Farpoint AK-47 Characters

 Hi!

I've been sat painting a few bits and bobs for my Planet 28 project (more on that later!) but have also been working on some characters for my AK-47 alternative Farpoint campaign.

As I'm making the project a re-imagined and low tech sci-fi with a hint of history thrown in, I've had quite a bit of fun drawing some characters that I will also be portraying in miniature format as I work on the project, either as army leaders or objectives for the opposing forces to try and capture. I also plan on using them to build the narrative of the campaign as it proceeds

Laars von Dorn Governor General

Laars von Dorn is the Governor General of Farpoint having replaced the previous Governor due to his complete ineptitude and corruption. The von Dorn's are a wealthy family that is respected by much of the population but the latest von Dorn has sparked controversy by taking power in what some call a coup.

Laars wishes to form alliances and trade deals with other planets and has been brokering a deal to join the Galactic League which would see the somewhat backward Farpoint gaining access to new tech and trading opportunities.

Count Cassitor of Rdunrundt

Count Cassitor is a despotic ruler of the region of Rdunrundt and was the staunch supporter of the previous Governor, mainly due to the fact that the corrupt fool was so biddable to Cassitor's suggestions and as such the Rdunrunt region and the count himself had seen themselves greatly enriched under the previous administration. With the coup this changed and now the count, along with his somewhat shady offworld supporters seeks to claim the rule of Farpoint for himself, obviously for the good of the people.

Colonel Jaswant 'Blood and Thunder' Singh

Colonel 'Blood and Thunder' Singh is a stalwart of the von Dorn military and a canny warrior in his own right but is tactics tend towards frontal assaults and letting bayonets do the talking and while he is revered, the fear is that his outdated expertise may lead the forces of von Dorn into trouble.

Saying that, Jaswant is a patriot and his zeal to put down the rebellion and enthusiasm has given his forces a near fanatical support for the aging warrior. Whether this survives the first encounters with Rdunrundt's military remains to be seen.

Major Victor Kurtz

Kurtz is the commander of the Rdunrundt Dragoons, Count Cassitors personal guard. Not much is known of the man but it is suspected that he's actually from offworld and is an agent of the Count's shadowy allies.

He is a brutal but cunning tactician who doesn't worry about collateral damage and has been working hard in secret to train the forces of Rdunrundt in preparation of the upcoming campaigning season. Cassitor doesn't fully trust his henchman as he suspects that the man has other masters who seek to use his holy crusade for more money as a subtext for taking control for themselves. With this in mind, the Count has several agents hidden within Kurtz's staff. 

Tony Wong, FPITV News

Tony is an enthusiastic newshound who will no doubt be breaking the news for his station, Farpoint Independent Television News as the conflict begins to unfold. Unflappable and with a near suicidal disregard for his own safety, Tony has made a name for himself by holding the government to account and was instrumental in breaking the scandal of the previous governors malfeasance. 

 

Albrecht Schliemann Chief Press officer of The Rdunrundtian Patriot

Schliemann is a cold and slimy sort of a fellow but has a knack for rhetoric and misinformation, something that Count Cassitor recognised would aid him in his quest to take control of Farpoint for his own more noble purposes. As such he installed Albrecht as chief press officer at the Rdunrundtian Patriot where he issues thundering denunciations of the degenerate enemy von Dorn and his lapdogs who constantly seek to put true citizens of Farpoint down. 

The demagogue is often used to whip up the citizens of Rdunrundt into a patriotic fervour that has seen volunteers forming militias on the Counts behalf.

Hopefully I'll get more background put together as I go and I've placed a small order with Peter Pig to get the first unit for each force started with enough figures to give me eight bases a side as well as a couple of rival camera teams!

As I mentioned in my introduction I've also been working on painting a few other bits and bobs which I will be posting later as I seem to be coming out of the hobby slump just in time to go back to work tomorrow!

In the meantime, All the best!

Character a Day Challenge Days 12-15

 Hi!

Here's the next batch of my character a day doodles!

Brady the Nightsoil Collector and Stevie 7

Brady appears to be a lowly nightsoil collector and his trusty assistant Stevie 7. Secretly they are highly trained members of the Governor General's security team, the duo have been operating on Farpoint in deep cover and have recently uncovered an assassination plot by the Cult of the Emerald Scyre which would have seen the entire sector thrown into chaos.

