Fire Team 1 and Enginseer 69-Kreard, having seized the ground floor of the south blockhouse, rush up the stairs to the control room. They are successful but suffer some losses.

Continued . . .

ASSAULT ON NORTH BLOCKHOUSE

Fire Team 3 enjoyed similar success in their assault. Although unsupported by its demolition team, it stormed the ground floor of the north blockhouse, killing the foolish rebel who had left the hatch open. As such, the four-man fire team managed to secure the hatch without incident.

Entering the blockhouse itself proved more challenging. One guardsman was wounded when he attempted to enter, and subsequent enemy fire indicated that there were multiple rebels within. On the orders of the commanding sergeant, the team threw three frag grenades into the facility and, upon their detonation, rushed inward and secured the first floor.

At the same time, Demolition Team 4 launched its assault on the four rebels standing in the street. Upon opening fire, two of the rebels fell immediately, but two others turned and ran, shouting loudly.

The team did not pursue. Instead, while maintaining sufficient fire to discourage the rebels from regrouping and returning wire, the demolition team made their way to their objective, entering the northern blockhouse only minutes after it had been secured.

With control of the ground floor of each blockhouse, Alpha-Six had secured control over the power generators needed to open the city gates. But the control panels were on the upper floors, and it was imperative that our assault up the steel-and-plascrete staircases begin immediately—before enemy resistance began to organize.

UPSTAIRS: SOUTH BLOCKHOUSE

As commanding officer, I led the assault on the upper level of the south blockhouse. On the way up, we ran into one rebel who fired an autogun at point-blank range. Veteran Guardsman Fevzi Pasha was mortally wounded. A shot of my laspistol downed the rebel.

As we reached the upper floor, we came under fire from several additional rebels. Unwilling to risk damaging the cogitators or servitors that control the gate, I ordered that frag grenades could not be used. What followed was a short but bloody exchange of point-blank fire and hand-to-hand combat.

We secured the control room, but the fighting resumed soon after. Several guards on the city walls entered the blockhouse through a service door on their roof of the blockhouse, and they attempted a counterattack. But, as they attacked down a narrow staircase enclosed in plascrete, I authorized the use of frag grenades. 

In the confined space, the detonation of these grenades were highly effective, killing or wounding every rebel in the attack. With the staircase secured, I ordered two members of the demolition team to climb to the top of the stairs and jam the service door shut, so that further attacks would be impossible.

Two more of my guardsmen were wounded in this exchange, but the blockhouse was secured,  and Enginseer 69-Kreard performed the appropriate prayers and mantras to awaken the gate’s machine spirit. All that was needed now was for the guardsmen in the northern blockhouse to do the same.

UPSTAIRS: NORTH BLOCKHOUSE

Resistance in the north blockhouse proved significant. Mutants on the top of the city walls rushed to the blockhouse’s service door and moved to fortify their position in the upper control room.

An assault on the control room by Sergeant Marlet Styre was repulsed, with his fire team suffering one fatality and two wounded. The mutants subsequently fortified their position at the top of the staircase with crates and surplus equipment, and they were in a position to toss frag grenades down the stairwell if a second assault was attempted.

A commendation is recommended for Veteran Guardsmen Dyas Morgan, who while standing guard at the ground-level hatch of the blockhouse, noted a lack of incoming fire from the city walls.

Deducing that the mutants had abandoned the wall’s ramparts to fortify the control room, he suggested using grappling hooks to climb the city wall and assault the mutants from the rear.

Although a highly risky maneuver, I approved the plan. As it happened, two members of Demolition Team 4 climbed the wall against no opposition, while the remaining team members defended the hatch opening.

Reaching the top of the walls successfully, Sergeant Styre ordered a final assault. Just as it began, Team 4 members tossed stun grenades into the control room and charged, opening fire and causing confusion in the rebel position.

Disorganized and panicking at being attacked from the front and rear, the mutants panicked, their gunfire slackened, and  Sergeant Sytre and those members of Fire Team 3 were successful in climbing the stairs and entering the control room. The room was quickly secured.

CITY’S FALL

With both blockhouses under Imperial control, the city gates were opened. The mission had succeeded in just enough time—as the doors opened, guardsmen covering the blockhouse hatches reported a sizable force of mutants in the distance—advancing in our direction.

Thankfully, we were able to make vox contact with 1st Battalion and, within minutes, a dozen Chimera transports rushed across the desert and through the city gates. The transports, bristling with heavy flamers, multi-lasers, and heavy bolters, and supported by 100 guardsmen disembarking from the vehicles, set up a defensive position that held off a half-hearted rebel attack.

Over the next 15 minutes, the rest of the battalion entered the city. Fighting continued for the rest of night and the next three days [See Mission Report: 1st Battalion, fighting of 6 164-172 743.M31}. The battalion’s efforts were supported by a squadron of Valkyrie gunships and fighter-bomber aircraft.

As you are well aware, the city was restored to Imperial rule soon after.

Casualties for Alpha-Six include the deaths of [REDACTED] and the wounding of {REDACTED]. Again, I recommend a commendation for the quick thinking of Veteran Guardsman Morgan.

Click here to return to the battle’s beginning.

+ End Report +

TheGM: This scenario was played twice during the Shorehammer 2022 conference. In both cases, all four players took command of an Imperial fire team.

The game was fun as players only saw enemy combatants if their models could see them. So, the players had to advance slowly, with great care to stay hidden and not rush around a corner without looking first. There were several close calls, which could have sounded the enemy alarm before the guardsmen were anywhere near their objectives, and I stressed (repeatedly) that such discovery would doom the mission. Stealth was the players’ friend.

This “fog of war,” I believe, made the game much more exciting. Most of the game was about maneuvering, but when the fighting began, it was intense and close—time was of the essence.

I applaud the players. They knew their stuff. They knew how to storm a room. They knew how to set up a crossfire. And they made good use of terrain. Bravo for them.

I wish I could have written a more blow-by-blow description of what happened, but I was pretty busy during the game, and there was no way I could write down enough details to do the games justice.  (I was so busy I forgot to take more photos!) Still, the above battle report captures the “flavor” of what happened and, as is common with “history,” the remembrances of the participants aren’t always so accurate.

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