The Hunt For Carious Holroyd

[Pictors Studio]

Our Spring campaign kicked off tonight. 

Here is the narrative background, next post will be the TL:DR version. 

Six years ago air hissed as the lighter's ramp detached itself from the body of the ship and slowly lowered itself to the deck of the landing pad. Though faded the crossed drills of House Holroyd were still visible under the gleaming black boots that strode out of the ramp and across it.

"Lord Holroyd, greetings. I trust the trip was uneventful?"

"Lletchim. It is good to see you old friend."

The older man still wore the service coat of an Imperial Navy captain. Although frayed a little around the edges with age and wear the service pins still shone, obviously freshly polished. Carious Holroyd imagined the Captain getting up every morning and polishing those treasures.

The two men walked together towards a door that led down to the inner rooms of the Holyrood, the home of House Holroyd for generations.

They wound down the spiral staircase into the library. Shelves lined the room, although many of the shelves were depleted of the tomes that had made the Holyrood a place to visit in past years. Carious spared only a momentary glance at the empty spaces. Had Lletchim not known the young man so well he would have missed the brief look of loss and annoyance that passed across his face.

"I remember my time in the academy . . ." the captain began but did not finish.

"I want to see the concession first thing in the morning," Carious said.

Lletchim was taken aback, not at being interrupted but at the request.

"Why?" he gasped out.

After a moment of silence between the two he began again.

"Of course, I'll make the arrangements, but why do you want to see the mine?"

There was another pause, Carious started to speak multiple times but the words did not come.

The older man put his hand on his Lord's shoulder.

"It was the ruin of your father, my boy. I'd not see it ruin you too."

"How much of House Holroyd's wealth is left? How much property and industry do I command?"

"Well, there is the Versochen Armory."

Carious looked his servant in the face without a trace of expression.

"The Versochen Armory produces only enough lasrifles to keep itself open, the pittance of profit we see from it go to House Goliath for running it for us."

"Not quite . . ." Lletchim trailed off.

"No, not quite. We see about 200 credits a month left over from it. It isn't enough to pay to have this room dusted, even upon my return I see."

Lletchim was silent.

"And then there are the missing books."

"You approved every sale!"

Carious put his hands up placatingly.

"I'm not criticizing you, old friend. You've done what you had to do to keep the place ours. But we cannot keep selling off treasures to stay afloat. The concession is our last holding of any significance."

"But sir, the concession has been mined out. There is nothing left. House Helmawr has even lowered the tithe on the property."

"House Helmawr is more or less satisfied with the death and disgrace of my father and doesn't care if it bleeds us slowly now. I want to see the concession tomorrow."




"I can't see what it is he thinks he is going to find," said Naglimo six years ago.

The cavernous openings honeycombed the few hills situated next to the polluted torrent of water that branched and flowed through the lower openings of the hills and on towards a small cliff where it splashed onto the rocks below. The river changed from a sallow green color to a deeper brown as it mixed with the rich, thick soil in the mines.

The ground, undisturbed for nearly a decade, had become thick with the droppings of the flying rodents and other creatures that moved in when the humans left.

Lletchim checked that the vox link was only between his helmet and the pilot before speaking.

"I watched his father do the same thing nearly two decades ago now. I saw these mines destroy him."

"You forget, my Captain, that I watched the end of that too."

"I saw the senior clump around here and piddle away the last of his fortunes looking for deeply buried archaeotech when it was clear that any ore was gone . . . and long gone."

"It was a sad sight," Lletchim finished.

"I'd not see the son go through the same fate," he said a few moments later.

"Then what are we doing here," said Naglimo.

"Satisfying his curiosity," Lletchim said, "I suppose."

The vox squawked over the general line.

"Lletchim, call back to the house. Tell Hasdrubek to sell the rest of the books. Tell him to sell my speeder."

"What? Why?"

"I'm going to need cash. I'll also need to talk to some of the other houses that were sympathetic to my father in the end. I'll need to borrow some money."

"For what," Naglimo interrupted the chat involuntarily.

"I've got a list. We're going shopping tomorrow."






"Look, you aren't like to power that chainsword you've got there with anyfink cleaner burning. And if you don't care about that, it's cheaper than promethium by half," said Karis Lochner five years ago.

"Aye, it is cheaper," the Goliath ganger leered at the small plasteel chambers containing the viscous brown fluid.