Brady, former Corporal Brady Mead of Her Imperial Majesties 87th Mechanised has an uncanny ability to disappear into the background and go unnoticed by those high and low and along with Stevie 7, a retrofitted combat droid that has been paired with Brady for more years than most of his handlers can remember.

Brady's low key investigation style has begun to really begun to show successes that more high visibility 

methods that the Arbites or Frontier Marshals have managed and now the mighty Inquisition has shown interest and Inquisitor Fisher has ''requested'' to be kept up to date with any of his findings. 

Governor General van Dorn has thus far managed to keep his identity secret but it is only a matter of time before the Cult finds out who has foiled their plotting and go gunning for Brady. For his part, Brady is more than ready for the sharks to start circling and both himself and Stevie pack an actual arsenal of weaponry and are raring for the chance to put some of his more militant skills to use once more.

Here's the prompt:

Hans Overstadt

When the criminal element of Farpoint need patching up or shady cybernetic upgrades, they invariably go knocking on the door of Overstadt's backstreet surgery.

The good doctor is legendary for being willing to perform any surgery, dodgy biogenic procedure or cybernetic grafting as long as he's provided enough cash to keep his personal experiments funded. His experiments have produced some of the more dangerous and unhinged combat cyborgs and battle drugs for the noble houses of Farpoint.

Overstadt is unnaturally lean and nobody is actually sure how old he is or indeed if he's even entirely human. Unbeknownst to the doctors clientele, Overstadt is actually a rogue AI that has been running from the Mechanicus for over a century now and has discovered that its easier to hide whilst waring a meat suit and keeping a low profile far from the Mechanicus out on the frontier.

Here's the Prompt: 

The Firehawk

Farpoint's resident superhero is actually Brother Vespasian of the Ultramarines who went AWOL following a supposedly lethal headshot during a skirmish several years a go. 

Vespasian was discovered by a group of street urchins who mistook the mortally wounded Marine as a character from their comic books and managed to keep the man alive long enough for his superhuman system to repair much of the damage caused by the head wound. Unfortunately Vespasian has no memory of his past and now actually believes he is The Firehawk, an avenger of the poor and innocent in a crime riddled cesspit of a city.

Since his recovery, many criminals have been found brutally beaten to death and crime dens have been destroyed in an assault of a monstrous man with flaming fists leaving the building a shambles and the goons guarding it very dead.

His exploits have made The Firehawk a legend in the slums of Freeport City but his vigilante actions have put him on a collision course with the Adeptus Arbites and as many in the Judges uniform were corrupt, he has also taken to bringing them to his own brutal sort of justice.

The Ultramarines have sent several covert teams to try and recover their fallen brother but he has thus far managed to avoid them or absolutely crush the few who have managed to corner him.

Here's the prompt:

I'm off on two weeks holiday on Wednesday so I doubt I'll get chance to get much more posted before I head off but will hopefully have a bunch of characters to share once I get back so in the meantime, All the best!

Character a Day Challenge Days 8-11

 Hi!

Here's the next few days worth of character a day challenge illustrations!

Luthor Trumpington III

Trumpington hails from the corporate hive world of Polaria, a frozen waste pockmarked with megacities where money is the name of the game. Luthor Trumpington earned his first billion creds by the age of 21 and led the families Redline megacorporation to crush all opposition with a series of hostile takeovers, corporate skulduggery and all manner of shady deals but gave it all up when he won a supposedly authentic pirate treasure map whilst gambling on the frontier world of Farpoint whilst visiting a Redline facility.

Since then Trumpington has set aside his corporate ambitions and is seeking a crew to hire with the aim of setting out to the frontier to search for the Treasure Planet the map supposedly leads to. Thus far, there haven't been any takers as the business mogul has been very cagey with the details and any unscrupulous crews that have tried to strongarm Trumpington have been dealt with by his army of guards.

Here's the prompt:

Ghent Handerbilt

Garth Handerbilt was once the most feared gossip columnist on the staff of Farpoint's premier gossip rag, The Daily Tribune. Handerbilt had a prodigious skill to root out gossip on all the best known celebrities and had no compunction of sharing the indiscretions of the rich and famous to his horde of readers who mainly hail from the lower orders of society.

Unfortunately said rich and famous didn't appreciate their proclivities revealed to the scum of the sector and following a series of excoriating articles in the Tribune, Handerbilt met with an unfortunate accident and he was accidentally exposed to a deadly and extremely rare substance that left his body ravaged by the Mimjip Pathogen. 

