Battle Report: Polypp Infestation!

 Hi!

Well I'm back at work and its been really busy which is fantastic! To celebrate, I managed to play a quick battle report yesterday evening featuring Inquisitor Fisher's party scouring a settlement to destroy a deadly Polypp infestation.

The Background

Following the mission to deal with the Sump Beast, Inquisitor Fisher has been dispatched to investigate the sudden loss of communication with a small settlement called Finbar Station. The settlement is located several hours from Freeport City and Fisher quickly assembles a team to find out what has happened after her Astropath informs her that she can sense strange Psychic emanations from the region. 

Rushing to Finbar Station in her shuttle, her team lands to find the settlement strangely deserted. Cautiously moving towards the settlement's main structure, Geralt points out a strangely glowing patch of fungus like material. Polypp spoor! Drawing their weapons Inquisitor Fisher and her team cautiously enter the building, aware that the settlers of Finbar Station are dead and the dangerous Warp entities must be destroyed before their infestation can spread further. 

The Forces

Inquisitor Fisher's party consists of Fisher who is armed with a power sword, las pistol and has medium armour, Vash Hammersworn who is armed with a Thunderhammer, stub pistol and has heavy armour, Geralt the Wolfbane who is equipped with a bolt pistol and sword and wears medium armour and Chin the Suicide Warhead who is armed with his fists and has medium armour. He is also capable of exploding!

The Polypp infestation consists of a mixture of Shamblers and Beholders who may randomly appear as the team explores the buildings maze like interior. There is also the chance of bumping into a Gorgon or even the Shoggoth.

The Setup

The game takes place in the interior of one of the buildings that makes up Finbar Station. Fisher's team begin the game in the bottom centre entry room and must move through the structure dealing with Polypp spawning points and possible ambushes. 

The first room has a low danger rating whilst as they explore further the danger will increase with more chances of being ambushed as the Polypp intelligence becomes aware of their activities. The objective is to clear each quadrant of spawn points and destroy the Shoggoth which lies at the centre of the building.

The Game

I fancied trying something a bit different for this game and used a bit of a hybrid of the Space Crusade rules using Havok dice. Each character has three actions, to move a square, shoot, close combat or perform a special action. 

For example, Fisher can attack using her power sword using two Havok dice with a skull giving one success and a blast icon giving two successes. The Polypp Shambler would then roll two Havok dice to resist the attack (they're pretty hard to kill!) 

Characters can use one action to rest which allows them to roll a single dice to see if they recover a health point, something that came in really handy in the game.

Entering the first room with the deft application of his Thunderhammer, Vash is confronted by a Polypp Shambler who moves forward to attack him but is charged by Geralt. The ensuing melee sees Geralt fail to kill the warp beast and Chin moves forward, his metal fists thundering into the pulpy creatures hide, wounding but not killing it. 

Fisher allows her underlings to deal with the creature and sets out to destroy the first of the spawn points.

The Polypp attacks Geralt and badly wounds the Wolfbane and a second Shambler appears at the doorway accompanied by a Beholder. Its only the first room and things are looking grim for the team but Fisher destroys the spawn point so no further beasts will appear in the room and her team moves to engage the foe.

Chin destroys the first Shambler with a series of punches and kicks, his robotic limbs a blur of furious movement and the creature dissolves into a foul smelling pool of slime. This frees Geralt to charge the Beholder and a series of swings of his sword bisects the floating monster.

Finally Vash moves to smash the final Shambler with his Thunderhammer but rolls incredibly badly only succeeding in causing a single point of damage to the warp beast.

 

In return the Shambler attacks Vash and causes a wound but is eventually destroyed as the entire team piles in and it too dissolves under the scrum of flashing swords, blazing pistols and robotic limbs. With the first room cleared, Fisher attempts to open the doorway to the next room and steps in.

Despite the higher chance of an ambush, the team only encounters a single Shambler in the room and quickly destroy it and the spawn point. (in the first room I rolled a single Havok dice per turn with a blast icon having an ambush occur. In the second there were two dice rolled, and in the third, three and so on).

Geralt busts through the door of the third room and draws his bolt pistol to cover his team as they move into the room. Appearing from the depths a lone Beholder moves to attack the Wolfbane, its eye beam cutting a deep gash in the wall behind him. Geralt responds by opening fire, lightly wounding the creature but not slowing its advance. Vash moves to support Geralt whilst Fisher is accompanied by Chin towards the door to the next room, confident that her two companions will deal with the spawn point and any creatures they encounter.