"And better."

"Aye, and better," the Goliath agreed.

"So what's yer problem then. As you got summit wrong with you?"

The Goliath grunted and looked down at the shopkeep, shorter by a full 16" than the Goliath. A smile broke across his face revealing teeth that were metal where they weren't broken or missing.

"My guess is you'll take 'em like."

"Your guess is right."

"Then six cans of Bogdash it is."

Credits passed from the massive fist of the ganger to the hands of the shopkeep and the smaller man found a box under the table in his stall and placed the six metal canisters in.

"It's less dangerous, too. Less like to blow up if it gets hit like."

"Aye," said the ganger, "I've bought it haven't I, you don need to keep flogging it."

It was the merchants turn to smile. He passed the box over to the Goliath and turned to put the credits in his cash box.









The fumes from the fire drifted up and through the wooden planks five years ago. In the rare case when it rained a tarp was rolled over the roof to keep the denizens dry.

"Nista, help your sister get dressed," Tolies said to her older child as she flipped the two pieces of bread in the pan.

She patiently watched the two girls fumbling with the younger one's clothes before sliding the food onto a plate and then walking over and correcting the situation in a few moments.

Nista pulled the chemical mask over her face as Tolies fixed one over the face of Lelsie. She pulled her own off of the hook on the wall and hung it from her belt. Wrapping the two pieces of bread up she placed them in a small bag and handed it to Nistra.

"Give that to . . ." she started

". . . Mr. Lorms," Nistra finished, "I know, I know, you tell me every day."

"Well see that you do it, I don't want you eating those as soon as you can and then coming home so hungry again."

Tolies pushed the curtain that hung over the opening in her dwelling and ushered her girls out the door. She yanked the curtain closed before guiding the two down the street.

They turned at the corner and walked down another street crowded on both sides with stucco buildings. They moved with the crowd as the homes gave way to more metallic structures. The plant was ahead.

"Go on," said Tolies, "go in and get to work girls."

The two pre-teens ran on towards the massive entrance to the factorum and Nistra handed her bundle to Lorms as he greeted the workers at the door.

Tolies turned before her children were 10 feet from her. She strode along another side street where the building got bigger and less industrial in nature with one more turn the river was in view.

The Falls were obscured by the hills on the opposite side of the river. Hers was the last settlement of the three towns that made up Guano Falls. The skiff was there. It didn't wait long and she picked up her pace, now that she could see it, it was unlikely to leave without her, but she didn't like to make the others wait.

She boarded and crammed in with the others, hands overlapping as they steadied themselves on the poles that ran from the deck to the overhead bars.

The driver dropped down from his position atop the texas and moved in through the door and began to move the boat into the stream. They stayed near the bank where the current was the weakest and moved upstream towards the falls.

Some of the newer people from the hive already had their filter-masks on. The deafening roar of the falls would be lessened by the filters in the head covering PPE and the stench of the river almost removed completely despite it growing in strength the further upriver they went.

She liked the noise and didn't mind the smell anymore. It smelled like money to her now. As the small craft pulled into the dock at Bottom she moved with the group and eventually worked her way off the craft and along the Bottom docks to the Falls. This close the sound was rattling. She put her mask on and went through to the caves moving in a line with the others, picking up her netting and buckets as she emerged in the giant cavern with the brown water splashing down in front of her now.

The crew ahead of her were filtering out the other side of the cave. Their buckets full again, their shift ended, they were heading to the station to get paid out and take a raft or the skiff back to Down.

Tolies cast her net into the splash. Her first cast today was a good one, she could see as she struggled to pull it back in. Her buckets were behind her and she scraped the shit off of the netting into them. In one cast a quarter of a bucket. She might have a short shift today. It was six months since she had left the Underhive. In another 18 she would be able to afford a place in Top.




Four years ago Tolies looked down from her bedroom window over the falls. She awoke at dawn. She just spent a few minutes appreciating the scale of the landscape before going in and waking the girls. The three went downstairs where she prepared food for herself and her children.

Their tutor would be there soon and Tolies didn't want Nistra and Lelsie to be distracted with hunger while they were trying to learn.

"Tolies," came a voice and a knock at the door.

She went over.

"Kalak, you're early," she said as she pulled the door open.

