Warp Storms, Monster Swarms And Uprisings

   The campaign for Fratribusia had a little hiatus while we waited for our number 2 to be born, but once he had arrived and the initial dust had settled, we started to organise some games to fit around child care*.

   The first games played were against my Tyranid playing brother, so I took the role of the Imperium again and we got to testing out his new army idea which was a vanguard force comprised of Lictors and Genestealers. We used the mission of the month from White Dwarf and got on with the games.

   The fluff for the mission is that the Imperium is currently split in half and warp storms breaking out in normal space with no warning, the sheer amount of bloodshed in the path of the current Tyrannic war has meant that the warp storms are appearing with increased frequency. These can lead to daemonic invasions but they are more likely to lead to a decrease in moral as the nightmares and the feeling of dread hit the troops.

*many dice were stolen by roaming toddlers

   What we learnt from the two games was that the way he plays his vanguard army means if he gets first turn, he shout be able to win the game, if he goes second, the game is over by turn 3. . . Hence the quick 1st game allowing for a second.

   With that game out of the way, we focused on the first game to include all 4 players in once place - which we called The Battle of Arccaster**. I've been trying to send a bit of fluff be it a message between Imperial forces or an update on how the campaign is going when ever it felt appropriate to try and keep the other players enthusiastic about the campaign. I've included the ones about this game below.

**randomly generated online

While Operation Thunderbolt has inflicted serious damage to the Xenos invaders, the successes were neither numerous or decisive enough to lead straight to an Imperial victory.

The hive mind has regrouped and a number of key Imperial locations have been hit in retaliation.

One of these is Arccaster, where a sizable Tyranid swarm has broken through the human defences and is about to launch their attack. The imperium of Man has scrabbled every available person able to wield a gun to try and block this assault.

Will it be enough?

Today is the battle for Arccaster

The sheer majesty of 5 Carnifexes advancing in a row was something else

The battle for Arccaster on the 24th day of the invasion was a major turning point in the fight for the survival of Fratribusia. 

While Arccaster itself didn't hold much importance for either side, what it symbolised did. By holding back the Tyranid push, albeit as great cost to both the Order of the Fallen Angel and the Ossurary Brotherhood chapter with the 3rd company losing nearly half of its current strength, the hive mind was thwarted in what should have been a show of its great strength.

While the populous of Arccaster was saved from immediate death, it is worth remembering that tens of thousands of xenos are still arriving on Fratribusia daily. The invasion is far from over.

   As you can see, it didn't go well for the Tyranids. If we are being entirely honest, until turn 4, the game was ours to lose and it would have taken a monumental mistake to lose it, but somehow we managed just that.

   At the same time the Battle of Arccaster was being fought the otherwise hidden Genestealer Cult*** started their uprisings. Whole mining towns had been going quiet in recent days but the Imperium put this down to vanguard organism attacks. When a combat patrol of the Order of the Fallen Angel were attacked by miners, however, the truth became clear.

***coming to a blog near you in the near future 

Thanks for reading