The Tran-Lo Tribute part 2

In the first battle report of the Tran'Lo Tribute campaign, the Adeptus Mechanicus were defeated by loyalists to the heretical Family Vo. In the actual game all but 1 Fulgurite Electro-Priestess died. Through the magic of the limitless storytelling that can happen between game sessions, however, it's revealed that only the Electro-Priestesses we saw onscreen died, and actually there were 4 more who just never made the cut. Those 4 join our survivor for this game scenario.

Interestingly, the loyal followers of Vo don't know why the Adeptus Mechanicus has sent in troops. They assume it's to take over Mega-City One, which is of course only half correct. The seizure of governance is an adjunct goal, and inevitably greater forces will follow. The primary goal of this team, however, is to retrieve archeotech from the Vo family vault.

Fortunately for the Cult Mechanicum, the Vo family didn't make a habit of broadcasting what they were hiding in their subterranean compound, so nobody thinks twice about placing the captives in a cell within the very compound they were attempting to infiltrate.

Setup

At the start of the second scenario of the campaign, the surviving Fulgurite Electro-Priestesses have been rescued by a band of Skitarii who have secretly gained access to the compound. Freed from their holding cell and stronger in number, the two teams of adepts must get through the tunnels to the Vo family's fabled hoard of archeotech.

For this game, the Adeptus Mechanicus army consist of 5 Fulgurite Electro-Priestesses and 5 Skitarii. The opposing army is a team of 11 Adeptus Arbites (and their cyber-mastiff), loyal as ever to the planet's [heretical and absent] governing family.

This takes place in the corridors of a subterranean compound, so this was a game of Boarding Actions.

Round 1

I spent some time thinking about strategy for this game, and I'm pretty sure I got it wrong. But here's what I decided. Because [in my head canon] the Fulgurite Electro-Priestesses are fast, I ordered them to serve as decoys. In the meantime, the sneaky Skitarii (they have hoods, they must be sneaky) would creep the long around back and get into the vault.

For Round 1, the Adeptus Mechanicus rolls high and goes first. The Priestesses hurry out of the holding area and roam the halls, opening doors and setting off as many alarms as possible. This is significant.

The Skitarii sneak around back, which will take them past the vault door and into the south wing, where they can just turn one corner and be through the vault door. And if all goes to plan, the Adeptus Arbites will be way up in the North wing hunting Priestesses.

On their turn, the Adeptus Arbites advance toward the holding area (because of the alarms). More importantly, there's a Judge (I mean Exaction Vigilant) with an auspex looking for signs of life or electricity or both. This justifies the Vigilants going straight for the Priestesses, and so they do.

Round 2

The Adeptus Mechanicus rolls high again and goes first! This is huge, and technically they win this scenario. The Fulgurite Electro-Priestesses Advance, winding their way through two hallway blocks, and are able to reach the vault door without even being seen by the Vigilants! There's absolutely a universe where this battle ended at Round 2, with the Priestesses descending into the Vo family vault, leaving the Adeptus Arbites far behind.

But I wanted to play with my newly-acquired Adeptus Arbites, so I decided that a plan was a plan, and I'd declared that the Priestesses were going to serve as decoys. So I reset the round, and had the Fulgurite Electro-Priestesses go further toward the North wing of the compound as planned. There, they came upon a loot box, which they searched at the end of their turn, and gained a bonus to their next attack.

Somehow I forgot that the Skitarii could Advance, as well, and so they just made a standard move forward. I guess they were just being really really sneaky, so they had to move slow?

On their turn, the Adeptus Arbites stormed into the room to confront the Priestesses and, knowing that they're escaped prisoners, open fire. They roll horribly, though, so by the intervention of the Omnissiah, the Priestesses all survive. Because the Adeptus Arbites doesn't know that the Skitarii are even in the compound (and they also don't know that the vault exists, much less where its entrance is), the second team of Vigilants head to the North wing to provide backup.

Round 3

Things aren't looking good for the Priestesses, though. They're now cornered by every Adeptus Arbites in the compound. They are not in melee engagement because the Vigilants are happy to stay at range, well away from the crackling electrical weapons and bodies of the Priestesses. So they have two choices: They can fight and then run (they have no ranged weapons, so they'd have to go into melee first, and a Fall Back out of melee is risky), or they can just run really fast (taking an Advance move). Their role in this is as decoys, so they choose to run.

The Skitarii, still utterly undetected, continue slowly toward the south wing.

Round 4

The Adeptus Arbites give chase! Their cyber-mastiff catches one of the Priestesses and attacks, but only snaps at her heels. As an afterthought, she lashes out with her electro-whip and kills the robotic canine. First casualty of the game!

But not the last. The Adeptus Arbites open fire even as the Priestesses run away from them, and one Priestess falls. Yes, it was the one who killed the cyber-mastiff. This was personal.

Round 5

The Skitarii finally remember that they can Advance, and burst into the south wing! If all goes well, they're maybe two moves away from the vault door.

All does not go well for the Priestesses. The second team of Adeptus Arbites has circled around the North wing and intercepts the escaped prisoners, opening fire and killing 3 Priestesses!

Round 6

The Skitarii nearly reach the vault door, but just as they're turning a corner, they run into the first team of Vigilants. These Vigilants, upon seeing that all but 1 prisoner had been killed, decided to resume their patrol. Good thing they did!

The two teams take shots at one another, and 1 Skitarii and 1 Vigilant (the one with the medkit, because I never know what to do with him) are killed.

Meanwhile, the lone Priestess strikes out at the second team of Vigilants, but there are too many, and all well-armoured. Entirely unaffected by the electricity coursing through her veins, they take aim and fell the final Priestess of the game. I blame myself.

Round 7

It serves the Vigilants right, for staying at range! The Skitarii make a break for the vault door, sealing their victory. The Skitarii defiantly took a parting shot but, equally defiantly, failed to wound.

Post-game administration

This game had mixed results. I think I used my teams incorrectly. If indeed the Priestesses are fast (they aren't, I just happen to use Advance a lot with them) then it surely would have made sense to have them rush to the vault, and for the Skitarii to defend. The Priestesses having no ranged weapons made them ill equipped to act as threats, so they really were doomed to die as decoys running from ranged attacks.

I think the Adeptus Arbites performed relatively well. It'll be interesting to see them up against a more formidable foe.

In the next scenario, the Adeptus Mechanicus explores the Vo family vault and, with any luck, finally obtains the archeotech they came to Tran'Lo to find!