"Yes, ma'am," said the tutor, "Lord Holroyd sent me over his own self. He would like to see you before you start your shift today."

Tolies was somewhat alarmed. She had only met the owner of the concession once before and that was when she had been promoted, with three others, to a manager of batsmen.

Her mind flashed over the last few weeks of work, but all quotas had been met and injuries from falling guano had been kept to a minimum. She felt somewhat better about the situation, Lord Holroyd was known for his kindness to all the denizens of Guano Falls, whether they lived in Top, Bottom or Down.

"Do you know why?"

"No, ma'am, but you'd best be on your way quick-like."

"Yes, I had best."

She grabbed her mask from the hook on the wall.

"Can you just finish that potsmash for me and give it to the girls?"

"Ma'am?"

She put her mask back on the hook and went over to pot. She gave it too quick stirs and poked the mix with her spoon.

"It's still a little tough, but you bairns will have to survive it. Emperor knows you've had worse."

She spooned the mix into two bowls and, grabbing her mask on the way, was out the door.





Chancellor Hestaarch looked down at the report two years ago. The numbers were far from where they should be. The Promethium Guild had been complaining about some sort of competition all year but he had waved their concerns aside. How could anything replace Promethium? They had a monopoly on it. It just sounded like whining to Hestaarch.

But their tithes were well off and their numbers backed that amount up. If this was correct sales of promethium had almost halved in Hive Primus. That reduced the promethium tithe planetwide by 18%.

Lord Helmawr would not be happy.

"Galbraith!"

"Yes, Chancellor?"

"Send for the head of the Promethium Guild. I would speak to him now."

"Yes, Chancellor."

"Also find, or send someone to find, Gean Gorvos. I would have something for her to do."





She strutted into the room 2 years ago and took a seat without being asked.

"Ay-up. Wottjowant?"

"My numbers tell me that the Underhive is no longer purchasing promethium."

"Jonono bout Bogdash?"

"Bog. Dash?"

"Yuv not been tabangin, then."

"No, I have not."

Gorvos stood up.

"Theys making the Bogdash out in ther Ash Wastes, made by Lord Hollywood or summit."

"Its banging. Cheaper than pro by harf."

"Avayagorumin?"

"Ah . . . no," said Chancellor Hestaarch.

"Galbraith?"

"Yes, Chancellor?"

"Would you bring my guest and I some refreshments."

"Yes, Chancellor."

"Ta. I'm clammed in all."

"Galbraith?"

"Yes Chancellor?"

"Please also bring some biscuits."

"Yes, Chancellor."

"Ta."

Galbraith exits the room.

Hestaarch and Gorvos regard each other.

"This Lord Hollywood, wouldn't happen to actually be . . . Lord Holroyd?"

"That's the bugger."

"I see."

Galbraith comes in with a tray with two glasses and a decanter. The tray has a plate with three each of three kinds of biscuits on it.

He hands a glass to Gorvos, she takes it. He fills it from the decanter with a milky-brown liquid. He then moves the tray towards her. She takes the plate of biscuits and begins to eat them.

"Ta," she says.

Galbraith then hands a glass to Hestaarch and fills it. He leaves with the tray.

"Do you know where Lord Holroyd is making this Bogdash?"

"Nah, but I can find out."

"Please do so."





"Of course it is at the Concession, you moron! Where else would it be?"

Chancellor Hestaarch took an involuntary half-step backwards at the violence of Lord Helmawr's response.

"How much?"

A blank look from Hestaarch caused Lord Helmawr to repeat slowly.

"How. Much."

"About a total of 3% loss of revenue."

"But I think we can make some of it up by increasing our promethium . . ."

"We'll take it out of his hide. I thought I'd made my point with that family. I thought they would just cease to exist. I didn't want to hurt the boy. I let him go off, I even let a few of their underpayments slide when I knew the funds were going to his education."

"And. This. Is. How. I. Am. Repaid."

"Indeed, sire."

"Summon Carious here tomorrow. I want him here first thing."

"Yes, sire."







"A Jermain Dar is here to see you," said Lletchim a year ago as he stepped into the library well furnished with books.

"That can only mean one thing."

Carious Holroyd stood from his chair and moved towards the door.

He stopped before exiting.

"Lletchim, see that the books are all packed immediately, we leave before morning."






