Massacre at LZ Alpha – Kroot VS Praetor Guard

Once again, a slight deviation from the regular battlereport and even though I have no intention to narrate all my reports this way, I felt like this one needed a story, and one that was uninterrupted. So look for the regular report further below. For the story of what happened that day near LZ Alpha, read on….


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“This is flight Ceres 7 on an inbound trajectory to LZ Alpha, please confirm your location.”
“Sigma 19 here, package is on site, awaiting pickup.” Captain Quintus answered the pilot of the incoming Valkyrie transport. He looked at the five government officials milling about near the large stature of some Space Marine commander from ages past. If he had known the name of the square they were standing on he might have guessed the Marine’s name, but it was only known to him as LZ Alpha. When he had heard his next assignment was to escort the Primary Province Administrator out of the sector his first action was to call his contacts in the navy to request a Valkyrie for a speedy pickup. He had no intention to walk them out of a warzone on foot. He looked at their aimless wandering and shook his head. At least they were properly equipped with sidearms and some armor.
“Get ready boys,” He signaled to rest of the team, “We all know waiting for the pickup is the most dangerous part of the operation, when the transport touches dirt, I want all of you to get in as fast as possible, and make sure the civvies do the same.”
He got some acknowledging nods form the men and he inwardly smiled. He had some good men here. Lieutenant Marcus did an excellent job commanding in his last mission, Lieutenant Gaius was finally back with them and his sergeants where hard as nails. True, Cassius was so ugly he could even scare Horus, Severus had no sense of humor and Avitus was a bit green behind the ears but all were professionals.

Suddenly his radio screeched back into life. “Ceres 7 under fire, I repeat we are under fire. The LZ is hot, LZ Alpha is hot.” Quintus looked around, no one was in sight yet, how could they say the Landing Zone was ‘hot’?
“Ceres 7, this is Sigma 19. What is your inbound trajectory?”
“Sigma 19, we are coming in from relative grid block 3, repeat, grid block 3.”
Quitus frowned, that would be east from his position.
“Otho, Tacitus, Aelius, Tracius, Celcus, Severus, Marcus; Take up positions to cover the eastern approach!” he barked, getting his men in position.
“Ceres 7, what is your ETA to LZ Alpha?”
“Negatory Sigma 19, I’m not going to chance it. I’m diverting to LZ Gamma on relative grid block 8. Ceres 7 out.”
Quintus swore. The Valkyrie was diverting to another landing zone. That meant he had to move west, and fast.
“Gaius, Cassius, Avitus, grab an official and get going, we’ll meet up with you at LZ Gamma. And please try to get the others to go with you as well.”
“What are you going to do?” Gaius asked with a little trepidation in his voice.
“Speedbump whatever is coming for the Administrator, now get going.” Quintus racked the slide of his bolt pistol as to make a point. It seemed to come across quite well as the three officers started to marshal the government officials west. When he was sure nobody was looking he allowed himself to look worried for a moment. He hadn’t heard the eastern booby-traps go off yet. That either meant nobody was coming or that the bombs where woefully out of place.
He turned out to be wrong on both accounts; his booby-traps had bought him some extra time, now the question was if it was enough.

