Somewhere In Clan Jade Falcon Space...

Tonight P and I went to visit our friend C and his wife L, and C and I took advantage of being in the same place as each other for the first time in a while played a game of Battletech: Alpha Strike. A 500 point game saw a company of his Davion Guards go up against a binary of my Jade Falcon Falcon Guards. We actually played a scenario from the Alpha Strike Commander's Edition rulebook - Hold The Line. I ended up as defender, and had to stop his mechs from exiting my board edge. It turned out to be quite a challenging mission for me, and his two Hunchback -4SPs were absolute monsters. 

Deployment: C about to move his Assault Lance up towards the Jade Falcon defensive line.

End of Turn 1: The Davions have lost a Nightstar and a Phoenix Hawk, while the Falcons have lost a Turkina (with the Skill 2 Star Colonel in it!) thanks to the Assault Lance and the Kingfisher thanks to the Hunchbacks

End Turn 2: the survivors of the Command Star have spread out but the Dire Wolf fell victim to the Hunchbacks while the Kit Fox fell to the Falcon Ebon Jaguar. Damage was scattered around the Thunderbolt, a Thunderhawk, and one of the Phoenix Hawks

End Turn 3: The Command Star has been utterly destroyed, while the Fire Star has lost its Mist Lynx. The Adder has begun to demonstrate its charmed life, with all the shots going towards it missing. In return the Falcons have downed a Thunderhawk, the Thunderbolt, and a second Phoenix Hawk

End Turn 4: The writing is on the wall for the Falcon Guards - they have been reduced to just the Ebon Jaguar and the now armourless Adder! But perhaps one more turn is in order before they concede

End Turn 5, End Game: The losses have been brutal on both sides. The last gasp of the Falcons sees them destroy the Ceasar for the loss of the Ebon Jaguar. The Adder, in what can only be the result of sheer good fortune, remains standing! Only five of the Davion machines remain, but the ratio of 7 IS mechs to 9 Clan is not a good one - dezgra!

 Strictly speaking the result was a draw - C got 500 VP for the surviving machines, and I got 500 VP for reducing his force below half strength - but that's just a technicality. I got my behind well and truly handed to me, and I have a newfound healthy respect for the Hunchback. Especially when they have Speed Demon and are moving at 10" a turn! Overall I think that the scenario didn't favour me - I had an advantage at range, but couldn't make use of it: we were in short range by turn 1 and never fired a long range shot all game. However I have to hand it to C, he played well and exploited success. Next time, spheroids!

The Grand Tradition Of Losing

Today my old opponent S and I travelled to Warhammer World and played two games of Warhammer Fantasy 6th Edition. We each brought two 2,250 point armies, I wrote (well, adapted) two scenarios, and we randomised things by rolling to see which army we chose first, and what scenario we'd be fighting. The first game was my Skaven versus S's Wood Elves, and the scenario was a slightly adapted Breakthrough - the Wood Elves having to get units into my deployment zone and I had to stop them:

Deployment from my side. The terrain was placed then its position scattered 2d6 using the "Storch Method" named after a fellow on one of the 6th Edition Facebook groups

Wood Elf deployment! The Skaven line looked quite formidable...

End of Turn 1 from the Skaven point of view - you can see where the Stormvermin had run away for a bit after taking a bunch of casualties to shooting. I remembered after the game that they had a 4+ ward save against shooting that wasn't S5 or greater. You can also see that the right-hand Clanrat unit is missing two ranks... that's because the Ratling Gun that's pointing at them misfired (of course) and instead of obliterating the Scouts that are behind the grey woods in the middle, pumped a spray of lead into their comrades instead. Yes-good! All as the Horned Rat wills-demands!

End Turn 1 from the Wood Elf perspective. Those Scouts were very lucky that I got greedy with the Ratling Gun...

End Turn 2, Skaven view: the poison wind globadiers were initially charged by an Alter Kindred Noble, but a Stand and Shoot with poison gas killed him outright! So they then got pasted by arrows, and the Warlock Engineer decided discretion was the best part of valour and ran away errr performed tactical repositioning. The Stormvermin had regained their position in the line and were now Frenzied thanks to the Grey Seer. The Tunnel Team hadn't bothered showing up this turn sadly.