Six months ago the sounds of machines being tested and fixed and re-fixed and built echoed throughout the domes of the Underhive. The reward posted for Lord Holroyd's capture was worth any risk in traveling to the Ash Wastes to bring him back.

Even the Orlocks were determined to find the rouge Spirer. Although their interest in him was more to protect this new source of revenue for their road crews.

It was assumed by most that Holroyd had headed to the Concession, out to what had become known as Guano Falls, one of the richest sources of fuel on all of Necromunda. Helmawr would have sent his stormtroopers to raid the place. It seemed that only Holroyd knew the process to extract such pure fuel from the droppings of the flying rats that inhabited the man-made caverns of the Concession.

Certainly the people of the three settlements near the falls were unlikely to give him up. Anyone that did would need protection against the rest no matter the reward. His workers were loyal.

It would not be an easy mark, but for 100,000 credits, what gang wouldn't throw their hat in the ring?

[Pictors Studio]

TL:DR

House Holroyd made Lord Helmawr unhappy.  Lord Helmawr exchanged the House's current holdings for the largest mine on Necromunda.  Also the oldest mine and one that was completely exhausted.  It still had a tithe. 

They almost went bankrupt and the father died, his son returns and turns the mines into a source of fuel by using dung from the creatures that live in the man-made caves.  He collects their excrement.  As it is a new enterprise, and entirely unpredicted, there were no taxes levied on it and the enterprise grew completely under the radar.

It was discovered when Promenthium sales fell in the Hive Primus Underhive as many Underhivers were using the new Bogdash for fuel.

Lord Helmawr sent to have Lord Holroyd brought to him but the latter scarpered and the hunt is on.  He put 100,000 credits on the head of the young scion if he was brought back alive as it seems he is the only one that knows the whole process of refining the dung.

So the gangs are racing out into the Ash Wastes to capture Lord Holroyd in his concession, now known as Guano Falls where there are three settlements: Top, Bottom and Down. 

[Pictors Studio]

The first week of our Spring Necromunda campaign saw two brutal games between five gangs.

The first game was the Mayhem in the Marketplace scenario between a Cawdor Gang and a Goliath Gang.



This was, by far, the most brutal Necromunda game I've ever seen.



Both sides just kept punishing each other and no one ran away. One Cawdor juve racked up 2 or 3 Goliath kills and the Goliath leader blasted down two Cawdor juves with his bolter, one surviving the impact and then falling off a building 5 inches to the ground and surviving with a flesh wound.



The Cawdor leader took more and more punishment each turn, eventually retreating into a bunker, but he survived.

The Goliath leader spent much of the game on fire. It didn't bother him much.



Eventually we were left with one healthy Cawdor juve, a Cawdor ganger at T1, the Cawdor leader at T1 and another Cawdor ganger at T2 facing the Goliath leader at T2 and a healthy Goliath.

The Goliath went out of action when the T2 Cawdor ganger hit him three times with his autogun inflicting two unsaved wounds and taking him out of action.



The Goliath leader voluntarily left the battle at that point.



At the end of the game one Cawdor juve died and two went into recovery. They managed to get their hands on 15 credits, a bolter and a long rifle plus 4D6 credits.



The Goliaths got nothing but 4 guys in recovery and a gang of four for the next battle.

[Pictors Studio]

The other battle saw Enforcers, Genestealer cults and Van Saar facing each other trying the Gunk Tank scenario.



The two non-cop gangs targeted the Enforcers and drove them from the field in the first turn. They had been shot at twice when their player decided he had had enough and fled.

The other two gangs then faced off over the gunk tank. The Van Saar got a model to the tank quickly on a hover board, siphoned off a container full of the fuel and fled.



Both sides advanced shooting with what cover was available.

With gangs on opposite sides of the tank the game came down to one of strike and counter strike. With a deft move a GSC ganger moved to web three Van Saar clustered together. His shot managed to only web one of them, the leader.



Then the Aberrant charged and although he took down one of the Van Saar gangers he was quickly repelled with covering las fire and went to cover.



Both sides then retreated with what they managed to get becoming more intent on escape than causing harm.

The Van Saar ended up with 7 credits for their troubles.

[hubbabubba]

Looks like fun was had.

There's some nice pieces of terrain in amongst all that lot.

[Grah]

I really loved your back story. I was sucked right in and felt a little twinge of disappointment when it ended and I remembered its purpose as a lead in to your campaign. 

