Escape from the Hive - Ambush and Kidnap

It was dark.

The Band of the Red Hand sat silently, waiting in ambush of the noble who was their golden ticket out of this shit hole.  They received info that the next ship out of these plague infested sewers was just through a secret door behind them, and Mr. Moneybags who ship it is was scheduled to walk right this way.  A big fat TTC pass blindly stumbling into their trap.

The doors to the sewers open and a highly trained group of Enforcers orderly burst out and secure the area.

“Roger, area clear”

On hearing the call the nobles step out into the daylight.  The captain in front begins ordering troops to spread out and advance.  Little did he know they would not get far.

A single gun rings out of the shadow.

The captain takes an unexpected shot to the chest sending him to the back of the ranks and to the ground.  He isn’t hurt, but the rest of the gang isn’t as fortunate.  Chaos erupts.  The Enforcers are stuck in a shooting gallery without much cover.  A rookie attempts to run to the front and get advance cover, but Mat the Red Hand’s leader turns him into a pile of flaming goo with his plasma gun.  Another in the back attempts retaliatory fire, only to have a shot from Mr Scab’s lasgun as the last thing to go through his mind.

It was over before it began.

Ranks decimated, the Enforcers attempt to back out, abandoning their employer.  Over eager new recruit Ned rushes into the fray in order to get a kill in his first fight. Forgetting that cover is a thing a retreating Enforcer blind fires and catches Ned in the spine.  He slumps to the ground as the Enforcers disappear with Nobles left cowering for their new guards.

Mat walks up to Mr. Moneybag and smiles. “Hi, let me introduce myself.  My name is Mat, this is the Red Hand, and we’re here to protect you.”

Trajan Campaign - Game 4 - The Final Battle

The final battle in the Trajan campaign was much like the other three. The determined and focused firepower of the defenders overwhelmed the numbers and combined forces of the Human invaders. Their last ditch effort to eradicate the Xeno's home world was unsuccessful and the combined Imperial navy decided to cut their losses and head back to their own galaxy.

 

Escape from the Hive - Smash and Grab

The Band of the Red Hand's first task was to go out into the streets of the hive to search for any loot or useful clues that would help them in escaping their current nightmare. There were rumours of a big battle the previous evening where an Orlock gang was routed by mob of the undead. Mat figured he could perhaps find some of their discarded gear or information on what's been going on in the hive.

Setting the scene, Mat's gang arrives from the top as they scour for loot, the undead approach from all sides.

Mat hand his trusted pals, Mr Scarabs and Chance spotted a loot casket.

The undead Corpse Grinders approach in a horde, hungry for fresh meat.

Meanwhile, Sophia and Ghostface advance towards some more loot. Ghostface uses his hand flamer to clean up some undead who were unlucky to get too close.

Spike also moves ahead, unloading his shotgun and covered by Will of the Reaper's long lasgun.

Ghostface and Sophia put their teamwork and blades to work cutting down some undead that approach them.

Spike's position becomes tenuous as more undead approach him from all sides.

Meanwhile Mat and his team are unable to hold back the unending horde that closes in on them, Mat unleashes with his plasma pistol as Mr Scarabs does his best to hold them off.

In the end Mr Scarabs succumbed to the horde despite Mat's best efforts. The gang was able to recover three loot caskets and found a clue that could lead to their escape.

On their way back to their hideout the Band of the Red Hand encountered the remnants of the Orlocks who had fought the previous night and lost their loot.

Even though Mr Scarabs was out of action the Band had the firepower to deal with the weakened attackers.

Back at their headquarters the Band of the Red Hand inspected their loot and clues that they found on the raid. They found out that a prominent noble had bought transport out of the Hive and hired a personal security detail to escort him and his family. The transfer was happening in two days from now.  

Escape From the Hive - Introduction

The Hive was hit hard with a plague that no one saw coming, it spread quickly and reportedly turned the effected into zombie-like cannibals hardly reminiscent of humans. The Lords of the city subsequently decided to lock everything down and impose a severe curfew on all residents, with penalty of death by the Enforcers if curfew was broken. The Band of the Red Hand is a ragtag crew brought together by chance more than anything. Bounty hunters, but not the most successful, due to their bad luck and their generally do-gooders personas (some would categorize them as chaotic good).  Usually broke, locked in for several months together and running out of money, they are searching for a way out of the Hive city and for safe passage off planet before it all goes to hell (or more hell.)