End Turn 2, Wood Elf view: the rat swarms did a great job of stopping the Wardancers, but the Wild Riders and Warhawks were posed to be a serious pain. The Glade Guard has killed the Ratling Gun, and one of the Spellsingers had used a spell to turn one of the Warpfire Throwers into mush.

End Turn 3, Skaven View: at this point I conceded. My Clanrats were dead or fleeing, my Rat Ogres wildly out of position, my Jezzails unable to do anything as the Eternal Guard were hiding in the wood, the Tunnel Team having arrived late were unable to get a charge off and were now sitting ducks (rats?), and S still had almost every unit entirely intact.

End Turn 3, Wood Elf view: The Gutter Runners, late and unable to catch the elves. The Treeman standing victorious where the Stormvermin had once been - Frenzied they may have been, but they whiffed! Only the Jezzails and Rat Ogres remain to oppose the Asrai.

A very funny game which really did hinge on the Ratling Gun misfiring in Turn 1 and blasting my own unit - if it had killed the Scouts instead, then I would have taken far less casualties and maybe even managed to get my Assassin out! As it was, the failure of the Weapons Teams and the running away of the rats spelled doom. The Horned Rat was not smiling on me today.

Lessons Learned: Remember your rules! I forgot to give my Stormvermin their 4+ Ward save against magic and mundane missiles of S4 or less thanks to the Umbranner, and the miserable Leadership 5 of most of the Skaven should have been boosted by their rank bonus, making most of the tests I took should have been on at least an 8 - but, again, I simply didn't remember. I think the Tunnel Team would have performed a little better if I'd given them slings to shoot with, but there we go.

After a spot of lunch outside from a little food van - as Bugmans' is being renovated - we returned to play the second game. This was an adapted Ambush scenario, with the Ogres defending and the Night Goblins attacking. As before we placed the scenery then scattered it 2d6 inches:

 

Deployment - the Night Goblin left, with the mercenary ogres and various comedy units

Deployment - the Night Goblin right and main force, with all the actual gobbos and the trolls. You can see the Ogre force clumped around the farmhouse ready to take them on

End Turn 1: A little animosity over on the right had staggered the advance, but the first fanatic to be released killed one of the Hunter's hounds. The Trolls had actually been able to move despite my risky positioning of them!

End Turn 3 - I didn't take a photo at the end of turn 2 I think! The slave giant had charged my Ogres in the rear and lost, running away, my own giant had charged some Bulls in the rear and they just didn't go anywhere either. The Trolls got wrecked by the Yhetees, various Fanatics had killed a few Bulls here and there, and the Leadbelchers had been eating Snotlings quite happily... but they were now open for a charge from my own Ogres! Meanwhile the Gorger had arrived and was poised to do some really quite nasty stuff to my poor gobbos

End Turn 4. The Leadbelchers had been wiped out by the Ogres, the Squig Herd had finally got into combat with Stanley the Slave Giant, Bert had been done in by the Tyrant, my Warboss' block of gobbos had fought off the hunter and two units of Bulls... and then the Yhetees and Gorger wiped out a block of spear goblins in a single round of combat, while one of the Butchers panicked my other block of spears with a dastardly spell!

End Turn 5, endgame state: The squigs had eaten the giant then been panicked by magic, while all my big blocks of Night Goblins had been destroyed by breaking and being run down (or just being run down). The Fanatics had managed to kill a couple more Bulls though, and put some wounds on a Butcher, so it wasn't all bad news.

Another fantastic game (even if I did lose again), and one that - with a couple of better dispel rolls (or extra scrolls!) would have seen my Night Goblins hold on a bit longer. The Trolls probably should have stayed back as a flank guard like they were supposed to be, but the Gorger in the rear was a bad time for all concerned. A great laugh and a fantastic introduction to the lunacy and chaos of greenskin armies. 

Lessons Learned: More Fanatics. Risky, but both funny and dangerous. Also while the Trolls were a threat, they didn't like the magic weapons of the Yhetees and were too isolated - they need to be closer to my main line. Other than that, a pretty decently bad performance as expected, and I enjoyed it very much, which is the most important thing.

Overall a good fun day out with lots of dice rolled and two armies that I've never played with before seeing the table for the first time. Jolly good stuff all round.

Redefining "Pyrrhic Victory".

