Brothers of Promethium: Event Recap

The assembled attendees of the Brothers of Promethium narrative event. Photo courtesy of Dillon (@voidhalation).

On the 3rd weekend of August, I drove 6 hours from Pennsylvania to Enfield, Connecticut to take part in the Brothers of Promethium narrative event set up by the Hive Scum podcast (and their collective friends in the New England War Council). The event was themed around an Imperial planet in the Warhammer 40,000 setting known as Promethium, which is able to pull spacefaring vessels out of the Immaterium and cause them to crash-land on its surface. No one has been able to figure out a way off the planet, so all those stranded on the planet are forced to fend for themselves and survive in its inhospitable desert environment. The event was structured around a series of three games using a combination of rulesets, including Grimdark Future (from One Page Rules), Grimdark Future: Firefight, and a modified version of Mike Hutchinson's Gaslands. Each participant was tasked with making a small warband and some form of vehicle or speeder (for the Gaslands game). Although we were not able to create a full warband for the event, we did manage to create a pair of models to participate. You can find a PDF of the game book that was made to go along with the event HERE.

The general narrative of the event was as follows: all communications channels were being overrun with a looping distress signal from the Wrathful Atonement, a crashed Imperial Navy spacecraft. The distress signal was asking for help and promising a way off the planet for those that came to their aid. In the first game, your warband was able to triangulate one of the sources of the distress signal to an escape pod. Your goal was to get to the escape pod and try to find the coordinates to the wreck of the Wrathful Atonement.

Unfortunately, due to my long drive, I missed the first game. Despite this, I was able to take a multitude of photos throughout the rest of the event, which I wanted to showcase here!

Everyone waits in the hallway, anticipating being let into the Hive Scum Headquarters to start the 2nd game.

Gage (@noclearcoat) overlooks a sprawling desert wasteland. In the 2nd game, each participant had a speeder/vehicle which was tasked with getting from one side of the board to the other, on their way to the wreck of the Wrathful Atonement. The game itself was played in darkness with ambient lighting set up by Dillon (@voidhalation). Dillon wrote an excellent post about his experiences with the event on his blog, which you can find by clicking HERE.

An Eldar Wave Serpent looted by a band of Orks, created by Tyler (@billion_dollar_clown_farm), revs its engines, ready to set across the desert expanse.

Everyone lines up their speeders and vehicles, ready to start a mad dash to the other end of the battlefield. The game was played using Grimdark Future rules using Gaslands movement templates scaled up to 28mm scale.

As the players advanced across the desert, they were greeted by the rumble of a cyclopean Ork mobile refining platform. The refining platform was built by Blerz (@blerzcraft) and featured an array of LED lights to illuminate the darkness of the battlefield.

The Ork refining platform made it deep into the midst of the advancing speeders, bringing mayhem and destruction in its wake. After sending a few speeders to their doom, the refining platform exploded in a cataclysm of flames. With the Ork threat eliminated, a few of the players’ speeders were able to make it across the majority of the board to discover the wreckage of the Wrathful Atonement on the horizon.

For the 3rd game, each participant was allowed to send two character/hero models into the dilapidated wreck of the Wrathful Atonement to find a way off of the planet. The first task was to find access terminals scattered throughout the wreck and find out where their transport off the planet was located. There were two Imperial Valkyrie Assault Carriers on the board, one on either side of the table.

The second Valkyrie perched on an upper level of the ruined hull of the Wrathful Atonement.

Terry (@stone.jaw) acted as the game master for the 3rd game. When someone would reach a terminal and activate it, Terry would read from a collection of potential outcomes in the Brothers of Promethium game book.

Activating one of the terminals led to a series of blaring alarms which called forth an array of Tyranid monstrosities.

Cole (@colecifer_xxviii) was the first to reach one of the Valkyries and lift off, just in time as more writhing Tyranid beasts spilled from corroded bulkheads. Taking off without allowing any other passengers onboard did not win Cole any favors.

With one of the Valkyries already departed, there was a frenzied dash toward the last remaining craft.

After a handful of players got into the remaining Valkyrie, other jealous onlookers opened fire on it, damaging the wings. When it eventually tried to lift off, the damage was too extensive for it to remain in the air, and it came crashing into the unforgiving plasteel flooring.

The downed Valkyries smolders and burns while a brutish ork fights a chitinous behemoth.

After being wracked with guilt, Cole (@colecifer_xxviii) piloted the Valkyrie back to the Wrathful Atonement to help a few other wretched souls off of the planet.

After the chaos of the final game, Steve (@sovthofheaven) and Tyler (@tylerisalrightatpainting) look on with weariness in their eyes.

The wandering mercenary Dark Spirit found themselves on Promethium.

In a delirium brought on by heatstroke, a forlorn wander looks to the horizon to see the monolithic column of a can of Coke Zero Spiced.

Under proper lighting, it is easier to see the impressive level of detail put into the massive game board used for the 3rd game.

The wreck of the Wrathful Atonement from another angle.

Hive Scum had all of their recording equipment present and were able to interview attendees the day after the event!

Brothers of Promethium was an amazing event filled with even more amazing people. I am glad that I was able to attend and am thankful that Hive Scum keeps putting in so much effort to build and foster an incredible community of like minded people. If you are not already a member, go and join the community on their Discord channel, In Rust We Trust.

- Greg Wier