Unfortunately two Shamblers appear, one moves towards Fisher while the second trundles towards the Beholder who is engaging the other half of the Inquisitorial party. Again the Beholder's eye beam blazes, this time catching Geralt and causing another wound.

 

Hefting his Thunderhammer, Vash moves round the corner and brings it crashing down on the top of the floating creature destroying it utterly. Nodding his thanks to the Mechanicus, Geralt pauses to patch his latest wound and moves to support Fisher and Chin while Vash moves toward the spawn point.

Combined assault by Fisher and Chin destroys the Shambler before it can act but the remaining Polypp moves forward to close with Vash and attempt to stop the destruction of the spawn point. Vash once again swings his hammer, but it takes his entire three actions to beat the creature to pulp and is badly injured in return. Fortunately no further ambushes were struck and in the subsequent turn Vash managed to destroy the spawn point.

The team then moves into the final room and discovers another Shambler which moves towards them. As her team moves to attach the Polypp and deal with the spawn point, Fisher notices a door to her left and senses she's near the source of the infestation. Opening the doorway reveals a shadowy storeroom that seems to be partially filled with a dully glowing mass. Suddenly the glow intensifies and Fisher finds herself face to face with the Shoggoth. Gripping her Power sword, she charges in, the crimson glowing blade in her hands blurs and cuts deeply into the otherworldly flesh of the Shoggoth.

The Shoggoth slams its great bulk down, trying to crush Fisher but she nimbly skips out of the way avoiding the blow with ease. Meanwhile the Shambler moves towards Vash, the Polypp intelligence knows it's in serious danger and strikes Vash down, leaving the Mechanicus sprawled and unconscious but before it can infect him, Geralt and Chin rush in to kill it.

As Vash falls, Fisher once again strikes out at the Shoggoth with her blade, again cutting deeply into the beast but its unnatural vitality allows it to keep fighting and this time Fisher is too slow and the beast catches her in its sweeping attack sending her crashing back into the wall. 

Bellowing and hooting, the Shoggoth attempts to summon reinforcements but is interrupted by Geralt charging through the doorway and opening fire with his bolt pistol, the explosive rounds detonating in the beasts flesh, sending the creature into thrashing frenzy before it dissolves into a pool of foul smelling slime as Geralt's sword finishes it off.

Stooping over his boss, he hoists Fisher to her feet and nodding her thanks she moves to examine the source of the infestation. Hidden amongst the cargo is a strange, dully glowing container. Obviously of Xenos manufacture, Fisher pulls out a stasis generator and slips the artefact into it for later study. 

Sudden sounds of combat ring out from behind them and she turns to see Chin striking down another Shambler as he stands over the slumped form of Vash. Rushing forward Geralt slings the unconscious Mechanicus over his shoulder and glances at Fisher. There are far too many of the creatures approaching from the gloom for them to deal with. Fisher snaps at Chin " Identification Fisher, Code Tsunami!" and the robots eyes flash red as its suicide protocol is activated. Bounding forward, fists swinging, the robot dives into the mass with a yell of BANZAI! and as Fisher and Geralt make a run for it, he detonates, the fusion bomb in his chest unleashes a wave of fiery destruction on the Polypps and the structure allowing a somewhat singed Fisher and Geralt, still carrying Vash over his shoulder to escape to the safety of their shuttle.

As the shuttle takes off, Fisher contacts her ship, The Shrike to open fire with its lance batteries and Finbar Station vanishes in an apocalypse of orbital laser fire. Fisher is a fan of the nuke 'em from orbit approach as it is after all, the only way to be sure.

Upon her return to The Shrike, Fisher sends Vash off to medical to be purged of any Xenos taint and Geralt wanders off for a bath as she heads to the bridge to report to the Governor General why one of the planets settlements is now a crater of smouldering glass. But where did the artefact come from and who would be foolish enough to unleash a deadly Warp infestation on a planet? Only time will tell and once Vash is back on his feet she intends to study the strange object and divine who needs to face the full might of the Imperial Inquisition!

Well that was an interesting game, especially as it was thrown together without much thought! Does the artefact appear to be suspiciously similar to the Item that the two mercs stole from the warehouse in Freeport City recently for a mysterious employer? Who is behind the death of a town and using Xenos tech in such a dangerous fashion? Only time will tell but until then, All the best!