Anyone fancy a little John Carpenter?
Necromunda! And I'm hosting a mini-campaign, mostly so I can finally use all my Necromunda scenery. Taken direct from the pages of the October White Dwarf from 2019, this is a game in five parts. A loose coalition of gangs is attempting to take out their local law enforcement headquarters, and it's down to the skeleton crew of the station to keep the flag flying until dawn.
Welcome to Assault on Precinct Fortress 17!
Chicken Night in Turkey
I, Kraken, am running the lawmen. 1500 points to spend on Enforcers, plus some free hangers on in the form of a Slopper, a Rogue Doc and an Ammo-jack. There are also some scummers in the cells who I can let out to help with the defence. Whether or not that's a good idea remains to be seen...
As you'd expect, I've got some very well-equipped popo here. Lots of armour, some excellent equipment and plenty of grenades. The hangers-on and my home turf advantage are pretty big - all the doors are locked to the attackers, but not me, and there's no way I can bottle out. But I have to survive five games with the same gang. Any wounds I take are going to cost me big!
Now on to my opponents - the coalition known as the Thunder Boys. I'm sure they are all working entirely together on this, and that the fame of succeeding in what they're attempting is lure enough. None of them would have their own, secret reasons for wanting to attack an Enforcer stronghold, after all...
Stylus - The Baldy Men
Gang Roster
No school like the old school, and Stylus has fitted his Delaque gang with the guns they originally came with back in the nineties. Shotguns, autoguns, bolters - even a heavy stubber! Stealth isn't so much the name of the game as the translated subtitle underneath the barcode on the back side of the game's box.
All the same, it's a solid pick - a roster of hairless wonders, with enough mid-range firepower to seriously upset any copper's day.
Kasfunatu - By Any Other Name
Gang Roster
It wouldn't be a Van Saar gang without a relatively small number of guys packing a relatively large number of terrifying guns. The leader has a plasma-las combi-weapon, which is already frightening. But there's also the Rad gun, offering ranged vasectomies with its template, and someone aping the riot shield cops with their own baton-and-shield routine. Scary!
Pootle - The Flumps
Gang Roster
You can't not have The Flumps in a Necromunda game, not in our circles. This is a select crew compared to the fuller list that has seen action here before, but not to be sneezed at all the same. Orlock gang leaders are about as tough as you get. One who's going to be sprinting round corners and packing a bolter? That's a threat I'm going to need to squash fast. Except he's also going to be screened behind all those well-armed gangers...
Leofa - Men O' War
Goliaths are a strong pick for Necromunda these days. They might only do one thing, and perhaps do it a little slowly. But by god, they do it well! Bigger and tougher than the other gangs, these guys are going to slog towards you spewing out some very nasty short-range firepower, before mushing anybody still standing into the floor with machine tools. Watch out for the plasma-stub combi-gun, that deadly combination of one of the most advanced guns in the game with one of the least.
Dog Watch
As we start, the gangs are making their very first assault on the precinct. The enforcers are inside, as ready for trouble as usual. Little do they expect what's coming for them, though!
The board is 4x4 with a 3x3 Precinct inside it. The outside edges of this are impenetrable other than the large doors, but they're also partly invisible (for Skype accessibility reasons!). The game is a six-turn affair, with the gangers trying to get a foothold inside the station. If they've got more models inside the copshop by the end of turn 6, they win round one, and can claim two tiles' worth as their deployment zone in the next round. If I keep them out, I get more resources to prepare for their next attempt.
They split themselves into a main group and a flanking force, each nominally led by somebody. I start inside, they start outside - let's see who ends up where!
Turn 1 - Avon Saar Calling
With a choice of four doors to kick in, the attacking gangs decide on the one with the fewest Enforcers currently pointing at it. The Van Saar and the Orlocks shake out their tendons and get ready to strike, with Pootle barking orders in all directions. The plan is to smash the door in, until the Van Saar leader casually walks up to it and swipes a clearly stolen keycard over it, politely opening the way for the assault.
The assault is fairly cautious, however - there's a frag mine just inside the entry hall, just next to the ACME free coffee dispenser, and the Orlocks stand around it tutting and sucking their teeth as they make pointed remarks about not signing up for the Hurt Locker.
