PLATFORM 26 - PART 1

This is my first piece of fan-fiction. I have not read very much of what would be considered canon. So I want to say sorry to the true fans for mistakes. I feel the beauty of fan-fiction is that you can take liberties with the canon anyway.

Also I have not written much fiction. It reads pretty green and has some newbie mistakes.

I started this about 10 months ago when I was really into Heroscape. Then like most projects I start I pushed it away for "awhile". So what is really cool about this is its done! I have finished a project that I started. Yay!

Please let me know what you think. Now without further ado, I give you Part 1 of 5:

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Platform 26
by Dwight Sullivan

The mid-morning sun was bearing down on the train station and on the game. If the all-night poker game was taking its toll on the players no one was showing it. Raelin swirled her ice tea. A trickle of sweat appeared from behind her jaw and slowly ran down her neck disappearing beneath her armor. A swallowing noise was barely audible from the good sergeant sitting across the table from her.

Raelin

It was the end of a bright sunny day as dusk descended upon the very large grassy hill. The numerous white tents that covered the hill were all casting long shadows. Blue and white banners flew from the tops of many of the tents.

Near the center of the large encampment, one of the more brilliantly white tents belonged to a famous Kyrie warrior known as Raelin. Inside she slept on a small cot, wrapped in her own wings for warmth. Her armor, helm and pike were on the nearby table.

From the center of camp a horn was heard; one long followed by two short blows. It was time to get ready for battle. Raelin stretched her bare feet and legs out from under her wings as her wings retracted to her back and she got up from her cot. She walked to the table pulling off her nightgown, donning her armor and got ready for battle once more.

Outside a messenger was running from tent to tent passing out small scrolls from the general. Raelin walked out of her tent just as the runner came by and she received her orders. She unrolled the parchment and learned that she was to follow and support a squad of their allies from General Einar. Raelin discarded the parchment and it spontaneously combusted. She took flight soaring high and fast due south. The scroll completely disintegrated and never reached the ground.


After flying most of the night it was still dark when she arrived. Dawn was approaching and the rain was stopping. She could see her allies as they were preparing for their impending attack. She studied their armor because it was very different from her Valkyrie style. As they tightened up their armor it also made sharp snapping sounds. The warriors noticed her presence and it emboldened them. Raelin’s job would be to stay in range of her allies and use her protective radiance to aid them.

At dawn their attack was swift and effective. The first of the red amour clad samurais ran, leapt off a palm tree and came down on top of an Orc sword first. This caught all the local Orcs off guard. Three more Orcs were cut down before they could gather their wits.

Then from the samurai’s right rear flank an unusually large beastly Orc charged forward screaming a bloodcurdling scream. The axe he wielded sliced the air narrowly missing the closest warrior. That warrior managed to spin at the last second and counterstrike. The huge Orc made a huge thud as he hit the ground.

* * *

“I raise.” Ne-Gok-Sa firmly stated with several extra clicking sounds in the background. It was difficult for beings of Marr to speak any Earth langue including English. The warlord then pushed forward a small stack of his strange poker chips. Some of which were hexagonal shaped and metallic.

The poker action was now on Agent Carr. Our master of Krav Maga was not thinking of his cards. He was thinking instead of his last battle. This was probably because of the clicking sounds.

PLATFORM 26 - PART 2

The plan

In a large well-constructed mud dwelling deep in the swamps of this desolate realm, five men met to contemplate their options and make decisions on how they were to proceed. The men were Sergeant Drake, Kaemon Awa, Dan, James Murphy, and Agent Carr.

The battle preparations had been clear so far. Things were going well even though Agent Carr was distracted by all the strange sounds outside or was it outside? Maybe it was from a cellar or a back room? It was an occupational hazard. He was constantly vigilant, constantly alert with his heightened senses. They were barely audible clicking sounds. “It was probably just insects. I cannot wait to be done with this mission and be rid of this swamp” he thought.

“Agent Carr,” the sergeant was aware he did not have everyone’s full attention. “Our latest intelligence tells us that there are about four groups of 4 to 6 Orcs and they will be alone for a small window of time. We will strike them while their allies are away here.” Drake pointed at a clear spot on a map that was sprawled across the large table in the center of the room. We will advance from three sides in a carefully orchestrated attack. Now we will go over it once more from the top.” The five men leaned in for the review of the plan that would begin the following night.


