A Deathwatch veteran lands atop a burning building during a battle against the Necrons.

TheGM: Although the Cold Wars gaming convention is sponsored by the Historical Miniatures Gaming Society (HMGS), the Corvus Cluster hosted three Shadow War: Armageddon events.

I opted to stay away from historical games because (1) I’d done all that work on the Shorehammer skirmish table and wanted to use it again; and (2) I just enjoyed running the scenarios so much I wanted to see how other players fared with them.

The timing was a close-run thing. The convention was March 12-15, and if it had been scheduled just a week later, I’m sure it would have been cancelled. As it was,  coronavirus worries were growing, and attendance was down.

I ran three events: “Ritual of Pestilence,” “Mystery of the Necrons,” and “Head of the Snake.” (In the unlikely event you’re interested in what these scenarios entailed, just click on “Shorehammer” in the Categories list to the right.)

My Shorehammer table is pulled out of storage for Cold Wars 2020.

At Shorehammer, the results of each event actually influenced the future of the Corvus Cluster, so these repeat adventures were just for a bit of fun.

The first morning’s “Ritual of Pestilence” was a bust. It was early on the first day of the convention, attendance overall was low, and no one showed up.

For the second event of the day, “Mystery of the Necrons,” the xenos won. Although Magos Abnightus and his Skitarii did an admirable job of seizing three objectives, the firepower of the Necrons slowed their advance on the main objective, a crashed Tomb Blade.

In the end, a team of Lychguard seized that objective, ensuring a Necron victory.

In a rematch of the scenario, “Mystery of the Necrons,” the Lychguard seize the crashed Tomb Blade that was the objective of the Mechanicus.

The third game, on Saturday, “Head of the Snake,” also was won by the xenos. The Deathwatch, accompanied by elite Inquisition stormtroopers, advanced steadily on the Tau, who were tasked with defending an Ethereal from capture.

Despite their superior weapons, the Tau were getting whittled away . . . until they decided to fall back and form a hold-to-the-end firing line. Faced with the fearsome, combined volleys of the xenos, the Deathwatch had to slow down and use cover to continue their advance.

Naturally, a White Scar Space Marine would fight for the Deathwatch atop a bike.

It worked well, although it was spectacular to see two Deathwatch veterans in jetpacks soar from a third-story ruin onto the top of the building housing the Ehtereal. Tau fell quickly to lightning claws and chainswords, but time ran out. In the end, it was decided that Tau reinforcements were arriving to save the day, and the Deathwatch had to withdraw.

Both results were far different than at Shorehammer, where the Imperium won both battles—and those Imperial victories still are influencing our ongoing narrative campaign.

All in all, it was a fine convention—not only for the great gaming but for the incredible deals I found in the flea market. (Two out-of-production Forge World dreadnought drop pods, built and primed, purchased for only $20 each!)

—

The Corvus Cluster is a Warhammer 40K blog documenting our gaming adventures in the fantastical sci-fi universe of Games Workshop.