Inside, the Enforcers shuffle about. If they commit to seeing off this first wave of attackers, they'll be out of position to deal with the second wave. The nearest two are guarding the cells, and quickly retreat out of sight, calling for backup from the central plaza.
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| "Okay, Rookie, this is textbook stuff. You know what to do - just follow my lead!" |
Turn 2 - Training Day
The flankers turn up just round the corner, aiming for the long access corridor that leads past the generator room. Unlike the refined Van Saar, the Goliaths just walk up to this door and pull it out of the wall.
Meanwhile, the Flumps are still busy discussing frag bomb disposal. Shoot the red wire! No, the blue one! But in the end, it's once again the Van Saar to the rescue, as one of their gangers neatly blasts the bomb apart, presumably before flipping his rifle about in a fancy figure of eight, blowing smoke off the barrel and holstering it.
Nearby at the holding cells, the Van Saar have sent their specialists ahead to clear the way. The Enforcers are ready and waiting, charging from round the corner with one of their Subjugator shield wall guys. Clashing with the Van Saar energy shield leads to a partial stalemate, however - they both stand at a distance, whacking each other with electrified staves.
The stalemate is neatly resolved by the Enforcer's Rookie, who pops out, unloads his service revolver into the back of his superior officer's head, then panics about how this will look on his work experience sheet and runs away screaming. First blood to me, I guess?
Delaque gangers flood into the opening the Goliaths have made, and make a couple of long-range sniper shots. One connects, knocking the Ammo Jack off a wall and on to his own head, taking him out of the fray. This leaves them exposed to retaliatory fire from officer Skeleton Key's SLHG grenade launcher. Choke grenades! But the poor man isn't counting on the Delaque's sneaky tactics, and they play a card to vanish temporarily into the shadows. The shot is wasted, and it sadly turns out to be the only choke grenade they had for the launcher in the station - click! and he's out of ammo.
Elsewhere, however, the Enforcers are moving up in cover to protect their precinct, flanking connecting doors and corridors and preparing a warm welcome for the intruders. Pootle commands his gangers to breach the next door, and is met by a bouncing choke grenade for his pains - its an alarming moment, but the toughened gang leader shrugs off the gas and orders his men to move in.
Turn 3 - I Call Shotgun
As the Flumps make their advance into the central command area, they fall foul of one of these prepared positions. Officer Scattershot and his combat shotgun, in fact, who peppers several Orlocks with a spray of fire as they open a connecting door. Attempting to bring up backup just gets the Orlocks into more trouble - first a flash grenade to keep them busy, then supporting overwatch fire from the Suppression Ram in the tower.
At least their champion manages to pulls one of the toting Enforcers out of the doorway with his harpoon gun, but his plan goes awry when the harpoon pulls him too far - rather than leaving him blocking the doorway, he clears it entirely, leaving the Flumps open for an even better shotgun blast next round.
The Delaque attempt to keep up their barrage of fire, but there aren't many targets. Because they keep forcing the coppers into cover, in fairness, so its their own fault. Savalas, their leader, uses up the last of his Bolter ammo in the process, much to his own annoyance. At least he topples an Enforcer off the gantry up ahead, although he survives with a minor concussion.
This leaves quite a lot of attackers clustered in a very small space - perfect for choke grenades! One of the Enforcers pops out and lobs some tear gas into the packed bodies, but its a terrible throw that misses everyone. One of his mates makes up for it by nailing a Delaque juve with his service revolver, but that's not exactly stemming the tide.
By the prison, the attackers are pushing further in and shooting everything in their way. Rad beamers and Van Saar cattle prods make short work of the other Enforcers there, leaving the weeping Rookie to deal with five hostile hivers heading his way.
The Goliaths have had a quiet turn so far, content to let the weedy Delaque take point, but now they come thundering up behind. There's quite a log-jam developing here...
Turn 4 - Don't Choke
...and that's all the encouragement the Enforcers need to deploy their grenades again. This time it's a much better shot that leaves several gangers gasping on the floor. This rather spooks the Delaque, who have been slowly manouvering their heavy stubber into position. He takes this moment to decide that 'back the way we came' is an even better position, and legs it instead.
Alas, the grenadier is left a bit close, and a Goliath champion, high on stimpacks, comes powering through the smoke to utterly flatten the hapless lawman.