“Movement to the east!” Marcus finally yelled.
“Who are they?” Quintus demanded after taking up position on the line himself. He peered down the approach but saw nothing.
“Don’t know yet, but there was definitely movement.” Quintus looked again, this time more intently. He was about to give up when a tall, powerfully build creature broke cover. Before he could react Otho had opened fire with his auto rifle, the staccato of the weapon breaking the eerie silence Quintus only now recognized had existed only a moment earlier. The creature doubled over, having been hit by the weapons fire and that allowed them to take a better look at it.
“Kroot,” Quintus finally decided. He hadn’t faced them before but knew several mercenary groups of the strange creatures were operating in this theater. He didn’t get a much closer look at it as several smaller hound like Kroot darted from cover and made for the nearest wall, followed by a large group of the humanoid Kroot. They opened fire but most of it bounced harmlessly of off the strange vines suddenly growing up the walls, psyker madness caused by the Kroot Shaman. Only one hound fell in the hail of gunfire, and judging by the twitching he was clearly still alive. Quintus looked over his shoulder, the officials not nearly far enough away yet.
“Aim and double-tap, focus fire, hold the line!” Quintus bellowed over the noise. Gouts of burning promethium erupted from the nozzles of the two flamers, seemingly setting the world on fire, but the Kroot just shrugged it off and kept on coming. To his great discomfort Quintus saw his strategy failing as more and more Kroot came closer. It got worse.
“Grenades incoming!” Quintus wasn’t quite sure who yelled it, but he ducked behind cover nonetheless. When he didn’t hear a bang but a hissing sound he looked up again. A thick wall of smoke was already forming, obscuring the advancing Kroot.
“Back, move back!” Quintus ordered, but it was already too late. Yelping with a strange sound, a mix between a low bark and a high pitched bird call, the hounds charged . One came through the smoke, still smoldering a bit from Aelius’ ineffective flamer fire before slamming in to the poor trooper himself, knocking him to the ground where the hound started to pound on him. Two bright flashes lit op the smoke as Severus opened fire with his pistol. He whooped as he masterfully shot down a Kroot headhunter coming for them. Murcus’ heavy stubber turned the world into a smoking hell as he opened up on the attackers, but the continued returning fire and closing hounds suggested he wasn’t hitting much. Quintus turned to add his own fire to the fight when a stray round caught him in the shoulder, the force carrying him to the ground and stunning him for a moment. Before he blacked out he could see his second flamer trooper, Celcus, being carried to the ground by another hound.

When Quintus came to again he was looking into the malevolent eyes of another hound standing on his chest. The gunfire seemed to have lessened and it quickly became apparent why. Marcus was lying on the floor while two hounds and a humanoid Kroot Carnivore where trying to gnaw through his armor, his dreadful moaning suggesting he was feeling every bite. Severus was holding of another hound and another Kroot with his sword, but was losing badly. The remaining recruits where all fighting valiantly, but the odds were stacked against them badly. The last thing Quintus saw before a hound snapped his neck was another hound running past him to attack one of the officials.

Marcus barely registered the brutal death of his captain through the haze of pain and blood. Not even Severus noted, as he was now also on the floor fighting for his life against several assailants. With an unusual feeling of pride he did see the assaulted official shoot the hound in the head with his laspistol, the vicious creature slumping to the ground. He tried to yell “run!” but only managed to spit out some blood. Moments before a blade punctured his shoulder blade and he lost consciousness altogether he also saw one of the Kroot behead Severus. The damaged bodies of his fellow soldiers, Otho, Tacitus, Celcus, Aelius and Tracius bloodied the sand as the Kroot went after the moving targets. They, however were too far away to be caught up to and as the screaming of Valkyrie engines died away, the government officials safely on board, the Kroot decided to move on.

--

“Clear!”
Marcus awoke with a shock to find his world only seemed to exist of pain.
“He’s still alive! Get him to an operating table stat!” Marcus dimly recognized the voice of the medic Pius.
“Will he live?” The voice of Gaius could be heard. “We’ve already lost Quintus and Severus, we can’t lose him to.” Marcus almost slipped back into blissful unconsciousness as he heard the news. Captain Quintus and Sergeant Severus where both dead.
“Get out of my way and he will live!” Pius could be heard again. “Just let me do my job. And while you are at it, you do yours. Get the bastards back, avenge your friends. Screw the mission next time you see those mercenaries, wipe them of the face of this Emperor forgotten planet.”