That is fairly impressive. Congratulations.

[Bloggard]

very atmospheric looking tables.

[Pictors Studio]

I'm glad you guys liked this.  We had a lot of fun playing and I had fun making the narrative.  I'm not sure most of the players read it.

The Cawdor vs. Goliath game was probably the best game of Necromunda I've ever seen in terms of drama and violence.

We're playing again tomorrow.  It is an all-vehicle week.  Here are the scenarios:


Scenario 1:

Run the Gauntlet.

There are a number of ways the gangs can get down from Top to Bottom.  Most involve a long trip around cliff face but there is one path that often goes unnoticed. 

The wiley Cawdor have seen this path and are moving down with their vehicles.  Having noticed the wretched vehicles on their way, the Enforcers set off in hot pursuit. 

Duration: the game lasts for 6 turns. 

Terrain: Players will roll twice on the terrain generation chart for the first turn and then each other turn for the game. Any building results are re-rolled. 

For each piece of terrain there are d3 Bottom denizens hiding in it waiting to ambush any gangers coming to try to find their benefactor. Each Bottomer is armed with an autogun, has a BS of 5+ and will shoot at the closest ganger of either side.  If they fail an ammo roll the model is removed, they cannot reload.  They are T3 and have 1 wound each.  If they are wounded they are removed, no need to make a serious injury roll.  Each model counts as being in partial cover. 

Rewards:  The gang with a model that is closest to the Eastern table edge at the end of turn 6 gets to Bottom before the other gang. 

They are then able to do some looting in bottom while its citizens are heading back and gain 4d6 credits.  They are also able to roll two Hunt for Holroyd rolls at the end of the game.  If they are successful they will have Holroyd in Bottom for the next week. 

Scenario 2:

Raiding the fuel Depot

Travel in the Ash Wastes is unpredictable and running out of fuel in the middle of this harsh and barren place is not recommended.  With the drive all the way around the cliff the two gangs are running low on fuel.  The Orlocks know about the fuel depot from their convoys through the Ash Wastes and the Van Saar have detected it using an advanced technology. 

They have both heard rumours of a depot of Bogdash that is stored away from Guano Falls and are attempting to get there first to siphon some off and stay in the game.

Duration: the game lasts 8 turns.

Terrain: Terrain is generated normally for the first 4 turns.  On the 5th turn re-roll any results that are not buildings, do not re-roll the re-roll.  On the 6th turn place the storage facility on the table in the middle of the table. 

The terrain stops moving at the end of the 7th turn and, obviously, no new terrain is generated. 

The gangs will then have two turns to get models onto the storage facility. 


Rewards: Any models on the storage facility not seriously injured at the end of the 8th turn score 2d6 credits for their gang. 



Scenario 3

The Bridge

Although it is not easy to get to the other side of the river, the passage around the cliff is shorter if you go to the North bank and around the hills that make up the Concession. 

The Genestealers, drawn to having a look at the mines anyway, and the Goliaths decide this is the best course of action. 

Duration: the game lasts 8 turns.

Terrain:  Terrain is generated normally for the first two turns.  On the third turn players not place any terrain.  On the fourth turn place the river and the bridge.  The river is 12" wide and consumes the whole table lengthwise.  There is a single bridge that runs across the river.  If a vehicle is pushed into the guard rails, roll a d6, on a 1 the guard rail gives and the vehicle plunges into the water.  Any passengers count as being out of action.  As everyone who has ever seen a movie knows, plunging into water from a bridge is not dangerous if you are in a vehicle, so those models automatically make full recoveries and do not have to roll on the long-term injury chart.

On the fifth turn no terrain is place and then roll normally on the 6th turn. 

Rewards:  The gang with a model closes to the Northern edge of the table at the end of the game gets 6d6 credits.

[Pictors Studio]

Since we had an odd number of players and it isn't so easy to do 3-way vehicle battles I ended up making a gang and playing.  I did Orlocks and I ended up against the dreaded Van Saar and their lascannon. 

I didn't get to keep track of the other games as closely but tried to get a bit of an overview on how they went. 

I did get a pretty good idea of what happened in my game.  Natch!



The Van Saar had only one vehicle that they put all of their 10 vehicle points into.  It had hover, was size 4 and had a heavy stubber. 

