Battle Report: Unsteady Alliances

By Titus Villanueva

Tabletop gaming is always about story-telling. Whether it’s the story of a band of adventurers exploring a dungeon, political intrigue at the court of a king or a vast battle taking place in a destroyed city, it’s always about the narrative.

Last Friday, some friends and I attempted to play a narrative battle for fun. Games like this wouldn’t be played at competitions because the game wasn’t balanced for this type of set-up.

On the run from the forces of the hedonistic Dark Eldar (or Drukhari), a band of Space Wolves takes refuge on an Earth-like planet. They take shelter with the help of the local planetary defense force only to find out much later that the force was actually a front for the notorious Cult of the Golden King that was in open conflict with the AdeptusMechanicus, a band of cyborgs set on destroying them.

Convincing the mechanicus that they have similar goals, the Drukhari forces band together with the mechanicus to wipe out the Wolves and the Cult together. Realizing their situation, the Space Wolves alongside the cultists make their stand.

The result of the battle was a tactical loss for the Wolves and the Cult as the Drukhari’s high mobility units and close combat specialists meshed quite well with the AdMech’s powerful but fragile guns. The other two teams just ended up fighting over who would get to charge the enemy in glorious close quarters combat first. The AdMech commander even managed to destroy my left flank by deepstriking behind my lines, effectively using my favorite tactic against me.

Outside of competitions, there will always be room for fun and games. After all, why else get into a hobby like this?