Realising he only had a week to live, Handerbilt sold all his belongings and invested in a power suit that would keep him alive long enough to seek vengeance upon those who had struck him down. Now armed with a heavy handgun and towering rage, he stalks the sector hunting the wealthy and offering them the option to duel. Thus far he has killed 17 assorted nobles before disappearing back into the slums where his adoring readers keep his whereabouts secret from the law enforcement, bounty hunters and noble lackeys who are after his hide. 

Here's the prompt:

Rhogar Singh

Rhogar Singh is the mayor of Rafa Canyon, a small township in the badlands of Farpoint who became famous for singlehandedly defeating the Ork warlord Dygo Smashface while protecting his home from the deprivations of the Goff warband that had been raiding the surrounding settlements. 

When interviewed about his exploits, Singh informed the reporter that he was merely doing his civic duty as mayor and that if the now deceased Dygo had left his settlement alone and not tried to eat his wifes poodle, Fru Fru he wouldn't have to have dealt with the Ork.

Here's the prompt:

  The Bridesmaid

Ramona diGriz, AKA The Bridesmaid is an infamous bank robber who has hit several banks around the Farpoint sector leaving a heap of dead and wounded guards, law enforcement and even two Space Marines in her bloodthirsty wake.

Nobody is sure what has started the bloody rampage of The Bridesmaid but she seems intent on continuing her lawlessness and despite the efforts of the Adeptus Arbites and an increasingly ridiculously huge reward for her capture dead or alive (preferably dead), she still manages to elude the authorities.

Here's the prompt:

I'm going to take a day off from the project as I've been really busy with work and want a day to recoup before getting back to the swing of things so watch this space!

Until then, All the best!

Character a Day Challenge Days 6&7

 Hi!

Here's the next two characters from my monthly challenge!

Lombardo Vecht

Vecht shot to fame at a young age, starring in the popular Imperial syndicated show Adventures of Jimmy Vecht, Child Inquisitor, starring as the titular hero, Lombardo was the toast of the Imperial airwaves until the onset of puberty saw the show cancelled and Vecht packed off to boarding school by his parents.

Upon graduation, Vecht found that his fame had waned and few remembered the show, other than how insufferable the youthful inquisitor was and eventually even repeats vanished from the airwaves. While the Imperium moved on, Vecht did not. Furious that he was no longer famous due to his acting skills, Vecht decided to become infamous instead and delved deep into debauchery and using his family fortune, set about searching for every arcane and forbidden tome he could lay hands on.

Over the next decades, Vecht set up numerous cults around the Farpoint sector, aided by the ineffective and corrupt Governor and eventually made a pact with a gribbly being from another dimension and formed the Cult of the Emerald Scryre. Since then, the cult has sent out numerous expeditions to find forbidden tomes and mysterious archeotech with Vecht seeking an as yet unknown something.

With the arrival of the new Governor General, the cult has had to hide itself away but is still active throughout the sector and Imperial agents are desperately trying to root them out before they find the mysterious artefact.

Here's the prompt I had for Vecht:

I didn't want to do a grimdark current 40k sort of thing with it as I'm not a fan of the whole Realm of Chaos thing so decided to go for something a bit more Cthulhu themed with some ancient being giving the foolish Vecht power but for some unknown reason.

Sister Charity of the Immaculate Flamethrower 

Sister Charity hailed from the world of Harmony, a pristine planet with a small religious community but disaster struck when Charity accidentally managed to burn down an entire forest while undergoing mandatory weapons training. Unbeknownst to the Imperium, the planet of Harmony is an Eldar Exodite world and the forest Charity burned down was a sacred grove called the Forest of Lost Dreams. 

Enraged at the sacrilege, the Eldar descended upon the monastery and set about wreaking bloody vengeance upon the inhabitants. Harmony miraculously survived the slaughter and was found by an Imperial landing party in the smouldering ruins still clutching her flamethrower.

The Eldar had set a doom upon her and she now roams memoryless throughout the sector wielding her flamethrower and burning down pretty much every Imperial outpost she encounters. While the Imperials have captured her repeatedly and incarcerated her in several convents, she always seems to mysteriously escape and burn the place to the ground as she goes. While this isn't endearing her to the church, she does also aid those in need and has saved several settlements from xenos threats before burning them to the ground herself, sparing the innocents but leaving them homeless.

