Attraignnor IV Campaign: Turn 7

As dawn's first rays splashed across the enormous gates of the Imperial Palace, a solitary figure crested the hills of rubble fronting the palace's once glorious walls. Like an angel with wings of fire the figure descended from the dawn, his arms open wide in welcome and forgiveness to the palace defense cannons now trained upon him. Behind the majestic figure came a tide of sycophants and an army of golden angels. The light caressed their armor and sounds of celebration floated across the ceramite walls. The remaining populace of the Imperial palace were bombarded by a noise unknown to them for years.. Joy. Prophets ran to the gates crying that their savior had come at last, and almost as one, the once imperial citizens flooded the streets. The palace gates were opened, and the mighty angel stepped forward. His very glance threw those upon which it landed onto their knees, and these poor wretches knew their time of suffering was at an end. Captain Octavio Ferranus looked upon the lost children at his feet and bade them rise. His warriors quickly relieved the tired guardsmen at the walls, and the populace rejoiced as vast stores of supplies were brought forth through the gates. Ferranus ordered the sick and wounded to be mended by his finest apothecaries. He ordered the hungry to be fed. His procession trundled forth, bringing peace to these shattered people. Gangs were disbanded and their members assimilated into the ranks of the Church of 36 Secrets. Ferranus' procession slowly became a full fledged parade, and the streets were filled with music and dance. At the steps of what once was the Governor's Manor, a massive throne of Ultramarian White Marble was brought forth, and the populace bade Ferranus to sit, and he acquiesced. And upon sitting, the people asked for his guidance and leadership. And to the last they swore their fealty, and on that day Cardinal Degrassio of the Church of 36 Secrets crowned the Lord Captain Octavio Ferranus, ruler of all Attraignnor IV, and the people rejoiced.

Meanwhile, the Tau continued their attack on Angel Square, despite their previous setback. Commander M'yen was too badly wounded to continue leading his men, so another commander, Shas'el J'karra Mont'au Mesme Tsua'm, led the wave of reinforcements. The results were disastrous for the Tau. Some in stealth suits managed to sneak behind enemy lines and ambush a unit of Chaos Marines. But the Tau were stunned by the ferocity of their enemy when the marines recklessly charged through some rubble to leap on the stealth team before they could escape. The ensuing melee resulted in the stealth team being massacred.

Some Kroot also managed to sneak forward into a vital building in Angel square ahead of the main attack. But Lord Agramon of the Chaos Marines had stayed behind in Angel Square to continue the fight against the Tau, while other chaos marine forces continued on into the Basilica Imperialis. Lord Agramon discovered the Kroot hiding in the building, charged forward ahead of his men, and annihilated the enemy. He then flew across to another building and ripped apart a Tau Tank that had moved up to fire on his men. The flaming wreck of the tank crashed to the ground in the already damaged building. But just then, the Commander Mesme ambushed Lord Agramon, flying up over the side of the building to open fire on the chaos lord. The hail of fire tore into Lord Agramon, wounding him badly. He fell to the ground into the wreckage of the Tau tank, and was buried in rubble from the collapsing building.

Aside from the Tau commander avenging his wounded comrade against the chaos lord, the rest of the battle went badly for the attackers. The Chaos defenders caused severe casualties among the Tau while suffering few of their own, and the Tau were forced to retreat.

At the same time, another Tau force attacked the Eastern side of the Palace grounds where other Chaos Marines were posted to defend the chaos staging area. The Chaos forces here were under the command of Warlord Captain Thamuz, a strategic strategist and valued advisor to Lord Agramon. Here, several squads of Kroot were able to sneak deep behind enemy lines and occupy the wooded areas on the palace grounds. Once the Kroot were in position, another Tau force attacked head on.

The defending Chaos marines organized a defensive line to hold off the attack, and then suddenly realized they had been completely surrounded by the enemy as they were fired on from all sides. The Tau broadsides devastated the chaos tanks. A large unit of defending marines and the lieutenant leading the army were pinned down in a forest by punishing enemy fire for the duration of the fight.

But the chaos forces fought back. Some of the Kroot in the rear of their lines were eliminated by a chaos marine unit, but at great cost. The only two unwounded members of the unit then tried to take down one of the enemy hover-tanks. But despite many, many attempts, they were completely unable to damage the flying beast. A mobile unit of thousand sons in a rhino moved up an annihilated a stealth team, before re-embarking and moving farther back to get in position to fire on some of the infiltrating Kroot.

The Tau attack suffered a severe setback when their commander was accidentally killed while attempting to surprise the defenders and land in the midst of the battle. The marines counter-attacked, a handful of Khorne Berzerkers managing to chase down one of the elusive broadsides. But the broadside held off the ferocious attack and even managed to kill one of the crazed marines in close combat. Some reinforcements arrived in the form of a unit of Terminators teleporting in to destroy a couple units of Tau infantry. They then charged another broadside, which managed to kill one of the terminators before being ripped apart.

The battle was hard fought on both sides, but attrition got to the Tau forces first and they fell back to fight another day.

Victory Points
Chaos: 46.5
Tau: 14