The Orlocks took two armoured cars, both with ablative armour, boosters and heavy stubbers and a bike. 

The two gangs exchanged long range fire at first before the Orlocks closed in on the Van Saar skimmer.

   

The first car moved up and the wrecker activated his booster and shot over the gap easily charging into the ganger with the lascannon.  His attack was ineffective and the rest of the Van Saar ganged up on the poor prospect and beat him unconscious. 

The attack managed to disorder the crew of the skiff.  The Orlocks took advantage of that, targeting the Van Saar juve with their pintel heavy stubber and blasted him from the skiff.



After laying another Van Saar out with his bolter the the Orlock leader sent his dog, Winston, over the side and into the Van Saar champion. 



Meanwhile the Orlock Arms Master raced his bike over to the Skiff and seeing the threat of the entire Orlock gang about to board them, the Van Saar broke off and let the Orlocks have the refinery.

The end result was 43 credits for the Orlocks, the wrecker suffered a chest injury and is now -1T and the ganger that was hit by the lascannon learned a valuable lesson from his injury but will be sitting the next game out. 



A very depleted Goliath gang went toe-to-toe with an almost fully intact Genestealer cult force.  Both groups were racing for a bridge and exchanging long range gunfire.  With only three gangers available for the match the Goliaths were at a serious disadvantage. 



Eventually they just had a driver and as the bridge came in sight the Genestealers sent their aberrant over the side and into the Goliath vehicle.  As tough as he was, fighting the monster and driving the truck at the same time was too much and soon the Goliath was out.  The Genestealers abandoned the Goliath truck to crash into the river and went across the bridge down to Bottom by the short route. 



On the other side of the river the Cawdor were pursued by the enforcers.  But the citizens of Bottom had come out to drive all of the invaders away. 

They ambushed the two gangs and blew away the Cawdor biker quickly.  The Cawdor moved over and tried to board the police APC but were repulsed and quickly their few gangers were mowed down leaving the enforcers to loot the town as the first gang to arrive and complete a quick, and futile, search for Lord Holroyd.

[Pictors Studio]

The sounds of gunfire seemed to be still echoing down the streets of Top after the gangs had torn through the town in their search for Lord Holroyd.  A rumour circulated through the populace that the master of the Concession had slipped out of the settlement in the confusion and made his way to Bottom and soon gangs were slipping away, hoping to go unnoticed as they continued their search through Guano Falls.

The trickle became a stampede and as the various vehicles made their way around the drop to Bottom there was much bloodshed along the way.

The first gangs arriving in Bottom quickly used their wit and charm to get any information from the population about the possible whereabouts of Lord Holroyd.  When that didn't work they intimidated and beat the information out of them.

When that still didn't work they had to search on their own. 

Holroyd did have a compound in Bottom.  Anticipating an attack on the place, Holroyd had sent his servants away, but the compound was stilll defended. 

The Van Saar and Goliaths arrived late to Bottom having had some difficulties on their trip to the settlement.  They decide that Holroyd's compound might be the best place to find clues as the man's location, if not the man himself.  There might also be a significant amount of loot still left in the place.  Holroyd told all of his servants to leave, however he did have some very loyal retainers and they may still lurk about the compound waiting for their chance to take down any unsuspecting intruders. 

The gangs will be playing the Big Score scenario from Page 98 of The Book of the Outcast. 

Instead of reputation the winner will get d3 rolls on the Find Holroyd table, the loser will get just 1 roll. 

8













Bottom was the collection site for any of the pre-fuel that was dislodged by the denizens of Top before being shipped to Down for final processing.  While there was no masking the stench of the Falls, keeping piles of bat shit exposed would make living in Bottom intolerable so the product was stored in underground tanks.  The tanks are big enough, if emptied, to hide a man.

The Orlocks and Cawdor gangs have decided to see if they can find Lord Holroyd hiding in one of these cannisters. However, this is not without peril.  If the cannister is not open carefully the gases contained within could harm the explorer, or overwhelm them, causing them to possibly fall in.

The two will be playing the Mining Expedition scenario from page 96 of the Book of the Outcast. 

The prospecting chart will have the same numeric values but should read as follows

2 "S'right mates I got thiiiii  . . . " overwhelmed by fumes, the fighter makes and initiative check, if passed they are seriously injured, if failed they are out of action.