The Orlocks remain fouled by the combat shotgunner, who knocks four of them down. Nobody actually gets badly hurt, though, it must be a beanbag round. At least it's slowing them down!
The Van Saar are cheerfully mopping up Enforcers around the jail. The Rookie manages to pin one of the Orlocks backing them up, but that's all he manages before chickening out again. Nearby, the Rogue Doc has also been gunned down whilst trying to take the lift out of harm's way. At this rate of advance, they'll be flanking the Enforcers holding up the Orlocks in no time.
The Goliath leader and his sidekicks take the lead in the corridor attack, as the Delaque are keeping the defenders pinned in cover. Seeing that the attackers are making far too much ground, the Subjugator Captain dashes down from above, ready to gas the hefty gangers. It's a great shot - one of the Goliaths collapses, choking, and his pal turns to flee. But the Goliath Leader, Prince Royal, blocks the way, keeping his panicking minion in place.
After this, one of those lurking Delaque fires. It doesn't hurt the Captain, but it does manage to tip him off the walkway - right on to the head of the Enforcer who fell from the same place previously. Neither of them are hurt badly, but they're left on the floor, awfully close to the Goliaths. Prince Royal makes the most of this to spray the nearby Enforcers with his combat shotgun. Pinned and perforated, they're stuck on the floor and fairly helpless.
Then the other Goliaths start getting up! Another tactics card sees both the gassed gangers remember their inhalers and get up. Unstoppable badasses, every one. On the other end of the spectrum are the Delaque, who prove to be stoppable asses by failing their Bottle test. Before the next turn can even start, their leader vanishes into the gathering night, taking a ganger with him. Somehow, nobody is at all surprised.
Turn 5 - Into the Breaches
The Attackers keep up their forward momentum. Prince Royal yells orders and huffs his crack pipe - his panicky minion calms down, cocks his bolt pistol and fells the Enforcer Captain, whereupon the Goliath Leader follows up on the wounded rozzer and goes nuts with a chainsword. This casualty has the rest of the nearby defenders running for it - only one stays to guard the corridor, and his stub gun is out of ammo. So he's probably just not paying attention to events as he carefully pushes bullets into the chamber.
A last hail of shotgun ammo once again stymies the Orlocks - but now their allies are moving in from the other side. The pesky shotgunner gets picked off, then the Flumps are through that fatal doorway, and threatening the very heart of the Precinct.
From up on high, the Man with the Ram spots the Goliath champion climbing the ladders to the command deck, and quickly snaps off an interception shot. A concussion ram is almost specially made for knocking people off high things, and the Goliath is quickly sent back the way he came.
However! At this point, there are twenty two attackers in the precinct, as opposed to four Enforcers left standing (and their Slopper, who is cowering at the back somewhere and wondering why he didn't take that low-paid job at the burger place). It's also pretty late after four hours of dice, so we call it there.
Aftermath
What a disaster for the defence! Eight men down and out of action, plus I've lost control of the prison tile and the corridor tile. And not one single attacker hurt! Were the dice against me? Well, let's ask the Rookie who scored my only takedown of the game.
Plenty of hits, plenty of crowds to toss gas into - it was all good on paper! But a combination of failing all my 'don't fall off things' tests and some very good injury rolling from the opposition left me flailing hilariously about. Very entertaining, at any rate!
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| The attackers kept excitedly asking if they could let the prisoners out. They can! But they're initially loyal to the Enforcers for some reason (I'm guessing prison food). I'm going to want to get the jail back in my jurisdiction asap... |
However, it's not all doom and gloom. This campaign has some special mechanics for injuries, and my luck eventually evens out for the night. Most of my guys were just out cold, which means they can help tend to the injured. Which in turn means that the more injured guys, despite losing a clutch of eyes, toes and spinal cord sections between them, will be ready to fight as normal for the next round. I've even got enough manpower spare to root about in the evidence locker and find a few more bombs!
And I have an idea of where I went wrong - the Enforcers are very good at backing each other up, with a great selection of guns and weapons for suppressing the enemy before following up with inappropriate force at close range. If I'd stayed together a bit more and concentrated my efforts on one side, rather than pushing out in all directions, I'd probably have made a lot more headway.
But the attackers won't be coming for me in straightforward attacks like this next time. Oh no - they have different plans...
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