue trader….” The rest of the sentence was drowned out by incoming fire. Mostly bolters it sounded like. Luckily only one found a target, blowing off Hieronymus’ knee and sending him to the ground.
Penzance spat out rapid-fire instructions, dispatching a couple of squads and the Hellhound to an outflanking manoeuvre and ordering the sentinels forward.
“Alright people, Jez ain’t picking us up if we don’t do our job so don’t fuck up. And don’t let Hiero die. We can’t contact the ship without him.”
This is an Open War game between two mostly painted (though mainly in-progress painted rather than fully finished) 1000 pt/ 55 PL forces - a so far unnamed marine chapter fighting using Raven Guard tactics vs the Zenobian 7th, an Imperial Guard regiment using the Tallarn doctrine. Neither list is highly optimized, being built mostly around available models, and we’re definitely aiming to play in a friendly way rather than competitively. 6 CP each.
We’re fighting on a 6’ x 4’ table. The Open War cards came up with deploying 12” back from the centre line, each of us getting a short table edge. No morale checks are necessary as the Zenobian 7th know they have to prevail to avoid being marooned. Not sure why the marines are being stubborn, but it seems in character for them to be bloody minded. Finally, we are fighting over three objectives, with control in turn 5 being the crucial thing. In the centre of the table is the grave of an unnamed marine. In my deployment zone is the Astropath Hieronymous doing duty as an objective marker, while in the marine player has a razorback turret in his zone as his objective marker.
It’s going to be a slow game as we’re playing during lunch hour at work, hopefully twice a week, and there’s some rules learning going on as well. The first lunch saw set-up only as we forgot to bring dice. The marine player finished setting up first, so I’ll try to seize the initiative first thing when we meet again.