The next night, it was very dark and rainy. Carr found it difficult to make good time running because every twenty feet he would come across another section of swamp water that was sometimes waste high. “Curse these forgotten lands,” he thought.

By his estimation he was behind on time. He and Sergeant Drake Alexander had agreed to attempt a two-man pincer maneuver. He had 15 minutes to travel out 3 clicks at a 45-degree angle and then to cut back and out flank the squads of Orcs, while Drake would do the same in the opposite direction. The entire offensive was carefully planned. The timing was going to be critical.

* * *

The play of the poker game was interrupted by the sound and appearance of a fierce gleaming black steam-train engine barreling out of the horizon at an amazing speed. There were several long narrow vertical slits in the side of the engine. Through the slits a raging fire could be seen adding to the demonic vision of this metallic beast. Past the engine came six large passenger cars. Each of the passenger cars was a different color; blue, dark purple, bluish-gray, green, yellow, and last was a dark blood red. Strange black smoke billowed and wisped from all parts of the train leaving a trail of smoke behind as it arrived that looked allot like a tail.

The train slowed and came to a stop next to the large platform. It was the only platform at this station. When suddenly, “Now arriving the 715 from Earth destined for all parts Valhalla” boomed a man’s voice over the sea of seated beings at various tables. The voice seemed to come from everywhere. The black smoke obscured much of the scene as dozens of the newly confused departed from the train. They were the most recently recruited.

Carr folded his hand. The raise was now to James Murphy.

PLATFORM 26 - PART 3

James Murphy

James Murphy was not used to working with a partner. He looked at his pocket watch for the third time and then returned it to his vest. “Three minutes” he thought. James would give him three more minutes to get into position and then he would start his part of the mission.

He was ready; he had his Colt 45 in one hand and a whip in the other. He heard a faint whistle sound from the distance. Pulling his Stetson down to block out the sun he moved out from his hiding place behind the wall of old ruins. At a full run he shot the first Orc he saw and then three more came out of nowhere. He quickly tied one up with his whip while shooting a second. Just as he thought he was going to take a hit suddenly the third one went down. It was Dan and James smiled.

* * *

“All aboard!” the man’s voice boomed again. Several squads of Orcs moved from the far corner of the station to the platform and boarded the train’s red car. Each of the poker players eyed one another to see if any needed to leave. No one moved.

After a moment the train started to move, slow at first but was quickly gaining speed. Its black tail of smoke was scene for a short time then it was all gone.

When the poker game resumed James Murphy folded. There were now only two players remaining in the hand. When Sergeant Alexander received his last card from Ne-Gok-Sa he had completed his full house. Which is a really good hand but he never believed in sure things. In fact he normally preferred it if the odds were stacked a bit against him. Drake called the raise.

* * *

Drake got to the edge of the Orc encampment right at dawn. There were only about five or six archers near him. He thought Carr should be on the far side of the Orc encampment very soon.

Drake put two of his fingers into his mouth let out a very loud whistle. Quickly the archers spotted him and let the arrows fly but even quicker was Drakes Thorian speed. He dodged every arrow as he ran to the closest ugly Orc and slit his throat.

* * *

James Murphy reached one arm down below the poker table when; “click I think Murphy is cheating” claimed Ne-Gok-Sa.

A whip came from nowhere and wrapped around Ne-Gok-Sa arm. The other end of the whip was in James’s hand. Before the Marr could react he yanked on the whip pulling him near. Murphy’s other hand raised his pistol aimed at Ne-Gok-Sa. “I have no need to cheat to beat you Marr!” James said with conviction.

Raelin was now air-born, hovering a couple feet off the ground “There is no fighting aloud here boys. We all know the rules!” The men seemed to heed these words and sat back down.

The beginning of the end

Raelin was not comfortable with the distance the samurais were moving from her. Her job was to cast her protective radiance to her allies but they were now moving out of range. She would have to adjust her position, which made her uncomfortable. It was difficult to see in this dense jungle and she thought she heard movement from her flank a few minutes ago.

The beautiful Kyrie was now clearly nervous. She landed and retracted her wings choosing to take a more silent approach. As she progressed toward her new target-location the silhouettes of tree trunks moved by her silently. She stopped and placed her hand on one and then knew it was too late. She looked up, looking down at her were two large gleaming eyes of a tyrannosaurus-rex. The beast bared his teeth and her last thoughts were “He was waiting for me!”

