Commander Bau smiled inwardly. it would never do to allow the crew to see his satisfaction but they had reached their target and done so in record time.
He consulted his instruments again to confirm his supposition and unsurprisingly found that he had been his usual efficient self. From the moment they dropped on-planet until now had been but a few ticks of the clock and already they had arrived at their objective.
Suddenly his self-satisfied interior smile melted away as what appeared to be a full unit of the deadly close-combat specialist troops of one of the multitudinous Space Marine chapters appeared.
He could not recall which chapter off the top of his head but it did not matter. He had a job to do and he would do it despite any interference.
One quick command and the railgun rotated, taking aim at the enemy. He watched in disappointment as the munitions shredded foliage but did not so much as scratch the armor of a single Berzerker.
The skimmer ability to move 12" and avoid terrain means it was a trivial thing to land on the objective on his third turn.
Tau VP 1
Ganzorig stared in amazement. This planet which the unit historians assured him had been deserted so long ago nobody even remembered its name was occupied by not one but two enemies. To his right a Tau tank unleashed in impotent shot at his unit, missing by a wide margin. But straight ahead was his real target...a single Space Marine captain.
Ganzorig knew when battle was joined he would lose himself in the bloodlust, unleashing a mighty wave of violence that would overcome his good sense. Yet he was not stupid. There was not one weapon in his unit that could hurt the tank. That marine, however, was a tasty target. Waving his arm, he led his men forward towards the hapless marine, keeping the trees between himself and the tank as much as possible.
Lightning split the skies and suddenly Decimus and his men flashed into view, planting their feet firmly on the firm surface of land once more. A feral grin split the face of the Terminator Captain as he saw the unit of Berzerkers guarding his objective.
"Thanks, Cap" he spouted into his communicator, acknowledging the opportunity he had been presented with. Ostensibly they were hear to recover a journal or some such nonsense that had recently been discovered to have been left on this planet when some long-forgotten engagement had occurred.
Decimus had wondered why he and his unit were being sent on such a mundane mission, but seeing the Berzerkers in front of him, all became clear. There was probably nothing here to recover but someone from the Inquisition was moving pieces around, giving him an opportunity to take out a few of the evil Berzerkers.
Without hesitation his fellow terminators followed his lead, bringing their storm bolters into action with a deadly efficiency that saw three Berzerkers fall. Simultaneously, their voices rose in the unit call, "Death to all who oppose our mission!"
Sometimes random rolls provide awesome "narrative gaming" opportunities, for want of a better term. The Space Marines now have a second unit, and as luck would have it, they are Deep Strike Terminators seeking...drumroll please...Objective 6. The forlorn hopes of Captain Aelius to stay alive for a couple more turns just got a much-needed boost. Now to decide what to do with the berzerkers...
It was kind of cool looking up the rules for Deep Striking, working my way through it slowly, considering the options and risks without feeling like I was unfairly taking the time of an opponent to learn the game. This scenario is proving useful already. And it provided an event I will remember for a while because, in Games Workshop terms, it was so cinematical...the Berzerkers rushing forward to kill the Chapter Captain, only to have a tough unit appear out of nowhere to help him out...
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