The mission: Governor Assassination
Defender: Imperial Guard – Preator Infiltrator squad Sigma 19
Attacker: Telruna’s Kroot Mercenaries


The IG defenders set up in the middle of the table, on the central square, with the 5 government officilas (the metal models). Telruna set up on the right side of the table, pretty much in the corner. His Job: to capture or kill as many officials as possible, my job: to save them.












The first three turns pretty much involved a lot of moving. Telruna tried to set of my booby-traps with his hounds, but they did not go off. He feared a massive explosion would happen only if pretty much everyone was in the blastzone, so he decided to take the long way round. This allowed me to start escorting some officials of the board. I picked the tree officers closest to an official and started moving. While my booby-traps never went off, they did buy me precious time to start escorting.

Turns 1-3











In turn 4 first contact was made. A group of hounds move closer to the IG gunline. Some psyker madness from the Kroot shaper turned the wall into some extra dense cover. That, combined with pretty abysmal rolling made sure only one hound was wounded, and only stunned at that.

Turn 4









In turn 5 the kroot deployed their two smoke grenades, making firing in the IG side almost impossible. The Kroot take out one of the flamer troopers, while the 3 officials with their escorts and the medic move further away. Strangely enough, thhe two uncontrolled officials also move closer to the exit, mostly. On a bright side, Severus master shots the 2 wounded headhunter firmly OOA. (Spoiler: that would be the only proper Kill by my squad, and only one of the two casualties the Kroot would take)

Turn 5







Turn 6 sees mayor carnage as the Kroot charge in earnest, my notekeeping pretty much failed at this point. But I do know my Captain was stunned by a shot and then charged by Hounds and my second flamer got killed. I also think Marcus with his heavy stubber got knocked down at this point, but he survived many rounds of combat, alternating from stunned to knocked out to stunned.

Turn 6









In turn 7 a hound manages to charge the closest official. Only to get an exit wound from the officials pistol in close combat. Second (and last…) kill for the IG…My guess is that by now you get why the title reads ‘Massacre at LZ Alpha’. By now all the guard on the ‘gunline’ are in CC and have started their dying process. Lucky enough for me Telruna’s OOA rolls where poor and most of my troops survived another round being stunned or KO. Still, on the bright side, one official moves of the board, rescued.

Turn 7:









My notes for turn 8 pretty much say: “All Die” which is mostly true, but only concerning the IG in close combat. On the ‘running away’ team a second official moves of the board. While the Kroot try their best to catch up the fleeing officials they are already too far away. Still, one stragling official apparently build up so much confidence he charged a hound (random direction directly into the Kroot hound coming for him…). Luckily enough the official lived once again and with the game ending by random game length the IG win, having 2 officials of the board while the Kroot did not kill or capture even 1. Guard win, but at what price…

Turn 8:









Post battle:
Here is where the real hurting of snakes came in. When rolling on the serious injury table I rolled snake eyes for my captain (DEAD!), 13 for my sergeant Severus (DEAD!) and 12 for Lieutenant Marcus (DEAD!). Seeing as Marcus was the best equipped and had the most and best advancements my medic went to save him (which thankfully worked, so NOT DEAD!). All my recruits survived the ordeal.

Telruna’s headhunter, while OOA and of the board, decided to have another game and fought with a bio titan of the ”Felis cattus domesticus” subtype (Aka: my cat Zoë), and while glue had to be involved eventually, this earned the Headhunter another 2XP (he rolled 66 on his serious injury roll)…his dog survived as well…damn!

Even in the income phase he did a bit better than me, so I guess it is safe to say, even though I managed to win the scenario, I am quite sure Telruna won the Battle….

Next time Telruna, next Time!

Awesome battle report - possibly even better than the last one. You've set the bar really high.

Great pics - you could really get the ebb and flow of the battle.

Loved the story and I actually felt gutted that you lost two of your officers in combat - you've got some rebuilding to do. Losing doesn't always equate to losing in the post game I suppose. I thought WOTW had bad luck when he rolled dead for his warlock without a healthcare professional (I think he thought I wouldn't do him any harm as I so rarely put any of his troops OOA before I needed to rout under the old rules!).