Raelin then woke up on a train headed for platform 26 with a huge pain in her chest but otherwise was intact. She decided it was best to look on the bright side; the ice tea was really good at the train stations.

PLATFORM 26 - PART 4

Dead Eye Dan

Dead Eye Dan was the best long distance rifleman the old west has ever seen.

So far the plan was going as they had discussed last night. Just after dawn he was laying flat on his stomach at the top of a hill and looking down the barrel of his riffle at the battle below when a smile came to his face. He had just saved Murphy’s life for the third time in a month. James would owe him big. Dead Eye noticed something down on the battlefield that he hadn’t seen before. There was something or a group of someones moving near where Agent Carr should be. From this distance it was hard to see what it was.

Before he could figure out that mystery he heard someone approaching behind him. He rolled over and simultaneously drew his colt. About to fire he noticed his visitor was Kaemon Awa. “Is something wrong? You and the Izumi are supposed to be watching my back so I can watch Murphy’s.”

“Don’t worry, the Izumi are in position” began Kaemon and Dan began to lower his gun. Before he could blink Kaemon had one shot off from his bow and was reloading. Dan took an arrow to his shoulder and had to drop his colt.

Dan knew another arrow would soon join its brother. So agony or not he rolled over and scooped up his rifle. One good shot is all he needed. An arrow shattered as it hit the bolder next to him.

Dan pulled the trigger. Immediately he was distracted by the glint of an arrowhead aimed for his skull. As the third arrow pierced his forehead, Dan smiled because he knew he had hit his mark too.

* * *

James Murphy uncoiled his whip from the dead Orc and continued his run to the Orc Camp. He felt more confident as he saw Sergeant Drake in the distance doing his thing and he knew Dan had his back. He thought that Agent Carr should be to his left but he hadn’t seen him yet.

Agent Carr

Agent Carr reached the edge of the Orc camp. Taking a moment to catch his breath, he realized what he heard in the Mud house meeting room. It wasn’t clicking sounds of insects or Marr-speak. It was bamboo! The outer layer of a samurai’s armor was made of bamboo. When samurai don their armor it makes a similar clicking sound. There must have been several Samurai near the meeting last night.

Only the team of five knew about the timing of their attack plans. It was clear to Carr now. Kaemon had betrayed them. The high ranking Einar warrior clearly had a larger plan in play. Before he could ponder that more he heard drakes whistle. It was time to attack the encampment. At this point, without any more knowledge, Agent Carr had no options. He had to proceed as planned because all the others were counting on him.

With his heightened senses all coming online he pushed all fatigue away and replaced it with adrenaline. This is when he noticed the jungle around him was not quite right. He was not alone on this edge of the Orc encampment.

The Agent stealthy moved through the trees and then he saw them. In a nearby clearing four full squads of Samurai archers were getting in to attack formation. What could they be doing there? If the archers fired into the encampment… That is when Carr realized the full scope of their betrayal. The Einar forces were planning to be the sole survivor of this battle. Carr knew what he needed to do. He altered course to take on the archers himself. As he stalked closer to the squads he admired how well the trap was laid.

Agent Carr carefully chose where he would leave the protection of the tree-line. He needed to limit his exposure to their arrows. Since he could not delay any further, Agent Carr charged the Einar.

The Archers didn’t react to his charge. They continued to prepare to fire upon the Orc camp. At first he thought they didn’t see him. As he drew near he saw that there were three among them that were different. Three wearing red armor and drawing their swords. Carr recognized them as the infamous Izumi samurai warriors.

Carr was up to the task. He engaged the closest warrior with fierce intensity and was ready to take him down when he was forced to engage two at once. Now constantly on the defense he needed to avoid the blade of the third one.

After a few seconds of this dance Carr managed to kill one of the three. The Agent then carried his momentum through and killed the second one before they could regroup.

He was about to kill the third one when a huge commotion occurred nearby. The 4 squads of archers aimed up in the air and let loose a volley of arrows followed by a short primal yell. Then very quickly they had another set ready, released, and a second yell. As the fist volley reached its apogee the squads let a third volley fly with a final accompanying yell. In a couple seconds dozens of arrows would descend upon everyone within the Orc camp.

Distracted by the thought of James Murphy and Sergeant Drake being killed Carr did not see the blade of the third Warrior until it was too late. He had let them down.

