Operation Duck & Weave

Interrogator Persuivant's examination of the dataslate provided little information regarding the alien weapons place of origin. As this particular lead was proving fruitless, a thorough reexamination of the original crime scene might be of benefit. Providing the place hadn't been picked clean by the sort of bottom feeders that congregate at the recesses of Hive Primus. As the warband entered the area, other furtive figures were sighted. "Attack Pattern Saturn! Lethal Force!" with the orders given it was time to find out who else had interest in this semi collapsed dome.

More Skullduggery!

The saga of Jenna Persuivant's warband continues as this week a Nobilist Faction on a galactic safari get in the way of Imperial investigations. As Jenna's Jokers (finally given them a name) successfully thwarted the plans of some Void Pirates ; Skullduggery in the Underhive. This week it was the turn of some thrill seeking nobles slumming it in the underhive looking for trouble. As narratives go, this one was pretty basic, after retrieving vital blueprints for an advanced alien technology that could prove terrible for the Imperium of Man but not being able to find the planet of origin Persuivant's band returned to the battle site only to find another group of armed fighters seemingly searching too. Inevitably, by the Underhive *code battle must be joined.

The Mission

A simple gang fight scenario with no additional rules was the name of the game today. The terrain was set up as per the rulebook so nothing out of the ordinary there. Lots of pictures were taken except for a vital before the start of the game one. 

The Gangs

Jenna's Jokers

Interrogator Jenna Persuivant, armed with a bolt pistol, knife, sword.
Acolyte Tefal, level 2 ;wyrd, Cursed Luck, Cast Glow, Dominate, autopistol, power maul, knife.
Acolyte buxom, lasgun, knife.
Acolyte Hellion, Sprint, autopistol, knife, 2 x swords.
Acolyte Shawty, autogun, knife.
Acolyte Ensign, autopistol, knife.
Disciple Bangs, heavy stubber, knife.
Tech Adept Derric, Plasma gun, knife.
Recruit Spazz, laspistol, knife.
Recruit Chubbs,  Catfall, Evade, Sprint, autopistol, knife.
Recruit Greylocks, stub gun, knife.

Jenna's Jokers

The Ambull Hunters

Pat's new **gang is of the Nobilist Faction and a bit of a mishmash. Three humans, six ratlings and two beastmen make up the starting 11. The list is as follows:

Duchess Sophia, human leader : Wyrd (level 1) Cursed Luck, Nailer, Sword, Bio Booster, 

Lord Farquhar, human noble heavy : Heavy Stubber,

Lord Ruprecht, human noble heavy : Scatter Gun, Musket,

Rusty O'Charmless, ratling retainer (ganger) : Scatter Gun, Musket, Infiltration,

Goldie McWhiskey, ratling retainer (ganger) : Scatter Gun, Musket, Infiltration,

Tater O'Looney, ratling retainer (ganger) : Scatter Gun, Musket, Infiltration,

Sprinkles O'Lyin, ratling retainer (ganger) : Hunting Rifle, Infiltration,

Potsy McWickless, ratling retainer (ganger) : Hunting Rifle, Infiltration,

Lucky O'Wobbles, ratling retainer (ganger) : Hunting Rifle, Infiltration,

Yagosh, Beastman Slave (juve) : Big Mutie, Snake Tail, Sword,

Mellox, Beastman Slave (juve) : Big Mutie, Snake Tail, Sword.

Pat's gone for a lot of sneaky ratlings, backed up by some big inexperienced beastman muscle, overseen by human Nobles. One feature of the ratlings names are their distinctiveness, presumably all hailing from the agricultural world of ***Oirlund. The six ratlings all have infiltration which means they don't show up until the end of Pat's first turn so it leaves me with some problems right off the bat - not knowing where your enemy shooters are at the start of the game hampers your opening moves, but with luck if I stay in cover for the first turn, this worry is minimalised. Also the two big Muties give a bit of punch to the gang, and the heavy stubber provides long range support.

The Ambull Hunters

The Fight

The roll for selecting sides was won by Pat, but I got to chose who went first, so with the infiltrators in mind I decided to go second. At least then I wouldn't (hopefully) present a massive gaping autowin type situation by rushing off and leaving my rear undefended (ooer). So Pat advanced with his non-infiltrators and then deployed all six sneaky ratlings in cover and in forward positions making my job a little but trickier.

Two meat shields for Disciple Bangs

My right flank fire team

 My first turn involved my main group faffing around behind the pub type building as I wasn't sure what order I wanted my troops to advance in. I also discovered that the Dominate wyrd power is activated in the opponents turn instead of my own.

My left flank assault force

Sneaky Sneaksters!

Some skulking Nobles with beastmen retainers

Billy No mates AKA Lord Ruprecht

The next few turns were as cagey as a fox in a minefield as both myself and Pat didn't want to give any clear shots away. My gung ho-ness broke first as ****usual, and I started darting troops forward to try to outmaneuver the rich kids with their abhuman flunkies.

Team Indecision!

When my eagerness to advance got too hard to resist I advanced both Greylocks and Ensign up the middle with Shawty attempting a flanking move soon to be accompanied by Buxom. One thing I did do was put Bangs on overwatch and hope my two weaponsmith ammo roll rerolls would allow for some effective area denial.

Run Meat shields, run!