Keep it up - I am firmly hooked on these reports now

Laney

LOL! What the...

I officially nominate Prius as V.I.S.I.O.N public enemy!

And hereby withdraw my nomination for Telruna.

Dudes, awesome report, great to see you playing together. That makes me happy. Prius: why didn't you reroll for your leader? You can recruit a new HWS, but you can't recruit a new leader! Well, at least I get to bash you for losing at your birthday party.

What does that leave him with? An open slot for TLGT? Or another Lieutenant?

Marcus isn't a HWS but a lieutenant with a heavy stubber, and has more XP than the captain had. I now have left 2 LT's and two Sargeants., so two open officer spots. Haven't read yet about rerecruiting officers, if that is even possible...my guess is I have to roll TLGT soon. On a related sidenote, what happens if I roll that on an infantry team of two, will both be promoted to officers? And seeing as Marcus now takes up leadership, is he also upgraded (in name only) to a Captain?

No, the HWS is a rectruit. He starts with zero experience. It is normally better to save that rreroll for a Captain, LT or Sarges. Your story could be that the Captain was too far gone and it there was a better chance to save the HWS>


Great Pics and great report.

No, Marxus WASN'T a HWS, he was a Lieutennant with the heavy weapon skill so he could carry a Heavy stubber. My two HWS are Aelius ann Celcus, and they both carry flamers. And if I read it correctly, I can recruit a captain, but I have to pay 8 credits per XP point, so it'll be expensive.

Oh ok. Missed the part he was a LT.

Actually, you are not supposed to be able to hire another Captain. That is what makes the game a bit of a challenge to protect your leader.

It seems we didn't specifiy that Captains can not be rehired in the rehire section but it is in the rulebook, somewhere.

Well, even if I could, the cost would be very very high. Problem with this is though, if nobody get's promoted to Captain, that the maximum of officers in the squad then drops permanently to 5 instead of 6, because you can't fill the captain spot anymore.

SUPERB REPORT!!! This is how I write my Battle Reports (Check out the White WAAAGH in this post). Also check out the Sensory Array on the Battle Report Sections. Yours took me into a GREAT journey! I imagine everything... VERY cinematic! Trust me... a SMOKE GRENADE has never been so cool! WOW!

Then seeing the actual game... PERFECT! The booby traps are NOT super deadly (they have taken fighters OOA from time to time, but not are 'abusive') but they do throw a monkey-wrench in your opponent's plans! HEhehehe. My favorite line...

Guard win, but at what price…

Ahhh... the price of those Administratum Monkeys! But fighting Zoe is a close 2nd! HAHA! Earned him XP... FUNNY! I agree that rooling 3 DEAD on Post-Battle deserves that you go in and join the V.I.S.I.O.N.'s Most Wanted!

Now, to your questions:
* You can NOT hire a Leader (i.e. Captain). This is the only unit that if lost, can't never be recruited back. It is on TLRB, on the section queted below. You are correct, the Officer with highest Ld (XP in case of tie, roll a D6 if unresolved) will become the new Leader. He would also gain the Leader Skill (but nothing else the Captain had).

Quote :

Replacing a Dead Squad Leader
If the Leader of the Squad is slain, the Officer with the next highest Leadership value takes command. If there is more than one Officer eligible to assume command, the Fighter with the most Experience points becomes the Leader. In the case of a tie roll a D6 to decide the new Leader. The new Leader gains the Leader ability (although he must continue to use his original Skill list) and can use the Equipment list available to the Leader.

Some Squads have specific rules dealing with this situation; some have to fight for the Squad’s Leadership! Under no circumstances you are allowed to hire a new Leader for your Squad, unless noted in your Squad section.

