So far on Xilos (and indeed elsewhere around the
battlefield of Antares) all battles have taken place above ground. This Tunnels scenario takes us into the
subterranean depths, battling to find a Builder cavern or two.
Warlord have very kindly made tunnel templates for
everyone to download and enjoy. They can be found here:
http://store.warlordgames.com/products/beyond-the-gates-of-antares-xilos-tunnels-pdf
With a bit of careful planning and slight alteration,
something like this could be used as a basis for a game on board a space ship
or an orbital dock. Anyway, on with the
lists.
I’ll be using the Boromites as attackers, as the Ghar
have already burrowed themselves into Xilos already. The list will be the Boromite Mercenary list
form the Xilos book, as fitting the background of the campaign.
The rules prohibit models with a base size larger than
50mm, so no humongous beasts for us to play with.
Force Selector
Force size
|
Points Value
|
Tactical (t)
|
Support (s)
|
Strategic (g)
|
Auxiliary (a)
|
Combat Force
|
750
|
4-8
|
0-4
|
0
|
0-1
|
We’ve got at a lot of tactical units to choose, with the
possibility of having half the army as support choices. Careful picking could see us with 13
units. However, perhaps the number of
units would work against us while underground…
We start the scenario by excavating and exploring tunnels on our way to the central point of the table. Once a player lays a tunnelling piece next to the central line of caverns then the game begins in full.
The Boromites have a trick up their sleeve in the form of
Frag Borers, so we’ll keep an eye on those.
Victory is achieved by controlling more of the initial 5
Builder caverns than the opponent (discovered caverns along the way don’t
count) which indicates fighting will get up close and rather personal in the
enclosed tunnels. Not sure what’s worse
in a tight space, Ghar secretions or Boromite perspiration…
Did I mention that my favourite unit is the Boromite Miners with Heavy Tractor Mauls? They seem ideally suited to fighting underground where their low range won’t hamper them too much, but their startling hand to hand abilities ought to really count when it gets close.
A commander with Follow will also be most useful, as
he’ll be close enough to several units at once in the cramped conditions. But we can only take one command squad in
total due to the limitations of the list.
Overseer Squad, Rock Father, Rock Rider Overseer or Arran Gestalin?
The Overseer has Plasma Carbines, normally good for
dropping pins on Ghar but only the boss has any significant hand to hand
abilities with a hand weapon. Same
applies really to the Rock Father, which is a shame because I rather like the
Rock Father. This leaves the Rock Rider
Overseer and Arran Gestalin. The points
values are similar, but I think with the compactness of the tunnels the fewer
number of figures would work better.
Plus she has 3 attacks in hand to hand at SV3 so she’s no wimp. Fortunately the Rock Riders are all mounted
on bases of 50mm or smaller, otherwise they wouldn’t fit in the tunnels.
The Gang Fighters with Mag Guns aren’t on the top of my
list. Ghar don’t mind fighting Mag Gun
armed troops. So we may take more Miners
with Heavy Tractor Mauls and some units of Workers with Mass Compactors, with
their variable SV. Plus they can all
take Vorpal Charges, it’s only underground with nowhere to escape – what’s the
worst that could happen?
Lavamites are always fun in hand to hand. So we’ll take a set of those too.
For Support choices, we will probably want a Frag Borer
to help tunnel more effectively.
No harm in bringing a Mag Light Support and a Mag Cannon
too.
The X-Launcher has a tendency to lob its ammo into the
air, a rare commodity when fighting underground; we’ll leave that one at home
today.
Tempted to take a set of Rock Riders. Their Rapid Sprint may help bolster a gap.
Rounded off with a shard of Micromite Probes.
So that’s a lot to be getting on with, how many points
though:
(t) Arran Gestalin (120), HL Drone (+20), 2x Shield
Drones (+20), Stasis Key (+25) = 185(t) Work Gang Heavy Tractor Maul (98), Borer Drone (+15), Reflex Armour (+10), Vorpal (+30) = 153
(t) Work Gang Heavy Tractor Maul (98), Borer Drone (+15), Reflex Armour (+10), Vorpal (+30) = 153
(t) Work Gang Mass Compactor (98), Borer Drone (+15), Reflex Armour (+10), Vorpal (+30) = 153
(t) Work Gang Mass Compactor (98), Borer Drone (+15), Reflex Armour (+10), Vorpal (+30) = 153
(t) Lavamites (82) = 82
(s) Support Team (36), Frag Borer (+40) = 76
(s) Support Team (36) = 36
(s) Support Team (36), Mag Cannon (+10) = 46
(s) Rock Riders (97), Lectro Lances (+12) = 109
(a) Micromites (20) = 20
Total = 1,166 points & 11 order dice.
Just a tad over the 750 limit then… I blame the Boromites for having such cools
stuff.
416 to drop.
Remove 1 unit of Mass Compactors. And give the other units just one Vorpal
Charge each. That’s 213 gone already.
The Mag Cannon is nice, but its strengths are ranged open
combat. Tinker with some of the upgrades for the Mass Compactor unit as they don’t need all that kit.
And now wrestling with the idea of dropping another Work
Gang, or the Rock Riders or the Frag Borer.
(t) Arran Gestalin (120), HL Drone (+20), 2x Shield
Drones (+20), Stasis Key (+25) = 185(t) Work Gang Heavy Tractor Maul (98), Borer Drone (+15), Reflex Armour (+10), Vorpal (+30) = 133
(t) Work Gang Mass Compactor (98), Vorpal (+10) = 108
(t) Lavamites (82) = 82
(s) Support Team (36), Frag Borer (+40) = 76
(s) Support Team (36) = 36
(s) Rock Riders (97), Lectro Lances (+12) = 109
(a) Micromites (20) = 20
Total = 749 points & 8 order dice.
Hmm… It’s under
the points limit, but I’m not happy with it at first glance. I’d like a second unit of Heavy Tractor
Mauls.
But perhaps that is too many Lavamite eggs in one basket.
The Ghar can probably only manage three armoured units in
their force and we have a combination of units that can work together depending
on range and situations.
I would be tempted to drop the Rock Riders (due to their
size) and replace with second work Gang with Heavy Tractor Maul and also drop
the Mag Light Support to release some points.
So although I don’t have my second Heavy Tractor Maul
unit, it is probably for the best.
This makes the
final list:
(t) Arran Gestalin (120), HL Drone (+20), 2x Shield
Drones (+20), Stasis Key (+25) = 185(t) Work Gang Heavy Tractor Maul (98), Borer Drone (+15), Reflex Armour (+10), Vorpal (+30) = 133
(t) Work Gang Mass Compactor (98), Vorpal (+10) = 108
(t) Lavamites (82) = 82
(s) Support Team (36), Frag Borer (+40) = 76
(s) Support Team (36) = 36
(s) Rock Riders (97), Lectro Lances (+12) = 109
(a) Micromites (20) = 20
Total = 749 points & 8 order dice.
Using Arran to issue her orders (and with Hero and Init of 8 she has other strengths) and blast away with the Stasis Key allowing the rest of the force to try and force the Ghar into a bottleneck and then hit them with a good few hand to hand units.
The Micromites may help in a defensive situation, keeping
them near the advancing Boromites, should the Ghar close into hand to hand then
there could be some +1s to hit for the point blank shooting if positioned well.
It might work, right?
Unless the Ghar come up with something equally sneeky…
Until next time!
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