USE ME Terminus - Primal Score AAR

(TV announcer voiceover)

Previously, on Terminus...

Terminus had promised each challenge would prove more difficult.  After they placed Trooper Jamiss' remains into a cryo-pod, Commander Aiden checked his scanner.  He saw numerous small blips in the adjacent valley, closing in on their position.  And unlike the mechanisms they had just fought, these appeared to have life signs.  There was no time to grieve.  He ordered his men to unpack the drone-mounted rail cannons, and sent his lead scout to find a good firing position.

"You may just be getting warmed up, Terminus," thought Aiden.  "But you still have no idea who you are facing.  No matter what you have, we'll be ready." 

Scenario Two - Primal Score

The second scenario in Gavin Syme's Terminus campaign pits the Challengers against a massive horde of primitive troops.  My challengers escaped the previous scenario relatively unscathed - just a single Winged model at the start of this game.  I added two crewed heavy weapon systems (Micropanzer Gun Drones) and swapped the flamethrower for a sniper rifle.  

Lacking suitable primitives in my collection, I decided to go with mindless-yet-controllable creatures - Oddzial Osmy Spaceworms.  A total of 28 would be used in this scenario, broken down into swarms of four Worms.  One swarm would enter the table each turn.

The scenario calls for a long and skinny valley, with the Challengers in a suitable overwatch position.  I set up a 1' x 3' table instead of my usual 2' x 2' setup, and imagined rocky cliff walls on either side of the table.    

The game pretty well ran itself.  I gave the Worms a movement stat of 6", so they could cross the table pretty quickly.  But their aggressive setting meant that they wouldn't fire their weapons (I figured they had the equivalent of sidearms) until getting close, and would actually favor melee combat.  The gun drones had an optimal range of 16" and a max of 32".  They were able to wear down each horde from a distance, and the survivors were mopped up by rifle fire as they crept closer.

At least, that was the theory.  

The first few swarms were completely wiped out.  But the Worms kept appearing, and my early luck started turning into poor dice rolls.  The Worms were able to fire their first shots at the Challengers, and one of the gun crews was Struck.  I had to burn one turn rotating out riflemen at the guns, which allowed even more Worms to close in.

By the tenth game turn, everything had devolved into a brutal melee.  The hilltop was soon covered with blood and slime, and most figures were Winged or Struck after a few rounds of melee.  Seven Challengers were taken out of action, and finally Commander Aiden fell beside them.  But even with its superior numbers, Terminus couldn't break their spirits.  Two Challengers survived the onslaught, killing the last of the vicious Worms.

Aftermath

I started the game with ten Challengers, and only had two still standing at the end.  Fortunately, the post-battle rolls were very kind to me.  Six returned unscathed, a seventh returned with a Winged counter.  The two survivors weren't as lucky, and will also carry their Winged counters into the third scenario.

Commander Aiden regained consciousness, and was quickly overwhelmed by the stench of mutilated Worm carcasses.  His men helped him to his feet so he could assess the situation.  One of his best men, Corporal Gray, had been killed.  Nearly everyone was hurt, but they could make it back to the safety of their ship.  Aiden hoped they would get a few hours to rest and recover - they had certainly earned it. But deep down, he knew Terminus wouldn't give them the chance.

This was a really fun game - kudos to Gavin for providing me with an entertaining evening!

Cheers,

Chris