The inhabitants of Farpoint class her as a dangerous but saintly figure who will save their souls but burn them out of house and home whenever she escapes from whatever unfortunate convent, monastery or asylum she resides in.

Here's Sister Charity's prompt:

I really want to introduce these characters into my Farpoint campaigns as they're rather fun to write about and suspect that there could be some really entertaining games with Sister Charity turning up as an NPC and setting fire to stuff!

In the meantime, All the best!

Character a Day Challenge Days 4&5

 Hi!

Here's the next two days worth of prompts for my September challenge!

Roberto and Marta Garcia!

Renowned Shakespearian scholar, Roberto Garcia and his wife, Marta, whilst on their second honeymoon to Beta Draconis led the charge against a zombie horde with a mixture of stirring speeches (Roberto) and excessive violence (Marta) which rallied the scattered defenders of the city and first stopped the horde and then drove it back.

In recognition of their achievements, the pair have been granted Imperial favour and backing to build a new theatre dedicated to retelling the events of the defence of Beta Draconis. 

Roberto, while a civilian has trained with weapons for defence under the strict eye of his families retainers but Marta is a retired Imperial Assassin and literal killing machine whose only soft spot is for her dear husband and his archaic speech but as he tends to wander into dangerous locales in search of inspiration on a fairly regular occasion, Marta is usually packing numerous deadly weapons to keep her erstwhile husband safe.

Marta has also gifted Roberto a servo skull which he named Yorrik which floats about in his wake reciting stanzas at random but also has a tracking beacon fitted into it so Marta can find her scholar if he wanders off.

Here's the prompt I had:

I'm rather fond of the Garcias and suspect they'll be making a fairly regular appearance in my games going forward as NPC's to add a bit of theatrical mayhem in scenarios and I'm interested to see what I get next in the random prompts. I've more or less given up on using my Story Cubes thus far as none of the prompts have stumped me but will hold them in reserve just to be on the safe side.

In the meantime, All the best!

Character a Day Challenge Days 2&3

 Hi!

I was going to post these once a week but I've been asked to post them each day so without further ado, here's day 2 and 3 of my September challenge:

Jimmy Kallix, Mafia Boss

Jimmy Kallix is a precocious youth who set his mind to running his own megacorporation by the age of eight but following a failed business venture he found himself penniless and decided that if he couldn't get what he wanted in business, he'd try crime instead. 

Ever since the Kallix mob has become infamous for bank robberies and all manner of organised mayhem as the youthful genius constantly outwits law enforcement while building himself a criminal empire that is coming to rival Lucius Goldberg, the undisputed kingpin of the Farpoint Sector.

Lucius has, thus far at least merely shown mild interest in Kallix but if the two gangs rackets begin to intersect, the sector may have a mob war to deal with.

Colonel Archibald Fluffybum III (retired)

Formerly of her Imperial Majesties 17th Regiment of Foot, Archibald led a long and glorious military career and retired to live in splendid isolation in Freeport City where he spends his time raising a veritable horde of cats.

As a gene-spliced trooper, he had to deal with many detractors but Archibald soon gained a name for himself as a capable and brave officer who rose through the ranks on ability alone and his tactics in the Vox Novis campaign are still taught in military academies sector wide. He lost an arm in the cleansing of Delta V against a rogue cult and had a bionic replacement grafted on and has elected to keep the monstrous claw in his retirement and has in recent years shown some interest in whipping the local militia into shape.

I'm really enjoying the process of designing these utterly random characters and have a dynamic duo to showcase tomorrow but until then, All the best!

Planet 28 Additions!

  Hi!

I've been slowly working my way through some of the assorted gubbins that I've had sat for some time now and have finally got round to taking a couple of quick pics of progress thus far!

Assorted Characters

Viktor Ironhand

Viktor is a mercenary working on the fringes of Imperial space and has been known to team up with Rosario from time to time. He has undergone extensive cybernetic augmentation during his career, having had subdermal armour, muscle enhancement and numerous other, not quite legal upgrades which has resulted in him being almost impossible to kill but rather unhinged. 

Armed with a combat rifle for ranged work and the eponymous cybernetic fist, Viktor has skirted Imperial law for over a decade and will work for anyone who can provide him with the creds to keep his self appointed task of perfecting his cybernetic addiction funded.