So that scenario I mentioned yesterday? Well, I won. Just. I achieved my Primary and Tertiary Objectives (12VP) and S achieved his Secondary and Tertiary Objectives (9VP). However, the slaughter was exceptionally great, and I think my losses were so catastrophic as to basically redefine the concept of a Pyrrhic Victory. I shall let the photos tell the story:

My extreme left flank, held by a platoon of renegade militia and home to what I naively thought would be a 'fast strike force' of daemons, a daemon prince, and some Chaos Marine bikers.

My centre-left flank; heavy hitting war machines, a throwaway unit of beastmen, and some angry close combat troops. Plus my Chaos Space Marine reserve.

 The Fortress of Chaos; home to Abbadon, his Terminator Chosen bodyguard, my Chaos Lord and his Terminator Chosen bodyguard, with extra protection from 8 Plague Marines and a fearsome mob of Bezerkers. There was a Strategic Asset that gave every Chaos Space Marine (and Chaos Daemon) unit within 12" of the building a +1 to their INV save, which was quite nice, so I took that. (Chaos Altar).

Centre-right flank; Daemons galore! Note the Rhinos ready to be used as 'gates' to close off the streets after the tide of daemons and cultists pour through.

Extreme right flank; a mix of Slaanesh-identifying Marines, some daemonettes, and a shedload of cultists, plus a Leman Russ. You can see the Rhino-doors better here.

 The Arch-Fiend Himself, S, deploying his reinforced company of Angels Sanguine (Blood Angels). Each squad is named after a ship present at Jutland, and the characters are all named after Royal Navy officers from the battle. So 'Dante' is Jellicoe, etc.

 Angels Sanguine right flank...

 ...and again, with lots of units in Rhinos and Razorbacks.

 The Reserve. Oh good gods these bloody Jump Troops... about 70 figures, not to mention the normal chaps embarked in various APC/AIFVs!

 Start of Turn 2 - The Jump Troops Arrive. All at once. Thanks to a re-rollable 3+ reserve roll (courtesy of the Damocles command rhino).

 So I did have some war engines. They all died. Eventually. The Blood Slaughterers at least managed to destroy a Predator before being blown up, and the walking death robot thing just beyond the destroyed Defiler killed a couple of Marines before dying to Dreadnought and multi-melta fire.

End of my Turn Two I believe. See those cultists and Noise Marines and Plaguebearers?  Most of them will die next turn thanks to orbit-to-surface weaponry.

The Death Company Dreadnought had in the Marine Turn Two Assault Phase spectacularly failed to kill any cultists at all in close combat after charging them, forcing the Terminators of Squad Colossus to get stuck in. My sorceror killed two of them with a sorcerous beam power slightly later (and he survived the game, possibly MVP for me).

Turn two. The Exterminator didn't survive the Sanguine shooting phase...

After the Marine Assault Phase, Turn Two. Turn Two. I did have a left flank. Now I have an endless plain of dead.

The valiant renegade militia command unit, which was the only unit on my left flank to inflict any casualties on the Jump Troop Company after it landed - two to meltas, one to the officer's plasma pistol, and one to a laspistol shot, plus one in close combat. Platoon strength: 50. Casualties caused: 5. Casualties taken: 50. Hey, that's about right! Space Marines are meant to be worth ten ordinary men, after all! 

The Jump Troop Company (which is basically what it is) having consolidated, ready for a drive (too late as it turned out) on Abbadon.

 My right flank at the start of my Turn 3 Assault Phase. The Daemonettes turned out to be useless in close combat (what happened to their rending claws!?) and were all killed for no loss. Note lack of Cultists. They were peasants and worthless anyway! What I mean is, I chose the Turn 3 Shooting Phase to use several Orbital Bombardment Strategic Assets. I dropped three (three!) orbital strikes on the Death Company, killing all bar five (including 'Lemartes' and 'Astorath')... and also my Bloodcrusher Juggernaught cavalry, who died in a scatter. Oh, and then the Marines got an orbital strike which (of course) hit perfectly and obliterated lots and lots of stuff from this bit of my army. Bye bye Noise Marines, for example...

The Final Push during Marine Turn 4...

...and the 'Counter-Attack' - the Chosen were shot to death and butchered before doing anything, the Bezerkers hacked down without being able to respond, and the Chaos Marines on the walkway at least managed to last two rounds of combat and kill a Space Marine.