PLATFORM 26 - PART 5

Sergeant Drake Alexander

Sgt. Drake was a born tactician. He and James Murphy made a good team but he could see no tactical advantage for them engaged with 4 squads of Orcs. They spent most of their time watching each other’s back which they could not keep up forever. Help from Agent Carr was past due which was troublesome and neither of them had heard from Dan in the last few minutes. So he decided they needed to abort the mission and live to fight another day.

Right about then he heard a distant sound that he was very familiar with and his heart sank. All the Orcs, James, and Drake stopped what they were doing and looked up. It was soon about to rain arrows.

“James get out of here!” Drake yelled as he himself turned on the speed. Dashing through the crowd dodging Orcs both dead and alive he saw the only hope he had.

Once he got close enough he raised his grapple-gun arm and shot. Direct hit. The grappling hooks grabbed a hold of a solid chunk of wall of the closest ruins. As the cable retracted Alexander was pulled at great speed. He flew through the air even faster than he was running.

Drake repelled down the far side of the wall. Just before he was out of sight he looked back to the encampment. Over a dozen Orcs laid dead with several arrows sticking out of them each. But that wasn’t what bothered Drake.

James Murphy was running full out for the same ruins but never made it. Drake had seen comrades fall so many times but it never got easy.

Over the next few seconds Drake considered his options. He wasn’t sure which mystery was more puzzling; who was assaulting them with arrows or why they stopped?

Soon the answer was evident. “Sergeant, come out come out wherever you are click” Alexander recognized the Marr as his old adversary Ne-Gok-Sa.

He crawled out from the ruins he was using as shelter. Armed Marr drones were now all around. On the far side of the camp he could see Einar warriors completing the perimeter. The Marr were the Orc allies that were supposed to be away for a few hours. Apparently they were now the allies of General Einar and Einar had betrayed his team.

In the middle of the large circle of soldiers stood the Marr warlord Ne-Gok-Sa. He was waiting for battle. This meta-battle had been going on for as long as Drake could remember. He wasn’t even sure which of them were leading in the win loss columns. It didn’t matter. It was game time again.

In a blur of movement, Drake drew his 9mm pistol, aimed, fired, and sprinted for the center of the camp. Ne-Gok-Sa was prepared for this move. He half turned his body and reflected the bullets with the built in armor of his shoulders.

For a split second the Marr warlord was unable to see his charging friend while he hid behind his armor. This was the split second that Drake needed. Drake used that time to shoot his grapple gun at his opponent. The hooks of the grapple caught and dug into Ne-Gok-Sa’s exoskeleton. He was now being pulled to the Sergeant rapidly. Drake dug his heals in and held his ground. As Ne-Gok-Sa flew at him, Drake drew his blade and then first blood.

Drake spun to deliver a second blow but the warlord’s built in sword-arm blocked his blade. They locked stares for a second and the Marr smiled.

Drake started to feel his will slipping away. Drake knew this was coming. Ne-Gok-Sa had tried his mind-shackle powers before. If he failed to win the battle within the next few seconds the Warlord would posses him body and soul.

With new pressurized determination Drake managed to focus. He knew his opponents biggest weakness. Vanity. Drake also knew the warlord was severely wounded from his grapple hook and blade. “So Gok tell me, how long have you and Kaemon been working on this plan because I gotta tell you it’s brilliant. General Utgar is going to gain from this battle”

They exchanged blade against arm two more times. Drake’s focus was wavering. Ne-Gok-Sa wasn’t trying to hurt him. He was stalling. Soon he would have valuable pawn.

Ne-Gok-Sa was starting to grin. Drake knew he had to make his move. After a third strike and parry he altered his attack pattern. He knocked Ne-Gok-Sa back, dropped his sword and leapt at him to engage in very close combat. Wrapping his legs around his enemy’s torso he could see his objective.

Before Ne-Gok-Sa knew what was happening Drake had a good hold with both hands of the injured shoulder armor. Drake’s fingers dug under the armor and he pulled with all his might. Ne-Gok-Sa screamed and dropped to his knees with agony as the shoulder armor peeled away. Drake quickly released his legs, retrieved his sword and took the warlords head. Drake slumped to the ground.

The satisfaction of beating the Marr warlord in single combat was short lived. Drake was still surrounded by multiple squads of Einar and Marr. The tactician was out of options and out of time.