Mat Cauthon, Chance and Mr. Scabs

Awoke one day with a scar on his neck, a blade in his hand, and Mr. Scabs staring at him like a hungry cat.  Mat has no relocation of how he got there or any history before that.  He is traveling space (Underhives?) to find threads of his lost memories.

Spike

Ex-Yakuza.  Left the syndicate after the gang put a hit on his lover and assassinated her.  Out for revenge and to take the whole operation down.

Sophia and Ghostface

Brother and Sister orphans trained from birth to be killers.  They realized they were hired mercenaries, usually killing good people, so they killed their handlers and escaped.  Now hunting bounties of evil people to survive.

Will of the Reaper

Military long range ballistics expert.  Eerily quiet.  Never speaks other than to say "OK" or "confirmed".  Might have been grown in a vat.

As tensions were spilling over, there were rumours going around of a big messy street battle where many weapons caches were left behind, the Band decided to venture out to see what they could gather.....

Trajan Campaign - Game 3 - The Imperial Vanguard

The Space Marine expedition was able to identify the location of the Xenos planet with it's investigation of the asteroid colony despite being ambushed and destroyed along the way. Having located their target the Space Marines sent another expeditionary force, this time to the Xeno home planet codenamed Trajan. They were successful in engaging and nullifying the the space defence array, this opened the path for more numerous Imperial Navy to begin its invasion of the planet Trajan. The first task for the Navy is to recon the planet's surface for targets, critical infrastructure and threats. The Xeno forces were surprised by initial incursion that took out their space stations defences, however, they were prepared to meet this invasion in force.

We played the Vanguard Recon scenario with each side having 1250 points, thus far in the campaign the Xenos have 2 campaign points and the Empire has 3. 

Both sides maneuvre into place on the first two turns of the battle. 

The Imperial Navy advances quickly on their left flank with the aim of scanning as many clusters as possible, their frigates lead the charge with the heavy cruiser, Moscow, and battlecruiser Avalon behind.

The Xenos are more cautious and counter with a pair of cruisers and battlecruiser on their right, with their carrier group in the middle.

The Imperial battlecruiser is attacked by a swarm of Xenos bombers and monitors, it hadn't adequately anticipated the range of the Xenos launch assets and had taken spike on it's approach.

Meanwhile the Xenos use their initiative to pile on to the heavy cruiser Moscow with pinpoint burnthrough laser accuracy. The left flank of the Imperial Navy was collapsing due to being in a vulnerable position.

The Imperial navy still had fight left though, the Taipei frigates made a missile run against the battlecruiser, however, their volume of fire didn't produce the anticipated damage. Meanwhile the battleships made their entrance from the horizon.

The Imperial battleship New York finally arrived to provide launch support and reclaim the battle for the humans. As a detachment of Imperial light cruisers and destroyers, originally deployed on the far right flank moved towards the centre to support.

The end of turn 3 saw both sides launching all of their assets as fighters and bombers fought for superiority. 

The situation on the Imperial left flank did not improve any in the fourth turn, the heavy cruiser and the Xeno battlecruiser exchanged fire, with the Moscow taking the worst of the damage and blowing out of the sky. The escort carriers were left alone on the Imperial left.

The Imperial detachment came out aggressively against the carrier group in the middle, blowing a carrier out of the sky.

This move was countered by the Xenos sending their battleship into the centre of the action to stop the forward momentum of the Imperial right flank. The Imperium focused their fire on this target and in the launch phase the New York launched it's torpedo against the mothership.

One the Xenos turn, they again had initiative and were able to counter fire with great effect from their mothership and battlecruiser.

In the final turn, the battleships exchanged salvos, damaging each other greatly, again the Xenos fire was more accurate and knocked the New York out, including its admiral out of the sky.  The Imperial fleet, or whatever was left of it, was forced to retreat.

The Imperial Navy took a licking in its first battle of the invasion of Trajan. However, the memory of the devastation caused on Scipio still haunted the senior leadership and they were determined to nullify the Xeno threat once and for all. The next battle will be the final struggle in this epic war.

The Xenos now have a 6-3 advantage in campaign points, they will be able to secretly the pick the final scenario. The winner of that scenario will be the ultimate winner of the campaign.