3-5 - "Cor! The pong!" the fumes take the fighter by surprise and they suffer a S1, D1 hit.

6-9 - "I fink we've got summit 'ere." the hatch has been safely opened and the insides may be inspected, is it a nearly empty tank or is it a completely empty tank hiding something else.  On the next activation you can roll 3D6 to prospect. 

10-16 - "Just turds in this'n!"   Lord Holroyd isn't in here, this one is full of guano. This counts as being mined out.

17-18 - "Lord Holroyd, I presume."  You presume wrongly, of course, but this is Lletchim and he will give the discoverer 5 rolls on the Find Holroyd table. 

No credits will be earned in this scenario for clearing out mining sites.  However, there will be a tool box on site that can be opened like a loot crate and the fighter that opens it can obtain 3d6 credits for their gang by making it back to their deployment zone with the token. 




















Being among the first gangs to arrive in Bottom the members of the Cult and the Enforcers decide to try to stop people from fleeing the settlement across the one bridge to the North bank of the river. 

The two gangs will play the Toll Bridge scenario from the Book of Peril.

[Lord Faoil]

Your table set-up looks fantastic! Looks like some great games.

[Pictors Studio]

I can't speak much to the others, but the Orlock vs. Cawdor game was great.  The Orlocks were really pounding the Cawdor early on, to get to 5:2 numerical advantage, but then the Orlocks failed their bottle test and the Cawdor leader killed the Orlock leader, like killed-killed. 

That put the Orlocks on the back-foot.  Then two of their guys ran away in the next turn so it was 2:2.  But the Cawdor failed their bottle test after rolling solid 1s for three turns in a row, and it was their turn to be running. 

Their leader ran off, as did another Orlock so it was 1:1.  Winning initiative in this situation is pretty dodgy but the Cawdor got it and failed their check so scarpered leaving only 1 Orlock on the table and a rather pyrrhic victory. 

[Bloggard]

more great looking tables, and -sounding games / narratives.

And I applaud the chap making the effort sartorially, suit an' all ... 

[Pictors Studio]

I was feeling a little underdressed until his opponent showed up, then I felt better about what I was wearing 

Here are the scenarios for this week.  The road map for the campaign from this point is one race game to get them to Down.  Then they will all have their chance to capture the real ^TM Carious Holroyd the following week.

The last game will see the gang with the prize have to race all the way back to Hive Primus to redeem their captive and gain their reward!  That will be one big race game with the one gang having Holroyd and the other gangs trying to catch them. 

Scenario 1:

The River Road

The most direct way to get to Down is along River Road.  While most travel between Bottom and Down is via water, River Road sees a good bit of traffic.  House Cawdor and the Cult have both decided to take the road to town. 

Sticking to the road is pretty safe, but as it is a well-travelled route many enterprising individuals have set up shop.  One each side of the packed earth path merchants have their establishments to help out the unfortunate traveler.

Duration: the game lasts for six turns.

Terrain:  Terrain is generated by rolling on the following chart for the type of terrain:

1-Rough Ground
2 - Vegetation
3 - Carnivorous plant
4-6 - Building

The road is a section of the table 18 inches wide, 9" on each side of the center line. 

Placing the terrain will simply be by rolling a d6, odds it is North of the road, evens it is South of the road.  The terrain can be placed one piece at a time within the designated area by the player who won priority the previous turn getting to place a piece first. 

Rewards: The gang with a model closest to the Eastern edge of the table at the end of turn 6 is the winner.  The winner will arrive at Down and capture Lord Holroyd and play in the Rescue Mission as the defender next week.  The loser will play the Fighter Down Mission as the attacker.


Scenario 2:

The Nomad Caravan

With some time to prepare the denizens of Down have managed to secure some weapons to defend their town and their benefactor from the gangs invading their turf. 

The first gangs to leave Bottom learned this lesson the hard way, the other gangs are savvy though and have sought other avenues of advance.  Some chose the River Road, which couldn't be shelled for obvious reasons. 

Others have decided to go through the Wastes but sticking close to a Nomad Caravan.  The Nomads have been traveling through a gama irradiated area for a long time and have developed natural defenses against that.  They will protect their turf, whatever the cost.  They will never surrender! 

Van Saar and the Enforcers have decided that this is the safest route. 

Duration: the game lasts for 6 turns. 