Viktor is originally a Syntha Marine available from Seb Games.

Venerable Jorge

The Venerable Jorge is a tech cult cogitator of some renown in the Farpoint sector, both for his zeal for collecting long forgotten technical readouts and manuscripts and having absolutely no sense of humour. 

Having much of his brain replaced with a computer has resulted in the Venerable Jorge having a dull and monotonous voice which drones on in a near constant monologue, reciting long forgotten creeds and exultations. He is however invaluable to his employers due to his encyclopaedic knowledge of all things tech who are willing to put up with his mildly senile ramblings if it means gleaning useful technical data.

 

The Venerable Jorge is not above peeping through windows...

I sculpted Jorge as a bit of an experiment to see if I could use Fimo to create a miniature quickly and easily and while he's ok, the medium doesn't really lend itself to making the sort of figure I was hoping for but he's done and despite his massive, misshapen head and somewhat wonky details, I quite like him and I can imagine the Vernerable Jorge turning up in quite a few games in the future!

 

Lance Corporal Braithwaite of the Praetorian XV

Lance Corporal Braithwaite is currently retained in Inquisitor Fisher's retinue after she discovered he was a decent sort who could be trusted in a scrape and could brew a miraculous cup of refreshing tea. Originally a member of the Praetorian XV light infantry, Braithwaite is a perfect example of a proper Imperial Guardsman, full of Moral Fibre and tea.

Braithwaite is from an issue of Wargames Illustrated where they gave away a free sprue of British troops from I believe the Warlord Games Zulu range and I still have another three to paint at some point. I added a tiny bit of greenstuff to give him proper armoured shoulderpads and rather like him. Game wise, he comes equipped with a flask of refreshing tea which, when consumed, revives the drinker and restores D6 wounds.

Ramirez the Hive Ganger

Ramirez is a member of one of Freeport Cities many hive gangs, the Yellow Kings whose home turf is the Heights, a slum area to the north of the city and notorious for both its high crime and poor building regulations.

Ramirez is typical of the hive gangs, prepared to meet out violence to those who oppose his fellow gangers and fiercely loyal to his kin. Unsurprisingly the Yellow Kings are currently under Imperial scrutiny as their illegal activities have come to the attention of the newly bolstered Frontier Marshals office and security patrols of the Governor General have begun the thankless task of clearing the Heights of its more unseemly elements.

Ramirez is a classic Orlock Ganger from the original Necromunda set and I really enjoyed painting him up, despite his lack of a neck and massive feet!

Hub Jub the Gretchin

Hub Jub is a lowly Grot who survives at the edge of Imperial and Orkish society. He is both sneaky and underhanded but is rather adept with his autogun so sometimes desperate employers will hire his dubious services. 

Hub Jub is a classic Gretchin from the 40k 2nd edition box that I had cut the helmet spike off. Despite the simplicity of the sculpt, I do rather enjoy painting these little guys from time to time and will eventually finish all of them!

Hopefully I'll have a few more characters painted up for the next update and we shall see what exciting things happen with the Warzone Eternal kickstarter which has already reached its funding goal after less than 24 hours but in the meantime,

All the best!

More Character Studies

 Hi!

I've been rummaging around my collection for some more inspiration and have got a second stack of character sketches put together for my Planet 28 campaign.

First up, there's Inquisitor Fisher:

Inquisitor Fisher

I loosely based Inquisitor Fisher on Phryne Fisher of the Miss Fisher Murder Mysteries as I love the character and eventually plan on adding some sci-fi versions of her assorted henchmen and companions ranging from Mr Butler to Burt and Cess as well as Dorothy, Jack and whatever other fun stuff I can but that's a post for another day!

Geralt the Wolfbane

Next up, Geralt the Wolfbane is one of the few figures I have still in my collection from my old Warzone Imperial army and he's often seen in Fisher's company trying to stop the impetuous Inquisitor from getting herself killed.

Vash Hammersworn

Vash Hammersworn is the resident Adeptus Mechanicus of Fishers party and has thus far been an entertaining character to field as his tendency to wander off and get into scrapes has resulted in some great games!

Security Minion

I often need some lowly grunts to add some numbers to my warbands so I felt I really should represent one as a sketch. Game wise, they tend to die rather often, usually in unpleasant fashion, be it gunned down by gangers, chopped to pieces by Orks or infected with alien mutagens but they do their duty none the less!

