The Mothball Incident - Frostbyte - 300 pts - N5 - Hassassin Bahram Vs Vanilla Aleph

You can also  check the video battle report at the link below

Intro

Batth'o Ubelin did not like the cold. As he stared at the empty space extending outside the window of his cabin on the Flying Carpet, he thought about the transcript of a conversation sniffed from the crew of CJC boarding shuttle Mandillo, "[...] an ideal, pitch black heat sink ready to squeeze every Wh out of you to fizzle it into entropy along its relentless race towards 0°K [...]". It was just an irrelevant Nomads engineers trash talk but he kept thinking about it. Same as the Nomad shuttle and many other vessels in the area, the Flying Carpet was racing towards the Rigoletto cargo ship. He was officially after a silk shipment of his and all the others also had equally good official reasons to be there. In reality, everybody was there for the Mothball.

He closed his eyes and tried to bring back the feeling of the scorching hot Burak sun on his face, then the door opened and Lt. Presh Inse'ah got into the cabin.

- We are ready to start boarding operations Captain - she said.

- Lieutenant, we got confirmation that all life support systems on the Rigoletto are out of service. It is cold down there. I am giving you all the armor a humble silk trader can afford...- he paused for a moment to give the Ghulam officer a meaningful look - but please, please keep yourself and your team warm and in one piece. There will be more work to do, this is just early game and we are in for the long run...-          

Operation Edgelord - Head hunters - 300 pts - Tunguska Vs Operation Subsection of the SSS

 

Intro

Tara's eyes fluttered open, the hazy aftereffects of cryostasis making her sluggish as she stepped out of the immersion tank. The room was cold and sterile, its pale light illuminating faint disturbances that hinted someone else had been here recently, not to mention the Kiiutan imposter lying lifeless on the floor. The holodisk was missing: Erin. Tara’s mind flitted to her briefly, but she had no time to follow the thought. Suddenly, she became conscious of the blaring alarm, its shrill cadence cutting through her disorientation. Peeking outside the rooms curtain, she saw the hulking silhouette of the Steindrage tearing into the edges of Averroes.

The camp was under siege. Haqqislam forces were rushing in to intercept, supported by a Tunguskan Rapid Intervention Team but tactical chaos was evident even from her distant vantage. Instinct told her to run, to flee before the battle reached her. She reached for her gear, a practiced routine, but as she moved, a new thought took root. She wasn’t just a survivor; she was a strategist. If she played this right, she could turn the situation to her advantage.

Tara rapidly hacked her way to a live feed of the battlefield. Aleph forces were concentrated near the fusion reactor, fighting not just to repel the Steindrage but to protect the critical energy source. Without hesitation, Tara made her decision. She broadcasted her position to the Eye of Hipparchus, virtually raising her hand — a signal of truce. The Aleph operatives hesitated, but ultimately allowed her to approach.

"I can help you," Tara said, her voice steady despite the tension. "You’re fighting to protect the reactor, but you’ll need more than brute force to hold the site. I know the weaknesses of that beast. Let me assist you."

Uncle Pentium studied her, inscrutable thoughs chasing each other in the depth of its potassium tank. Little records were held about Tara O'Neil, and Uncle Pentium knew little records always ment big trouble. After a moment, it replied. "We accept. For now."

“We may have more in common than you think,” she hinted cryptically. "You want to secure our future. So do I."

Her thoughts abruptly returned to Erin. What she had entrusted to her was no game: its shadow loomed large in her mind as she rushed to the battlefield, her mind already focused on slaying the monster and secure Aleph's tentative trust.

Operation Edgelord - Black Spot - 300 pts - Haqqislam Vs Operation Subsection of the SSS

 
Darkness looms at the perimeter of Averroes Camp. The constant rotation of the small asteroid projects a shifting panorama of celestial bodies across the cold, thin layer of gas known to patients as "HuEOS 289's sky". The byproducts of the Kemi-TEc MSG Plant precipitate in an oily, yellowish mist, quickly condensing on Aleph’s REMs frosty exteriors. Indifferent to the weather, cosmic radiation, and the inevitable future, the machines lie in wait for the signal to storm the facility. Lieutenant MMX watches the slick liquid gather and mutters, “I like it when it rains.”

***

Averroes Hospital. Dim lighting. Room 619. Erin O'Nealz’s soft silhouette contrasts against the hard, transparent walls of the tech-coffin where she lies unconscious, suspended in stasis.

Operation Edgelord - Engineering Deck - 300 pts - Hassassin Bahram Vs Operation Subsection of the SSS

 

If you are more into video content do not miss the YouTube version of the batrep!