Terrain:  Terrain is generated as normal.  In addition to the normal terrain there is a chance that the gangs will encounter a dust cloud kicked up by the Caravan or one of the vehicles defending the Caravan. 

On each turn roll a d6.  On a 1-2 nothing happens, on 3-5 there is a dust cloud.  Models will be provided for dust clouds.  Any time a vehicle is in a dust cloud the dust cloud counts as Smoke from the weapons traits. On a 6 a Caravan vehicle appears. 

The vehicle will show up like other pieces of terrain and is placed the same way.  The vehicle will not move, trying to defend the Caravan by remaining stationary to fire at the gangs.

The Caravaners have three heavy stubbers and a battle cannon with which to defend themselves. 

The defenders are BS 5+.

The battle cannon has the following stats

Weapon                       R S    L        A S L           S            AP         D           Am         Traits
Battle Cannon                 20  48       -1   0          8         -2/-3       2/4          4+     Blast 5", knockback

Cannister                         Template   - -              5           -1           1            4+     Template, knockback

The Heavy stubbers simply target a ganger on the closest vehicle to them and in line of sight, unless there is a ganger that is closer not on a vehicle, in which case they target him. 

The Battle cannon will fire at the target that is closest but gives the best chance of hitting.  So if there were three vehicles, one was at 15", one was at 24" and one was at 32" it would target the 24" vehicle as it would not suffer the -1 penalty for short range but is closer than the 32" vehicle.

If a vehicle is in Cannister range it will always fire cannister. 

The Battle cannon has two values for AP and D, these are for the model that is hit by the template vs. the model that is directly under the hole in the template.  In most cases the vehicle itself will be directly under the blast so will be hit with the second value while all crew will be pasted with the shrapnel.  Don't forget that since the BS of the crew is 5+, any hits are likely to cause knockback. 

Also since the Caravan defender is not moving they do not suffer from the rule that counts them always being at long range. 

Only one Caravan defender can be on the table at a time.  If another 6 is rolled it counts as a dust cloud until the defender vehicle is moved off of the table. 

Rewards: The gang with a model closest to the Eastern edge of the table at the end of turn 6 is the winner.  The winner will arrive at Down and capture Lord Holroyd and play in a modified Fighter Down Mission as the defender next week.  The loser will play the Escort Mission as the attacker.

Scenario 3

The Precipice. 

Not all the gangs decided to take the path South of the river. 

Some thought their best chance was to take the high ground on the North bank although the path there narrows dangerously.  The Orlocks and the Goliaths decided that the chances of a crash or an 80-foot fall were less than the dangers of being hit by artillery. 


Duration: This game lasts for 6 turns.

Terrain:  Only natural terrain may be generated so any results of "building" will be re-rolled. 

At beginning of the 2nd turn the cliff walls on the North side of the table and the drop off to the River on the Southern side of the table will start to appear.  Terrain will be placed narrowing the battlefield by 3" a turn on both sides of the table after that.  So Easter end of the table on the second turn will be 42" wide, then 36" wide on the third turn, then 30" wide on the 4th turn, then 24" wide on the 5th turn and then 18" wide on the last turn. 

Terrain can only be placed where there is not a cliff face or the drop off. 

Rewards: The gang with a model closest to the Eastern edge of the table at the end of turn 6 is the winner.  The winner will arrive at Down and capture Lord Holroyd and play in the Escort Mission as the Defender next week.  The loser will play the Rescue Mission as the attacker. 

[Pictors Studio]

We only managed two games this week as one of the players was out with a migraine. 

The two games were as different as chalk and cheese. 



The Van Saar and Goliaths were content to live and let live.  One Goliath suffered a flesh wound but that was from an Ash Wastes Nomand that came on the table as part of a scenery roll.






The Cawdor vs. GCS game was completely brutal.  There were boarding ramps placed, counter boarding actions initiated, boarding actions carried out, vehicles crashing into trees, gangers falling off vehicles.  It was madness!



At the end of the game there was only one vehicle of the three that had any conscious crew members.




In the end the Cult won out, although they had to drive back and pick up their aberrant who fell off the Cawdor skimmer trying to dodge some flames.




This Cawdor gang has taken more beatings than I've ever seen in a Necromunda campaign before. 

They are 1-3 and even the game they won they lost half their guys to recovery or death.