Next up, I've got some villains in the form of another pair of Giggles clanners:

Azozeus Giggles 

Azozeus is an elderly and utterly mad member of the Giggles clan and at this point is more machine than man but has an incredible knack with machines and repairs, despite having no arms.

Camshaft Giggles

Camshaft is the younger sister of the notorious Grizelda Giggles and is on a bit of a murder quest to find her missing sister, who unbeknownst to her has been abducted by some rogue Mechanicus and is being used as a mind controlled enforcer for some sinister types who have yet to make an appearance.

I'm really enjoying working on these sketches and am planning on eventually creating a bit of a pdf of the assorted heroes, villains and other denizens of Farpoint along with stats so folks can use them in their own games of Planet 28 or as inspiration for whatever games they want and I suspect that I'm going to be adding all sorts of interesting stuff in the coming weeks but in the meantime, All the best!

Lockdown 2.0 Project Log Day 114: Polypp Invaders!

 Hi!

Quite some time ago I picked up some foamclay from The Range with vague ideas of using it to make terrain with but after a bit of experimenting, I decided to create a cheap alien force for my Inquisitorial agents to be menaced by!

Three Shamblers accompany the Gorgon and a Shoggoth

Polypps are creatures of the Warp that found themselves trapped on the material plain when Warpspace was finally tamed by the combined technological might of the Mechanicus some five millennia ago. Many warp entities have had to come up with some way of surviving in our reality and the Polypp do so by invading host creatures bodies and slowly mutating them to the bizarre cankerous creatures that they now appear. 

Possessing a hive mind, Polypp's can be a real menace in settled space with their tendency to try and mutate planetary populations. Fortunately, the signs of a Polypp invasion is fairly easy to spot as those afflicted degenerate into ectoplasmic goo creatures.

The most commonly sighted Polypp creature is the Shambler, these are lowly drones of the hive mind who, while fairly powerful in close combat lack higher brain function and will approach whatever their overlord sees as a threat and try to batter it into submission and infect them with the Polypp Warp Virus.

Next up, the Shoggoth is a far larger amalgam of several host creatures and is genuinely a dangerous foe, using their crushing bulk to pound foes into pulp and will consume them to grow ever larger.

A swarm of Beholders 

Beholders provide Polypps with a ranged weapon using their strange eye lens to blast opponents with concentrated bio laser fire. 

The top of the Polypp hive mind are the Gorgons, these terrifying creatures are the original Polypp hosts who have concentrated Warp energies within their bodies and are powerful Psykers, capable of taking over foes minds or blasting them with eldritch energies.

Vash, Geralt and a lowly security team member discover a Polypp infestation.

I rather like how they turned out and plan on adding a few more subspecies to the mix with the remaining packs I have but it's amazing what fascinating alien creatures one can make with some cheap clay and a few beads. 

I gave them a black prime followed by some green and purple drybrushing before picking out the eyes in light turquoise and purples. The eyes were given a gloss varnish to make them a bit more gribbly and lo and behold, I have a new force which cost about £2.00 and took about an hour and a half to build and paint!

I'll need to get my battle report sorted for tomorrows update but until then, All the best!

Lockdown 2.0 Project Log Day 108: Sewer Skirmish!

 Hi!

I managed to play another game of Planet 28 yesterday evening featuring Vash and an ad hoc team exploring the sewers under Freeport City in search of a nameless horror.

The Background

Following a spate of disappearances in the slums of Freeport City, Governor General Laars van Dorn has requested Inquisitor Fishers aid in discovering what became of the missing citizens. Fishers team set to work scouring the rundown area and interviewing those who claimed to have seen a shadowy creature carrying bodies down into the sewer. 

Despite initially being sceptical of this supposed creature, Fishers team discovers a vid of the said being and set out to destroy the beast. 

Inquisitor Fisher, still being rather cross with Vash for having first allowed his shuttle to be stolen and then requiring her to cut short her recuperation spa to go and rescue him has decided to send him into the sewer to try and locate the beasts layer. His usual companions, Glitterberry the Eldar and Master Lee are unavailable to help (Lee having to sit out several missions with a shattered hand following a duel with Grizelda Giggle and Glitterberry claiming he cannot go due to reasons unfathomable to mere humans) so he's brought along a ships crewman called Gunter Fung and has hired Geode the rock as some backup and has descended into the sewers under the city in search of a monster.

