Space Marine Scout Fire Support

I finished the second of four Lamenter scouts for a Pulp Alley League. The idea is that these guys are a recon patrol, able to operate independently of other forces. This guy is the fire support. Photos are lacking a bit - got a new light and I'm still working it out.

For the most part, he's standard scout bits. The one exception is the bolt gun: it's from the Sternguard marine set - the box mag gives the weapon a bit more of a sustained fire feel.

Only two more of these shoulder pads to go!

And here he is with his buddy, Farov Payne.

The Tome Among the Tombs - a Pulp Alley Game

The scribe shivered. He did not want to be here. Who could say what unquiet spirits lurked in this place of the ancient dead? And yet one could not refuse the summons of an Inquisitor. And this was no ordinary Inquisitor. This was Odo Lucipater: fervent, fearsome, fanatical. Throughout the sub-sector, the scourge of anything that smelled even vaguely of chaos.

Odo Lucipater had summoned him here. A terse description of one Tome of Regilus, a volume of ancient power. Scripts and sigils that he had studied. And so, pried from the comforts of desk and tome, he came.

As he walked towards the graveyard, he had the distinct feeling that he was not the only one arriving...

Master M was keen for a game of Pulp Alley sci fi, so I pulled out the gear. We played the 'Race Against Time' scenario from the rulebook. Odo Lucipater begins in contact with the major plot point: searching for a secret compartment in the base of the space marine statue. Only he can complete the plot point, but can the forces of evil prevent him?

The minor plot points: the scribe, crates of supplies, and two robotic contraptions that may have knowledge of the area.

Lucipater's retinue fans out, covering the approaches to the graveyard. It consist of a judge, a recordist, a deathcult assassin, and a mechanicus bounty hunter.

Company! The judge quickly takes down the threatening flamethrower, but is driven back by a concerted assault. He took the brunt of the chaos assault throughout the game.

The recordist scurries off to grab a plot point.

Assassin on assassin. The death cult assassin went down and recovered twice, then the chaos assassin went down twice but only recovered once!

Surrounded.

The chaos psyker closes in and begins hurling balls of warp energy.

Meanwhile, the recordist has found his target: "so tell me, best toupee under 40 credits?".

The chaos assassin discovers he is in fact the chaos assassinated.

The cultists press hard as the warp energy continues to fly. The judge finally succumbs, but the Inquisitor resists, ultimately prying the tome of Regilus from it's hidden home. Freed from his task, he turns his attentions to the cultists and the psyker.

The game ends with the recordist adding to his robotic menagerie, and just two chaos figures left on the table!

While the game was a walkover in the end (5-0), it was pretty tense up until the last two turns. As the cultists pressed in, it looked as if they were poised to swarm the Inquisitor and derail him from his search. The one thing that prevented them was the judge's stubborn refusal to die.

Read about the next game here.

Colony 87 Trader

I've finally finished another of the Colony 87 figures: a trader.

Great figure to work on: detail that's interesting without being overwhelming. I especially like his respirator: I've painted it with a tank full of liquid. Perhaps a drug he takes a puff on in tense moments?

He'll make a great objective for Pulp Alley games.

The next Colony 87 Kickstarter is just around the corner: I'll definitely be grabbing those figures. Whether I get any more of these done before then remains to be seen!

From the Clutches of the Cultists - a Pulp Alley Game

In our story so far, our heroes have temporarily escaped a chaos uprising, only to be captured while on the run.

Now they wake (unarmed) in an empty room.

Forcing the door open, they see a crate and a small robot in the corridor beyond.

Romulus Decima decides to get rid of the robot.

Decima curses as it dodges his attack and skitters down the corridor, emitting a mechanical whine. Meanwhile trooper Burns prises open the crate, discovering weapons inside.

Tension mounts as the heroes here a heavy clumping from the other corridor. A servitor appears, carrying a drum.

The marine scout, Farov Payne, asks the servitor if it knows the way out. The servitor nods and continues walking.

Decima finally catches the droid and smashes it into the concrete.

The heroes reach the outer door of the building. Peering out cautiously, they spot someone.

A chaos cultist!

Payne drops the cultist with a silenced round from his rifle. However, another cultist appears.

At this point, the heroes begin to bog down. The first cultist recovers and has to be put down again (and again and again!) 

Decima is rushed by another cultist.

He drops him, but only temporarily.

This cultist (quickly dubbed Kojak) was a tough proposition: 4d6 Brawl is not a massive skill, but proved troublesome for shooting characters.

Trooper Burns leads the way, but faces a growing number of cultists.

The servitor has by now become confused in the fighting and attacks first the heroes, then Kojak.

Trooper Burns, still in the lead, spots something good at last.

But on closer inspection...

A grenade knocks down both cultists, but only momentarily!

In the meantime, Kojak continues his inexorable progress.

As the heroes struggle to down the cultists by the fence, more reinforcements appear.

And Kojak is coming. One of the players played the 'Bleeding' card on Kojak: running forces a Health check. Kojak ran, fell down and got up again!

He rounds the corner to attack again.

Down again...

By now though,the heroes have managed to force their way through the fence and start the engines on the shuttle. As the engines warm up... 

(Notice Kojak is back? Again!)

The hoard rounds the building and prepares to lay down a fusilade of fire on the shuttle. But even as they take aim, Farov Payne calls out, "Wait a second, can't we just talk about this?"

Momentarily confused, the cultists look on as the shuttle's engines roar to a crescendo.

Escape!

A different game, but a lot of fun. The first part of the game had a real role-playing feel, which the guys seemed to quite enjoy. I may have to revisit that down the track. The rest of the game was marked by the resilience of the cultists. There were only Allies on the table, but most figures recovered at least two or three times. None more so than Kojak: we didn't count, but I'm guessing he recovered at least six or eight times. I have a feeling he'll be back in coming games!

Postscript
The heroes successfully escape Sinastras IV, flying three hours to a Marlow's Reach, a dingy spaceport. Within a fortnight, the Lamenter marines destroy Sinastras IV with a sub orbital bombardment. The cultist rebellion is defeated, but the brutal destruction of a once thriving city is hardly a propaganda coup. Perhaps to deflect attention, Decima, Payne and Burns are feted as heroes of the Imperium: the glorious survivors of Sinastras IV.

What glittering careers await such heroes?

Continued...