The Underhells of Hive Secundus! Pt. 2

Let’s continue from where we left off in 2024!

The Van Saar Secundan Incursion gang, led by the Orrus Hunter from House Ulanti (I’m still not very conversant with Necromunda lore so I don’t know if Spyre Hunters ONLY come from house Helmawr or all the noble Houses) had rested after going down 2 levels.

Now they’ve breached level 2. It’s now the Exploration Phase and the mission is Purge the Brood.

Man, what a tough mission!

So this time, reading the rules properly, I set up the Brood Scum really really close to the Deployment Zone of the Incursion Gang.

Some notes of what I was (STILL) doing wrong:

• The Tyramites are exotic beasts and for this campaign (only) are attached to Brood Scum instead of Malstrain Genestealers. I was playing them as independent models all this while.
• ALL models start Hidden unless they do something to make them Revealed (shoot, get put on fire) or your less than 6” away from them. Still trying to figure out if this is negated if you have photo lumens or goggles (It's negated!).

Since the bad guys got right into my face from the get go, I spent precious time clearing the way. All the Tek Hunters were involved this time because the Orrus couldn’t be everywhere. And the ruined floors really cut into the movement for my Incursion Gang.

First attack. First failed shot of the day. The guy just needed a 2!

Tek Hunters reciprocated. Also just needed a 2. Unbelievable! 

It’s a good thing the Orrus upgraded his fight skill to 2+ else 3 of those 5 dice would’ve missed!

The Tyramite's toxin stinger did its job. 1 wound! And a bonus Flesh wound from Rad Phage too! But the Orrus Hunte fought back DESPITE flubbing 3 rolls! (Error: I should only roll 3d6 because I only get the Paired benefit if I charge. Argh.)

The Teknomat setting things on fire. It's a template attack, so it's auto hit and auto Pin. You still need to roll to Wound then you roll 1d6 for each model hit, looking for 4+ to see if they get set on fire 🤣

Genestealers finally came on the map on turn 4! 

Remember those flubbed 1’s and 2’s I rolled earlier for the Orrus Hunter? Paid back in spades with this charge at the Genestealer. It died from too many flesh wounds. Natural 6's rolled means the target cannot make armour save rolls due to the Power weapon trait. And the gene stealer failed its "dodge" roll, so...

The other Genestealer got some back and the flamer guy went Out of Action from too many Flesh wounds as well. He was Captured! (Roll after the game to see if he escaped). The Augurtek next to him kept his Cool and didn’t Break. Thank goodness! Need ONE more data crystal FTW. Which he did by spending his action to get the 3rd one and then TELEPORTED 7” through walls to get away from the Genestealer!!!! That’s why they go deep diving for Archeotech!

The Brood Scum finally managed to spawn near the Tek Hunters and the toxin weapon on the Tyramite put the medic OOA! Luckily, she was only Out Cold and didn’t miss much as the battle was winding down. The Orrus Hunter already got his 6 kills (7 at the end of the game) and the Tek Hunters needed 1 more data crystal to win.

Even the Augurtek got some action in the closing stages (he’s usually hanging at the back using his Augurspex to keep the Brood Scum reinforcement at bay.)

A final parting shot from the Brood Scum got the Gunntek Sniper seriously injured. He suffered a lasting eye injury, setting his shoot to 4+ (instead of 3+). Sigh. But at least he was only in Recovery and not Convalescent so he can still take post battle actions.

Wow. That was THREE Tek Hunters down!

• The Teknomat nearly got captured but escaped so he’s in Convalescence. Will miss the next battle! AND the Post-battle action, dang it. Wanted him to craft a hot shot for the Medic’s pistol.
• The Sniper went into recovery with an eye injury. So won’t miss the next battle and can still make a post-battle action. Need to craft one more Las Carbine for the Medic
• The Medic was knocked out cold. So… no issue. No Recovery. Can make post-battle action,

Rules I still got wrong:

• When I’m dual shooting with the Orrus I only roll 2 dice! Oy. But it’s Rapid Fire so might get more hits. (There’s usually a -1 penalty but the short range +1 balances it out. I apparently can’t give him goggles (because he’s a Spyre Hunter faction and not Van Saar) so he can only shoot under 6”.
• Keep forgetting to use the Bio-Boosters for the Genestealers and Tyramites.

I managed to get the Crystal Vaults location though. From now on, Mining data crystals are simple actions so I can mine 2 at a go (scenario permitting).

After some post battle actions and levelling up (especially for my Orrus Hunter), it’s time to move on!

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Descent to Level 3 : Back to Data Crystal Harvest again.

Lots of combat but due to the Orrus Hunter levelling up, and some Van Saar also getting XP to level up, this wasn’t as bad as I feared. I also made an error where the Malstrain should now have access to THREE Malstrain gene stealers instead of two.

This was also the battle where I was running nearly on empty as I had two Tek Hunters out of commission due to them being in Convalescence from the previous battle. Luckily, I scraped by.

The Orrus Hunter did sterling work, putting down the Brood Scum so the Tek Hunters can get on with harvesting the crystals. This mission, if you harvest 2 crystals a round, the Data Stack shuts down (overloaded). So the choice is between focusing on one data stack and harvesting the required 6 crystals to win, playing it safe… or going for 2 data stacks and harvesting 12 data crystals so more can be converted for archeotek.

I played it safe. Thank goodness! As it was, I was nearly overwhelmed but now the Orrus Hunter can shoot as well as he can melee… and with TWO activations per round, he was already more the MVP than he normally is.

Territory won: Hunters Hunted. This means I get a FREE Spyre Hunter fully kitted out to use for one mission. I’m going to keep this for the finale.

No Tek Hunters went into convalescence, thankfully. 

Post battle, the Orrus Hunter levelled up some more and some Tek Hunters did as well. I put it into melee combat, because I normally get a 2+ already for shooting. So I managed to improve my close combat skill to 3+ which will be very useful in making reaction attacks when my Tek Hunters get and assuming they survive, can fight back better.

TL; DR: It's another Downtime as the Tek Hunter Incursion Gang make the final push down into the depths of the Underhells to face... the Malstrain Prime!