The Chronicles of Saint Katherine's Aegis 2.0: WIP

[ThePenitentOne]

Back in January, I began a thread in the Adepta Sororitas Forum for a narrative escalation campaign that uses both Kill Team and 40K rules. I had hoped to begin the campaign before January ended. It's been a long time since I've played 40k, and I had forgotten how time consuming it is. Here we are in March, and I'm finally ready to begin!

 

This campaign follows a mission of the Order of Our Martyred Lady, stationed at the titular Chapel of Saint Katherine's Aegis on the Agriworld of Orison's Wake. With support from other Imperial planetary defense forces, they must protect the citizens from the threat of both a genestealer cult and a chaos cult, both of which are growing undetected in the shadows. This thread includes all of the posts related to the campaign, including the painting, background, rules, army lists and battle reports of every faction in the campaign.

 

Certain posts that appear here will be copied to other forums- for example, any posts involving the Mission will also be posted to the thread in the Adepta Soriritas forum, while anything involving the genestealer cult will be posted in the GSC forum. This thread is intended to be the one place where you can follow the entire campaign as it evolves.

 

A note on painting: I am a terrible painter, but it's important to try. A part of the reason I'm documenting this campaign is to help me a) complete painting projects and b) become a better painter through steady practice. However, this campaign determines how my army grows. For example, the campaign begins with six genestealers. Right now, none of them are painted, but over the first six games, one will become a patriarch- that's how I'm going to figure out which one to paint first. So please forgive the photos of unpainted miniatures- it will get better as the game goes on.

[ThePenitentOne]

Background: The Hive Fleet Kr'Stch'Tk

 

The Hive Fleet Kr'Stch'Tk is a young splinter, cut off from a larger invasion fleet and set adrift on the warp. In their isolation from larger concentrations of Hive Mind resources, they rely more heavily on vanguard organisms than other fleets. Upon reuniting with a genestealer cult, they reclaim the patriarch into the fleet, along with any purestrain genestealers, rather than reabsorbing them into the gene pools for reintegration of their biomass. These prodigals contribute their knowledge of the host species from their respective cults back to the Hive Mind, allowing the fleet to adapt its tactics when confronting specific foes. The prodigals also form a leadership caste within the Fleet, with patriarchs taking the place of broodlords and purestrains assuming squad level leadership roles. Other elite hybrids are redeployed with bodyguards of hybrids in the hope that they will make contact with other insurrections in progress and be greeted as welcome reinforcements. Brood brothers, however, are destined for the gene pools, much as they would be in any other hive fleet.

 

On occasions when the mercurial tides of the empyrean cast the Hive Fleet into realspace, it is their tendency to hurl vanguard detachments of genestealers far ahead of the Fleet, hoping to seed insurrection in the distant paths ahead of them. These detachments operate outside synaptic control, and do not contain Tyranid HQ choices; the are sometimes lead by prodigal patriarchs, but just as often, they are either lead by a purestrain prodigal, or consist of entire prodigal broods, who operate without leadership until a patriarch is established through interaction with a suitable host species.

 

After this preliminary, deployment, the fleet launches a second, shorter ranged reconnaissance vanguard consisting of lictors, with genestealers under the command of a broodlord to maintain synaptic control and prevent the onset of the genestealer's reproductive cycle. Due to the shorter range of these vanguards, genestealers are more likely to return to the fleet, but due to their continuous link to the hive mind, they are less likely to assume the same leadership status as other prodigals until they have completed dozens of such scouting missions.

 

Note: At this early stage in the campaign, the Hive Fleet Kr'Stch'Tk will not play an active role in the campaign- they will fade back into the warp as soon as they have released their deadly cargo of vanguard organisms. Throughout the campaign, however, it may become possible for the new Genestealer Cult to contact other vanguard splinters of the Hive Fleet, and should they prevail in the larger campaign, their psychic resonance may indeed call the Hive Fleet back.

[ThePenitentOne]

Prologue

 

 

Introduction:

 

In the years immediately preceding the fall of Cadia, the Hive Fleet Kr'Stch'Tk emerges from the warp in the Segmentum Obscurus, not far from from Mordia. As is their custom, they launch dozens of mycetic spores, each carrying the seeds of the genestealer curse. One such spore, containing a kill team of six highly experienced Purestrain Genestealers makes planet fall in the Desdemona System on the resource world of Orison's Wake. This world produces almost the entire food supply for the three inhabited planets of the Desdemona System, as well as a significant portion of metals used for overproduction on the more populous hive worlds.

 

Each of The Six has the potential to evolve into a patriarch, depending upon the results of the Prologue missions. As such, each has been given a Cult Creed from the Genestealer Codex. These Creeds are not active in the Prologue missions; rather, they indicate the Creed which will be inherited by the Cult if the Purestrain in question happens to become the Patriarch. Similarly, each Purestrain has a Warlord trait, which will remain inactive unless the model becomes a Patriarch.

 

The Six:

 

Brood Classification: Alpha Pack

Mission Imperative: Seed Infestation

Squad Quirk: Implant Attacks

 

 

 

 

The Missions:

 

Overview: These are six small missions, each pitting on of The Six against a small fire team of four local scavengers. Each of these fire teams has been deployed to retrieve a data cache. These caches contain information which will provide the scavengers with access to specialized equipment. Little do the scavengers know, they have stumbled into the hunting ground of The Six, all of whom are seeking to infect as many host organisms as they can.

 

Setup: Each game is played on a 4x4 table. In the center is the data cache- the sole objective of the mission. Additionally, place two entry point markers, each 15”from the data cache. The genestealer begins underground, and may emerge from either entry point on its first turn; the fire team chooses a table edge and enters from that edge on their turn.

 

Objectives: The fire team most advance toward the data cache. Any member of the fire team may make base contact with the data cache as part of a normal move or an advance. It does not cost an action to retrieve the data cache, and the model may continue its move once the cache has been retrieved. While a model possesses the cache, it may make base contact with any allied model and pass the cache. It does not cost an action to pass the cache. If a model from the fire team makes it off the board with the cache, the fire team player wins.

 

If the genestealer player wounds a member of the fire team, that model is automatically taken out of action. Models that are removed in this way will be added to the genestealer cult roster as brood brothers after Prologue Missions 3 and 6. If a member of the fire team is taken out of action while in possession of the data cache, the genestealer player wins, but the game continues until the surviving members of the fire team either exit the board or fall victim to the genestealer.

 

Post Game: Track the number of models captured by each of The Six. After the final Prologue Mission, the Purestrain responsible for capturing the greatest number of brood brothers becomes the patriarch.

 

Also track the data caches captured by each player. Two of the six data caches provide access to a unit of Atalan Jackals, two provide access to a Ridgerunner, one provides access to a Rock Grinder and one Provides access to a Goliath Truck. This access is not guaranteed; battles to secure this equipment will form the first chapter the chronicle once the prologue is complete.

 

Edit- Sorry about the sizing of the profiles. I'll try and fix it for the next post.

[ThePenitentOne]

Just updated everything in the Sister's thread to conform to the current state of the campaign. A lot of that material needed to be updated to reflect the changes I had to make to my original plan. Now that it is up to date, I want to give you the link.

 

What you'll find is the background for the planet, the history of the Chapel of Saint Katherine's Aegis, as well as the Sisters of Battle Battalion stationed at the Convent at the Chapel Complex In the Ministorum Penitent Legion stationed at the corresponding Seminary. If that sounds cool to you, here's the link:

 

http://www.bolterandchainsword.com/topic/352575-the-chronicles-of-saint-katherines-aegis/

 

I'll be back with scenery pics and posts soon- hopefully tomorrow.