Wouldn't dream of it:
Turn 1
This game was played with about 20 onlookers. The previous manager of the store has set up another Necromunda campaign, and people have been looking at our game to get a feel for it.
With Agility, Stealth and Combat as their standard skills, Escher are a nightmare to defenda against in a Raid. Agility means they move fast, Stealth means they don't get spotted and they can take their time getting into position. Combat means they are deadly when they strike. They are the perfect Raiders. Only Outlaw Ratskins rival them.
Joffrey sent all of his girls forward. To the left, Eskarina and Hermione ran forward and left. Zohar was the closest sentry, and he was outside his maximum spotting range, so they didn't even have to stick to cover.
In the middle, Shamora , Glinda and Morgana sprinted forwards along ground level. There was an outside chance that Zohar might be in range to spot them, so they kept to cover.
Up top, Gytha and Esmerelda went into hiding. Appropriate that those two finally got to team up.
To the right, Belatrix, Tabatha and Maleficent climbed to the first storey of a two level tower and darted forwards (limping and wheezing) along a catwalk towards my left flank. In a normal game, they would have been horribly exposed, but in the early turns of a Raid, my guys weren't operating under normal LOS rules, and they were safe.
On my turn, Joffrey got control of Asa, and had him move one inch towards my table edge facing away from everything. Meh. I controlled Boaz and Jemuel and had them move a couple of inches forwards towards the middle of the table.
Zohar was positioned in the middle of the table on a large single storey structure. I elected to keep him in Frenzy and was able to move him three inches. His structure was connected by a catwalk to the tower that Gytha and Esmerelda were hiding on. I stalked 3" forwards towards that.
Turn 1: Up/Down/Out
Gothika: 11/0/0
Hand of Redemption : 13/0/0
Turn 2
Same as turn 1. To the left, Eskarina and Hermione continued to run forwards, this time ending up in cover far out to the left.
Up top, Gytha and Esmerelda went into Overwatch, both guns trained on Zohar below.
At ground level in the middle of the table, Joffrey took a slight chance with Zohar's awareness and ran his Shamora, Glinda and Morgana forward again, bunching them behind solid line of sight blocking cover in the centre of the table out of the view of both Boaz and Jemuel.
To the right, Belatrix, Maleficent and Tabatha continued their run down the right flank, ending up on the first level of a tower block.
Once again I got control ofg both Jemuel and Boaz, and edged them forwards, spreading them out slightly to each cover the two most likely lines of approach of Shamora, Glinda and Morgana.
I got control of Asa and had him climb up on top of the gateway to present Joffrey with one extra target if he decided to go the shooting route, and to prevent Joffrey from being able to move him very far if he got control of him again.
Zhar stalked another 3" closer to Gytha and Esmerelda who remained undetected.
Turn 2: Up/Down/Out
Gothika: 11/0/0
Hand of Redemption : 13/0/0
Turn 3
This is where things start to get tense with Raids.
Sentries get to detect raiders within 2d6" of them. Obviously, anyone outside 10" is pretty unlikely to get spotted, but there is still a chance, and you would be amazed at how players dither about placing their guys within 12" of sentries. Not Joffrey though. He's played this game a lot and he knows what's a good risk and what's a good risk and isn't put off by someone like Gannicus making flamer sounds as soon as he touches one of his miniatures with the intent of moving it closer to a sentry.
Eskarina and Hermione didn't really have anywhere they could go without risking Boaz spotting them and flaming them in the event the alarm was raised, but this being his last game, Joffrey risked it anyway and sent them both forwards, hugging the very edge of the left side of the table, ready to move into a good flanking position next turn.
Up top, Esmerelda and Gytha held their position.
In the centre of the table, Joffrey adjusted the positioning of Shamora, Glinda and Maleficent. All three of them were within potential spotting distance of Jemuel, and possibly Boaz next turn. Keeping three raiders bunched up behind cover is a potentially disastrous choice with a couple of flamer armed sentries, so he went to spread them out. How to break cover was the issue
They only had to move apart a couple of inches to be protected from being covered by a single flamer template, but that meant crossing within spotting range of the sentries. A rookie might have made a bad choice there, but Joffrey is anything but.
He moved Shamora first, sprinting her in a wide arc, away from, and then closer into Jemuel, ending outside of his LOS. Morgana has Dive and Leap which let her pull the same trick, but end up in hiding at close range to Jemuel. Glinda went into hiding, greatly reducing her chances of being found.
Over to the right, the cripple crew continued their gimpy run, hooking towards the centre to get into a flanking position.
On my turn, Jemuel was in deep amphetamine parrot, being within charge range of 3 Escher close combat hardasses. But that was okay - I was happy for him to go down. If that happened, both Boaz and Asa would be in a position to see it and retaliate with fire and choke grenades. And nothing rains on a Raid parade like promethium and choke gas.
I got to move Jemuel a single inch, and I moved him to cover the approach of Morgana and Glinda. Boaz got to move 3" and I moved him towards Jemuel, facing the approach of Shamora. Asa moved 2" not leaving the top of the gateway.
Zohar moved another 2" closer to Esmerelda and Gytha.