The Forces

Vash is armed with a power maul, las pistol and wears heavy armour. He has the Blessed ability meaning he can re-roll a failed dice every turn and is also slow due to his tendency to wander off. Geode is armed with a shotgun and light armour as well as having the Iron Skin ability and Slow to represent the strange stonelike xenos' rocky body. Fung is armed with a las pistol and has light armour.

The Sump Horror has the Brawler, Sure Footed and Climb abilities as well as causing fear, being a brawler and having poisonous attacks so is quite a beast. There are also many giant spiders in the sewers which while a nuisance are poisonous too.

The Setup

The game takes place on the first level of the sewer at a partially flooded pump station. Vash and co deploy at the southern edge of the table whilst the Sump Horror begins the game hiding somewhere on the board. 

There are six objectives that need to be searched by Vash's party which requires and action to be spent in base contact with them. On a D6 roll of 1 it uncovers a giant spider, a 2-5 reveals nothing and a 6 has the Sump Horror's position being revealed.

To make matters worse, at the end of each turn a D6 is rolled with a 1 bringing a giant spider onto a random board edge and a 6 having the Sump Horror arrive on a random board edge. The giant spiders will move D10cm in a random direction until they can make line of sight at a character when they will move to attack. Once the Sump Horror arrives, it will take control of any spiders on the board.

The pump station is also partially submerged in foul smelling water and other, less pleasant things and all black areas count as difficult terrain.

The Game

As Planet 28 uses an Agility system, Fong will activate first followed by Vash and Geode. Once the Sump Horror is revealed, it will move first followed by Fong, then the spiders then everybody else.

Turn one starts with Fung gingerly moving off the walkway and wading through the vile water towards the first objective, ending his activation in contact with some strangely glowing fungal growths.

Vash moves forward towards the corridor that is blocked by a door but notices a second objective east of his position in the form of a large pipe with interesting graffiti and a flickering control panel.

Geode racks the slide of his pump action shotgun and rumbles forward towards the doorway as fast as his rocklike body can move. Turn one ends with no spiders appearing.

Turn two begins with Fung searching gingerly through the glowing fungi but finding nothing before wading back towards the walkway. Vash wades out towards the second objective but his heavy armour slows him down considerably. Geode continues his slow progress towards the doorway, intent on earning his pay for the mission. A spider appears from the depths of the northern edge of the pump station and scurries forward, it's beady eyes glowing in the gloom.

Fung wades back out of the water and climbs onto the walkway preparing to head further into the station and is joined by Vash who has discovered that his objective, while fascinating isn't the hiding place of the Sump Horror.

Geode reaches the door but finds it locked and is unable to open the portal (possibly because he has no hands!) and finally a giant spider appears behind the party.

Hearing the scuttling, Fung turns and repeatedly fires at the vile creature, las bolts lighting the station and succeeds in bringing the beast down but worryingly it takes two direct hits from a las pistol to kill it.

Seeing the creature killed, Vash moves towards the doorway that Geode is attempting to open and geode once again fails to open the doorway and resorts to smashing into it with his face which finally works and the doorway grinds open. Finally a second giant spider appears at the northern end of the station and joins its companion scuttling around in the dark.

Annoyingly, Geode is now blocking the doorway and the rest of the party can only move forward to peer over his rocky head towards the northern end of the station, aware of increased scuttling noises emerging from the gloom.

And the scuttling increases as the Sump Horror lurches out from the depths of the northern end of the station. Pausing it cocks its head and listens before writhing forward the noise of the interlopers, it's poisoned maw chittering at the spiders surrounding it.

Stuck behind the bulk of Geode, Fung and Vash hold their positions, pistols aimed towards the distant chittering. Geode finally shifts himself grinding forwards and clearing the way allowing the other members of the party to enter the northern section of the station.

The wily Sump Horror scurries forward, ensuing it will not be spotted by the adventurers and gestures the two spiders accompanying it to move forward. Any attempt to deal with the creature by the adventurers will require them to put down the spiders first. 

Fung moves forward, is pistol raised and nervously holds his position while Vash moves in behind him, hefting his maul. Geode moves to the corner of a structure and spots the approaching spiders. Taking aim with his shotgun he blasts the closer creature, sending it flying backwards dripping ichor but the creature pulls itself upright. Finally, and somewhat foolishly, Fung moves up the stairway and sees what is hiding behind it.