Intro

Human Edge

Homeric Belt

Batth'o Ubelin inc. Operative Center 

 

Batth'o Ubelin, estimeed silk trader, half-smuggler half-business man, well introduced into Haqqislam politics and allegedly a Hassassin Bahram undercover agent walked toward Erin O'Nealz in a middle eastern smart casual attire to greet her.

Despite her impressive track record and covering of Operation Hungry Walrus, Batth'o had always been mildly suspicious about the independent journalist. She did pass all biometric scans but in a couple of circumstances with just sufficient scores and once with a minority report. On the other hand, he liked her a lot. 

- Lady warcor, welcome to my humble abode. It is a pleasant surprise to acknowledge your arrival in the Homeric Belt. -

- I go wherever there are good stories and truth to be told. - replied the Sixth Sense News reporter with a smile. 

- I will be pleased to support you. We will be soon heading to the Averroes Hospital Compound to run some business. I will be pleased to have you part of my entourage, the Human Sphere needs to know from independent sources what the situation is really like here, beyond all propaganda. -

Batth'o had been informed Erin was closely watched by Aleph, her Comlog and cyberware most probably infested by malicious and spy software. This was the AI attempt to fool Haqqislam or escalate the conflict. Either way, they were forcing the issue.

This might even be related to what those people from Adeq Greenspaces were cooking, definitely a good opportunity to learn something new. Acquiring information about their operation was proving more challenging than expected and considering this was his primary task in the Belt, his stakeholders were starting to be impatient...

The Averroes complex was full with undercover Hassassin Barham operatives, hidden or mixed to the civilian and technical personnel. A small official security detail escorted Batth'o and Erin as they toured the complex. The distress of the Ariadnan workers was evident as also evident was the armed presence of all Hyperpowers. It clearly was the hospital of a war zone, not of an Ammonia mining facility... 

Erin didn't even have the time to target her cyberoptics toward the sudden threat as DA rifle shot put her down. 

- Removing inconvenient pawns is always a good way to start an operation. - Thought Batth'o. 

Then a metallic voice, a classic Uncle Pentium's quirk, echoed in the Haqqislamites' comlogs.

- Security data extraction in progress. Do not resist or you will be prosecuted. -        

ITS 15 The Armory - 300 pts - Tunguska Jurisdictional Command Vs Shasvastii Expeditionary Force

Intro

Velma logged into the sector's Arachne node and went through the area scan reports. The sector had been evacuated with a fake radiation alert and the Tunguska Security team had just deployed to investigate into some suspicious readings from the surveillance system. The Interventor had seen action before and she did not like the situation, nothing was clearly wrong as you would expect from common criminal activities and yet not masked in a way you would expect from human sphere super powers.

Velma kept close to her fireteam, the back up of  trusted marksmen and cold blooded hacker made her more at ease, remotes and cyber-psychopaths were for sure valuable (and expendable) assets but she would have never come to fully trust them...

Suddenly, all alarms went blipping, smoke and white noise interference appeared and few moments later she heard the doors of the safe room opening with a hiss. There were no doubts, they were under attack and once again she had to do the dirty job to protect secrets of people who would have traded her life without thinking twice if they had considered it convenient. 

Now that she thought about it, this whole operation might just be a rigged game...  

Mordheim Witch Hunters - a hobby project

Having limited hobby time, progress is slow and I think it is valuable to make the most out of it.

With this post I want to share my hobby journey to plan, assemble and paint my Witch Hunters Mordheim warband.

PanOceania Tikbalang and Neoterra Bolts

During this summer I found the time to paint some juicy models to enrich my PanO army.

After a very long search I've finally managed to put my hands on Tikbalang model (and Uhlan too...), one of the most wanted OOP miniature of Panoceania, which is experiencing a second youth in N4 edition. If you want to read more about my Tikbalang debut on the gaming table, dont' miss Episode #8 of  "Operation Neon Tiger" narrative campaign.

Painting this model was quite challanging, due to the huge number of details if compared to the most recent TAGs which provides bigger and smoother surfaces. After defining volumes and lights with airbrush, I spent more or less nine hours to paint the details, adding some NMM parts and attempting my first "chipping". A final little effort to sculpt some green stuff around the base of the model to embed the metal base (trunk and roots) with the plastic 4omm base.

The result was definitely worth the effort! I leave you some pics to enjoy.

Talking about OOP miniatures - SWC Neoterra Bolts in this case - I've done my best to convert some spare fusiliers and one Akalis in order to bring four Bolts out of them. Some head/arm/backpack swap and the job was done!

I expected a faster painting, but the number of details and the slenderness of the female models forced me to slow down the process (approx. 3 hours per model).

 Scroll down for a group shot!