* Well, even if I could, the cost would be very very high. Problem with this is though, if nobody get's promoted to Captain, that the maximum of officers in the squad then drops permanently to 5 instead of 6, because you can't fill the captain spot anymore.
Lieutenant Marcus would be the new Leader, but for game purposes he still a Lieutenant. This means that you have 4 Officers, 2 Lts and 2 Sgts of of a maximum of SIX (6); this means that you have slots to get 2 more Officers. You already have the maximum of two Lieutenants and two Sergeants, so you can only fill those two Officer slots with Recruits that rolled TLGT.

* And seeing as Marcus now takes up leadership, is he also upgraded (in name only) to a Captain?
Story-wise, you can promote "Lieutenant Marcus" to "1st Lieutenant Marcus" or "Captain Marcus".

* On a related side note, what happens if I roll TLGT on an infantry team of two, will both be promoted to officers?
No. Only 1 Recruit would be come an Officer. For easy visualization... A Recruit Group composed of 5 Infantrymen. They gain an Advancement, and you roll TLGT. ONE Infantryman becomes an Officer (if you have space for him) and the other 4 Infantrymen get another Advancement roll. If you roll again TLGT, ONE Infantryman would become an Officer (if you have the same) and the other 3 Infantrymen get another Advancement roll. Rinse & repeat.

One more thing... The Medic. As stated on the TLRB:

Quote :

• Medic!: Given enough time and supplies, anyone could help a fallen comrade. Only those few with extensive training and natural aptitude can really make a difference. A fighter with this Skill would allow one re-roll of a Serious Injury at the end of the game on any fighter, be an Officer or a Recruit. This Skill can only be used if the medic has not been taken Out Of Action himself and cannot be combined with any other Skill or item that would allow a re-roll on the Serious Injury table; remember you can never re-roll a re-roll!

Apparently, WE (the writers of !) have been doing this wrong. Yes... you are doing it as written... but our intent was different. Rather than just rolling ALL the Serious Injury and then deciding what to re-roll, you are supposed to roll ONE serious injury victim at a time, decide if he 'deserves' medical attention. If he does, then re-roll, If not, accept the result and move on to the next. This creates a tension... you roll your most valuable fighter first (usually your Captain) and your least valuable Recruit (the poor bastards who gain +1 Ld!) last. In your case, you could had chosen to put the medic to work on the Captain... then you would be at the mercy of the dice-gods. A good reason why to get a Healthcare Professional... MORE insurance! I would make a note for us to revise for TLRB v0.6.0.

Ok, thanks for clearing that up. On a side note, one of my 'sergeants' was actually a TLGT. Does this mean I can re-recruit another actual sargeant (bacause I only have 1 original sergeant left)? And do I have to pay for the starting XP he has (the '8 credits per XP increase' in the squad), or is that 'included' in the price?

My captain is just going to remain dead. I wrote it like that, I decided to spend my Medic roll on Marcus.

YES.

Recruits that become Officer via TLRG as "Generic Officers" do not 'count' towards any specific limits. So, you can recruit a new Sgt. You pay EXACTLY what it says in TLRB for the Sgt and you EXACTLY what it says in TLRB! Unlike hiring 'veteran' Recruits, new Officers start as described on TLRB; as you stated it correctly, the experience they come with is already 'included' in the price.

Leave the Captain dead... nature of War! Sure it is a setback (campaign wise) but it seems that this is becoming MASON's story! You imagine? Yarrik has a Power Klaw as a weapon, and GENERAL MASON always carries a Heavy Stubber! That is for you... full of twists and surprises!

I ate the captain.. He's dead, trust me. Dead meat for the MEATgrinder! yumyum

Hungry Hounds VS Praetor Guard equals BUFFET for Kroot! But... Prius did manage to save the officials... my compliments on that.

Lol

woah..... it'll take time to recover from that"victory" prius

Hello boys,


Sturmm here. Been busy for a few days. Had some time to visit and read today. My dear colonel you set the standards. F***** great report and story. Keep it coming!