Pictures pictures pictures words words words. End result, I won, it was a bloody slaughter, I came off much worse than the Angels Sanguine, having at the end about 6 or 7 units and a handful of characters still alive. Other interesting moments included:

The Vindicare Assassin that missed two of four shots and only inflicted one wound,
Both my Defilers and a Blood Slaughterer being immobilised in Turn One before they'd even moved,
Abbadon hiding for the entire game (mwahahahaha),
Chaos Havocs failing to damage anything at all all game (12 shots over the course of the game - they either missed or failed to glance their targets),
the usual healthy interest from children younger than most of S's models,
and my personal favourite;
Chaos Sorceror stands 1" away from a Land Raider and rolls 13 on 8+2d6 for armour penetration.13!! ARRRGH! On the last turn of the game as well! Bah humbug. Oh well.

Sorry about the pics being all wonky, they shouldn't be. Blogspot is weird sometimes.

Snatching A Draw From Defeat - The Battle Of The Idol

Inquisitor Hraka sighed. He was sitting, cross-legged, on the turret of a Leman Russ, watching the Commissar berating the hollow-eyed group of men they'd found dug in on a hill overlooking the ruins of Dosant Minoris fifteen minutes previously. The fifteen Guardsmen had, their sergeant explained, made a tactical withdrawal in the face of severe enemy pressure in the form of traitor Astartes riding giant beasts that tore through tanks as though they were paper. A corporal had, in a dry voice cracked with fear, told the Commissar and the Inquisitor that their squads had taken cover in a ruined administration building, and had been attacked by three of these traitors. Their gunfire had slain two, but the third had killed four of them at close quarters and when their bayonets and pistols had proved ineffective they'd made the "tactical withdrawal". 

Behind them, smoke rose from the battlefield. Hraka didn't much care what happened to the Rigellians. He suspected they'd be put on punishment duties, the sergeant probably shot. Hraka cared about the idol. Somewhere in that ruined town was a graven idol, a foul thing, something that the traitor Astartes coveted and that he had to stop them getting. So he'd contacted the nearest Imperial force and moved them at all haste into the ruined town. From the vox-reports, the battle had been fierce, with the Rigellian troopers and their supporting armour hemmed in by ruins, unable to deploy, stymied by darkness and then hit by aliens! Eldar, if the reports were to be believed. 

Standing in one swift, smooth motion, Hraka leapt lightly from the tank and strode past the Commissar. "You men," he hissed, "come with me, and redeem yourselves." They fell in, the gunners wheeling their heavy weapons, sullen, scared. The Commissar, his face twisted with rage and shame, strode alongside as they moved over the hill to make contact with whatever was left of Captain Steiner's little force. Hraka rather thought there wasn't going to be much at all...

Tonight I fought a 2,000 point game of 6th Edition 40K against George from the Leamington Games Club.

We set up terrain to represent a ruined industrial town, with a bit of parkland, and overgrown roads.

The mission was The Relic, and deployment was diagonally opposite each other. I took the same army I took against JY in the Battle of Kolvic Gulch, while George took the same army he did last time with the addition of 500 points of Dark Eldar... including a Voidraven ground-attack aircraft!

George's Dark Eldar Allies:

Succubus with Agoniser
5 Wyches with Haywire Grenades and Hydra Gauntlet in Venom with Splinter Cannon and twin-linked Spliter Rifle
5 Wyches with Hydra Gauntlet
Voidraven bomber (!!)

I was quite apprehensive about the presence of the flyer; this is the first time I've faced one, and I had precisely zero dedicated anti-aircraft weapons. I decided not to worry and just crack on. Turn 1 would be fought in the dark. Which is where I made my biggest mistake...

Guard Deployment: Note I have no idea why this is appearing at 90 degrees from horizontal. A wall of armour, with the Valachian Leman Russ troop at the back to provide fire support. Infantry out of their carriers, and ready to form a second line of fire when the Space Wolves break through. I combined Squads 2 and 3 into a 'blob' squad on the grounds that it would make FRFSRF much more effective when this happened. Probably my best decision at this time. The ruin on my left flank is held by the Borithan Veteran Squad and the Platoon Command Squad with the sniper lascannon. What I should have done, knowing I was going second and, because it's nighttime, nothing outside of 36" can be targeted, was line up right on my board edge and not even attempt to do anything in Turn One other than not get shot. Ah well.

Traitor Deployment: He put his Long Fang squads as square opposite my Demolishers as he could manage, and then stuck his Wolves in a long line to my left. Wyches on foot with the Succubus were in the building with the rocket squad, while his Venom and the haywire grenade suicide squad went on his extreme right.

