[Let’s Study] Imperium Maledictum, Part 3b: Sister Victoria versus a Hive Ganger

I promised I’d get to this and here we are! Sister Victoria (sheet here) is currently working on finding more information about a Smuggler suspected of smuggling Xenos artifacts in the Hive world. Trouble is that the Smuggler in question is a wily sort and has a habit of using any number of different boltholes to hide in.

Thankfully, Sister Victoria has stumbled into a potential lead, a two-bit Hive Ganger who works as a courier for the Smuggler from time to time. After casing out a seedy bar for several nights she gets her break when she spots the Ganger step out of the bar and down into an alley.

Victoria follows him quickly, reaching for her hand flamer, only to find that the Ganger was waiting for her, and isn’t alone. He’s got another one with him and they don’t seem to be interested in talking.

—

Combat turn order is dictated by whom has the highest initiative acting first. Victoria has an Initiative of 6, while the Gangers have an Initiative of 7. This means they get to go first!

The alley where they’re fighting in is narrow, crowded, and strewn with leaky pipes and garbage. It’s also very long, which I can divide into two Zones. Victoria is in one, while the two Gangers occupy the adjacent zone.

—

The Gangers whip out their Stub Automatic pistols and begin firing at Victoria!

—

The effective skill rating for the Gangers for using their Stub Automatics is a 40. They roll a 64 and an 84 respectively, missing the agent!

—

Victoria utters a quick thanks to the Emperor for her luck and uses her Move to sprint from her Zone to the adjacent Zone where the two Gangers are, then spends her action to let loose with her Hand Flamer!

—

Victoria’s Weapon Skill for Ranged Weapons is 42, and she rolls a 21 and netting her +2 SL

Her Opponent tries to use his Reaction to dodge, and roll sa 92! A catastrophic failure of -5 SL

Checking the Hit Location table also confirms that it was a shot to the Head! The Hand Flamer deals 7+7 SL damage straight to the unarmored face of one of the Hive Gangers!

The Ganger only has 13 Wounds, and is therefore instantly killed.

—

Victoria points her hand flamer at the Ganger’s backup and lights his face up with the cleansing flame of purity. His dying screams and the scent of burning hair fill the alleyway and serve to terrify the remaining Ganger.

—

The Gangers only have a resolve of 1, and so losing one of their number leaves them Desperate. This also means that Victoria gains +1 Superiority for defeating troops, and another +1 for Shock and Awe.

—

The other Ganger drops his stub automatic and begins to plead for his life. Victoria comes closer, her expression grim as she begins to interrogate him for the location of the Smuggler.

Impressions

Well, that was quick and messy. I’m not entirely sure what it is about my Combat Examples that I roll weirdly well. Normally if I didn’t roll so poorly for the Ganger’s dodge reaction, the flamer would have done far less damage (even if it was straight to the poor guy’s face.)

In any case, the Resolve, Superiority and other mechanics in combat worked pretty well, giving the battle a scrappy, desperate quality that you’d expect from a game with this sort of tone. I imagine that combat with multiple combatants would be much more complicated though.

So far, I’m liking it a lot, and it seems to behave pretty much as advertised!