The Cruelwater Chronicles (Part VII)- Swimming against the tide

"Enough!" Yelled Dexter over the din.
The Goliaths fell silent at their champion's command and slowly lowered their weapons. The Voodoo Dolls continued to train their Las-weapons on them, the ominous hum of their Hotshot Packs adding to the tension of the sudden silence. With no leader or champion the Escher gangers stole quick glances towards Sully for their cue.
"If we cannot work together, then not only will we all die in this stinking Sumphole, but we abandon any chance of our fallen escaping the Puppet Master's encroaching forces." Continued Dexter.
"He's right" said Sully, holstering her Autopistol. "...Which is not something you expect from a Goliath! Continue with the IED's"
The hum of the Las-Packs was replaced with laughter, with the tension broken both gangs returned to the task at hand....




Greetings Sinners!
After the mauling at the hands of the Puppet Master, both gangs have been seriously depleted. The pitiful few that fled the battle have formed a temporary alliance to draw out the Puppet Master along with his minions and buy some time for their recovering gang mates.
The gangs will be attempting to place IED's in strategic locations in a bid to stall the Puppet Master's search for the their injured gang mates.

A Temporary Alliance

Both gangs have joined together to from an alliance and are played as one gang. Each gang member is equipped with enough IED's to last the game. The Gang is attempting to place an IED in each 12" tile.

Placing IED's
Any ganger can attempt to place and set up an IED each round. Place a token on the table to show where the IED has been set. Only one attempt can be made each round.
To place and set up an IED a ganger must pass an intelligence test. This is a Basic Action. (having now played this mission, I would recommend this being a Double Action).
Each successfully placed IED delays the Puppet Master finding the recovering gangers by one round in the next scenario.


The Puppet Master and his minions deploy first.

The Renegade Dominus having the only ranged weapon took up a central position.

The 'Alliance' split into 3 'man' teams. Kano with his Grenade Launcher and another Goliath running interference for the more nimble-minded Escher on the Westside....

....with the Goliath champion and his gang mate taking up a similar set up on the Eastside. With no targets in range, Sully successfully planted an IED.

As the Puppet Master's minions moved forward, Longpoke Kari managed to pin one of the Servo-Stalkers.

Those that had a viable target lay down suppression fire in an attempt to slow down the rest....

.....but their fire proved wildly inaccurate. To make matters worse, Kano managed to jam his Grenade Launcher!

Ignoring the desultory suppression fire, the dark minions marched relentlessly through the sump swamp....

....the Puppet Master pinned Dexter with his Radcannon.

...While more of his dark constructs began to climb up onto the gantries on the Eastside.

As the Servitors and Tech-Hunters waded through the swamps in the centre, Longpoke Kari took careful aim with her Long-Las....

.....blowing the head off a Hunter and grinning as the it silently sank without a trace.

On the Eastside the Goliath ganger moved up to shoot at the Servo-Stalker, but not only did he miss, his Stub Cannon jammed as well. Dexter targeted him as well but also failed to hit it. While the Goliaths kept them busy, Sumpsnake Sully planted another IED.

The Servo-Stalker attempted to charge the Goliath ganger but was just out of range. The Eastside was in danger of being overrun as a Tech-Hunter moved up to support him.

In the centre an Escher ganger successfully primed another IED, while her sister lay down covering fire.

The Goliaths added their firepower and while a couple of the Puppet Master's constructs were briefly pinned, still they came on.

Kano had taken refuge behind a sump tank, desperately trying to reload his Grenade Launcher. Unfortunately he was so engrossed trying to get damned thing to work that he didn't even see the Servo-Stalker that took him out of action!

In the centre a Tech-Hunter charged towards another Goliath....

....but the ganger calmly blasted him from his feet with his Stub Cannon.

Tia wasn't as lucky and a Servo-Stalker smashed her to the ground taking her out of action.

The centre began to collapse as Grimey, the Goliath Juve was taken out by a hunter.

As the 'Alliance' fell back on the Eastside, Longpoke Kari manged to seriously injure the approaching Servo-Stalker....

leaving the Goliath with a possible easy kill....

.....unfortunately no amount of fire power could put down the Hunter following up behind and the Tech-Hunter fried his brain with its Shock Staves.  Despite their horrendous losses, the 'Alliance' carried on, desperate to buy their comrades more time.

In the centre Ronin was surrounded by Servo-Stalkers. Realising his predicament he shouldered his weapon and primed another IED.....

The Stalker charged in.....

......taking him out of action with ease.

Another Servo-Stalker closed in. It all proved too much for the Goliath champion and Dexter fled from the fight, leaving the Escher sniper vulnerable.....

......to the Servitor's attentions. He charged in and took her out.

Only two Escher remained and despite the odds both passed their cool checks to carry on (much to Rob's annoyance!) Calypso led the Puppet Master's minions a merry dance, leaping gaps and planting two IED's before moving off again.....

.....and planting another as the Servitors closed in.

She looked across to see Sully running with another group of Servitors hot on her heels. Both looked at each other across the settlement and nodded. They had done all they could to buy their sisters more time. Turning to blow a kiss to their emotionless pursuers each of them leapt from the gantry and plunged head first into the sump swamp below.

Blimey! That was a tense affair!
The scenario proved to be a real nail-biter. Early on the Alliance couldn't hit a barn door and it seemed that every time they tried I would run out of Ammo.
Despite the Servitors only having a move of 4", when they don't shoot, their 8" Double Move means they're in amongst you in no time! By round 5 I was taking bottle tests and it was only my natural ability to roll 1's & 2's that kept me in the game 😉
Even when they finally Bottled Out my last two gangers passed their Cool Checks for three turns to plant 3 more IED's.

The Alliance managed to prime 8 IED's which means the Puppet Master has been delayed for 8 turns. In our next scenario the fighters that went into recovery in the previous game will have to survive the Puppet Master's onslaught for 8 less turns.
Initially they had to survive for 20 turns, but thanks to the bravery of the Escher and Goliaths in this game, it will be a 'mere' 12!.....hopefully it will prove enough for our intrepid heroes.

Until next time.....may Our Lady grant you her number 😉