Grimdark Future escalation campaign: conflict above, conflict below

Sunday I hosted eight other members of the Majestic Gamers in two side-by-side games. This was the fourth gathering in our ongoing escalation campaign, and the first time since graduating from Grimdark Future Firefight to full-scale Grimdark Future. With 2000 points per side for a total of 8000 points, we piled into my garage for some tabletop mayhem.

Staging point Sigma-7116 in Hive Sacrament of planet Gamma-Euphorion Prime, and Mining Facility 041 on its moon Drusichtor.

Mission 1: supply raid

Situation

Rebel dissidents attacked staging point Sigma-7116 to liberate fuel supplies for a Vanguard combat walker they had also liberated. A task force of blessed sisters and wolf brothers anticipated the raid and mustered in force. This would have been a massacre, but for the sudden appearance of a high elf strike force who joined the rebels. The high elves declined to explain why, and later vanished as suddenly as they had appeared.

A captured Vanguard walker equipped with my favorite weapon, TWIN LASER MACHINEGUN
Mysterious allies
Holy power suit backed up by repentant sisters
Wolf brothers combat walker warming up its plasma cannon

Outcome and highlights

The elves and rebels came out swinging, but Imperial forces managed to withstand the impact and won by grinding the attackers down. A few events stood out.

Scorpions slam into the repentant sisters

In the first moments of the fight, high elf scorpion warriors managed to charge the repentant sisters squad and kill all but two. Instead of fleeing, the remaining sisters stood firm, then embarked on a vengeance tour across the entire elf/rebel back line.

Survivors, inspired by their sisters’ sacrifice
The last two sisters dismember another squad of the unfaithful

Elsewhere, my combat walker laid down a blistering storm of laser fire, tying up a much larger force for most of the fight. Most importantly, it provided several opportunities to yell LASER MACHINEGUN while rolling handfuls of dice. I enjoyed this so much I forgot to take a picture, but here is a shot of its favorite target.

Wolf brothers walker withstands a torrent of laser fite

This battle included no fewer than five walkers, and they took turns pummeling each other the whole time. At one point the wolf brothers captain sacrificed himself to create an opening for the blessed sisters power suits, but alas, the high elf walker stood through the end.

The Imperium will defend this fuel at all costs

And finally, a squad of jetpack sisters dropped in to ambush their foe, and learned the hard way about high elf shard weapons. After they landed, I stepped away to grab a beverage, and when I returned they were already gone!

They were painted so beautifully, they deserve to be memorialized here for 40,000 years.

Ill-fated ambushers

Mission 2: dormant mine

Situation

On Drusichtor, soul snatcher cultists approached mining facility 041, intent on seizing the means of production, but found the place infested with the forces of the Plague God. They raced to activate the facility’s dormant security bots against hopeless odds, when suddenly a mob of space orcs smashed onto the scene. Apparently they smelled a fight brewing.

Ready to claim mine 041 for the people
Plague brothers have other ideas for the mine
Don’t worry (?), the orcs are here!

Outcome and highlights

Since I played in the other game I didn’t follow this one closely. Luckily, Comrade Patrick will almost certainly post a write-up soon, so keep an eye out.

The escalation campaign escalates

We all had a wonderful time, and finished the day eating pizza and musing which models we will paint for the next game. We’ve already started the scheduling puzzle for next month. Nothing motivates like a game on the calendar!


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One response to “Grimdark Future escalation campaign: conflict above, conflict below”

  1. Comrade Avatar
    Comrade

    Ahhhh, what a lovely battle report!! Yes, you are correct good sir, I will have a deeper dive into the action on the windswept moon on my blog very soon!

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