“Onyx Blade at the Breach”
The brood-lair pulsed like a canker on the outskirts of Vethros Hive, a swollen mass of chitin and glistening bio-matter that had swallowed entire hab-blocks. Even before Strike Force Onyx Blade reached the perimeter, Lieutenant Albo felt the psychic pressure of the swarm gnaw at the edges of thought.
He raised his power sword, its auric blade crackling with restrained fury.
“Brothers,” he said over the squad vox, “we carve out this rot and we save whoever yet survives. For the Watch. For the Emperor.”
The kill-team advanced.
Apothecary Gerhardt – The Living Must Be Preserved
Gerhardt knelt beside a wounded Guardsman as the first spore clouds drifted overhead, stinging like acid rain. His narthecium hissed as it sealed a gaping chest wound.
“You are not dying today, soldier,” Gerhardt murmured, bolter snapping up to blast a skulking Hormagaunt as it leapt. He hauled the man to his feet and shoved him toward the extraction corridor marked by Leto’s covering fire.
“Go. Stay alive.”
Behind him, the brood-lair gaped wide like a jaw waiting to close.
Sergeant Marius – The First Breach
Marius advanced with disciplined precision, bolt rifle braced against his vambrace. The first blast from his underslung grenade launcher tore an opening through the resin wall of the brood-lair, spraying steaming fragments across the rubble.
“Breach made. Ancatus, you’re on entry.”
He fired again, cutting down two Termagants trying to slither through the collapsing gap.
“Albo, I recommend rapid penetration before the nest reacts.”
The hive was waking.
Infiltrator Ancatus – Shadows Before Claws
Ancatus ghosted ahead, a wraith in Mark X Phobos armour. Smoke grenades burst around him, hiding the route from the synapse beasts overhead.
Inside the lair, heat and wet humidity pressed like a furnace.
He raised two fingers—silent signal. Movement.
A trio of Genestealers crawled across the ceiling, their talons slick with human blood. Ancatus exhaled, bolt-carbine rounds punching upward in a tight staccato until the xenos dropped like butchered spiders.
“All clear—momentarily,” he whispered.
Nothing was ever truly clear around Tyranids.
Eliminator Romarich – One Shot at a Time
From the ruins of a shattered manufactorum roof, Romarich had perfect oversight of the kill-team’s advance. His las-fusil whined as he dialed the charge.
A hulking Warrior-strain crested the brood-mound, boneswords raised to direct lesser beasts. Romarich squeezed the trigger.
The beam lanced through the creature’s skull, detonating its cranial sack in a bloom of white steam.
“Synapse node removed,” he reported calmly.
Below, Albo’s team surged into the gap the shot had opened.
Heavy Intercessor Leto – The Wall of Fire
Leto strode forward like a living bastion, heavy bolter roaring. The ammunition belt chattered as he swept the kill-zone clear, explosive shells cracking open carapace and flesh alike.
Guardsmen and civilians huddled behind his towering silhouette as he escorted them back through the war-torn streets.
“Stay tight. Keep moving,” he rumbled, even as he stitched a torrent of bolts into an onrushing pack of gaunts.
Once the last survivor was clear, he voxed:
“Extraction complete. Returning to the assault path.”
Assault Intercessor Riciardo – Blood and Motion
Riciardo ignited his jump pack, soaring over the writhing bio-tendrils that guarded the brood-lair’s deepest tunnels. He landed amidst a pair of Genestealers, chainsword revving. The first died in a spray of gore; the second slashed, but Riciardo rolled with the strike and fired point-blank with his bolt pistol, blowing the creature’s head apart.
“Entrance secured for demolition charges!” he shouted. “Someone get me a det-pack before more friends arrive!”
Behind him, the tunnel breathed—alive with alien hunger.
Venerable Brother Garin – The Emperor’s Oldest Wrath
Terminator armour scraped against swollen organic walls as Brother Garin waded into the heart of the brood-lair. His storm shield bore gouges from a dozen new blows, and his power sword glowed red with chitin-burn.
A monstrous Broodlord erupted from the darkness, screeching.
Garin answered with a crack of his storm shield that flattened two of its fangs. The Broodlord slashed again, its talons sparks against ceramite.
“You face a son of the Emperor” Garin thundered, impaling the beast through the thorax and lifting it bodily from the floor. “And I do. Not. Fall.”
With a twist, the xenos died.
Albo – Closing the Wound
With the Broodlord slain and Romarich eliminating escaping synapse creatures, Albo rallied his brothers at the tunnel nexus.
“Marius, charges to each burrow.”
“Riciardo, hold the choke point.”
“Gerhardt, last sweep for survivors.”
The squad moved with perfect, lethal synchronicity.
When the charges detonated, the brood-lair shuddered and collapsed inward, its flesh-walls imploding in a thunderous cascade of gore and ash. The tunnels sealed. The threat—contained.
Albo raised his sword toward the burning sky.
“Strike Force Onyx Blade. Mission success. The city is secure.”
His warriors gathered amid the settling dust, battered but unbroken.
Another world saved.
Another hive cleansed.
And the Deathwatch walked on.
Then something exciting came along in a way I would have never guessed.
"Space Marine Operations", a tabletop game mode for 40k which based its gameplay off of the multiplayer co-op missions from the computer game.
You can play it as Players Vs Environment with a small group of player taking control of one or two marines each, or completely solo with you controlling the entire strike team against the chart driven AI controlled enemies.
FANTASIC!
A short root through the bits box and I threw these three models together.
Assault Intercessor Riciardo of the Flame Phoenixes chapter.
Venerable Brother Garin, of the Broken Swords chapter.
Brother Leto of the Ultima Consuls chapter.
Not the best photo, but showing again how I freehand the different chapter symbols upon the shoulder pads.
Riciardo, on the left has a yellow and red phoenix flying from flames as his symbol, and a red on yellow cross device on his tilting shield.
Leto with the Heavy Bolter (taken from a very old Blood Angels kit) has a blue Eagle head on white background and green trim, I also took the backpack from the old Firstborn Marines Devastator squad, cut off the target and angled it to match where he is looking, as it it is tracking his movements and recording everything to be analysed later.
Venerable Brother Garin began life as the free "Model of the Month" from a while ago when GW were giving away a free Deathwing Terminator. I really liked the idea of a Power Sword and the big Stormshield, so I converted the sword with one from the Bladeguard kit (I think) and added a Horus Heresy Vexilla to his back to give him some more presence (not that he needs it).
Just like Riciardo and Leto, Garin follows my Deathwatch black armour colour scheme, the differences begin to come in with the detailing.
And Strike Force Onyx Blade gathered in all their martial glory below.
That gave me time to go back and reread everything, retype it up a little so it flowed better on the page, and to design my own scenario to slot into a three scenario mini-campaign which we could play through in less then a couple of hours (hopefully).
I have a few other things to add to the Deathwatch, one of the biggest things will be filling out Riciardo, Leto and Garin's squads, maybe add a few other characters, like a Techmarine, and I would love to get a pair of Dreadnaughts for the strike force (Who dosen't love a Dreadnaught?), perhaps a couple of vehicles wouldn't go amiss either (I do quite like the Corvus Blackstar!).
Until next time, have nice day...
No comments:
Post a Comment