Meanwhile stuff was going on on Pat's side of the table. In the picture below Pat's main combat group (two big muties and the Duchess - at the top) shadowed my combat group, although if shit got real my numbers should prove telling. Also Lord Ruprecht advaced up to one of the ratlings (possibly Rusty O'Charmless). I did get an overwatch shot on who I think was Goldie McWhiskey, fleshwounding him (or her). the ensuing ammo roll was failed but I ignored it with my weaponsmith territory.  It was around this time both Spaz and Ensign were both hit but not wounded.

To confuse matters more, a portrait view of the Nobles.

A fleshwounded ratling (centre) and an overwatching ratling (bottom left). There is also a shot-his-bolt ratling on the right.

The beginning of Operation Duck & Weave

A bit of sprinting later Chubbs took a fleshwound and myself and Pat had a 5 minute arguement over whether a model could see another one. It involved several getting down to eye level squints and even waving a phone with it's torch on. I was adamant he couldn't see and Pat was equally adamant he could. Then it turned out that I had completely gotten the wrong end of the stick and it was a different model he was trying to shoot with. I apologised and hastily agreed there was definitely line of sight. I can only apologise for what must have seemed to Pat, me being a complete dick. The upshot was, Hellion didn't get hit so no harm done. Perhaps***** a laser pointer will have to be obtained.

A lot of faffing later......

The ******penultimate turn arrived with Pat putting a lot of his ratlings on overwatch (again) with many of his shooters in good cover as opposed to my combat troops who had to run the gauntlet of BS4 ratling sniping.  A few shots were fired but no one seemed to be hit, I'm sure there was more than one member of my warband who had to fill in requisition forms for new Imperial underwear but that is matter between the fighters and the laundry servitor.
I had to get close to the ratlings to avail myself of the free *******+1 to wound that you get against them, with this in mind Ensign and Greylocks ran up the centre hoping to not be dead in the following turn. A distinct lack of death ensued (much to their surprise - and mine). Also Spaz ran out into the open as Chubbs was pinned and Spaz hasn't done anything worth mentioning in our first games, if I had to lose one it has to be Spaz.

Both Greylocks & Ensign cannot believe they're not dead yet! 

Spaz runs off to take one for the team.

This is the turn that broke Pat's heart********. Pat had two of my gimpy gangers out in the open with three shooters on them, two were hitting on 3+s and one on a 2+. Three 1's later Pat knew it wasn't his day! Some other desultory fire elsewhere hit nothing and I had escaped another turn scot free!
In my turn I moved Deric out to attack the lone ratling situated just out of sight of the picture below, his overwatch shot missed and a single hit from the plasma gun did him in. A failed ammo roll later meant my second workshop bonus was used up. I decided to open up with Bangs on a now in cover ratling! Needing 7's to hit I went fully auto getting 5 shots, then some 6's followed by 4+'s meaning the little mite was hit and wounded 3 times. I very nearly got away with it by passing 2 out of 3 ammo rolls. The both Ensign and Shawty took down two more ratlings forcing The Ambull Hunters to bottle it. Once again the Emperor protects!

If you look carefully you can see Deric's plasma gun!

 Damaged Ratlings A Gogo!

Conclusion

Amazingly I hadn't taken any casualties in that game (a fleshwound was all) due to my gang causing 4 I got to muscle in on one of Pat's territories. I took over his Prizefighting business. As far as income went I ended up with 80 Throne Geld which I bought a blindsnake pouch (which I decided to give to Jenna) and ratling recruit (as I was impressed with them). Advancewise Jenna got +1 WS, hellion got the Juggernaut skill, Shawty got +1 BS and Bangs got +1 LD. The Ratling was issued the previously captured Jokaero's autogun.
The injury roll was kind to Pat as he didn't get any lasting injuries. Goldie McWhiskey got a +1 BS advance (which puts him at the top of my hit list) and +1 WS to both Tater O'Looney and Lucky O'Wobbles. Weapon skill advances of ratling infiltrators can be annoying, but not as irritating as a BS5 shooter who infiltrates! This is one of my favourite aspects of Necro/inquisimunda the ever changing gang stats.

Jenna was troubled, the Necromundan underhive seldom saw one ratling, let alone six. Also two very large mutants were seen acting as guardians for the apparent leader of the group. All this pointed to an organised well funded and unscrupulous outfit. One that needed to be eliminated. The skirmish itself went well with only Chubbs taking a minor wound. The warband's tenacity had helped to defeat the other group and sent them scurrying back into the shadows. Unfortunately no captives were taken for interrogation. This new group were presumably looking for the same thing as the Jokers, without knowing anything about them this investigation would be subject to unwanted scrutiny. The nearest ratling planet was Oirlund , in the Cark system. There may be answers there. 

What Now?

Moving the narrative forward, I think a trip to Oirlund to find out a bit more about The Ambull Hunters is probable (I will get to use my WFB terrain as it is an agriworld). This will also be the planet of origin of my new ratling recruit. I have a scenario planned involving an immature genestealer and a few other critters.

Thanks for reading.

*More a set of guidelines really.
**The old one has retired (for now).
*** A fabulous paradise planet of drunkenness and debauchery.
**** There are very few games where I let my opponent come to me.
*****Definitely.
******Althought neither of us knew at the time.
*******When you have a toughness of 2 everyone wants to play the handslap game with you!
********In my opinion anyway.