Board Overview: At the back you can just make out the Scout squad and 'Voidraven' being proxied by a Valkyrie. He did actually have a Voidraven with him... he just forgot the flying stand! The objective (a golden idol) is in the dead centre of the tabletop, obscured here by the tall building in the near centre.

Typically, I lost the roll to sieze the initiative. So the traitors went first!

Traitor Turn 1: His Thunder Wolf cavalry moved to try and minimise my chances to shoot them dead, his Blood Claws and Grey Hunters walked forwards, and his Venom sped across to my extreme left. The Plasma Cannons and Rocket Launchers managed to knock one hull point each off Demolisher 1 and an infantry squad Chimera (immobilising it in the process). A scattered plasma cannon shot nearly, but didn't, killed a man from the combined squad.

Guard Turn 1: I moved my Chimera firing line around to bear on the leftmost Thunder Wolf squad, and retreated my Company Command Chimera so it wasn't such a massive target for the Long Fangs. My shooting was pretty desultory thanks to the +2 to cover save bonus provided by night fighting. I did, however, kill a Thunder Wolf from one of the squads, and a couple of Wyches from the Succbus' squad. Oh, and the platoon command squad's plasma gun overheated, exploded, and put its user out of action. D'oh!

 Traitor Turn 2: Argh, something's got into the machine-spirit of this cogitator... anyway, both the Voidraven and the Scouts arrived. Damn! His Suicide Wyches leapt out of their Venom (which shot and killed a Borithan Veteran), threw a Haywire grenade at the platoon commander's track, charged it, and wrecked it. The Thunder Wolves on his right charged my damaged Demolisher... and exploded it. Curses! Then his Voidraven damaged my surviving Demolisher, forcing it to be able to fire only snap shots in the next turn. Long Fang fire was ineffective, and the Scouts immobilised Charlie Three. First Blood to the traitors, and now he had Linebreaker too. 2 VP to 0!

Guard Turn 2: I moved my Chimeras to bring as much fire as possible on those damn Thunder Wolves, reversed my surviving Demolisher, and began ordering. The infantry that could, fired at the two Thunder Wolves responsible for blowing up Demolisher 1. Then this was followed by all bar the Veteran Chimera, while Captain Count Geranium sniped a Long Fang with Plasma Cannon. The end result was that the Thunderwolves both died! Eventually. Charlie Two and Charlie Three blew away the Scouts, with a little help from Captain Steiner, and then...

HIT! HIT! HIT! My surviving Demolisher, unable to do anything but snap-fire its Lascannon, fired at the Voidraven. And hit it. And penetrated. And blew it out of the sky! Who needs AAA, anyway!?

The Veterans, unable to see the Wyches, fired at their Venom (killing their own plasma gunner in the process) and knocked it out of the sky. The Platoon Command squad's lascannon team sniped another Long Fang with Plasma Cannon, much to my delight. I still wasn't winning, but I felt a lot more confident all of a sudden.

Traitor Turn 3: Half-way through the game, and George is feeling confident. As he should be. I had just realised that, realistically, I couldn't win. But we played on! His Long Fangs fired away, blowing up my Company Command Chimera, and killing a man from Squad 3, but his bloody Thunderwolves attacked and exploded both the Veteran Chimera and a basic infantry Chimera too. Then his Wyches leapt over the wreckage of the Platoon Command Chimera, chucked a haywire grenade at the surviving Demolisher, and then wrecked it in close assault with a barrage of the damn things. I was suddenly not confident at all of even scoring one VP. I'd dropped from five main battle tanks and six AIFVs to three battle tanks (one of which was immobilised) and two AIFVs (one of which was immobilised)! At least I still had most of my men...

Guard Turn 3: I had to do something, and quickly. So I didn't move anything but the remaining mobile Chimera, and opened fire with everything I had at everything I could see. The end result was four dead Thunder Wolves, five dead Wyches (that took a battle cannon shell and a hail of heavy bolter fire to accomplish), and another dead Long Fang with Plasma Cannon. I was still, however, on 0VP. George was one turn away from getting the Relic and with most of my Chimeras wrecked or exploded my ability to get to it or even Tank Shock his Marines off it was no longer extant. But, the Emperor protects the just!

