So there is a new standalone game taking place in the rich background of Warhammer 40K on the shelves. Flattervieh, Rekrom and me bought one box each. So it was really just a matter of time until we would give it a try and paint an Assassin. The fourth player among our ranks was Elrond who doesn’t own the box. But as he owns a huge army of Chaos Space Marines he was able to bring all of the needed villains and on top he also had an old Assassin ready aswell. I took some pictures and would now like to report on our tryout.
There was an evil genius hiding between the stars of the Aleator sector. Always intriguing plans to overthrow the imperial order of the sector and to gain power beyond mortal understanding. His name was H’katep the Great Mutator of the Envoyers of Change. The former Librarian of the Knights of Attica had long before sold his soul to his dark master Tzeentch. Recently he undertook great ambitions to perform a great ritual of change. H’katep was sure that his Master would grant him the long sought after immortality after the last steps of the ritual were fulfilled.
Meanwhile the secret order of the Adetpus Administratum had contacted the Officio Assassinorum to stop the mad plans of the Sorcerer as they would certainly endanger all life in the whole sector. Thus four Assassins were send to stop H’katep.
Callidus Assassin (Elrond de Gravenesse), Culexus Assassin (Flattervieh), Eversor Assassin (Rekrom) & Vindicare Assassin (Goatmoerser).
The Envoyers of Change led by the Great Mutator H’katep.
After the hideout of the Chaos forces was found the attack followed immediately. The Eversor kicked in the door to the lair and the four Assassins entered.
The defiled building was all quiet, none of the Cultist was alarmed yet.
Hidden in the Ritual Chamber the Great Mutator H’katep started the last step of the great ritual of change.
The furious Eversor ran forward, discovering the first room. Luckily it was immediately the Teleportarium which should grant the Assassins entry to H’katep’s secret chamber. The surprised Cultist was no match for the Executioner Pistol of the Eversor. Now the Assassins only had to find the Control Bank to activate the Teleportarium.
The other three Assassins entered deeper into the defiled Astropathic Sanctum.
The Callidus had the next encounter with a surprised cultist. The chaos scum was even able to wound her with a shot from his gun. But the Assassin took him down with her Neural Shredder and healed her wound immediately.
The cultists in general were no match for the Assassins. Not in close combat …
… nor in shootouts.
So the four members of the Officio Assassinorum ventured even deeper into the Sanctum, killing most of the Cultists on sight thus triggering almost none event cards.
Eventually the Callidus found the Control Bank and activated the Teleportarium without being seen by the guarding Cultist (maybe she was “dressed” as a Cultist, too?).
The run back to the Teleportarium started. All Assassins were slowed down by the evil magic of H’katep which started to crawl into the Sanctum excect for the Cullexus. He was immune against the warp tricks of the Chaos Sorcerer.
Therefore he entered the Teleporter first …
… and trespassed the Temple. Here they would have to face Chaos Space Marines for the first time.
The Eversor and the Vindicare followed as the Cullexus already killed a Marine with his terrible Animus Speculum.
All stealth was lost as the battle hit the Chaos Temple. The Great Mutator himself now went forward to strike down the intruders.
His first victim was the Vindicare. The Great Mutator wounded the Assassin with a mighty blow.
Yet H’katep had made a grave mistake as he did not notice the presence of the Cullexus Assassin. The Animus Speculum wounded the Chaos Psyker badly, leaving him heavily injured.
The falling back Vindicare took his chance and a bullet left his Exitus Rifle, penetrating H’Katep’s helmet and skull. The Ritual was stopped in time and the Aleator sector was safe – for now.
In the cold depths of a secret tomb lightyears away from the ritual chamber a former lifeless body rose with a scream of anguish and pain from a stone tile. H’katep’s hand sprang to his head where the bullet had just hit his forehead. Slowly the Chaos Psyker came back to full consciousness of his new mortal shell. These lousy sheep may have prevented him from performing the great ritual of change this time, but soon there would come another chance. H’katep weaved a dozen of protective spells on his body and mind. If they would have thought that it would be easy to kill him, they made a terrible mistake. He would have his vengeance very soon!
The game was fun to play, really. It is a great example how many interesting settings there could be for special scenarios and whatnot. Is the box worth the money? Well I guess I am to biased and you have to decide on your own. I have had no regrets and would instantly buy it again. Yet I am a huge fan of GW box sets so I might be not the best person to answer such a question, hehe.
I’m a real sucker for these GW box sets. This is only a part of the collection.