* * *

Ne-Gok-Sa dealt both of them their last card. When he dealt his card he drew from the bottom of the deck but was skilled enough for no one to see the deception. Almost no one. He held the card up to block out the sun and grinned a wry smile. “It looks like today click click is my lucky day click,” he claimed. When suddenly a very loud CRACK was heard from a distance. Immediately the card had a hole through the center of it with all kinds of sunlight shinning trough.

Agent Carr was instantly out of his seat with his weapon drawn searching the near by hills.

“Good ole Dead eye”, Drake said with a smile.

Raelin didn’t move but said “Dan has never liked cheats or back stabbers”.

James Murphy just grinned.

THE END

Two Team Training-Ground

The boys and I finally played our first game on the new Game Table. Yay. It was a two team board that was 54” x 24”. 54 inches is how tall James is now. The battlefield would not have worked on the our previous table but here we had plenty of room for all our stuff and a large board.





TEAM 1 – David and James 1300 points
David
110 – Acolarh
185 – Nilfheim
140 – Aubrien Archers X2
100 – Syvarris
160 – Sonlen
695 points

James
150 – Cyprien Esenwien
45 – Sonya Esenwein
150 – Venom
130 – Tagawa Samurai Archers X2
120 – Arrow Grunts X3
10 – Isamu
605 points



Team 2 – Dad
360 – Templar Cavalry X3
140 – Knights of Weston X2
140 – 4th Massachusetts Line X2
240 – MacDirk Warriors X3
110 – Alastair MacDirk
990 points



This was not a bad see-saw battle that lasted about 5 rounds. I had never played with my Calvary yet but had been dyeing to. The problem is the Calvary are often not the best choice during drafting because of their cost and they are double base figures. So I designed a battle field with them in mind. A field with long open spaces for them to use their speed and charging ability.
In this battle we tried something new. I got two turns per round since there were two of them. This gave me an advantage because I could move one army 6 times per round if I needed too. So I started with fewer points. In the end I never moved an army more than times.

Also we played without glyphs and we really didn’t miss them. On this field the game was not about get to some out of the way corner and hold a glyph. It was more about charge down and attack or attack those doing the charging.

Round 1 –
I charged down the left side with my Calvary but I made a big mistake. I did not put enough turn markers on them because I wanted to mobilize other parts of my troops too. This left them poised to charge next round but also left them poised to be shot by archers! Scratch one expensive set of Templars.

The Boys mostly just mobilized archers up the road.



Round 2 –
This was a big round for the good guys (me).

I call my MacDirk Warriors “Scrappers” and I say it with a Scottish accent. Since my Scrappers moved last round they were able to charge down the right side this round. The huge white dragon looming large attacked first with his ice breath weapon killing half of my squad. The remaining two were able to close in and roll 6 dice each! BAG one white dragon! James’ archers then killed my remaining two Scrappers on that side of the field. I wasn’t worried though I still had 8 more in reserve. (rereading this I realize now that I cheated. Alastiar is only able to wound himself once per round and therefore should have only had 2 wounds not four. opps!)

On the left side my second squad of Calvary managed to get down the left side and dodge arrows from the advancing archers on that side. Learning from the previous round I gave them enough turn markers to get the job done this time. Two of them charged Cyprien gaining the extra die. BAG one vampire!

Both sides managed to get some ranged figures up to the bridges.

Round 3 –
The boys mowed down all the Templars they could get their hands on. The Templars are fun to play with but are pretty expensive to have them cut down from a distance.

We all moved more troops up the field including Venom.

Round 4 –
I tried to stop Venom mid-field with my Scrappers. The first roll was 5 skulls! It must have made Venom’s Spider-sense explode, because James rolled a 20 and Venom leaped to safety away from my heavy-hitting Scrappers unscathed. This was the turning point for the game. My Scrappers were exposed to the archers now and therefore died.



Round 5 –
Venom using his Spidey-Swing 4 to leap from trouble and to get up near Alastair he quickly killed my leader reducing the lethalness of my Scrappers. I had a glimmer of hope when my 4th Line gave Venom two or three wounds. But then David helped finish off my 4th line and it was clear the game was all but over. Since I was fairly devastated I conceded.

It was a good game. Here is the file for the battlefield layout.

Three player testing grounds

Here I wanted to make a triangle shaped board so that 3 of us could play:






Here is the file for this board