To this end, I went through my D&D dungeon tiles, pulling out something that approximated a gaol cell and a couple of "exits". Each of these was shuffled into a pile of 9 other tiles, so that for every ten or so tiles I explored, one would be revealed. When the "Vault" tile would be revealed in-game, Inquisitor Kang would be inside and enter the game once freed; because he had been captured, although Kang would join my Kill Team, he would be unarmed and begin with a Flesh Wound. Getting Kang to an Exit would be my major Victory Condition for the game.
In my mind, the team being sent in after Inquisitor Kang would have been scrambled pretty quickly, so nothing too crazy, but perhaps an Ace in the hole? The remaining Karskins would be joining Lance Corporal Cloud for the next mission, Sergeant Storm will be leading, with Lance Corporal Clay toting a Grenade Launcher and Privates Heath and Glanzman issued with Hot-Shot Lasguns. To add a bit of needed punch, one of Inquisitor Kang's personal retainers, M'Baku, the Man-Ork, an Imperial Guard Ork Hunter Veteran, would join the Karskins. Rules-wise, M'Baku is an Ork Nob with Big Choppa, and obviously my Combat Specialist. This Kill Team comes in at 81 points, meaning I'm a bit more even against the Scavvies than last time.
For this battle report, I'll just be covering the major events of the game and talking about what I'm doing. I had my models set up and ready to go, drawing cards that would help me with Close Combat and Psykers, not an ideal start, but I'd learned lessons from my first defeat and was ready to purge the mutants in the name of the Emperor!
Entering the dark catacombs, Sergeant Storm was nervous, and with good reason; he'd lost several good men on the last mission and Lance Corporal Cloud was visibly shaking at being back in the lair of the mutants. The presence of M'Baku was at once reassuring and unnerving, as the massive veteran could clearly hold his own in a fight, but his affectations of Orkish habits and weapons were uncomfortable reminders of past campaigns. Setting the expression on his face to one of grim determination, SGT Storm gave the order to push forward into the grim, dark catacombs.
The first Scavvie to be found is quickly burned to a crisp by LCP Storm, who, by now, has become a veteran mutant hunter. Learning from the mistakes I made in the first game, I opt to stay clumped up so that my team can support each-other and to not explore too far out too quickly.
PVT Glanzman ruins this plan in my second action, by finding a Large Chamber containing a Big Mutant, Scavvie Boss and Scavvie. Knowing that the Big Mutant is the major threat, I elect to have Glanzman fire at it and risk losing him in the return fire from the Boss and Scavvie.
I luck out and wound twice with Glanzman's Hot-Shot Lasgun, dealing a Flesh Wound to the Big Mutant, but he still gets his turn and charges for the nearest target, M'Baku. Although I don't want to risk losing my Combat Specialist so soon in the game, M'Baku has two Wounds and a 4+ Save, so he's probably the best possibility to survive a charge from the Big Mutant.
Again, I get lucky, M'Baku emerges with only a Flesh Wound, even after all four of the Mutant's Attacks hit. Even though M'Baku is a major close combat asset, I decide to charge in SGT Storm as my next action instead, as his Power Fist is more likely to Wound and does more Damage, increasing the odds of taking the beast down.
My luck is with me a lot more in this game, and SGT Storm's attack gets the desired result. Also, despite weathering two turns of shotgun fire from the Boss and Scavvie, PVT Glanzman has remained unscathed, but I know my luck won't hold out and I need to back him up.
With a new turn, I decide to clean up my mess with the tried-and-true Imperial method, purging with fire! LCP Cloud once again proves his worth, tempting me to scrounge eBay for more Karskins with Flamers. Pretty sure I can run up to four in a Kill Team.
The unlucky Scavvie who has missed every 3+ shot for four turns in a row finally clips Glanzman, dealing a Flesh Wound.
Glanzman returns fire and I finally have a Scavvoe-free board. Doing some rough math in my head; I've revealed 4 tiles, so one of the next 6 has to be the cell holding Inquisitor Kang. Ideally, I'd like to avoid getting too spread out or trapped in a narrow corridor with a Big Mutant, so I elect to explore the edges closest to the entrance first.
Working together, SGT Storm and M'Baku head Map-North, uncovering another Scavvie, who is quickly dispatched by M'Baku's Big Choppa.
Keeping nearby, Glanzman uncovers another Scavvie, but fails to take it out in the first shot. Here I took advantage of the vagaries of my own rules, as the Scavvie Monster Card states that a Scavvie will shoot at the closest target, regardless of the viability of the shot. With SGT Storm behind the corner, as shown here, he is technically the closest target, but is both Obscured and In Cover, making the shot pretty difficult. In a real game of Kill Team, if I were playing the Scavvie, I'd shoot at Glanzman, who is a clear target and, due to his Flesh Wound, requires only a 3+ injury roll to remove from play.
In the end, it doesn't matter too much as I'm forced to bring up LCP Cloud and, once again, solve all of my problems with fire.
I take a moment to take stock of where I'm at. I've been lucky to not lose anyone so far, and should be close to Inquisitor Kang and, thereby, my primary objective. It was at this stage that I started to lose the game; not due to any dice rolling or bad moves, but I got too confident and started to over-extend my forces.
The very next room I found was Kang's cell, thanks to a Large Chamber tile revealing two tiles at once. PVT Heath is now facing down two Scavvies, but I'm still pretty confident, right up until Heath misses both shots at 2+.
The game is now turning, though at the time I hadn't quite realised it, with the Scavvies gunning down Heath with a handful of 6s.
Seeing my primary objective so close, I pull out all the stops to remove the two Scavvies in my way. I charge M'Baku in, playing the "Slam" card to give me a 1-in-6 chance of causing a Mortal Wound on top of the four Attacks I would be getting. Of course, I rolled a handful of 1s and 2s.
I want these Scavvies dead, so I also Charge SGT Storm in, who at least deals some damage with his Power Fist, but I'm still disappointed that all the dice I've rolled have turned up so little this turn.
Still somehow pretty confident, I decide to have LCP Storm explore a little more, hoping to luck out and hit the Mutant Psyker sooner rather than later and clean-sweep all of my objectives. Naturally, the first enemy I hit is a Big Mutant and Cloud's Flamer fails to do any damage.
The return attack of the Big Mutant brings LCP Cloud's heroic run to an end, and a big gap in the rear of my forces. Now I'll have to get Kang out past the Big Mutant, which I don't like my chances of doing.
Things rapidly go from bad to worse as the Scavvie guarding Kang's cell is able to take out SGT Storm with a swing from the butt of his shotgun. As the turn ends, I'm forced to make a Break test.
And I fail. Once again, the might of the Imperium is no match for a rabble of mutants. As losing SGT Storm was kind of the tipping-point, I'm not sure how much better I would have gone if Cloud hadn't risked exploring, but, once again, it was a close game. The COVID-19 lock-down eases to the point where I could get a Kill Team game in at a friend's house tonight in Victoria, Australia, but I have one more game idea for this solo-play set, so you'll probably see that at some point as well.
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