Traitor Turn 4: The Blood Claws and Librarian didn't quite make it to the relic, thankfully, but the Succubus and her surviving Wyches did make it to my last mobile Chimera (aargh). Meanwhile, the two surviving Thunder Wolf cavalry charged my combined squad of 20 men. Overwatch fire killed one, and although four of my men were torn apart in close combat, they did manage to take another wound off the lone survivor, before fleeing off the board. Sensible fellows! At this stage I was still pretty confident that I'd lost, George was about to go from being 2-0 up to 5-0 up and I hadn't a hope in hell of coming back from it. So I said a prayer to the God-Emperor and commended my men to sell their lives dearly.

Guard Turn 4: Truly, the Emperor protects! I moved my just still alive Chimera away from the crazy alien warrior-women, moved the Borithan Veterans into rapid fire range of them, and moved Squad 1 up to flamer range of the lone Thunder Wolf. Then I blazed away with the squad, inflicting four wounds (from lasrifle fire) and killing the damn thing! Hurrah! Suddenly George only had a 1-0 advantage... and then my command squad and Veterans killed the Wyches and Succubus, with Take Aim! on the command squad being instrumental in wounding the Succubus enough for the Veterans to take her down with First Rank Fire, Second Rank Fire from the Platoon Command squad. Who, incidentally, shot another Long Fang dead with the Lascannon. Then, and you can't see this in the picture, but the Battle Cannons of Charlie 2 and Charlie 3 hit the Grey Hunters who were slowly working their way around my right flank, turning them all into a fine mist of shrapnel and body parts. HA! Take that, traitor scum! Serves you right for renouncing the Emperor's light!

Then I had a moment of clarity. I bent. I sighted. I chuckled. "My tanks can see your Blood Claws, George. You'll get a cover save, but... I can see them." I could pull off a 1-0 loss. I wouldn't be hammered 4-0. All I had to do was survive the next turn, and then drop some shells onto the Blood Claws, killing them. I wouldn't kill his Warlord, he was too tough, but I could certainly stop him claiming the Relic.

[PICT-CAPTURE FAILURE]
Traitor Turn 5: Movement was limited. His Blood Claws and Librarian moved up to sieze the Relic. 4-0 to George. Shooting from his Long Fangs was desultory, but it did succeed - at last - in wrecking the Chimera he'd immobilised in turn one.

Guard Turn 5: I saw a chance to win. If the game went on just one or two more turns, I could get the Relic. I could win. All I had to do was blow the Blood Claws off the damn thing. With that in mind, I got my men up and moving, as fast as they could (not very - Move, Move, Move! failed me twice!) and fired all of Charlie Troop at the Traitors. Two square hits with the battle cannon! A hit from Captain Count Geranium's main gun! A total of 12 wounds on six figures - they died. All of them. Even the Librarian! Suddenly I'd gone from 4-0 down to 1-1! And, to top it all off, the Platoon Command lascannon killed another Long Fang with Plasma Cannon!

And then the dice came up a 1, and my chance at victory was gone. But I had a draw! And I was in much the better position. I was left with three main battle tanks, a mobile but damaged AIFV, and 30 men. The Traitors, on the other hand, had a Long Fang sergeant, and a squad of Long Fangs with rockets. I had little doubt that had the game gone on another turn or two, victory would have been mine. As it was, I am content with the hard-fought draw, particularly after being so convinced I'd lost earlier on.

...Hraka ran his thin, dark hand through his silver-white hair. The young Captain had held the traitors off, despite losing almost all his armour. His men were covering the access to the Relic, and so were the enemy. Wreckage littered the park, along with bloody shreds of enemy fighters and the bigger, laser-pocked hulks of Fenrisian wolves and the hulking forms of their riders. True enough, the Eldar had been there. Another black mark against these rogue wolves, Hraka though. He turned to the Commissar, who had begun berating a soot-covered Lieutenant about the men who'd run.

"Leave it, Commissar. These men have served valiantly and well. There is no shame in moving to a better position of fire."

The Commissar opened and closed his mouth, and managed to make a salute. The Lieutenant, and the men who'd moments before been slumped in the ruined chapel, their dead comrades covered in ground-sheets nearby, exchanged glances. Perhaps working for this Inquisitor wasn't going to be so bad after all. Hraka smiled as he read their thoughts, and motioned to the Stormtroopers who'd followed him in. 

"Come on," he said, "I've got a relic to collect."