Turn 3: Up/Down/Out
Gothika: 11/0/0
Hand of Redemption : 13/0/0
Turn 4
Out to the left, Hermione and Eskarina ran into LOS blocking cover behind a tower in my deployment zone.
In the middle, Shamora moved minutely to better set herself up for a charge. Glinda and Morgana both went into overwatch.
Up top, Esmerelda and Gytha had a bastard of a choice. Zohar was approaching charge range, and the alarm was likely to be sounded in a turn or two. At the moment, Zohar was within shooting range, and a heavy stubber and a lasgun would be good odds to take him out in a turn or two, given that he was in the open and couldn't recover from pinning without friends being present. With another 3"movement though, Zohar would get close enough to the foot of the tower to be outside LOS of Gytha with her heavy stubber and would be within possible charge range given his Leap ability. And a frenzied Cawdor close combat badass is nothing to beslubber with.
A lot of people would have opened fire at that point, but Joffrey has discipline, and knows how to stick to a plan. He kept them on overwatch. Zohar still had to get over the edge of that tower.
Over to the right, Belatrix and Tabatha dropped a level and darted into cover setting themselves up for a potential charge next turn. Maleficent stayed up a level, bolt pistol trained on Jemuel.
I moved Jemuel into spotting range of both Glinda and Morgana, but he failed to notice them despite only needing a 4+ on a D6. Joffrey got control of Boaz and in true horror movie style, had him walk backwards 2" towards the spot where Shamora was lying in wait. Joffrey also got control of Asa and had him turn and press his face up against the gateway (I picture him having a piss).
I retained control of Zohar and moved him 3" closer to Gytha and Esmerelda, frenzy still active.
Turn 4: Up/Down/Out
Gothika: 11/0/0
Hand of Redemption : 13/0/0
Turn 5
And it was on.
Glinda and Morgana charged Jemuel. In my view, that was overkill, but it worked well enough. Jemuel failed his Jump Back (initiative check to jump 2" out of close combat (golden for a flamer combat Tremultuous O like Jemuel), and got beat to a pulp.
Shamora charged Boaz. Boaz is one of the few characters in the campaign to have WS6, so ordinarilly, he would have given a decent account of himself, but at half WS for being a sentry, he was no match at all for Shamora and was taken out of action.
The fight with Jemuel sounded the alarm.
Esmerelda broke cover, moved to the edge of the ladder of her tower and shot at Zohar, but missed, and that was a fatal mistake, because it gave away her position, allowing Zohar to charge her.
Gytha remained on Overwatch.
Maleficent, Belatrix and Tabatha all shot at Asa but only managed to pin him.
Morgana followed up 4" to close with Asa and Shamora followed up into base to base contact with the gateway.
Eskarina and Hermione fired their autopistols at the gateway but didn't manage a wound.
With the alarm sounded, I was able to roll for reinforcements.
When defending a Raid, you divide up your reinforcements into teams and roll a D6. Each turn, you pick a team. If you roll the number of reinforcements or above on a D6, then you get to bring on that team. Obviously, the first team is the best team. I divided my teams into teams of 3, needing 3+ per roll to bring them on.
Nohting in Necromunda makes you decide who your A-Team are than having to pick your reinforcements for a Raid. I rolled a 5 on my first roll and Abraham, Jacob and Amon walked onto the table.
My first move was to position Amon to unload on Maleficent, Belatrix and Tabatha. He'd be unlikely to take down any of them, but he could at least wound and pin them. I ran Jacob into cover behind the gateway, ready to unleash hell next turn.
I figured that I could let Asa take care of Morgana without help.
Zohar was in a frenzy, so he had no choice but to attempt a chage on Esmerelda. That was no trouble as it happened, with him Leaping a full 6". That didn't save him from overwatch fire from Gytha though, and he took a wound and was lucky not to fall off the ladder. Nevertheless, even though Esmerelda was fighting from an elevated position, it wasn't anywhere enough to stop Zohar, who got 4 hits on her with his chainsaw (flail), easily taking her out of action before following up onto Gytha.
With Asa fighting Morgana, Abraham was free to attack either Glinda, who was unoccupied, or Shamora who was closer but in close combat with the gateway.
I had decided before the game that I was resolved to losing the Spore Cave for at least a turn. late campaign Escher are just too hard to stop. But with Amon ready with 6 shots to provide cover fire to Abraham and the chance to save the Spore Cave, I went against my better judgment and charged Abraham into close combat with Shamora. The 20 onlookers might have had a baring on my choice, which was stupid of me.
Anyway, Amon opened up on the cripple crew and did a wound to Belatrix and pinned the other two.
Asa beat Morgana in close combat, but failed to wound her.
Abraham charged Shamora in an effort to prevent her from destroying the gateway. As I've noted before, there is little separating the two. They both move at the same speed. Shamora hits harder but Abraham is tougher. Shamora probably has a bit more skill, but that gets nullified if Abraham gets the charge, and that's what I was counting on here.
Abraham crashed into her, rolled well and got two hits. Shamora used her step aside to avoid the first hit from Abraham's chainsword, and avoided a wound from his boltpistol. And that sucked, because that was the best chance Abraham was going to get.
Turn 5: Up/Down/Out
Gothika: 10/0/1
Hand of Redemption : 11/0/2