Uttering a shriek, he tries to aim his pistol but the Sump Horror is quicker, launching itself from the water it rushes the terrified security trooper and sinks it's poisoned maw into Fung's arm, mauled and now reeling from the poison from the creatures bite, Fung bats at the creature's malformed face with the butt of his pistol but the creatures rubbery skin is undamaged and the melee continues.

The two spiders rush Geode and scurry over his rocky body trying to bite the mercenary but his hard body is unaffected by such trivial scratches. Lifting his maul, Vash charges up the stairs and brings it down on the Sump Monsters head. The impact squashes the creature's head and sends it reeling, badly wounded and spraying ichor from its terrible wound.

The creature isn't dead though and it lunges towards Vash and scrabbles at his armour, desperate to bite and claw the being that has hurt it but his armour holds true. Fung, now badly injured and envenomed, takes a couple of feeble swings at the beast but his vision is blurring and his attacks fail to connect with the Horror.

The remaining spiders still attempt in vain to injure Geode but the rock is made of sterner stuff and is again unwounded.

With a mighty swing, Vash's maul once more impacts on the Sump Horror, caving it its ribs and it collapses to the ground dead. Shaking goo off his hammer, Vash glances over towards his companion, Fung is looking decidedly unwell, swaying and mumbling incoherently and looking a bit wan. Maybe it's time to get out of here as the creature is very dead and the security trooper needs medical attention.

Geode attempts to strike one of the giant spiders attacking him and after an initial failure, succeeds in crushing the vile creature.

Suddenly Fung issues a terrified wail and breaks back towards the entryway, the venom coursing through his veins making him delirious. Ignoring the combat still raging, the trooper lurches towards the door, his only thought to escape the stinking sewer.

The remaining spider is still swarming Geode ineffectually and Vash, moving to restrain his security trooper splats the creature as it perches atop Geode. Geode for his part is glad the mission is complete and begins to move towards the door and the receding back of Fung.

Unfortunately for Fung, two giant spiders appear at the entryway and he lurches around, bursting past his companions and flees into the sewers, his cries fading into the gloom.

Vash moves forward and pops off a shot from his las pistol killing the first creature as it approaches while Geode fires on the second but misses it. The spider launches itself at Geode driving the rocklike being back with it's ferocity but failing to damage him.

Vash swings his trusty maul at the creature but only succeeds in grazing it and it is up to Geode to finish it off with a stomp, reducing the filthy creature to jelly.

Things are looking grim for the adventurers as more spiders begin appearing from the entryway and combined las pistol and shotgun fire roars echos throughout the narrow confines of the corridor as the two remaining adventurers slowly move forward blasting the scuttling creatures off the floor, walls and ceiling as they attempt to escape the pump station.

 

Eventually, Geode makes it off the board but just as he leaves, a fresh wave of spiders descends on Vash. In the ensuing melee, Vash repeatedly fends off the venomous beasts and carves an ichor soaked ruin through their bodies before battling his way to freedom.

The Conclusion

Inquisitor Fisher impatiently waits next to an open manhole, tapping her foot as she awaits the return of Vash who was only supposed to be five minutes, Geralt the Wolfbane who is peering down the hole announces that he sees something as the rocky form of Geode rumbles up the ladder followed by a somewhat bedraggled Vash. The Mechanicus is covered in sewer water, ichor and cobwebs and both Geralt and Fisher draw weapons, half convinced that the Sump Horror has made an appearance before relaxing when they recognise their companion.

After a brief explanation, Vash is sent off to be hosed down by a grinning Geralt and Fisher departs to report the creature's death to the Governor General. Yes the creature is dead but according to Vash's account, the sewers need a more thorough investigation and Fisher is going to have to get dirty doing it.

And another fun game was had! I rolled lots of spider reinforcements during the game and giving them five points of damage really slowed the adventurers down whilst the appearance of the Sump Horror relatively early made for an unexpected occurrence but it was rather fitting to have it leap from the shadows to maul a hapless goon and what became of Gunter Fung? Did he succumb to his wounds, dying alone in the depths of the sewers or did he survive, slowly mutating into the very thing he sought to destroy?

Only time will tell as my next game will feature Inquisitor Fisher and co moving into the sewers to delve into level two. What fresh horrors will they discover?

I've really enjoyed playing these super small, scenario driven games and will continue with the campaign over the coming weeks so until then, All the best!